5 Easy Way To Fix The Companion Characters in Fallout 4

[@jc2k163]

I feel like valentine is ironically the most human and deep companion and I wish more of them were like him

[@jcohasset23]

The biggest problem with the companion system is unless you're playing/roleplaying in a certain way that encourages working with specific companions most of them are only worth having around long enough to get the perk for maxing their affinity. A few of them do have interesting and unique sidequests (Valentine, Cait, McCready, and I suppose Curie but that's it in terms of companion sidequests) but, like with Fallout 4 in general, outside of deciding what ending to go with in the main game and DLCs how much or how little the player interacts with companions doesn't matter to the game (it's similar to whether the player does anything with the settlement system or just the bare minimum the main story requires). At a minimum every companion should have had companion sidequests, especially the faction companions (Preston, Duncan, Danse, and X6; and no Danse's Blind Betrayal mission is a required BoS faction quest).

[@brianmontgomery1087]

Something really stupid about Fallout 4 companions is that when you give them the command to wait and if an enemy starts attacking, they would just stand there and do absolutely nothing, even if the enemy is killing them, they would just say something like "hey, stop that." Lol. Quite the opposite of Skyrim

[@mal1362]

I honestly perfered that. Sometimes I just like watching npcs fight/do sand box stuff. I dont want my companion interrupting.

[@Aashvinth]

i don't know what but something with your video style ,commentary or humor made me instantly fall in love with your channel. I don't even build settlements but i have watched almost all of your videos on those topics as well lol

[@Theegreygaming]

I'm so glad you enjoy my content, comments like this is are what keep me going.

[@Igarron]

It's the voice for me. You could do commercials with that thing 😄

[@diegoizaguirre3452]

@@Theegreygamingto counter the romance suggestion, it’s the apocalyptic after the most conservative era, societal relationship norms are sort of out the window since society itself is out the window but that doesn’t mean there’s no effort can be added just add some reasoning to why they are bi and making it earn your right to get a poly end like in games of the kind that most mods for these games are, mature, love is still love and you still have to work for it, also a series on how you would rework fallout 4 that aren’t quick fix’s would be nice, I would like to imagine the companions getting a another arc that improve their character even further while removing some hang up they have, like finding the art of war or/and a martial arts book and giving it to strong making him appreciate knowledge a bit more, which might lead him to be interested in more books and later certain technologies like power fists and armor and lastly hearing of story a fabled enclave soldier making him want his own original armor turning him into a reverse frank Horgan finally tasting the milk he’s been searching or is that to wild of an idea

[@EnclaveColonel]

Dragon Age Origins. I was romancing Leliana and Morrigan at the same time, and it blew up into a full blown argument between the three of us in the streets of Orzammar

[@ronnierayburn998]

The biggest problem with the companions in FO4, is that they're idiots! Meaning that they're useless in almost every single situation. They truly excel in blocking doorways and passages when you're searching a building, and when you're outdoors, they're clueless to your whereabouts. If you encounter enemies, your companion is nowhere to be found. Until you've taken care of the enemies on your own. This is such a basic functionality, and it's actual function is a disgrace. I would love to get more in depth personalities on them, but considering how badly they work, it's a blessing that you can abuse the s**t out of their "likes" to get their perk. Traveling with a companion adds a lot to the game (when they work properly), so this would be my main: FIX THIS FFS!

[@Laurentina_enjoyer]

In newvegas, Boone warns you that he will shoot any legion members on sight cuz he hates them somuch But in fallout4 you can hang out with Valentine, Strong or Hancock in the prydwin and noone takes any actions against them or you.

[@octavianpopescu4776]

Is that a good thing though? Because Boone started a war against the Legion that I didn't even intend to have. One fast travel meeting with a Legion squad, led to him just starting to shoot them and my reputation with the Legion going down the drain, sooner than I planned. In fact, in my first playthrough, because of Boone, I didn't even get to see Baldy. Once he killed those guys, we couldn't travel to meet Baldy, because the Legion would attack us on the spot.

