Your Favorite Companions in Gaming

[The Crispy Tiger]

Mines is without a doubt NAVI! No, I'm joking. Actually my favorite companion would be Ellie from The Last of Us. She's useful in combat and has a great character arc to observe. I'd love to hear your thoughts, fellow Escapists! What do you think, and who is your favorite companion and why?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Ashley in Resident Evil 4. She's so useful and awesome.

Yes, I too can joke. HA! Take that!

It's Garrus, actually. I don't think further explanation is required. Just Garrus.

 

[Padwolf]

Alistar from Dragon Age Origins. I love that man so much. He is the only one who can capture my Warden's heart! Also I just enjoy the banter when he is in the party.

Varric from Dragon Age 2 aswell. I love that dwarf. He makes the game a brighter place and I love his quests.

Fenris from Dragon Age 2. I just love his voice.

I play too much dragon age.

 

[Misterian]

Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite.

Eleanor Lamb from Bioshock 2.

Serana from Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Dawnguard expansion).

All my companions from Fallout: New Vegas.

All my companions from the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games.

Reaver in Fable II

All my allies in Fable III

Sam Becker from Far Cry 3

Johnny Gat from the Saints Row franchise.

Seems I get attached to my allies easily.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Hmm.

Garrus for his taciturn 'best pal' personality and deadpan one liners.

Alistair from Dragon Age: Origins for his half whiny/half droll banter and comedic timing.

Varric from DA2 for much the same reason.

Any Krogan.

Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite for being incredibly charming and having a compelling arc (although given the circumstances of her upbringing her almost effortless social grace does seem a little unlikely).

Ellie from The Last of Us for her abrasive pugnacity combined with a little girl's vulnerability.

Wheatley from Portal 2 for being drop dead hilarious.

Almost everyone from The Walking Dead, they were essayed well as human beings, full of quirks and flaws, and were memorable for it even when they were detestable.

Dogmeat from Fallout, I still have a soft spot for that mutt, even if all he does is pad along quietly in my wake and get killed by Deathclaws.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Ashley in Resident Evil 4. She's so useful and awesome.

Yes, I too can joke. HA! Take that!

Ironically you're right on the money.

As far as companions who can actually come to harm go, Ashley is the best! She keeps up with you're speed. She huddles behind you the moment you draw a weapon, and ducks when she's in front of you. You can store her in bins, and she fucks off whenever the game decides you need some alone time.

The huddle mechanic especially is genius, and one of the most overlooked gaming mechanics in the last decade. It reinforces both Leon's and Ashley's role as 'Hero' and 'Damsel' beautifully, but more importantly is just perfectly efficient in combat with Ashley pivoting along with your aim.

She adds to the tension of the action without ever detracting from it. Say what you will about her personality, mechanically she's the most solid A.I. companion ever conceived.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

I was about to say "Everyone from Persona 3, 4 and Mass Effect", but that would be too boring. So, instead I will pick one favorite from each game.

From Persona 3-Junpei Iori! There are many "bro" characters, but Junpei is particularly endearing because he shows the biggest development of all of them. I love the fact that he doesn't start as your best friend right away. Sure, he is friendly and goofy, but he questions your command and even acts like a complete jackass. And this is what makes his eventual development so much better. It's fire forged friendship and both of you start to grow accustomed to each other. And yeah, as I said, his character development is kinda amazing. He goes from class clown and butt-monkey from beginning of Journey to the most rational and level headed person in a room in The Answer.

From Persona 4-Chie Satonaka! Chie is not just my favorite companion, she's my favorite character ever! She's brave, optimistic, surprisingly smart and... well, bright! I think bright is the most fitting description of her character. Chie manages to stand out despite being the most "normal" person in her team. And yeah, the way Erin Fitzgerald voiced her is just perfect.

From Mass Effect-Garrus! Well, yeah, Garrus is the "bro" character in gaming.

From Front Mission 3-Jose Astrada! Jose was probably the very first "tragic" character I encountered in videogames and I loved him for that! He was initially your opponent, but with right choices he would become your teammate. I love that there's just some pain and tiredness in his face and in the way he acts. He's not evil, he's just an old soldier full of regrets who wants to rest.

 

[Evonisia]

It has to be the Arbiter from Halo 3. He always stands a symbol of hope and support, knowing that you won't have to face the struggles on your own. The way he shows up at the end of Cortana (people who have done the mission will know), flamethrower in tow is probably the best fist pump in the game. You know that the mission is going to be dark and unforgiving if he's not there. His aim isn't half bad either.

 

[MrOwneddeath]

The companion cube /thread
reason it has a job and does it so well also his voice actor is wonderful

 

[aozgolo]

Well I don't know if I'd say he's my FAVORITE but he's certainly the most memorable:

Minsc from Baldur's Gate Series.

Go for the eyes Boo! Go for the eyes! RAAARGH!

