Would you want to adventure with an evil Companion?

peacenote · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

Yes I think it would be fun. As long as you don't lose rapport every time you do something good, like rescue someone. That would be annoying.

Blood_again · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

LunaFlora wrote: »

And i very much doubt an evil character would want to befriend the Vestige.

It looks like the Vestige is purely good in your perception.
I don't try to break your immersion. I just want to tell about my experience. It is just another point of view.

As someone who tried to look at the main quest with evildoer eyes, I can assure you that it is totally OK for lawful evil and neutral evil characters.
My alts

fought Molag Bal as a revenge, a self rescue act, a plan to get the huge power (that one was failed

They laughed insidely that the Prophet is way more blind than he looks. They triumphed while choosing who had to be sacrificed for the amulet.

So really the Vestige can be evil if you allow it. And an evil person can be their companion way more easily than it looks, if you ask me.

chessalavakia_ESO · September 21

Other (please describe your thoughts)

I think it would depend heavily on execution.

I used to play SWTOR a bunch and SWTOR did have evil companions.

If you look at the polls from that game about which companion people liked the least the evil companions were generally some of the least popular in the game with occasional exceptions.

The thing is, in SWTOR you are frequently in the position where your companions are helping you and showing their personality in how they help you.

In ESO, much of your vision into your companion comes when you are helping them.

It's easier to accept static or poor behavior from companions when they are helping you it's harder when you are helping them.

With Vampires specifically you'd also hit the issue that many of the vampires in ESO are ugly. People are far more willing to accept questionable behavior from pretty people.

Syldras · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

chessalavakia_ESO wrote: »

It's easier to accept static or poor behavior from companions when they are helping you it's harder when you are helping them.

They wouldn't have to behave poorly against the player character, of course. If they do towards other people, the player character might not care at all if you're playing an evil character yourself?

chessalavakia_ESO wrote: »

With Vampires specifically you'd also hit the issue that many of the vampires in ESO are ugly. People are far more willing to accept questionable behavior from pretty people.

I think there are quite a lot of people who like Verandis, Gwendis and Fennorian (and I've never heard an "they're ugly vampires, but..."

), so making a vampire character people like doesn't seem to be much of an issue.

LunaFlora · September 21

No, I would NOT want to adventure with an evil Companion.

Blood_again wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

And i very much doubt an evil character would want to befriend the Vestige.

It looks like the Vestige is purely good in your perception.
I don't try to break your immersion. I just want to tell about my experience. It is just another point of view.

As someone who tried to look at the main quest with evildoer eyes, I can assure you that it is totally OK for lawful evil and neutral evil characters.
My alts
fought Molag Bal as a revenge, a self rescue act, a plan to get the huge power (that one was failed
They laughed insidely that the Prophet is way more blind than he looks. They triumphed while choosing who had to be sacrificed for the amulet.

So really the Vestige can be evil if you allow it. And an evil person can be their companion way more easily than it looks, if you ask me.

the Vestige is not purely good in my perception.
i would not have done the Dark Brotherhood story if they were purely good to me.

but if your characters are as evil as you say they are, why do all of the dozens of other stories?
why help anyone?
is it for the tiny amount of gold each quest gives?

SilverBride · September 21

Other (please describe your thoughts)

I'm pretty much over Companions. I stressed too much to unlock the first 6 on all my characters, then level them and max their rapport on one character for the houseguest. I'm just glad the new ones have to be acquired through the crown store so I don't feel stressed to do them also.

Then there is the fact that both of the new ones turn me off anyway so I don't want either hanging around me... nice, evil or otherwise.

Syldras · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

LunaFlora wrote: »

but if your characters are as evil as you say they are, why do all of the dozens of other stories?
why help anyone?
is it for the tiny amount of gold each quest gives?

I'm not the person you quoted and I wouldn't really call any of my characters evil (except maybe for my filthy Breton necromancer - at least in concept; in "reality", he's standing in a bank carrying furniture...), but still, I can think of quite some motivations (in addition to the fact that not every character has to play every storyline, of course).

It might be money, power gain, gain of influence or allies for whatever sinister plans, keeping the eyes open for someone or an artifact or something like that while entering some dungeons with other plans anyway (I don't know how many quests I basically solved on the side - why would my character refuse the extra money?); and the biggest motivation for all chapter quests is probably that you can't joyously do evil things anymore once Nirn goes boom.

Carcamongus · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

I've written a story that has an evil character obsessed with being evil who ends up doing heroic things, all in the name of evil. That being said, even though I don't have a pure evil character, adventuring with this hypothetical (and, sadly, unlikely) companion could be fun.

