Which Companions for Best Story Experience

[Eternal250]

Im about to start my first proper playthrough on hard and i want to know what everyone thinks is the best party for the story.

 

So far ive been thinking Eder, Aloth, Durance(no matter how much i dislike him)

 

Who does everyone else prefer in their party?

[Armanz]

In the following order (imho, obviously):

 

Durance is the best companion, there's no debate possible there, even if you dislike him.

Next for me is Edér, he has a lot of dialogue and is also a fun companion and available right from the beginning.

Grieving Mother takes a bit to get to, but is written interestingly and has a lot of interaction.

Sagani, while not having the most interactions and greatest story is one of my personal favorites as well and has nice interaction with Edér. If I tried to be more objective, I would probably have to rate Aloth above Sagani.

Aloth has a pretty interesting story, but never appealed to me that much. In said setup a wizard would be pretty nice though and as I already mentioned he should be higher in my hierarchy :D

 

That would be a finished party already. Have to leave an honorable mention for Pallegina, though. If you don't make a tanky character, she would be a solid choice as well (I'd remove Sagani for her).

 

Hiravias and Kana Rua are on the weak side for me, although Hiravias has a couple fun lines throughout the game.

 

DLC wise I can't tell much, haven't had Zahua in the party (hate Monks) and neither the Devil of Caroc (too late in the game).

Maneha is fun, though and I'd rate her as high as Pallegina.

[Bob Hope]

It'll depend on what you think of the characters, really. My team of Ultimate Bros is

Eder

Aloth

Durance

Hiravias

Zahua

 

The first four are most closely tied to the setting, lore, and core conflict, and Zahua is my favourite character. He's expansion-only so if you just have the base game, sub in Grieving Mother. She's a... divisive character, but she also has a very personal interest in the main quest so it makes good sense to bring her along.

 

This is talking about the final dungeon, btw. For the rest of the game, feel free to swap characters out and see who you like.

 

Some general tips to enhance your story experience:

 

Grieving Mother is also tied somewhat to the area where you find her; keep her around when you're doing quests related to, or close to, that area, and you might find you have some extra options.

 

At one point the main quest will direct you to a place called Elms' Reach. Take Aloth with you the first time you go.

Also bring along Durance and Pallegina when you go there. Doesn't have to be the first time, but at some point you'll want to have them with you when you talk to certain plot-critical NPCs at that location.
 

SPOILER WARNING: at one point you will have to leave Defiance Bay and not be able to go back until you have reached Twin Elms. Try and arrange to have Pallegina in your party as soon as possible after leaving Defiance Bay; and don't forget to bring her back to the city as soon as you're able to.

[Natures Bounty]

On my first playthrough, I ignored the official companions and build a party of adventurers. That was a bad decision ;-). I had problems understanding certain parts of the story and the lore. On my second playthrough, the companions who were most important for the story and the lore were in my opinion: Durance, Aloth, and Eder. I would not leave one of those three out. They are so closely tied to the main story. Plus I would recommend grieving mother, she has a quite interesting, though a bit blurry personal quest, that also relates to the main story quite a bit. 

 

Note that you can solve all of the companion quests. You can switch a lot between party members, and I would recommend that because its fun and diversifies gameplay. 

 

The least important companion to me (storywise) is Sagani, plus Zahua, but I would not recommend leaving him out because his personal quest is fun and something different ;-).

Edited December 5, 2017 by Natures Bounty

[Crucis]

A little late to the party, but what the heck.

 

Given the overall size of the game, I suggest trying to use as many of the Companions as possible.  From my experience, it's possible to complete all of their personal quests and gain whatever XP is to be gained (not really that big a concern) and whatever special items might be gained (probably a bigger concern).

 

Furthermore, trying to play all or most of the Companions is a good way to learn the different classes.  And it can be very useful at certain points in the game, if you run into a situation where you have great difficulty with a certain party composition, to have a nice "bench" of backup companions back at your stronghold, ready and waiting for you.  You can then mix and match different lineups to see what works for you.  I remember once having trouble in a certain area with a lot of monks where I was having to reload relatively often and had trouble with a boss battle.  So I reloaded and trudged back to the stronghold, and switched up my lineup to one I felt would work better.  And it did.  I got past the boss battle a lot easier with a different lineup.

 

 

I'm not really sure that any of the Companions significantly affect the main story line.  (It's been a while since I did a run through.)  But each has their own personal story line.  Some are more conversational, while others are more action oriented.  But it's fun to do as many of them as possible.

 

My personal favorite Companion is Pallegina.  Largely because I absolutely love her accent.  Plus, she's a very capable character (paladin) with a unique paladin order and abilities.