What do you like in a follower mod? : V

» Fri Oct 24, 2014 12:48 pm

Some time in the future, I intend to work on a follower mod. By some time, I mean quite a while. I want to release the first version of http://www.darkcreations.org/forums/forum/795-immersive-quests/ first, and from there it will have updates as I add more quests and fix bugs. But after that first release, I won't be working quite so hard on adding new quests and such and I may well allow more quest designers to come onto the team. So I'll have some free time, and my next big project (if I don't burn out...) I would love to have as a follower mod.

First - my inspirations

(May contain spoilers about some of these mods)

http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/3027/? - Oblivion Follower Mod

Spoiler

I watched https://www.youtube.com/user/SpiffySquee Let's Play of Oblivion some time ago, and a major part of his RPing LP was Ruin. Ruin was a follower with several new features, but the coolest part was his engaging and long questline, which included deep conversations that impacted the quest and it's endings in a myriad of ways (oh yes - the quest had multiple endings and twists throughout based on the player's decisions). You really got to know Ruin as a character, so when he finally did die in the end of the questline, I actually found myself crying. However, Ruin was also an unvoiced follower, which is something I don't want. He could be a little buggy at sometimes, and his philosophical questions were timed so horribly - and I mean horribly - that after having him as a companion for 5 days, he was already going on about how he had traveled with me for some time and was considering romance. Part of this was Oblivion's scripting limitation - timing in it was notoriously hard, but still, this is something I would like to avoid. It was quite immersion-breaking. Also, when he wanted to speak to you, if you decided to access one of his follower options while say, in a dungeon, you had to go through this long conversation first. One of the mod author's later follower mods rectified this, but it lacked other features I would have enjoyed and so I didn't play with it long.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/40960/? - Skyrim Follower Mod

Spoiler

I've not yet played 2.0, but INIGO is my favorite follower mod for Skyrim by far (you can find my review http://skyrimmw.weebly.com/skyrim-mod-reviews/inigo-skyrim-mod-review). He's got advanced follower features, including many more as of 2.0, and has lots of dialogue. I mean LOTS - thousands upon thousands of extremely well voiced dialogue that is quest, location, etc. aware. Also, he's got a great personality. A quest for him is in the works, and the foundation for a larger quest has already been laid in 2.0. There aren't as in-depth conversations as Ruin's story, but there are many great conversations you can have. I have no idea how much they'll impact his quest as of yet.

There are plenty of other great mods with advanced features and great quests (Vilja is one, though I couldn't continue playing her because there were some things that irked me too much) that I take inspiration from, but these are the biggest ones.

Second - What I look for

Good voice acting
Well-written dialogue, including idle dialogue and such that is quest aware, location aware, lots-of-things aware
New follower features - some of my favorites include Inigo's Any thoughts? where he'll tell you about his surroundings; a toggleable quest marker so you can find your follower; a summon follower spell for the same reason as the former; a regard system like that of http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53754/? - I'm very into the player's actions affecting characters
Customizability - the ability to customize their combat style, following distance, and much, much more - mostly through the follower, though I wouldn't be averse to an MCM (which I am quite well versed in)
A good character - this one is very important. I have to like, or at least feel for (or perhaps dislike and come to like) the character in question. Otherwise they're bland and boring, like many of Skyrim's vanilla followers
Player Impact - I like it when the player's actions/thoughts/what they say impacts the follower. Probably not to the extent of Ruin - the character of Ruin was very malleable, unlike most real people (though Ruin had a reason). But like Arissa. A system where the follower has a dislike/like for the player, and depending on their respect of the player, may adopt some of what the player wants
Questline - not as important as a good follower, but I enjoy a good questline. Ruin is a fantastic example. My main skill is also quest creation (which happens to include many parts of follower creation), so that may be part of it.
Not skimpy - I like my followers realistic and interesting. As such, my follower would likely be male. Nothing against female followers/characters/whatever, but many follower mods are skimpy females with the vanilla follower functionality which get a bunch of endorsemants. There are also not a lot of male follower mods. And no matter what, there wouldn't be any skimpiness or whatever. It's just not something I would spend my time making - I want to like my own mod.

Third - Wrapping it up

I'd love it if you shared your thoughts on this matter. What do you like in a follower? Voting in the poll is great, but if you could also post to explain your thoughts or go into more detail, I'd appreciate it very much.

Also note that this may or may not come about as a mod, and if it does it will be some time away, but without your feedback it likely won't be created at all.