Question about Reputation and Reactivity

[Sensuki]

One of the things that kind of bothered me about Baldur's Gate was the automatic deduction of reputation once you'd done something bad. Most of the time it was fine but say if you killed a lone commoner asleep in the top floor of their house, you'd lose 5 reputation or something.

 

I hope that in Project Eternity, when you're doing something that might upset another faction, that it's not an instant deduction from your reputation but rather there's a reason for it.

 

This is a quote from the recent Wasteland 2 update

 

There is a small moment in the new Rail Nomads camp in which you hear a boy calling out for help as he is drowning. This time it would be a lack of action that could cause his death. Do you swim out to middle of the lake and save him or ignore his plea? And what happens when you are spotted ignoring his plea by a local resident? Do you shoot him before he can let others know of your behavior?

 

I am hoping that in a situation like this, that your reputation would only be affected if the local resident saw you and made it back to town to speak of the tale.

 

There are other ways around this though (magic, investigation) etc etc that could be used to explain away the reason for automatic reputation deduction, but it would be cool if you had the opportunity to exercise your ability to get away with stuff as well.

[Silver6986]

I have read that the devs are opting for a reputation system that sounds familiar to what was used in the Fallout series of games (I'm talking Fallout 1, 2 and Fallout: New Vegas).

 

So less like Baldur's Gate in that regard and more akin to Fallout, so hopefully it is as reactive as you would like! The quote from Wasteland 2 sounds rather interesting

[Sensuki]

I know that, that wasn't the point of the thread. I'm talking about when & what actually influences changes to the reputation.

 

In the Baldur's Gate game you'd get a reputation loss from killing the onlooker. I'm hoping that's not the case in PE, unless someone else saw you

 

There's probably a reason why people didn't do as many bad actions in the BG games, and that's because you got penalized for it.

Edited October 12, 2012 by Sensuki

[Silver6986]

Well to be honest I reacted to the first part of your post, it seemed you were bothered by the way BG handled rep and that you did not want to see this but rather something along the lines of the quote from W2.

 

However as you already know this game won't be like BG with regards to reputation, if you are looking for examples I unfortunately cannot be too forthcoming, I can't really think of a game I have played with this situation in mind (W2 quote). You can get away with stuff in Fallout without others knowing about it if you don't get caught, but it is nowhere near the level of reactivity I think you are getting at.

 

And when I say this I am referring to reputation, you always take a hit to your karma with regards to say... stealing, but this is separate from the reputation with factions or places.

 

I am definintely hoping for some interesting twists with reputation like you quoted from Wastelands 2 as well!

Edited October 12, 2012 by Liquid_Silver11

[Sensuki]

It's more a question for the devs. If I'm around when one of the AMA's is on I'll ask it (unlikely due to timezones). They usually make a visit to at least the popular threads, just depends how many people take an interest in the issue.

[Hassat Hunter]

Well, there definitely should be some result if over the course of the night a towns population is halved, even if you're never seen.

You know, wasn't there an adventurer party newly in town just yesterday?

Edited October 12, 2012 by Hassat Hunter

[GhostofAnakin]

I do think that could be interesting if implemented properly. Killing someone out in the woods, with no one around to see it, shouldn't necessarily hurt your reputation with whatever faction that person is associated with.

 

It could even add a strategic/moral element to decision making.

 

For instance, there are two city guards on patrol: One is a thief and murderer who has a bounty on him placed by the family of the individual he killed, while the other is just doing his job, and hasn't done anything wrong. Do you kill the second lookout just to make sure no one reports what you've done? Do you bribe the "good" guard to look away? Or do you then have to meticulously plan for a way to kill the first guard, without the second guard seeing you?

 

If NPCs are required to "see" you do something to either gain or lose reputation with their faction, it could add all sorts of possibilities for accomplishing tasks.

Edited October 12, 2012 by GhostofAnakin