[@TabletopTiger]

That gets me every time. And what if, because you befriended these characters, there's a brotherhood inquisition that forces you to show your loyalties? Missed opportunities and lazy work.

[@AscendedDemon]

​@@octavianpopescu4776 I'm gonna say, yes. You did the quest required to unlock him as a companion and if you paid attention you should know he has a personal grudge against the Legion. It's showing he is his own person outside of being a follower. If you care about not tanking your reputation with Caesar you should be wary of taking the guy who hates them with a burning passion as your companion.

[@octavianpopescu4776]

@@AscendedDemon Arcade also has a beef with the Legion. I HAD a beef with the Legion, but to get to Baldy, we play nice for a while, to get to his base are REALLY let rip through all of them. Then we have fun decorating the tent with his guts. And it happened randomly, just as I got invited to meet Baldy (I was on good terms with the Legion once more after killing a lot and I mean A LOT of them). Boone should have understood I'm faking it, he was right there when I did it. I fast travelled once and I didn't even get to tell him to stop. He wasted my opportunity to kill Baldy. So... we both wanted the same thing. Arcade got it, I had a chance to explain we're faking it and he was like ok, I get the plan. I dropped so many sweet sweet satchels around. When I pushed that button, Baldy didn't die... he ceased to exist. It was glorious! 😀 And then I put his entire camp to the sword. I wanted to show the Legion what a REAL Roman looks like, so I used a sword, because they're all like: oh, you don't have the balls to use swords and hide at a distance. And I was like: ok, we can do that, I'll wipe all of you out the oldey timey way, with a sword. But I only got to do that on my 2nd playthough, because Boone couldn't help himself. There should have been a prompt, him asking me how we handle some Legion girlscouts, instead of him just starting to shoot and ruining my plan. Arcade gets it.

[@jcohasset23]

It's fun to have Valentine, Strong, Hancock, Gage, or X6-88 with the player while aboard the Prydwin in those playthroughs where one wants to annoy or troll the BoS.

[@thedualitysystem]

My main issue with locking romance behind sexuality is that most games that do this only end up having like 1 lesbian option for me. Who is almost always not my first choice. Then of course straight men get the most romance options. I think you should only lock characters behind sexuality if you have enough romance options to back that up. In Fallout 4's case they definitely do but in a game like Cyberpunk 2077 you're essentially locked to only 1 romance option unless you're bisexual. Most straight women who play this game hate the one straight male character and end up being a lesbian just because that character is better written. If you're gonna lock romance options behind gender/sexuality then you need to have at least 2 different options for any given player. But more importantly you have to make sure those character's personalities fulfill the most common fantasy of that gender/sexuality.

[@nicholaschavez8162]

I don't know how you keep breaking Garvey. He's real easy to get back on your side during Nuka World. Do Nuka missions while avoiding Garvey. Turn three settlements into Raider outposts. Kill traitor raiders. Then talk to Garvey. At this point you've earned max affinity with Gage and received the two unique weapons from the winning gangs. Now talk to Garvey and promise to wipe out the other two gangs. If you follow through, he'll treat you like Nuka World never happened. You're affinity with him is back to max. Killing Gage does suck though. For being such a strategic thinker he should be okay with whatever you do since you're the closest thing to a demigod he's ever seen.

[@Sight-Beyond-Sight]

You nailed it. I might have also tossed in there mention of Dragon Age when talking about companion romance compatibility. Like, I would love to bed Sera as a male inquisitor in 3 as she is my style of chaos.

[@Theegreygaming]

well sadly, I never make it very far into DA Origins because the game slowly becomes more and more buggy until my saves become completely corrupted and I get frustrated and go back to "safe" franchises I've beat a million times over. :)

[@Bethgael]

@@Theegreygaming I'm a bit of a DAO expert when it comes to dealing with that stuff (seriously, I've played it about 30 times across different systems and OSes on disk, the orange trojan, the EA app and Ultimate and I was a part of beta testing patches for DAI), so if you do really wish to play it, let me know and I'll try and help. It's worth it.

