In spite of our massively-inflated Companion lists, we can only decide the looks of so many; this is either due to the lack of outfit slots or, depending on faction, any number of customisations beyond the Cartel Market and Soovada and T.H.O.R.N vendors.
At present, only eight Companions can have their gear customised in any way. Although this number will be bolstered by at least another five Companions - I won't say which here but previewing Customisations will already reveal who these Companions are - by the end of this first season of Fallen Empire, this number is still worryingly low considering that by this point in time players could have a maximum of roughly thirty-four Companions available to them.
Having considerably improved in the creation of outfits since the last post I made on this matter some time back, I thought that I would take the time to show off outfits which I have devised for my main Pippera's slew of customisable Companions. They're stuck with us for the foreseeable, so why not work to make them more visually appealing?
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Foreword
There are quite a lot of issues to be had with finding outfits for the vast majority of the Alliance Recruits. All but three - one upcoming - so far have a 'second skin', that is the outfit that you find them wearing when you recruit them is equipped under any other outfit they wear. Removing any armour pieces or even so much as equipping the formerly ever-useful Covert Energy Armour results in the original armour piece reappearing.
This is only particularly annoying when it comes to the wrists and hands. If your Companion is wearing full gauntlets which cover the bracers, then there's no problem, but in cases where a Companion is given simple gloves or can't even wear anything on their hands, it is often the case that having no bracers results in a more aesthetically-pleasing look than if they wore them in the first place.
Since their Alliance Form is a Customisation in its own right, applying any Customisation to the afflicted Companion will fix this, but this is potentially either an impossible or a very limited workaround for some Companions depending on whether you can access specific Customisations or not in the first place.
I will say that I am very grateful that outside of this workaround and the three unaffected Companions, including Aric - as if there was any doubt with that glitch! - and Kaliyo, this has all but negated the likelihood of seeing overly-skimpy Companions, particularly bare-chested Xalek and/or Pierce. Eurgh.
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Aric Jorgan
Okay, so Aric doesn't currently have any outfit equipped beyond his new story armour. Considering that Havoc is still on Zakuul at the end of Chapter XI regardless of your choices, there is not much reason to give him new armour quite yet. Maybe further down the line should he decide or need to make Odessen his new permanent base-of-residence.
Currently, I have my eye on the Civilian Pilot's Uniform, minus the helmet, since that is the closest Imperial Players can get to the Republic Officer's Uniform, which of course is a variant of the gear he's wearing when you first encounter him as a Trooper, from the Collector's Edition vendor. It just doesn't make all that sense to give it to him yet.
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Eckard Lokin
- Head: Green Efficiency Scanner
- Chest: Shadowed Targeter's MK-2 Jacket (White/Medium Gray dye)
- Bracers: Adept Scout Bracers
- Gloves: Mira's Gauntlet
- Belt: Battleworn Engineer's Belt
- Legs: Defiant Targeter's Leggings MK-2
- Boots: Zayne Carrick's Boots
- Weapon: D-406 Marksman Interceptor
If you follow me on Twitter, you may already have been treated to my gushing over this outfit a few months back.
Lokin was the first Companion to receive an outfit which I was 100% proud of, and to this day he is still the only Companion whose outfit hasn't been updated since I first put it together upon re-recruiting him.
As much as I use him as a Tank when I use him nowadays, this outfit is based solely around his medical expertise; Mira's Gauntlet offers an excellent location for the Wrist-up-Display (W.U.D?) and of course there's the Green Efficiency Scanner for highlighting parts which need most aid. This did use to be the blue variant whilst he temporarily had his glowing-blue lab coat, but the green fits the healing theme much better.
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Kaliyo Djannis
- Full Set: Resistance Fighter's Armour Set
- Weapon: Kaliyo's Insurrectionist Rifle
If you were to ask me which Companions I considered to be among the most frustrating to find an outfit for, Kaliyo would easily be in the top 3. Even back when she was simply one of the unique Agent Companions I had enormous trouble trying to work her 'out', and none of the outfits I tried really seemed to suit her personality.
