Interview Gavin Carter talks about Oblivion at IGN

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion; Gavin Carter

There is an interesting <a href=http://pc.ign.com/articles/686/686663p1.html>Oblivion interview</a> at <a href=http://www.ign.com>IGN</a>, featuring Gavin Carter, usual hype, and even some bullshit, so it's a good read:
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<blockquote>Radiant AI is a system that gives our NPCs a certain level of autonomy...(goes on and on about it - VD)... Just the other day I was fighting the "boss" of a particular dungeon -- a nasty orc warrior in heavy armor. As he was tearing me to pieces, he shouted degrading epithets at me. "I'll pick my teeth with your spine, puny elf!" He proved the victor, and in the moments before the load menu came up, he knelt to loot my corpse while muttering with disdain, "Annoying creature." I love it when small random events like that add up into something that fits the character so perfectly.</blockquote>Wow, this Radiant AI is sure awesome, if it can throw random lines at you like that. Just the other day I visited DAC, and was greeted with another random caption saying "yet another random caption". That was very radiant, I think.
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<blockquote>Every skill has a system of four perks that unlock when you raise in skill level. ... The magic skill perks open up access to higher level spells...</blockquote>So, let me get this straight, you need high skills to cast higher level spells, but now when your skills grow higher, you autimatically get a perk that allows you to cast higher level spells... Yeah, that makes sense.
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<blockquote>A master of armorer not only can repair magic weapons and repair weapons up to 125% condition, but his or her repair hammers never get used up.</blockquote>Another fine example of Bethesda's "we didn't have a clue what to do with it, so we went with something stupid" trademark design.
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<blockquote>We plan on having both versions on the shelf absolutely as close to the same date as possible. </blockquote>Hmm, suddenly the simultaneous release dealio doesn't look so promising anymore.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.rpgdot.com">RPG Dot</A>

 

[Claw]

Bah, Gothic did nearly anything Oblivion does with Radiant AI and I don't recall any gushing over it.

 

[obediah]

<blockquote>A master of armorer not only can repair magic weapons and repair weapons up to 125% condition, but his or her repair hammers never get used up.</blockquote>Another fine example of Bethesda's "we didn't have a clue what to do with it, so we went with something stupid" trademark design.

When in doubt, make a number bigger. Oh well, managing pluses has been the most complex part of most "rpgs" over the last few years anyway. hooray.

 

[Breaking3po]

when ever repair anything, all I need is a hammer.

 

[Elwro]

Yeah it's not easy to invent something less motivating than the "immortal hammer" perk... not that anyone ever had problems with buying new hammers in MW...

I wonder what will the weapon perks look like?

1.Weak Bash: +5 dmg
2.Bash: +10 dmg
3.Strong Bash: +15 dmg
4.Master Bash: +20 dmg and you always hit; but you can get this perk only if your skill level is high enough so that you always hit.

 

[Thrawn05]

Blunt axes? Immortal hammers? What's next?

 

[Lumpy]

We know that one of the high level weapon perks will be Critical Hit, which will allow you to stun opponents for a couple of seconds.

 

[S4ur0n27]

BREAKTHROUGHT!

 

[Watermark]

Although the whole idea of immortal hammers sounds ludocrous, i like the fact that you can get feedback from the monsters. Now if they also tried to violate my corpse after the battle due to my high charisma/appearance stats, i would feel loved and accepted.

 

[Elwro]

Perhaps the option is already in, but the "LOAD GAME" menu pops up almost immediately after your death, obstructing the view. Will have to use console...
But even if it's not in - have faith in modders!

 

[Watermark]

Ah, gentle Elwro. I do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands.

 

[Section8]

NPCs will engage in a whole host of activities. They converse with each other with dynamically generated conversations.

Does "dynamically generated conversations" sound like a bit of a fanciful wank to anyone else? How about, "they dynamically converse with each other with fully scripted and voiced conversations." Either that, or they're going the route of:

NPC 1: <generic statement>
NPC 2: <out of context response that makes no fucking sense>

Dynamic!

Yet they still manage to surprise us every once in a while. Just the other day I was fighting the "boss" of a particular dungeon...<snip>

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! THAT'S AMAZING!!!1! I could not believe it when I was attacked by a suicidal dunmer bitch in Morrowind, and as she was attacking, she screamed things like "Die fetcher!" and "You n'wah!" I love it when small random events like that add up into something that fits the character so perfectly.

I can't wait! Smack talking NPCs! Who'd have thunk it!

God Bethesda shit me.

 

[Fresh]

Yeah I also didn't understand what Gavin was fussing about with the orc. The oneliners sounds like something out of GTA:SA.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Teh RPG revolushun is finally here!

 

[Micmu]

So does the orc corpse-rape you?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Yeah I also didn't understand what Gavin was fussing about with the orc. The one-liners sounds like something out of GTA:SA.

Are you implying that there is nothing radiant about Radiant AI?

 

[Fresh]

Yeah I also didn't understand what Gavin was fussing about with the orc. The one-liners sounds like something out of GTA:SA.

Are you implying that there is nothing radiant about Radiant AI?

Not at all. The existence of Radiant AI is emphasised by all world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and several others. And in their systematic exploration of non-physical realities, they have come across a number of negative beings, for which Radiant AI is the appropriate term.

 

[oherror]

Yeah I also didn't understand what Gavin was fussing about with the orc. The one-liners sounds like something out of GTA:SA.

Are you implying that there is nothing radiant about Radiant AI?

course thats what he's implying....we all know thats its true...

 

[kris]

So does the orc corpse-rape you?

I'll be calling Jack Thompson ASAP.

 

[Thrawn05]

So does the orc corpse-rape you?

Depends on his agility attribute.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Well, since everyone already got their kicks with this thread, I just wanted to comment that this:

He proved the victor, and in the moments before the load menu came up, he knelt to loot my corpse while muttering with disdain, "Annoying creature." I love it when small random events like that add up into something that fits the character so perfectly.

May be fun a few times but seems wasted because it's something which isn't seen very often, unless players go out of their way to kill their own PC so they can watch given NPC comments. Since this isn't working based on a respawn system akin to firstperson shooters - where such taunts can actually egg players to fight better against AI-controlled opponents - it really doesn't seem too interesting.

 

[Zufuriin]

I'm sure they considered adding respawning into the game. I mean, it's only a few clicks away (or autoload) from reloading anyway. I'm surprised they haven't added that.

 

[Balor]

Well, question is, I bet same will happen when an NPC will kill an other NPC...
And will lead to 'WTF? He took my LOOT!" .

 

[Thrawn05]

Well, question is, I bet same will happen when an NPC will kill an other NPC...
And will lead to 'WTF? He took my LOOT!" .

I just see this as one big mess. You can't predict this stuff to any great accuracy. Eventualy after the game has run for like 50 hours, things are going to get screwy. People complained about the bland NPCs in MW, wait till they see OB. I bet good money some of the fanboys are going to bitch about the NPC in OB being too lively.

Chaos Theory baby!!!!

 

[Balor]

Well, I'll actually love this... provided it's not just hype, you know.