Friendship and rivalry

In Dragon Age II, Hawke's companions have a single approval meter. A companion with high friendship considers Hawke a friend while high rivalry indicates the companion respects Hawke but disagrees with the PC's views. Companions will support Hawke no matter what, but if they're Hawke's rival, there will always be a bit of tension between them.

Gifts still influence friendship and rivalry, but the number of gifts in the game has been significantly reduced from Dragon Age: Origins. Companions react differently to gifts depending on their friendship/rivalry score. If the player gives a gift to a companion that approves of the gift, they may express gratitude, while a rival may perceive the gift as an insult and tell them to keep it.

Both friendship and rivalry have rewards. Bonuses along the rivalry path are often combat related while those along the friendship path tend to benefit Hawke or the entire party. Also some romance options will only become available with a rival. The objective of the system is for the PC to be consistent in his decisions and push every companion towards either friendship or rivalry.

Rivalry reaches a point where Hawke and the companion have it out once and for all, which may result in them leaving or reaching an understanding.

As a general rule, the way friendship and rivalry works, is that friendship means agreeing with and supporting the follower in what "they" want to do, no matter how crazy, illogical or dangerous to self and others. Rivalry means opposing their big cause, often for the right reasons. So it's very possible to be a better friend to someone by choosing the rivalry path, since you're trying to stop them from giving in to their own self-destructive whims. It's not always the most intuitive, but definitely don't think of friendship as doing the "right" thing and rivalry as doing the "bad" thing. It's just as likely to be the other way around.