Best companion in Fallout New Vegas?

[John F. Kennedy]

I was just wondering what the community thinks the best companion is.

[CanisProxima]

On quest and story side, i think everyone is great

But on a skill and effectiveness, i'll go with boone

[Johnny Casey]

Making Craig Boone to be the first companion that player can usually recruit was a one of the biggest developing mistake of New Vegas in my opinion.

A companion who makes an entire faction to be hostile to you? Yeah, that's great companion to pick in the very first place, isn't it?

Eventually people will turn the Legion to enemy, and as a result, the Legion became nothing more than yet another raider faction with 'some' quests in it.

You'd think a faction heavy related games like New Vegas would prefer to leave the very first companion to recruit to be somewhat neutrual to all factions, but the game was made by Obsidian, so... yeah.

[Rogue]

I much prefer Raul

[Grendalcat]

I also like Raul a lot, but rarely get him because I rarely go up Black Mountain. So I usually end up with Veronica.

[Count Von Count]

Originally posted by Johnny Casey:

Making Craig Boone to be the first companion that player can usually recruit was a one of the biggest developing mistake of New Vegas in my opinion.

A companion who makes an entire faction to be hostile to you? Yeah, that's great companion to pick in the very first place, isn't it?

Eventually people will turn the Legion to enemy, and as a result, the Legion became nothing more than yet another raider faction with 'some' quests in it.

You'd think a faction heavy related games like New Vegas would prefer to leave the very first companion to recruit to be somewhat neutrual to all factions, but the game was made by Obsidian, so... yeah.

If we are being technical (and I feel like it), ED-E is the first recruitable companion. And ED-E is neutral towards all factions.

Also, many characters would have ended up fighting the Legion at Nipton.

Also, the Legion makes a point of giving you a second chance if you’ve made an enemy of them at the beginning.

And I seem to recall the Legion were going to be better fleshed out, but time constraints put a stop to that.

My favourite is Raul

[Mister Holdout]

Boone is pretty much the only companion you'll ever need.

If doing a legion play-through, then I'd say Raul is a good alternative. Raul isn't the best at combat, but he is good company.

[Johnny Casey]

Originally posted by Lt Veers:

If we are being technical (and I feel like it), ED-E is the first recruitable companion. And ED-E is neutral towards all factions.

Also, many characters would have ended up fighting the Legion at Nipton.

That's a very good point that I missed. Yeah, ED-E should be the very first companion that the player can recruit. But usually non-humanoid companions aren't really associated with factions or Karma, aren't they? So ED-E being natural to all factions isn't really a big deal, in my opinion.

About the players will mostly like make Legion to be an enemy at Nipton is again, a good point. But recruiting Boone adds a cherry on top of it to make them completely turn their backs against the Legion once and for all. If Boone was more friendly to Legion, the faction favor could have been changed.

[Count Von Count]

Originally posted by Johnny Casey:

Originally posted by Lt Veers:

If we are being technical (and I feel like it), ED-E is the first recruitable companion. And ED-E is neutral towards all factions.

Also, many characters would have ended up fighting the Legion at Nipton.

That's a very good point that I missed. Yeah, ED-E should be the very first companion that the player can recruit. But usually non-humanoid companions aren't really associated with factions or Karma, aren't they? So ED-E being natural to all factions isn't really a big deal, in my opinion.

About the players will mostly like make Legion to be an enemy at Nipton is again, a good point. But recruiting Boone adds a cherry on top of it to make them completely turn their backs against the Legion once and for all. If Boone was more friendly to Legion, the faction favor could have been changed.

Assuming the player goes through with Boone’s full quest (and many probably skip as much as possible) we do get good insight as to why he hates the Legion so much. And he does warn the player to not take him on as a companion

But it is pretty heavy handed against the Legion

[Rogue]

but Boone is a jerk. I don't even like having him around. Since I never side with the Legion any follower will do at Nipton.

[Count Von Count]

Originally posted by RoadHog:

but Boone is a jerk. I don't even like having him around. Since I never side with the Legion any follower will do at Nipton.

If you murdered people in a battle, then had your wife (the only person who kept you going) kidnapped, who you then had to kill as a last resort to save her from being a slave to the Legion, I believe you would also be a jerk

[talgaby]

Depends on AI quirks and your charisma stat.

Boone is usually a good companion, but he has a caviat: he likes to go super aggressive and shoot at literally everything. Meaning, he can bring every single enemy in the vicinity upon your head, whether you want it or not.
He can also sometimes interpret "sniping" as "run into their face and shoot from point blank", even if the enemy is a deathclaw.

In actuality, if all scripts work as intended, Veronica is the most combat-effective companion, since she is specced in the strongest weapon type, unarmed. She can wear a super-heated saturnite fist as her best weapon and any armour, meaning, she can actually take on deathclaw nests. Granted, you must have at least CH 6 for that, but still.
However, if her AI derps, then she starts running around, punching all enemies and moving to the next, creating a conga line of death for you both.
Still, she is a better personality than Boone. For one, she is not moping 100% of the time in a gruff voice. She is also smarter. Then again, Boone is actually the dumbest human in the game with his stats. He is as dumb as a dumb variant of the super mutants.

There is also Raul. If you prod him to go back to his old pistol-wielding days instead of staying a mechanic, he gets aimbot accuracy and ridiculous firing speeds with his infinite-ammo revolver. Essentially, he turns into a permanent Mysterious Stranger. With the same random chance of keep firing at a very menacing rock for half a minute after the enemy dies instead of turning his attention to his other seven dozen buddies.

[3steve3]

Originally posted by Johnny Casey:

Making Craig Boone to be the first companion that player can usually recruit was a one of the biggest developing mistake of New Vegas in my opinion.

A companion who makes an entire faction to be hostile to you? Yeah, that's great companion to pick in the very first place, isn't it?

Eventually people will turn the Legion to enemy, and as a result, the Legion became nothing more than yet another raider faction with 'some' quests in it.

You'd think a faction heavy related games like New Vegas would prefer to leave the very first companion to recruit to be somewhat neutrual to all factions, but the game was made by Obsidian, so... yeah.

Just don't recruit Boone if you want to side with the Legion. That is pretty much said when recruiting Boone and he says he want to have revenge on them.

[stvlepore]

If your into mods, Willow is pretty cool.

[Дегтярьов]

ED and Raul for me. But i dont take companions, i always travel alone.

[Golt]

Veronica is my favorite one, I always liked the brotherhood and its nice to see a companion using unarmed instead of the usual guns.
But I think the worst companion has to be Cass for me.
I never saw the appeal of her, before you recruit she ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about her caravan and then to recruit her you need to do that contract for the crimson caravan. She is also the "yeehaw texas cowboy whiskey old weaponry shooty horse riding" stereotype.
The only reason I recruited her was to bring her to the Van Graffs where one of them kills her.