oscar said:
Detail is always great but I see no reason why cheap grunts with little or no backstory or dialogue can't be employed for someone who purely needs cannon fodder or a bit more firepower (for a price of course, preferably a daily one).
I like this.
oscar said:
Only thing is that all characters being interesting and adding to the story is that it encourages save scumming because otherwise you feel your missing out on some of the story.
This becomes a problem in a game like PST where even one party member's death is a significant blow to the game's plot [I only just found out after some investigation about the 'Raise Dead' ability].
True. But it would add to replayability. Especially if there is interaction between NPCs. How fun would it be to realize that 2 NPCs can't stand each other and eventually one gets punched or shot?
BTW, SS what will be the party size? 1 PC + 3 NPCs?
The Brazilian Slaughter said:
Maybe both? Mercenaries and Companions?
Mercenaries would be hired guns with some dialogue. They're here to get their part of the loot and get back home to live their normal lifes. They have some dialogue, mainly about what they know (and can tell) about certain topics, like some places where they went, their previous bosses, some baddies they shot at, etc. They're not your bros, they're your hired guns. You have to keep them happy and well-paid so they won't put a bullet on the back of your head, or scram with the loot. They're not as good in combat as most companions, but they're the mainstay of the bread and butter combat.
Companions are interesting persons who, for reasons know or unknown (vengeance, refuge, companionship, loot, wanderlust, mission of their own) travel with you. They should be deep persons, interesting and engaging companions with their own life stories and objectives. They also should have unique personnal abilties, dialogue and knowlodge. They also play their parts in some quests and in the main quest.
I think the Merc-Companion rate in the gameworld should be 4 merc per every 1 companion. A good idea would be making Companions cost 2 CH per Companion while Mercs cost 1 CH per companion.
I mostly agree with what you said, but I think the difference between Mercs and Comps should be defined by the interaction you have with them and not by their job.
Suppose you hire or convince 2 mercs to come with you to rob someone and split the loot. You can talk with both of them fine. After you complete the mission merc A goes on with his life, while merc B hints that he's ready for another job or even tag along with you.
What I mean is, there shouldn't be a house with a sign "cannon fodder for hire! non relevant NPCs here".
The fact that an NPC can be a companion should be made through dialog and not with some mercs-cant-be-comps axiom. Note: this is a possible background for a Comp, I'm not saying that all Comps should have a Merc background!
It should be irrelevant which have better skills if mercs or comps. But in fact, it makes sense that it's the weaker guys that want to tag along as they need strength in numbers. Another reason for this is that if mercs are visibly weaker there would be no point for you to hire them.
Finally, mercs should not be seen as summons. Hire merc, get them as human shields until they die and don't have to pay them anything. And then repeat. (what I said in the other thread about having some AI makes even more sense considering this)
IMO that merc-comp rate doesn't make much sense. It shouldn't be something mathematic. It really depends on how it fits the game.
And regarding hire fees, it really depends. You could simply make an offer before hiring. Or decide to split the loot of what you find. (barter & speech into play)
Comps shouldn't be getting paid. The idea is good in theory, but it just causes annoyance. Asking for a cut when you decide to ditch them sounds good (if you get them back or not is another story). And also having them being wary of always having some equipment on sounds good as well. (consider ToEE, NPCs will only give out their equipment from their inventory after some time)