Bradyfjord · September 21

Other (please describe your thoughts)

I selected 'other' because I don't use companions. I personally think they take away from the gaming experience, mainly because their story is apparently more important than what I'm doing saving the world.

Blood_again · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

LunaFlora wrote: »

the Vestige is not purely good in my perception.
i would not have done the Dark Brotherhood story if they were purely good to me.

but if your characters are as evil as you say they are, why do all of the dozens of other stories?
why help anyone?
is it for the tiny amount of gold each quest gives?

My evil Vestiges don't do all the stories and all the quests. For example, seeking a pet for a child in Northpoint is not the thing they even looked towards. Not their business.
But many of the main quests in zones are fit to their motivation in one or another way. Sometimes their goals are not achieved, so a happy end happens (disaster, you know). But they try

SpiritofESO · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

In a sense, I do adventure frequently with an "evil" companion -- although she is a very sweet kitty cat -- and that is Ember.

Ember likes, even encourages, my theft, pickpocketing, even assassinating the NPCs I steal from, and makes positive comments when I do so.

And, while I love Isobel for her good-girl and valiant knight attitude, Ember is her evil twin in a sense. Needless to say, those are the two girls who accompany me on my travels.

Kisakee · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

Would they want to travel with me?

Syldras · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

Kisakee wrote: »

Would they want to travel with me?

As long as you restrict yourself to the Mages Guild, I'd be very fine with it.
(If I was social.)

Kisakee · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

Syldras wrote: »

Kisakee wrote: »

Would they want to travel with me?

As long as you restrict yourself to the Mages Guild, I'd be very fine with it.
(If I was social.)

I actually am not, to me a dead body is a dead body and i don't discriminate anyone for not being murdered by my hand.

Syldras · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

Kisakee wrote: »

I actually am not, to me a dead body is a dead body and i don't discriminate anyone for not being murdered by my hand.

What a pity (and unusual not to have any murder preference). Are you sure there's no (how do they call that all the time...) incentive that would make you focus on murdering guild mages? Either that or Bretons.

Kisakee · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

Syldras wrote: »

Kisakee wrote: »

I actually am not, to me a dead body is a dead body and i don't discriminate anyone for not being murdered by my hand.

What a pity (and unusual not to have any murder preference). Are you sure there's no (how do they call that all the time...) incentive that would make you focus on murdering guild mages? Either that or Bretons.

Oh i do kill them, they're just not the only ones. That's part of my "all inclusive" mentality (i'm almost sorry for that very bad and probably inappropriate pun).

Syldras · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

Kisakee wrote: »

Oh i do kill them, they're just not the only ones. That's part of my "all inclusive" mentality (i'm almost sorry for that very bad and probably inappropriate pun).

Okay, fine. I have to kill them myself then. Have a nice evening and hail Sithis, Mephala or any other murder deity!

LunaFlora · September 21

No, I would NOT want to adventure with an evil Companion.

Kisakee wrote: »

Would they want to travel with me?

wow! how long did it take to get that bounty of 147.324.930 gold?

Kisakee · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

LunaFlora wrote: »

Kisakee wrote: »

Would they want to travel with me?

wow! how long did it take to get that bounty of 147.324.930 gold?

That's just one toon, i have a couple more. All in all around 390 millions, took me a couple years to get there.

Ugrak · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

LunaFlora wrote: »

wow! how long did it take to get that bounty of 147.324.930 gold?

Must be playing a necromancer.

That moment when accidentally summoning the undead near a witness; then Bastian reluctantly begins slaughtering the town.

Nharimlur_Finor · September 21

Other (please describe your thoughts)

One that annoys everyone, not just me.
maybe a Bosmer named Fargoth.

Finedaible · September 21

Other (please describe your thoughts)

Depends. I do not find characters who are so definitively evil with no redeeming qualities whatsoever to be any interesting because they tend to be predictable. Characters with more depth to them are more interesting because they may lean either way.

A good example of what I mean would be Green-Venom-Tongue or Veezara from TES 5. A character who would not bat an eye if my character did something criminal like kill or pickpocket a citizen.

Cheveyo · September 21

No, I would NOT want to adventure with an evil Companion.

I do not want any companion with strong moral leanings that'll get mad when I do stuff I have to do. Or stuff I do on accident.

For instance, my fingers twitch sometimes, which cause me to either press a key or click a mouse button. This causes me issues in most games. In this game, I've found myself accidentally hitting guards. The last thing I want is for a companion to hate me for doing that. I also don't want a companion that's going to get mad at me for saving people.

Jaimeh · September 21

Other (please describe your thoughts)

I don't really like to use companions, but I unlock them and do their personal quests. If I happen to use a companion, my choice is based on which one is the most suitable for the task at hand and not their personality/RP aspect, so in that regard if the evil companion had a good toolkit and proper build for a given role, I wouldn't mind using them, but I would turn their dialogue down if it was particularly disturbing or icky.

