Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood to Add Companion
The Elder Scrolls Online has big plans for 2021, with a year-long Gates of Oblivion questline unfolding throughout the year. Bethesda released a new trailer that takes a closer look at this content, while also providing a sneak peek at the content arriving in June with the Blackwood Chapter. A new announcement reveals that it will be introducing an NPC companion system similar to that of Skyrim. This will be a great help to all those players who enjoy going through the game and all its missions on their own.
Recently, The Elder Scrolls Online dropped an intense cinematic trailer for the next part in its Gates of Oblivion story arc. This next installment will take place 800 years before Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, and players are tasked to stop Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon, the ruler of Oblivion.
This newest chapter is set to launch some time this summer and will add a new swampy region called Blackwood for players to explore. This area is supposed to border the Argonian Black Marsh. The story arc for Gates of Oblivion will mark the beginning of a year-long storyline revolving around the Mehrunes Dagon. The good news is, those players who opt to play solo will be able to bring along an NPC companion during their journey. The single-player counterparts of the Elder Scrolls games include companions that have their own skills. They are characters who add an additional RPG element to build players' connection to the story.
For the first time, ESO is adding companions to the online game, allowing for a chance to spec them out. Buy ESO Gold will be a great help for your growth in a new chapter.
In an interview with Game Informer's Liana Ruppert, ESO's creative director Rich Lambert confirmed that relationships are something the team has in mind for the future, even if it won't be present when Blackwood launches in June. “With these companions, they have their own likes and dislikes,” Lambert tells Game Informer in the interview. “You can go up one side and down the other side with your relationship to them. There is going to be something special that unlocks when you max out that relationship spectrum as well, though initially, romance won't be a part of it. Down the line, though, romance is definitely somewhere we want to get to. We just want to make sure when we add it that we do it right.”
Romance is a large part of the Elder Scrolls series, with some NPCs in Skyrim romance-able, and other games in the series capable of marriage and romance through mods. To add this type of mechanic in the MMORPG could inch it closer to being more like the single-player experience.
In the interview, Lambert also talks about two of the companions: Bastion and Mary. These two companions have wildly different personalities according to Lambert, such as Bastion's "chivalrous Knight" demeanor versus Mary's "stab you in the back" outlook. Companions themselves are unlocked by doing quests, and you can then assign them to specific roles, equip gear and more, allowing you to fit the needs of your solo adventure.
