I hate hate hate auto-leveled companions

[BobbinThreadbare]

First of all, leveling up is fun and I'm deprived of this.

 

Second of all, it makes it harder to figure out new classes. I think I read a Josh Sawyer post during beta that this was done so players wouldn't be overwhelmed with choices. Well instead I'm left with the feeling of being given 5 chapters of a book out of order and asked to figure out.

 

I feel like I'm being punished for doing side content early (or the wrong side content), and I should have blitzed around until I found all the companions doing as few quests as possible.

 

Ideally, I'd like all companions to join at level 1 with XP dumped on them as they join, but I'm willing to concede some ground to verisimilitude and have them be a set level with set abilities when they join. What I got is the absolute worst possible choice for my own enjoyment.

 

I just recruited Pallegina at level 5 and I think I still have 2 left to find and I'm thinking, am I gonna be able to level them up at all?

 

 

(ps I'm really enjoying the game which makes something like this sting all the worse)

[ChipMHazard]

Agreed. They should at the very least give us the option to choose if we want them leveled or have them be level 1 when they join. 

[RevBlue]

or.....you could IE mod them back to lvl1

[Luckmann]

or.....you could IE mod them back to lvl1

 

Yeeaaah, that's pretty buggy. I'd prefer them to just start "as is" on lvl1.

 

Actually I'd prefer level 2, I think; meaning they're at a point where they can be considered their own persons, but with plenty of space to grow in. It is apparently impossible to pick up, for example, Pallegina before level 4, which I consider completely unacceptable. That's 1/3 of the levels in the game and enough to make someone "beyond salvation".

[Magrusaod]

Yeah, I have come to the conclusion the only way I can enjoy their stories is to open the console and grant them the Attributes, skills, talents/abilities I would prefer them to have before playing with them. 

[RevBlue]

you min/maxers are hopeless. I can't think of a world where you'll be happy with anything

[Siven80]

I dont mind if they have attributes and some skills/talents set due to RP factor.

 

But beyond those few, i would then like to level them up as i see fit. 

 

Not to min/max, but to set them up how i want them to play.

[BobbinThreadbare]

Yeah, I have come to the conclusion the only way I can enjoy their stories is to open the console and grant them the Attributes, skills, talents/abilities I would prefer them to have before playing with them. 

Strange, I never said I didn't enjoy their stories. You know what I also enjoy? Picking new abilities and leveling up characters. There is no good reason why I can't have both.

 

you min/maxers are hopeless. I can't think of a world where you'll be happy with anything

I have given two examples of how I would be happy.

[AncientToaster]

you min/maxers are hopeless. I can't think of a world where you'll be happy with anything

 

Why is it suddenly Min/Max to be able to choose the skills of companions at level up?

 

We should be happy that the game auto picks absolute tripe at level up for us?

[Zarkhes]

People, these are companions.Their purpose is to guide you trough story, give you some information, and provide lore, humor and immersion.Why are you so obsessed with their atributes, skills and tallents?

If this is your first playtrough, just forget all about min/maxing, effective builds, and sqeezing the last drop of efficency.I am pretty sure i ****ed up character creating since i forbid myself to gather any info before i play it trough at least once.And guys what, my party is capable.Enjoy your experience with this beautiful game...

If this is your 2nd, hire adventurer or even better create one trough console (I dont know why i should be penalized by playing with party of my choosing).

[Gotcha!]

I completely agree with OP. Having characters auto-level like this makes me want to avoid all quests and just run across the whole map to pick up party members.

In my opinion it'd be at least a good idea to limit the maximum level your potential party members can get before pickup, so you won't meet up with a character with ridiculously poor skill choices and no room left for improvement.

[Luj1]

I completely agree with OP. Having characters auto-level like this makes me want to avoid all quests and just run across the whole map to pick up party members.

 

 

+1 my thoughts exactly

[ChipMHazard]

People, these are companions.Their purpose is to guide you trough story, give you some information, and provide lore, humor and immersion.Why are you so obsessed with their atributes, skills and tallents?

 

Because that's what defines how useful they are? What a silly, silly question. Oh and it's not about their attributes as leveling them up yourself will only allow you to pick their abilities. 

 

There's nothing wrong in people wanting to make the companions as useful as possible so they can play with them on higher difficulty instead of playing with mostly mute hirelings with no personalities. 

