Best Lodge companion and why (not spoilers)

[TheRightDoorIsNotTheLeft]

Not spoilers, 

 

When you pick a Lodge companion, as your affinity rises they give you stuff. My picks:

 

1. Andreja: she gives you credits
2. Barrett: he gives you food

 

But there's the non-tangible stuff, like Sam Coe not complaining about the cold. Me: checks scanner for temperature when the other Lodge companions complain about the cold. 22 deg C. WTF? For me that's ideal temperature. I'm on metric, so I know exactly what 22 deg C feels like. Bethesda really didn't work that one out.

Edited December 10, 2024 by TheRightDoorIsNotTheLeft

[DocClox]

Andreja, certainly. Sarah is judgey, Sam sprinkles his dialogue with low level innuendo which, as a guy playing a guy, gets annoying very quickly. Barret is OK in small doses - just don't get him stared on his dead hubby.

 

Andreja then Sarah, I think. Although there's not much competition for the number two slot.

[Reigor]

It's funny. My wife adored Sam, called him a walking talking romance novel. She was quite upset when the main quest killed him. That said, unless the companion has the most bland personality ever or a blank slate like Skyrim companions, they will likely upset someone, especially if they are intended to be playersexual. 

 

I do think the Fallout4 companions were much better written than Starfield's. There were more choices as well on who to hang out with. 

 

I found most of the Constellation team insufferable because of the judgemental commentary they gave after finishing a faction quest. I actually caught myself muttering "shut up Sarah" more than once after finishing the Vanguard questline.

 

Thing is, it is our choice whether to have the Constellation companions around or not.  They are not necessary, especially with mods. 

[DocClox]

10 minutes ago, Reigor said:

It's funny. My wife adored Sam, called him a walking talking romance novel

 

I can see the appeal if you're a girl. But personally I could do without his comments about "riding my tail hard" or him sitting on the end of my bed when I wake up so he can ask how I slept.

 

"Sleep in your own room, you Brokeback reject! This is my space!"

[Reigor]

LOL

 

Yeah, a lot of the commentary could have been hidden behind dialogue walls. If the player is interested in the companion, then choose the flirt option and that opens up their dialogue for that sort of innuendo. Same with various aspects of their background like "Tell me more about your former wife/husband" and that checks a flag that the companion will talk about that. Then some sort of option like "let's keep things professional for now" to shut them up on those topics until the player expresses interest in them again.

 

A bit more work, but could have been done in the CK's dialogue trees. Along with having more non-Constellation companions fleshed out...oh and hiring an actual dedicated writing staff and scene directors. 

[TheRightDoorIsNotTheLeft]

13 hours ago, Reigor said:

It's funny. My wife adored Sam, called him a walking talking romance novel.

 

Funny. I thought of him as a whiny little bitch through most of the companion quest dialogues. Your wife didn't get that vibe?

[Reigor]

1 hour ago, TheRightDoorIsNotTheLeft said:

 

Funny. I thought of him as a whiny little bitch through most of the companion quest dialogues. Your wife didn't get that vibe?

 

Nope. Not at all. She liked how supportive he was. Different likes for different people. 

[DocClox]

On 12/10/2024 at 2:07 PM, Reigor said:

Yeah, a lot of the commentary could have been hidden behind dialogue walls. If the player is interested in the companion, then choose the flirt option and that opens up their dialogue for that sort of innuendo. Same with various aspects of their background like "Tell me more about your former wife/husband" and that checks a flag that the companion will talk about that. Then some sort of option like "let's keep things professional for now" to shut them up on those topics until the player expresses interest in them again.

 

To be honest, the whole thing's got Sweet Baby Inc's sticky finger prints all over it. Write the dialogue aimed at women and gays, and if it makes the straight guys uncomfortable, well that's just a bonus!

 

I'm not saying Starfield was a bad game, but it would have been so much more fun without the identity politics leeching away at it at every turn.

