What's the reason that alternative forms of obtaining information from NPCs is so underutilized?

[laclongquan]

Well that is because their stories suck donkey balls. Just because it's writings in a GAEM dont make it any less demanding quality-wise.

Sadly many game writerz believe exactly so. And thus that must have meant gamers dont read their stories because they are illiterate, not because the writers (and their writings) are subpar.

 

[S.torch]

Many devs are for some reason convinced that players don't bother to read their stories. I'm sure you've watched that disgusting Emil Pulg..whateverthefuckhisnameis (Bethesda's) presentation about stories etc. They think just because their shitty little focus group is full of ADHD'd retards then they should just go for quest markers etc. instead of actual information delivered by language.

Even here in the Codex you have people that hate to read. Gameplayfags just want to smash smash.

 

[Lacrymas]

You can charm Centeol (the spider woman) in BG1 and learn about Irenicus too.

 

[Bester]

You can charm Centeol (the spider woman) in BG1 and learn about Irenicus too.

Screens pls.

 

[Lacrymas]

You can charm Centeol (the spider woman) in BG1 and learn about Irenicus too.

Screens pls.

 

[Infinitron]

You don't even need to charm her. However, in the original version of the game she calls him "Jon Icarus".

Like many characters in the Baldur's Gate games, Jon Irenicus is based on a character from James Ohlen's AD&D tabletop adventures. This is an earlier reference to that same character.

 

[Lacrymas]

Yeah, I meant that she goes a bit more in-depth about it.

 

[Infinitron]

Tanova appears in Baldur's Gate 2 as one of Bodhi's vampires, although there's no indication there that she's anybody special.

 

[luj1]

By this I'm referring to:

• Charm in BG1. They put a lot of effort into giving NPCs charmed dialogue, even NPCs you wouldn't consider charming. Nearly every named NPC has charmed dialogue. Saw much less use in BG2, sadly. I think every BG clone since has skipped this(?)
• Conjure Spirit in Arcanum. Underutilized, likely due to production constraints.
• Mind Reading in Divinity 2. Costs XP to use to offset such a powerful ability.
• I'm pretty sure Wiz8 had some special dialogues if you charmed NPCs.

Can you think of any other RPGs which implement mechanics like this?

Grimoire too. Mindread spell.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[thesecret1]

Makes you wonder who the hell their focus group is. Reminds me of that time a play tester for Dishonored was told by an NPC that he cannot go to the second floor (which is where the objective is), so he didn't go there and just bumbled about, not knowing how to proceed

 

[The Great ThunThun*]

General lack of creativity and apathy. Yeah, I know it has been mentioned in one form or other. But I want to stress that I'd rather blame incompetence before I blame Malice.

 

[janjetina]

How would you go about obtaining information from those:

Spoiler

 

[Corvinus]

You can charm Centeol (the spider woman) in BG1 and learn about Irenicus too.

Like many characters in the Baldur's Gate games, Jon Irenicus is based on a character from James Ohlen's AD&D tabletop adventures. This is an earlier reference to that same character.

Tanova appears in Baldur's Gate 2 as one of Bodhi's vampires, although there's no indication that she's anybody special.

I always thought it was interesting to read their Charmed dialogues - and Centeol's is more in depth than most. It must have been quite a bit more work for the developers, but it is such details that makes a game stand out. Thanks for sharing. Also, does anyone know if there's any information about James Ohlen's PnP campaigns or the development of Baldur's Gate somewhere?

 

[huskarls]

you can also heal mental illness with any heal spell in the BG games, but yeah easter eggs are in decline from a lack of conception rather than budget. maybe half of the people involved in development don't know what an easter egg is and the other half are so divorced from when it was popular thought to include obscure content

 

[Infinitron]

Also, does anyone know if there's any information about James Ohlen's PnP campaigns or the development of Baldur's Gate somewhere?

Try here: http://blog.beamdog.com/2017/12/six-siders-space-hamsters.html

 

[Incendax]

Nobody is discussing malkavians

Your reference is spot on. Bloodlines not only had base dialog, but dominate dialog, intimidate dialog, seduction dialog, and the entire story had Malkavian dialog.

 

[Luckmann]

You can charm Centeol (the spider woman) in BG1 and learn about Irenicus too.

That (and the keep one in BG2) were the only ones I knew about.

 

[anvi]

I was gonna mention the DoS talking to animals thing.

In Vanguard there was a diplomacy card game that you play with NPCs if you want information. It played sort of like a simple version of Gwent or something, and if you win you get information, quests, buffs, etc. If you lose you get nada.

I guess you could maybe include the voice logs in System Shock. You don't get to interact with any NPCs because

Spoiler

they are all dead

but at least you get to hear lots of information, can skip it easily if you are not interested, but best of all you can start the log playing and then get back to exploring or doing stuff while the audio plays. So you don't have to stare face to face with a goofy NPC while you listen to their shit.

I always liked being super aggressive in games, if there is an Intimidation skill I like to max that out, because as a mighty wizard short on time and patience, I shouldn't have to take any fucking around from people withholding info and whatnot. I also like it when you can attack people and they surrender before they die and tell you everything.

 

[Chippy]

The barkeep rumours in BG1 & 2 were great as well.

Spoiler

That really made me sound retarded. I'm leaving it up anyway.

 

[Alex]

How would you go about obtaining information from those:

Spoiler

Hacking.

 

[Kruno]

I prefer Exile: Escape from the Pit's method of obtaining information. Simply talking to the NPCs with verbs and nouns. This lets you use prior knowledge of the game to reach areas you otherwise couldn't or would have enormous difficulty with.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Somehow the thread title made me think of kidnapping, torture and blackmail rather than spells

If you know of an RPG that lets you do this, that's an acceptable addition.

Well, Vigilantes has a rather suggestive interrogation screen:

Haven't played it though, so I don't know how exciting it actually is.

Not exciting at all. You click to interrogate and then the dice is rolled and you learn an outcome. The game was fun through.

 

[Beastro]

Interesting about BG. I'll keep that in mind when I eventually play it.

BTW is BG one of those games that to play now you really need a mod or fanpatch to fix shit or is it fine as is?

 

[anvi]

Not exciting at all. You click to interrogate and then the dice is rolled and you learn an outcome. The game was fun through.

I was tempted by Vigilantes but some reviews said the combat is basic and shallow. :/