Worst BioWare companions

[laggyteabag]

Never understood the appeal of Garrus, I thought he had a boring voice actor and very predictable motivations.

He was like my space best friend. The dialogue between Shepard and Garrus really reinforced that, or at least tried to, and he just ended up being a character that I really cared about. But yeah, his story was fairly hit-and-miss, although I really did like his ME2 recruitment mission.

 

[MirenBainesUSMC]

All I know is, I wanted to empty my rifle into Ashley Williams when she looked at me in hatred and basically told me to @#$#@$ off.

.... and as fate would have it... as bad as ME3 turned out... Bioware got one thing right and I did get the chance! * plays party music*

 

[Ygrez]

Bishop from NWN2 - Total jackass

Dear Lord, I'd forgotten about him...
But yes, agreement.

Also, the whole "damaged heroine who is really mean to hide her past/issues" trope gets old a little fast.

Well then you'll be happy to learn that in the expansion

Spoiler

his soul is absorbed into a wall after he dies at the end of the original game and gets slowly dissolved to reinforce said wall

.

 

[NoPants2win]

All of the companions in NWN: Shadows of Undrentide.

Yup, all of them. I left the whole crew in that frozen shithole village.

Xanos is half orc sorcerer barbarian. There is no synergy in these classes and his A.I. only aggravates the problem. He usually stands out of the way and casts ineffective spells before running in to get slaughtered. And he's the good one.

Next is Dorna, the rogue/cleric. Same problem as above. At my work there used to be a broom that was tied to a dustpan, but the cord wasn't long enough to use both at the same time so it was actually terrible at being a broom OR a dustpan. That broom/dustpan is like Dorna.

And then there's Deekin. He's a kobold, which is kind of like saying he's an annoying toddler. Want an annoying toddler companion? You don't? Shocking...

To be fair you get the feeling they kind of rushed out SOU. There's another character who clearly should have been a companion but just wasn't finished and there's a huge amount of backtracking in the first act to pad out the length. Probably the weakest of the series.

 

[DementedSheep]

Anomen from BG2 : Unlikable prick who forces you to follow a whiny quest for revenge. Male chars get Viconia/Jaheira and this is what the ladies get? He's not the worst character in BG2 though, sadly.

Aerie: My first run, I grabbed her and finished her romance...And realized in the expansion that she's a cold-hearted monster.
Hero: What happens if you die when you are carrying the child?
Aerie: Totes fine, it'll resurrect with me!
Me:...You are an awful person.

Cernd: Ugh, grow a spine and take some damn responsibility, you dipshit.

Oh I forgot about him. You would have thought he would have learnt his lesson but no, he dumps his kid again after his quest and in the epilogue his kid grows up evil and he has to kill him *sigh*.

I want to say Haer'Dalis, but I sort of like him. He's kind of the character you'd get from That Guy in your tabletop group who makes a character that clearly doesn't fit.

To be fair he is a teifling from the planes and a Doomgaurd (the guys who believe total entropy is inevitable and a good thing) which is in lore so it makes sense for him to be weird and not fit. It's kinda dickish that he knows Yoshimo is lying and doesn't like him but doesn't mention this to you at all though I guess that dose make sense aswell since he seems to be in it for the ride and doesn't care if everyone dies.
Fuck him for being able to break the class rules (2 points in short swords) when my character can't though! Companions should not be outclassing the PC.

 

[Netrigan]

I'm replaying Mass effect(because I'm playing the trilogy straight through, so I can finally stop avoiding the ME3 ending spoilers).

I almost never use Kaidan or Ashley when I play. Kaidan just seems really....dull and Ashely kind of annoys me. The low grade racism is only part of it, frankly. (which is why I usually let her die when given the choice). I usually use Liara, Wrex or Tali for the missons and let the humans babysit the Normandy.

The only time I ever regularly used Ashley was my Incompetent Racist Asshole playthrough... hampered somewhat by them abandoning the Humanity First bit after the first game. She was about the only one who made it out of ME2 alive.

And I still save her over Aiden every single time because he's even less interesting.

I'd also throw Jacob on the list. I can't even remember his character hook.

