Comments on: Can talking to NPCs ever be fun?

By: spinks

spinks — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:32:05 +0000

I loved Torment, so I can’t disagree with this

By: Ales

Ales — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:23:07 +0000

Planescape torment got this right long ago. We need more games like that.

By: Callan S.

Callan S. — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:00:30 +0000

What are social interactions in real life?

Perhaps social interaction in real life hold some sort of mystery and romance because people don’t actually try and break them down like they would a game.

Alot of conversations you have in real life might be no more than a flow chart conversation before you go off and perform some act.

By: Dblade

Dblade — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 22:39:47 +0000

Posting an example. It’s from the anime, Clannad: After Story. I don’t have the game.

I tell you, hard not to fall for Nagisa in that scene.

By: Dblade

Dblade — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 22:08:22 +0000

You’d be wrong. Clannad and Kanon, for example. You talk with people in Mass Effect, but you don’t care for them. Bioware isn’t a good enough storyteller to make you care. They can make you interested, can make a good world, but even in KOTOR they weren’t that good at it.

By: jachilli

jachilli — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 22:23:14 +0000

Actually, one of the things I liked about ME was that the dialogue wheel was fairly impressionistic. In an RPG, I hate having words put in my mouth by a designer. The ME response wheel was an upgrade from this because it gave me general impressions I wanted to make, as opposed to making me choose from a literal “I say exactly this or I say exactly this” menu.

Thanks for the linkback!

By: Theladas

Theladas — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 19:52:44 +0000

Wait. People can fall in love with characters in a Dating Simulation, but not in a full-fledged RPG like Mass Effect? If anything, I find characters become more compelling (and thus, attractive) when they’re actually engaged in the content: the girls (and boys, to be fair) of ME all have rich conversation systems and backgrounds, and they can kick ass and save your life on the battlefield when used properly. Compared to chatting with a girl in a slice-of-life storybook, I’m honestly convinced that I’d have a more lasting attraction to the ME girl (and Shepherd can definitely fall for his crew as well).

Romance doesn’t have to be the crux of interaction to make it memorable or engaging.

Incorporating interactions in an MMO would be incredibly challenging on some level, I believe. For one, if one line of behavior led to stronger (or easier-to-access) rewards, the choice would be removed by meta-gaming (you can’t be weaker than your contemporaries if you want to be competitive, after all). Moreover, maintaining a persistent world where your character has lasting impact on the world becomes very tricky when different player interactions lead to drastically different conclusions. For instance, no NPC’s life could ever be on the line – he would be dead in an instant, thanks to a griefer, leaving an incomplete experience for everyone else that comes after. Maybe clever use of phasing-style techniques could ameliorate this?

By: Void

Void — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:42:14 +0000

Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 have been the only games where I truly enjoyed interacting with NPCs through dialog. I can’t wait for ME3!

By: Celendus

Celendus — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:04:15 +0000

I genuinely enjoyed talking to the party characters in Dragon Age. Especially since the things you say actually have an effect on their character development – only game I’ve ever seen to do that. Maybe Mass Effect does – I’m just starting it now :-p

By: Klepsacovic

Klepsacovic — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 15:05:51 +0000

Talking with NPCs could be fun if it had some effect on the world. If I’m rude enough, maybe they refuse to work with me, or attack me. If I’m nice enough I can sucker out some additional reward or information.