Companion Customisation - Skins/Personalities/Polymorphs

JamuThatsWho

We need more options for personalising our Companions.

I want my Necro to adventure with thralls using the Zombie skin, and my NB to have a Cadaverous Assassin minion. My Sorc could have a Xivkyn with him. You get the idea.

Let Companions use more of our Appearance collectibles. Costumes and mounts are nice and all, but there's so much potential going to waste.

Fennwitty

Agree, but for some reason ZoS doesn't agree.

If there are technical limitations I'd love to hear about them so we could stop asking. But since the companions appear to have an identical Outfit system to player characters (aside from being a different slots) it seems like customization should be possible.

Part of me thinks there isn't a way to ensure the quest and spoken dialog appears correctly if the head model is changed in any way, so it's blanket disallowed.

Like giving Bastian a zombie personality, would his head continue to wave around randomly during his touching reminiscences about his tragic past?

Which to me, that would be awesome and incentive to buy personalities etc.

JamuThatsWho

Fennwitty wrote: »

Agree, but for some reason ZoS doesn't agree.

If there are technical limitations I'd love to hear about them so we could stop asking. But since the companions appear to have an identical Outfit system to player characters (aside from being a different slots) it seems like customization should be possible.

Part of me thinks there isn't a way to ensure the quest and spoken dialog appears correctly if the head model is changed in any way, so it's blanket disallowed.

Like giving Bastian a zombie personality, would his head continue to wave around randomly during his touching reminiscences about his tragic past?

Which to me, that would be awesome and incentive to buy personalities etc.

If there are technical limitations, the least they could do is allow skins.

NotaDaedraWorshipper

They are supposed to be unique npc characters. Not a sandbox for us to do whatever.

Gundug

Yes, unique characters that can be seen in duplicate following numerous players in an area.

Drachenfier

JamuThatsWho wrote: »

We need more options for personalising our Companions.

I want my Necro to adventure with thralls using the Zombie skin, and my NB to have a Cadaverous Assassin minion. My Sorc could have a Xivkyn with him. You get the idea.

Let Companions use more of our Appearance collectibles. Costumes and mounts are nice and all, but there's so much potential going to waste.

Or they could just give us companions of those types. More and by extension - different - companions would be nice.

_Zathras_

Hmm. I dunno.

I mean, look at the NPC's that you can buy for your homes, and the bankers/merchants that you can carry around with you. We can't give them an ice skin, or an assassin personality. They are named individuals that (sometimes) come with their own little stories.

So on that line of thinking, the Companions are similar in that they are also NPCs with back stories, who we can engage with on a more visceral level. They also have a morale based system, where they can like and dislike us, and even leave if they are unhappy enough. That gives them their own personality, independent of what we'd like.

Which would, in my opinion, negate the option to swap their personalities in and out. I'd also think they would disagree with being made to look like a daedra, or a dryad, or whatever.

Leveling them up makes sense. Dressing them up does as well. But fundamentally changing who they are? I just don't see that line being crossed.

TelvanniWizard

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

They are supposed to be unique npc characters. Not a sandbox for us to do whatever.

And that displeases me. Customization is a must for me.

spartaxoxo

_Zathras_ wrote: »

Which would, in my opinion, negate the option to swap their personalities in and out. I'd also think they would disagree with being made to look like a daedra, or a dryad, or whatever.

Leveling them up makes sense. Dressing them up does as well. But fundamentally changing who they are? I just don't see that line being crossed.

I agree. I think they could maybe allow for different hairstyles or helmets, but not stuff like skins, personalities, etc. They are their own unique characters with their own personalities, not extensions of our characters. I am very glad that they broke things down the way they did, though I wouldn't mind the kinds of cosmetic changes someone might have at a workplace like a different hairstyle or makeup.

Parasaurolophus

TelvanniWizard wrote: »

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

They are supposed to be unique npc characters. Not a sandbox for us to do whatever.

And that displeases me. Customization is a must for me.

In fact, this is neither bad nor good. This is not an objective flaw. It just exists as it is. I agree with the idea of the original NPCs. And to be honest, I'm tired of the fact that many player characters look too bright and alien to the universe of the scrolls. I would not want the companions to look the same.

Parasaurolophus

Okay ... what do I need to do to make my companion lie dead even from the weakest boss?

Amottica

I expect it is more likely we will see Zenimax add companions to future chapters as an enticement.