 

[sumanoskae]

Actually, Zaeed (just went ahead and fixed it for ya btw) has plenty of reason to be a violent prick. Keep in mind, he that partly founded the Blue Suns (a group that was always known for doing less than reputable things) so he's not exactly a nice guy to begin with. Plus, his former partner literally shot him in the face (hence the fucked up looking scar) and left him for dead after Zaeed refused to get involved with the Batarian slave trade. After that, he had to start from scratch as a mercenary so he was fairly pissed at being betrayed and constantly thought about revenge.

I'm aware of his backstory, but simply having a potential reason to be a prick doesn't explain it. Garrus has similar problems and he's nowhere near as selfish or violent.

So he's a Blue Sun; how does this give his character depth? Is this fact meant to make the reasons for his behavior obvious? Are all Blue Suns just angry maniacs? If I heard that explanation for a crime in real life, I would dismiss it as reductionist, simple minded, and silly; almost no "everyone who is part of social group X must have characteristic Y" statement ever holds water.

The reasons for a character to accepts the social standards applied to them allows for, and requires, just as much characterization as the reasons to reject them.

As for getting shot in the face; a character is defined by actions, not things that happen to them. I know that if I got stabbed in the back by my friend I wouldn't resolve to murder as many innocent people as necessary to get back at him.

This backstory kind of creates a catch 22; is this backstory meant to explain Zaeed's behavior? It doesn't; is it meant to give context to his character? It doesn't do that either because now I must assume he was simply always like this, which, again, explains nothing.

But let's assume for a moment that all this does form the entirety of Zaeed's characterization; so what? I still wouldn't call the complete picture an interesting or complex figure. What frustrates me is that Bioware could have created an interesting personality here.

Throughout the Mass Effect series, few groups are as simplistically characterized as the gangsters you mow down in droves; Zaeed offered a unique opportunity to see the criminal underbelly of the Mass Effect universe in a different light.

Maybe things aren't clear cut as Garrus would make them out to be; maybe these people have their own values to follow; maybe they have paragons and renegades of their own; maybe to them people like Shepard and Garrus are the violent thugs with no principals.

Maybe all of us, to some degree, see the world as we wish it was.

I don't see why he needs a particular reason to have a negative character trait. I'm all for character conflict and everything but good character writing does not necessarily mean you have to create a backstory that explains all their motivations. I mean, if you're going to give the player a character that allows them to "see the criminal underbelly of the Mass Effect universe in a different light" why would you have him be fundamentally different from any other mercenaries? Mercenaries, by their very are supposed to be people with questionable morals, people who are willing to get their hands dirty in order to get the job done. If he wasn't that, he wouldn't exactly be an effective mercenary, let alone one of the best in the galaxy, now would he? He's not even that big of a dick to be honest, especially compared to all the other mercenaries you come across in the game. You need to keep in mind that he's a mercenary, not an assassin. He's not going to wantonly kill a bunch of innocents for fun or anything, he just won't go out of his way to make sure they're fine if it effects the mission he's being hired for. The worst he's done honestly was be willing to not save the innocent workers but that was because he wasn't willing to give up the only chance he had at killing Vido in years. At worst, he's a little gruff whose loyalties are his own. He's not a particularly complex character, but he's nowhere near as bland as Jacob/Kaiden or just plain annoying/insulting like Miranda.

How do we know how similar or different he is from other mercenaries if he's the only one we have a real relationship with? I never said he needed a backstory, I said the backstory doesn't help to flesh out a one dimensional character. The presence or absence of a backstory does not a character make; a hypothetically more interesting version of Zaeed may not even have one.

What is necessary for a good character is motivation; actions cannot define a character if those actions are taken without rhyme or reason.

"Willing to get their hands dirty in order to get the job done" is the character trait most often associated with the renegade Commander Shepard. Zaeed doesn't have to abandon this idea in order to be interesting or to have values of his own; this line of logic is not inherently incomparable with honor. The problem is that it's never clear why Zaeed does what he does.

"I'm out for myself" is not any more complex an ethos than "Always do the right thing". Jacob is not bland because he's nice; he's bland because he lacks any human motivation for his behavior. In real life, being constantly brave and heroic is not an easy thing to do, nor is it common. Yet in heroic fiction it's seemingly a default character trait, to be maintained until specifically stated otherwise.