Edited April 6, 2015 by ChipMHazard

[PugPug]

Ugh I don't like autoleveling, either. I like to make the choices myself. Looks like I'll be metagaming on my first playthrough to find them as quickly as possible.

[Magrusaod]

you min/maxers are hopeless. I can't think of a world where you'll be happy with anything

 

Yeah, no. In a party based game where you are being threatened by hostiles everywhere you go. Combat viability is important for each member of the group. Tactical aspects must be considered here, as it's a tactical combat system inherent in the game. Those companions only really work for 1 type of main PC, a DPS carry type PC. If you go any other route, you are really in for a long, exhausting play through that is just frustrating. Why? The way their attributes and talents are setup. 

 

In a party based RPG with a high tactical element to the combat system, having the ability to simply create each member of your team to perform in a way you wish them to perform will give you enjoyment, control, and confidence in your party in order to succeed. A group that functions well together, with each member filling a role within the party. With the companions, they offer dialogue, and a body to soak damage, while your PC does stuff. Which is sad, they don't offer much else. 

[Daemonjax]

It's definitely optimal to rush to find all your companions as early as possible to control their level-up choices.

 

It would be better if we could control that.

[Luj1]

No its not optimal. Optimal is to enjoy the game at a pace of your own choosing. This is just forcing the player to rush the game.

[Daemonjax]

No its not optimal. Optimal is to enjoy the game at a pace of your own choosing. This is just forcing the player to rush the game.

 

When I said optimal, I was referring to it being the optimal meta-game strategic choice.

[Luj1]

They could just implement an option to choose between manually leveling companions, and letting them do it automatically on level-up.

 

Worked well in SWKotOR I-II.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Luj1

[Noctaem]

IE mod allows you to respec any character you want as has been mentioned and it's not buggy at all.  It worked perfectly well for me.  Some of the auto-level picks they choose are trap options that no character should take.  Pardon me for preferring not to have to deal with that...

[Luj1]

IE mod allows you to respec any character you want as has been mentioned and it's not buggy at all.  

 

 

 

Cant wait for that mod to become more polished :D

 

 

 

Some of the auto-level picks they choose are trap options that no character should take.  Pardon me for preferring not to have to deal with that...

 

 

 

Amen. Fuc**** field triage...

 

 

[Volourn]

Quite frankly, in a real RPG, these npcs would choose ALL their abiltiies for themselves. But, since it is a 6 headed monster c'est la vie. Of course, it's fun to choose abilities but it hurts the role-playing.

[KDubya]

Having the stats set by the game is fine, keeps you from min maxing all the companions and lets them all have their own flavor.

 

Letting them start at level one and giving you the ability to set their skills and talents would be way better and allow for more role playing choice and replay value.

 

For example take Eder; I got him at level two and he had already chosen knockdown and weapon focus ruffian. The knockdown is not terrible but having the option to go with Disciplined Barrage for a short term accuracy buff to spike DPS at the start of combat would have been better. Locking you into using sabre, stiletto, club, pistol and rod is just terrible. If you wanted Eder to wield two handed weapons too bad for you. If you wanted to use any other weapons you are jacked out of a talent, where you only get a few so each one counts.

 

The Ranger Sagani also suffers from having chosen Peasant weapon focus locking her into using hunting bows or blunderbuss, both which suffer from low damage and a problem penetrating DR.

 

It would have been great for it to have been an option in the game. Next play-through I will check out the mods that will address this oversight.

[sultryrose]

People, these are companions.Their purpose is to guide you trough story, give you some information, and provide lore, humor and immersion.Why are you so obsessed with their atributes, skills and tallents?

 

If this is your first playtrough, just forget all about min/maxing, effective builds, and sqeezing the last drop of efficency.I am pretty sure i ****ed up character creating since i forbid myself to gather any info before i play it trough at least once.And guys what, my party is capable.Enjoy your experience with this beautiful game...

 

If this is your 2nd, hire adventurer or even better create one trough console (I dont know why i should be penalized by playing with party of my choosing).

I agree with OP as well. There is nothing in their stories that explains their choices in stats, skills or spells. Allowing us to build them as we like wouldn't change that in the least.

[BobbinThreadbare]

Quite frankly, in a real RPG, these npcs would choose ALL their abiltiies for themselves. But, since it is a 6 headed monster c'est la vie. Of course, it's fun to choose abilities but it hurts the role-playing.

They don't auto-level once you get them, only beforehand. I'm asking for consistency. If they're not going to level themselves after I get them, they shouldn't before either.