Request: Less noticeable tavern walla

[Kuripakk]

First of all: thanks for Pillars of Eternity. A bit late but I didn't have the hardware or opportunity to play it until now. During the KS campaign I got carried away and backed it with a bit more than I was comfortable with and was afraid the game would be a disappointment, but upon playing it I don't regret it at all. The game is great, I'm 65 hours in and I still haven't finished Act II.

 

The most annoying in-game thing about it is all the immersion-breaking backer stuff (there truly could not be a worse type of game for including this) which I wish you could turn off, but I'm sure that's already been discussed a thousand times.

 

Anyway the second most annoying thing I find is the "walla" or the background murmur in the taverns. The point of it is to be background noise and you're not supposed to pick up anything particular, and while music is playing it's usually fine. Once the music stops however, there is a very noticeable "Thank you. Thaaank yooouuu." line heard among the murmur, which is impossible not to hear when you've noticed it once, and you'll hear it a lot if you spend any time in taverns managing your party etc. because the walla loop is not that long. There's also a less noticeable but still annoying line that goes something like "I've seen all the good [something] I've seen it everywhere."

 

Perhaps I'm being silly, I don't know if anyone else is annoyed by this, but I think it would be great if noticeable speech in the walla could be removed or reduced.

[Ymarsakar]

"The most annoying in-game thing about it is all the immersion-breaking backer stuff (there truly could not be a worse type of game for including this) which I wish you could turn off, but I'm sure that's already been discussed a thousand times."

 

Why do you want to break your immersion by clicking on the content then?

 

"Perhaps I'm being silly, I don't know if anyone else is annoyed by this, but I think it would be great if noticeable speech in the walla could be removed or reduced."

 

I suggest going to audio and tweaking the settings to see if one will decrease the sound for that.

Edited October 11, 2015 by Ymarsakar

[Zitchiock]

I completely agree, particular with the backer NPC's. They are awful.

[Ohioastro]

Do we really still need to remind people that the backer NPCs 1) funded the game and 2) are extremely easy not to interact with?

[Zitchiock]

I fault Obsidian for not finding a better way to encourage funding than something that detracts from the game. Being able to toggle them off should have been a given.

 

Are there mods that do this?

[Ymarsakar]

I think what detracts from the game is that people are OCD and they like clicking on npcs that they don't want to talk to. IE Mod only goes to the extent of changing some of the names around and making the tombstones different.

[Guest Ontarah]

I didn't mind the backer NPCs once I knew what they were, but when I first clicked on one, I didn't even know I was a Watcher yet! I was completely confused as to what just happened and why everybody was behaving as if this was completely normal. I think they should at least be locked out until it's revealed you are a Watcher and they need some kind of warning message such as they have for the memorials as to what these people are. Once I figured it out, I just started ignoring them and there was no more problem.

[Jayngo]

The NPC backer stuff doesn't bother me. I think it's a nice nod to those who backed.

 

And I have to totally disagree with you on the ambient sounds. One of my most favorite things in all the Infinity Engine games and this game is the ambient sounds. This game has done a phenomenal job at creating them and adding to the immersion.

[Messier-31]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ_kwxmaJ3U

[TheisEjsing]

Do we really still need to remind people that the backer NPCs 1) funded the game and 2) are extremely easy not to interact with?

Every time man..

[Zitchiock]

I don't think that is polite @TheisEjsing @Ohioastro 

This is all about opinion. Dismissing another's opinion in a cavalier manner isn't helpful in an open forum. Discussion is great, but complaining about reminding others that your opinion differs from there's isn't adding to the conversation. 

 

Given that this has come up many times, as your post suggests, it only clarifies for me the need for some sort of Backer NPC Toggle. If a large group of players feel this would add to their gaming experience, it should be considered. 

[wanderon]

I think a toggle would work fine you can either have the backers as is where you are free to ignore them and carry on or you can toggle them off and the game disappears just like it would have if they had not become involved in its funding. Works for me! 

[Zitchiock]

Ha, clever.  

 

If you want to think about it in terms of funding, consider this. There was far more money raised at the lower tiers - with no "make your own in-game distraction" reward tier. Far and away more. If that audience hadn't supported Pillars, there certainly would be no game. It seems disingenuous to say that the game is owed to those who opted for the NPC tier, and as such, there feelings are paramount for the fine-tuning of a multi-million game. So, I feel that if there is a large group of users wanting a toggle, it should be implemented. Thanks.