[@rossgauthier6352]

I 100% agree, it always seemed like the companion mechanism was unfinished or very rushed. Great video! More across the pond!

[@theadoremarquis6749]

I think the Bethesda games(NV not withstanding) have done companions better with each installment, so I'm excited to see what their future games have in stock.

[@TheEndKing]

Whoah, I just found your account a short while ago. This series is great, and I wasn't expecting to step right into a brand new one.

[@Theegreygaming]

I aim to please. :)

[@aceofhearts37]

I've always felt like getting max affinity is way too easy. Especially if you play on survival mode, which forces you to spend a lot more gameplay time just walking around and gathering resources, the passive affinity boost from spending time with a companion is more than enough to reach max affinity no matter what you do in-game. And that's how you end up with a completed romance with Piper while you're still setting up your gameplay loop. My quick fix would be to remove this passive affinity gain entirely, and leave only player choices as a way to raise or lower affinity. This is essentially what Dragon Age does, particularly in Inquisition, and it works incredibly well. Of course, it's also very helpful to have ways to lower affinity that aren't just... being a dickhead. Yeah, that's my second fix. Have affinity-lowering choices that don't just amount to insulting your companion or being randomly evil.

[@gitsub5376]

I seriously hate that this upload flew under my radar, love your works, Grey.

[@Mr._Anderpson]

"Things to do". Quick cut to Curie. Well played. The gamey aspect of the characters led to me just using them as something to exploit to get an extra perk. I've only sided with the Railroad once, but I never fail to take the time to get Deacon's perk because of the added usefulness in combat. The only reason I bother with the faction whatsoever is for the ballistic weave. Danse's perk comes so late in the game that I typically don't bother. Simply leaving him & Codsworth in a settlement where I used a workbench to upgrade items is good enough. The same goes for Cait & Old Longfellow. I simply walk by and chug some bourbon each visit until they realize I'm the best thing ever. Huff some jet around Cait or Hancock for the same effect. I'll pair up with Preston when I'm doing settlement building so there is xp earned over the time spent, which is the only requirement to max his affinity & get the perk for no true effort. The companion NPCs don't have true goals which override their willingness to carry your stuff or harvest crops until the end of time. They simply become free settlers to yoke. Piper should have wanted to continue her writing or to go to radio like Travis. Hancock should want to return to Goodneighbor at least once in a while to make sure his position is secure. The bisexuality thing is annoyingly stupid in some regards. McCready's long-term goal is healing his son, Dustin. So we're to believe married guys like him & Deacon suddenly rewire their attraction matrix because the player is a good thief? You can end up in Magnolia's embrace and suffer only mild disapproval from a female companion. tl-dr You're right. No consequences. No true preferences. No depth of character in the NPCs.

[@Quirky_Robo]

A Baldur's Gate 3 companion overhaul but for a fallout game is a dream of mine.

[@MaryMDoyle]

The only companions I usually have are 1. Dogmeat because he never judges and is the best at stealth and when perked up is deadly , 2, Cosworth because he is in a way family and when upgraded is also deadly, 3. Preston because his affinity perk is worth it and I like his sincere and moral character, and Nick because he's interesting to have along. While I collect Piper, Cait, and Curie they're boring and never stop yapping much like Ada and most of the time I leave Piper, Cait and Curie where I find them much like Strong who is awful. I've never had X6 even if doing some quests for the institute I never take him with me or Cage who always receives a bullet as soon as he lets me in. I don't like Deacon because he lies and I only use him to get the deliverer. MacCready not so fond of now since he disliked me giving the cure to Austin, Danse is interesting but way to indoctrinated with the bos and I only did one playthrough with them, never again. Hancock is okay to a point, I sometimes leave him where I find him too. Old Longfellow is more interesting in the commonwealth than at Far Harbour in my opinion. All of the vanilla companions with the exception of Dogmeat are very self-centred and I don't like that whereas Nora/Nate aren't. I also don't see the need for romance since Nora/Nate have only been widowed like 5 minutes ago.

