NachoDawg
Member
Aaah, that would be really cool!
How is dialogue with NPCs going to work?
- Thread starter NachoDawg
- Start date
Aaah, that would be really cool!
Bullethead
Member
But in real life, your tone of voice is just part of the equation. The conversation is always in the context of your relationship with the other person. While I might expect and demand politeness from strangers or people I don't particularly like, I expect and appreciate a lot more casualness, even crudity, from my friends. Around friends, you can drop the mask and be yourself, unconstrained by social etiquette. Thus, when friends start acting all polite, they're either about to tell you some really bad news, they want you to do something you'd rather not do, or they're about to betray you. Either way, it's a total buzzkill and makes you suspicious.
So, in real life, the proper tone for a conversation varies over time as the degree of familiarity between the parties changes. Most games have some sort of reputation/opinion system to track this, giving different dialog options (such as more quests, extra rewards, etc.), but I've never played one where the proper dialog tone for the NPC changes with this. You figure out which tone to use for each NPC and keep it at that. It would be nice to see more linkage here.
-Tim-
Insider
I'd like to add to this that the degree of familiarity isn't the only variable in deciding the 'proper tone'. Quite a few people dislike it or even grow suspicious when people they don't know are being too polite, too kind etc.
NachoDawg
Member
I think it's safe to assume that NPCs will know your character to some degree, dictating what's appropriate or not.
for starters, you probably wont have to introduce yourself every time you talk to someone; changing the way you talk to someone after the first time.
- Someone you did a quest for probably likes you a bit
- Someone you killed a family member of probably dislikes you
I try not to have ridiculously high expectations, but after all I've read about the NPCs, this sounds like a safe thing to just assume.
for starters, you probably wont have to introduce yourself every time you talk to someone; changing the way you talk to someone after the first time.
- Someone you did a quest for probably likes you a bit
- Someone you killed a family member of probably dislikes you
I try not to have ridiculously high expectations, but after all I've read about the NPCs, this sounds like a safe thing to just assume.
Elaxter
Insider
Having unrealistic expectations is the downfall of most RPGs. There's a reason why simple dialogue has dominated the market for a while: it's predictable and it gets the job done. Adding just tonality doesn't add more complexity (in a sense, it does), it just adds more options to a simple system.
Anthony Obilor
Insider
This really depends on the logic behind it. They could have been built to have more relevance but instead they were just given an opportunity to gain different levels of experience points. The logic just have to make the tone more important, like aggressive allows you to intimidate npc.
Alphanoobmeric
Member
To be honest, I'd rather they kept it simple. I'm only able to guess at how far they're pushing themselves now, but I'd rather not overtax the developers. They're already doing some really innovative things and are already promising a lot. Just deliver on the concepts already there.
I'll take whatever they give as long as it's immersive and they put alot of care into it. I don't necessarily need 15 ways to tell a noble how I really gotta pee, but I'll take it if given.
What are games that currently exist that handle dialogue extremely well? Just to probe for opinions.
I'll take whatever they give as long as it's immersive and they put alot of care into it. I don't necessarily need 15 ways to tell a noble how I really gotta pee, but I'll take it if given.
What are games that currently exist that handle dialogue extremely well? Just to probe for opinions.
