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?

[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.

[Snaef]

Hirelings from withers unlocks at level 3, from my experience and he will insert himself into your camp, even if you never visit his crypt.
Oh, and don't pick the Noble (leader) background if you're not using the companions.

[larhtas]

Originally posted by Kemaro Kitsune:

... namely i was afraid he'd turn me in to a vampire with his night attack shanenigans...

He can't turn you. Even if you let him taste your blood.

[☆AkaAkoVT☆]

Gooood to know. People really don't detail that sort of thing much. All I really knew was random memes about miniature giant space hamsters whatnot, and I guess I thought it had more of a Sheogorath vibe to it. Maybe some Vivec throne in, given the strange sexual scenes :P
(which don't appeal to me, but eh, everyone has different tastes)

[time_consuming]

When ever you meet a potential companion, you have dialog options to decline or invite them to join your camp/party.

As mentioned in another comment, you will eventually have an NPC turn up at your camp named Withers, he is not a companion but he will be at your camp, he can offer you 'hirelings' for a cost. you get to pick a hireling from a list of races/classes(you can multiclass them). for a full list of hireling options you can google 'hirelings bg3' to pick before hand if you like the sound of any of them. how ever you will not be able to properly converse with hirelings as they are more like puppets.

That being said, i recommend you get the game and still accept one or two characters into your camp, inviting them into your party -vs- camp are two separate things. Once you play the game and meet the characters you can decide for yourself whether they are worth keeping around or not.

Also for your peace of mind, I have not had any of the NPC's make advances or flirt with my character and have over 60hours in the game. I do not have gale or astrion in my camp or party though - I do have everyone else at camp except those two.

[Argonaut]

You can permanently kill all of them as well. I got about 2 hours into having Lae'Zel and Astarion in my party before I threw them off a bottomless chasm and I've been having a better experience for it.

Gale might go flying next after he casually name dropped Ao and made elminster look like a senile ♥♥♥♥♥♥ to hand waive why the chosen of mystra are not involving themselves.

[a.out]

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.

They also don't try to have sex with you 5 minutes into the game. Only the males do that for some reason. All of them.

[☆AkaAkoVT☆]

Any suggestions for something that might fit better? I guess I could just stick with ESO/wait for TES6 (if it ever arrives), but the idea of a tactics game with those elements sounded fun

[☆AkaAkoVT☆]

Originally posted by time_consuming:

Also for your peace of mind, I have not had any of the NPC's make advances or flirt with my character and have over 60hours in the game. I do not have gale or astrion in my camp or party though - I do have everyone else at camp except those two.

Okay, this is SUPER good to know, and something I really wish reviews mentioned. I kept hearing stuff that made it sound like getting flirted at was mandatory. Sooo yeah. That sounded uncomfortable as heck.

If it really is optional, that's a tick towards I might actually like the game! ^_^

[retsam1]

Originally posted by 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.

Astarion cant/wont turn you into a vampire unless you follow a very specific set of play choices throughout your play AND important choices in the latter part of Act 3.

Otherwise, he's just a wanna be brooding Lestat.

[Kemaro Kitsune]

Originally posted by larhtas:

Originally posted by Kemaro Kitsune:

... namely i was afraid he'd turn me in to a vampire with his night attack shanenigans...

He can't turn you. Even if you let him taste your blood.

Originally posted by retsam1:

Originally posted by 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.

Astarion cant/wont turn you into a vampire unless you follow a very specific set of play choices throughout your play AND important choices in the latter part of Act 3.

Otherwise, he's just a wanna be brooding Lestat.

Thank you both for the information ^^ i haven't finished act 1 yet so i was in doubt as to where that quest line would end up going heh

[Caldrin]

The companions are some of the best I have seen in any game the acting as well is spot on.. you would be missing out on a hell of a lot of story without using them.. but yeah as mentioned here I think if you really wanted you can tell them to bugger off or err kill them lol

[The Former]

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

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.

You can say no. Just choose the firmest dialogue option that rejects their advances and they get the hint. It is a feature they put a lot of thought into, which is probably why it gets so much attention. Even the store page has a whole section on it.

[Sreve]

You can never speak to them outside of cut scenes and the game reacts to you ignoring them.
Gale even writes you a letter at a certain point if you recruit him and then never speak to him

[Brian Sirith]

A lot of people have played the game solo or with silent companions and enjoyed it. I recruited only 3 of the companions which I interact with and use in combat and a 4th that I don’t interact with and just sits in camp. Romancing one, the romance scenes have taken up 15m maybe of my 30hrs up to now run. Don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.

I’d suggest to get it on GoG if it’s available there as they have a longer refund policy. Also if you get it here keep in mind that the launcher screen counts as time played.

That said… it’s not like Skyrim. Exploration is worse, it’s not too easy to get around. It’s a good game, but not Skyrim style. More DAO or DOS like.