I'd rather have Tenarei Vels...

GreenHere · June 2021

During the initial quest to get Bastian, was I the only one thinking "I like her better... can I just ask Tenarei to be my Companion instead?"

She has a less bland personality, a good voice actor (is that Jennifer Hale doing an accent?!), and her demeanor makes me think she'd be a lot less judgy of my every move than clean-cut Mr. Righteous seems to be. It almost even felt like the quest was more designed to introduce us to her than Bastian, in some ways. I like her practical, sharp, slightly more aloof kind of vibe a lot better than soft-voiced Goodie McWeenie Boy over here.

I guess they wouldn't wanna have two Dunmer ladies featured as both of the Companion choices for the first go around, but so far I kind of feel like I've been saddled with the side character with Bastian. Hopefully Mirri will suit me better in actual play, but I've only been dealing with Bastian so far. (I didn't wanna jump back and forth a lot, so figured it'd be good to stick with one for a while at first; kinda rethinking that now, though.)

Is it just me, or does is seem like Tenarei would've made for a solid Companion?
We need a more "whatever, man -- you do what you gotta do! it's nothing personal." type Companion asap, imo...

ectoplasmicninja · June 2021

I like Tenarei, and I feel like she was characterized pretty well for a side quest character which doesn't often happen. I hope we see her again. I wouldn't mind having her as a companion - we do need a variety of personalities including someone more mercenary in their approach.

That said, I'm fond of Bastian. I typically play a goody two-shoes who tries to be nice and do the right thing 99% of the time except for certain occasions when the person is just so awful or the situation so untenable that a cold, pragmatic decision is called for. So he jives pretty well with my playstyle, although I do have sticky fingers and have to abruptly send him back to town for chicken nuggets when I see a Thieves' Trove.

I just wish he had more depth. I know they say they plan to develop the companions further, but even after you do both of their quests (I have on PTS but not on live due to incredibly slow rapport build) they're just sort of...there. You helped them solve a family problem and they might even consider you their closest friend but it doesn't give you any additional dialogue. You can't ask them anything except "how do you feel about our partnership" which is met with vague and generic "it's good travelling with you" or "I'm glad we're friends". People recognising specific things about you goes a long way toward making them and the world feel real, but they won't say stuff like "I think it's fascinating that you're a Psijic" or "I wonder how Dreamer is doing since we helped them in Farmer's Nook" or "I'm so glad you saved Valaste from Sheogorath, noone deserves that fate".

GreenHere · June 2021

ectoplasmicninja wrote: »

I like Tenarei, and I feel like she was characterized pretty well for a side quest character which doesn't often happen. I hope we see her again. I wouldn't mind having her as a companion - we do need a variety of personalities including someone more mercenary in their approach.

That said, I'm fond of Bastian. I typically play a goody two-shoes who tries to be nice and do the right thing 99% of the time except for certain occasions when the person is just so awful or the situation so untenable that a cold, pragmatic decision is called for. So he jives pretty well with my playstyle, although I do have sticky fingers and have to abruptly send him back to town for chicken nuggets when I see a Thieves' Trove.

I just wish he had more depth. I know they say they plan to develop the companions further, but even after you do both of their quests (I have on PTS but not on live due to incredibly slow rapport build) they're just sort of...there. You helped them solve a family problem and they might even consider you their closest friend but it doesn't give you any additional dialogue. You can't ask them anything except "how do you feel about our partnership" which is met with vague and generic "it's good travelling with you" or "I'm glad we're friends". People recognising specific things about you goes a long way toward making them and the world feel real, but they won't say stuff like "I think it's fascinating that you're a Psijic" or "I wonder how Dreamer is doing since we helped them in Farmer's Nook" or "I'm so glad you saved Valaste from Sheogorath, noone deserves that fate".

Thanks for the thoughtful reply! I like the way you're looking at it.

And yeah, the whole recruitment.. uh... partnering up quest felt kind of hollow at the end for me too, because unless I missed something there's no real acknowledgement of, "Hey, I'm gonna part ways with House Silvelle, so what do you say we travel together for a while? My experiences today have shown me that I clearly could use some capable friends around when adventuring!" or anything like that. He just kind of says you've earned your gold, and *bleep bloop* Achievement Unlocked you've unlocked the ability to summon him as a minion Companion now. No real lore lead up or anything, as far as I saw -- just a new option in some menu to call on him at-will. Fell pretty flat for me. (But again, I'm wondering if I missed a conversation somewhere or something...)

Pair that with the generic personality/dialogues, and I'm bordering on underwhelmed with him so far (even putting all combat effectiveness concerns aside).