[@liquidlethe]

Another small improvement is companions with a home should return there, not live in your settlement forever. Piper should return to nat in diamond city, Hancock to goodneighbor, Deacon to railroad etc. You can send them to your settlement but they'd only hang out there a couple of days at most before returning home when you didn't show. If you have romanced them then add a skill check to convince them to move in with you at your chosen settlement or homeplate house and move out of their old home. Nat could come with piper to sanctuary and they request you place their furniture they brought from their house to your settlement. It could be harder to convince hancock for example to give up mayorship of goodneighbor to come live with you and leave Fahrenheit to run the town. Imagine running into danse in a supermutant firefight on his way back to report in to the prydwen.

[@ta1kongren]

Unfortunately you are a little incorrect about Affinity. You can kill settlers and that will cause Codsworth (and maybe others) to leave you. That includes kill them accidentally with grenades.

[@jcohasset23]

They will leave and go back to their starting area but the player can get them to join again after a short time and the lost affinity can be recovered with time or doing things they like/love. The worst that will happen is if you attack them during this time they go aggressive and fight back but they're only killable if you become an enemy to their faction so all the player can do is drop them to the ground and get away before they recover. Strong, ADA, Gage, Dogmeat, and X6 don't care if the player attacks settlers (not fully sure about Cait and McCready).

[@Parkjoonho18]

I dislike making the comparison but the baldurs gate 3 companions were well created in their opinions, and you could change their opinions on a lot of things base on circumstances. The witcher 3 did it perfectly with having consequences for romancing too many characters. I wish it went further than that because it was a great idea.

[@tinaherr3856]

5:12 the problem with your 1st 'fix' is that it would be really difficult, if not impossible, to implement that feature into Fallout 4 due to the nature of the game. Mainly because most companions aren't tied to the main story like the ones in Mass Effect. In Mass Effect, you are required to pick up your companions on the main story. All of them come along with you for whatever the main mission is, like hunting Saren/stopping the Reapers, you don't just stumble upon them and think "hey, let's hang out with this guy". For Fallout, on the other hand, most of your companions have nothing to do with the main quest. With the exception of Preston, X6, and Nick, none of them have any connection with the main plot. You just pick them up on random side quests/places. Thus, it is much more difficult to try and integrate them in different 'stay or leave' conditions in the main quest like Mass Effect did with companions like Wrex. They don't have the same character connection to the main story for there to be pivotal moments where you could lose them unless you have to do some personal mission/have high stats. For the bisexual part: honestly it really doesn't matter. It allows people to romance their favorite characters/write fanfiction without a bunch of people online yelling at them about how "this isn't canon, you can't ship them/draw fan art!". It honestly saves some drama from the fandom, so it is a new positive from that perspective

[@jameskowanko7574]

Fallout 4’s companions are leagues better than New Vegas’s. Particularly mechanically. But also most of 4’s companions are just more fun to be around. New Vegas’s companions are more like people, and so they can be very annoying. 4 has more fun with it, a very likable cast. Except for Strong, Preston, and maybe X6. Who are pretty boring. That being said, all of your ideas would greatly improve the companions in Fo4.

[@Bluecreed01]

One thing I wish that Bethesda did was add companion dismissal dialogues with the DLC companions like Ada, Old Longfellow and Porter Gage Because Old Longfellow only has a dialogue with Nick Valentine and Porter Gage has one with Preston Garvey and Dogmeat and Ada doesn't have any I call that laziness

[@tinaherr3856]

To be fair, sometimes getting voice actors back to record new lines can be tricky. Especially for multiple dlc releases months apart. The voice actors are not full-time employees like the developers, they are basically independent contractors with their own schedule. Take New Vegas for example. They couldn't get Veronica's voice actor for Dead Money. They had to use lines recorded during the initial base game recording for the reaction to Elijah's tape. No chance to change or add parts of the story, they had to stick with what they had

[@kuraga7678]

I think making all or most companions monogamous would force players to make choices, something that Fallout 4 sorely lacks. Decision making is often the hardest part of games, and therefore the most interesting.

