RPGs: Useless companions

[Manoose47]

Sten form DoA is not only incredibly useless, but possess's absolutely no distinguishing personality, he to me, was a complete waste of a character, which is doubly depressing because Bioware have created some of the most memorable characters ever.

when i think of how another HK-47 could've been there in place of Sten it makes me sick!

 

[not_you]

Since no-one's managed to mention it yet... (Or if they did I missed it since I flicked through page 1 and skipped the others)

Every single companion or follower I have around in Skyrim is useless to me...

Because those followers don't know how to sneak, so I can never get a backstab....
I mean, sure, Mjoll is an awesome Ancient dragon tank, but, other than that, they're all useless....

 

[Kargathia]

Since no-one's managed to mention it yet... (Or if they did I missed it since I flicked through page 1 and skipped the others)

Every single companion or follower I have around in Skyrim is useless to me...

Because those followers don't know how to sneak, so I can never get a backstab....
I mean, sure, Mjoll is an awesome Ancient dragon tank, but, other than that, they're all useless....

After trying out a bunch I'm cautiously optimistic about the Dark Brotherhood Initiate - they seem to be more adapt in sneak than most.

 

[MajorTomServo]

Fallout 3 - Everyone except Fawkes

Fawkes is the uber companion. it was actually kind of ridiculous and unfair to NPCs just how strong and useful he is.
as awesome as he was, he actually died on me once. somehow, he got stuck on some derbies, wouldn't move or fight back, and got mowed down by a laser turret. it was actually kind of funny: he just stood there for almost 30 seconds while this laser turret chipped away at his health.

I actually dont really like Fawkes. Not right away, anyway. He's a notorious kill-stealer, so I dont use him until Ive hit the level cap.

 

[him over there]

I am surprised and Appalled by the lack of Porky(Pokey) Minch in this thread. Earthbound was largely text based and it capitalized on this with Porky in your party. "Porky cowered behind Ness in fear." It really made me hate him. That was the point though so... I guess it counts because he doesn't contribute to the battle even the most inconsequential part of the game. Barring that any escort mission companion in anything ever.

 

[kcjerith]

I am working on a hardcore play through of Fallout New Vegas, so all of the side kicks are avoided because I don't want them to die.

 

[Grimfolse]

I am surprised and Appalled by the lack of Porky(Pokey) Minch in this thread. Earthbound was largely text based and it capitalized on this with Porky in your party. "Porky cowered behind Ness in fear." It really made me hate him. That was the point though so... I guess it counts because he doesn't contribute to the battle even the most inconsequential part of the game. Barring that any escort mission companion in anything ever.

I dunno if temporary companions are really fair choices though. This is more for proper characters that you never use, not characters you never use because they're only in the party for 5 minutes.

Also, let me add:

Fallout 3: Everyone but Fawkes and Charon.
Fallout New Vegas: Everyone but ED-E.
Knights of the Old Republic: Everyone but Juhani, HK-47, and Jolee. I barely used the others, but the only people I really disliked were Carth and Bastila (our delightful main love interests).
Shadow Hearts Covenant: For a while I kept most people around roughly the same level, but I eventually let Lucia and Gepetto drop out of the main rotation. Kurando also didn't get as much use as some thanks to only joining you about halfway through the game and being kinda boring, but he made up for it with his awesome ultimate fusion.

 

[him over there]

Thats's very true I suppose. I was thinking too much about useless as a companion, not enough about the companion part. In that case bow from Paper Mario. Worst character save for the chapter 3 boss.

 

[PureIrony]

Henpecked Hou from Jade Empire. His only ability was to lie a bunch of bottles around so I can play a mini-game while fighting to use a fighting style that's in no way better then my current one. Screw that.

There's also Gau from FF6, who I suspect would be very useful if I had any idea what half of his acquired skills even did.

Leliana. Annoying voice, useless abilities, massive waste of space.

I never used her because she kept using her arrows to steal my freaking kills(and the annoying voice).

 

[Eiv]

My new favorite is Mako from SW:ToR. She constantly saves my ass.

Skyrim companions are purely a distraction so i can sneak attack easier

HK is my fave kotor companion and to this day one of the chars i would love to see in ToR.

DA:O companions again were purely there as meat shields

 

[Souplex]

Tali in Mass Effect 1 and 2.
She's boring, and she's pretty damn useless.

 

[scorptatious]

I kind of make it a habit to rotate party members throughout an RPG so they all get a chance to shine.

That being said, I do have some party members that I don't use as much as others.

Chrono Trigger DS: Ayla. Sure, she can do some pretty serious damage. But I always preferred some of the other characters.

Mass Effect 1: Probably Kaiden. This kind of depends on which of my Shepards I'm using though. I tend to use him a bit more as my Fem Shep as I was romancing him as her.

Mass Effect 2: I used Zaeed the least. I never really liked the guy that much. Compared to say, Kasumi, he was sort of seemed like an afterthought.

Final Fantasy VII: Used to be Cait Sith. But on my second playthrough I gave him more of a chance. I found him to be rather useful despite popular opinion.

Final Fantasy IX: Freya. Don't get me wrong, I really liked her character. And she is a good party member. Late game though, I found myself using her less and less. She sort of became a jack of all trades kind of character and I much preferred using characters like Eiko (best healer in the game IMO) and Quina (Absolute beast if you spend enough time getting some of his/her blue magic spells like Angel Snack and Auto-Life. Both of which are useful for the final boss.)