Sidonius · June 2021

GreenHere wrote: »

During the initial quest to get Bastian, was I the only one thinking "I like her better... can I just ask Tenarei to be my Companion instead?"

I was pretty much thinking this for nearly every npc in both Bastion's and Mirri's quests. The altmer vampire comes to mind.

magnusthorek · June 2021

I didn't have the opportunity to play yet 'cause the red banner has used Unexpected Maintenance and that was super effective (

) but my main character — the only one I can actually play given I was 5y away and tones of quests got accumulated — is a Telvanni so, if Bastian is that Mr. Good-boy, I'd preferred this Tenarei Vals too, whoever she is (not that the members of The Great House Telvanni usually need help anyways — but I'd certainly make an exception if she's really voiced by Jennifer Hale

).

ectoplasmicninja · June 2021

Yep, I had the same feeling about their decisions to follow you. Their initial quest wraps up like any other NPC, with a sort of general "if you need any help in the future let me know", which frankly a lot of NPCs say but you never get to call them on, and then you get a notification that you unlocked them as a companion. As you said, there's no lore lead-up at all. You can even summon him immediately without any time gap for him to sort things out with the Silvelles.

Maybe if after you parted ways from Bastian you got a mail that was a letter from him saying he handled things with the Silvelles and he needed some space away from Quistley and offered to meet up and adventure with you, that would be smoother and more immersive. As it is they feel too much like Tythis Andromo and Nuzhimeh, who have zero identity outside of you and just exist in the aether waiting to be summoned. The fact that they have quests indicates that they're part of the world, but it's just not enough IMO.

I definitely do hope we see a wider range of personalities in the future. I'm more interested in the roleplay/companionship of, uh, companions, rather than their combat prowess (which is always going to be mediocre at best), so I'd like to see not just the typical tropes of righteous paladin and snooty wizard but some interesting backstories and views. Give me a Khajiit sorcerer who is an aspiring Psijic, an Argonian werewolf with a seething hatred of undead, a Bosmer warden who struggles to reconcile the Green Pact with her secret burning desire to be a chef specialising in salads - make them interesting and I'm there for it.

xv1_me · June 2021

GreenHere wrote: »

During the initial quest to get Bastian, was I the only one thinking "I like her better... can I just ask Tenarei to be my Companion instead?"

She has a less bland personality, a good voice actor (is that Jennifer Hale doing an accent?!), and her demeanor makes me think she'd be a lot less judgy of my every move than clean-cut Mr. Righteous seems to be. It almost even felt like the quest was more designed to introduce us to her than Bastian, in some ways. I like her practical, sharp, slightly more aloof kind of vibe a lot better than soft-voiced Goodie McWeenie Boy over here.

I guess they wouldn't wanna have two Dunmer ladies featured as both of the Companion choices for the first go around, but so far I kind of feel like I've been saddled with the side character with Bastian. Hopefully Mirri will suit me better in actual play, but I've only been dealing with Bastian so far. (I didn't wanna jump back and forth a lot, so figured it'd be good to stick with one for a while at first; kinda rethinking that now, though.)

Is it just me, or does is seem like Tenarei would've made for a solid Companion?
We need a more "whatever, man -- you do what you gotta do! it's nothing personal." type Companion asap, imo...

Can’t just be happy with what they give us I see.

GreenHere · June 2021

xv1_me wrote: »

GreenHere wrote: »

During the initial quest to get Bastian, was I the only one thinking "I like her better... can I just ask Tenarei to be my Companion instead?"

She has a less bland personality, a good voice actor (is that Jennifer Hale doing an accent?!), and her demeanor makes me think she'd be a lot less judgy of my every move than clean-cut Mr. Righteous seems to be. It almost even felt like the quest was more designed to introduce us to her than Bastian, in some ways. I like her practical, sharp, slightly more aloof kind of vibe a lot better than soft-voiced Goodie McWeenie Boy over here.

I guess they wouldn't wanna have two Dunmer ladies featured as both of the Companion choices for the first go around, but so far I kind of feel like I've been saddled with the side character with Bastian. Hopefully Mirri will suit me better in actual play, but I've only been dealing with Bastian so far. (I didn't wanna jump back and forth a lot, so figured it'd be good to stick with one for a while at first; kinda rethinking that now, though.)

Is it just me, or does is seem like Tenarei would've made for a solid Companion?
We need a more "whatever, man -- you do what you gotta do! it's nothing personal." type Companion asap, imo...

Can’t just be happy with what they give us I see.

