Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-71.61.178.23-20130722105712/@comment-202.156.8.15-20131101045708

71.61.177.24 wrote: I am definitely NOT an employee at Beth. That...is actually fairly hilarious.

I was actually contemplating having no generic NPCs, and making the guards people, like, part of the city, with personatlities and everything. But I decided that it would be way too much trouble and overall impractical. Instead, maybe there could be a random backstory creator, where there's a couple of generic backstory options of dialogue and personality options for the sort of dialogue and attitude they generally have, and there's a generator that just randomly mixes and matches them? There could also be a few "regular" guards - that is, guards who are fleshed-out characters. I also think that nobody should be un-killable, so I think I agree with you. If I didn't misunderstand that bit, that is. But I also agree that people who're neccesary for quests, and important people like Jarls, should be just kind of ignored by most enemies, unless they're scripeted to be attacked and/or die. I also think that followers should have a self-preservation instinct. And combat should be more realistic. And you should be able to tell your followers to do certain things in a battle, like "attack from this direction" or "attack those first" or "hide" or even "get reinforcements". Stuff like that that's combat-specific dialogue. While on the subject of NPCs and dialogue, I think that you should be able to choose what your opening remark to them is, and they'll respond accordingly, as opposed to those generic lines. ANd I think you should be able to respond to NPC comments like "Your wolfish grin unsettles me". Purely because you might like to fervently deny your connection to the Dark Brotherhood, or explain that you're a werewolf, or intimidate or sass a guard. Stuff like that. And you should be able to have discussions about things, instead of asking stuff. Like, you should be able to argue about things, or discuss Dwemer customs and magic and the exploits of your neighbors. Actual conversations. I feel like Skyrim didn't have enough of those. And you should be able to talk to more than one person at a time. And have audio for your voice - you could have voice settings at the beginning of the game with your physical and skill/background/personality settings. And there should be more follower commands. You should be able to hire a mercenary to do a quest, if it's a quest that could be done by somebody not you. And you should be able to craft more stuff. And read aloud. And sing. And NPCs should do little serendipitous things like people in real life do. And kids should be more fleshed out in general, and you should be able to teach them things. You should be able to teach NPCs things, period. And the skill training system needs a revamp. You should be able to set appointments for verious things that warrant them. You should be able to pose - as in, posing for a picture. And the environment should be destructible.

Whoo, I really went off on a tangent there. :( Sorry!

- WorshipsMeridia What I wanted to say is that certain NPCs (the quest ones) are protected in 2 ways. Firstly, when they go into recovery, they will stop getting attacked and become immune to damage over time effects (they can still die if you are not careful). Second, enemies will prioritise attacking the random NPCs and you before they go after these protected NPCs. This makes the quest givers less likely to suddently die without making them invincible.

I think to have an audio for a voice is cool, but they should let you choose sound clips. I would enjoy skyrim more if my evil vampire character could, for example, speak with Alduin's voice (or something similar)

Allowing the protagonist to choose the opening line is a good idea as well. It makes for more immersive dialogue and makes the game more interesting. Maybe one day, we might have intelligent AI that can converse with us when we use a microphone (not anytime soon, though)

Yes, kids should be killable, like the rest of the population (I know beth's rationale it that killing kids is wrong, but thats a bad rationale, as its a game). They could have more options (like you can give them sweetrolls etc). Instead of just adoption, maybe there could be timeskip so the player can have "real" virtual kids?

Followers should know how to run when they are going to die. Also, they should know when to cast restoration/use potions for maximum effect. Maybe, even have follower intelligence, courage and loyalty to determine when they will give up the fight?

Crafting mose stuff, like clothes, instead of buying them seems like a pretty good idea.

Hiring mercs to do a quest is good, except that there is failure rate. Also, you should be able to send followers to do trivial quests, with failure rate calculated according to their stats. Mercs might just run off with your cash, but followers will always be loyal?

Training should not be limited times per level, but rather it takes time AND money to train. For example, if a mage trained you in destruction, he might actually have a destruction duel with you (he becomes essential and he stops when he drops below 3% HP or if you are defeated), the duels becoming harder as you level up in destruction, rather than just levelling up the skill for cash. Also, trainers with a good desposition to you might give discounts/give you training tips for free/give you skill books which you must finish reading etc (the latter 2 are rare, like 1% chance),

Anyway, a new idea. Improvised weaponry (for example, in a fight, you can pick up a fork and stab it into your enemy, you can smash a melon on his head, you can beat him with a broom etc) anyone?