So what happened to her background? I'm comparing Piper and Curie and Cait.

Cait has all kinds of interesting background. She definitely has an attitude. Her personal quests require you to take Vault 95, which is a freaking bear to take when you're only level 17. You have to perform a procedure on her. And afterwards her opinion changes on some things, like you taking drugs and such. She's a new person with a new view on life.

Curie goes through even a bigger transformation when having to transfer 'her' into a Synth body. Though I must admit it felt like something major was cut out concerning the 'caretaker' of the body. She's like, "well I didn't know the Synth, it's costing me caps to keep the body alive, I'm thinking of unplugging her anyway, so sure just take it". I mean, there had to be something more there that just got cut or something. The whole caretaker thing was pointless. But, Curie of course has to go through a lot in changing bodies and the new sensations she now has and such and she actually comes up with new healing procedure.

Piper. Well Piper has a sister that may or may not end up like her. And that's ok. The end. I mean seriously, what the hell happened there?

You obviously haven't been talking or listening to Piper. Otherwise you'd know about her father, why he died and how that made her become a reporter. You can either continue to adventure with her to learn about her past. Or you can look it up on the http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Piper

*If you joined the railroad(and assuming she isn't dead) the Caretaker is instead Glory who talks about the Synth in question. So it seems you may not have met the actual caretaker but either a cover or a replacement. But there's still not a lot to the donor. She wanted a new life and a fresh start but the memory wipe failed.

It's all there, though you might have to get to maximum friendship to activate some of it. I've managed to romance Cait this time around.

I heard her story. But that's all it is a story. The others have some kind of 'quest' that needs done. She just talks and it's over. I really expected her sister to leave Diamond City to get some big story like her sister and get kidnapped or something and I'd have to rescue her. But no, nothing at all except some story and it's done.

To me, Piper's quest is basically letting her interview you for your vault story. Yes, it's not as meaty as Cait's that's for sure.

Not all of the companions have a "loyalty quest" like MacCready, Cait, or Curie. And I'm actually pretty okay with that.

So far I've gathered that:

- She lost her father and sleuthed the crap out of his killer.

- She was almost poisoned by Vadim.

- She was captured by the Children of Atom and was almost executed by them until she screamed, "ATOM! HE REVEALS HIMSELF!" and was indoctrinated into the Atom Church. So we're basically traveling around with an official member of the Church of Atom.

Not Vadim, Vadim was off that night. That's what tipped her off that something was wrong.

To the OP: I'm 50-50 on this. On one hand I do wish Piper had a more substantial quest. On the other, the Main Quest feels like her "quest". She's basically taking notes on exploits of the Sole Surviving Man/Woman Out of Time and the political ramifications of those exploits. If you take the Institute out of play that culminates in McDonnough revealing himself as a Synth, which was what she was saying all along.

All is not lost on this. There are official DLC not yet announced (don't hold your breath - Bethesda isn't known for using them to expand existing side characters, but all things are possible in an infinite universe) and modding tools are coming. You're not the only one who is not satisfied with the scantiness of her backstory, so someone will undoubtedly mod it at some point.

Not everyone has a quest, Deacon doesn't, nor does Strong or Codsworth.

Not every companion needs to be a wounded bird in need of the SS to help or fix them.

I dunno, being a controversial muckraker trying to fix her city's ills by exposing its flaws, making minor progress as more people turn against her, and worrying her cap off that her sister might some day follow in her path of intense sacrifice and hatred is pretty intense. Compared to removing half the descriptors of a violent junkie or turning a robot into a sixbot.

You've a good point. If all the companions had their own tragic past/psychological mess to get through, it would be borderline ridiculous. Curie, though, is more of "I want to have a human body to better study science and medicine" rather than "I have a tragic past, be my personal psychologist for me."/"I've unfinished business haunting me every waking moment, please help me put that to rest."

I'm actually OK with Piper's quest merely be "let me interview you". From her perspective, you're pretty damned amazing: The woman/man from another place and time. Not every day she runs across someone like that who wasn't a Ghoul.

And of course it isn't as meaty as Cait's because Piper doesn't have all that psychological baggage that Cait has. Not everyone has to have a horrifically traumatizing backstory.

Of course they do. Haven't you ever played an RPG before?

I haven't done a lot of the others for comparison, mainly just these three and Pipers stuck out like a sore thumb. At least in Skyrim I had to chop wood or something. Can't believe I miss even doing that.

PS - Wait, you mean Strong's doesn't have a quest where I have to find him Human milk? I was expecting some scene like from the movie Mad Max Fury Road.

I have, and having every other companion with a dark, troubled past can get kind of weird after a while. Like, "Cripes, MC, do you just hand out flyers that say: 'Suffering from a traumatizing event in your youth? I can be your personal, badass, psychologist. Contact me at 1-800-555-BADASS'?" But seriously, I always found it a bit...disconcerting. I mean, here is Sole Survivor helping Cait out through her trauma for instance but neither Cait nor any of the other companions sit Sole Survivor down and offer to help HIM/HER through the trauma of the Great War and seeing the spouse killed and child taken. I mean, the closest I can think of is a conversation with Nick Valentine where he asks you how you're holding together and if you'd like to talk to him about what you're going through. But even then, he just waxes on about his own personal problems.

Seriously? Do none of them give a [censored] to ask YOU if you're doing all right? If you need a shoulder to cry on? Or a walking, flesh-bag to pound your anger out on? It's like they expect your character to be the Rock of Gibraltar, never acknowledging that you might be suffering just as much as they are. That's what I never understood about RPGs that let you be your companion's personal psychologist. Where's the personal psychologist for you? Why aren't they helping you as much as you are them? I'm not saying Sole Survivor has to sob into Paladin Danse's arms every five minutes, I'm just wondering why the companions don't seem to care about your character enough to have a reversal quest where they help YOU out through your trauma?

- - - Change of Topic - - -

Piper's dad was killed by someone he thought he could trust. That can be pretty traumatizing. Not as bad as Cait's, of course, but still, can you imagine losing your parent to someone who was supposed to be on your side?

And no, there is no actual Milk Of Human Kindness for Strong.