What do you like/want to see in a companion (besides sex)?

[Snazzishoez]

Nope, just sex. sex, sex and more sex!!! On the floor.  Against the wall.  Everywhere!

 

Just kidding.  I really think that the most popular follower mods are done well.  I can't imagine how difficult it is to really have a ton of dialog that relates to your situations in such a broad range of quests and more importantly, mods.  How in the world can there be new dialog for every quest and area you're in?  Especially voiced follower mods.  There is only so much that can be done in free time and in a reasonable amount of time, you know?

 

When I think of followers/companions that I really love, it follows games that are more storyline driven and very linear compared to Fallout.  This also makes it easier if there is dialog very specific to every area of the game.  An example that is popular is Dragon Age.  Not all, but many fell in love with some of the companions that you had to travel with.  You'll also notice that their dialog was very limited, but each new area had a hope of something new.  It usually did progress, at least at major changes in the story.  In Fallout, the dialog with vanilla followers runs through pretty quickly.  I think I just base my opinion on what is offered rather than the amount of personality available.

 

So much time can be used up on just one quest.  I don't think there's a perfect follower mod available.  Everyone has their own taste.  I think you can appreciate what's available and enjoy or grab the torch and make a very unique follower of your own.  I'm not currently using any follower mods, but I've enjoyed each one I've had such as Willow, Niner and Delilah to name a few.  Vanilla followers, I love Cass and Sunny (even though she's not supposed to be).  Veronica isn't bad at all.

 

What would I like to see in a follower mod?  Anything well thought out.  Anything new that isn't out already.  I won't say all follower mods are great.  I wouldn't know.  I think any follower with a sense of humor, gives a sense of friendship and maybe even a possibility of a romance is a win/win. 

[Lovely Rose]

Nope, just sex. sex, sex and more sex!!! On the floor.  Against the wall.  Everywhere!

 

Even the bathtub?!

 

[CoxcombCornking]

Just using vanilla companions as as example:

If left to wait in an area containing a vendor, and possessing an appropriate amount of caps/tradeworthy junk, having companions independently barter with npcs. Perhaps only swapping for particular signature items. (ie. Cass trades for whiskey, Veronica trades for snacks)

Merely seeing them wander around a vendor area and "window shopping", or just commenting on a merchant's wares could be fun too.

(ie. Cass making mention of caravan trade routes or noting their specialties, Veronica looking for dresses, energy weapons and mods)

[Guest endgameaddiction]

I would like to see more companion scripts built like the one for Wendy Gilbert NPC to companion from FNV. I like her and the selections. And She isn't annoying like Willow. Good companion mod but not my style.Wendy is cool, though. I can fiddle with her chest sensors and she would woudln't get all ditsy and emo on me. hehe

[nyaalich]

@endgameaddiction:  Girl's got all kinds of menus up in her trunk!

 

Any particular functionality that you really liked about her?

 

EDIT:

 

Let me expand.  Here is a list of things that she can do that I want/hope to implement in my companion:

• Increase skills through books (copies of your skill books as opposed to pre-war books)
• Create a campfire (Just a fire or a fire and bedding)
• Outfit (easy) and hair changes (less easy, I think)
• Access some menus through the companion wheel (i.e., detailed fighting instructions like "wait until I'm hit to attack" if she's set to attack)
• Radio based teleport hire and fire (I don't recall if Wendy has this, but most companions do)
• Ability to heal the both of you, possibly including detox and rad poisoning
• Bonus while hacking and/or using meds (as perks, not activating manually)

Was I missing anything else awesome?  Tagging skills would completely go against her character history/personality, so that's definitely out.  Those were the coolest things that I saw.

 

EDIT EDIT:  Also, unless I flat-out use the leveling by using skills script from Wendy, the idea of trying to implement that option is quite daunting. : X

[CoxcombCornking]

Just throwing out a couple more.

 

A companion that still has their own life, crap that they have to do which remains outside of your agenda or intervention. They might give a notice before disappearing for limited times, of their own accord (instead of being due to a glitch), after you complete different quest goals.

 

Having companions who have a "history" at certain locations, making them unwelcome, and potentially damaging your reputation with an area if your group lingers too long. The reverse could be cool too, with your reputation improving by being within that companions party.

:-)

[nyaalich]

@CoxcombCornking: She's going to have her own non-quest agendas (figuring out how to implement them) which may irritate a player.  For the impatient, I plan on giving the option to try to talk her out of her own personal to-dos, but you'll obviously suffer reputation loss with her as a result.

 

Good idea with the positive/negative impact on faction reputation.

[Guest endgameaddiction]

It's been so long since I actually put any effort into FNV. I haven't used Wendy Gilbert in a long time, but I do remember the dialog to change her armor. Even armor that you give her. Change her hair style in dialog as well. The fact that she now became a ex NCR and decides to travel with the player and having the feature of building a campfire was cool too.

 

Wasn't the creator of that mod the same creator of Brisa Almodovar from FO3?

