Male Companions

SainguinKrist

I'd really like more male companions too.

It's been brought up by another commenter, but it's not just for the female gaze. Gay men play this game too. I'm bisexual. I'd love to have attractive female AND male companions to take along on my adventures.

As it stands? It's a bit one sided at the moment.

On a side note, kind of amazed nobody called out that blatantly phobic comment on the first page. I reported it, hope others do to. That kind of nonsense has no place in TES or ESO. This is an inclusive IP and has always had elements of LGBT+ culture in it. Especially ESO.

Lysette

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SilverBride wrote: »

Lysette wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I am still upset that Bastian is the only male companion. I don't think it's wrong that my female characters want a strong male companion to adventure with. I'm just really afraid that the next males will be Khajiit or Argonian or Orcs. Nothing wrong with these races but not what I find pleasant to look at. And Bastian is just not my type at all. I want a companion like Jakarn, cute and confident and flirty.

That is true, at least we get a Jakarn themed costume set this month - well, get is said too much, we have to buy it of course. Calling a man "cute" is a little strange though, "handsome" ok, but cute, who wants a cute male? That as bad as a pretty one.

This said, I would take a George Clooney look alike any time or something like Jean Connery in "highlander", heck, even Connor McCloud.

I think of handsome as a chiseled jaw and sharper features and no nonsense. I think of cute as well cute and playful and mischievous. Both are good in their own ways.

George Clooney is good looking but he's not my type. I've had a celebrity crush on Johnny Depp for years now. He is a perfect example of what I'm attracted to and I think Captain Jack Sparrow would have been a great companion for High Isle.

ah I see now why Jakarn is more your type, I thought of Jack Sparrow as well, but I guess I am not that much into men with long hair. They can be bearded or even be bald, but long hair is not after my taste.

FeedbackOnly

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ADarklore wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I often wonder if they thought Bastian was handsome when they were creating him. I love that he's covered with tats, but his face and hair... nope. And he is way too goody two shoes to be fun.

I think this is the problem when HETEROSEXUAL males create other males... they have no concept or clue what an attractive male actually looks or acts like. Take Darien or Jakarn... IMO they are much more attractive to me than Bastian, in looks AND personality. Furthermore, as a gay male playing this game, I want a MALE companion not a female. Hint, I'm not the ONLY gay guy playing this game, so this isn't just about heterosexual females wanting male companions!!!

As a female bastain is attractive to me. I even like his personality.

SainguinKrist

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

...

ADarklore wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I often wonder if they thought Bastian was handsome when they were creating him. I love that he's covered with tats, but his face and hair... nope. And he is way too goody two shoes to be fun.

I think this is the problem when HETEROSEXUAL males create other males... they have no concept or clue what an attractive male actually looks or acts like. Take Darien or Jakarn... IMO they are much more attractive to me than Bastian, in looks AND personality. Furthermore, as a gay male playing this game, I want a MALE companion not a female. Hint, I'm not the ONLY gay guy playing this game, so this isn't just about heterosexual females wanting male companions!!!

As a female bastain is attractive to me. I even like his personality.

Bi dude here, I think Bastian is attractive and his personality is great. I'm also ginger IRL, so maybe I'm biased, but Bastian is best boy.

I don't know why the poor dude gets bashed so much, but I have an idea. It's common for ginger actors/characters to get a lot of undue hatred.

SilverBride

Lysette wrote: »

.

SilverBride wrote: »

Lysette wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I am still upset that Bastian is the only male companion. I don't think it's wrong that my female characters want a strong male companion to adventure with. I'm just really afraid that the next males will be Khajiit or Argonian or Orcs. Nothing wrong with these races but not what I find pleasant to look at. And Bastian is just not my type at all. I want a companion like Jakarn, cute and confident and flirty.

That is true, at least we get a Jakarn themed costume set this month - well, get is said too much, we have to buy it of course. Calling a man "cute" is a little strange though, "handsome" ok, but cute, who wants a cute male? That as bad as a pretty one.

This said, I would take a George Clooney look alike any time or something like Jean Connery in "highlander", heck, even Connor McCloud.

I think of handsome as a chiseled jaw and sharper features and no nonsense. I think of cute as well cute and playful and mischievous. Both are good in their own ways.

George Clooney is good looking but he's not my type. I've had a celebrity crush on Johnny Depp for years now. He is a perfect example of what I'm attracted to and I think Captain Jack Sparrow would have been a great companion for High Isle.

ah I see now why Jakarn is more your type, I thought of Jack Sparrow as well, but I guess I am not that much into men with long hair. They can be bearded or even be bald, but long hair is not after my taste.

