Little, simple things for immersion.

[StupidFahk]

Would you like to be able to do some more simple, casual, not really necessary things in-game, like sitting on chairs, or sleeping whenever you want, or drinking ale in taverns, or washing your smelly, sticky hands in a river , etc.?

Personally, I like these kind of things in games, in my opinion they add to immersion, and give the opportunity to "as the elves say, "chillax"" a little, beside the fighting great evil kind of things.

[Kage Tempest]

perhaps it could be a stretch goal?

[Drakxii]

If they add a streth goal of mp or coop this would be great. If no mp meh.

[eimatshya]

I like being able to do these things, but given the small buget of the project, it seems like it might not be the best use of their time. If it wouldn't drain their resources, then I'd be all for it.

[LokiHades]

This would be nice, but like they said, not much point outside of MP. It worked in Oblivion/Skyrim etc because the perspective of the game made it more suitable for a "roleplay" simulator. Yes anyway, as it's always the little details that you remember. (Gothic games are good examples, at lest before the 4th).

[NoxNoctum]

One thing I always liked about HOMM3 was how it would announce the week/month, for example "Week of the Badger" or whatever. I don't think it would be appropriate to give bonuses like it did in that game but just having a unique calendar system would be a nice touch.

Edited September 19, 2012 by NoxNoctum

[Vin]

Sure, but... why exactly are my hands smelly and sticky?

[Torgamous]

Turns out it takes more than wiping your hands on your pants to clean off orc blood.

[Vin]

And ruin my pants?

The river it is.

[Cantousent]

Just kill 'em with cheap arrows.

[aVENGER]

Considering the limited resources that the developers will have for Project Eternity, I'd rather have them focus all of their time and money on polishing the core gameplay and avoiding unnecessary features. Implementing sitting/hand washing animations would be a waste of time and money.

 

That said, I actually liked the various misc activities that the player perform do in the Gothic series, but this is a different kind of game.

[silvercross]

Meh. It's rather gimmicky. Be maybe amusing to have, but I won't miss them.

[Nivenus]

I voted "yes" because I kind of like the idea, but at the same time I don't think the dev team should make it a priority. Add them once the basics are covered, but don't design the game with the intent of having the little miscellaneous details.

 

I'd much rather, for instance, see proper modding support that allows the fans to add things like this in.

[LadyCrimson]

I don't think I care about washing my hands or brushing my teeth (in a game - IRL is another matter, haha), but I'm one of those weird people that likes stuff like ... fishing ... in a game. There doesn't have to be any gameplay reason for it, ala cooking profession. Just put a fishing pole in the game and certain places that are fishable, play some nice music or rain sounds, and I can park my character for a while and toss a line in, waiting to click "reel in" when there's a nibble. I can't do that for hours, but I do find it somehow more immersive and relaxing when a game has minor options like that.

 

My characters/party need to relax once in a while, after all, and it's always pleasant when you can "see" them do it vs. just a black sleep screen or something.

[incubus9]

One thing I loved about the game "The Witcher" was getting drunk in a tavern and stumbling around the screen. Having stupid and inconsequential things that you can interact with is an importan part of immersion.

[PsychoBlonde]

I'm not certain specifically those little things. One of the most immersion-producing things in games was only possible in older text-based games where you gave commands by typing text. It is vastly more immersing to type "say hello" or "bow to person" than to pick it from a list because you're being much more proactive. Granted, that same deal comes along with tons and tons of failed commands resulting in "I don't understand flip", but those times when you'd find hidden commands that did interesting things were really awesome.

 

What I'd really like, is if a.) they allow some little interactions of this type and b.) sometimes somebody NOTICES. Like, if you go into the Seneshal's office and sit in his chair, when he comes in, maybe he'll chew you out a bit for being in his seat. Or if you start looting the chests in someone's home, they'll yell at you for it. Stuff like that.