[ChianasGeek]

Yep, same - RickerHK

 

I'm more familiar with Brisa than Wendy. One thing I liked was being able to assing her menu (and sub-menus) to hotkey(s)

 

Oh, and Brisa had some input at points during (main) quests. Not much, but it did add something.

[myuhinny]

A good quest and story is good. I think the 2 followers that are always in my mod list are Willow and Radiation Weapons Kit - Sonia NV Edition but recently added the Ares project to that list as well. I have used others here and there just to try them out some were not that bad other sucked some lived in a constant state of unconsciousness because they continued to go ape shit around certain people and killing quest related people till you finally get tired of having to set them to conscious/unconscious and just boot their asses out of your game. Companions like Sonia if you pick up companions depending on what faction they are from she will say different things about the company that you have chosen. I know I have had Willow in my list for so long that whenever I see a pencil I go OOH a pencil grab it even if I no longer need them anymore I just keep picking them up.

[nyaalich]

I too am pencil trained.

[A.J.]

I too am pencil trained.

 

 

... Keep them! you'll need them in Beyond Boulder Dome! ;D

 

[Guest endgameaddiction]

A good quest and story is good. I think the 2 followers that are always in my mod list are Willow and Radiation Weapons Kit - Sonia NV Edition but recently added the Ares project to that list as well. I have used others here and there just to try them out some were not that bad other sucked some lived in a constant state of unconsciousness because they continued to go ape shit around certain people and killing quest related people till you finally get tired of having to set them to conscious/unconscious and just boot their asses out of your game. Companions like Sonia if you pick up companions depending on what faction they are from she will say different things about the company that you have chosen. I know I have had Willow in my list for so long that whenever I see a pencil I go OOH a pencil grab it even if I no longer need them anymore I just keep picking them up.

 

A companion definitely needs great development. LL really needs two things

 

1. Companions

2. Races

 

I'm currently working on making a LL edition of a Moonshadow Race with unique preset faces for Fallout 3. FNV has the Moonshadow Race, but I might consider working on making presets for that or porting it over when I finish it.  I haven't begun to create the faces just yet, but I've already started working on the races themselves. I've been waiting for permission on the assets, but it's going on 2 weeks. And if by any means, I don't care if people want to use them to turn them into companions at all. Since I do not script at all. I wouldn't mind working with someone who is interest in making a script companion. I just do faces, though. But I'm sure K2 wouldn't mind his assets being used for LL made NPCs or presets as long as they remain LL exclusive like the race mod I am working will be LL exclusive. I'm also considering uploading my Anita Race I made a while back on and uploaded on Nexus. When I do upload that, anyone here feel free to create it to a companion if you wish. I know REZ uses it for a willow replacer. lol  It's a shame he doesn't hang over here. I like his work.

[nyaalich]

My plan is to have her on the Nexus and then possibly have an "after dark" version on here where she reacts to the effects of certain plug-ins.  Although, aside from assigning her specific sex acts with the player [vanilla or possibly bondage] or player-encouraged pregnancy (in the event of a female player character, finding a sperm donor), any other activities would make her hate you (breeder, rape, whoring, ?).  UNLESS you've forced a personality shift in her by you actions and speech options (the super-ambitious future plans), which would only make her hate you in the event of rape or forced pregnancy.

 

I know that a lot of people on here don't want their assets hosted anywhere else but on here.  Currently, I'm not planning on using any assets on here.  I also do not personally plan on using a special race for her, but that's because I use TTW and it doesn't play well with custom races last I heard.  However, if I finish it (daunted by the scope and never know how long it will take to get something to work in the GECK) and it does gain popularity, I imagine that other appearance options will either be requested or made on their own as seems to have been the case with Willow.

[LaEspada]

My plan is to have her on the Nexus and then possibly have an "after dark" version on here where she reacts to the effects of certain plug-ins.  Although, aside from assigning her specific sex acts with the player [vanilla or possibly bondage] or player-encouraged pregnancy (in the event of a female player character, finding a sperm donor), any other activities would make her hate you (breeder, rape, whoring, ?).  UNLESS you've forced a personality shift in her by you actions and speech options (the super-ambitious future plans), which would only make her hate you in the event of rape or forced pregnancy.

 

I know that a lot of people on here don't want their assets hosted anywhere else but on here.  Currently, I'm not planning on using any assets on here.  I also do not personally plan on using a special race for her, but that's because I use TTW and it doesn't play well with custom races last I heard.  However, if I finish it (daunted by the scope and never know how long it will take to get something to work in the GECK) and it does gain popularity, I imagine that other appearance options will either be requested or made on their own as seems to have been the case with Willow.

 

It's not that it doesn't play nice with custom races, it's just that most custom races out there aren't set up correctly for TTW. I use custom races in my TTW game and takes me like 4 seconds in FNVedit to fix the problem.

Mainly the older/child race settings are incorrectly set up.

 

[Guest endgameaddiction]

Don't forget having CREBSOR version for TTW.

