Meeko

That's Meeko, my new dog in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Unlike real dogs, he doesn't shed and he doesn't crap all over the place, but he does bark too much (not as bad as my neighbor's dogs, though). On the other hand, that was a big help when I lost him one time.

Like other followers, Meeko will stay where you tell him,... sort of. If there's fighting anywhere in the vicinity, he'll try to move towards it. But he still thinks he's obeying orders, so he won't come when you enter a new location (which is the usual way of retrieving lost followers).

And he blends in pretty well, especially in the scenery you see in the screenshots here, so I was very glad to hear him barking when I went back to find him after taking down a bandit camp one time. (Otherwise, I might mod out his barking.)

Normally, though, Meeko stays right at my heels. Mjoll the Lioness, my current human follower, might lag way behind, but Meeko usually sticks like glue. And when trouble shows up, he charges ahead like a maniac.

Frankly, I'm astonished that he's survived so well. I've had him in some very tough battles, too. But he seems to be far tougher than he looks. In fact, he'll take down enemies before I even get a chance to attack. (He's especially useful against mages.)

He'll chase down distant archers, too, which isn't always a good thing. Sometimes, I have to run forward just because I'm worried that he'll get himself killed. But the evidence seems to show that Meeko can look out for himself!

Mjoll the Lioness and Meeko, my two defenders

As you can see, Meeko is a secondary follower, so you can have him and a primary follower. You can't use him as a pack mule, but he's still been really nice to have along.

OK, all of my followers tend to block doorways. When I go inside a room with just one door, it's often a pain to get out again. I don't know why that wasn't coded into them. Why won't they back up when you bump into them?

Maybe the big question is, why am I not smart enough to leave them outside when I go into a place like that?  :)

Still, if I ever start the game over again (and I might, someday, since I'd love to play an archer character sometime), picking up Meeko is one of the first things I'll do. I bring along human followers mostly so they can carry things for me, but Meeko is just nice to have on his own.

I'd probably use one of the alternate start mods, too... But no, I can't start thinking about that! I'm enjoying playing a mage, I really am. And right now, I've got XCOM: Enemy Unknown to play, too. Just too many games and not enough time, huh?

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Note: My other posts about computer games - including my overall opinions of this one - can be found here.