Game News Pillars of Eternity II Fig Update #5: A Few Words on Returning Companions

[Zed]

Tags: Carrie Patel; Obsidian Entertainment; Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

Obsidian's Narrative Designer Carrie Patel pens the latest Fig update (doesn't really have the same ring to it as "Kickstarter update", does it?). This update is all about returning companions. And it's short. Here's a little about what she has to say about each of the companions making a return in Pillars II:

As one of the writers on the original Pillars of Eternity and the White March expansions, I'm delighted to return to the world of Eora and bring along a few old friends. Aloth, Pallegina, and Edér will join you, the Watcher, in Deadfire, provided they survived their adventures in the Dyrwood. You'll find, however, that they've changed in the intervening years, and the people they've become depends in large part on how you left them at the end of Pillars of Eternity.



After the first game concludes, Aloth either becomes the new grandmaster of the Leaden Key or sets out to dismantle it. Both outcomes leave him chasing the mysteries of the gods, so it's no surprise that he comes to the Deadfire following many of the same leads as the Watcher. In either case, he's not the meek, deferential elf he used to be. Especially if the Watcher kept Iselmyr with him.

When the Watcher meets Pallegina in Defiance Bay, she's a paladin torn between conscience and duty. Depending on whether she obeys or defies her ducs' orders, she may end up honored or banished by the Brotherhood of the Five Suns. Regardless, Vailian interests pull her into the archipelago, whether as an elite champion, a disgraced soldier, or a humble Kind Wayfarer.

As an Eothasian and a Dyrwoodan, Edér struggled between faith in his god and loyalty to his country. When he learned the gods were not what he'd always believed, he found either comfort or freedom in that notion. He then went on to lead an underground Eothasian organization or revive the town of Dyrford accordingly. Yet whichever path he took, Edér accompanies the Watcher to Deadfire, hoping to help his old friend and learn what's become of his god.

Of course, if you sacrificed Aloth to the blood pool or lost Pallegina and Edér fighting the alpine dragon, you can replace them with custom adventurers knowing your choices (really) mattered...

Companions are set to be more tightly integrated with the narrative of Deadfire, so we wanted to bring back those whose personal stories will best tie in with the Watcher's and with the conflict unfolding in the archipelago. And wherever their new journey takes them, it's sure to test, challenge, and change them - and the Watcher - together.​

That's about it for that update. Uh, stay tuned.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

so excited

 

[Stompa]

Who seriously gives a fuck about Pallegina? Except Sawyer and his fangirl\boy №1, of course.

 

[Rivmusique]

I do. Never found out if she had a cloaca, high hopes that this will be resolved in Deadfire.

 

[The Great Deceiver]

Who seriously gives a fuck about Pallegina? Except Sawyer and his fangirl\boy №1, of course.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Durance, Grieving mother, the only two original npc's are missing... seems that obsidian really does hate MCA.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

I don't think it is out of spite, it wouldn't make much sense to include them when MCA isn't there to write them, now would it?

 

[Sizzle]

I don't think it is out of spite, it wouldn't make much sense to include them when MCA isn't there to write them, now would it?

And their character arcs are nicely wrapped up - it would be better to leave them alone and do some new characters.

 

[Fever]

I wonder if that poll is reliable anyway, since I was able to cast my vote there more than once.

The fact that the GM is the second most liked companion is especially baffling. I can understand Durance, but the Grieving Mother? Seriously? She's only up there (IF she is truly up there) because she was written by Avellone. Zero party banter, a voice acting plagued with that terrible hissing sound and a story/writing not that groundbreaking/original, although tied to the main plot.

I, for one, am happy she is not coming back in the sequel. I would have gladly forgotten Pallegina as well, but she seems to have strong connections at Obsidian...

 

[The Great Deceiver]

You might very well think that Pallegina, least popular NPC from Pillars of Eternity, was brought back at Sawyer's insistence.

I couldn't possibly comment.

 

[Roguey]

Zero party banter

She has banter with Hiravias.

I thought she was interesting.

 

[Fever]

She has banter with Hiravias.

I thought she was interesting.

True: Hiravias notices her presence once, right? Not a real banter tho.
She felt more like a stand-alone NPC than a companion to me. Honestly, I hope a design like that won't see the light of Deadfire, where we'll have an even smaller team and - at the moment - even less companions to choose from. Backstories are interesting, sure, but lively banter with companions, camaraderie and exchange of opinions are much more valuable in my eyes.

On topic: this update was a quite the let down; I was expecting at least a video or some new pics. This was just like a ten minutes essay about things we already knew. I surely hope Patel can do better

 

[Infinitron]

There's a recent interview with Josh that goes more in depth on this topic.

 

[Carnarium]

I hope companion quests are much better overall.

Devil of Carroc - Talk with her about her past, then do like one fight (and only if you choose to). I seriously did the whole thing in less than 10 minutes.
Durance and Mother - Talk with them a LOT -> quest completed!
Aloth - This was only one conversation/scene where you got to choose the outcome? Sure.
Pallegina - This shit was uninteresting and over so fast I can't even remember it.

Give me long and interesting quest chains so I actually might care about companions and their motivations, Bioware style (screw romances though). Eder, Sagani and Kana had decent quests if I remember right.

 

[Sizzle]

Hiravias and Zahua also had good quests. But yeah, I agree - companions should have more consistent, longer and more complex personal quests.

 

[Schizophrenic monolog]

I really liked POE.

The only thing that i disliked about the first game was the feature that you can talk to spirits.