[Zitchiock]

As a side note, I have significant modding experience from the Total War Series. I was involved in some large projects for several of those games. I am going to work on a mod which adds a toggle (or just removes) the Backer NPCs. If anyone with experience in modding the Unity engine would be willing to share some tips, I would love to set-up a chat. If I can put something together that I am comfortable with, I would be happy to share it with the community. 

[Stoner]

On my first playthrough I read EVERY backer NPC story and some were really well written and even exciting, I don't think it breaks immersion that much. About background noises, maybe I'm deaf, but it never bothered me, at times it felt like it was taken straight from Neverwinter Nights 1 (one of my favorite RPGs back in a day) and even that doesn't bother me, more like bringing up good old memories.

 

The only things that MAY break immersion are gravestones, I didn't bother to read them all but mostly it contains funny and ridiculous stuff. Still, it's not like being thrown in your face, avoiding it is pretty easy.

[wanderon]

Ha, clever.

 

If you want to think about it in terms of funding, consider this. There was far more money raised at the lower tiers - with no "make your own in-game distraction" reward tier. Far and away more. If that audience hadn't supported Pillars, there certainly would be no game. It seems disingenuous to say that the game is owed to those who opted for the NPC tier, and as such, there feelings are paramount for the fine-tuning of a multi-million game. So, I feel that if there is a large group of users wanting a toggle, it should be implemented. Thanks.

 

ALL funding was important and the backers were promised NPCs with their chosen stories as part of the finished game - no way is it acceptable to place a toggle removing them from the game - period - especially when they are nothing more than NPCs standing around in populated areas that have no impact what so ever unless you CHOOSE to click on them and look at their story.

[Teioh_White]

I am tempted to throw a firebomb in here about backer content, that we had to -choose- to click on, ending up being quite a little issue.

 

To be serious though, I'd agree the backer content is rather terrible, and detracts from the game. It's a bit of hoop-jumping to claim otherwise. Of course, it's minor enough to ignore, but that's not really an argument that in the abstract it lessens the experience. It doesn't overly get in the way, and after awhile you just learn to ignore the presence of the poor written stuff lying around and just have it awkwardly blend into the background. And from other kickstarted games I've played, it seems that's just going to be the norm for them, little minor bits of fan-fiction popping into games. Nothing huge, just more eye-rolls while playing, a small price to pay for something that wouldn't be made otherwise.

 

Wouldn't complain about a toggle button though, at the least for those of us who backed it. We put money down as well into that kickstarter ether, be nice to at least have an option to not have see that stuff if we don't want too. That whole, all the funding being important, thing, right?

[Zitchiock]

 

Ha, clever.

 

If you want to think about it in terms of funding, consider this. There was far more money raised at the lower tiers - with no "make your own in-game distraction" reward tier. Far and away more. If that audience hadn't supported Pillars, there certainly would be no game. It seems disingenuous to say that the game is owed to those who opted for the NPC tier, and as such, there feelings are paramount for the fine-tuning of a multi-million game. So, I feel that if there is a large group of users wanting a toggle, it should be implemented. Thanks.

 

ALL funding was important and the backers were promised NPCs with their chosen stories as part of the finished game - no way is it acceptable to place a toggle removing them from the game - period - especially when they are nothing more than NPCs standing around in populated areas that have no impact what so ever unless you CHOOSE to click on them and look at their story.

 

I think I'll just respectfully disagree. I think it would be acceptable, for many of the reasons that Teioh_White mentioned. It's not game breaking, no, but it would be nice. The Backers who were promised NPC's were given their promise. And, people would have the option to CHOOSE to utilize the toggle (just like they would choose to ignore the fan fiction).

 

So, I've begun digging around with the modding and I was speaking to some users over at the Pillars Nexus. I am starting to get confident that I'll be able to create the toggle! So, this way, everyone wins. The fan fiction can remain in the base game, but those of us who would rather not see a godlike in every town, will have the option, too. Stay tuned for updates as I progress.

 

Thanks!

Edited October 14, 2015 by Zitchiock