NPC Agenda's

[JeffB5]

Can we have NPC's competing for the main quest or parts of it?

So the world feels alive and adds random/replayability.

 

Like in Wizardry 7 you had these maps you'd have to find to solve the main quest except if you were too slow at some points you would find NPC's being there earlier than you and taking the map. Then you would have to go find out who took it and then pay/kill them for it. You could not really lose because of this but i feel it added a lot to the game for me. As if the CPU was playing the same game as me. Great game

 

Or like x-com where i had the feeling the CPU was really being active and trying to win on the strategic level. Something a bit missing in the remake where everything feels more programmed/set.

 

I think that was the only thing i felt missing from the infinity games, more active than reactive to the player.

 

I guess it will be hard to program and will be difficult to let the player feel the computer is not only waiting for your actions but also playing his own game.

It would add great replayability, especially if you add in factions/diplomacy. No game would play the same.

[TheDogProfessor]

I really like the idea of NPCs having their own agenda as it reinforces that notion that the world exists outside of the main character. In BG for example, many of the joinable NPCs had there own quests which needed to be fulfilled in order for them to remain in you party. That seems a bit more simplistic than what you're describing, but I do expect at least that level of "NPC agenda" in PE.

[GhostofAnakin]

I'm not sure how well it would work with regards to the main quest; it might end up making the player feel like they have to rush through to make sure that some other group of NPCs doesn't solve all the quests first, so to speak. But I'd be okay in certain instances, like those "bounty boards" that RPGs usually have up around taverns.

 

It could work one of two ways:

 

1- The "timer" doesn't trigger until you actually accept the bounty, so you don't have to worry about missing out on quests if you don't have time to do any bounty quests at that moment. But as soon as you agree to the bounty, you can't just accept it and let it sit in your "to do" pile for months at a time. If you do, then some other group could very well claim the bounty before you.

 

2- There's a rotation of bounties available which stay listed on the bounty board for a limited number of days (in-game time), then after that time expires, chances are someone else has already claimed the bounty. To add realism, some of the tougher bounties (perhaps any dragon fighting bounties, for example) remain up for a while because people keep failing to claim the bounty. But the easier ones (find a farmer an egg that a goblin stole and took back to its cave) have a relatively short shelf life before someone else claims it.

[Thangorodrim]

I like the idea of YOUR NPCs having quest preferences and possibly forcing you to accept or deny quests that align or violate those preferences or they leave or betray you ... I am okay with timed quests (if they are identified as such) and the timing is realistic and accurate ... if they say I have 5 days and I come 4 days later and find it is over I would be perturbed ... however, I think if you were constantly competing with forces unknown for every quest that would become annoying for most players (it certainly would for me) and they/I would not enjoy the game

 

That said, it might be interesting to have a competing group for a small subset of quests and that you can ignore them, race them for the quests, or remove them from the competition (aka KILL THEM bahahaha )