Thoughts on New Companion, and why!

Ye_Olde_Crowe

reazea wrote: »

Antiquities, housing and ToT are just distractions from the actual game. We'd be better off without housing (…)

YOU might be better off without those ‚distractions‘. Others (like, for example, me) might feel distracted by combat when trying to dig up an antiquity.
Seriously, though, all parts of the game are important to someone, and I am thankful for so many different activities and things, and for being able to solo so many parts of ESO.

Now as for more companions - yes, definitely! Let‘s have companions from all planes and all backgrounds, and why not some real baddie.
Though Azandar is pretty indifferent to crime, and to being caught, which makes him my current favorite.

Erickson9610

BretonMage wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

The Companion would need to ask you at the end of the recruitment quest whether they should be cursed, and that decision would toggle that curse on or off across all characters on your account — so that it's explained why they go from being cursed to being cured or go from being cured to being cursed when the NPC version of them is swapped out for the Companion version of them at the end of the recruitment quest.

Are you absolutely sure of that? If we can meet pre-recruitment Mirri in Blackwood even after completing all her quests, I don't see why we can't have companions with different curse statuses amongst our various character.

We meet pre-recruitment Mirri on characters who haven't completed all of her quests. In other words, on alternate characters, Mirri never began her questline. So, the state we meet Mirri in on any specific character should be the canon state that she is in before we interact with her. Yes, it is strange that the NPC version of Companions suddenly swap their appearance and equipment the moment they go from being an NPC to being a Companion, but it's easier to explain than said Companion suddenly contracting a curse or being cured of a curse in an instant. Or, maybe it makes just as much sense.

Also, it would complicate things to have different curse statuses for our Companions amongst our various characters. Unless the curse was purely cosmetic, which means that a Companion Vampire would just have the Vampire skin applied and a Companion Werewolf might just randomly transform and shift back whenever not in combat, a cursed Companion should have relevant skills for being a Vampire/Werewolf. If we equip Vampire skills on a Companion on one character where the Companion is a Vampire, then switch to a different character where the Companion isn't a Vampire, then what would happen to those Vampire skills that were slotted on their bar? Would they disappear, along with the relevant skills from their skills menu? If so, then the player would have to re-slot those skills every time they log into a character on which the Companion is not cursed whenever they log back into a character for which the Companion is cursed. It doesn't make sense to have a non-Vampire casting Vampire skills because they were a Vampire on another character.

BretonMage wrote: »

I've heard complaints about the male selection of Companions, where people don't like the options between Bastian, Azandar, and Sharp. I take the stance that we don't get to change Companions' personalities and characteristics to our liking — we need to wait until we meet the right Companion for us, rather than try to change the first ones we meet.

I disagree with this. I wouldn't want to change the personalities or appearances of any of our companions, but vampirism and lycanthropy are curses/conditions. Whilst they might be a part of that companion's history, they do not form part of their personalities or identities, much as I would not want a chronic condition to define me irl. Perhaps some people might have a different opinion about it, which is why I think it should be an option for the player to decide whether or not it defines their companion.


Edit: Anyway, for me, the TLDR of all of this is still that curing vampirism/lycanthropy has always been a part of TES lore, and I think it should be made available for our companions if we were to have a relationship with them.

You're right that curses and chronic conditions don't define our personality or identity. We absolutely can have Companions who happen to be cursed but don't ever bring it up or talk about it — all things considered, I'd rather their curse not be their one defining character trait. I want ZOS to avoid writing one-dimensional cursed characters who are stereotypical and don't have anything interesting to talk about except the really obvious curse that's afflicting them. Though, I think it's up to the Companion to decide whether their curse is important enough to define them in some way. I wouldn't want someone else making decisions for my life, even if they were my best friend. Plus, if the player could curse or cure any Companion, then it would conflict with some number of Companions' preferences, which is why a more locked-down system makes sense thematically.

Though, truth be told, if there was a tactical advantage to cursing one's Companions — say, if Companion Vampires had a useful skill or passive which reduced their damage taken, akin to the Undeath passive — then you'd see people cursing their Companions solely for having the most effective tactical advantage. You might also see people who really love werewolves or vampires cursing their favorite Companions with their favorite curse simply because they like it or want to build for that sort of thing on that Companion.

Maybe it would be better if we had the agency to curse or cure our Companions, but that would mean that any potential stories about a Companion's experience with their curse would make no sense, unless they happened in the past. That is, how can you tell a story about a werewolf or vampire character if they're no longer a werewolf or vampire? They'd have to be talking about how they were before meeting the player, so that it makes sense whether they remain cursed or not, unless Companions automatically toggled between being cursed or being cured whenever their questline bids it.