Well you guys are the ones making the game so perhaps you should tell us why such a system might not be a good idea considering the type of game you are creating?
Let me phrase this much differently:
What work do you think implementing what you would like would entail?
The whole pokeball thing ruins my immersion so much that I tried not to recruit anyone after the first 3. It's also why Wynne died. Sorry Wynne
It's way too hard to balance the difficulty if you can take up to 9 companions with you. BW would have to implement scaling depending on the amount of followers you pick - think about how much time that would take. Not only that, but I would probably go crazy from all the banter and opinions expressed all around me. 
Also think about all the micro-managing... 
and not to mention HUD implications.
Nah, the 3 followers thing works fine and I liked it since I started playing BG in 1998. I'm still fond of seeing some of the resemblances to BG when playing DA games and imo BioWare needs to stick to that.
Let me phrase this much differently:
What work do you think implementing what you would like would entail?
Give me a look at the GDD and all the work you have done so far and perhaps I will tell you.
If you are asking me what work would need to be done at this stage in the development cycle it is impossible to say without know exactly what you have done, whether it would be conducive to such a system and whether such a system would compliment what you already have done and vice versa.
If you already have things in place that could be incorporated into such a system I am sure the work and costs would be somewhat mitigated, if you don't then I am sure it would take a lot more to incorporate a system in such a way to do it justice.
As I said you guys are the ones building the game and since I doubt you will give me a look at the GDD you guys are the ones with the only real authority to say whether or not such an idea would be possible to implement.
It's way too hard to balance the difficulty if you can take up to 9 companions with you. BW would have to implement scaling depending on the amount of followers you pick - think about how much time that would take. Not only that, but I would probably go crazy by all the banter and opinions expressed all around me.
Nah, the 3 followers thing works fine and I liked it since I started playing BG in 1998. I'm still fond of seeing some of the resemblances to BG when playing DA games and imo BioWare needs to stick to that.
While not exactly what we are talking about you do realize that BG allowed you to take up to 5 companions for a total party of 6? Or did you only have a party of 4 because of the split exp?
While not exactly what we are talking about you do realize that BG allowed you to take up to 5 companions for a total party of 6? Or did you only have a party of 4 because of the split exp?
Yeah, I took 3, but I must also admit that I forgot one could take up to 5 (it's been a looong time since I last played the BG series 
). So just forget about the companion amount comparison and focus on the first part.
I do notice that in the transition from 2D-isometric to 3D, almost every game that kept the "party system" transitioned from parties of 6 to parties of 3, or 4.
Probably because, especially initially with early systems and 3D, it wasn't easy to figure out how to get players to simultaneously see and control 6 chars instead of 4 (though the overhead/tactical camera works nicely, when it's there), and I think the other issue was the problem in rendering too many moving entities (party and enemies) onscreen.
Dungeon Siege let you take 6, but 1 was a pack mule, and the other 5 were autobots.
NWN2's OC1 and MotB gave players' party control (unlike NWN1's companions), but limited you to a party size of 4. (BTW, there were console codes to overcome it.)
NWN2: Storm of Zehir (the last 'official' expansion/campaign/addon for NWN2) let you control 6 chars (first "dev-OC" to do so, I think, but also the last released) ... ahhh, if it had been a higher level game, where you could get into the epic levels past 20, I might still be playing it now.
I would imagine it be like in the previous games, they do whatever.
And here I thought we'd spread this horse's ashes in running water.
On the development side of things, the more party members the more work, there are a limited amount of zots. (Zots being money, time, and people, basically put, resources.) If you want to add anything to the game that means you need to put the zots into it.
So you want all nine companions following after you at all times. That takes plenty of writing zots, as what is the point if they don't have something interesting to say. But who says what when? Obviously some banter would be random, some would be determined by if a certain character were more invested or knowledgeable in a given situation, and others if you have higher influence with that character. Your influence with a character might also effect what they say. Then what if you didn't recruit a certain character or actually left them in camp this time? As you can see, this eats a lot of scripting and qa zots as well.
Further, this can hamper replayability. After all, when accommodating such a large group, just how many variants is realistic?
There is also the balance issue, a limited party is easier to balance for than to allow all companions in the active part, but then also balance for people who don't recruit everyone. Versus if you have a minimum of 3 or 4 tagalongs and 5 or 6 maybes, but an active party of 4(including the player character.)
Then we get into what the game and people's rigs can handle. Will having all the enemies for a 9 character team be something the game engine and/or people's computers can actually handle?
And on and on
Oooookay I think we might have gotten off track somewhere along the line so just to clarify this thread is not about how many companions accompany you on a mission but rather uses for your companions when they aren't personally accompanying you.
If possible, I would like to see something akin to the SWTOR system where the party can be assigned tasks based upon their indv skills. That is, some could be assigned to gather materials, others to craft, some to find small treasures, etc.
As mentioned, this does appear to work rather well in SWTOR.
Let me phrase this much differently:
What work do you think implementing what you would like would entail?
I was responding to this developer/the forumites on that subject.Oooookay I think we might have gotten off track somewhere along the line so just to clarify this thread is not about how many companions accompany you on a mission but rather uses for your companions when they aren't personally accompanying you.