[Kendo 2]

I don't use companions unless I make them.  The three that I have in my game are the 'stay at home' types.  (I basically use them for testing clothes since I do not play female characters.)  They are fully voiced and functional, I just don't like adventuring with companions and I LOATHE the vanilla ones in NV.  Cass being the worst of the lot.  The one vanilla companion I really did get a kick out of was Jericho in FO3.  That dude has personality and some of his idle chatter lines are just plain funny.

 

Something else I LOATHE is the companion wheel.  When I click on an NPC I do not want to see a pointless interface that breaks immersion.  None of the companions I have use it and it is just another reason I do not to use vanilla NV companions.  They suck anyway, though Arcade does have the best plasma rifle in the game and it comes in handy.

[Kpnut]

Willow essentially. Willow has everything I want in a companion.

[nyaalich]

On the whole, how do most of you feel about the companion wheel?  Personally, I only find it useful trading and the extremely rare instances that I tell them to wait.  Maybe it's cause I'm used to custom companions that I'm used to setting combat/other options through dialogue.

[ChianasGeek]

The companion wheel was extremely annoying in its absence from my recent FO3 playthrough.

 

Also, I'm still using it on new FNV playthrough, despite having JIP CC&C as well.

[A.J.]

Some are in love for companion wheel, other no, I think there's not half way, just like Guinness beer. Some don't care about immersion or stuff like that, they think it's useless a dialogue when you can simply use and abuse of your companion, using some uhm sort of button behind their neck,  and a small LCD display on their shoulder which shows exactly what they are carrying, what they think about you, how many times they went in bathroom in the last month, their level of glucose in their body...

I don't know... I really think using them as a bunch of meat puppets should low their self-esteem so much... included the ability of changing hairstyle and clothes, just like when your gf/bf tells you that dress make you fat, or change that hairdo because it's not pretty... I really would expect a companion raising his/her middle finger after I make a request like that...

Yes I find definetely "weird" the wheel. As the amazing mods which give you uber sophisticated huds too. Nothing against the wheel or the huds themselves, I simply still have to find a reason why I should make such an easy game, easier. But since I'm not a Steam prize scavenger, when I want to play easy I simply type tgm and I solve all my problems, even if I still have to find which are those "problems" in NV.

 

+1 point to FO3 on that.

[A.J.]

Willow essentially. Willow has everything I want in a companion.

 

This. But with Malukah voice. Willow singing the Age of Oppression.

[ChancellorKremlin]

 

Willow essentially. Willow has everything I want in a companion.

 

This. But with Malukah voice. Willow singing the Age of Oppression.

 

Or Reignite. Definitely reignite!

[NothingReally]

Been said before, but: a person.

A good companion in a game is a link between your character and the setting, and should only serve to pull you into the story rather than just add some dodgy mechanics and a couple of lines of dialogue.

For examples of how to do it really f***ing well, look at:

- Tess, Ellie from the last of us
- Clementine from the Walking Dead

- Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite
- Pretty much any companion from Dragon Age: Origins

What they all have in common is that they all act like real people in the setting, and most of their dialogue is now, one-time only and fits to what's happening in a relatively realistic way. You get attached to them because they feel like real people: they get scared and angry and funny and sentimental; they don't always agree with you or you with them. And of course they don't rush out and try to shoot down the enemies you were skilfully sneaking past.

Willow's good, but her personal quests are a bit trivial. Considering how when she first met my character who had escaped from rapey powder gangers (I have the mod on to add danger and realism, and try to avoid ever letting it happen), her initial introduction broke immersion too much. "Hey there, help me find my teddy bear and I'll go around with you!"

Her stories are good, but they get repeated, and the dialogue runs out pretty quickly. It's a lot of work, but cool if you could always have something new to talk about whenever you stop for the night. the Dragon Age model fits best here, as you have the gradually expanding list of topics depending on what you've done/said and how much they like you, as well as something to say about most of the major plot events.

What could be cool is if a companion does something unexpected, e.g. a companion doesn't open up to you too quickly, and one night is gone, along with a load of your stuff. You can then pursue and either hunt them down, or find out that they've been stealing to support some relative or pay off a ransom or something. Or they were sent to spy on you and depending on your karma actions either went off to report back or began to have doubts and thought about betraying their employer/warning you about an ambush etc. Basically, they should be part of the story and the setting.

Mechanically, it'd be nice if they did little things like find /ask for ammo when they get low, or let you know if they find some ammo for your weapon. E.g. "Hey, have you got any 10mm left? I'm down to my last few shots," or "I found some more .308 back there... you want it?"

Finally, I play with IMCN, and although the mood system isn't perfect, I think it'd be pretty cool if a companion asked you if you were OK when your mood dropped too low, initiating a dialogue that could either end up in an argument or dismissal, or them trying to cheer you up, depending on their character and your dialogue.

[nyaalich]

Interesting.  I haven't played with IMCN, so besides being aware of the mood system, I don't know how it works.  It mods you CHA if you've been too long without food, water, sleep?  I also don't know if the game thinks that hardcode mode is on with IMCN.  If it does, without going into the mood system, I could have her comment when your X levels are high.

 

I do want her to be location and quest aware.  A lot of people want a lot of different things, and I've gotten some really good ideas.  However, it's definitely going to be in phases.