Can you avoid all companions?

[☆AkaAkoVT☆]

The bits I've seen of the companion interactions feel kinda unpleasant. Is it possible to play the game without interacting with any? Or do they force it?

[L3wt]

No you don't have to ;)

[☆AkaAkoVT☆]

Like, the whole romance system/companion stuff just feels unpleasant. Like, pushy. So being able to just say no and avoid that whole kerfuffle is a plus for me, and might get me to actually try/buy the game.
It's just so many reviewers FOCUS on that, either as a plus or minus, without talking about the rest of the game. It's hard to tell what it's really like if you cut out the awkward dating sim parts.

[Brian Sirith]

You can hire silent companions from a guy called Withers. Enjoy.

[DELETED]

yep, u can avoid them all

[guppy]

Laz'el and Shadowheart both tries to insert themselves into your story - not sure if you can avoid Laz'el on the ship, but you can help the theiflings kill her. If you don't free Shadowheart she is up and about when you reach the beach, she will supposedly stalk you if you don't recruit her there - you need a MacGuffin she has for the story to work, but I suspect they worked out a way for it to get to you if you ignore her.

The rest can be avoided, wyll will also insert him self into the story if you recruit Karlach - but if you want to avoid them all I suppose that isn't an issue.

But having said all that I'm not really sure how cohesive the story will be with out the companions quests - as that seems to be what leads you from one thing to the next.

You may have to nuke the grove to avoid recruiting Halzin though, not sure you can avoid him tagging along otherwise.

[Brian Sirith]

Originally posted by guppy:

Laz'el and Shadowheart both tries to insert themselves into your story - not sure if you can avoid Laz'el on the ship, but you can help the theiflings kill her. If you don't free Shadowheart she is up and about when you reach the beach, she will supposedly stalk you if you don't recruit her there - you need a MacGuffin she has for the story to work, but I suspect they worked out a way for it to get to you if you ignore her.

The rest can be avoided, wyll will also insert him self into the story if you recruit Karlach - but if you want to avoid them all I suppose that isn't an issue.

But having said all that I'm not really sure how cohesive the story will be with out the companions quests - as that seems to be what leads you from one thing to the next.

You may have to nuke the grove to avoid recruiting Halzin though, not sure you can avoid him tagging along otherwise.

You can kill Halsin when you meet him. No one knows. He gets replaced by another NPC.

[Faefu]

you can totally play solo, but have the companions at the camp. some are needed for story but you don´t need them in your battles.

obviously this would be a challenge but you can do it

[Seraphiel]

Even if you "recruit" a companion, they mostly just sit at camp other than popping up for important story moments occasionally. You barely have to interact with them.

That said, you'd be missing huge parts of the game by not interacting with them as they're well written and well voice acted but that's your choice.

[☆AkaAkoVT☆]

Good to know about Withers. I know it sounds weird, but it's just a part that doesn't really appeal to me. I'm fine with pure combat/silent allies though, I think

[SonnenKätzchen]

I would say not picking up the companions, you're gimping yourself out of like half of the story as they do have companion quests in the later two acts. But if you really don't care about them, then by all means.

[Ogami]

Originally posted by ☆Hello, I am friend cat!☆:

Good to know about Withers. I know it sounds weird, but it's just a part that doesn't really appeal to me. I'm fine with pure combat/silent allies though, I think

Just be aware that you will be missing out on a pretty large chunk of game content.
The interactions, talks and quests related to your companions are easily 25%+ of the game content overall.
Many with diverging story paths and you definitley will miss out on a bunch of quests and story with no companions.

[☆AkaAkoVT☆]

I mean, I'm not really in it for a super deep story. Plus the art style feels kinda uncanny valley from the screenshots I've seen.
I guess I'm more looking for "Skyrim with more tactics and/or goofiness"?

[Kemaro Kitsune]

i literally ignored Astarion and didn't have him in my party at all cause i saw certain things about him that didn't plase me at all namely i was afraid he'd turn me in to a vampire with his night attack shanenigans...so you can potentially...leave shadowheart laying unconcious in the beach, leave gale stuck on a rock, leave wyll teaching the tiefling kids...etc
Then...you can use Wither's hireling services to have a full party despite not recruiting the main NPCs if you are doing a solo playthrough without friends to fill the other party slots.

[Ogami]

Originally posted by ☆Hello, I am friend cat!☆:

I mean, I'm not really in it for a super deep story. Plus the art style feels kinda uncanny valley from the screenshots I've seen.
I guess I'm more looking for "Skyrim with more tactics and/or goofiness"?

Yeah no, then this is the wrong game for you. This game is EXTREMELY focused on the story.
Talking to NPC, doing quests, often with extensive talking and dialog choices are like 70% of the game.
The rest is exploring and tactical turn based combat.
This game is about as far from Skyrim as possible for a RPG.

I honestly recommend watching a Lets Play of the first 2 hours or so on Youtube. That will give you a good look how the rest of the game looks like.

[larhtas]

Originally posted by ☆Hello, I am friend cat!☆:

... I guess I'm more looking for "Skyrim with more tactics and/or goofiness"?

This is definitely the wrong game for that.