Isn't Mirri also talking or saying some quotes sometimes?

Mirri: "I like to think I'm agreeable!"

Me, whispering between my grinding teeth: "I like to think you can shut up!"

Me *gathering some wood*
Bastian: 'What do you think you'll make with that?'
Me: 'Your coffin'.

Doesn't shut him up tho.

colossalvoids wrote: »

JoDiMageio wrote: »

If you wanted blessed silence, why did you get a companion?

They might have needed an assistance or doing it for achievements by which zos forced us to engage in it even if we hate/dislike companions.

One does not have to get companions...

JoDiMageio wrote: »

If you wanted blessed silence, why did you get a companion?

Bastian makes a good tanky pet for my magnecro. Fills a gap in her skill set. It allows her to stand back and do the whole puppet master thing, like necros are supposed to do.

madjhack wrote: »

Hence my mission to *** him off.

If your mission ever bears fruit, be sure to let us know!

Marcus Titus Alessian and Bastian arrive at the Rimmen Wayshrine, lugging crates of dragon-hunting gear. "Crud, we're too far from the nearest Dragon Scour," Marcus says, consulting his map. "I don't know a closer wayshrine. We'll have to ride."

"That's fine," Bastian says, "Cities are as alive, fickle, and uncertain as people. Some are good; some are bad. Some give you gifts; others rob you blind."

"I'm pretty sure that's racist against khajiit. But keep an eye on your purse anyways."

.........

As their ship ties off at the dock in Anvil, Marcus takes a deep breath of briny air. "The smell of home!" Then he catches a whiff of a certain rotten scent. Wrinkling his nose, he asks, "Are those bodies?"

Sure enough, along the seashore and amongst the dock workers going about their labor are a number of dead bodies that were sliced, diced, and stabbed then left to bake in the sun. Mostly the workers ignored them, but occasionally a body slips over the edge where it's set upon by a horde of waiting slaughterfish and mudcrabs.

Bastian observes, "Cities are as alive, fickle, and uncertain as people. Some are good; some are bad. Some give you gifts; others rob you blind."

"Anvil wasn't a bad city when I was growing up here! It's the fault of the Dark Brotherhood and their awful initiation rite." Marcus grimaces, "Man, now I can't even eat my favorite Gold Coast Mudcrab Fries without feeling like I'm eating partially-digested people."

.........

When they arrive at Daggerfall, Marcus steps out of the Wayshrine, then holds up a hand in front of Bastian. "Don't say it."

"What?"

Mimicking Bastian's tone, Marcus parrots, "Cities are as alive, fickle, and uncertain as people. Some are good; some are bad. Some give you gifts; others rob you blind." Then he adds, "I'd rather hear what you think. What do you really think about Daggerfall?"

"You know that guy here who keeps saying he owes you an ale for saving King Casimir? Let's go ask him for it."

""Gives gifts" it is, then!"

........

The next time they arrive in Rimmen, Bastian says, "Whether it's desperate commoners or the greedy soldiers, this city will rob you blind if you don't keep an eye on your purse."

"Its much less racist when you say it that way." Marcus agrees. "Plus, I appreciate hearing what you actually think of the city."




(Or, while I agree that players who want a "Mute" option should get one, the flip side is that Companion dialogue would be much less grating if it weren't just a few lines alternating when we go to certain locations. "Small talk" and ambient dialogue is the hardest thing to do properly in video games since players will hear it over and over again - I'd be willing to bet most TES fans can quote memeable bits of ambient dialogue from Oblivion, Skyrim, etc. My preference would be for ZOS to provide both a Mute button and more variations on the ambient dialogue for future Companions.)

RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »

JoDiMageio wrote: »

If you wanted blessed silence, why did you get a companion?

Bastian makes a good tanky pet for my magnecro. Fills a gap in her skill set. It allows her to stand back and do the whole puppet master thing, like necros are supposed to do.

Ah... if you could only shut him up and put a "putrid disgusting zombie flesh"-skin on him, it would be a done deal!! ;-)

(Still miffed that they didn't make undead pets for the necro class, makes no sense to me at all...)

Isn't there an option to change the frequency of how often they speak? Otherwise, it seems like it would be a simpler option to dismiss him entirely if you don't need him around.

UglyTriangle wrote: »

Isn't there an option to change the frequency of how often they speak? Otherwise, it seems like it would be a simpler option to dismiss him entirely if you don't need him around.

There is an option, and it does technically work.

HOWEVER ...

The options are 'Frequent' (~60% of the time whenever you do anything), 'Normal' (~50% of the time), and 'Infrequent' (~40%).

Now those aren't official numbers. It's merely my impression.

But hearing reactions 40% of the time when you do anything at all is still very frequent.

Further, the 'timer' seems to get reset whenever you change zones. If you change zones, you're almost guaranteed to get a "Let's Ride!" or a "This is a great area for harvesting!" the first time or two you do something in the zone. Regardless of your setting.

RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »

JoDiMageio wrote: »

If you wanted blessed silence, why did you get a companion?

Bastian makes a good tanky pet for my magnecro. Fills a gap in her skill set. It allows her to stand back and do the whole puppet master thing, like necros are supposed to do.

Yeah but you don't need any of that in cities, where he does his soliloquy. Just unsummon after fights, problem solved. Now if you can't even stand the commentary during fights but still want the companion's help, mute the game, problem solved.

Harvests a plant.
"hey, what do you think you'll make with that?"

Well, at least the issue of all the companions looking alike and killing immersion quickly became a non-issue. Already, I see very few companions out when playing the game. It’s neat to have them as an option, but I don’t see how anyone could possibly stand to have them out for a long period of time.

As long as when ZOS adds shiny new companions in the future they do these two things, I think everything will ultimately be alright...

1. Learn from these threads and adjust the dialog frequency rate percentages
2. With each new companion addition... Add a couple of new strings of dialog to the previous companions (each time!). So that the their dialog libraries become way more vast over time.

This is still a new feature and these are the first two companions. They've said they hope to enhance and add things to the system going forward.

Let's hope they follow through!

I tried having Bastian on the "infrequent" setting, but he was still way too chatty. There needs to be a "barely speaks" option and a "totally mute" option.