 

[scorptatious]

Probably Agro from Shadow of the Colossus.

She's pretty much your only friend throughout your journey taking on giant colossi in order to bring back your loved one. And she pretty much acts like a real horse, in which you don't directly control her while riding her and how she wanders around and grazes whenever you leave her be. She's very loyal though and will always come running to your side no matter what.

Also:

Spoiler

She bucks off Wander at the end of the collapsing bridge to save him from dying. :'(

 

[The Wykydtron]

Yukiko from Persona 4. I could not ever imagine playing through Persona 4 without having her on the team 24/7. She keeps everyone healed up and she does a fuckload of fire damage whenever she isn't healing. In fact I roll with Team Original Party Members every time. Yosuke is probably my favourite supporting character ever actually, funny that he's pretty much the biggest loser ever and can be a bit of a dick at times but he always comes through in the end.

Yosuke was by far the strongest character in Persona 4 Arena story wise. His route puts everyone else to shame.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Ashley in Resident Evil 4. She's so useful and awesome.

Yes, I too can joke. HA! Take that!

Damn it! I thought I had finally found someone else who enjoyed having Ashley as a companion. I knew it was too good to be true...

Anyways, my favorite would definitely be Farah from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and The Two Thrones. I absolutely love her character in both games, and she does a very good job helping you in The Sands of Time both in and out of combat.

But since I've given that response numerous times, I'll also give my second favorite: Actually, I can't think of a second. I'd probably go with Reyn from Xenoblade. His combat style was designed to complement Shulk's, so he was practically a must in my party (I mostly played as Shulk) unless I wanted to go for quicker damage. He also had some of the funnier lines after combat. Granted, he was hardly my favorite side-character of the group, but I did enjoy having him on my team for the fights.

Of course, I would go with Garrus as my second, but I'm still a little bitter about how horrible he was in combat in the first game.

 

[Mikejames]

Obligatory Clementine appreciation post.

As far as companions who can actually come to harm go, Ashley is the best! She keeps up with you're speed. She huddles behind you the moment you draw a weapon, and ducks when she's in front of you. You can store her in bins, and she fucks off whenever the game decides you need some alone time.

Ashley may not be the most in-depth character I can think of, but she never complained about hiding in a dumpster for half of the game, so I had no real gripes.

 

[Elfgore]

Shale in Dragon Age: Origins. I loved her backstory, as one user said "it was rock solid", and she has to be one of the best tanks in the game.

Garrus, Wrex, Thane, and Legion throughout the Mass Effect series. I enjoy all of them as my party members.

 

[the December King]

Lydia from Skyrim.

Ol' Lyds.

My first companion in the game, and my only one on my first playthrough.

Stoic, looked the part of a human warrior woman, athletic, great as a melee/offensive team member, but not invulnerable, and a bit over zealous at times- she got me out of scrapes early on, and I got her out of scrapes later on- Loved that dynamic.

 

[Ihrgoth]

Alyx Vance from Half Life 2. And Elizabeth from Bioshock. And anyone in mass effect or dragon age. I can't just pick one.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

I'll say a few. Kanji in Persona 4, Salem in Army of Two, Fenris and Varric in Dragon Age II, Kaiden and Garrus in Mass Effect and Billy Cohen in Resident Evil 0. Too many to name *^*

 

[SmallHatLogan]

Probably Agro from Shadow of the Colossus.

She's pretty much your only friend throughout your journey taking on giant colossi in order to bring back your loved one. And she pretty much acts like a real horse, in which you don't directly control her while riding her and how she wanders around and grazes whenever you leave her be. She's very loyal though and will always come running to your side no matter what.

Also:

Spoiler

She bucks off Wander at the end of the collapsing bridge to save him from dying. :'(

I'm totally with you there.

I'll throw Potato GLaDOS out there. I know the whole thing was a bit silly but I really did like having her along for the ride.

Eikichi, Lisa and Maya from Persona 2: Innocent Sin are awesome. They're probably my favourite characters out of all of the Persona games. Eikichi kind of alternates between tough guy and smart arse and is a bit immature at times but has a heart of gold nonetheless. Lisa is a free spirit and has no filter. She's just really fun. When Lisa and Eikichi butt heads it's usually pretty entertaining. It's kind of like Yukari and Junpei's relationship in Persona 3 (for those of you who have played 3 but not 2). And Maya is just Maya. She's awesome.

 

[scorptatious]

Veronica from Fallout: New Vegas. She was the only companion I ever had with me, and definitely one of the high points of the whole game. Great character, great voice actor (Felicia Day for the win) and it was so awesome watching her blow up longhorners with her fists.

I also like Veronica. She's just so endearing. Definitely one of, if not my most favorite companion in New Vegas. ED-E, Arcade, and Raul are up there too.

Goddamn though, I just wanted to hug her by the time her personal quest ended.