When looking at an online game, the company seems to be the least of the problems, right? Matchmaking, voice chat, random players met around the maps; in short, there is really a point of contact that defines the massive online experience for what it is, otherwise it would make no sense to call it multiplayer.
Yet, at times, it happens to feel almost alone in those worlds, a sensation that I have sometimes experienced on The Elder Scrolls Online. Don't get me wrong though, being alone in the title of Zenimax Online is impossible and you just need to access the Guild Finder to find many people close to your passions, regardless of whether you play casually or are a hardcore player. But you don't always manage to connect at the same time as your friends or companions are there, or you don't have that much time available and you don't want to be there to set up voice chats or open third-party programs like Discord. Or, simply, you are very shy people and hardly ever want to call someone to venture with you or to stop that alien player who is carrying out the same mission in which you are stuck.
It may seem strange to read these behaviors or to hear them pass as a common practice, yet many players happen to be unable to socialize to the maximum on every occasion. As written some time ago, The Elder Scrolls Online has a very friendly community and it is easy to make some friends, but it is not this ability and its paths that are at the heart of the problem. Rather, sometimes, some players like myself happen to not feel in the mood to make groups, perhaps not being able to get along with those we found online or simply factors such as time differences become decisive in spending whole hours. alone".
For all this series of particular circumstances, the announcement of the arrival of the Companions on The Elder Scrolls Online it made me really happy, although the first reaction of some of the audience can be summed up as: “But what good are fellow NPCs in The Elder Scrolls Online if it's a multiplayer game? The companions are humans, aren't they? ". Well, whoever wondered is not actually all wrong: In Elder Scrolls Online, a lot of group content can be done in minutes organization, especially when looking at the dungeons and activity finder whose purpose is to unite four players to face threats across Tamriel. But when the main story is dealt with or the world maps are explored, the company fails.
By virtue of the group content, it is not unfair to say that most of the players are concentrated there. You will hardly find parties that are dedicated to, say, side quests or collection of particular resources. Unless you join a guild and carry out any dedicated events, such as the more classic "clear races" where you go to complete the nodes of each area, exploring Tamriel is very often a solitary path where from time to time the NPCs can accompany you for short stretches. But then, when the mission is over, they greet you and if you are lucky if you will see them again later. But there will never be anyone who will stand by your side or share a space like an adventurer's hangout with you. A solution to this feeling of loneliness is the trivial choice of experiencing The Elder Scrolls Online with a friend, having a party (in ESO all groups persist even when players log off) and maybe decide a specific time to connect and live with. a thousand adventures.
But it is when real life knocks on the door that the problems of temporal coincidences arrive: work, children, school, study, the essential TV show, the music festival, a thousand other cases that for better or for worse there. they take away your favorite companion, then forcing him to recover the backward missions and with the possibility of getting bored because all in all the commitments have made him pass the desire. And it is this empty space in your heart that they will enter - with the arrival of The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood - the Companions, i.e. NPCs that will be able to follow you in ESO and experience various game content with you, with the ability to manage equipment and "personal" missions. At the moment the details are a bit hazy, but if they are even 50% of what they were in the other games in the Elder Scrolls series, the Companions will become your ideal partners with whom to chase away that feeling of loneliness between a dungeon and a trial.
None of them will ever be able to replace the real humans and the sincere bonds that you can forge with other players within the Guilds or in the game world, yet simply being there, by our side, during the exploration or some missions we had left. back is a comforting thought for the player who wants to see that less empty world on a personal level. A bit like the friar who sang the deeds of the dragon slayer in Dragon Heart, a Companion is that moral support that makes the game universe more believable and less playful, giving us the feeling of being a true hero whose deeds deserve to be followed well beyond the guise of a title under your username.
And it is in this particular feeling of verisimilitude, of fiction that turns into a similar emotional bond, that all in all today as today we remember our adventures on The Elder Scrolls. Skyrim, Oblivion, but also games outside the saga and with faithful companions such as Mass Effect or Dragon Age: How many times has an NPC made the time we spent as the avatar to be impersonated more memorable? The Companions of The Elder Scrolls Online are exactly what was missing most to make our passage on Tamriel even more memorable, a certainty of not being alone despite everything, despite our social skills or our desire to socialize. Nobody should judge you if you have trouble being outgoing, if you just want to be on your own, or if you just want some company outside your inner circle. For all of you, indeed for all of us, the Companions can be that little touch of storytelling that allows us to feel even closer to the heroic and courageous version of ourselves.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood will be out later this year, but right now you can pre-order its full edition and start playing all previous content!
