Designing the perfect RPG companion

[ds]

The perfect companion in an RPG is the one who repeatedly shoots you in the back with his submachine gun, especially right at the end of a long fight that you're on the verge of winning.

Which is why you do not give him submachine guns.

You give him a minigun instead, right?

 

[Marat]

A companion that is integrated into a story where they play a role. They have a logic for existing, for accompanying the player, and an equally strong if not stronger logic for staying on with the player once their story is resolved. Most companions should actually be temporary, and no game that I have played has worked them into a narrative in a believable or disbelief-suspending way. They are usually presented as thinly veiled mechanical helpers, pack wagons, ego massages, or some mixture of all the above.

Agreed, but why stop there? I'd say the most interesting companions would be those who actively alter how the story/quests/encounters play out. Joshua Graham in Van Buren comes to mind as a rather emphatic example.

Also I'd say companions resistant to psychoanalysis/-therapy are interesting, the kind who won't let their entire personality be subverted by a few conversations and a resolution of a deep, dark secret from their past. Generally the kind that don't "know" they are a companion to a protagonist, but their own person with their own shit going on.

 

[Old Hans]

my perfect rpg companion would wear a different fancy hat every day and they would have 10 ZILLION lines of dialog

 

[thesecret1]

A character with a fun, well-written story to follow, one that reacts to the shit that's happening around him (so that he'd never that mute character standing in the background) and who can preferably alter the course of the story based on whether he is or isn't present at important parts of the plot. Bonus points if the character is weak in combat terms (but not too squishy so as not to be annoying by getting one-shot or whatever) so as to present an additional "challenge mode" (since your performance will suffer compared to taking a more skilled companion along), preferably with a special side-story/ending provided as a reward for undertaking this challenge (possibly only available at highest difficulty? It feels like cRPGs are never difficult enough)

 

[Sigourn]

Best companion.

 

[Desiderius]

Thread title.
What are the qualities and attributes you are looking for in a companion?
Loyalty? Strength?
Try to design your perfect companion.
Or perhaps companions should be ditched entirely in favor of a party designed from the ground up by the player?

Morte

 

[FA7]

Morte

I don't trust the Gith I say we leave him behind.

 

[Baron Tahn]

Yeah it doesnt get much better than Morte really. Its crazy how much better companions were in general back then with way less voicelines and way less animation budget.

Writing is hard and expensive I guess. Unless you just hire some failed creative writing uni student with half a degree, probably.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

way less animation budget.

That ain't fair, dude's just a skull. And microsoft assistants probably had more animations than he.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Soloing is the way

 

[BING XI LAO]

I like the BG1 companions. cool voicelines and excellent portraits, no bullshit past that.

 

[Saldrone]

I think a good sign of great companion design is that the companion has some unique mechanical quirks that the player couldn't replicate during PC creation such as having an exclusive weapon/armor set/ability, etc (or a more specific example, Viconia's magic resistance and Edwin's amulet in Baldur's Gate) so the player has less good reasons to make a customized party or doing the journey alone.

 

[frajaq]

- Cute
- Funny

 

[NecroLord]

I like the BG1 companions. cool voicelines and excellent portraits, no bullshit past that.

Khalid...
How did that stuttering fool land a piece of ass like Jaheira?
Useless fuck.
Kagain is alright, as is Minsc (though his HEY BOO LETS FIGHT EVIL RAAAAAAGH shtick gets rather annoying after a while).

Yeah, I guess most of 'em are alright.

 

[Saldrone]

I like the BG1 companions. cool voicelines and excellent portraits, no bullshit past that.

Khalid...
How did that stuttering fool land a piece of ass like Jaheira?
Useless fuck.
Kagain is alright, as is Minsc (though his HEY BOO LETS FIGHT EVIL RAAAAAAGH shtick gets rather annoying after a while).

Yeah, I guess most of 'em are alright.

Gameplay-wise he is a bit mediocre for a fighter. Aside from having a great DEX and CON his real redeming quality is his proeficiency in wielding Varscona due to his pathetic STR (This is mitigated as soon you get the Hands of Takkok, but you're near at the end of the game at that point)

 

[jaekl]

I like it when they're expendable but with just enough personality to be humanised so when they die in combat you go "Aww man I liked him... shit, oh well." then you loot his corpse and continue on your adventure.

 

[Sigourn]

- Cute
- Funny

Sill can't stop winning bros.

 

[agris]

A companion that is integrated into a story where they play a role. They have a logic for existing, for accompanying the player, and an equally strong if not stronger logic for staying on with the player once their story is resolved. Most companions should actually be temporary, and no game that I have played has worked them into a narrative in a believable or disbelief-suspending way. They are usually presented as thinly veiled mechanical helpers, pack wagons, ego massages, or some mixture of all the above.

Agreed, but why stop there? I'd say the most interesting companions would be those who actively alter how the story/quests/encounters play out. Joshua Graham in Van Buren comes to mind as a rather emphatic example.

Also I'd say companions resistant to psychoanalysis/-therapy are interesting, the kind who won't let their entire personality be subverted by a few conversations and a resolution of a deep, dark secret from their past. Generally the kind that don't "know" they are a companion to a protagonist, but their own person with their own shit going on.

Maybe. Done rarely and well, it’s fantastic. Done regularly, it’s rote.

I vastly prefer the Fallout 1 style of light-weight companions vs Everyone-is-Durance, or whatever.

 

[LabRat]

Maybe a companion like Kei Nanjo(Persona 1) or Gale(DDSAT) who also has decent development in main story, and even more like protagonist than the player. The player is a cliche silent RPG protagonist with no special backstory. Only make important choices in main story.

 

[Butter]

Maybe the Disco Elysium approach has its merits. Do one companion (I know you can get Cuno if Kim dies) and make him really good. Better than having seven or eight that are all half-assed.

 

[luj1]

Companions should have stayed on the level of BG1 and NwN

 

[NecroLord]

I vastly prefer the Fallout 1 style of light-weight companions vs Everyone-is-Durance, or whatever.

Yeah.
And Fallout 2.
They don't talk your ear off and you can even alter their combat behavior to some extent.

Arcanum also has some great companions.
Virgil, Magnus, Dog, Franklin Payne, Torian Kel.

 

[HumanTotemPole]

I like the BG1 companions. cool voicelines and excellent portraits, no bullshit past that.

Earl Boen does an excellent job as Montaron in particular. Some all-timer NPC threatening the player lines.

 

[luj1]

Arcanum also has some great companions.
Virgil, Magnus, Dog, Franklin Payne, Torian Kel.

Arcanum and KotOR perhaps the only games where I actually liked companions, but it should have stopped there

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Highly involved nu-Bioware NPCs generally aren't the problem. It's poorly written ones. The true poison chalice was romances. It took the emphasis off adventure and combat, and corrupted RPGs into ego-stroke and social degeneracy. It was inevitable as technology advanced; however, I do fully sympathize with claims that NPCs have become overbearing. The personalities in Dragon Age were a drag. Yet, the strong cast is part of what made the ME series good. Planescape: Torment NPCs are every bit as involved as those in Pillars of Eternity--they were just good. The former was elevated by them, the later burdened. It's all about execution.

That said, I would have been happy to stay at the BG2 level of involvement.