How alive will the world be?

[Lord_Darkmmon76]

I wonder how alive the world will be.

For example how about daily schedules for NPCs where they wake up in the morning, go to work and go to a pub and after that back to bed in the evening and you could watch them doing their daily stuff.

Or a highly interactive world like in the old Ultimas where you could fetch water from a well, mix it with flour and put the dough into an oven to get bread which you then could eat.

 

I think that Obsidian will concentrate on the "essential" parts of the game but a world that feels alive would a welcome addition, imho.

[Klaleara]

When it comes to RPG's, I'm a huge fan of sandbox. And sandbox requires a ton of living aspects in the world. I'm hoping soon we can have a living world, entirely.

 

I do not however, expect to see this as alive. However, I do wish it will be.

[alphyna]

And I don't like sandbox-y stuff. When someone has given me a quest I want him to freaking wait 'till I'm done and not go anywhere. It's me doing the work, show some common courtesy. Sheesh.

Edited September 22, 2012 by alphyna

[Oerwinde]

And I don't like sandbox-y stuff. When someone has given me a quest I want him to freaking wait 'till I'm done and not go anywhere. It's me doing the work, show some common courtesy. Sheesh.

 

I don't mind if they have cycles, so for instance a shopkeeper is in his shop during the day, then when his shop closes he goes to an inn to socialise, then goes home to sleep. Next day repeat. Adds a little realism without being a huge hindrance.

 

Edit: Way to not read the first post and basically repeat it word for word. Anyway, yeah, cycles should be in.

Edited September 22, 2012 by Oerwinde

[ohmygodsquad]

And I don't like sandbox-y stuff. When someone has given me a quest I want him to freaking wait 'till I'm done and not go anywhere. It's me doing the work, show some common courtesy. Sheesh.

 

I hear you there. I hate having to track down a quest give because he felt like going to the store to grab some milk.

[septembervirgin]

What if you can get the same quest from a number of people? It doesn't make sense that you'd have to go to the quest giver or some guy standing in an alley all day. Even villages have bureaucracies, even villagers have reliable friends. Surely, the mayor will be contacted by her underlings about a resolved quest, even if he's out getting some milk.

[Jojobobo]

I think the real question is will there be toilets? 9/10 people agree that having toilets in a game make it feel more alive - it's a real statistic, honest!

[Nonek]

Yeah it's been twenty years or so about time for a return, those simple routines of Ultima made the world the world seem a living breathing place, and thus far more important. I agree water closets should be in as well, though greyed out when doors are closed, and with caustic remarks for those who open them. This also necessitates that we should be able to sit and lie down when using beds, there was nothing so charming as sitting in the Blue Boar in Britannia, watching the life of the place just turn around you, before wandering home for a good nights sleep.

[Lord_Darkmmon76]

And I don't like sandbox-y stuff. When someone has given me a quest I want him to freaking wait 'till I'm done and not go anywhere. It's me doing the work, show some common courtesy. Sheesh.

 

The automap could show you where he is located and of course you should be able to wake him up if he is asleep. This works quite well in the Witcher-series or Skyrim for example.

[Vandoon]

I do like the dynamic world and would love to see more of it.

[Starwars]

I don't think it's particularly necessary for a game of this kind to have elaborate schedules for the NPCs. I think it would be nice to have a difference between daytime and nighttime though. Certain NPCs goes to bed, certain NPCs may come out at night only.

[Slice0fLife]

I don't think it's particularly necessary for a game of this kind to have elaborate schedules for the NPCs. I think it would be nice to have a difference between daytime and nighttime though. Certain NPCs goes to bed, certain NPCs may come out at night only.

 

Difference between night and day is a must and I think it will included anyway (if not, I think the world will go crazy).

Including basic routines will definitely make the game look a lot more interesting. It might be a pain to find them in a place where they where not before, but it does give a better feeling for the game.

 

I think the real question is will there be toilets? 9/10 people agree that having toilets in a game make it feel more alive - it's a real statistic, honest!

 

Even though sounds rather strange, I kind of agree... You just have to go and check out that woman's bathroom ...

Jokes aside, Toilets might work nicely in sci-fi type of games as MassEffect, but not so well in fantasy type of setting where technology level of middle ages.

Nevertheless it does add a bit of realism to the game, having toilets.

[horocaust]

I completely and utterly fail to realize why would anyone want a game from Obsidian to be a sandbox. If I wanted to see NPCs going about their business I'd play Gothic or TES. I play games from Obsidian for the compelling story, interesting characters and worlds which are fun to explore. I don't think having NPCs have schedules will add to the game.

[Krios]

To me it is a question of realism vs. gameplay. As has been mentioned by Alphyna, if the whole world were on a schedule, people woke up, did their business and went to bed, we might be trying to get some bounty, only to find out another party of adventurers has beaten you to it. If such situations happen often, and it will if the world were 'alive', not cool.

Edited September 23, 2012 by Krios

[Nonek]

Personally i'm not asking for a sandbox, I don't want a hiking simulator like Skyrim. I just want a game like Ultima 7 from twenty years past that had a living believeable world and a strong, reactive story. To me it's not a binary choice between the two extremes, games are supposed to be advancing not regressing. New Vegas shrugged off the aimless wandering of Fallout 3 to present a strong narrative led game in a realistic setting, i'm hopeful that Eternity will do the same.

Edited September 23, 2012 by Nonek

[Shades]

The bread! I remember making so much bread, and hoarding as much food as I could in Ultima 7, just because it all looked so good!

 

NPCs with schedules as they did in Ultima would be great. However I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being more like the IE games where people will be in one place during the day, and another at night. I'd be perfectly happy with either of those options (and bread!).

[Aedelric]

Not every NPC needs full schedules and background but I hope we at least have the illusion of a living world. Basically try to avoid stationary characters, smiths should walk around their smithy making armour, priests should be giving services, customers should be arguing over prices in shops.

[OldRPG'sAreGood]

I don't think that most NPC's need a cycle, as I don't expect a city filled with named NPC's rather than a city habited mostly by "faceless" and nameless NPC's that simply habit the streets, strolling around and even that makes the world feel more alive. But, some named NPC's could have a cycle and preferably so that learning it might give some benefit(for example if the NPC is to assassinated) and advantage over a situation involving that NPC.

[hideo kuze]

Having an Ultima like world interaction would be great, but I rather Obsidian to focus on what they do best, instead of experimenting with sandboxes and NPC life cycles.

 

Maybe they can try that in a future expansion.