Segment 2 - Question of the week

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At the start of the week, I asked what you, as an RPG Gamer, liked in a game more. Isometric or 1st Person views. The majority of you who replied to that post enjoyed the Isometric view that comes with this style.

This time around, I'd like to know what you'd like to see "change" in an RPG
game "visually" within the game engine.

Now what do I mean by changes? In game changes to the world you'll be playing in. Here are some examples.

Seasons

- Seasons will come and go on a routine cycle. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter will cycle during game play. Visually you will see these effects for each season:

Spring - Leaves begin to grow, flowers bloom, rain showers, mild snow

Summer - Full leaves, fruit matures, thunder storms, rain

Autumn - Leaves change colour, fall off, rain showers, mild snow

Winter - Ice hangs from trees, rooftops, snow, blizards

Seasons and weather will range in duration and effects based on world location. The higher up you are in elevation, the sooner it will turn to winter as well as the farther north you are.

Merchant Trade

- Not much detail can be given at this time, but a living and breathing community of shops and merchants will be made available, supplies will change with the demand as well as with the seasons.

Non-Player Characters

- NPCs with depth, actions based on in game time, seasons and particular job. All NPCs will be flagged with a certain "life". For instance, Mary the Woodcutter who works in Silverymoon will do the following based on her day.

10pm to 6am - Sleeps
6am to 7am - Found inside her home eating at the table
7am to 7:15am - Found walking from her home with woodcutter supplies (an axe, perhaps a small cart pulled by an ox) from one location a to location b
7:15am to 12pm - Chopping wood
12pm to 1pm - Found at a local eatery shop or tavern
1pm to 6pm - Chopping wood
6pm to 7pm - Found inside her home eating at the table
7pm to 10pm - Found in and around her home, purchasing goods from local shops or at a local tavern

What is trying to be "captured" is the essance of non-static NPCs just standing in one spot, going about their own lives until you interact with them. Ultima 5 did an excellent job of this and unfortuantly, I really haven't seen it in too many CRPGs since.

So, with those examples in mind, give me anything you feel you'd like to see in the game. I don't care how crazy it
sounds or if no one has done it before. If new things were never tried, we'd get nowhere in the game industry.

So post away. The more input, the better and keep an eye out for Segment 3.

Syl...

[This message has been edited by Sylvus Moonbow (edited November 03, 2000).]

 

I definitely like the NPC idea...I especially like the interaction and exchanges they've added between NPC's in your party...It definitely gives more depth to the role playing experience.

It looks like IWD & BG2 have a litte more merchant trade aspects. Some merchants do seem to get new things in from time to time. I definitely noticed it in IWD. The wizard in town had new things as you progressed in levels.

I think the main thing I would like to see is more consequences to your actions...I haven't gotten too far into BG2, so maybe it's there. But one of the things I enjoyed when I played P & P, was that we would keep track of antagonists that got away...And they would make special appearances throughout our campaign to make things interesting.

It seems that most of the BG encounters have a definite finality to it. Find the bad guy, kill the bad guy. Take his/her stuff. Find the next bad guy...

Well, those are my thoughts for the moment.

 

In keeping with the NPC theme and continuity theme mentioned earlier, it would be great to see some more what-if cause/effect type reactions to your actions. This would make for a much more dynamic game world and would much more clearly indicate the passing of time. BG2 did this MUCH better than BG1 as the garden variety NPCs have much more to say, but i think it could still be improved a bit more. For example background NPCs could have the following set of responses in quest areas(i'm trying to keep it generic to not make it a spoiler thread so bear with me )

In an area where a quest can be undertaken eg Bridge District:
NPC reaction before quest undertaken:
1. express shock/dismay at situation (murder/abduction/war etc)
2. normal how-you-going response
3. ask for help etc.