Rishikesa108 · September 21

Other (please describe your thoughts)

I don't like to adventure with companions at all. I usually max them out to get the achievements and perks, then leave them in the drawer forever.

colossalvoids · September 21

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

Syldras wrote: »

@colossalvoids

colossalvoids wrote: »

Yes I'd say two last things are the main reasons here, we can't have complex villains who you can actually understand/relate to no matter how bad they are through our lense or the lense of the setting as it's might be perceived as a company's stance on some current thing. Overall complexity isn't something they're chasing as it can be confusing for some folks.

I wouldn't say it's so much about "relating", more about understanding their motives logically. To see how things "make sense" from their point of view (which still doesn't mean it's forgiven in any way). This is something I prefer in fiction over the incomplex cliché of "baddie does bad things because baddie".

colossalvoids wrote: »

Probably the reason I've started desperately discovering other similar settings who do not afraid of being misinterpreted and just do their thing, as tes probably mostly a thing that's already in the past with it's best moments and writing (Morrowind for me personally).

You may have better luck in Eastern works. Otherwise one has to resort to private roleplay with friends who know how it is meant, I guess.

I actually find it concerning how the freedom of writing (fiction) slowly diminuishes because people can't take fiction what it is anymore but tend to interpret it as a statement about the real world. Many great works of literature deal with more than horrid things. Imagine they would have never been written because people assumed this would be about the writer making a real world statement.

Also, describing things does not mean supporting them (some people even seem to struggle to understand that). Not even if it's done from the perspective of a fictional villain.

That was what I've meant with words relate as my english isn't that good overall so I agree here, obviously. And indeed the closest thing to tes I've found is from a Japanese developer, gladly old media still also exists and there's no way we're loosing much access to it as it's well preserved already.

That's a sad state of things, people want either confirmation of their views by their media of choice or willing to search for problematic content if something isn't in their taste, surely there's a shade behind a curtain to spot... Anyways ESO having multiple writers and probably also outsources some of it so it's still not clear if something different can appear moving forward, at least I want to hope so eh.

Grec1a · September 22

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

Yes, but only if they were hilariously funny like HK-47 in KOTOR. I've played many RPGs - always as a goody-two-shoes character - and that rude robot is far and away my most memorable companion.

Sadly, I'm not sure the ESO writers can do 'hilarious' and, twenty years on, there'd no doubt be players complaining that being called "meatbag" (or the ESO equivalent) is offensive...

Syldras · September 22

Yes, I would want to adventure with an evil Companion.

colossalvoids wrote: »

That's a sad state of things, people want either confirmation of their views by their media of choice or willing to search for problematic content if something isn't in their taste, surely there's a shade behind a curtain to spot...

It feels like some just don't want to learn something new. Or maybe the can't even see the opportunity, because they see a different perspective not as a way to understand and learn, but just as a threat to what they currently believe in.

If one looks at (sometimes only slightly) older literature: No matter if Euripides, Shakespeare or Schiller - there are horrible deeds and big tragedies happening all the time. In the end, the stories are about how some events may lead to horrible endings - not about condoning what happens or celebrating the main character. Sure, such stories still exist in some modern novels (and movies), but I have the impression it's becoming less. Narrations increasingly become something just to be consumed and feel good about, and of course, there's often a very clear stereotyping in "the good ones" and "the bad ones" when it comes to characters. I mean, it's fine, and pure entertainment always existed, but it's a bit of a pity, because it could be even more.

Of course I know that ESO's little stories aren't really comparable to classic literature (although the scope of the lore is remarkable). But why should a writing style that conveys deeper reflexions and ideas not be possible? Of course these stories could also be transported through companions. In the end, companions are also a tool of narration. One could narrate every type of story with them, with a writer talented enough.

And yes, of course it's also okay just to want an "evil" companion who doesn't complain about going on a murder spree without caring much about an interesting story background. I'm just saying that even a horrible back story and character can serve a purpose that's absolutely not about excusing evil.

TheMajority · September 22

No, I would NOT want to adventure with an evil Companion.

I'm not into evil peoples and they're not into me, so I would not sorry.

I do not understand this fascination with evil or a desire to be around someone who do bad things.

People seem to think it "cool" to be bad, but I don't agree that it's cool.

Mascen · September 22

Other (please describe your thoughts)

It would depend on what kind of evil we're talking.

If youre talking more along the lines of misunderstood evil? Probably nah

Now unabashedly evil for the sake of being evil? That would be interesting yet difficult to pull off. It would have to be like Big Jack Horner kind of evil with just the right degree of comedic panache.