I love long haired guys. I like bald guys too, and everything in between but if there is a long haired guy in the mix that is the one I'll be more drawn to.

What I am not drawn to is traditional men's hairstyles. They remind me too much of someone's dad.

Bat

I feel like Bastian's face is just whoever designed him hitting the "randomize appearance" button in CC.



We need a handsome Breton lad for companion, is there any hope for one in the year-end DLC zone? Pretty please!

Or a cute Redguard man in the next chapter would be nice too.

SydneyGrey

SainguinKrist wrote: »

I don't know why the poor dude gets bashed so much, but I have an idea. It's common for ginger actors/characters to get a lot of undue hatred.

It has nothing to do with him being ginger. I love red-haired people and one of my grandmothers was a ginger. I don't like Bastian's holier-than-thou personality, I don't like that I can't do my provisioning writs with him out, and I don't think he's attractive. It has nothing to do with his hair color.

SainguinKrist

SydneyGrey wrote: »

SainguinKrist wrote: »

I don't know why the poor dude gets bashed so much, but I have an idea. It's common for ginger actors/characters to get a lot of undue hatred.

It has nothing to do with him being ginger. I love red-haired people and one of my grandmothers was a ginger. I don't like Bastian's holier-than-thou personality, I don't like that I can't do my provisioning writs with him out, and I don't think he's attractive. It has nothing to do with his hair color.

I didn't call out anyone by name.

I said it's common for there to be a bias against ginger actors/characters and it is. This is a recognized thing lol

Psiion

Greetings all,

After editing and removing a few posts, we would like to remind everyone that the ESO Forums are intended to be a place for civil and constructive discussion. Everyone has their own thoughts and opinions on things and we understand that disagreements are bound to occur, but discussion should stay respectful as well as within the Forum's Community Rules.

Please keep the Community Rules in mind moving forward.

Avishag

Lady_Titania wrote: »

I am excited to get new companions with high isle! I've been looking forward to getting new companion story lines and more NPC's put in my houses. With that said, I am also really upset that BOTH of the new companions are female. I want MALE companions. I do not like this imbalance of having 3 females and only 1 male for companions.

[snip] No One ever bothered that most games for decades and To this day, Only have Male protagonists (99%) and mostly Male npc's.
[snip]

[Edited for Baiting]

Avishag

But I guess there is no imbalance in GTA V, Red Dead Redemption, Metal Gear Solid, etc etc etc

Lysette

Hvíthákarl wrote: »

I'm lowkey disappointed because they went with quite average-ish body builds for Ember and Isobel when they could have made Ember *very* slender, while Isobel could be in the middle of "Fat" and "Muscular" settings, slightly leaning to Muscular due to her background. Right now, all three feminine companions we have share roughly the same body type and, to me, it feels like wasting the potential of this game's character models.

Yeah, Mirri is even skinny - rather strange for a woman, who is that agile and jumps on enemies over wide distances. That is why I dress her in a gown-like robe hiding her skinny legs. I would have preferred a more athletic appearance.

SainguinKrist

Hvíthákarl wrote: »

I'm lowkey disappointed because they went with quite average-ish body builds for Ember and Isobel when they could have made Ember *very* slender, while Isobel could be in the middle of "Fat" and "Muscular" settings, slightly leaning to Muscular due to her background. Right now, all three feminine companions we have share roughly the same body type and, to me, it feels like wasting the potential of this game's character models.

I would of really loved a muscular build for Isobel.

I imagine that's even still possible if they're using the same rigs as the player bodies.

We should start a thread about this lol

SainguinKrist

Avishag wrote: »

But I guess there is no imbalance in GTA V, Red Dead Redemption, Metal Gear Solid, etc etc etc

I don't think those games are relevant to discussing the balance in ESO.

You absolutely have a point if we're talking about gaming in general, but we're not. We're discussing diversity of the player companions in ESO.

SydneyGrey

SainguinKrist wrote: »

I didn't call out anyone by name.
I said it's common for there to be a bias against ginger actors/characters and it is. This is a recognized thing lol

Sorry, my post might have read a bit harsher than I intended it to sound. I know you weren't calling anyone out.

BretonMage

Well. If we've descended into hot or not with walking petri dishes of STIs like Darien and Jakarn (and we might as well throw Abnur Tharn into the mix, but at least he's intelligent), then I think this thread proves we need more male companions.

