I don't mind the occasional quest-related companion but apart from that, I prefer to adventure alone, and TES isn't really geared towards parties of adventurers.

(I would like to be able to summon multiple creatures at once again though.)

I don't care for companions, just don't like them. Usually useless in combat unless they are made godly (Boone in NV) but in a melee game they will just get in the way of my blows and magic, much like they did in FO3 and NV if they were a melee guy. Only good thing about them was that they were extra inventory space but most of the time I didn't even bother with that and just made an extra trip.

I don't really want highly detailed fleshed out companions to do everything with, but fighting alongside someone for some time, or during a quest should be fleshed out more. For example, in the higher ranks of the fighters guild, getting to take a lower ranked member to help you out would be nice, but then the AI should also be there to make them useful. Maybe have one button for simple orders like "go to" if you click on the ground, and "attack" if you click on an enemy and "survive" if you click on him/her. The same controls could be used to command summons. But maybe by clicking on switches or chests allowing human companions to either loot things or interact with things would be nice.

But it would also require dungeons to be done differently. wouldn't feel comfortable guiding an oblivion companion through a tunnel of swinging axes.

Companions are fine so long as you don't have to have anything to do with them.


I HATE companions in games, with a burning rage that makes those dragons look cuddly.

Yes.

As many of either as you wish.

That way people who want none don't have to take any, people who want one can take one and people who want a jolly band of adventurers can take as many as they want. Hurts nobody by not implementing a cap and by letting people choose if they want buddies.

EDIT: Although, I hope companions are smarter in combat if they are implemented because I was sad in OB whenever I become the bad guy for helping my buddies out. Plus I would want them to have somewhat complicated script packages like CM Companions or Companions Share and Recruit (mods) so they are actual people who I can tell them where we live and what to loot and how to behave in a dungeons, ect.

I like having a few companions, each with personal quests and developed personalities. I'd also like to see relationships between companions.

However, this being TES, I don't want companions to be able to follow us everywhere. I still want to feel like I have to deal with a lot of the main questline alone. I'd want companions to not be as hardy as the player, and in most cases, not any hardier than your standard NPC.

That is exactly why I do *not* want companions. One of my favorite things about TES series is that sense of isolation and total freedom from being dropped into an open world all alone... where you can go anywhere without worrying about anyone. Nobody would miss you if, instead of closing shut Oblivion gates, you went off into the wilderness and lived in a cave. I don't want some party of followers tagging along! If I want to talk to people, I'll go into a town. If I want to do quests I will, I don't want companions steering my RPG experience.


See, this I can make my peace with. If, for a certain quest or another, I need a temporary companion, that's ok. Escorting/rescuing people is an established tradition in TES. But, as dikeybird747 says, TES isn't about followers or group dynamics. If you want that, go play Dragon Age.

Well, we've already got companions in TES games. There's usually mercenaries, etc, and sometimes some quest related temporal companions. Other than that I'd really dislike it if I were forced to have permanent companions and take them a long all the time, like in Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect and many other games. I generally like the lone hero feel TES has always offered. But I guess that as long as companions are optional and don't affect non-companion gameplay adversely I would really not care.

But surely, OP: there are very few playable non-homanoids in TES. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanoid = anything or anybody resembling the build of the human skeleton in one way or the other. And I'd really hate to see the odd dragon, daedric minions and other creatures be companions.