Companions - How deep?

So, in the single player offline deep dive they mentioned Companions, there wasn't much there but a little bit. I am hoping this is also true for single player online(the way I will mostly play). So to that end what is the minimum that people expect from companions?


Companions: Will we still get them as mentioned in kick starter? And will they be more than just henchmen with no personality.
Yes companions. Slightly more personality than henchmen, but not much at this time. As time goes on they will improve that aspect. The companions will improve with each episode as it is planned right now. Possibly with patches during an episode there will be improvement also.

 

For a single player RPG experience, if I'm honest I would hope for something much more than just henchmen. Something akin to Ultima 7 would be amazing but I suspect this maybe quite a high bar to reach.

My feeling is that playing the game in sp might feel rather lonely without a party or group. I would like to hear banter in response to certain combat events, both between members of your group and directed at you the player.

I would also like to hear them responding to events in the story as it develops, they should say things in response to certain quests and areas. I think that NPCs can be a great tool to get the player more emotionally evolved in the story and can also be good for presenting different points of view the player should perhaps consider in a natural way. I think taking these characters with you throughout the story strengthens the bond, as the NPC's share your experiences and face the same dangers at your side.

I don't mind if there is not a lot of choice in which companions you can take with you. I would rather have 3 unique and well developed characters that had varied and interesting things to say, than a large choice of superficial henchmen.

Although in an MMO this is not as important, since other players give you companionship, I really think this kind of NPC interaction is vital to single player RPG's.

More of a general point rather than only about this, but I would much prefer to wait a bit longer for the game and have the ambitious release date pushed back a bit, than for it to "go live" when it is not completely ready.

Listening to the dev hangouts fills me with confidence that this game will evolve into something amazing and the way the dev team is working with the community is pretty special. I would hate to see this huge potential limited by time constraints.

 

I agree 100%.
I fear that the devs concentrate too much on the MMO aspect of the game. This game was advertised as being both a SP-RPG and an MMORPG, but so far it seems that the MMO side has a much higher priority than the SP-part.
I mean, come on, they spent time creating a hot tub for the housing but the companions get neglected? Is it really more important to have a hot tub in a house than adding to the atmosphere and immersion of the game and story by adding complex companions with personalities?

 

Just because we haven't heard about companions doesn't mean they haven't been developed. Richard Garriott and Tracy Hickman have just kept most of the story secret.

And an artist who does 3D models for things like the hot tub aren't writers for working on companions. Modelers and animators aren't hurting the writing by doing their jobs separately. It is a logical fallacy to assume non-fungible assets have a direct opportunity cost.

 

Well, we have heard as I posted in the original post. They will be very basic. That was for offline play.

 

And that is the most disheartening news I've heard. It's worse than the map debacle.

Deep companions who take part in the story are at the very core of the Ultima experience for me. Without that it will not be the spiritual successor to Ultima in my mind. Iolo, Dupre, and Shamino in Serpent's Isle are exactly what I expected when I signed on. It was a major let down to me that such dynamic companions are not a priority for the dev team.

I hate to turn into one of those complainers. I love the dev team. I'm passionate about what they do and I appreciate how they've let up help guide them, but lately, it's one disheartening thing after another.

 

we have always been told that the story component of offline and online play will be identical. so if the companions have depth in offline play, they will have the same depth for online play.

this is one of my main concerns for sota as well: the actual RPG part of the game (as opposed to the mmo sandbox part). They have stated they are keeping their cards close to the chest on this, so i suppose we have no choice except to wait and hope.

 

That's just it though they said they wouldn't have any depth.

 

Yeah. In the deep dive, they said they will have as much depth as any other NPC (possibly more), in that if you initiate a conversation, they would have a nice bulky convo tree. And that's great, but the impression they gave was that it wouldn't (at least at launch) go further than that. They don't have plans for "living" companions who react to the story or to each other.

 

...so, no banter or conversations between companions? That is a real bummer, as @RichardGarriot did say at some point that they were hoping to have companions as detailed as the ultima 7 "benchmark".

At least, that's what I thought I heard. After all, how can the storyline be even more compelling than Ultimas IV-VII if your companions don't react and talk about it?

sadface.

 

I know. This is one of the reasons I have been pushing for more info on the single player side of the game. This doesn't just mean story before someone jumps in with that nugget of wisdom. This has me very worried just how important the story actually is.

 

Don't completely despair. They don't have it slotted for release, but I think they hinted that it could be added at a later time. They repeatedly talked about how they will continue to work on functionality post-release, since it's a living game.

I'm still upset mind you. I think this should be an A-number 1 priority. Right at the top of the list. Deep dynamic companions should have been a "must-have" goal as far as I'm concerned.

 

Problem is if companions are deep then they are few. Every player will end up with the same few, fleshed out guys and it will be weird.

I'd like to see randomly generated henchmen who you can 'evolve' as they level up with you. At level 1 the are a swinging sword. At level 2 you can add a catch phrase; at 3 a complaint; 4 is a bit of back story, like their home town. at level 5 the home town info would open up other things to flesh out your guy; armor type, weapon, favorite color, etc. this would all eventually add up to a. Very fleshed out and unique companion.

Just my thoughts.


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I don't see how something like Companions, which would be integral to the overall story and experience of the single player game, could be added "at a later date" without them compromising their "primary objective".

Im not sure if you have experience with the classic ultimas but in the previous iterations companions were scattered throughout Britannia, living their lives. If you asked them to join, they would, but there were many more possible companions living in the world than you could fit into your party.

 

To me, that sounds like sacrificing the single player game to satisfy multi-player and I've seen more than enough of that.

I had a decent idea and I hope @Lum will chime in about it.

Could companions chime in during scenes using the Bark function? If it's a one liner a bark will suffice, if he has more, there could be a bark followed by a "..." or the like, cuing you to start a conversation with them.

Seems like a good way to work within existing systems to flesh out companions.

 

They handled this quite will in Starwars knights of the old republic. These guys don't have near the budget but I expected something.

This doesn't really feel like a new Ultima anymore...at least with the features forefront in the game.

 

There were like 10-15...


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I just had another idea for fleshing out companions and making them part of the story. It's not as cool as the barks idea I had earlier, but it's even easier to implement.

Maybe cut-scene type story elements could have exposition. A text box that pops up and describes some of the scene. In that box, could be written optional portions saying how your companion reacts (if they are present) and what your companion says.