Will there ever be unique companions in this game?

[Mama Luke]

I've never played previous M&B titles so I don't know if this was a feature in previous games but I'd like to see some unique companions with their own personalities and maybe even their own quest lines instead of all these randomly generated characters with their "generic backstories".
Even the unique characters like lords all behave the same way. It really gets lonely after some time. I'm not expecting Bioware levels of character development but let us have some friends that we'd actually care about in the game guys.

Otherwise I'm really enjoying the game (164 hours so far). Thanks for all your hard work.

 

[ZydrateTheSmoothCriminal]

Hopefully yes. They were there in Warband and were pretty popular and memorable.

 

[Lord Irontoe]

Hopefully they'll be added at some point. There was a thread on Reddit where someone went through all the game files looking for missing or cut content and there were a bunch of companion backstories that sounded a lot more in-depth and interesting than the ones in the game. So hopefully they're just not implemented yet, though its possible that they've been cut in favor of the generic wanderers

 

[hruza]

I've never played previous M&B titles so I don't know if this was a feature in previous games but I'd like to see some unique companions with their own personalities and maybe even their own quest lines instead of all these randomly generated characters with their "generic backstories".

We had unique companions in previous MB games and it becomes stale after few replays. You are dealing with the same companions again and again without any variation. This new semi random system is much better for a sandbox game like this, every game you have different companions with different stats that you need to collect to fit needs of your party. Which might be different depending on what type of character you play.

 

[durbal]

I like the templated characters more.

 

[Koshkasa]

We had unique companions in previous MB games and it becomes stale after few replays. You are dealing with the same companions again and again without any variation. This new semi random system is much better for a sandbox game like this, every game you have different companions with different stats that you need to collect to fit needs of your party. Which might be different depending on what type of character you play.

Well, the generated characters don't differ too much from one another so far to make a comparison like that. While we all remember Lezalit's "You do me a great honor, captain." upon awarding him a fief, there isn't much personality to BL heroes to make them have the same effect yet. They are all technically different, but they blend into a grey goo where no particular one of them is a character of his/her own.

If we see some trait-based and culture-flavoured interactions between companions, now, that'll be bloody interesting. I'm still installing the first Lezalit mod that pops up on Nexus and never deleting it ever again, though.

(post probably not sponsored by Lezalit, Inc.)

 

[durbal]

Well, the generated characters don't differ too much from one another so far to make a comparison like that.

That's just because more template haven't been added. The templating system is essentially limitless.

 

[Koshkasa]

That's just because more template haven't been added. The templating system is essentially limitless.

Yeah. I'm very interested to see where it goes (companions of Warband felt pretty vivid for INT slaves), but if such a system is planned at all, no way it's too high on the priorities list right now xD.

 

[Hodor NOT]

I kinda like the idea of randomly generated ones.
I loved the companions in Warband, but in the end I always had the same party make-up.

In Bannerlord I see the potential that every playthrough may differ a bit, depending on the companions you find. However, the backstory, generation as well as the quality needs to improve greatly.

 

[Badcritter]

My most vivid memory of the companions in Warband was drawing up a matrix of who likes and hates who so that I could sustain a party for more than 8 companions. 8 was generally considered the max for a stable party where nobody hated anyone else, but companions wouldn't leave if there was one other companion they hated and one other companion they liked. I managed to sustain a constant larger party with just the occasional complaint that could be safely ignored.

The vast majority of the templated "wanderers" in Bannerlord are of little interest to me in terms of the way their skills are allocated, and obviously their generic backstories are of no interest either. If they aren't going to have any personality, I'd rather most of them were level 1 blank slates to fashion into what I need.

 

[hruza]

Well, the generated characters don't differ too much from one another so far to make a comparison like that.

They do difer, even if they follow certain templates based on culture and while you will notice their patterns afther a while they still roll their skills randomly to some degree and most importantly, you newer know what will be available at the start of the game and what companions will appear as you play. That's certainly better then the old system.

While we all remember Lezalit's "You do me a great honor, captain." upon awarding him a fief, there isn't much personality to BL heroes to make them have the same effect yet. They are all technically different, but they blend into a grey goo where no particular one of them is a character of his/her own.

There are some advantages to the old system in that you can of course make unique NPCs more ...well unique. But then it's not like old companions were richly developed with deep interactions and storylines. Their backgrounds were as flat as template backgrounds we have now and after first one or two plays you did not bother to listen them anymore either.

MB is sandbox game, not story driven one and in my opoinion this new system fits it better. Old system felt kind of too limiting for free style of ply MB offers.