Final Fantasy X: Kimahri. Same problem as Freya. I liked his character, but compared to everyone else, he didn't really improve too much in terms of damage output.

Final Fantasy IV DS: Um... No one. The game doesn't let you pick party members.

Final Fantasy XII: Probably Fang. She was kind of my least favorite character in that game.

 

[DustyDrB]

Leliana. Annoying voice, useless abilities, massive waste of space.

She comes with the Bard specialization, and can be made into a powerful archer, and archers are insanely good DPS when built right. I wouldn't classify her as having useless abilities. The worst thing about her is how keeping her in your party means sucking the Chantry's collective dick whenever she commands.

Another archery fan in Dragon Age: Origins? Nice to meet you.
Yeah, Song of Courage + Aim + Far Song/Marjolanne's Recurve/Sorrows of Arlathan= Win. You pretty much auto-crit by mid-game.

 

[ecoho]

ok lets see

ME1: i never used wrex.....yeah i love him as a character but i needed tali and garus more.
ME2: jacob and samara. nevr found a good use for them.
DAO: morigan,dog,ogran,and zevran. dont like morigan. dog was just useless.ogran do i even have to say? zevran is out classed by liliana
DA2: anders,carver,and isibella. anders why oh why did you change?! carver cause hes useless. isibella cause i never found a use for her.

 

[Jfswift]

That freakish pink animal thing in Xenogears. The game tries so hard to be serious all the time, but do they realize the main character is followed by a freakish girly carebear / muppet thing?!

Ack, and I had almost erased that one from my memory too. Yea I remember that worthless thing although it was useful for one single boss fight (atop Solaris or w/e that place was called).

 

[Mr Dizazta]

Dragon Age Origins:
Zevran (never really used him much. Always used Leliana over him)
Oghren (I don't need a 2-hander in DAO and I usually get him late)
Sten (Same reason a Oghren, but this guy gets only half the specializations)
Barkspawn (doesn't really feel like a really companion to me. Only redeeming fact is that he is excellent against dragons)

Dragon Age 2:
Isabela (never really used her much in the game. I usually just used Varric as my go to rogue)

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim:
Every companion I ever used. Only useful as an extra backpack. And for The Nine's sake get out of my way. Oh and please do not pick a fight with one of our allies.

Mass Effect:
Kaidan (not used much because I prefer using Wrex/Garrus/Liara)
Ashley (Generic soldier. Why do I need another soldier when I am already one?)
Tali (Too squishy to justify shotgun talent. Garrus is just better that her.)

Mass Effect 2:
Jack (Powers are underwhelming)

 

[Double A]

Hmm... in KotOR I don't use Juhani or Jolee. One Force user is enough, thanks!

Basically, I could go on...

Jolee is a badass and his backstory is amazing. He's also quite funny. I soon realized that I was doing scores more of damage with a saber (and only one at that) than anyone had with a blaster or vibrosword, so once I got the chance, I started using only Jedi, unless there was a character who had unique missony crap, or there were mines.

I'll probably do it different next playthrough, whenever that may be, but no matter what, the fuzzball is completely useless after you get lightsabers. Oooh, you're a melee-based character, but can't use any of the best weapons in the entire game? Greaaat. Now go play with Mission while I save the galaxy.

In Golden Sun Dark Dawn, Reif is completely useless. Karis can do party healing AND attacking. At no point in the absurdly easy game did I need a Pure Wish at the end of the turn more than a Healing Gust at the start of it (the same thing happened to me with Jenna and Mia in TLA). I also found the Fire Adepts to be my second least used, because all they have going for them is damage. With low PP and nonexistant speed, that really doesn't mix. Himi's complete lack of single-target Psyenergy and low attack made her extremely useless to me as well, seeing that I usually only use Psyenergy for tough fights (which are EXTREMELY rare and even rarer against multiple foes). Everything else is just attack spam with the awesome new weapons. All of this wouldn't be such a big deal if Sveta wasn't so glaringly overpowered - speed, attack, defense, PP, spells, and the insanely awesome Werewolf form. I feel like a hack for having her in my party.

 

[ABLb0y]

Miranda in Mass Effect 2. Thanks, but I don't want to listen to her whining about how much it sucks to be impossibly beautiful.

Lightning in Final Fantasy 13. It's bad enough she's on the front cover without even being the main character. And besides, whatever she can do Fang and Sazh can do better.

 

[targren]

Black Belt gets swiftly outclassed by Fighter.

Only if you make the common mistake of keeping him equipped with a weapon through the whole game. I always thought it was weird in the original how he only had two weapons (wooden chucks and iron chucks) and you got the second very early on (Elfland, I think? Definitely before the earth cave.)

Once his levels are up, though, you unequip him and let him fight bare handed, and he will regularly out-damage a knight with Excalibur, if only by the virtue of doing 8 hits without casting "Fast" on him.

 

[AD-Stu]

- Same goes for KOTOR 1 and 2. Mission, T3, G0-T0, Carth *ugh*, Bao-Dur... those games were all about the Jedi party members for me. I appreciated that KOTOR 2 gave most of your squadmates a chance to shine through their solo / group missions though.

Bao-Dur can be a Jedi if you want. He's brilliant as a Jedi Guardian, does serious damage and can tank too. He's one of my favourite characters in that game - I love his relationship with the Jedi Exile.

True, you can make him a Jedi, but I screwed up somehow by not taking him on enough sightseeing tours to gain enough influence with him to do it or something. Plus you can make pretty much everybody that isn't already a Jedi into one in that game.