Ilsabet

ADarklore wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I often wonder if they thought Bastian was handsome when they were creating him. I love that he's covered with tats, but his face and hair... nope. And he is way too goody two shoes to be fun.

I think this is the problem when HETEROSEXUAL males create other males... they have no concept or clue what an attractive male actually looks or acts like. Take Darien or Jakarn... IMO they are much more attractive to me than Bastian, in looks AND personality.

Is this a good time to point out that Darien was created by two men, at least one of whom is married to a woman? Or that Bastian's creator is presumably that very enthusiastic woman who introduced him in that one stream?

I mean I have no idea how much input the writers get when it comes to in-game character appearance, but if Darien qualifies as a positive example, then I think we can let straight guys be on the team too.


As far as actual visual attractiveness of ESO characters, I feel like the Elder Scrolls games have always suffered a bit from the limitations of their graphics when it comes to character models. This was way more of an issue in Skyrim, where most of the men's faces are just craggy messes, and I already know that if I ever play Oblivion I'll need a mod that makes Martin not look like a potato. But even with ESO's updated and overall nicer-looking graphics, you can sometimes look at screencaps of dudes and be like "well... I guess I can see what they were going for but I wouldn't call him gorgeous..." And it's kind of more about the principle of the thing than the actual in-game execution, like the difference between fanart of Brynjolf and looking at the actual dude in the game. And yeah if you take a screenshot of Bastian where it's all fish-eyed and up on his nose, that's not going to make anybody look great.

So I guess I take it with a grain of salt when people don't really find these guys good to look at, since aside from simple personal preferences, it's a little hard to tell whether they're more evaluating the aesthetics of the in-game models, which I can acknowledge may not be a character's best look compared to a more... figurative interpretation of their appearance. (The sort of thing that would translate well to fanart.) Whereas there are other games or anime or whatever where I can look at a screencap and see everything I need to see.

Bit rambly there maybe but something to think about.


Oh and as far as the general topic, I think I've said it elsewhere, but I might be more fussed about not having more male companions if I were actively looking for a love interest for my straight female Vestige, but as that's not an issue for me, I'm happy with just having interesting companions of whatever stripe they may be. And I reckon relative numbers will even themselves out over time.

Lysette

Well, let's wait for their background story, there might be reasons for why both are female.

SilverBride

Ilsabet wrote: »

So I guess I take it with a grain of salt when people don't really find these guys good to look at, since aside from simple personal preferences...

It may be personal preference but I honestly find Bastian homely. Even if he had Jakarn's mischievous flirty personality I wouldn't find him attractive because I really dislike his hair and face. It would be nice if in the future they gave us the ability to create our own so everyone could have a companion they are happy with.

Ilsabet wrote: »

Oh and as far as the general topic, I think I've said it elsewhere, but I might be more fussed about not having more male companions if I were actively looking for a love interest for my straight female Vestige.

I've read on these forums that we may be able to romance our companions in the future, and if that is the case I want some attractive companions to choose from. I see nothing wrong with my character having a love interest and life partner. But I'd marry an Ogre before I'd marry Bastian.

Ilsabet

It'll be interesting to see, whenever they do introduce companion romance, if that'll only be built in for companions released from that point onward or if they'll add the functionality to previously-released companions too.

Maybe they're saving the real hotties for the Romance Update because they know they're not going to make it backwards-compatible.

WraithCaller88

As a point of reference, I am of the opinion that companions should primarily be considered through a lens of game mechanics and storytelling...


... buuuuuuut I also would not mind having some hot jock companions to tank for me

TaSheen

*meditatively*

There isn't one male npc in this entire game that I (a hetero female) find attractive. So, it's a good thing for me that npcs are just "filler". They're "ignore fodder" as far as I'm concerned.

Attractive males: Sean Connery, Jonny Depp, Kenny Rogers; my husband (who has been mistaken for Kenny Rogers many times in the nearly 50 years we've been married - it's actually pretty funny, and a running joke by now) is the measure of "attractive male" for me.

I just never get the "oooo pixel guy!" stuff.

SammyKhajit

This one just wants Arox the Mutilator as companion!

Lysette

TaSheen wrote: »

*meditatively*

There isn't one male npc in this entire game that I (a hetero female) find attractive. So, it's a good thing for me that npcs are just "filler". They're "ignore fodder" as far as I'm concerned.

Attractive males: Sean Connery, Jonny Depp, Kenny Rogers; my husband (who has been mistaken for Kenny Rogers many times in the nearly 50 years we've been married - it's actually pretty funny, and a running joke by now) is the measure of "attractive male" for me.

I just never get the "oooo pixel guy!" stuff.