 

[idonotlikeusernames]

On 12/10/2024 at 10:57 AM, DocClox said:

Sam sprinkles his dialogue with low level innuendo which, as a guy playing a guy

 

Hey! Let gay guys like me have something too. I liked that about Sam. Less so the beard...........but fortunately there's mods for that. So, yeah, that is pretty much why Sam is the best lodge companion for me. Also loved taking him on the Vanguard missions. Sarah's rather obvious attempts at flirting also aren't hidden behind a dialogue labyrinth so why should Sam's be just because he is a sprite that looks male instead of female?

 

Sarah is next for me. She can be pretty fun(ny) sometimes. Kinda still Wish Matteo had been a companion instead of Vasco or Barrett though since he is unique among the lodge companions of having is own religiously coloured view as opposed to all the atheist scientists, which is refreshing, and from reading between the lines he gets up to some pretty fun exploits. Just wish we could share in that. Plus he looks cute by default whereas Sam requires a couple of mods. 

 

Now non lodge companions I wish were fleshed out more.......................but that is for another discussion.

Edited December 11, 2024 by idonotlikeusernames

[idonotlikeusernames]

On 12/10/2024 at 3:07 PM, Reigor said:

A bit more work, but could have been done in the CK's dialogue trees. Along with having more non-Constellation companions fleshed out...oh and hiring an actual dedicated writing staff and scene directors. 

 

You're preaching to the choir here. Maybe we'll eventually get something like a 3dnpc esque mod for Starfield. One can hope at least.

[TheRightDoorIsNotTheLeft]

On 12/10/2024 at 9:19 PM, Reigor said:

 

Nope. Not at all. She liked how supportive he was. Different likes for different people. 

 

No argument there. What did she think about the marriage dialogues? My thought, Emil phoned it in.

[TheRightDoorIsNotTheLeft]

10 hours ago, idonotlikeusernames said:

 

Hey! Let gay guys like me have something too.

 

No argument there. I only wish there was an actual dialogue team that fleshed out the dialogue a lot more. A lot of the dialogue choices were plain stupid, even if they were allowing for hetero or non-hetero relationships. 

[DocClox]

On 12/11/2024 at 6:34 PM, idonotlikeusernames said:

Hey! Let gay guys like me have something too

 

If the flirtation was properly gated like @Reigor ssuggests, we could all have something.

 

Also, Sarah flirts? Other than the cheesy "jet pack sex" jokes, I mean.

[Bluegunk]

As a silver gamer, so far as I'm concerned the Lodge Companions are a collective bunch of awfully written cliches. The sort of thing that would come out of a BBC comedy drama.

 

Andreja - miss Eastern Europe - is the only one of the Lodge crowd I can stand despite her judgmental jealousy. I can take her on missions and not feel like I have a carboard cutout at my side.  Sam and planet Akila are pure cowboy fantasy world - come on, a cowboy world in 2330? Seriously?  Blazing Saddles surely killed that off.

 

Sarah is ghastly in every respect with her sanctimonious British nanny act. All jolly hockey sticks and a romance that's right out of Mills & Boon (minus the bodice ripping).  Barrett is a barrel full of Men in Black movie cliches, but he does have a likeable voice. The others seem mentally unstable. And what's with that mystic bloke with a flight cap wedged on his head? For God's sake take it off. 

 

Vasco is a giant tin can that blocks everything, and whose idea of stealth is full on laser guns. He drives me nuts. I got a humanoid mod version as my first mod.

 

I don't know what Bethesda were thinking with this crowd. In fact I find some of the non-mainstream companions better.  The writing is awful and the romances are more robotic than Vasco with a fractured cuff rotator.

 

As for struggling through a second round with this lot - ugh. I got to NG+ and gave up. I can't go through it all again until modders have knocked some sense into it.

 

Ah - letting off Steam. Feel better for that. Thanks for the Topic!

[Djlegends]

On 12/11/2024 at 12:41 PM, idonotlikeusernames said:

 

You're preaching to the choir here. Maybe we'll eventually get something like a 3dnpc esque mod for Starfield. One can hope at least.

the thing is the Creator of 3DNPCs worked on Starfield lmfao

[Djlegends]

7 hours ago, Bluegunk said:

As a silver gamer, so far as I'm concerned the Lodge Companions are a collective bunch of awfully written cliches. The sort of thing that would come out of a BBC comedy drama.

