Chris Avellone Talks About NPC Interaction
Chris Avellone Talks About NPC Interaction
Preview - posted by Exitium on Tue 30 November 2004, 21:05:14
Tags: Chris Avellone; Obsidian Entertainment; Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith LordsChris Avellone discusses the NPC interaction in his upcoming title Knights of the Old Republic 2 at the Obsidian Forums. He talks about some of the changes Obsidian has implemented into KOTOR 2 that differ from how NPC interaction was handled in the previous game.
More designer ramblings, this time on Influence.
In K1, you would have the options to speak to your companions about their past or current problems, and these would usually be governed by a pop-up message ([Carth looks worried, perhaps you should speak to him]) or by leveling up.
In K2, we removed the leveling and "so and so looks worried" triggers and incorporated the same mechanic into Influence - instead of pop-up triggers, we've given you a few choices:
1. The amount you can learn about a companion's past, present, or even future problems depends on how much Influence you have with them, not level. So the more time you spend with a companion either crushing their spirit or helping them, the more options this will open in dialogues with them.
2. Influence is not gained simply by doing good and evil acts - it depends on the companion's personality. Some respond better to displays of strength, loyalty, betrayal, or other personality traits that don't always fall neatly into good or evil categories.
3. Influence markers will appear in companion dialogues when you make certain choices - these will be marked as [Influence: Failure] and [Influence: Success], and they'll let you know when you either have or don't have enough Influence to get an answer about a specific question about a companion.
4. The more influence you have with a companion will also begin to have an effect on their alignment (this also depends on the companion - some companions, no matter what your influence is, will not be subject to this alignment shift). In some cases, it will also begin to have an effect on OTHER companions, and they may start getting pissed off in a major way.
5. Some companions are very hard to Influence, and it is difficult to gain maximum Influence with all companions over the course of the game. This is done for replayability reasons.
6. You can only gain Influence with companions who are in your party.
7. And lastly, because some people just hate this crap, you don't ever have to speak to your companions at ALL and your Influence with them will never matter - whether you want to plumb the depths of their personality is solely your choice, and the game will not force it on you.
However...
8. If you do, almost every character has rewards for completing their internal or external Influence companion quests, and it can prove worthwhile in the long run.Discuss!
IGN also makes a report on it, but with less detail. You can read that here.
More designer ramblings, this time on Influence.
In K1, you would have the options to speak to your companions about their past or current problems, and these would usually be governed by a pop-up message ([Carth looks worried, perhaps you should speak to him]) or by leveling up.
In K2, we removed the leveling and "so and so looks worried" triggers and incorporated the same mechanic into Influence - instead of pop-up triggers, we've given you a few choices:
1. The amount you can learn about a companion's past, present, or even future problems depends on how much Influence you have with them, not level. So the more time you spend with a companion either crushing their spirit or helping them, the more options this will open in dialogues with them.
2. Influence is not gained simply by doing good and evil acts - it depends on the companion's personality. Some respond better to displays of strength, loyalty, betrayal, or other personality traits that don't always fall neatly into good or evil categories.
3. Influence markers will appear in companion dialogues when you make certain choices - these will be marked as [Influence: Failure] and [Influence: Success], and they'll let you know when you either have or don't have enough Influence to get an answer about a specific question about a companion.
4. The more influence you have with a companion will also begin to have an effect on their alignment (this also depends on the companion - some companions, no matter what your influence is, will not be subject to this alignment shift). In some cases, it will also begin to have an effect on OTHER companions, and they may start getting pissed off in a major way.
5. Some companions are very hard to Influence, and it is difficult to gain maximum Influence with all companions over the course of the game. This is done for replayability reasons.
6. You can only gain Influence with companions who are in your party.
7. And lastly, because some people just hate this crap, you don't ever have to speak to your companions at ALL and your Influence with them will never matter - whether you want to plumb the depths of their personality is solely your choice, and the game will not force it on you.
However...
8. If you do, almost every character has rewards for completing their internal or external Influence companion quests, and it can prove worthwhile in the long run.
IGN also makes a report on it, but with less detail. You can read that here.
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