I mean, you're not wrong I suppose... It is kind of "on me" that I'm so critical of their offerings. Just being happy with whatever I get has never been one of my strong suits; especially when it seems like things could/should have been done so much better. I'm just a critical dude, I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But it is what it is, and I'm just being honest about my experience as a player.

Bastian strikes me as a bit of a dork, and personally I just didn't click with him yet -- and we've been adventuring for multiple hours now. Whereas I took an instant liking to Tenarei even though the game originally set me on a path to viewing her as an enemy or antagonist of some kind.

Over the course of the quest, you get glimpses of her personality that indicate (to me, at least) that she's the much more savvy & competent adventurer; not to mention the slight irreverence and "doesn't suffer fools" attitude she seems to have. Plus her sense of humor (that Bastian apparently utterly lacks). I guess I can only speak personally here, but her sort of character appeals to me MUCH more than the righteous do-gooder type that Bastian appears to be.

Maybe what really trips me up most about it is the juxtaposition of having these two in the same quest, but then "making" me "side" with the "weak" one. (Quotes because I do get that it's all a bit subjective here.) For me, it sure seems like she's the stronger character, but I get unceremoniously "rewarded" with the weak one I'd rather not have (at least, when comparing the two, which is hard not to do given the quest events). And then the quest just... ends.

I dunno. It's all just feeling pretty unsatisfying for me so far, and Tenarei has a lot to do with that. Was wondering if I was alone feeling this way, hence the thread.

Out of curiosity, did you read/listen to all the dialogue in the quest as you went, @xv1_me ? Or just kind of rush most of it?
(Personally I listened to every dialogue option and tried to immerse myself in the story as thoroughly as I could; which may have been part of the problem in hindsight...)

I can totally understand why all this would matter next to not at all to folks who just kind of skipped the dialogues (which I know many people do, and don't blame them for one bit! sometimes you just want action, not drama. and lots of other valid reasons I won't go into).

GreenHere · June 2021

magnusthorek wrote: »

I didn't have the opportunity to play yet 'cause the red banner has used Unexpected Maintenance and that was super effective ( ) but my main character — the only one I can actually play given I was 5y away and tones of quests got accumulated — is a Telvanni so, if Bastian is that Mr. Good-boy, I'd preferred this Tenarei Vals too, whoever she is (not that the members of The Great House Telvanni usually need help anyways — but I'd certainly make an exception if she's really voiced by Jennifer Hale ).

I can't swear Tenarei's portrayed by Hale, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. She's the sort of character that Hale often gets casted for I think, and Tenarei's definitely got a strong, clear, and well-enunciated voice that puts her above many other voice talents in ESO (at least for generic non-celebrity NPCs and such). Whoever it is did a standout job, in my view -- Hale or not. I didn't scrutinize the performance or anything, but it was good enough to catch my attention when I wasn't even thinking about voice acting prior to meeting her. But she's got that sort of Dunmer accent thing going on, so that's throwing me off a bit.

Any chance there's credits or something somewhere where we can look up voice talents in ESO CHAPTERS and such? It's frustratingly hard to google info about ESO actors without getting directed to the base game or old DLCs or just plain other (totally irrelevant) Elder Scrolls titles. Not sure who could help here, but pinging @ZOS_GinaBruno & @ZOS_JessicaFolsom & @ZOS_SarahHecker since they're the ones I see dealing with these more "public facing" things most often. :P

xv1_me · June 2021

GreenHere wrote: »

xv1_me wrote: »

GreenHere wrote: »

During the initial quest to get Bastian, was I the only one thinking "I like her better... can I just ask Tenarei to be my Companion instead?"

She has a less bland personality, a good voice actor (is that Jennifer Hale doing an accent?!), and her demeanor makes me think she'd be a lot less judgy of my every move than clean-cut Mr. Righteous seems to be. It almost even felt like the quest was more designed to introduce us to her than Bastian, in some ways. I like her practical, sharp, slightly more aloof kind of vibe a lot better than soft-voiced Goodie McWeenie Boy over here.

I guess they wouldn't wanna have two Dunmer ladies featured as both of the Companion choices for the first go around, but so far I kind of feel like I've been saddled with the side character with Bastian. Hopefully Mirri will suit me better in actual play, but I've only been dealing with Bastian so far. (I didn't wanna jump back and forth a lot, so figured it'd be good to stick with one for a while at first; kinda rethinking that now, though.)

Is it just me, or does is seem like Tenarei would've made for a solid Companion?
We need a more "whatever, man -- you do what you gotta do! it's nothing personal." type Companion asap, imo...

Can’t just be happy with what they give us I see.