NPC reaction after quest resolved:
4. express joy, relief, etc or some reaction signifying that the quest has been completed
5. questioning whether the quest has been completed (eg. 'has so-and-so been captured yet?') giving the PC the opportunity to advise them of how he has helped/hindered them which would then lead to a further reaction from the NPC. doesn't have to be comprehensive but it really adds to the game in terms of immersion

NPC reaction after a period of time has expired after the quest has completed
1. back to normal (it would be unreasonable to expect people in a pub to be talking about something 50 days after it has been completed)
2. some response relating to quest completion but indicating that some game time has passed (eg. 'you're those guys who killed so-and-so, aren't you?)

I just think these background NPCs are just so important for making you feel like you are actually LIVING in the game world. Nothing beats playing in a dynamic game world, that's what Ultima Online was trying to accomplish.

Anyway those are my thoughts, for what they're worth!

 

Along with the seasons, shops and NPC's, I'd like to see some more radical events that would test a players wits and role playing, while having far reaching consequences like:

When you torch that group of gobbo's hiding in the cellar of the run down house in some slums with a fireball, I would like to see the building catch on fire as a consequence, and if you don't help put the fire out, next time your in the neighborhood you end up being wanted for arson.

or moral twists like;

You are sent to help a small village that is controlled by a powerful vampire, but when you get there you find that while the vampire may be technically evil, he has a strong sense of duty to 'his' people, which he diligently protects and assists for a mild tax of a pint of blood every so often. Leaving the party in a delima of killing the vampire and pissing off the entire village, or letting the vampire be and pissing off the good guys who sent you.

or

putting the player into a confrontation with a group of humanoids who appear to have stolen something, and only able to avoid a fight with careful negotiations. If the player is unable to resolve the conflict and ends up killing the humanoids, they find that the just killed a local farmer that has finally been able to earn some respect and equallity from the humans in the area, and was only protecting his sick child from a band of heartless adventurers on his way home from the local druid, now the player is faced with a group of local farmers wanting to lynch him for the murder of one of thier fellows anytime they are in the vacinity, and unnable to use any of the local shops until they perform a series of tough, but mundane quests to show thier remorse, and face a trial in which they can plea bargan to save thier lives, but at the cost of all thier gold and much of thier equipment.

but then I'm a pretty sick and twisted DM when I play the pen and paper games.

 

One thing i would like in an RPG? i would like the RPG to become a virtual world. you know, where you put one of those helmets on your head and you can like run around and fight the monsters and everything by yourself? whatever, im crazy. maybe give it another 100 years.

 

I wish we could terra-form Mars into a real game world, genetically engineer dragons and orcs, and trolls, and make magical weapons and armor and see what we're really made of!

Sorry - I couldn't resist!

)

 

One thing that computer games have gotten away from is text based conversation. Back when I played Zork and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I thought "can you imagine how cool this will be in 10 years, where you'll be able to have an intelligent conversation in a game by typing in whole sentences".
Sadly, that was pretty much the end of it. I think one of the Wizardry games made a stab at it in the early 90's, but nothing since. Everything is about "conversation trees" nowdays.

I want to be able to interact with the characters in the game (even my own party) as if they were real people. I want to be able to say "Your shoe is untied" to an NPC and have them look down. I want to be able to insult someone (without swearing), and have them know what I mean and act accordingly. I want to be able to talk to a character in the game about the gods they worship, or ask when they are going to the store.

I also would like to see even more animation and interaction. BG II with its occasional interaction between party members is definitely a step in the right direction, but I want to see that ALL THE TIME. I don't want my characters to stand there like lumps when I'm not controlling them. Maybe if a party member was standing near an NPC they would start talking to them about the weather, or a party member could boast about an enemy they just killed. Maybe one guy in my party is restless and will pace back and forth sometimes when we stop. Maybe another person would take out a musical instrumet or some dice or something.

Weather affecting NPC's would also be cool. If it's raining, they wouldn't stand there like lumps, they'd scurry for cover (maybe holding something over thier heads). In the rain, you'd see npcs standing in a doorway or under the edge of a roof instead of in the middle of the street. If it's snowing, people will be dressed appropriately, in hats, gloves and heavy coats.

 

I like those 3 idea's of urs Syl.