 

Andreja - miss Eastern Europe - is the only one of the Lodge crowd I can stand despite her judgmental jealousy. I can take her on missions and not feel like I have a carboard cutout at my side.  Sam and planet Akila are pure cowboy fantasy world - come on, a cowboy world in 2330? Seriously?  Blazing Saddles surely killed that off.

 

Sarah is ghastly in every respect with her sanctimonious British nanny act. All jolly hockey sticks and a romance that's right out of Mills & Boon (minus the bodice ripping).  Barrett is a barrel full of Men in Black movie cliches, but he does have a likeable voice. The others seem mentally unstable. And what's with that mystic bloke with a flight cap wedged on his head? For God's sake take it off. 

 

Vasco is a giant tin can that blocks everything, and whose idea of stealth is full on laser guns. He drives me nuts. I got a humanoid mod version as my first mod.

 

I don't know what Bethesda were thinking with this crowd. In fact I find some of the non-mainstream companions better.  The writing is awful and the romances are more robotic than Vasco with a fractured cuff rotator.

 

As for struggling through a second round with this lot - ugh. I got to NG+ and gave up. I can't go through it all again until modders have knocked some sense into it.

 

Ah - letting off Steam. Feel better for that. Thanks for the Topic!

well my NG+ framework mod should help out with this

[Miauzi]

Vor 9 Stunden sagte Bluegunk:

Für mich als Silberspieler sind die Lodge Companions eine Ansammlung schrecklich geschriebener Klischees. So etwas würde aus einer BBC-Komödie hervorgehen.

 

Andreja – Miss Osteuropa – ist die Einzige aus der Logenschar, die ich trotz ihrer verurteilenden Eifersucht ertragen kann. Ich kann sie auf Missionen mitnehmen und habe nicht das Gefühl, einen Pappausschnitt an meiner Seite zu haben. Sam und der Planet Akila sind eine reine Cowboy-Fantasiewelt – komm schon, eine Cowboy-Welt im Jahr 2330? Ernsthaft? Blazing Saddles hat das sicherlich zunichte gemacht.

 

Sarah ist in jeder Hinsicht grässlich mit ihrem scheinheiligen Verhalten als britisches Kindermädchen. Alle lustigen Hockeyschläger und eine Romanze, die direkt aus Mills & Boon stammt (abzüglich des Zerreißens des Oberteils). Barrett ist ein Fass voller „Men in Black“-Filmklischees, aber er hat eine sympathische Stimme. Die anderen scheinen psychisch instabil zu sein. Und was ist mit diesem mystischen Kerl, der eine Fliegermütze auf dem Kopf hat? Um Gottes willen, zieh es aus.

 

Vasco ist eine riesige Blechdose, die alles blockiert, und dessen Idee der Tarnung voll von Laserpistolen ist. Er macht mich wahnsinnig. Als ersten Mod bekam ich eine humanoide Mod-Version.

 

Ich weiß nicht, was Bethesda sich bei dieser Menge gedacht hat. Tatsächlich finde ich einige der nicht zum Mainstream gehörenden Begleiter besser. Der Schreibstil ist schrecklich und die Romanzen sind roboterhafter als Vasco mit einem gebrochenen Manschettenrotator.

 

Was das Durchstehen einer zweiten Runde mit diesem Haufen angeht – pfui. Ich kam zu NG+ und gab auf. Ich kann nicht alles noch einmal durchgehen, bis die Modder es einigermaßen verstanden haben.

 

Ah – Dampf ablassen. Fühlen Sie sich dadurch besser. Danke für das Thema!

 

Space cowboys?

Typical for SiFi from the USA - there are comic series like "Galaxy Rangers" from the 1980s that are still shown on TV today (even here in Germany!)

 

So I wasn't surprised when I found such a western world in SF on Akila... that's how I knew which part of the SF literature the programmers at "Bugdesta" had read in their childhood... apart from StarWars, of course.