Obsidian, please give us the option to play without companions.

[Xanthous]

Hey, I am a long time Pillars of Eternity fan and a backer of the first game on kickstarter. I was super hyped when Avowed was revealed all those years ago but I now find myself in the position of not wanting to play the game due to the forced companions.

On a mechanical level, I just hate having AI on my side in action focused games like this. I find it immersion breaking and distracting. I love going into encounters and thinking about how I will approach them, but that is just not possible in this game as the AI will do its own thing and I feel like I am not in control of the action. I really want to just get out and explore The Living Lands but I have found myself just switching the game off after a few minutes do to this limitation. 

In a roleplaying sense, it really doesn't work either. You arrive in the Living Lands and some random Aumaua tells you they are coming with you and you have zero agency to say no. You're the Imperial Envoy, you are supposed to be the one in charge here, yet you have no option to execute that authority.

As a player, it is supposed to be you who is deciding how your character will behave and decide things, but again we do not have that option. I am not able to play my character the way I would like to and the way you have given me the freedom to do so in your previous games.

I never make posts like this generally as I understand games are not made to cater to my specific tastes, but this design choice is stopping me from playing a game I have been looking forward to for years.

I don't mind how much it may increase difficulty or any loss of flavour from missing dialogue, I would just love to have this option so I can explore the world you have created here. Cheers.