Love the expansion, but...

[Grimo88]

REALLY disappointed that the new characters don't interact with other party members. You can't ask the original party members what they think about them, they have no banter, and generally, they are completely separate. Unfortunately, it also seems like the original voice cast were unavailable or too expensive. The NEW voice-acting is absolutely top notch, but there's a big, gaping hole where the original party members should be! 

[Bill Gates' Son]

WE must be playing two different games, because not only did I hear the old companions comment on a few things, but some of those lines were using voice acting as well.

[Killyox]

In general I really dislike how they made companions in POE huge missed opportunity. I can recommend everyone on the team playing Shadowrun: Dragonfall or Shadowrun: Hong Kong and see how they managed companion interactivity there. Here they could pretty much not exist at all.

 

Are the new ones at least more interactive than oldies?

[Grimo88]

WE must be playing two different games, because not only did I hear the old companions comment on a few things, but some of those lines were using voice acting as well.

Really? I've done heaps of side quests around Stalwart so far and still haven't heard a peep! 

[Lord_Mord]

I liked the companion interaction in the tutorial mission. They really had their own head, that was quite interesting. I want to see more of that and I wouldn't mind, if it really impacted gameplay, because the companions simply refuse to do this or that or want to do somthing else.

[DaveDanger]

I'm not inside the main dungeon yet but my party is Eder, Devil, Kana, Zahua, Aloth. Every few area transitions they talk to each other. New companions talk to each other and to old companions. Old companions have new things to say as you walk through expansion levels, too, and as you talk to NPCs. Of those, only the dialogue when speaking to other NPCs doesn't seem to be voiced, which would've been nice, but at least there are new lines there.

 

Pillars seems to use a limited number of voice actors, which makes sense on a small budget. You'd have to expect that cost was a limiting factor here. Expansions only sell a fraction of what the original game sells, and Obsidian did this one without asking for more money for it.

Edited August 27, 2015 by DaveDanger

[TheisEjsing]

I just had a banter between Zahua and Kana, so it's in there alright. And it's pretty damn funny!

[WorstUsernameEver]

The new companions seem to have about as much banter/interjections as the old ones, and definitely interact with the main game. That said, there isn't a *ton* of banter or interactions in this game compared to Obsidian's standards, and the new companions don't seem to buck the trend.

[Grimo88]

After starting White March with a fresh, level 5 party, I've found my party is talkative and interacting with the newbies! Before, I loaded from a pre-End Game autosave with a max level party. They never said a word. Could this be a bug? 

[Brimsurfer]

Its a good game but companions are not so memorable like the ones in BGor PS:T.

 

I mean 5 years from now, i may only remember Durance from this game. But I played BG and PST a decade and a half ago and I still have fond memories of Minsc, Morte, Edwin, Anya, Viconia etc.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Brimsurfer