If you are asking me what work would need to be done at this stage in the development cycle it is impossible to say without know exactly what you have done, whether it would be conducive to such a system and whether such a system would compliment what you already have done and vice versa.
No, I'm asking you to give some thought as to what elements this feature would actually entail. What level of detail are you looking for, and what work do you think would be required downstream.
Assume you have no restraints on your budget as at this point we're just brainstorming.
Your OP is a bit sparse aside from "let them do more than just sit around waiting."
But I'll be a bit less difficult and hopefully get the ball rolling: Conceptualizing and creating the plot arcs for companions while not in the active party
What might this entail?
I understand that people will probably miss stuff (I will probably miss stuff), but lets detail out the specifications of the request because it's entirely possible that what I think satisfies your request is actually no where near sufficient for what you would like it to be.
No, I'm asking you to give some thought as to what elements this feature would actually entail. What level of detail are you looking for, and what work do you think would be required downstream.
Assume you have no restraints on your budget as at this point we're just brainstorming.
Your OP is a bit sparse aside from "let them do more than just sit around waiting."
But I'll be a bit less difficult and hopefully get the ball rolling: Conceptualizing and creating the plot arcs for companions while not in the active party
What might this entail?
- Creating a narrative. Is it cohesive or just one off things for flavour?
- Will it require spoken lines?
- Are there tangible in game consequences for any of these narratives? If so, is there any branching factor?
- Are we creating these on top of any interactions and quests that may be character specific with said NPCs that are actually in your party?
I understand that people will probably miss stuff (I will probably miss stuff), but lets detail out the specifications of the request because it's entirely possible that what I think satisfies your request is actually no where near sufficient for what you would like it to be.
Try me, what do you think satisfies my request? Correct me if I am wrong but I am getting the impression that your implementation would be to have a bunch of companion missions that happen beside but totally separated from the main plot with their own plot arcs instead of having missions with goals that tie into the main plot in some way, is that correct? Personally I would rather something that ties more into the main plot but I understand that would be difficult to do unless the game was built from the ground up with that in mind.
But to answer your points
- Creating a narrative. Is it cohesive or just one off things for flavour?
Depends on the mission, I am sure you already have missions planned that while perhaps not vital to the narrative still provide some sort of benefit to the Inquisition, why not assign a few of these missions to your companions instead? That said I wouldn't mind seeing such missions playing a more important role in the narrative.
- Will it require spoken lines?
Voice work could be kept to a minimum considering that the player doesn't actually witness these missions first hand and in many cases even eliminated entirely depending on the role the mission plays in the narrative. Same goes for level design and the creation of visual assets, why you could set a mission in Par Vollen featuring male desire demons and griffons for all it matters.
- Are there tangible in game consequences for any of these narratives? If so, is there any branching factor?
Depends on the mission but I would hope there would be consequences based on who you send on the mission, it would be interesting to see mission outcomes based on what your companions would do rather than what the player character would do. Of course I know you are thinking that this would lead to the writers needing to create 9 (less if you limited who could actually perform the mission) different variations on how a mission can turn out however it all depends how big these variations are and what effect they have on the plot.
- Are we creating these on top of any interactions and quests that may be character specific with said NPCs that are actually in your party?
Considering I have no restraints on budget why not.
You know, the companions that stay back in base should be like somewhat like Agents.
We should be able to set tasks for them to do / accomplish. Examples :-
- Collect a certain amount of plant / ingredient
- Scout an area
- Gather intelligence.
- Represent you as a diplomat
- Train soldiers and recruits
- Acquire supplies.
Since they'll probably be at your keep..I dunno, helping organize your troops? Training them to master spying/fighting/whatever. Having them be sort of second in commands to yourself gives them a good list of stuff to do when they're left with the army.
They are sitting on the sidelines with popcorn and alcohol. 
Ok I got an idea.
Have all the companions out during exploration, listen to banter etc. but whenever a fight happens all the extra companions say "I have use the toilet" and then run off.
Problem solved
or they can return video tapes
They just sit around getting high on a futon all day.
The same thing they do every night: take over the world.
I've got an idea that I don't think anyone's going to like, and that I know has no chance to be implemented, but I'll share it anyways. At some point, I think it would be a good idea to have a DA game with no companions at all, or at least, no companions except on a temporary basis. This would do a number of things: It would solve the OP's "What are your unused companions doing?" issue, and it would also open up the possibility of more sophisticated mechanics for sneaking and similar abilities, something which is incredibly difficult to do in the context of a party-based game. It could add to replay value by adding more variability depending on which class you choose; for example, in the Quest for Glory games, puzzles and quests had to be solved differently depending on which class you were; this isn't going to happen in a party-based game, since even if you don't have a certain class ability, there's a good chance one of your party members does. And lastly, there's no reason you can't form interesting relationships and dynamics with NPC's (heck, even romances if you want) simply because they aren't following you everywhere you go.
What mod would that be?
sorry for the massive delay.. Life.. who needs it.
I think it is a side effect of the improved atmosphere mods (http://www.nexusmods...nage/mods/577/?) I have so many installed.
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