I would say that companions in Starfield have better writing than any other Bethesda game so far. I really liked what they did with Sam and Andreja in particular (though I haven’t completed Andreja’s personal quests yet, I’m very close to the end). Sam feels like a real person with relatable issues; Andreja has a unique position and perspective that’s mostly handled with some nuance; even Sarah had her moments too. Barrett was the weakest, but it’s still better than other Bethesda companions by a mile, in my opinion.
So, in short, I think it’s worth taking them for their personal quests. I enjoyed them a lot more than I was expecting to, really.
One of the powers is locked behind Barret accompanying you to a Temple. Other than that, well, they do provide extra carry capacity and the occasional goodie, as well as someone else for the enemies to shoot at.
The Isolation perk with its 60% damage increase however is nothing to be sneezed at, and of course you can get by with a much smaller ship if you don’t need to take the whole gang along.
I’d say it’s about even. But I’m miffed that they omitted a few choice companion picks like, say, Kaiser. Those curves, the steely gaze, the sheer determination in his voice…swoon
Yeah, the companions aren’t utterly useless in fights, but I probably get 90% of the kills, so they mainly act as infinite tanks when I’m concealed. I could easily do without them, since everyone will target me if I step out into the open anyway, and in tight doorways and places like that they tend to recklessly block my fire.
They are more or less useless for non-combat activities, but they do have some of the only decent dialog in the game. I don’t know the rules for their story progression, but I assume you have to carry them with you for it to happen.
The real WTF thing is when they ask to talk to you, you exchange a few comments, and then they give you some tiny amount of cash like you’re a little kid visiting a grandparent or something.
Yeah. I just don’t understand why they teased that possiblity and then just railroaded you into siding with the corporation instead. All three options suck, but it’d be more palatable without that implicit promise of an epic quest for the good ending.
Like, it seems pretty clear they had a bigger ambition for the quest at some point because it is a lot of setup for so little reward, and then had to cut it down. But if you’re gutting the quest anyway, why bother leaving in that hook.
That sounds like you don’t need companions to accompany you outside the ship, but having them along for the ride would be fine. I do have Sarah on the ship with two crew, so can mix ‘em up from time-to-time to chat with them if that’s where the story lies.
I don’t think I’ll take anyone along unless it’s necessary. I don’t want to mess with my stealth snipering.
Remember too that those companions can also be ship crew, and add their bonuses to space stuff. If you go the loner route, you can’t use crew either from how I read it, which might or might not be a big thing if you are into space fights.
Oh darn. I thought Equisilus had found a good loophole for the loner perk. Keep everyone on the ship. But you’re probably right, if you keep them on the ship, maybe you don’t get the introvert bonus.
I’m pretty sure that for ‘introvert’, at least, you just can’t have them around when you are land travelling because that’s where the O2 is used and that’s what it’s about. Wouldn’t make sense if you leave them on the ship and not get the benefit of the trait. They aren’t ‘following’ you on the ship and that seems to be the key.
My favorites are when Coe’s little girl continues to read her haiku while I’m engaging three enemies in a dogfight. Or when, in the middle of an intense firefight at a base, one of the companions starts asking me casual like if we could have a few words…
Huh. I blitzed through my first NG+ skipping the campaign, and I’m doing the campaign stuff on my second run, so I get confused. Also, I think I sold one scan to Vlad and that’s it. It’s just not worth the hassle unless I have a ton of them saved up.
My in-game Mom gave me grandma’s space suit. If I hadn’t stolen the spacesuit from the Lodge’s basement through the cracks, it honestly would be a great space suit. It still is better than that one in some ways.
But I just won’t tell Mom that I’m immediately going to sell grandma’s suit.