I mean, you're not wrong I suppose... It is kind of "on me" that I'm so critical of their offerings. Just being happy with whatever I get has never been one of my strong suits; especially when it seems like things could/should have been done so much better. I'm just a critical dude, I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But it is what it is, and I'm just being honest about my experience as a player.

Bastian strikes me as a bit of a dork, and personally I just didn't click with him yet -- and we've been adventuring for multiple hours now. Whereas I took an instant liking to Tenarei even though the game originally set me on a path to viewing her as an enemy or antagonist of some kind.

Over the course of the quest, you get glimpses of her personality that indicate (to me, at least) that she's the much more savvy & competent adventurer; not to mention the slight irreverence and "doesn't suffer fools" attitude she seems to have. Plus her sense of humor (that Bastian apparently utterly lacks). I guess I can only speak personally here, but her sort of character appeals to me MUCH more than the righteous do-gooder type that Bastian appears to be.

Maybe what really trips me up most about it is the juxtaposition of having these two in the same quest, but then "making" me "side" with the "weak" one. (Quotes because I do get that it's all a bit subjective here.) For me, it sure seems like she's the stronger character, but I get unceremoniously "rewarded" with the weak one I'd rather not have (at least, when comparing the two, which is hard not to do given the quest events). And then the quest just... ends.

I dunno. It's all just feeling pretty unsatisfying for me so far, and Tenarei has a lot to do with that. Was wondering if I was alone feeling this way, hence the thread.

Out of curiosity, did you read/listen to all the dialogue in the quest as you went, @xv1_me ? Or just kind of rush most of it?
(Personally I listened to every dialogue option and tried to immerse myself in the story as thoroughly as I could; which may have been part of the problem in hindsight...)

I can totally understand why all this would matter next to not at all to folks who just kind of skipped the dialogues (which I know many people do, and don't blame them for one bit! sometimes you just want action, not drama. and lots of other valid reasons I won't go into).

Not I didn’t read bastions yet I kinda read mirri tho. I’m not huge into dialogue but I know some people are. Just have fun

but yes lots of things I’d like to have like my alts as houseguests for example.

I try to immerse sometimes. I just can’t really spend too much time reading dialogue when time is money. Much rather would be out farming gold or finding deals. We all have our thing.

LanteanPegasus · June 2021

Well, you obviously weren't the only one thinking *see thread title*, as posts above say.

But I have to say I'm really glad that I got to keep Bastian. I really like him. I probably would've had a headache for the rest of the day from rolling my eyes so hard if the "a lass has gotta do what a lass has gotta do, live with it, same goes for you" Dork Elf had been my prospective partner in adventure.

Let's just say I'm as fed up with all those "en vogue snappy cutthroat characters" as you seem to be with the "goody two shoes".

That's probably the reason for me apparently finding more layers of personality in Bastians dialogue than you did, and vice versa. Tenarei was actually quite sufferable for her kind of role (probably because she was supposed to be more of a rival than an antagonist), but I was happy to send her on her way when all was said and done.

I'm also one of those people that don't mix up being honorable/having principles with being weak, so I never felt I got the less competent of the two.

I'm guessing ZOS had preferences like ours in mind when they decided to start with those two different companions. From all that I've heard so far, Mirri's personality should be a lot more up your alley. At least I'm so convinced of it that I'm not really motivated to look for her anytime soon. (I'll wait to hear more. If she is a lot less of a Naryu than the teasers make her to be I may change my mind.) Maybe you should stop hanging around with Basti, and get her to travel with you.

I absolutely agree about the weak writing regarding the transition from introduction story to companionship, though!! I was waiting, then searching for some form of dialogue or letter or whatnot that explained how Bastian sent home his stupid not-really-brother, and decided that it was time to consider his debts to the family paid, and he'd like to help my character save Tamriel from things it needed to be saved from.
There are one or two half lines within his dialogue that hint to that, but they are just not enough.

Plus, it was totally botched writing when the last dialogue goes something like: "And here is your reward from the family coffers." : xxx gold + Bastian Hallix
He practically tells me: "The family sends their regards, they say you shall have this purse of coin - and me."

coop500 · June 2021

GreenHere wrote: »

ectoplasmicninja wrote: »

I like Tenarei, and I feel like she was characterized pretty well for a side quest character which doesn't often happen. I hope we see her again. I wouldn't mind having her as a companion - we do need a variety of personalities including someone more mercenary in their approach.

That said, I'm fond of Bastian. I typically play a goody two-shoes who tries to be nice and do the right thing 99% of the time except for certain occasions when the person is just so awful or the situation so untenable that a cold, pragmatic decision is called for. So he jives pretty well with my playstyle, although I do have sticky fingers and have to abruptly send him back to town for chicken nuggets when I see a Thieves' Trove.

