Influence/opinion/relationship - System (Love, friendship and hatred "YOUR controled" impact on world)

[ArchBeast]

The purpose of this survey is to show whether you would like to deep relationships in the game or not.

 

 

This survey relates to such things as romance, love, fear, recpect, frendship or pure hate.

It is not about whether the individual components as will or will not apear like "Do you like romances in games" or "do you like friendships in game". It's about WHOLE influence system as one of the game mechanics.

 

We not talk about adding romances etc. We talk about adding influence system even without romances.

 

This topic is not written just to prove that you whant or don't like "romances" or "Sex" in P:E. It's about complex relationships, personal motivations and complexity of human nature.

 

For a perfect example for this system is Alpha Protocol and in some ways Neverwinter Nights 2 system (but not so good in my opinion).

In AP we have complex system where friendship or respect will grant you some benefits but also If someone HATE you it also will grand you some benefits (but completly diftent)

 

 

My goal is to demonstrate Does the complicated relationship like "Enemy that respects you" or "Party member is planning to murder you". It's obvious to me that if you are playing as "lawful good" and you have party member that is "Chaotic evil" then his will always disagree with you and his hate for you will grow day by day will somday will betray you when you least expect thrusting a dagger where it hurts hardest.

 

In other han if you play as "Chaotic Evil" a paladin from your team might jump to comclusion that "World is better without you" and atack you.

 

Im waiting for you answers

 

An please by nice

Edited October 16, 2012 by ArchBeast

[ArchBeast]

By the way i'm not planning a 1 post topic. As i said before give your sugestions about Mechanic of this Influence system,

 

You whan linear system like "This character allways betray you if etc" and let desiners wrote that for you or you whant yourself make an impact on those interactions.

 

You want system like from 100 to -100 ? You whanna Alpha Protocol system ? NWN2 system ? BG System ? Dragon Age system ?

 

And by saying "impact on those events" i meat that character that has 100 will love you and never betray you (but he can steal from you) and a character that has -100 will rush on you thinking about killing you ....

 

It's sad that people they care more about stronholds, exp gaining or weapon/ armor then one of the most importan acpect od CRPGs, Human, common or uncommon interactions......

Edited October 16, 2012 by ArchBeast

[harhar!]

Don't make it -100 - 100, it's just unimmersive. "Oh you like me 35, how very kind of you". Just show it through the actions of the NPCs (like Walking Dead).

[Tycreager]

Okay I like the idea of Romance as long as it dosent blantly involve sex, I like being able to flirt or mabye marriage, but I dont think there needs to be things such as , "You walk into the room and have sex", or a scene that you start taking of clothes and it blacks out.

[Jasede]

It's fallacious to believe that if the game doesn't have an influence or relationship system it has to be about combat exclusively. Did PS:T have an influence system? Your poll options are dishonest and misleading.

[Orogun01]

It's fallacious to believe that if the game doesn't have an influence or relationship system it has to be about combat exclusively. Did PS:T have an influence system? Your poll options are dishonest and misleading.

PS:T did have an influence system

[Druon Grawal]

I hope for a deep influence/renown-system, though I want the technical side of it to mostly work behind the scenes. I need no numbers, just a general evaluation in a few fitting sentences to work with. In a way, all of the things the OP mentioned should be included in the system and more, yet not all should be governed by one and the same metric.

 

Take revenge for example: If I cause an NPC to seek revenge, maybe by harming friends and family or ruining his career, then I certainly want to deal with this situation in a special encounter or story arc, that allows to address the issue, maybe even find different solutions including making it up to the NPC. What I don't want is simple mathematics: I kill his sister, causing him to seek revenge, then go and safe three princesses from dragons, causing him to admire me for it and everything is fine again.

[Morality Games]

It's fallacious to believe that if the game doesn't have an influence or relationship system it has to be about combat exclusively. Did PS:T have an influence system? Your poll options are dishonest and misleading.

PS:T did have an influence system

 

Sort of. Without mods, there is no way to see it. If you can't see it, there is no way to evaluate which responses or events are netting Morale or not.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Morality Games

[Jarmo]

Oblivion had this great insane system.