It's so common that writers forget that it requires the same justification as any other character trait, and thus it becomes a cliche. As a result, audience members tend to inherently associate heroic character traits with bland and uninteresting characters.

But it doesn't matter how much of a prick Zaeed or anyone else is or isn't; I say that Zaeed and Jacob are similar because they have the same creative spark (Or lack-there-of) behind their characters.

You said yourself that Zaeed is not a complex character; if that's the case, what makes him any more interesting than Jacob?

 

[murrayb67]

I want to say Haer'Dalis, but I sort of like him. He's kind of the character you'd get from That Guy in your tabletop group who makes a character that clearly doesn't fit.

To be fair he is a teifling from the planes and a Doomgaurd (the guys who believe total entropy is inevitable and a good thing) which is in lore so it makes sense for him to be weird and not fit. It's kinda dickish that he knows Yoshimo is lying and doesn't like him but doesn't mention this to you at all though I guess that dose make sense aswell since he seems to be in it for the ride and doesn't care if everyone dies.
Fuck him for being able to break the class rules (2 points in short swords) when my character can't though! Companions should not be outclassing the PC.

Good point, and in that spirit fuck Edwin for the same reasons. That amulet of his was pure cheese.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

more against how the romance system works in that game. It gets super awkward when you're simply just trying to get your companions' approval

That's the writers lack of understanding of basic human interactions.

OT; Kaiden in ME1, Carth in Knights of the Old Republic; Same voice actor, he just doesn't draw me in.

Jacob (Mass Effect) Let's say you romance him in 2. In 3 he has hooked up with someone else (gets her pregnant too) and he get's his panties in a wad if you are involved with someone else.

Doc (The Old Republic) Jedi Knight healer companion. He has one tool in his toolbox, and it's a douche. He tries to play bravado, but he comes off as annoying.

Alistair (Dragon Age Origins) Hollier than thou and full of himself.

 

[Nomanslander]

That one muscle bond Hispanic dude from Mass Effect's 3rd game. I can't even remember his name and don't feel curious enough to google it.

If that isn't a sign of a bad character, i don't know what is.

As for why I feel that way? Well... what can I say, I know Bioware isn't afraid to make "unlikable" characters in their games, all for the sake of being real with them, to show real human traits and emotions for the better or worse all in the name of artistic license. Javik being so blatantly shrewd and condescending toward other species is a prime example. Going so far as to even shock Liara in how he can be so blatantly so ("they ate flies," don't tell me that line didn't piss off a lot of Mordon fans). But as for the character whose name escapes me, I think they went too far in making him unlikable, and oh so bland. A big burly jock like character, that's as cocky as he is thick headed, that shows hardly any redeeming qualities.

I mean... I don't want criticize Bioware in their 3rd game, considering how they cut down the number of team makes from the 2nd game, and gave us too many questionable characters that made us uncertain how to feel about them. But one or two "likable" new characters would have been somewhat welcoming in ME3.

:/

 

[woodsymoments]

Carth from Knights of the Old Republic. For everyone who found Kaiden to be a bit whiny, I give you Carth - moaning his way across the galaxy and dragging everyone down by complaining about all of his problems. Nobody cares, Carth.

This a hundred times this. I actually got the game on pc just to get the mod to be able to kill Carth at Malachor V.

 

[Netrigan]

Miranda - Although pretty legit in terms of changing over to the good side, she's Miss Perfect with an attitude. Although pretty, useful, and capable of owning anyone, she's pretty standard and not exactly interesting to the point of making her memorable. All she's really known for in my book is being cold, beautiful, and caring on the inside if she's close enough to you. Only good part about her was the backstory in Mass Effect 2 during her loyalty mission giving us more insight on her character. Outside of that, she's got nothing going unless you romance her... which isn't even romantic since it's a one night stand vibe to it. In Mass Effect 3, it literally becomes that with her lol. Nothing else romantic unless you engage with her in the DLC Citedal.

I found she got more interesting over time, as being genetically engineered to be perfect had left her with a bit of a complex... and that ultimately spun into a reasonably good loyalty mission. She's no where near as interesting a character as the game wants her to be, but she (like Vega) have more going on beneath the surface to slightly over-come the initial meh reaction.