I just wish he had more depth. I know they say they plan to develop the companions further, but even after you do both of their quests (I have on PTS but not on live due to incredibly slow rapport build) they're just sort of...there. You helped them solve a family problem and they might even consider you their closest friend but it doesn't give you any additional dialogue. You can't ask them anything except "how do you feel about our partnership" which is met with vague and generic "it's good travelling with you" or "I'm glad we're friends". People recognising specific things about you goes a long way toward making them and the world feel real, but they won't say stuff like "I think it's fascinating that you're a Psijic" or "I wonder how Dreamer is doing since we helped them in Farmer's Nook" or "I'm so glad you saved Valaste from Sheogorath, noone deserves that fate".

Thanks for the thoughtful reply! I like the way you're looking at it.

And yeah, the whole recruitment.. uh... partnering up quest felt kind of hollow at the end for me too, because unless I missed something there's no real acknowledgement of, "Hey, I'm gonna part ways with House Silvelle, so what do you say we travel together for a while? My experiences today have shown me that I clearly could use some capable friends around when adventuring!" or anything like that. He just kind of says you've earned your gold, and *bleep bloop* Achievement Unlocked you've unlocked the ability to summon him as a minion Companion now. No real lore lead up or anything, as far as I saw -- just a new option in some menu to call on him at-will. Fell pretty flat for me. (But again, I'm wondering if I missed a conversation somewhere or something...)

Pair that with the generic personality/dialogues, and I'm bordering on underwhelmed with him so far (even putting all combat effectiveness concerns aside).

The end of the quests was my biggest complaint too, it felt so... artificial? Like they didn't acknowledge being companions at all, they just seemed like any other NPC but now you can summon a copy of them

tsaescishoeshiner · June 2021

And not Quistley?? Quistley houseguest when ...

I think the characters in that quest were all really good. I remember thinking that Tenarei would make a good companion, as well. I haven't done Bastian's other companion quests yet (still grinding rapport with him), but I find his backstory and motivations interesting so far.

ZOS_BeckyIchnoski · June 2021

Hello! Tenarei Vels is voiced by Fryda Wolff.

GreenHere · June 2021

ZOS_BeckyIchnoski wrote: »

Hello! Tenarei Vels is voiced by Fryda Wolff.

You are my hero! Thank you for coming through with the credit to the actor.

Please find a moderator and tell them I hereby agree to let them take all my forum stars and award them to you!

Is there any source we can turn to to see the full list of credits for other "minor" characters and such? Or just anywhere we can learn more about their / your work? (Congrats on being ESO's Voiceover Supervisor, btw! Very cool!)

Especially for DLCs and whatnot, it can be quite hard to find any info on the non-celebrity talents involved since search engines seem to thoroughly enjoy directing me to the info that came out in 2014. :P

GreenHere · June 2021

Holy crap, Fryda Wolff is a busy lady! Must be damn good at what she does!

I'm always really impressed by top-tier voice actors' IMDB pages. Seeing them have like eleventyseven projects lined up per year is kind of amazing!

Orion_89 · June 2021

Agree. My character is chaotic neutral so I thought it would be an interesting conflict between him and Bastian like it used to be in classic rpgs, and I expected he will have a strong personality, firm convictions and his own reasons to stay good. But he just turned out to be soft and naive boy. And his voice only enhances this impression.

vallisas · June 2021

Nah, she didn't stand out for me, pretty generic npc tbh. I forgot about all of the npcs involved in that quest as soon as I ended it. I've loved Bastian thus far.

But no, we already have a girl, a dunmer as well at that. We needed a guy, especially if they're going to add romance to them. This can't be like the Skryim modding community where every modded companion is a half naked chick for just the boys to oggle. More people play this game than those.

Sue_D_Nim · June 2021

I actually wanted the wood elf Thadarond. I like his chatter.

Sue_D_Nim · June 2021

I forgot you can't edit your posts. But yes, Tenarei has more personality.

coop500 · June 2021

vallisas wrote: »

Nah, she didn't stand out for me, pretty generic npc tbh. I forgot about all of the npcs involved in that quest as soon as I ended it. I've loved Bastian thus far.

But no, we already have a girl, a dunmer as well at that. We needed a guy, especially if they're going to add romance to them. This can't be like the Skryim modding community where every modded companion is a half naked chick for just the boys to oggle. More people play this game than those.

Agreed 110%! I love Bastian, for ESO tier character writing, I enjoy him