Companions

[Theonlygarby]

According to the leaks there are companions but they will be done differently than the outer worlds.

 

I am currently playing "trails in the sky" and really enjoy how companions work in that game.  You play as Estelle and her always companion Joshua.  Throughout the game you meet companions.  As you progress the story, they leave you with your party of two.  Until you meet new characters.

 

This system might not be for everyone but I really like the way it's done.  Wondering if perhaps avowed could take a similar approach. 

 

Pluses being 

-never choosing the "wrong" companion and missing out on unique reactions

-more easily programmed to react to a situations/missions(think red dead 2 gang members joining you on a job) instead of just following behind you they can actually serve a specific purpose

-realism in the sense that most likely 10 different people won't be willing at any moment to follow you anywhere you go

 

Negative

-replayability is the biggest one.  However they could make certain companions only join you if your morals align.  And their reactions would be different depending on choices during the mission

-you might really like a companion and be sad when they leave

- would mean there is no real party system

 

That's all I got right now.  How do people want companions to be done in avowed? Also how would they like it to be done? I personally would like a party system but I think it's unlikely to work well.

 

I think most people won't like this idea.  Just starting a discussion

 

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by Theonlygarby

[ZyroMane]

So, ... Final Fantasy II?

Of course there's the other option, like Sword Coast Legends. I.e. everyone is in the party for banter, but you still construct a party for tactics.

Me, I prefer companion that are a.i. controlled. Or, at most, Knights of the Old Republic switch control style. Especially when RTwP. If full party control, I like full party creation. Maybe some additional companion slots like Wizardry 8, The Temple of Elemental Evil, or SoZ. So I'm down with quest related followers. Even better if they don't take up precious slots.

[Clawdius_Talonious]

Pillars 2 has recommended companions, showing those with extra dialog and so on.

I'm open to whatever design Obsidian has in mind, they've done a lot of good work.

Tyranny has a great companion system and setting, The story was majorly affected by which factions you backed, you could actually obliterate your ability to choose a prominent storyline and one of the "most wanted" for a certain style of player. I know I wanted that option my first play. You could choose to do things in your profession, in the lead up to the game. There was an option that seemed prudent but lead the rest of the character's life down the path of collaboration to minimize suffering. That's the theme of the game and hit some emotional notes in me I hadn't expected or previously experienced. It also left me a second experience closer to what I enjoy.

I'm not sure whose writing comprises the story as it stands, but they have a lot of consultants whose work I already love.

Obsidian has so much work to draw upon, they know what works and what doesn't. It makes people think they've grown more timid but they leave less on the cutting room floor. It will be their second experience with the Unreal Engine, their tools are more integrated, they can experiment more with Microsoft's funding. QA will hammer out the experience that TOW got to through what you might call limited ambition. I'm eager to see where they go for their first foray into Microsoft's piggy bank.

[Guest]

Companions aren’t something I worry about with Obsidian games. 

With that said, I hope we learned our lesson regarding companion romances.

[Taevyr]

Honestly, if it's going to be Skyrim-like, I wouldn't mind if companions weren't all that important. Obsidian generally does'em exceedingly well, but out of all open-world CRPG's without companion control I've played, only Dragon's Dogma had companions whose combat AI didn't want to make me sacrifice them to an elder god.

The idea of plot-bound companions sounds decent however: more easy to incorporate, and less burden on the player to pick the right ones or build a balanced party. Since this is Obsidian, and with the experience from Outer Worlds and New Vegas in there, I don't think we have much to worry about.

[Esquizo]

I just hope to see attractive companions (and romanceable)

Most developers have a terrible tendency to make companions with awful designs, ugly men or ugly women 

Edited August 24, 2020 by Esquizo

[Theonlygarby]

7 hours ago, Esquizo said:

I just hope to see attractive and romanceable companions.

