Been questing hard, exhausted all the zerks, got to Big Bang (PSA: dont finish Big bang you'll die horribly) and now im going to move on and find more quests... im pretty much stuck at least the elexit is flowing easily with my skills and i can afford a crapload of arrows.

brightside i have 2 more cities to quest though.. should be lvl 12-14 by that time with a decent rng weapon. Maybe i'll stop questing, i already found the ((SPOILER)) for my <<AWESOME>> companion so i'll track him/her down ^_^

I highly recommend that you either improve a weapon to tier III (increase your stats to be able to use it) or increase your Magic/PSI stat to 5 asap, especially if you're playing on Ultra mode. This is the big limiter for what you can reasonably handle in the game. IMO it's the weakest point of the entire stat/skill system PB set up.

Good luck.

Haha, I'm surprised I haven't heard that one more often.

Yeah, you really have to hand-hold your companions to get them to do anything.

Since the exp bug still exists (companions kills don't award bonus exp from Experienced Hunter or Green Gemstones) I never bring companions with me unless:
1-It's early-game and I'm weak as can be.
2-I'm only fighting enemies that give no bonus exp (Humans, Albs, Fighting Colossi).
3-I'm doing quests and I want more favorability.

UPDATE: you need some thing from inside a converter guarded by MECHS... one shot "you ded" MECHS... so yeah no companion for me :(

Not sure which one you're referring to... C.R.O.N.Y U4?

If so, I agree- I don't get that people recommend him early, to access him you have to go into an Alb-guarded Converter.

I was intentionally avoiding spoilers... but you are right, there are 2 other ones far easier to get in the first few hours then the one you mentioned.