[@iluvgames717]

Heather Casdin is a companion done right but im straight and they need to make us a Chad like Kaiden for Skyrim.

[@MaryMDoyle]

Grey, have you built any settlements since the update? I'm asking because I'm having a whole load of issues with settlements, I don't use mods, but Finch Farm all the Brahmin die, Albernathy when trying to repair a tato all settlers become unassigned, Covenant is getting attacked by the Enclave even though all those missions have been completed. All settlements appear to have new attack points etc.,.

[@Theegreygaming]

hmmm... I honestly haven't had much time to play F4 since the update came out, I went through the new content, and did a couple commonwealth contractor builds but otherwise haven't had time for serious builds. my F4 is currently broken because I installed Fallout London but I'll see what I can do to get it restored so I can do some testing and if I encounter these issues, see if I can do a video about it.

[@MaryMDoyle]

@@Theegreygaming Thanks Grey.

[@Bethgael]

[Added a tip because I've mainlined your vids while on bedrest. :) ]

[@jenniferanderson7010]

I don't object to playersexual companions. I do object to the fact that after they hit max affinity, all of a sudden they are violent and want to beat on you with a stick when you nix their faction. I like how you put it about having a conversation with them to save that person.

[@mikekz4489]

“Things to see and people to do.”

[@haydenlee3293]

I'm actually working on making a companion mod for fallout 4 based on my character from fallout 3. In your opinion, or anyone else's for that matter, what sort of things do you look for in a companion you'd like to travel the wasteland with? I should note I will try to keep the character as close to lore accurate as possible but no promises on everything.

[@Navonex]

Companions don't react to your reputation, not that it exists in fall out 4. You can become the very thing a companion hates and they still hang around you/ go with you. If you sided with the legion in New Vegas, arcade, and boon are gone, and possible none options because they have their own ideas/morals. If I become a sentinel in the brotherhood, nick, and curie still stick around, even though you declare synths the enemy. and it becomes even more hypocritical if you romance danse or curie, and nobody calls you out on that. Even if you side with the institute. Piper, the women who devoted her life to finding them, outing the mayors corruption, and fixing the common wealth one good deed at a time throws a fit, but then goes back to giving you "lovers comfort", when in actuality, you would have lost her forever. It makes them look even dumber.

[@TheRestorationOrder]

It's literally impossible to get negative affinity with any companion (except for that one nuka world related situation)

[@WolfgangvonHam]

“ lasting consequences to your actions“ Kind of like, NPC’s that cannot be killed??

[@LordGhentsis]

What sad about the affinity system in Fallout 4 is that Bethesda has done it better in Fallout 3. For example, if you want to have Butch to be your companion, then your karma must be at neutral to make him follow you.

[@gaulicwarlord]

What's sad is that Fallout 4's companions are one of the few decent elements in the game. Much of the rest is lore destroying, dumbed down slop.

[@Thishereahsea]

I don’t like that there is little to no recognition between your companion and the world around them. There is sometimes some comments, that’s it. Preston should have been one of the most interesting companions, taking him to Lexington and Quincey alone. But even taking MacCready to gunner hotspots, taking Longfellow off the island, but also taking Hancock to Diamond City, Nick on the Prydwen, this should make these places instantly hostile towards your companion. All the NPCs act fairly indifferent about your presence, you’re not special, so why would they make an exception. Strong should invoke hostility to almost everyone when you think about it. It should at least be questioned if settlers can trust him. I actually had no idea you can romance more than one companion without consequences, I just assumed there would be and never thought to do it. That is really weird. It should be an instant loss of affinity and perk, straight up walk out. I also would have liked there to have been more interactive ways to play out situations with the companion you have. Like Deacon is constantly changing his clothes, but it doesn’t seem to matter that your character doesn’t, and there’s no situation where it matters that you don’t or that he does. Like, wouldn’t it have been shocking to see a synth zap in and take him or even a settler, and zap out again. You do sometimes see synths (humanoid synths as well) attacking settlements, but you never actually witness it, even in radiant quests. All these sorta things don’t make the treats in the world very real. I’m still gonna play the game though lol

[@zupmeoff]

Just listening to this video proves to me that some people have no moral compass.