Most developers have a terrible tendency to make companions with awful designs, ugly men or ugly women 

Romancing will probably be awful... Because it usually is.  I just hope they don't go the "everyone is bisexual" route.   Not because I'm against bisexuality just because I find it immersion breaking.  People have preferences 

[Sanjid099]

On 8/24/2020 at 5:04 AM, Esquizo said:

I just hope to see attractive companions (and romanceable)

Most developers have a terrible tendency to make companions with awful designs, ugly men or ugly women 

Obsidian is located in California, which is the social justice capital of USA. Don't expect beautiful, straight, feminine looking women anytime soon. Just look at the women in TOW

Edited August 30, 2020 by Sanjid099

[Esquizo]

6 hours ago, Sanjid099 said:

Obsidian is located in California, which is the social justice capital of USA. Don't expect beautiful, straight, feminine looking women anytime soon. Just look at the women in TOW

Not only women, men are also not attractive.
Only Pelham and Ellie are interesting.. 

[Wormerine]

10 hours ago, Sanjid099 said:

 Don't expect beautiful, straight, feminine looking women anytime soon. Just look at the women in TOW

 

3 hours ago, Esquizo said:

Not only women, men are also not attractive.

Or you know... they just make characters that fit the universe they created. Having models from Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue might go against that whole corporate oppression they were going for.

[evilcat]

Companions generally have 2 functions storytelling and gameplay.

You can walk around storytelling part with just characters with more screan time and some cool interactions, or temporary companions who are mostly chatting. I think Witcher 3 did it ok.

And there is gameplay, if we add companion to party it should serve some purpose. Like we are ranger character and need animal companion for tanking, or eder for that purpose. In PoE we definetly build party, but in tOW companion impact was minimal. Even ME did it better with some companions bring armour schred or CC orb.

The system when we can hear all witty comments is good, maybe if we collect souls, and can summon 1 ghost for aid in battle, but all soul souls are with us... there is some challenge how to explain a group of ppl just fallowing us but only for chatting.

 

[Madscientist]

Companions are good in turn based or rtwp games.

In Skyrim or 3D fallout they made more problems than they were good for so I was playing solo. They stand in your line of fire, they get killed all the time or they run after some enemies in the distance. Negative record was F3 where my supermutant companion saw an enemy at the other side of a river, jumped down a cliff into the river and chased after it. I did not follow him because the river was radioactive so he disappeared at the horizon and I never saw him again. I did not play TOW, still waiting for release of GOTY edition on something less epic (such as Control recently).

My experiance: Companions are good if you can control them. If not they can be a real pain in the A. I am talking mostly about combat and skill use, not story related stuff.

[kanisatha]

6 hours ago, Madscientist said:

My experiance: Companions are good if you can control them. If not they can be a real pain in the A.

100% agree. If you can't directly control them, they are just frustrating and aggravating to have with you and only serve to get in your way.

[evilcat]

I think there was a game Republic Commando with 4 clones (shooter)

• each have special abillities (sniper, explosives)
• you could jump from one to another
• you could quick order them to do something like snipe that guy, or drop rocket here

In Avow terms if we play rogue, but we have cipher companion to quickcast (by player) phantom foes... that would be something. Or ranger, and we can order Eder charge in and use taunt.

So we mostly play 1 character, but can add some special powers of character (airstrike).

[Hurin]

Really hoping we see Aloth and Eder as companions, or even just as interactive quest/NPCs If they don’t fit the story. 

 

[Theonlygarby]

On 9/13/2020 at 6:22 AM, Hurin said:

Really hoping we see Aloth and Eder as companions, or even just as interactive quest/NPCs If they don’t fit the story. 

 

This would mean it's very close to the events surrounding Poe/deadfire which I dont think it will be.  Honestly I wouldnt mind if it was.  The only thing I dont want it to be is waidwens Legacy.  I feel like too much is known of that event.

Edited September 14, 2020 by Theonlygarby

[Anthonyrex]

On 8/31/2020 at 8:13 PM, kanisatha said:

100% agree. If you can't directly control them, they are just frustrating and aggravating to have with you and only serve to get in your way.

It's a two sided sword. Companions getting in the way is an annoying pain in the ass, but at the same time, if you can control them, that lessens the feeling of dealing with independent people, as opposed to mindless bots.