If it expanded the party roster, should you like to see sidekicks? Explanation inside

I wouldn't mind seeing a system like this for Dragon Age 4, especially if it could be used to broaden the party with more fantastical elements and characters.

For example, maybe the Grand Oak wouldn't fit in as a fully fledged companion, but I could easily see that rhyming Sylvan work as a sidekick character.

For me personally the roster is too big already. There are still banter convos from DAI that I haven't heard after 4 runs.

So if it dilutes content, no.

In a sense, that was what we had with Dog, right? He had a little dialogue with other party members and the occasional cutscene. So instead of sidekicks, why not bring back animal companions?

They have voiced dialogue

My thoughts, exactly.  While DA2 is my least favourite DA game, two companions per class was the sweet spot for me.  It was a bit of a pain having warrior and rogue companions limited to their set weapon style...I liked playing Double Daggers Hawke, but my favourite companion was Isabela...    It still worked, but it certainly wasn't optimal.


Definitely this, for me anyway.  The little cutscenes were a nice touch, useful for exploration (finding random stuff, including if I recall correctly, a really good helmet in the Deep Roads) and a nice bit of extra tanking/crowd control for a party setup that might be light on those areas.

The second part, of course, assumes that those things will be present in DA4 (which I'm not at all confident they will).

The one comment I'd throw out in favour of the DAI model of companion roster is that it allows a player to run a "single class" party, i.e. 4 mages or 4 warriors or 4 rogues.

I'm sure the population of that player-group would be relatively small, but it allows a 'freedom'.  Whether or not that freedom is worth the price of "less" of each individual companion is another matter.

I found myself never really using sidekicks in Deadfire, so no.

I object to this phrasing. If I want to stick with a comp I like, who are you to say it's "boring" simply because it makes me happy to play that way? I didn't run without a mage in DA2 (in fact, usually ran with only 2/3 party members) because it was exciting; but because my RP (and personal preference for characters) demanded it. I tend to keep the same party comp throughout the game, based solely on the characters I like and want to run with. I don't care to try something new or different just because it is new or different. The might be boring to you, but it is not to me; it is simply how I want to play. I really don't care that I miss the majority of the banter in the game because of this, or any other shortcomings you might suggest.

I’m not too worried about missing banter, I think that leaves more to discover in the next playthrough.

I’m also not suggesting forced party rotation. What I’m suggesting is tradeoffs. Probably the most intense example is Anders in DA2. For non-mage players, he’s the only available healer for the bulk of the game. So even though many people disagreed with him, they made the tradeoff to keep him anyway. People who very strongly disagreed with him made a different tradeoff — to relinquish their only healer for much of the game.

Far from removing choices, these kinds of tradeoffs heighten choices. In the same way that many quests have hard decisions, even party comp has situations that don’t always result in one totally satisfying answer. For that reason, I see those tradeoffs as very in tune with the rest of the setting.

For the love of the God-Emperor, this.

Nine companions were too much for me, especially if they stick to their current way of companion content distribution known as "do a main quest, make the rounds".

I'd be happy if the number of companions would be lowered to six and while they're at it, make the player's base smaller too. I didn't like having to run all around Skyhold to talk to nine companions, hoping they'd say something interesting.

There's lots of banter I didn't hear either, because they never managed to fix a timer that plays audio files.

/cranky +1

Fine with me

Add the option to talk to your guys in the field again instead of keeping all the conversations in the home base and I'm happy.

I think a form of the sidekick mechanic could be used to give us a continuing reactivity to our choices; something akin to the Final Battle of Ferelden in Origins but across the entire game.

Being able to call in dalish archers or a pack of ravenous werewolves, dwarven warriors or a mighty golem, and mages or templars for the climatic battle; all dependent on your decisions throughout the game? No other recent BioWare title has come close to having that level of reactivity to player choice showcased in-game. Even Mass Effect 3, which was the culmination of an entire trilogy, could only manage a tiny cutscene that had no bearing on the outcome of the game. Cure the Genophage? Make peace with the Quarians and Geth? Do neither of those things? Doesn't matter, the final battle for Earth plays out the same regardless.

Origins, on the other hand, had the player collecting allies and forming allegiances over the course of the campaign, and then culminates in those decisions being reflected, not only in minor cinematic nods, but with in-game representation as well (and all of this despite being the first game of a series). Inquisition was a let down in this area, as outside of one particular set of cutscenes at haven, in how you close the Breach, nothing about your generic inquisition forces changes to reflect the choices you make. But what if we had a version of the sidekick system that would keep track of our play through and would dynamically change out certain NPCs and min-companions depending on how we handled things?

Talk to that Sylvan and fulfill it's quest rather than just kill it? You have a Sylvan outside of your base now that will help you in your battles, or defend your holdings. Did you employ the use of a ruthless gang of cutthroats to accomplish your goals in the city, rather than waste time with the authorities? Well, you now have said gang setting up shop in your castle, offering their services to you in battle. Etc.