[Nivenus]

What I'd really like, is if a.) they allow some little interactions of this type and b.) sometimes somebody NOTICES. Like, if you go into the Seneshal's office and sit in his chair, when he comes in, maybe he'll chew you out a bit for being in his seat. Or if you start looting the chests in someone's home, they'll yell at you for it. Stuff like that.

 

I like this idea. NPCs noticing the things that the player does (within reason) is always a nice touch.

[Longknife]

Companion comments on surroundings and characters are immersive, thought-provoking, entertaining and intriguing.

 

I think companion interaction and response to such things is an absolute must, as it single-handedly serves so many purpose, from fleshing out companion personality to making the game feel more alive.

 

 

Simple things like Boone getting mad if you take his beret or Raul commenting on Jacobstown are just....can't praise these enough. So simple, and yet so powerful for immersion and character depth and detail.

[casa]

Considering the limited resources that the developers will have for Project Eternity, I'd rather have them focus all of their time and money on polishing the core gameplay and avoiding unnecessary features. Implementing sitting/hand washing animations would be a waste of time and money.

 

That said, I actually liked the various misc activities that the player perform do in the Gothic series, but this is a different kind of game.

 

That's always a standard point and might be true, however in all my favorite games it was those little details that made them unique and better than the masses. I don't need to brush my teeth in game, but the love for detail is one thing that really makes me appreciate a game. I always thought the character animations in NWN1 were really cute, for example. Or take a lot of small details from the Witcher 1, like the ambient creatures running/flying off on your path or a cat licking it's paws in the tavern window before taking a nap. I stopped multiple times in the middle of something just to watch these things and thought "wow, they really care a lot about their world".

Other games again, as good as the core mechanics and main story might've been, were completely ruined for me due to the lack of this love for detail. Sadly, this includes one or two games by Obsidian...

Edited September 19, 2012 by casa

[Pangur]

Voted yes. I've always liked these little things in games. If the game is going to look something like BG (small figures, fixed camera), sometimes animation is not really necessary. Simple text would be enough. Like you click the sea and get the message: "You tried to skip a stone and hit a gull on the head."

 

Companion comments on surroundings and characters are immersive, thought-provoking, entertaining and intriguing.

Definitely a must. And probably it's easier to implement than extra interactions with the world.

[Lysen]

Getting drunk in local taverns is a must have. Especially if you will have special dialogue options after that.

[descalabro]

Would you like to be able to do some more simple, casual, not really necessary things in-game, like sitting on chairs, or sleeping whenever you want, or drinking ale in taverns, or washing your smelly, sticky hands in a river , etc.?

Personally, I like these kind of things in games, in my opinion they add to immersion, and give the opportunity to "as the elves say, "chillax"" a little, beside the fighting great evil kind of things.

 

Well, you could already drink ale on previous Black Isle games, it just wasn't animated for the players to see, it was text. Doing the animations you refer is expensive and time consuming, and these are the type of small things which relate the most to old book and board games because of their textual character.

 

I think it would be best to use that money and time to animate gigantic monsters and vehicles, to animate objects and Nature in the gameworld, to animate rivers and seas, and to develop gameplay physics.

 

But if you meant textual little things, then I totally agree.

Edited September 19, 2012 by descalabro

[Crosmando]

Sounds like an unneccessary use of time and money to me.

 

Icewind Dale didn't have any of that, and I still found it highly "immersive" just due to the music, background sounds, and the "tone" of the cold north setting.

[Luckmann]

I like them. I really like them.

But I do not consider them integral.

 

We all have to realize that all these small things would end up being a significant drain on resources.

[Entropious]

In order to give a fair answer to such a conundrum, one only has to recall the Slayer series books of the Warhammer universe, especially those written by William King. What many, many readers absolutely adored about those books was not the plot, or the action, or even the characters (even though they were excellent), but the little bits of outside fluff and plot elements planted throughout any book, from locations (The Blind Pig) to interesting individuals (Mr. Hong), up to the potrayal of entire races (Skaven).