The idea was great, but the execution was poor.

Most of the time those dialogs/monologs didn't have any effect on you nor the game.

It was just a collection of mini-stories (some are good).

I think it'll be really cool if every time you speak to a spirit it's effect on you in some way.

for example: new quests, XP, clues in some quests, items, riddles or even new abilities...

 

[Haba]

YOUR CHOICES MATTER!

'cept the outcome is the same.

Please preorder our game, it will be epic.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Reactivity was one of the worse aspects of PoE, along with the quest design and combat.

They were all pretty banal and boring, sequel needs a huge injection of creativity and not another by the numbers play it safe baldurs gate clone.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Talking to spirits: should have enhanced your crazy and your abilities in a MAJOR way. The more spirits you read or talk to or even devour, the more abilities as a watcher you would unlock. But it could also have a terrible side effect on you in some way.

There was literally other than them telling you that you were going nuts no actual way to tell game play wise.

Reactivity does blow. Did not like Pallegina really. Thought she was pretty meh overall as a companion, and the companion quests were mostly boring and banal.

And I was NOT impressed with the two characters MCA wrote at all. They seemed to be there just to spout different philosophies and that was that, or just tell stories that weren't very compelling.

She's a whore but I love her but I hate her! Blech.

In-game reactivity blew. For fucks sake, you have the opportunity to STOP a show that entertains by performing snuff. Or let it continue. What are the big consequences of that? Some extra money or reputation?

Why can't that influence other things outside or money and reputation? I dunno but there should be ripples and shockwaves in the game world based on your decisions. Some immediate and others longer down the line.

 

[Fever]

I hope companion quests are much better overall.

Devil of Carroc - Talk with her about her past, then do like one fight (and only if you choose to). I seriously did the whole thing in less than 10 minutes.
Durance and Mother - Talk with them a LOT -> quest completed!
Aloth - This was only one conversation/scene where you got to choose the outcome? Sure.
Pallegina - This shit was uninteresting and over so fast I can't even remember it.

Give me long and interesting quest chains so I actually might care about companions and their motivations, Bioware style (screw romances though). Eder, Sagani and Kana had decent quests if I remember right.

I think you are misremembering Kana's one, which was terrible, not in theory but in execution. Reach Od Nua floor 7 ---> quest completed.
For the rest, I totally agree with you, and I believe the players made clear during these years that companions' quests need to be much more interesting and deep.
My favorite personal quest was Zahua's, a real trip that I want to re-play soon. Sagani was also interesting. Aloth wasn't really that bad, there was the scene at the sanitarium and then that crucial scene on the bridge, plus a lot of comments here and there coming from his peculiar "condition". Could have been worse, like the horrific Pallegina's quest, another reason to dislike that character, I guess.
All in all, I'm totally fine with few characters (even fewer than PoE1) as long as they have meaningful banter and elaborate quests.

 

[One-and-a-half-Ivan]

Reactivity was one of the worse aspects of PoE, along with the quest design and combat.

They were all pretty banal and boring, sequel needs a huge injection of creativity and not another by the numbers play it safe baldurs gate clone.

That's pretty much what Sawyer promises in his interviews. And we know for sure that he can succeed.
So... hype, I guess?

 

[Bonerbill]

I wonder if that poll is reliable anyway, since I was able to cast my vote there more than once.

The fact that the GM is the second most liked companion is especially baffling. I can understand Durance, but the Grieving Mother? Seriously? She's only up there (IF she is truly up there) because she was written by Avellone. Zero party banter, a voice acting plagued with that terrible hissing sound and a story/writing not that groundbreaking/original, although tied to the main plot.

I, for one, am happy she is not coming back in the sequel. I would have gladly forgotten Pallegina as well, but she seems to have strong connections at Obsidian...

I like Grieving mother because she's a milf and she has an interesting backstory that actually relates to the problems that are happening in Dyrwood. She doesn't talk to the other companions for obvious reasons, but she still interject herself in conversations that relate to the Hollowborn or conversations that requires cipher abilities.

But no surprise that you think a boring character like Sagani is interesting. So STFU and get better taste in companions you faggot.

 

[Fever]

I like Grieving mother because she's a milf and she has an interesting backstory that actually relates to the problems that are happening in Dyrwood. She doesn't talk to the other companions for obvious reasons, but she still interject herself in conversations that relate to the Hollowborn or conversations that requires cipher abilities.

But no surprise that you think a boring character like Sagani is interesting. So STFU and get better taste in companions you faggot.

I've found Sagani and Edér interesting exactly because both of them felt like real people, down to earth with moral dilemmas and family ties.
They were also quite fun to have together, especially due to the fox jokes.

Weren't there enough special snowflakes to satisfy your oh-so-edgy tastes?

 

[jungl]

Worst companions are grieving mother, eder followed by sagani. Grieving mother is derp while the other 2 are too godamn real life normal for people that go on a journey with a guy that end up killings thousands of stuff. People bash Hiravias but his voice actor had the best spellcasting voice.

 

[Jarpie]

I'm a bit surprised that Kana is below Hiravias or Aloth, I liked his scholar thing and the voice acting is one of the better ones. Eder is my favourite, one of the very few companions in rpgs who are just regular bros, and not either try-hard edgy "hurr durr am bad mercenary!" or "am so angsty!", they got his tone IMO pretty much right. From WM companions I kinda like Zahua and Caroc is at least something a bit different even if the quest is so fucking ridiculously short. Devil of Caroc could've been great with more content.