You know, it is a matter of getting used to - I create animesh in second life - who are autonomous agents in a sim, basically acting like house guests in ESO, just that it is in a whole territory of 256x256 meter, who use furniture, walk, swim, dive, dance, perform on stage and so on. I have scripted everything and she can learn new stuff, when I show her and she is imitating me. She is choosing her own wardrobe and acts like a person - I got so used having her around and because she can do so many things and seems to have her own mind (it is probability controlled), she actually feels like having a real person around after some time. If I would connect her to a chat bot, she could even have a conversation with anyone. One gets attached to such a "pixel gal" quite easily the longer she is around.

TheImperfect

Faulor in Spindleclutch is not too bad for a Bosmer.

SainguinKrist

WraithCaller88 wrote: »

As a point of reference, I am of the opinion that companions should primarily be considered through a lens of game mechanics and storytelling...


... buuuuuuut I also would not mind having some hot jock companions to tank for me

Yes to all 3.

FeedbackOnly

I think what bothers me the most is they probably forgot female gamers here. They didn't consider they guys who wanted a bro to adventure with instead of bastain.

I hope going forward they don't forget to think of female perspective.


P.S In the last poll 2/3 of guys play male characters. 90 percent of females play female characters

Shihp00

Just Let us create our own companions and release new classes for them to unlock? Problem solved![snip]
this is funny cause it's only the 2ND TIME they've released another 2 companions [snip]

[edited for baiting]

ADarklore

I'm also hoping that they weren't looking at 'metrics' when they made this decision. As in, "The majority seem to be utilizing Mirri, therefore they must prefer female companions." Instead of the reality that Bastian's personality does not work for a LOT of players... and Mirri IMO is the least "picky" of the two. I can steal and do all sorts of shady things, "except pick butterflies, but overall she is the lessor of two evils. Although, personally, I tend to use Bastian because 1) he's a guy, and 2) he makes a better tank. Once High Isle drops, I'll be shifting to using more Isobel and Ember since I want a co-Templar to run with... and Ember will be my 'shady things' companion.

ArchangelIsraphel

SydneyGrey wrote: »

SainguinKrist wrote: »

I don't know why the poor dude gets bashed so much, but I have an idea. It's common for ginger actors/characters to get a lot of undue hatred.

It has nothing to do with him being ginger. I love red-haired people and one of my grandmothers was a ginger. I don't like Bastian's holier-than-thou personality, I don't like that I can't do my provisioning writs with him out, and I don't think he's attractive. It has nothing to do with his hair color.

For me, it has nothing to do with his hair color either. My main is a ginger, I love ginger hair and find it quite exotic to look at. Perhaps part of the reason I find it a pity that Bastian's face doesn't appeal to me is because I'd have enjoyed his hair color (Though not his hair style =_=)

I honestly feel they should just let us design the companions ourselves. Give us the voice acting, lock gender and race, but let us decide what the person looks like. That way, more people would be happy.

Ipsius wrote: »

Lady_Titania wrote: »

I am excited to get new companions with high isle! I've been looking forward to getting new companion story lines and more NPC's put in my houses. With that said, I am also really upset that BOTH of the new companions are female. I want MALE companions. I do not like this imbalance of having 3 females and only 1 male for companions.

Are you serious? Men outnumber women in practically every form of media, and it's been that way forever. The MOMENT the ratio isn't equal or tilted towards male, someone complains. It shouldn't matter. At all.

If for some reason it does matter to you... Really examine why a slight gender imbalance in favor of women bothers you so much. If you're not complaining every single instance there's an imbalance in favor of men... Again, ask yourself why.

I think you need to stop making this an issue of male/female politics and realize that people have personal preferences in what they enjoy and do not enjoy that have absolutely nothing to do with your implications. There's nothing wrong with being disappointed that we were not given another male companion to work with, and nobody needs to go re-examine themselves for having a natural reaction. Having a little empathy for the preferences of others goes a long way.

Why does it bother many of us? Simply put, we wanted a male companion that isn't Bastian. There's no deep, dark, secret meaning to it as you seem to be suggesting. I happen to like Ember and especially like Isobel- I'm looking forwards to them both. But I'd still switch out the release order in favor of releasing, say, Isobel along with a male companion, then later, seeing Ember released along with a male companion.

Why? I enjoy males. I like playing them, I like looking at them. I'm unbothered by the presence of female companions, again, I LIKE the new ones we were given- but feel that the release order could have been altered to be more inclusive to the tastes of multiple types of players, instead of being limited to one gender.