 

You'd be looting someones home at night, and she'd notice you there.

She'll growl menacingly and be all "the hell outta my house before I call the guards!"

And then she'd wait for you to leave and put up this wide crazy smile because you're her best friend in the whole world.

.. then shout some more or attack unless you leave quickly.

[ComMcNeil]

Don't make it -100 - 100, it's just unimmersive. "Oh you like me 35, how very kind of you". Just show it through the actions of the NPCs (like Walking Dead).

 

aye, no numbers please - even if it makes it more difficult to implement...

[Sensuki]

There will of course be numbers under the hood, and you'll probably have the ability to turn them on and off. They'll be off in expert mode.

[ComMcNeil]

Yeah, I understand that there have to be numbers internally, but I would like a more staged approach on relation than just numbers, so it does not become a new dragon age.

 

Lets say companion A starts neutral with me. Some time after we start traveling together, I can help him with a quest, which will get him to like me. Another quest later down the line, and he is a good friend...and so on. Just dont do something like the gift crap from DA:O, where specific stuff did only unlock, if you had above a certain threshold of rep. Let it be the other way around - do stuff for (or with) your companion, which results in him liking your more (and reward that with story dialogue or maybe unlock additional battle skills for that char...)

[Jarmo]

I'd like multiple meters, hidden or otherwise.

 

Ignore the actual numbers, but for everybody:

 

Likes you: 1-100

Respects you and/or your abilities: 1-100

Approves your faction status: 1-100

Loves/lusts after you: 1-100

 

And maybe more.

 

So someone sticks with your group because he likes you, maybe considers himself your tutor.

He doesn't think much of your abilities, doesn't care or approve what faction you're from and certainly doesn't love you.

 

Someone doesn't like you, approve of your actions, thinks you follow the wrong god, doesn't love you,

but you did kill the troll under the bridge and you're a master swordsman, he'll follow and learn.

 

The paladin doesn't like you or the way you behave, doesn't love you, and disapproves your lack of combat prowess.

But you're on a task that's important for his church so he'll deal with it. Maybe he'll stick with you later also, because head priest would not like to see you die.

 

And the last one doesn't care of anything mentioned above, just wanting to get in your pants. Worth a few weeks of trouble.

 

Combinations also.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Jarmo

[Addon]

"The enemy respects you or at least understand you"

 

That would be realy great thing to do. Just tired of enemies, who can only fight and don't react on your actions.

[Continuum]

I would like as full and complicated an influence and relationship system as possible.

 

What I do NOT want is a number, metered mathematical system like Dragon Age, with purchasable gifts to buy people off.

 

Obsidian's Fallout: New Vegas was pretty darn good at this. I trust 'em. Yes, I know F:NV did have mathematical systems attached to companions and factions, but they were buried within the code and not metered out. Faction reputation was fairly transparent and had stated levels, but companion reputation was opaque and only revealed through conversations and quest options.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I don't mind showing the player a meter or some other form of reference for how a companion feels about the PC. It just seems to be an easy way to keep track of how companions feel about the PC, which does get difficult when I'm juggling several playthroughs at once.

 

I also liked the approval spam in DAO actually(since some seem to be talking about it). I always thought of it as a way to get approval points when the PC said something they meant positively, but was taken negatively by the NPC. The gift represented the off-camera conversation where everything was cleared up. I also would have liked insult spam quite a bit too.

[Raithe]

The other side of influence is how much it should be linked to individual npc's and characters, and how much is linked to factions / groups...

 

Or even some combination of both. If the Faction someone's a part of loathes the sight of you, how much does that effect individuals within the faction?

 

heh, if you've done something that saved the mother/sister/love one of a faction member, how will that individual react to you differently compared to the rest of the faction?

 

Will the perception of you by one faction influence another faction you haven't encountered yet?

