Games Where You Make Friends

[Pike]

What are some games that really feel like you're friends with the NPCs? I think it's a sort of cute... not really genre, but maybe trope that I've noticed recently in some games. First I noticed it with Undertale, and now that I'm playing Dragon Age Origins for the first time it really feels similarly to me. Like, "making friends" really feels like a core part of the game. I think it's cute!

What are some of your favorite games that let you really sort of have fun with this?

[Fynn]

Persona 3 and 4. It's a gameplay mechanic even - the closer you are with friends, the stronger you effectively are. It helps that they're all very complex characters

[Night Fury]

Mass Effect series.

THEY ARE MY IRL FRIENDS AND DON'T TRY TO TELL ME OTHERWISE.

[Ayen]

Mass Effect, and Pokemon X/Y made me feel this way right at the start.

[Wolf Kanno]

Xenoblade Chronicles as well as Persona.

[Fynn]

Xenoblade Chronicles as well as Persona.

YES XENOBLADE HOW COULD I FORGET OMGGGG

[Formalhaut]

My favourite games are the ones where I feel connected to the people I meet, so yeah, pretty much any BioWare/Persona game ever made. I too easily feel emotion for these characters, upset when they're hurt, happy when they're joyous or full of humour.

BioWare really excels in this department though, I agree with you, Pike. Dragon Age in particular places considerable emphasis on your friends, which is happily continued with Dragon Age II and Inquisition (II has a rivalry mechanic, actually).

[Fynn]

I also really liked the camaraderie that was a central theme of Digital Devil Saga

[Freya]

Garrus is my bro and will forever be bros with me. We bro out.

So yeah Bioware is great for this. It makes me really enjoy their games even more so.

[Skyblade]

67061

[Galuf]

gonna have to go with Mass Effect. Makes you even have to be friends with the squad to make them survive in ME 2

[Forsaken Lover]

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When I started Dragon Age Inquisition I heard a lot about how people hated Sera, mainly because they felt she just didn't belong. Inquisition is a military organization ostensibly with a very serious goal ahead of them. It doesn't have time for juvenile pranks and games. Some people suggested Sera would fit in better in DA2 because its tone and structure is so radically different.

And that's why I'm saying DA2, because it's so different. Don't get me wrong, I love Mass Effect and Dragon Age Origins but at the end of the day you are still a leader/commander during a time of great peril. Yes you can make friends with Garrus or Miranda or Zevran or Leliana but they're still mostly there to stop the Blight/the Reapers. There is a...formality to it all that doesn't exist in the first Dragon Age sequel.

In DA2, there is no big crisis. Your companions did not join you to stop a deadly threat. They are there simply because of you, Hawke. There's also the awesome Friendship/Rivalry system where you can have two entirely different kinds of relationships with your companions.

I just feel that this more..."natural" coming together of people is the best way to handle gaining friends.

[Formalhaut]

When I started Dragon Age Inquisition I heard a lot about how people hated Sera, mainly because they felt she just didn't belong. Inquisition is a military organization ostensibly with a very serious goal ahead of them. It doesn't have time for juvenile pranks and games. Some people suggested Sera would fit in better in DA2 because its tone and structure is so radically different.

And that's why I'm saying DA2, because it's so different. Don't get me wrong, I love Mass Effect and Dragon Age Origins but at the end of the day you are still a leader/commander during a time of great peril. Yes you can make friends with Garrus or Miranda or Zevran or Leliana but they're still mostly there to stop the Blight/the Reapers. There is a...formality to it all that doesn't exist in the first Dragon Age sequel.

In DA2, there is no big crisis. Your companions did not join you to stop a deadly threat. They are there simply because of you, Hawke. There's also the awesome Friendship/Rivalry system where you can have two entirely different kinds of relationships with your companions.

I just feel that this more..."natural" coming together of people is the best way to handle gaining friends.

Hmm, interesting statements. I do agree that I feel the band of DA: II to be the most lighthearted of the three ensembles we've witnessed so far. While I wouldn't quite go far to say they were all friends, the quality of the writing made it such that I felt really connected to them all. It helps that I went with a Sarcastic!Hawke, which upped the humour eleven-fold.

DA: O had the most serious cast, but then again, there was a massive blight going on. Even then, there were moments of brevity, especially with Shale. DA: I had a balance. Yes, there's serious stuff going on, but spread over the course of two years. I don't find Sera's involvement to be jarring. Sure, she would fit in DA: II, but Isabela is probably closer in character to her. She might be the most 'unconnected' character to it all, but I think she grounds the Inquisition by providing a different, simpler perspective. Her view on elves is also interesting; even if I think she goes too far. Basically, I really liked Sera.

The only companion I dislike in the entire Dragon Age series is Vivienne. Goodness what a witch.

[Midgar Mist]

What are some games that really feel like you're friends with the NPCs? I think it's a sort of cute... not really genre, but maybe trope that I've noticed recently in some games. First I noticed it with Undertale, and now that I'm playing Dragon Age Origins for the first time it really feels similarly to me. Like, "making friends" really feels like a core part of the game. I think it's cute!

What are some of your favorite games that let you really sort of have fun with this?

I like Oracle Kildea in FF9
I like helping the kid who is dying and the online teacher who struggles in Persona 3
I like Noaki Konishi in Persona 4

[Forsaken Lover]

I liked Vivienne. She's cold and ruthless but her personal quest was interesting. I thought she was poisoning that man as well but she was trying to save him. She sincerely loved him, which is also confirmed in the fact she turns down your flirting and none-to-subtle offers flat.

Plus, Viv is from Orlais and is a master of The Game. I can't expect her to be any otehr way.

No, the only DA companion I hate is Sebastian. Everything about his character pisses me off, to the extent I wrote a long post about why I absolutely hate him. This hatred was not helped any by his attacking Kirkwall pointlessly.

And I know not everyone in DA2 gets along. Anders and Fenris pointedly hate each other and Fenris also hates Merrill. Isabela and Aveline kinda hate each other at first too. Also Carver is a bit of an ass to most of the party.

[Formalhaut]

I liked Vivienne. She's cold and ruthless but her personal quest was interesting. I thought she was poisoning that man as well but she was trying to save him. She sincerely loved him, which is also confirmed in the fact she turns down your flirting and none-to-subtle offers flat.

Maybe I should have clarified. As a character, I find Vivienne utterly interesting, and her perspectives (no matter how jarring they are) are good to listen to. That, and her humour can be funny, even if she punches down almost all the time with it.

But as a human, I find her despicable. I'm all for pithy putdowns when appropriate, but they're her bread and butter. Practically the only characters who tolerate her in the party is Varric and Cassandra, and if anything, Varric know she's awful but manages to stay on her good side, mostly. Funnily enough, I always end up being great friends with her.



No, the only DA companion I hate is Sebastian. Everything about his character pisses me off, to the extent I wrote a long post about why I absolutely hate him. This hatred was not helped any by his attacking Kirkwall pointlessly.

Ah, yes, Sebastian. I liked him until Act Three. He was decent, if almost too pious. Varric's opinion of him sums it up really.

Even with these people, I always seek out the best possible outcome for them. Mainly because choosing the hurtful options in dialogue seems too much for me.