Companions Feel Close to Being Alive — Dynamic Dialogue Could Take Them Further

Bethruz · January 31

Hi everyone,

Lately I’ve been thinking about companions and their interactions, and how close they already are to feeling like real characters — yet how immersion tends to break over time.

A good example for me is Mirri Elendis. In Deshaan, she often says:
“I’ve always wanted to visit here. Spare a moment?”

That line sounds like an invitation to a conversation, but as a player it immediately makes me wonder: “Okay… now what?” In practice, nothing follows. The same ambient dialogue continues, and after many hours of play these lines start to feel more like background noise than meaningful interaction.

With current AI technology, companions feel like the most natural and safest place to experiment with deeper dialogue — not fully free AI, but carefully limited, lore-friendly conversations, restricted to the companion’s personality, background, and current location. I’m not an AI expert, but it feels like this kind of limited implementation could work well for companions specifically, without affecting quests, balance, or other players.

Another option could be player-initiated conversations only, keeping everything optional and controlled.

There’s no need for rewards or branching quests — just context and character. Even something simple, like being able to ask why a companion comments on a place and receiving a short, in-character response, would create a huge immersion boost without changing core gameplay at all.

Elder Scrolls has always been about living worlds and memorable characters — that’s what makes this game so amazing. Companions already react to our choices and travel with us everywhere; letting them meaningfully respond when they speak feels like a natural evolution of what ESO already does well.

I’m curious whether this is something the team has ever discussed or experimented with internally. As a player, this doesn’t feel like a far-future fantasy — it feels like an obvious next step for immersion.

I’d love to hear what other players think, and it would be great if someone from ZOS could join the conversation too.

metheglyn · January 31

I think something like that has the potential to work out well. I've often wanted to have longer/deeper/more interesting conversations with my companions and it does seem like it could be possible to implement something along these lines using AI, providing it can be kept to world and lore appropriate responses, as well as fit with each companion's individual personality.

I would think, though, for such a system they wouldn't be able to do the voices--I would not want an AI version of Bastian's voice, for example--and I don't know how people would feel about unvoiced dialogue in this game. I would be fine with unvoiced conversations in this instance, but I honestly don't know if it's something ZOS would ever want to do, since fully voiced dialogue is such a hallmark of the game.

MoonPile · February 2

Agree with metheglyn. I never want an AI version of anyone's voice – nor any creative content in the game, audio or visual.

AcadianPaladin · February 2

I would love some of this, if it could actually be delivered in a quality manner. I see a couple hurdles:

- AI voice acting needs to be quality - proper pronunciation and conveying emotion effectively.
- For existing companions to retain their voices and be able to generate new lines in game, it seems some sort of mutually agreeable financial arrangement would need to be made with the original voice actors.

I dream of companions that would know and properly use my character's name as well as refer to their past and current adventures together using generative AI voicing.

Benzux · February 3

There is already enough Large Language Model stuff being shoved down everyone's throats by every tech company who desperately wants to keep the AI bubble from popping. No thank you, I do not want it in my video games, especially if it is used to replace voice actors like your suggestion, well, suggests.

BretonMage · February 5

I definitely want more companion dialogue - voiced by real voice actors. I really, really don't want AI in my games.

Alphawolf01A · February 6

I always thought their "random" dialogue was meant as hints toward things that give positive rapport. Like Izzy talking about banging dents out of her armor, because she gives positive rapport for blacksmithing.