If we see some trait-based and culture-flavoured interactions between companions, now, that'll be bloody interesting.

I am certainly not against adding some depth to companion system, although I am not sure I would like return of the old this companion does not come long with that one so you have to choose which one you gone keep. It was annoying me, especially because it was fixed. At the end you did not choose companions because you liked them but to max number you can sustain together.

 

[Koshkasa]

They do difer, even if they follow certain templates based on culture and while you will notice their patterns afther a while they still roll their skills randomly to some degree and most importantly, you newer know what will be available at the start of the game and what companions will appear as you play. That's certainly better then the old system.

I do agree with that. When they start differing enough as characters (not stats-wise, but story-wise, rather), I'll hands down abandon the idea that WB companions existed in the first place. So far, though, I can't say that much.

There are some advantages to the old system in that you can of course make unique NPCs more ...well unique. But then it's not like old companions were richly developed with deep interactions and storylines. Their backgrounds were as flat as template backgrounds we have now and after first one or two plays you did not bother to listen them anymore either.

MB is sandbox game, not story driven one and in my opoinion this new system fits it better. Old system felt kind of too limiting for free style of ply MB offers.

They were bland to some extent on your fourth and beyond playthroughs, I admit. I don't count barking story exposition as a huge difference right now, since both old set-in-stone companions and the new ones do that almost the same way. I swear I've heard the story of the dude coming down from the mountain at least four times now in BL, but then, same can be said about Artimenner's dumb castellan narrative.

While BL isn't "story driven" (no M'n'B is), it's got that "carve your own story" knack to it. In that sense, having companions that aren't differently colored polystyrene bricks with a frowny face drawn on it would help immensely. So far they have different skills, may get angry at raiding villages depending on traits, and that's it, really. They are unique in the same sense any two grains in the grain bag are technically unique

I'm not suggesting the return of the hate matrix management minigame though, god was it unsatisfying to deal with. Just curious to see how the current dynamic system develops over time.

 

[Monkey]

I like the system currently in place. I like that they change names and aren't just the same from the previous game and I really like their stories so far. There's probably more work to be done on them, however, since I don't think all of them actually react to things you do, like, for example, when "the Fatherless" tells you to not raid villages because "those people are like me" or something like that. I really liked that. It made me feel like the Fatherless is alive. TaleWorlds has done a great job on Wanderers and I think they will still put more work on them.

 

[Lesbosisles]

Unique companions aren't quite compatable with the permadeath mechanics. When this system is properly fixed and NPCs will have a highes chance to die on the battlefield, you'll have the chance to loose all your unique companions very quickly. Just like in Skyrim where companions did stupid things and ended up permanently dead very often.

So far, the current system is ok. I suppose, it will be expanded in time and it should be good.

 

[hruza]

I doubt companions will ever be made to die on the battlefield in the game.

 

[Monkey]

Unique companions aren't quite compatable with the permadeath mechanics. When this system is properly fixed and NPCs will have a highes chance to die on the battlefield, you'll have the chance to loose all your unique companions very quickly. Just like in Skyrim where companions did stupid things and ended up permanently dead very often.

Exactly, and that's why a good "random" wanderer generation system is essential.

I doubt companions will ever be made to die on the battlefield in the game.

They will if they aren't already. I haven't tried it out yet, but the system is already in as a campaign option. I'm just not sure if or how it works. And even if they didn't die on the battlefield, they would eventually die of old age, just like your main character.

I'd like to add that this is the first game ever that's making me excited for the death (of old age) of my main character.

 

[hruza]

They will if they aren't already. I haven't tried it out yet, but the system is already in as a campaign option.

If you mean the checkbox in the start new character menu then, no it doesn't work. And dying of an old age and random death in any battle are very different from the gameplay point of view.

 

[Hodor NOT]

Unique companions aren't quite compatable with the permadeath mechanics. When this system is properly fixed and NPCs will have a highes chance to die on the battlefield, you'll have the chance to loose all your unique companions very quickly. Just like in Skyrim where companions did stupid things and ended up permanently dead very often.

So far, the current system is ok. I suppose, it will be expanded in time and it should be good.

The permadeath feature is a very valid point.
The companions should during the course of the game actually wander and develop some skills independent from you. So when one companion in your party dies (considerung the limited control we have over them, this risk is rather high), it is easier to find a suitable replacement for them.
Not necessarily just as good as your old companion, but considering in some playthroughs I cannot find a healer or engineer at all, I would hate to see a catapult smash my engineer to pieces and then having to spend days training a new one.
I should just be able to run into one at a noble court, or at the engineers guild