This nuisance continues to this day, and in some regards is now even more troublesome due to her now only being restricted to Blaster and Sniper rifles, and she's definitely more of a pistol-carrier in my books.
Whilst I liked the little touches on her Dune Stalker set in Chapter X such as the splash of red paint on her trousers and the metal loop on the belt, I still felt that it wasn't really a "Kaliyo" set, but there honestly aren't that many which are. The Resistance Fighter's set from the Anarchist Pack is the first one I've come across which has in any way 'clicked'; I'm still not entirely happy with it, but there honestly isn't anything which I've found to be 'better' yet.
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Pierce
- Head: Mullinine Onslaught Headgear
- Everything else: Crystalline Targeter MK-3 (Dark Gray/Deep Red dye)
- Weapon: M-500 Nova Disintegrator
Pierce is another one of those Companions who I toiled over for quite some time. I've tried the Makeb Assault Gear with him, I've tried the Legacy Underworld Trooper gear with him, and the list just goes on and on.
Eventually, I came across the new Crystalline Targeter's gear on the GTN. This is one of the new Adaptive sets that can be acquired through levelling and particularly through the [HEROIC] Mission rewards. I found myself really liking it for its comparative simplicity compared to other sets of a similar nature, although it is too purple in its natural form for Pierce.
I usually try to stay away from the more 'fancy' Imperial uniforms for Companions because only Quinn has ever been of a position where he can wear an "officer" uniform. Now that Pierce is a Major, I have no qualms about giving him a set of this design. I will concede that, as a frontline soldier-at-heart rather than a man who cares in any great detail about rank, Pierce wouldn't naturally choose to wear this set, but you do see Imperial Officers on the field wearing this uniform, so I'm using this as my justification for now.
(In fairness, though, not many armour sets could come close to being as awesome as his Black-Ops armour which he wears when the Warrior first meets him!)
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Qyzen Fess
- Head: N/A
- Chest: Skiff Guard's Breastplate
- Bracers: Ulic Qel-Droma's Bracers
- Gloves: N/A
- Belt: Renowned Duelist Belt
- Legs: Jolee Bindo's Leggings
- Feet: N/A
- Weapon: Classic Vibrosword
Introducing Companion #2 on the "nightmarish Companions to find outfits for" list!
Qyzen is one of those Companions whose outfits can easily go to one of two extremes very, very quickly; either too-heavily armoured, or not armoured enough. As a hunter of strong and powerful beasts, it is to be expected that he wear a good set of armour, but not to the extent that he gets over-encumbered.
I decided to try and go for the lightly-armoured quick-on-his-feet hunter vibe with my take on Qyzen's gear after again much cycling through various heavy armour looks which always ended up being laughable when heavily-armoured greaves were complimented by just his bare feet.
As with Kaliyo, I'm not entirely happy with this set, but again that's more due to there not being a 'perfect' set that I've discovered just yet.
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Talos Drellik
- Head: N/A
- Everything else: Terenthium Onslaught
- Weapon: M-300 Elite Stealth Interceptor
Dear, dear Talos...
When I first recruited Talos, I decided to try going more for an intrepid explorer-archaeologist look so that he was essentially an "eccentric Indiana Jones", but just without the hat. After I started finding his looks to essentially be an alternative version of Nico Okarr's gear, I decided to try looking for alternatives.
The moment I saw this crafted Adaptive gear on the GTN I knew I had to have it, and for two particular reasons. Firstly, it's obviously Imperial, which Talos of course is; you encounter him on an assignment by the Dark Council, so he's not gone rogue. Secondly, the colours match the uniforms worn by members of the Imperial Reclamation Service, which again, Talos is a member of. Heck, the IRS agent who gives you the Ancient Altars Daily on Yavin IV wears an exact replica of this set!