 

[Breakdown]

In my current playthrough of DA Origins Alistair has stopped speaking to me after I murdered that kid. It has led to an unpleasant atmosphere at the campsite, which is only going to get worse once I get my hands on the Urn of Andraste.

 

[J Tyran]

Sten from Dragon Age Origins. Early in the game, I decided to take him along on a trip to Denerim, and get ambushed on the way. The first fight he's in, and Sten goes down pretty much immediately. When I finally get to Denerim, he starts going on about how I'm a rubbish Grey Warden. I wish I'd left him in the cage for the Darkspawn.

Gotta admit this made me laugh, Sten does get better though if you argue with him and get his approval up.

My answer to the OP is Atton, they took the slightly aggravating Carth and made him a whiny self pitying fool.

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Velanna in Dragon Age: Awakening is my most hated. I heard they were originally thinking of having her instead of Anders in Dragon Age 2, thank god that didn't happen. Mind you Anders is very different in 2, in Awakening he even says the Circle going independent is a terrible idea, changing as a person is fine but they should have had that character development in the game and not just have it all as merging with Justice off-screen, have him in Act 1 be more like his Awakening self. Anyway, back to Velanna. She murders innocents without remorse just because they're human, is horribly racist towards humans, hates city elves, really anyone who isn't Dalish. People have compared her to Morrigan but that's not really true, for one thing Morrigan's funny but also when you get to know Morrigan you find she isn't as heartless as she originally comes across, she actually has some depth to her and grows as a character, Velanna on the other hand just hates anyone who isn't Dalish.

 

[laggyteabag]

Sten from Dragon Age Origins. Early in the game, I decided to take him along on a trip to Denerim, and get ambushed on the way. The first fight he's in, and Sten goes down pretty much immediately. When I finally get to Denerim, he starts going on about how I'm a rubbish Grey Warden. I wish I'd left him in the cage for the Darkspawn.

This is pretty much exactly the same kind of thing that happens when I decide that I want to gear up my 3 main companions (Alistair, Wynne and Leliana) and then completely ignore the rest of them. In my 3 or 4 playthroughs of Origins, I don't think that I have ever put Sten, Zevran, Oghren, or the Dog in my active party by choice. As a result, when it came to the "DEFEND DENERIM FROM THE DARKSPAWN!" quest, and you were forced to play as the characters that you had left behind, they were super low leveled, and had very little in the form of good gear. Oh the look on my face must've been astounding.

 

[The Random Critic]

Sten from Dragon Age Origins. Early in the game, I decided to take him along on a trip to Denerim, and get ambushed on the way. The first fight he's in, and Sten goes down pretty much immediately. When I finally get to Denerim, he starts going on about how I'm a rubbish Grey Warden. I wish I'd left him in the cage for the Darkspawn.

This is pretty much exactly the same kind of thing that happens when I decide that I want to gear up my 3 main companions (Alistair, Wynne and Leliana) and then completely ignore the rest of them. In my 3 or 4 playthroughs of Origins, I don't think that I have ever put Sten, Zevran, Oghren, or the Dog in my active party by choice. As a result, when it came to the "DEFEND DENERIM FROM THE DARKSPAWN!" quest, and you were forced to play as the characters that you had left behind, they were super low leveled, and had very little in the form of good gear. Oh the look on my face must've been astounding.

The level of the companion is scaled to your character level, one level below your character level I believe.

Do note that I haven't beaten DA:O even till now, I went though all the story and side stuff up until the recruitment of Logan. (and I did it three times, I may add) I can only tell this by look at my party equip when I try to equip some of the companion I don't use often with left over junk loots I picked up.

Anyway back on topic, while I do find the concept of Ander to be a fantastic idea. The character arc itself is rushed, mostly due to the fact that the game is rushed.

Zevran was pretty boring too in terms of concept, BG did it much better. There is also your siblings in Dragon age 2, since the interest of them scale proportionally to the interest of the main character. While Bioware can write side character very well, it still remains that the main character itself, unless role-played, isn't all that particularly interesting on paper. Which in truth is something Bioware itself attempt to remedy though Dragon Age 2.

Spoiler

But I hate EA.