More believable roleplaying in the games

[Barzarel]

I wanna start of by saying this is in no way to be taken as heavy critique, as i find that Neverwinter 2 OC had alot of interesting characters, but after playing it through sometimes now i cant help but feel a more and more growing unhappiness with the lack of character depth, there alot of interesting character but i feel at times that its more a opion from them than actually a relationship or bonding.

 

Take Qara as a example she is a girl who obviously think very fondly of her talent and herself in general i imagine she was raised a good deal more upperclass than a commoner, and i always wondered why she would never be curious why a good looking talented sorcerer player character for instance could ever handle growing up in a place like a swamp, id imagine she would be a bit appauled by it but seeing the result same time be a bit curious or at least wondering how the player character considered growing up a place like that himself.

 

In other words i think the game missed alot of small task about loose themes that sorta opens door to get to know and bond with your travelling companions more on a personal level and idenfy yourself on some level with their stories or form opions about them, and think it a bit of a shame you only see a more surface side of them.

 

I mean with month-years travelling together they never try bond a friendship or even a romantical relationship with people they travel with, nwn2 OC obviously takes at least one year in game, seeing as you cant fully repair a stronghold in a few weeks it takes month or years.

 

So wanted to put this up for a future notice if we could have more npc small talks and interactions in future obsidian rpg games and possible less hack & slash if it helps provide the time for more depth into development of the npcs.

 

And as stated in the beginning of the thread i liked nwn2 OC so this is merely a surgestion to improve the exsperience as player even more in future game releases, in advance thank to any people reading this, and place a comment here.

[Morgoth]

I hope you played Mask of the Betrayer, because most "issues" you mentioned there were addressed. The NWN2 OC henchman were indeed mostly for functional purposes, but you get a lot deeper insight into the MOTB comrades. I mean who could have guessed that I'd start sympathising with a bald woman?

Edited February 7, 2008 by Morgoth

[Kelverin]

nwn2 OC obviously takes at least one year in game, seeing as you cant fully repair a stronghold in a few weeks it takes month or years.

Good post. The stronghold did come at the end of the game, and one of the highlights of the game for me. Up to that point it was moving along at break neck speed.

 

I also wish for more "downtime" when characters can interact and develop, not sure if it can be done, I know how I would do it, but it hasn't been done yet. Been going through BG2 again and the characters interact at the worst possible moments. Good idea, bad implementation. PS:T tried that and did it well, the best I have seen, however I do not believe it was a financial success, so developers might shy away from character interaction/excessive dialog. Even FO is praised as a classic RPG, but puts you on a deadline as soon as the game starts.

 

I think Companies are probably worried that the youngsters with so much disposable income (their target audience?)would not be interested in game's that are character based and story driven.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Well, as long as it doesn't have the crappy voice acting and animation of Two Worlds, then I think it might be believeable enough.

[Enoch]

The problem with downtime is that downtime generally means "no fun gameplay is going on." If the gameplay isn't fun or interesting, the best story and most compelling characters in the world aren't going to get noticed. Most of the downtime gets moved behind the scenes because watching your characters set up camp and cook dinner is boring, and is a distraction from the rest of what's going on. (Kinda the same way that adding bathroom breaks to Lord of the Rings would've killed the atmosphere of the setting and the flow of the story.) For all the interesting stories going on, these are still games we're talking about.

 

And, yes, game designers need some creativity in integrating narrative/character elements into game elements. (One great example: PS:T had clever character comments when you tried to, say, take Grace's bodice off or switch-out Morte's teeth. Some character-consistent content that tells you something about your companions integrated into the traditional RPG chore of inventory management. Neat!) The current RPG tactic seems to be to bribe you into enduring the story- and character-based downtime with advantages in future gameplay via new abilities or bonuses (e.g., XP and influence-based feats). But while that gives gameplay-fans a reason to enjoy the talky stuff (and vice-versa), that doesn't make the transition from action-mode to talky-mode less jarring.

 

 

As for the limited interactions with other characters, part of the problem is D&D. Too damn many class and alignment options for players means they have to put lots and lots of joinable NPCs in the game so that everyone can put together a satisfactory 4-person squad with their main character. More characters means less depth for any particular character. And, the plethora of options for the PC at character creation (race, class, alignment, diety, etc.) makes it effectively impossible for other characters to react to your choices in a satisfactory way.

[Barzarel]

I hope you played Mask of the Betrayer, because most "issues" you mentioned there were addressed. The NWN2 OC henchman were indeed mostly for functional purposes, but you get a lot deeper insight into the MOTB comrades. I mean who could have guessed that I'd start sympathising with a bald woman?

 

Havent started Motb yet working on getting a new character through NWN2 OC, also to remember things better from the OC in case there comes some story cookies tied with it in Motb.

 

Think a way they might be able to make small talk in a sense where it doesnt have the same annoyence as in BG 2 where it did target pop ups mostly outside combat but dident always account for aggressors nearby that could agro during conversation, but might be possible for system to run a some hidden threat check for hostile and keep conversation to time tables where there hasent been combat for a certain amount of time, so the dialogue would seem to come on a natural moments where things are a bit dull and the air sorta gives up for some conversation, at least its a thought?