Elder Scrolls More games should have NPC schedules

[rusty_shackleford]

e.g., For something that's a relatively small feature of Oblivion and was probably overlooked, some of these are pretty detailed.

Quill-Weave of Anvil travels to Chorrol once a month to meet with her friend and fellow scribe to swap stories, the travel time takes 36 in-game hours.
Countess Alessia Caro of Leyawiin travels to Castle Chorrol once a month with her entourage.
Hasathil of Anvil cheats on her husband daily with the blacksmith's apprentice behind the stables.
Renee Geonette of the Imperial City travels to Anvil occasionally to meet her friend and stay at her place.
Quite a few people are secretly hooked on Skooma and travel to the den to get their fix
etc.,

It's one of those things that really improves the overall atmosphere of the game.
What games do you know of that have detailed NPC schedules that are more than walk around/go to sleep?

 

[S.torch]

Stardew Valley

 

[Egosphere]

doesn't do anything, unless there are quests that force you to pay attention to an npc's schedule

 

[overly excitable young man]

It binds a lot of ressources without making the game that much better. Something like that would be the cherry on the cake if everything else would be perfect.
Also it's very hard to implement. In case of Oblivion it even produces new bugs like questgivers dying.

You have to play Outcast. Finding NPCs can get very annoying:
"Have you seen that person (talan)?"
"I have not seen that person today."

"Have you seen that person?"
"I have seen that person a while ago on the rice field."

Which would be the organic way to do this.
Or questmarkers to every NPC.
The one is annoying and the other is lame.

 

[JarlFrank]

doesn't do anything, unless there are quests that force you to pay attention to an npc's schedule

It increases the believability of the world. Gothic 2's Khorinis wouldn't be the same if everyone was just standing around at static locations, never going to work or to the pub or to bed.

 

[overly excitable young man]

In Gothics it's done the exact right amount, but the NPCs don't do that much.
1. They stand up
2. They work
3. They go to a pub/arena
4. They go to bed

Templars are walking between the mine and the swamp camp in G1.
Nothing like that in G2.

 

[Egosphere]

doesn't do anything, unless there are quests that force you to pay attention to an npc's schedule

It increases the believability of the world. Gothic 2's Khorinis wouldn't be the same if everyone was just standing around at static locations, never going to work or to the pub or to bed.

That's not what the original post was about.

What games do you know of that have detailed NPC schedules that are more than walk around/go to sleep?

The question is, do schedules that are more complex than simply going about your business/going to bed add to the atmosphere of the game? Would having some gnomes leave Tarant once a month add to Arcanum's atmosphere? My answer is no, it wouldn't, unless you get a kick out spending hours on stalking some random npc for no good reason.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

The question is, do schedules that are more complex than simply going about your business/going to bed add to the atmosphere of the game? Would having some gnomes leave Tarant once a month add to Arcanum's atmosphere? My answer is no, it wouldn't, unless you get a kick out spending hours on stalking some random npc for no good reason.

I get a kick out of running into an NPC while they're engaging in activities inside the gameworld, yes. It's an illusion I'm willing to actively partake in because it increases my enjoyment of the game and the believability of the game world.

 

[Neanderthal]

Ultima 7 more than a quarter century back had this in spades, but obviously now with all the innovation and advancement we can't expect such a feature from overworked devs, they should focus on shit combat, copy pasted loot and straight corridor building.

# entitlement!

 

[someone else]

travels Britannia pubs with his gypsy band including Zoltan, King Of The Gypsies.

http://wiki.ultimacodex.com/wiki/Kador

 

[DJOGamer PT]

doesn't do anything, unless there are quests that force you to pay attention to an npc's schedule

It increases the believability of the world. Gothic 2's Khorinis wouldn't be the same if everyone was just standing around at static locations, never going to work or to the pub or to bed.

Yeah that's cool and all, but if the game doesn't properly take advantage of this, then it's just wasted resources to makes things more pretty.

Using rusty_shackleford examples.
What's the impact of destroying the skooma den? Does it affect in any way the addicted NPC's and by extension their communities? Do new quests appear?
Can I blackmail Hasathil of Anvil? What happen if I tell her husband that she's cucking him? Would it open a Dark Botherhood quest if I did so?

If the answer is no, then they wasted time in what pretty much amounts to decoration instead of focusing in their gameplay and quests.
Actually what is even more baffling is that they came up with these neat details, but didn't bother with coming up with cool quest surrounding it. Seriously, why didn't they cut down the number of those god-afwul oblivion gates and used that money in making quests surrounding these events?

Stardew Valley

Schedules are an import aspect of any proper Harvest Moon clone really.

 

[Shinji]

There aren't many games that try to give the player the illusion that NPC's are self-motivated -- other than the "wake up, walk around, sleep" cycle
In Oblivion it was flawed, but it was a start. They could have improved upon the AI for future releases, but unfortunately they decided to dumb it down in Skyrim and leave it as that.

 

[grimace]

Can NPCs with schedules exist in a game with fast travel/teleportation?

 

[the mole]

Oblivion with Obscuro's Overhaul and the Better Cities mod is the only rpg ever created worth playing, everything else is inane storyfaggotry, and everything else can't be considered a game in comparison.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Can NPCs with schedules exist in a game with fast travel/teleportation?

Oblivion has both.

 

[grimace]

Can NPCs with schedules exist in a game with fast travel/teleportation?

Oblivion has both.

Immersion breaking!

Does Kingdom Come: Deliverance have NPC schedules?

Are there characters in Wizardry 8 who have a schedule that changes based on what your party does?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Thought this was a mfkndggrfll thread at first. The king of fucked up schedules is this nigga. Had to hunt him down for a while.

