It seems to me that you're assuming the companion AI will be like in past games. Yes, in Morrowind, Oblivion, and even Fallout 3 and New Vegas, companions have been known to do those things, but this is primarily because the AI in those games, let's face it, wasn't that great. If the AI would make an effort to avoid getting hit by the player, or accidentally hitting the player, things would be a lot better, so I'm hoping for better companion AI in Skyrim, and we MIGHT see this, we'll see.
As to whether we need companions, no, I don't really think so. Some RPGs, like most Bioware games, focus on party based gameplay. The game is designed with the assumption that the playr will travel with a party, while you might be able to go alone if you so choose, it would not be advisable as the game would probably be designed under the assumption that you'd have a complete party with you whenever possible, and things could get rather difficult if you don't. But past Elder Scrolls games were always about you're own quest, which you had to tackle alone for the most part. Occassionally, in some quests, you'd be joined by other NPCs, usually these were escort quests however and they actually served to add challenge to the quest by adding someone else you had to keep alive rather than help you, and I'm fine with this. I like games like KOTOR and Dragon Age, but sometimes, I also like to have my adventures alone, and the Elder Scrolls handled this pretty well, I didn't mind going to confront Dagoth Ur or closing Oblivion gates on my own. Still, I do think the OPTION to have companions may benefit Skyrim, I just want it to be an option, take Fallout, for example. The companions are there if you want them, but if you prefer to go alone, you had that option. Granted, in New Vegas, if you didn't use companions at all, you'd miss out on some interesting quests and useful perks, but it's still very possible to play through the entire game, aside from companion quests, alone. Indeed, on the New Vegas forums, I'd often see people talking about how they don't use companions, and the option to play the game like that should remain in Skyrim too. As long as companions are fully optional, I think they'll be a feature that's nice to have, but isn't really necessary.
Edit* Which is fine by me honestly. You as a player just get a connection with some NPC's without them having this huge story. For instance I would have loved it if I could have trained* up Deeh the Scalawag and used him as a companion.
I can't really think of any NPCs I liked in Morrowind and Oblivion who didn't have SOME form of personality. Now, they don't always need to have a backstory extensive enough to be able to write a novel on it, in fact, I've liked characters with very little backstory in the past, but there needs to be SOMETHING setting them apart from other NPCs, a detailed backstory is one way to do this, but sometimes, an interesting personality is enough. However, the whole "sacrificing depth for quantity." thing Bethesda seems to have going doesn't give me much hope for that either for most of the companions.
Myself, I'd rather take a small amount of companions that give me a reason to like them than a large amount of ones that have as much personality as the average Morrowind and Oblivion NPC, otherwise, they're basically just permanent summoned monsters, essentially glorified pack mules or meat shields. And while that can be helpful, it's nice to have the guy who helps me carry loot and distract enemies have more personality than a zombie too.
» Sat Apr 30, 2011 7:02 pm 