 

How global will reputation/influence be? As in, will everyone in the world automatically regosnise each and every reputation shift or will it slowly be known as time passes in the world? So if you do x action and save someone from bandits in y location, the Reputation gain is immediate to characters there, then once several days have gone by, villages and towns nearby will react to that Reputation change, then a week or so after everywhere in the country will be affected by that Reputation change..?

[Ninjamestari]

Relationships are not a system. No to any systems regarding NPC relationships, just script them properly. No influence points, no "I agree with you" points, no "I love you" points, just let things progress naturally. No reputation points either, I'm damned sick of collecting freaking points for every freaking thing I want to do.

 

I say no to points and retarded systems. Yes to innovative scripting.

[Odd Hermit]

I'd rather they have significant relations with companions + key characters than try to tack on something to every NPC. I'm fine with background filler NPCs as long as there are also a good number of interesting NPCs. I don't like what happens when RPGs try to spread the love, as they most often stretch it too thin - like the ridiculous "conversations" between NPCs in Oblivion for example.

 

More basic systems like faction / location / race / etc. reputation can cover things like shop prices, hostile vs. neutral vs. friendly, and such.

[-Zin-]

I shall quote the creed: "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted"

 

The more you can explore, the better. As long as it written well.

[Raithe]

Relationships are not a system. No to any systems regarding NPC relationships, just script them properly. No influence points, no "I agree with you" points, no "I love you" points, just let things progress naturally. No reputation points either, I'm damned sick of collecting freaking points for every freaking thing I want to do.

 

I say no to points and retarded systems. Yes to innovative scripting.

 

Scripting is fine for one-off events. But when you have to track what reactions a group has to your collective actions and behaviours.. it needs more then a script running. There has to be some form of ticking boxes / collecting numbers that work behind the scenes.

 

I'm not saying it should flash up "+10 affection" on screen for you to see, but behind the scenes there has to be something happening so that different groups will react to your collective behaviour over time, not just the latest thing you did.

[Amentep]

It's fallacious to believe that if the game doesn't have an influence or relationship system it has to be about combat exclusively. Did PS:T have an influence system? Your poll options are dishonest and misleading.

PS:T did have an influence system

 

Sort of. Without mods, there is no way to see it. If you can't see it, there is no way to evaluate which responses or events are netting Morale or not.

 

Why would you want to know you're netting morale? Seems to me you'd want to play a RPG where your choices matter and making choices based on what your character would do, not in order to min/max the relationship numbers.

 

As long as the game is giving you feedback on your choices, there's no real need for any other kind of visual metric, IMO.

[RoughOne]

I think there should be 'guild' or 'house' conflicts, religion, of course. Dialogue should reflect the NPC/companions wisdom perhaps? "Can we agree for now to set this aside?", that sort of thing. Or blind rage, or pitting characters against one another. Not just duels to the death, but manipulation of a number of folks.

 

If you are going to "mission/quest" structure, perhaps NPC's could have intermediate objectives of stealing object X or making NPC Y distrust NPC Z, or something along those lines.

 

of course, the way a character 'starts' should influence their amount of influence as well. Someone borne into nobility could be a really good person, but in particular places, it could be the "monty python 'aint got **** all over him' attitude or 'we don't like your kind here!' Many many variables, bt this sort of feature would GREATLY improve game replay ability imo.

[gglorious]

I put down undecided because I am not concerned with whether there is a scale from -100 to 100, or even whether a multivariable thing is upheld(I answered that I love puppies and that shapes my relationship in X way, and because I butchered the merchant I get Y responses now but X and Y don't add together in any way). However, I do agree with the thrust of a system to have a relationship with party members, so perhaps I should just be a yes, and stop qualifying how i feel.

 

I mean, I would think that ideally multiple systems would be ideal to use. I mean, hatred and hateful respect are different reactions, and a character could have either one to certain behaviors. So, respectful dislike, enmity, and fear all are different, even if all are negative reactions. An ideal system could accommodate them all, even in the same character. Also, helping somebody with their mother and so on does deserve mention, even if it is a one-off thing rather than an influence scale.

[VanyelHH]

For "other" it would be cool to influence others into becoming followers, i.e. politically/socially and not party members. Although that would also be interesting.