Companion Genders (small spoilers)

[Jemeryl]

Just wanted to share one of my impressions of the game. I'm four hours in, I've just gotten my fifth companion, and all five companions are male. Except, of course, for Calisca, who I didn't count because she dies in the opening. That's extremely conspicuous.

 

This makes me feel really cynical and jaded. On top of the that the first two companions I felt are quite stereotypical - gruff warrior and witty elf wizard. 

 

Now I haven't played very much of the game, and I'm sure there are female companions in there (somewhere) but honestly I was expecting more of a 50-50 split and this is really disappointing. I hope it turns around. 

[Starwars]

In before SJW and Gamergate warring.

 

There are 3 female companions in the game.

[NathanH]

The split is 5-3 male-female. But it is odd that the 3 female ones all take a while to reach.

[mph]

4 out of 10 companions in the game (including 2 early ones) are female, so pretty close to 50-50. Also, without spoiling too much, one of the male ones can count as about 0.7 male and 0.3 female, or something like that. I'm not sure, it's complicated

[Longknife]

Just wanted to share one of my impressions of the game. I'm four hours in, I've just gotten my fifth companion, and all five companions are male. Except, of course, for Calisca, who I didn't count because she dies in the opening. That's extremely conspicuous.

 

This makes me feel really cynical and jaded. On top of the that the first two companions I felt are quite stereotypical - gruff warrior and witty elf wizard. 

 

Now I haven't played very much of the game, and I'm sure there are female companions in there (somewhere) but honestly I was expecting more of a 50-50 split and this is really disappointing. I hope it turns around. 

 

 

If you cannot enjoy a game because the gender ratio is not perfectly even at 50-50, you're an idiot.

[Starwars]

... and there we go, good job!

[Greensleeve]

... and there we go, good job!

 

It was rather impressive how long it took. 

[cavemandiary]

The split is 5-3 male-female. But it is odd that the 3 female ones all take a while to reach.

 

Perfectly congruent with real life #foreveralone

[Zwiebelchen]

I was wondering why some of the companions are spread out so far towards the end of the game... guess that makes for an interesting metagame experience of "collecting your party" early, but it's also very impractical for people that play the game for the first time and don't know the locations of the companions.

 

Just saying, is there a real point in, f.ex. the placement of Sagani so far out? She could have been placed basicly anywhere in the wilderness...

[NathanH]

 

The split is 5-3 male-female. But it is odd that the 3 female ones all take a while to reach.

 

Perfectly congruent with real life #foreveralone

 

I see it now...the game is suggesting that women are all reprehensible gold-diggers that only join you if you've got a Stronghold to flaunt. Disgusting sexist Obsidian. To the twittermobile!

[Taear]

I agree, I almost felt like my character should have been a female in my first playthrough due to the fact that everyone I was recruiting was a man.

In fact in my second playthrough I have three women and they're all self-created because Sagani is a terrible class and GM/Pellagina take a while to pick up.

[Rosveen]

Five? You missed Sagani on your way to Hiravias. Anyway, while having 8 companions was a perfect setup for an equal 50/50 split, I can live with 37.5/62.5. My character was female, so it evened out. It's true that some take longer to get, which is a problem especially for Hiravias and the Grieving Mother - I was well over halfway through the game before I found them (yes, I know you can technically reach them earlier than Pallegina, but did you on your first run without previous knowledge of their location?) 

 

 On top of the that the first two companions I felt are quite stereotypical - gruff warrior and witty elf wizard. 

What's an RPG without a warrior and a mage in the first location? Be glad Mechanics isn't a class skill or we'd recruit a rogue in Gilded Vale too. I don't think Aloth is all that witty, though, he's rather subdued. His occasional passionate comments are, uhm... a spoiler. And Eder easily won the favorite companion poll here on the forum, so give him a chance.

[Althernai]

It's unfortunate that this discussion is colored by the recent debates on a nearly unrelated topic because the complaint in the original post is quite fair. There's only one female companion in the entirety of Act 1 (which took me much longer than 4 hours) and she's extremely temporary. It does change in Act 2 and the three that are there are very good, but the placement is not optimal.

[Valmy]

 gruff warrior and witty elf wizard. 

 

 

Eder is gruff? Wha? I mean he is exactly the opposite of that.

 

And I have to say Aloth is not your typical Elf Wizard...

Edited April 14, 2015 by Valmy

[Legbiter]

Take it to tumblr, snowflake.

[Ineth]

Just wanted to share one of my impressions of the game. I'm four hours in, I've just gotten my fifth companion, and all five companions are male.

 

I gotta admit, I found that curious too. Though in my case it was "just" the first four, not five.

 

Another gender imbalance in this game: The male voice-overs range from decent to perfect, while the female voice-overs are generally pretty lackluster/unfitting/unconvincing imo. Which is strange - isn't it usually the other way around in cRPGs?

 

However, you're wrong about this:

 

On top of the that the first two companions I felt are quite stereotypical - gruff warrior and witty elf wizard.

 

Come on now, Edér is not like that.

 

He has this refreshing mix of optimism and stoicism that makes him great to have around, and is all too rare in game NPCs (so pretty much the opposite of "stereotypical").

 

Aloth's character does seem pretty flat though before his personal quest starts, I'll give you that.

[Exyll]

this is not even worthy of a post, at least not here, maybe on some women rights board if thats where you're going with this

political agendas through video games...wtf

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Just wanted to share one of my impressions of the game. I'm four hours in, I've just gotten my fifth companion, and all five companions are male. Except, of course, for Calisca, who I didn't count because she dies in the opening. That's extremely conspicuous.

 

This makes me feel really cynical and jaded. On top of the that the first two companions I felt are quite stereotypical - gruff warrior and witty elf wizard. 

 

Now I haven't played very much of the game, and I'm sure there are female companions in there (somewhere) but honestly I was expecting more of a 50-50 split and this is really disappointing. I hope it turns around.

1 post

Joined 15 minutes before posting this

Son, I'd say your trolling needs work but some folk did take the bait.

 

[Longknife]

Son, I'd say your trolling needs work but some folk did take the bait.

 

 

In my defense, I thought the same, but figured "whatever I'll say my thoughts and split."

[Ohioastro]

Yes, I think that we should resist feeding a single post person who is pushing hot buttons. 3 or 4 out of 8 is not all guys.

[NathanH]

Regardless of whether it's a troll post, it's an interesting point. It's unusual for these sorts of party-based games to give only men at the start of the game. I suppose Pallegina has to be in Defiance Bay, and both Sagani and Grieving Mother need you to be a revealed Watcher when you first meet them, and so they have to be gated behind the Stronghold.

[Althernai]

You are revealed to be a Watcher upon speaking to the dwarf woman hanging on the tree though. Sagani could easily have gone in any of the wilderness areas near Guilded Vale and not trigger the relevant dialog (much like Eder does) on the off chance that somebody went wandering before doing the Watcher quest.

[NathanH]

Yes, that's fair enough. Indeed, why not restrict leaving Gilded Vale until that point anyway?

 

So they could put Sagani on the road to the stronghold. That'd give you a full 6 member party too, although perhaps they specifically didn't want that so early.

Edited April 14, 2015 by NathanH

[Wulfram]

The text with the choice of gender in character creation makes it seem like most "adventurers" in Eora probably are male.  Or more precisely, it seems like male adventurers would be more common in Dyrwood, Aedyr and the Vaillian republics, while female adventurers would only be more common in Naasitaq.