In my mind, companions are the best part of this game. But there's companions I would prefer to not associate myself with. Some I would really like to have not recruited. The first being Ratbeard. I know some people really like him and my dislike has waned overtime but he's the first villain of the game and rightfully so he murders his whole crew and steals Gunn's treasure right from under our noses. But when we rescue him all is suddenly forgiven and he joins our crew. My other issue was with Grace Conrad. I mean we're supposed to be pirates. She just doesn't fit in with that. How does a polite Marleybonian mechanic fit in with a crew of scallywags? She doesn't. There's a few others that I could mention but my point is that some of these companions feel forced on me. I would never recruit them into my crew. I wouldn't expect this to ever be implemented but I'd like to have more control over who I recruit into my crew. I would love to have the capability to recruit interesting npcs through a quest line or cool bosses or just regular enemies by defeating them again and again. I don't how difficult it would be to make so many characters into companions but it certainty would make the game more fun and personally I always like to have some control in game and would find it refreshing when we have such little control over anything.

juwanaman9 on Apr 27, 2017 wrote:

In my mind, companions are the best part of this game. But there's companions I would prefer to not associate myself with. Some I would really like to have not recruited. The first being Ratbeard. I know some people really like him and my dislike has waned overtime but he's the first villain of the game and rightfully so he murders his whole crew and steals Gunn's treasure right from under our noses. But when we rescue him all is suddenly forgiven and he joins our crew. My other issue was with Grace Conrad. I mean we're supposed to be pirates. She just doesn't fit in with that. How does a polite Marleybonian mechanic fit in with a crew of scallywags? She doesn't. There's a few others that I could mention but my point is that some of these companions feel forced on me. I would never recruit them into my crew. I wouldn't expect this to ever be implemented but I'd like to have more control over who I recruit into my crew. I would love to have the capability to recruit interesting npcs through a quest line or cool bosses or just regular enemies by defeating them again and again. I don't how difficult it would be to make so many characters into companions but it certainty would make the game more fun and personally I always like to have some control in game and would find it refreshing when we have such little control over anything.

Although I disagree with this post, I can understand how you may feel. However, we don't know ( until we recruit them ) just how a companion may fit in or even enhance our experience as a Captain.
Surely, the more diversified our crew is, the better it is for us?
As for recruiting former villains, like Ratbeard ( especially in his case ). We've shown them there is a better path in life.
Consider Ratbeard's case: He didn't intend to kill his crew. He thought he was using knockout drops but the drops were switched for poison.
Then Old Scratch's case: Here we have an UNDEAD witch doctor who has sold his spirit to an evil being ( The Dark Crawler. ) We spare his un-life and he's converted from his evil path to one of good.
Now for the recruits that "don't fit into the pirate theme". ( Gracie Conrad. )
Although you see her as polite, I see her as more "free-wheeling" and she probably didn't fit in with the other, more staid, engineers.
However, only a few of our recruits are from the main quest line, others are from side quests; and there you have control as to who you recruit or not.
I feel the more recruits I can get, the better, and even if I don't use them for combat, they're there providing me with Nautical experience, gold, gear or pet snacks ( even pets ).

I felt some of your misgivings about Ratbeard, and was relieved when it turned out he was not responsible for his crew dying. Ratbeard is changing, as our pirates are also changing. Some of those earlier jobs we took on, what were we thinking? We would do nearly anything. Now, we are more the original kind of privateer, working for a navy. Since Grace is part of that same war effort, I think she fits in fine. War makes for strange bedfellows. Generally I feel the more crew, the better. I don't know what class you are, but some classes get less crew than others, and are probably glad they can get a few more from some side quests.
If it helps, maybe you only pretended to forgive Ratbeard, but you needed his help and knowledge on your very small crew at the time. You didn't trust him, but you had no choice but to take him on. That he has changed was a surprise to you, and you still have some doubts about him. You can leave him on the ship to take care of the pets, but know that he will sometimes sneak off and show up to add his two cents.