I found the cait love story angle kinda weird and the like anal virginity thing a bit cringey. Personally I dont really care for cait, always felt kinda like "Oh you thought this was a classic white mage love interest, well shes actually a prostitute" was off putting, esepcially with the "get with it, its never changing" lecture she gives you beforehand. Cut to her later on hinting at the player shes in love with them being thematically jarring when there are random town events where she walks out of a alley dripping cum.
And a lot of the stuff around her relgion, specifically the womb rental and how the kids are raised skeeves me out.
Her having a romance path will probably never be for me since prostitution is a bridge too far for a relationship with me, compared to even a regular open relationship. And just to state this I have no problems with sex work or workers Im talking about romantic relationships and dynamics in the game.
So my tiering would probably be Kiyoko=Brinenne>=ethryn>Azzy=subarona>cait>dom Arona.
I cant grade Atugia because she has so little content and I dont really get her character
Ironically, this is the way I feel in similar ways to Azzyran from a narrative standpoint, Liaden being a character is cool and all, but she's lesbian locked and won't participate in any content with you if you're male. Which frankly I dunno, there are only like two characters in this entire game that I know of that are like that, the Lupine chick in the gym (I don't even remember what her name is) and Liaden. Every other character has at least SOME option (granted a LOT are skewed towards males, albeit I assume the playing with dildos/toys works for females obviously as a secondary option).
Azzy doesn't even give you a speech really, she's kinda like this sweet innocent love bug that you romance and help save her hive, and then on the back end in a random scene says "hey can you help me pick up a chick for our poly relationship"? of which she won't participate in the group fun (if male I guess, I don't play female characters at all). If Azzy off the rip gave me a speech about the poly thing maybe I'd have been more okay with it, but she's legit, the SECOND introduced companion after Brint, so when I personally fell in love with this game, Azzy was top tier for me. Then left field Liaden is now in the relationship mix and there's zero content to actually participate in the relationship together that feels natural or wholesome to me as far as the other poly type dynamics that go on in COC2.
Just to chime in general on the thread here and be relevant instead of just a small rant
My personal ranking is probably Brienne -> Kiyoko -> Etheryn -> Cait -> Atuga -> Arona/Azzy.
Brienne is basically top tier by a pretty wide margin, probably the closest relationship you'd ever get to being monogamous (points for Etheryn go into this one too since I don't think she actively will seek out other people) in the world of COC2 and additionally, you can play the game like that if you want (short of losing a battle and getting yourself plundered). She also HAS options for the poly with the content Wsan has written for her family which is great, cause it's sorta just Brinenne + more women SIMILAR to her if not exact (praying for the continuation of that one). She's overall just a very enthusiastic lover and feels great to be with as far as the companions go.
Kiyoko fights hard for first, BUT Kiyoko is sort of unfair because she's the only companion/character in the game where you have a child you ACTUALLY interact with(this was a poll some months ago actually), which is a lot of points you could argue are more factored into the overall mix versus just 1<>1 with the character. She's closer in rank to Brienne if you factor in Kinu and the rest of the Den based content, that being said, it's no secret TOBS worked extremely hard (no pun intended) to get Kiyo and the content all put together and actually, DOESN'T want to do anymore because her content is honestly a small game in of itself IMO. I'd say she's number 1 or 2 depending on if you want to get crazy with trying to factor in the amount of content each character has, which once again varies wildly.
Etheryn is great, she's in a unique spot as a companion as far as character interaction and growth goes, she's meek and timid and grows into a leader and KNOWS her strengths and weaknesses, and is willing to have you at her side for it, she ranks pretty damn high on the actual list as well, but once again, due to content restrictions she's got more recently, but only because Alypia (praise be) has stepped in and started doing writing for her since I believe Savin was the only writer on her prior.
Cait is in an interesting spot, she's lower on my totem pole, but at least has my respect with the upfront expectations thing, I'd say rather than a 1<>1 romantic thing they sort of seed a bit throughout, Cait to me is a pro wing woman for getting some ass whenever/wherever you could want it(and helping her get some if she so desires, not that she needs help). I usually run a specific character that's catfolk just to pair up and ALSO make them courtesan background so that the goals and expectations are aligned, they've also got the Mallach Temple content in progress for working there which is cool and I think has a lot of promise depending on how far they take it.
Atuga is one of those characters that ranks low, but suffers from the "low content" threshold, and prior even RECRUITING her was a bit of a pain in the ass to do. So I'd say she's low but has promise, especially if you're into muscle/huge ass types of gals, cause she's got plenty for days as seen in the paired scene she's got with Brienne.
Arona is alright, I dig Futa a LOT in general, or shemale as the game refers to them, but I honestly just don't like her personality really. Very brash and bullish which just ain't my thing really. I think I'd actually enjoy Arona more if she could be paired up with Brienne as bedmates or otherwise. You can do it with Azzy and I do like that, but because of my gripes with Azzy I don't bother. Unironically, I love Ragnild/Hretha/Infrinth more than I like Arona, there's definitely something to be said about sexy orc ladies/men in the camp for breeding purposes, especially with Ragnild being hella wholesome and Hretha/Infrinth as the de facto breeders of the camp.
Azzy is the bottom tier for me, I felt shoehorned into a poly relationship, which granted is MY fault for assuming that Azzy was monogamous in the first place, BUT her content up to the end of saving the hive FEELS very 1<>1 and I kind of rank her so low because I feel like I got bait and switched on my expectations. There are also two pieces of content that require interaction with her, which at this point I don't really even want to but if I want a TRUE and blue Paladin Blade and also the ability to restore the Wayfort I have to go through her questline. Realistically I'm probably just hella in my feelings on this one, but ya I don't like her character at all anymore and if possible just ditch her at the hive for all eternity anymore.
Holy fuck this is basically a small TED talk about COC2 companions but whatever, read at your leisure my meaningless opinions if they interest you.
