I like to think that whatever happens with my companions after they joined me is way more significant than whatever troubled childhood they had in the past. That's why I prefer to have lots of them, even if most should be fairly "bland", and that's why FNNCQ is one of my favourite Fallout 3 mods, since it lets me have my three slave bodyguards (a hunter, a raider [censored] and an enclave officer, by the way), but requires me to put some effort into getting and training them, strengthening the emotional bond I have to these NPCs.

It's very likely that the generic companions are nothing more than an implementation of Companion Share & Recruit except it isn't scripted. It will be a toggle in NPC creation right beside the Essential Flag that will allow any NPC to be recruited. The only thing required for development is some dialog options for recruiting. If this is the case (and i'd bet my left nut it is) then it really doesn't take away from the time that can be devoted to fleshing out the few unique followers that will be present.

I don't mind any companion, but I don't really like the way it was implemented in most games where they're all acted like your subordinates, or 'shadows' if you will, who would just trail behind you mindlessly all the time (well except if you're a guild master or something). And for Skyrim personally, I'd rather to have most of them to behave like someone your equal, with their own things to mind (which is to say they're just these fellow adventurers, or someone who really just struggling to make ends meet the best way the could,) whose assistance to you is more situational in nature. Of course that you can increase your disposition, or somehow losing it (quarreling over loot shares, a grudge over your sudden decision to abandon them deep within a dungeon in a middle of nowhere, etc.) and eventually made them this random, recurring nemesis of yours is a nice thing to have. Nothing really "deep", but somewhat 'alive' and believable enough is just fine by me.

But I'm much more inclined to work alone though. That's just how I view my TES experience should be.

The only companion I need is my balde, people just get in the way

From what I've seen the best implementation of companions that feel like they are truly alive in a (3d) RPG game is coming this year with the Witcher 2. Let's see if they were not overhyped.

Generally, companion "depth" consists of a few lines of dialogue at certain points or a few optional questlines. It is usually quite shallow and overall adds little, while not allowing the palyer to select the range of companions that they would like.

I'm quite pleased with the direction they're going.

The best companion would be Multiplayer non MMO up to 4 maximum.
The best way was NMN.
I would care for AI only i i can give a great deal of orders.

It depends on the rest of the game, really. In a sandbox game like the Elder Scrolls, though, I definitely prefer more companions with less depth. Hell, I think they should try to get as close to having every NPC be a possible companion as they can without breaking the game in half. Player agency is important.

If how much you are able to carry is gimped then I will need a few smurf sla...err helpers and I do not give a rats [censored] what their story is.I just hope they are smart enough to live long enough to get my stuff back to town.

Exactly.

I would have said this as well until I listened to the podcast, so to quote old Worm here who is quoting Todd Howard from the podcast:


So, as he says, there will be both. So we will have a lot of companions being on the Fallout 3/Oblivion level. Then some that are more akin to New Vegas with deeper personalities.

I voted for alone, but the Oblivion mod ARREN was very fun.

If I had to define what I'm most interested in playing at this stage it would be:
- 1 long term companion, preferably an animal.
- lots of temporary companions for quests with larger scale battles. I don't really what the player character to be so powerful that they can defeat 'everyone' alone.

Quantity over quality once again, I see. Ah well, all the more reason to ignore that feature and work alone. I just hope the list of features to ignore doesn't grow too big...

Just my thoughts thrown inn.

I like quantity (on this subject). Todd talked about the possibilities of every npc being your companion, but they dropped it. But i will guess that they will make a huge amount of the npcs (especially the ones not related to quests) be your companion. This could add a significant boost to the importance of speech-craft. Earlier we have had just some few benefits like lying in fallout to get the key or something like that. Now speechcraft can be important to the aspect of combat.

- "Dont flee from the dragon! Help me!" - "All right! Your speech-craft is awesome, so i will join!" And so you defeated the dragon with his help and he became your companion through the rest of the game, bla, bla, bla... happy Hollywood ending.

With just a few npcs there will not be so many opportunities to get help for quest and exploring. Having a huge number would make you able to persuade common people you meet along your journey to join you?

An last: Why does the companion need a long back-story, when you can create a new unique story as you journey across the mountains of Skyrim?

I never really used companions in FO3 (havent played NV or any of the OB mods as im on a 360 hissss i know) But i never really liked them I only every used Fawkes cus he was a friggin tank and wouldn't die very easily. So generally i work alone in this regard. And i would hate to have the mentality of :flamethrower: "collecting them all"

However i do believe that the wealth of companions we will interact with will help in some of the aspects of the game. Like what if you came across a dragon that was much higher level then you and you knew you could not defeat it. You might be able to rally the nearby town folk to get off there AI routes and help you slay the beast.
Also you may have to help decide which political faction will win the war. So by making friends and going from town to town you can ask people to side with your faction(hell even make your own and try to rule skyrim for yourself with your new army). And since we do have both it might be fun to find out that Farmer John, some guy who you picked up in a bar to help with a goblin problem, turns out to be a complete badass and has an awesome back story and a bit of personality and not just a nice guy who is helping you.

I work alone and refuse to use companions of any kind. If forced upon me, they will have to fend for themselves because I'll stab in the back if they get in the way of my sword.

I work alone unless it's a companion that should come with me for something. Depth isn't needed for companions that won't stay for much time, only for companions that have a reason to stay.

If I had to choose between the two options, I would choose to have the lesser number of characters with some background and personality.




Ideally, I would like there to be at least a few companions like this, but still leave the option of getting additional companion assistance for battles (like the soldiers or mages in Oblivion).

I dont want companions along with their own backstories this is my game and they have the back story I choose to believe in for them, they are with me just so the world feels more alive that is it, stand here guard this spot, now you over here and look busy, you work in house ask about my day and remark on the weather, if I get this much itll be like real to life and just like being married.

I sort of like the idea of having a lot of companions with a sacrifice to character depth. It adds more depth to the game in itself, where as you don't know which characters will be available for companionship. In FO3 there were only maybe 6 companions you could team up with, but you soon knew where they all were and what you needed (karma) in order to get them. But with Skyrim, since they are so many companion options you won't know where they all are, so each time you start a new character your companion possibilities are a lot more unknown and larger.

The only time I've ever liked having a companion around during fighting in any open world game was my first modded play-through of Oblivion with Ruin-Tail. It felt horribly lonely afterwards, even now.
So yea, quality over quantity. Make 2-3 companions and give them a unique Elder Scrolls specific background -Shadowscales for example- so it helps develop the lore and their character more while simultaneously helping the companion not appear stereotypical and I will use one.

I voted 'I work alone' simply because I hate shallow companions without personality I would rather have just one extremely well done companion than many bland cannon fodder. Besides which I am the HERO.

the so called depth of FO3 and NV was hardly worth having only a couple. TES is more about your own character any ways.

I work alone, however, if companions were actually interesting to work with then I would choose to use companions.