Is it just me or are they utterly broken?

They seem to have this start-stop mentality when following. When I run backwards and watching Jenassa follow me she will just stop periodically and then run the 2km to catch up to me, then stop again. This really causes problems when it occurs in dungeons and you need help but your companion is standing in the previous hallway as though you're still there.

They don't understand the concept of sneaking. Even Jenassa, who fronts herself as a stealther, will just go ape with a 2 hander if an enemy gets too close, regardless of detection or not. If there is a group of enemies, and I kill one silently, there seems to be a split second where the arrow hits but before the enemy dies that causes her to, again, go crazy and run into the mob.

They fail at simple orders. "I can't do that." Why? I just told you unlock that chest, you have lock picks. "I can't do that." The problem was that the chest was facing the wrong way and my follower couldn't path around it to unlock it. Telling them to do anything while sneaking also causes them to stop sneaking.

They have no discretion when choosing enemies.
They have weird equipping habits.
They only follow at one distance.
They have nothing to say.
They don't show up on the minimap.

It's like Bethesda took the companions from Daikatana and put them in Skyrim hoping no one would notice.

They can open chests?! I didn't know that! Man, I gotta play more.

I find it funny how all the enemies in this game have no problem catching up to me and killing me while I'm sprinting away from them but my companion is always lagging behind.

Yep..

When I expect them to switch to their bows, I they don't.

When I expect them to tank hits, they switch to their bows.

Companions in fallout 3 are much more thought out.

ya, they should include an option to like only attack people who are attacking you.

so if there are enemies nearby that aren't attacking, they don't just run up and try to rambo them

and i think you should also be able to outfit / equip them however you want.

if i have a mage follower and i have mage equipment that has better buffs, but worse protection, i should be able to choose for them to equip it

and you should also be able to tell them how you want them to play, like use archery unless within melee range or something along those lines

I would normally say to stop whining and complaining but I completely agree with you. I'm so sick of having this so called companion follow me around, and then when s*** hits the fan shes an hour behind me and isn't there to help. I got so mad I ended up bringing her somewhere so she'd get outnumbered and was killed:).

I wish Lydia would stop walking over traps that I just walked around. :verymad:

Companions in Skyrim? Lol. They're just [censored] pack mules until Bethesda patches in more features to control their behavior or modders to it themselves.

lol yes this is very annoying as well

Ok they might be a pain in the butt , agree. But I like my Lydia. Yes she some times does stupid stuff. Yes she triggers traps and that get me (and her) killed few times .Yes she makes sneaking painful. Yes she is constantly lost.

But she can tank like a mofo! I was taking over that bandit hideout and she tanked 4 bandits at once (at master difficulty) . And she carries my luggage!

Lydia is indeed full of awesomeness and I overlook her occaisional careless behavior. I never leave for the wilds of Skyrim unless she is by my side. I do wish we could better control their behavior though.

Well. Lydia's tough. I'll give that to her.
I've turned and watched as she set off some traps I avoided.

One was where she set off one of those hallway-pendelum-axe-swinging traps. Kinda' amusing watching her get ragdolled all the way through it.
Another time she got caught in a floor section of flame spouting stuff. Kinda' disturbing watching her crawl through all the flames. I was rooting for her and searching to see if I had a heal companion spell... she was really struggling.

And I've put more than one arrow in her butt...

Haven't lost her yet though!

I usually take Lydia on all my adventures and I think she's great in combat as long as I stay out of her way and adapt to what she's doing, in terms of ranged vs. melee and who is tanking a mob. I do pull my hair right out in clumps when she gets lost/stuck though, she does it absolutely all of the time in my game.

I will be heading up a hill, expecting heavy resistance over the other side, and she'll be nowhere in sight. I'll be trying to climb a path up to a dragon lair, she'll be stuck on a rock three inches high. And, like you guys, my Lydia loves setting off every trap possible, or blocking my escape route when I get stuck in one. I've simply taken to telling her to wait at traps now, or manually telling her where to move with the orders crosshair (thank god you don't need to go in to conversation every time you want to use that).

I love them, I haven't played without a companion since I got the game.

I actually find Lydia to be a major help, and she hasn't glitched, bugged, or done anything to tick me off. Her equipping habits are predictable, she just equips the item with the most armor rating, or weapon with the most damage. I've jumped off cliffs, and she had to take the long way around, so there have been some annoyances, but I'm please overall.

For not being entirely scripted, the companion AI is fairly good. You can't compare it to games like Resident Evil, CoD, or other linear games, because the companion AI is scripted somewhat.

Lydia is also extremely helpful in dragon fights, because my Orc isn't allowed to use any range attacks besides shouts.

lol , i was mumbling that to mysel this afternoon while running from a couple of bears .

The companions are a bit poor , i wish they could be more engaging like in DOA . Having said that there are lots of them and they look like intresting characters and appear diffrent it just isnt fleshed out at all . Maybe its expecting to much from whats an amazing game thats done so much and has so much content already. I can also understand there pathing will never be great due to how large and varied the game is , sometimes they surprise you and do something great by accident .

Lydia is a great natural tank class. I always give her the best armor and shield with tanking stats like blocking and magic resistance bonuses. Anyone feeding her dps gear like 2 hand warhammers and such is doing it all wrong

I've found that Marcurio is very helpful. He's a mage Merc you can buy in Riften. Seems quite powerful and stays with me rather than lagging like what Lydia always did.

and why cant werewolf companions become a werewolf when you do? or at least dont forget that you happen to be their friend

I only tote Sven around as a meatshield and a pack mule. I do all of the fighting, really, and I always have to be careful not to execute him with a spell or a shout since he almost always go down in a fight.

A companion AI upgrade would be nice. DLC, Beth?

Lydia is somewhere lost in the wild

Cheers

I never travel with a companion. They always get in my way and I end up hitting them with friendly fire. I mean I'll be engaging an enemy with up close melee combat, really up close, like so close that there's no room between myself and my foe, and my companion will still find a way to slide in front of me and get nailed with my warhammer.

i had the same then i swapped from lydia to the female mage from the mage guild , because she uses bow/magic she very rarely gets in the way . Though with us both summoning it can get crowded in a small room

Tried using a companion once. Thought it'd be badass. It wasn't; never did it again.

Haven't had a problem with any of my companions. Sure they rush in, head on into the danger, but that's why I have a tank for a buddy and not a mage. I'll just sit back with my bow and snipe and when necessary, Heal Other to keep them alive. Worked out pretty good so far. And if they die... F9.