Real NPC Companions

I hope we can have a companion like in FFXI. I found it an entertaining to do the quests to fight with an NPC and fight her at the end :D It gave me something to do when I had nothing to do.

I also found it cool to level them up to get the cool items/gear.

Wonder if they will be implemented again.

If implemented I'd hope they give us the option to pick how our npc looks like, not like the choices we have been given to pick an already created NPC. Let me choose the hair, height, hair color. Let me make it any class I chose, by buying a weapon and giving it to them.

I miss having an Elvaan woman to keep my company on those cold lonely nights as I try to unlock Atonement and Drakesbane.

For those who don't know from not playing FFXI. At one point you could start a quest where you could gain a companion. You could choose their size, hairstyle and personality. After completing the first part of the quest you get an iem called a signal pearl.

With the pearl you could summon the npc you made to fight with you. Fighting certain mobs allowed you npc companion to equip certain armor. Not only could they gain certain armor, but weapons as well. The thing about the weapons though is that they were limited to certain weapons from a specific list, but were A with all weapons.

After training with them long enough you could choose their playstyle as well. An Npc companion could become a healer, or more of a melee, or a tank type.

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Originally Posted by Jinrya-Geki

I miss having an Elvaan woman to keep my company on those cold lonely nights.

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I not sure this service you are asking is covered by your current friendship contract you have taken out, though for an additional fee we can make them available.

I like the idea, but much further down the road.
Pretty much just a character creation screen for our path companion would fit in best, I think.

/wipes the dust of this topic

This is absolutely something I hope they implement (I still miss my adventuring fellow at times I solo in this game), but I do agree, perhaps much further down the line. Also, YES to us being able to fully customize their looks and not have to pick from these stock characters they keep throwing at us with the retainers and Path Companions. I was really expecting much more variety with the latter while I went through the choices over and over, but disappointed to see there only seemed to be two-types for each race.

I feel it would be great to add now with the current cure problem. You could make your npc a healer type to help out with cures while you solo. Or make them the tank and heal them, since they will be more optimal to do so over a player trying to rank up in rank 50 gear at rank 18.

And who wears high ranked gear at a low rank? <- This idiot right here.

Random Citizen of Eorzea>> But aren't you a 37 weaver, can you make something lower ranked?
Jinrya>> Shut up! I am lazy!

Hehe, I only want to wait because of the missing genders coming up for PS3! But yeah, I had a lot of fun having a fighter Adventuring Fellow complement my mage back in XI.

The NPC companion in FFXI was a pretty nice idea for the game. Because the main game was so centered on partying up with others for everything, it gave you something else to work for without messing any of that up, as well as opening up more solo options for you with them helping. Basically because of their limitations, they both opened up more solo play as well as keeping party play important.

On the other hand, I hate the Path companion. It's obvious they're just there so that your character doesn't have to have any lines, and as a result they really trample all over your involvement with the story, all while being about as interesting as a rock. Unique NPCs with personalities (like XI's "mission girls" or the ones we start out the city-state-specific quests with) are much better for experiencing story development than the useless lump that is our Path companion. I wish they would just go away, maybe be killed off in the story so the developers can do something better, or at the very least be turned into the NPC companion described in the OP and just stay out of the story after a certain point.

I just recently got my Path Companion, but I do agree... I wish there was more of a use for them. However, I wouldn't want my Path Companion to be my Adventuring Fellow in this game. I'd like to completely remake my FFXI one just for nostalgia's sake.

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Originally Posted by Tsukino

On the other hand, I hate the Path companion. It's obvious they're just there so that your character doesn't have to have any lines, and as a result they really trample all over your involvement with the story, all while being about as interesting as a rock. Unique NPCs with personalities (like XI's "mission girls" or the ones we start out the city-state-specific quests with) are much better for experiencing story development than the useless lump that is our Path companion. I wish they would just go away, maybe be killed off in the story so the developers can do something better, or at the very least be turned into the NPC companion described in the OP and just stay out of the story after a certain point.

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If anything, if they were going to be the main focus of the storyline, why weren't they made to look unique? They look so generic and boring, I honestly can't stand it. I spent several minutes trying to pick a person, but after 30 minutes of wasting my time, I noticed the npcs were all the same, just in different order. Very lame.

I want to train an NPC to tag along and always automatically repair my gear when I snap my fingers. An NPC that you can level up in fights would be cool too.

I've a question regarding the Path Companions, but nothing too spoilery : will their armor change as the story progresses? I was seriously disappointed to have my Roegadyn's THM Companion donned in a Hempen Cloak.

Mine never changed.

Wow, that is... really disappointing. Ah well. Crossing my fingers for a fully customizable FFXIV Adventuring Fellow!

This is definitely something I look forward to as long as they give us more control over our companion (i.e. making them through the character creator) and customizing their job and armor/weapons ourselves. I'd also like to be able to call on my companion aanywhere, in the city or the wilderness. I feel FFXIV could make a pretty unique experience that way.

The crappy thing about companions in XI was the time limit they were out, how often they could be called. If they bring it to XIV, they should shorten the recast time to an hour not 18 hours. While at the same time keeping them out longer. I believe he longest an npc could be out for was 45 minutes, or kill 50 mobs.

They were also limited to locations. Mostly all the regular areas, Promies, and the past I believe. You can't summon them in Abyssea, Sky, Sea, BCNMs, some CoP areas, any ToAU area, or Beastmen Strongholds.