The things i'd like to see changed are as follows:

1. You should be able if you wished to make an army of troops, like summoned creatures under your control, to make ur own Empire nad possible conqueror other cities, changing the history of the Current World. And if you chose a evil path, Good Powerful heroes might come and try and stop you. It would make for more wordly challenges then just doing everything with ur group, instead u'd have ur own EMPIRE! wouldn't be easy to do either so it would be a rare event if someone accomplished it. (Including in this idea u can build your own city to with Building Specs provided by the game similiar to ones in other Great Cities.

2. I wish that you could become more powerful then level 20 and be ablt to create ur own powerful artifacts, monitor other heroes on their quests and offer insight, or dominate and become the villian of the world and watch it tremble in fear.

3. Be able to travel across sea's to any land u wish in the Baldrs Gate Universe instead of these little area's they provide in each of the games. It would be cool to still go back to Baldurs gate from Amn.

4. Morely, if possible because computers and Internet Connections are becoming more powerful each day. a Morely Massive Universe of Players around the world joining like UO. maybe diminish the graphics a bit more (not ad bad as UO though) so there wouldn't be much lag, or however u'd fix it. Including in this massive world, u could create guildhalls, castles, etc. even get a job as a Black Smith. Certain Evils will plague the land or you could be the Evil one urself. It would be cool

The Kurgan

 

I definitely agree with Kurgan...Having the ability to create your own spells and magical weapons would be awesome! That was one of the coolest things to do when you rose in levels in P & P .

Plus, I've always been into the grand strategy thing!

 

how bout they try concentrte on making these games fool proof first i dont want any else, id just like a game with no bugs ,not one no patches no glitches no disc errors nothing just a complete game. i dont mean to sound off here but a console stlye where it has to be perfect before it hits the shelves, not reliant upon a patch in 2 months time to add what they couldnt be bothered to sort out before release, and its no good going on about full 3d or virtual reality or anything else cos if they cant get a 2d isometric view sorted out correctly then id hate to think of the mess involved in a 3d landscape

 

Wow, is anyone gonna ask Sylvus 'What's the scoop'? or is it gonna have to be me?

"Sylvus...what's up? Give us the scoop."

Of course, I have ALL kinds of things to post here -no surprise- but it's a VERY lengthy addition of 'thoughts' so I'll email it to Sylvus first.

But back to the question "What's the scoop?"

 

Looking forward to reading what you're looking for in a game, although posting about it here would only fuel the ideas of others, so please share it with all of us.

What do you mean what's up? You actually think something is up?!? These are but simple questions to the RPG Community that's all. It's not like your posts are being captured, printed and the good ideas highlighted for reference or anything.

No. None of the sort.

*cough*

Syl...

[This message has been edited by Sylvus Moonbow (edited November 04, 2000).]

 

I think what many are trying to say is that with interactions with NPC's, it would be cool if the npc's had more A/I (artificial intelligence).
On another note, I really like the ideas given here (especially the one about raising an army!). Another cool adition would be the ability to ride horses, dragons, griffons, phoenixes (although one's ass might get a little warm if the beast decided to incinerate!), etc....

 

trouble is if the computer gets better a.i it will be smarter than me.

der i fink yeah dats what i wanted to say

 

Well, I would have to say that everyone has some good ideas. One other thing kind of going along the lines of what someone else said, I think that mosters should have random personalities. Some might not just want to fight, they may want to join your cause. (Very rare, but possible) also, monsters have to sleep too. In, the P&P version, I always love to sneak up on a sleeping orc camp and launch a fireball or two in there while they can't do anything. Using your brain instead of just hack and slash. (Although I'm a very big fan of hack and slash.)

Going along what Sylvus first metioned about the seasons, not always are the same monsters going to be in the same place throughout every season. Some mosters hibernate during the winter, and others fight over territory. Of course in BG, it's kind of hard to implement that when you have a storyline to follow and not much time for anything else. I guess in that sense, I liked the wilderness aspect of BG1 better than BG2. In the beginning, you didn't really have much to do right away. You could go and explore the wilderness. No saving the world tasks yet.