[@Bethgael]

"Good on you. Pick up everything.... why are you picking up that junk?" Over and over. Argh. ETA: I don't have an issue with playersexual NPCs (because you can argue that in /this/ PT an NPC is bi and another is a lesbian or gay while the others are not)--but _only_ if you're limited to the "not ploughing through everyone" mechanic. DA2 did this--not well; they were rushed--but it made each AU feel a bit more immersive. Skyrim marriageables are playersexual but you're limited to 1 so it's not as egregious. I limit myself to romancing 1 (or 2/3, depending on who my char is) character only per AU PT in FO4. My raider girl is bi, went for Gage and all the non-companion flirtables, for example, but also ignored Piper's overtures. I can't bring myself to romance Curie, because she may be in a synth body but is still a machine--and even if she wasn't, she's still a mental child who is overwhelmed by sex chemicals she can't control and it feels... too icky. My "broken" girl loves MacCready. My "rough" lad likes Piper, Hancock and Cait. I keep forgetting Garvey is available. Oops. My main bloke does like to Danse, though. And yes, Gage! "I chose the raiders because I watched my parents be rollovers" is so annoying. At NO time can you just say to him "you know there's a third option? Fight the raiders?" And he literally tells you at max affinity "I will follow you anywhere, do anything you say" and he makes a point of saying the leaders of the factions aren't great--until you do Open Season, then suddenly he's red, even if he wasn't with you at the time. Ugh. TODD.

[@leliannathefaun1656]

Now hear me out here, I'm polyamorous and pansexual and I absolutely agree with you here, Having canonical sexualities and maybe a companion or two that is comfortable with polyamory would be far better than cheating on everyone in this game, It would have taken maybe a week of extra dev time at most to add in a few dialogue options where someone like Cait expresses that she would be comfortable with an extra partner to watch her back and keep her warm, feeling safer in the company of found family, Or maybe Piper expressing that she is busy as it is and barely has time to be with the sole survivor let alone another person, her plate is too full and that's more than understandable, Or having MrCreedy say he is only into women and is flattered by the offer but doesn't swing that way since he had a wife in the past or something, Make the romance options three dimensional so you actually feel engaged and a part of the world when you live your lives together in the commonwealth, More writing is always a good thing and 'playersexual' is just a lazy trope, (Love the content btw, sorry for the yap fest, felt like I needed to say this in support of your points from the perspective of someone Poly and Pan/Bi irl!)

[@Theegreygaming]

Thank you, so much for sharing. This is a little more, "hits close to home" content than I usually do and was worried about the response it might receive. It hasn't gone over well in the past when I've brought up culturally touchy subjects.

[@leliannathefaun1656]

@Theegreygaming I thought you might be worried about that so I wanted to put this here to help out! You tackled the topic thoughtfully, respectfully and intelligently, No matter a person's sexuality we all would prefer three dimensional partners rather than yes machines XD

[@nonamegames525]

Hard disagree for the sexuality point. I appreciate being able to romance whoever I want with my character.

[@fatherofthepigeons2854]

I absolutely hate the companion affinity system in Fallout 4. It locks you out of doing basic mechanics that have been a staple of every fallout fame like chems because quite literally every companion hates the use of them. Then you have to repeat the same boring actions over and over again cut with the companion trauma dumping for about 5 minutes just to get what could be an awful perk, what happened to just giving you a simple quest once visted a lot of places of traveled a lot.

[@tiegepike6076]

No, these changes aren't great and are anti fun. I checked out when you said it's weird for every character to be bi. That's just gatekeeping players and their wants while trying to shove your views onto others.

[@octavianpopescu4776]

I actually like the companions in Fallout 4, even more than the ones in New Vegas.

[@tomkenny8443]

First to comment 👋😐

[@supercmsgaming5527]

First

[@Theegreygaming]

guess again, better luck next time. :)