Talos is thus currently one of three Companions I consider to have an absolutely 'perfect' look to him, and yes, I am still talking about his equipment in case there was ever any doubt.
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Xalek
- Head: N/A
- Chest: Tund Sorcerer Upper Robe (Black/Light Gray dye)
- Bracers: Sand People Pillager Wristwraps (Pale Gray/Dark Gray dye)
- Gloves: N/A
- Belt: Zayne Carrick's Belt
- Legs: Revan Reborn Greaves
- Feet: Revan Reborn Boots
- Weapon: Darkwalker's Saberstaff
Yes, I know his weapon is conspicuously absent, and I honestly don't know why.
Whilst completely irrelevant to discussing his outfit, Xalek is my current primary Companion as a Tank, due in part to how every Tech Tank Companion is bugged in some way. Even Lokin, whose Tank abilities are actually all appropriately Tech instead of having that one erroneous Force ability, is bugged, as he seemingly can't use his leap out-of-combat, resulting in a slightly more chaotic fight than someone like Xalek who functions perfectly.
Back on-topic, I was always a huge fan of Xalek's Alliance Outfit; the shoulder guard is actually somewhat practical for a dual-saber user! Unfortunately, even when a dye was applied to it, nothing would unify to it 'correctly' for some reason, but fortunately the Tund Sorcerer's Robe was an exact replica which did dye correctly, so problem averted! It did take some time to work out the best pieces to use in conjunction with it; I went through quite a few lower-robes and bracers before deciding on the current pieces due to how they replicated the bandage 'theme'.
Before anyone asks why the bracers use a pale Gray dye as opposed to a light Gray dye, it's because when dyed with a light Gray dye, the bracers are, in fact, too dark to properly compliment the light Gray of the chest. Conversely, pale Gray is too light, but it's less of an eyesore especially next to the pale yellow bandages on his hands.
Xalek is the third Companion on this list whose outfit I am completely happy with.
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Yuun
- Head: N/A
- Everything Else: Squadron Ace's Armour Set (Black/Light Gray dye)
Rounding off this list for the moment is Yuun, somebody who didn't use to be on the "nightmarish Companions to find gear for" list as a Trooper Companion yet has managed to wangle his way into it since 4.0 anyway. This is due to one major factor: Yuun used to be a part of the Republic Military and of course Havoc Squad. Upon recruiting him in Fallen Empire, you can discover that he actually left the Republic Military altogether in search of his former Commander.
So there's the problem; Yuun is a drifter, and thus has no real 'place' outside of that of a brilliant technician. This is made more problematic by the fact that his default Alliance gear is literally an Imperial Pilot's Uniform!
Until I recently reminded myself of his having left the Republic military, I started off by giving Yuun armour as if he was still a part of it, including some of the crafted Adaptive Gear because that actually changes depending on the Companion's original faction; in Yuun's case, he had the set which looks like the old Rakata Commando armour.
There's one small problem with this: when on Odessen - the primary reason for my 'need' to get gear for these fellows - this gear changes once again, this time to match your faction! I obviously couldn't notice this with Talos, while Pierce's gear doesn't update at all in the open-world where he's positioned, so to see Yuun decked out in Rakata Hunter gear was quite a surprise indeed.
This, then, brings Yuun to the set he's wearing now; the belt with the various objects in the pouches suits him in particular, I feel. I'm on the active lookout for better boots but I haven't yet found any which suit the same aesthetic as the rest of the set.
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Thankfully, beyond this season of Fallen Empire, the vast majority of the returning Companions will have outfit slots, so there will be many more chances to increase variety in Companion looks in the future. It's just a shame that, right now, the number of Companions who can't be customised in this way vastly outnumber those who can.
I'm not trying to prove a point or anything by making this post; I just quite fancied writing something different relating to SW:tOR that wasn't a chapter-review, and this was the first thing that sprang to mind.
I absolutely *love* your Kaliyo! I've always struggled with outfitting her, so I might go with that set for mine, if you don't mind. :)
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