Spoiler

Fathis Ules is a Dunmer fence based in the Elven Gardens District of the Imperial City. Because of his affiliation with the Thieves Guild, he will only offer you his services once you have been promoted to the rank of Master Thief upon completion of the Arrow of Extrication quest. With 1500 gold Fathis has the most gold of any merchant in the game but due to his mastery of Mercantile, he pushes extremely hard bargains.

Being one of the highest ranking operatives in the Imperial City as well as the guild's best fence means Fathis travels around the great city constantly, supposedly to avoid unwanted attention and to seek out potential sellers and new members. True to his profession, he spends most of the night out and only goes to bed at 5am, sleeping in the double bed on the second floor of Dul gro-Shug's House. After waking up at 11am, he sets off for a two-hour brunch at the nearby King and Queen Tavern. Once he's full, he heads for either the Arboretum (on Tirdas and Turdas) or the Market District (all other days), where he will be found wandering around until 5pm; at which point he makes for the Tiber Septim Hotel to enjoy a luxurious dinner. He leaves at 7pm and heads back to the Elven Gardens District, spending all the night until 5am sitting on the chest behind his house. On Sundas, he will visit the Temple of the One between 7pm and 11pm. Once you become the Gray Fox, he will spend his nights at Dareloth's House along with his fellow guildmates. Fathis was also intended to play a role in the unfinished Imperial Couriers quest; at midday on the 18th of each month, as long as Wilbur is still alive, he will head to the Black Horse Courier and stay there for a brief moment before he resumes his usual schedule.

The other large exception to this schedule is once you've completed the Legacy Lost quest, at which point Fathis relocates to The Oak and Crosier inn in Chorrol. For the next two days, he will be found wandering around the inn, stopping to eat dinner between 8pm and 11pm. If you return to Chorrol after two days have gone by, he will seek you out and offer you a job to retrieve a certain item; in the process informing you that the Jemane brothers' father was a guild thief. After the quest is initiated, Fathis will drink all day long from 9am to 9pm, causing the townsfolk to remark: "One of the Gray Fox's top bosses, they say. Spends all day drinking at the Oak and Crosier, but he's been asking questions about the Jemanes." At 9pm, he will get out of his chair, pick up some food and sit down again, eating until midnight. He then wanders around the inn all night long.

He will offer his illegal bartering services at all times, provided you have fenced enough stolen goods and rank as Master Thief. Like most other fences he will try to remain as discreet as possible and will not offer you his services while traveling from one place to another. A number of bugs will prevent Fathis from bartering with you at specific times, specifically when he spends time in Dareloth's house between 7pm and 5am and when sleeping in Dul gro-Shug's house between 5am and 11am. Also, after you have completed Sins of the Father, it is impossible to barter with Fathis ever again. See the bugs section for details.

Quite a few people are secretly hooked on Skooma and travel to the den to get their fix

Worth noting that the door to the den is locked at first so until you unlock it for them they will just stand in front of it until it's time to go back.



The schedules in Majora's Mask did make the world a lot livelier than Ocarina of Time.

https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Bombers'_Notebook#Notebook_Entries

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Worth noting that the door to the den is locked at first so until you unlock it for them they will just stand in front of it until it's time to go back.

UOP fixed this in its first release over 13 years ago

 

[HarveyBirdman]

Schedules are cool. This is better:
>give NPCs goals, give them tools to achieve those goals, iterate through machine learning until their actions appear lifelike --> viola!

 

[d1nolore]

doesn't do anything, unless there are quests that force you to pay attention to an npc's schedule

It increases the believability of the world. Gothic 2's Khorinis wouldn't be the same if everyone was just standing around at static locations, never going to work or to the pub or to bed.

That's not what the original post was about.

What games do you know of that have detailed NPC schedules that are more than walk around/go to sleep?

The question is, do schedules that are more complex than simply going about your business/going to bed add to the atmosphere of the game? Would having some gnomes leave Tarant once a month add to Arcanum's atmosphere? My answer is no, it wouldn't, unless you get a kick out spending hours on stalking some random npc for no good reason.

You quoted the question from the OP and got the question wrong.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Schedules are cool. This is better:
>give NPCs goals, give them tools to achieve those goals, iterate through machine learning until their actions appear lifelike --> viola!

Oblivion does have this to some limited degree though.
e.g., NPCs have to find food to eat, and NPCs with low responsibility have no problem stealing it.

I do agree that Oblivion has many issues, but it's a shame that other games don't even try.

 

[HarveyBirdman]

Schedules are cool. This is better:
>give NPCs goals, give them tools to achieve those goals, iterate through machine learning until their actions appear lifelike --> viola!

Oblivion does have this to some limited degree though.
e.g., NPCs have to find food to eat, and NPCs with low responsibility have no problem stealing it.

Yes, to a very limited degree. I'm crossing my fingers and sacrificing virgins in hopes the new Daggerfall successor project will figure it out.

 

[grimace]

We must gather together and storm reddit to save the spirit of Daggerfall.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CouncilOfWisdom/

One of you brave souls can start a NPC schedules thread and explain how it ought to be done.

Schedules are cool. This is better:
>give NPCs goals, give them tools to achieve those goals, iterate through machine learning until their actions appear lifelike --> viola!

Oblivion does have this to some limited degree though.
e.g., NPCs have to find food to eat, and NPCs with low responsibility have no problem stealing it.

Yes, to a very limited degree. I'm crossing my fingers and sacrificing virgins in hopes the new Daggerfall successor project will figure it out.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

UOP fixed this in its first release over 13 years ago

The unofficial patch is not available on the xbox 360 which is the purist's platform of choice.