The companion system could use a big overhaul in The Elder Scrolls 6, and based on the companion systems found in games more recent than Skyrim, there are several different paths Bethesda could go down. Here’s a breakdown of the options, and what might each mean for the next game in Bethesda’s famous fantasy franchise.
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Comparing Skyrim And Fallout’s Companion Systems
Fallout 4 is not a game without its flaws, but comparing the companion system to Skyrim’s from a storytelling perspective is like comparing night and day. Most of the first-person Fallout games have deeper followers than The Elder Scrolls companions. Bethesda and Obsidian kept the number of potential followers in Fallout relatively low in order to give each one their own distinct personality and series of side quests.
Fallout 4 took this further, allowing many of its follower characters to appear in and become central to the main quest. Not all of Fallout 4’s companion characters quite stick the landing, but those that do like Nick Valentine are among the best characters to ever step foot into a Bethesda open-world RPG, with a depth and range of emotion that often seems lacking in the rest of the game’s characters.
Skyrim, on the other hand, had nearly 50 followers in its base game. Many of them had unique personalities, but those personalities were only sustained by a handful of unique lines that quickly caused their characters to feel generic. Many of the other followers simply shared lines and voices, making more fleshed out and story-central companions like the Dawnguard DLC’s Serana stand out among Skyrim’s other offerings.
The Elder Scrolls 6 could bring its companion system more in line with the Fallout games. Instead of dozens of followers, it could flesh out around ten, giving each their own stories that feel like they continue after the player recruits them. This approach comes with some major challenges, however.
Followers and Freedom in Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls is a series known for its roleplaying flexibility. Fans of the franchise relish the opportunity to play as whoever they want in Tamriel, often forgoing the main quest after the intro in order to lives a completely different life in the game’s world. This flexibility would be greatly restricted if most of the game’s companions are inherently tied to the main plot.
When modding Fallout 4 with mods like Start Me Up - Alternate Start and Dialogue Overhaul, some of the problems maintaining The Elder Scrolls’ levels of freedom with a companion system like Fallout 4’s become apparent. Modding the main story out of the game makes meeting characters like Piper and Nick Valentine make a lot less sense, with the retail release’s Piper wanting to interview the player as a Vault-dweller and the Sole Survivor meeting Nick to help hunt down his son Shaun.
Applying the Fallout system to The Elder Scrolls would likely feel too restrictive to roleplay for many fans, but there are some compromises which might help. Instead of nearly fifty companions, The Elder Scrolls 6 could have around half that number. Some of those companions could be encountered in the world, others would be attached to major questlines, be they the main quest, the Thieves’ Guild, or the Dark Brotherhood storylines. With fewer companions to handle, Bethesda could focus on giving each of them more personality, more dialogue, and even their own personal post-recruitment quests.
With around twenty followers, Elder Scrolls race could be represented among the game’s companions, and there could be a decent spread of companions over the game’s different questlines. Some of Skyrim’s most interesting potential companions already come with the game’s big quest lines, like Cicero, the Dark Brotherhood’s morbid jester. Bethesda will need to ensure, however, that a decent number of companions are also available if the player simply decides to head off and explore the world. Not only that, but those companions will also need their own quests and stories to keep them as interesting as the ones tied to major questlines.
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Finding Balance in The Elder Scrolls 6
In Skyrim a lot of the player’s companions are easily recruited after completing a minor quest, and their stories more-or-less end there. In Rorikstead, for example, the player can get Erik his first set of armor, allowing him to be recruited later on as Erik the Slayer. The Elder Scrolls 6 needs to take this more open-world formula further. Instead of just tying characters like Erik to major questlines where they’ll never be seen if the player doesn’t commit to a certain story, followers like Erik could have their own quests that pop up as the player adventures with them further.
With a smaller number of companions, Bethesda could even record more reactions for each follower. Taking a morally upright companion along to a Black Sacrament, for example, might cause them to suggest taking the opportunity to flush out the local Brotherhood chapter. Committing to the Dark Brotherhood might have its leader tell the player to kill their good-aligned companion as a test of their loyalty.
More opportunities for unique interactions like this could be made by reducing the number of companions in The Elder Scrolls 6, but holding back reducing the follower count to Fallout levels. Just which way The Elder Scrolls 6 goes and even its major design principles have yet to be revealed, however. If the series is going to have the same success as it has in the past, it needs to expand the storytelling surrounding its followers without compromising the player’s freedom to explore the world and take on or ignore as many quests as they see fit.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development.
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