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Review SA trashes Oblivion Radiant AI

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,044
Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

<a href=http://www.somethingawful.com>Something Awful</a> has posted this hilarious <a href=http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=3705>review</a> of <a hrfe=http://www.elderscrolls.com/home/home.htm>Oblivion</a>, focusing on the overhyped RAI:
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<blockquote>My adventure in Cyrodiil began in prison. Before I could respond to the inmate flirting with me in the cell across the hall some guards appeared with Patrick Stewart. He told me that he foresaw a video game developer paying him boatloads of money for like two hours of voice work so their queer fantasy game can have some semblance of credibility.
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Back in Morrowind all you had to do to persuade someone was to click "persuade". Based on a number that represented your ability to socialize (which is probably much higher than your real life number, if we had numbers to describe our social skills, which we don't, but the joke is you're probably an anti-social Internet recluse, get it?) you were either successful or unsuccessful.
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In Oblivion it's a lot more fun. When you engage in persuasion with someone you have to joke with them, coerce them, admire them, and boast to them all in one round. To raise their disposition towards you you must perform actions they like with a big piece of the pie chart and perform actions they don't like with a small piece of pie.
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Somehow this causes them to like you more. They'll even comment on your performance after you are done. This makes the game a lot more realistic. In real life when I met my girlfriend I continually coerced and boasted her into letting me see her naked while keeping my admiration and humor as subtle as possible. I'm glad Bethesda finally made persuasion in an RPG more immersive.
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After failing to turn my gay lover against his wife I felt the urge to do a little stalking. Hastrel Ottus was walking by so I decided to follow him. He was a very exciting fellow. He decided to stand by the entrance of Marana Rian's house for 30 minutes. He then got tired of that and decided to stand by a nearby wall for 30 minutes. After that fun he decided to stand in the All-Saints Inn for an hour and a half. Then he went home.
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It was then that I noticed they had a bald butch daughter named Ida Ottus. Oh great, a religious freak. Her day consisted of going to the inn, staring at the wall for, I shit you not, 5 in-game hours, and then coming home. I have to be honest, these NPC 24/7 cycles absolutely blew me away. It was simply amazing... when they did it in MAJORA'S MASK FOR THE NINTENDO 64. ... Apparently radiant A.I. is all about giving NPCs goals and they figure out how to accomplish those goals. I guess they accidentally set everyone's goal to "watch paint dry".</blockquote>Sad, but true. So much for all the hype.
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LaDoushe

Scholar
Joined
Jan 28, 2006
Messages
127
He also talked about all of the rat-killing, and made an allusion to everyone's favorite game (Fallout). Something Awful basically became the codex for a day, with two oblivion topics sandwiching some very ackward pornography.
 

geminito

Liturgist
Joined
Sep 24, 2003
Messages
144
Isn't that Vault Dweller's personal site? The opinions are not surprising.
 

dunduks

Liturgist
Joined
Jan 28, 2003
Messages
389
Screenshots from the review are hilarious, I loved the shot where he puts all the stuff in that fighters room :lol:
And his char looks dreamy :shock:
 

Solik

Scholar
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
377
The Wait feature doesn't work the same as time passing normally. It really only seems to trigger actions based on specific times, like closing up shop.
 

aweigh

Arcane
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Aug 23, 2005
Messages
18,142
Location
Florida
I'm waiting for Jeff K's review of Oblivion. His review of Tomorrowind was awesome.
 

Micmu

Magister
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Aug 20, 2005
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Location
ALIEN BASE-3
If you wait (using Wait function) in a crowded place like a tavern, all NPCs simultaneously get up and rush to the door, make a total mess by knocking things over and pushing each other out of the way. Same thing happens when they all simultaneously appear by the door and then try to get to their chairs.
It looked very immersive.
 

bryce777

Erudite
Joined
Feb 4, 2005
Messages
4,225
Location
In my country the system operates YOU
micmu said:
If you wait (using Wait function) in a crowded place like a tavern, all NPCs simultaneously get up and rush to the door, make a total mess by knocking things over and pushing each other out of the way. Same thing happens when they all simultaneously appear by the door and then try to get to their chairs.
It looked very immersive.

That's hilarious.
 

Lumpy

Arcane
Joined
Sep 11, 2005
Messages
8,525
aweigh said:
I'm waiting for Jeff K's review of Oblivion. His review of Tomorrowind was awesome.
I think JeffK has retired.
 

aweigh

Arcane
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
18,142
Location
Florida
Yeah, Old Kyanka officially retired him but he does do a small update once every 6 months or so. I think the last one is from christmas 2005.
 

Twinfalls

Erudite
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
3,903
I liked the observation of the husband and wife who talk to each other like everyone else - 'any news from the provinces?' etc.
 

Rat Keeng

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 22, 2002
Messages
869
I'm wondering if the Beth-boyz would go so far, as to pay $10 to sign up on SA's forums, just so they can defend their masterpiece. Wouldn't be real fans if they didn't I suppose :)

These cycles can create dynamic quests such as having to find a certain NPC who only goes out on the weekend only that I can't figure out which made up fantasy word used to describe the days of the week means "weekend".
Fun. Probably Gloomstag and Troiubal of second seed, 432E.
 

Claw

Erudite
Patron
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Aug 7, 2004
Messages
3,777
Location
The center of my world.
Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
Isn't at least one of them a member already? I recall an incident where a dev mouthed off about Rabid Fallout Fanboysâ„¢ and NMA staff members was banned after they made a newspost on it.
 

Saint_Proverbius

Administrator
Staff Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2002
Messages
14,040
Location
Behind you.
micmu said:
If you wait (using Wait function) in a crowded place like a tavern, all NPCs simultaneously get up and rush to the door, make a total mess by knocking things over and pushing each other out of the way. Same thing happens when they all simultaneously appear by the door and then try to get to their chairs.
It looked very immersive.

Exitium showed me a video last night where the player was sneaking around a bunch of people eating dinner. The player snuck up behind one guy and did a massive damage sneak attack against him, knocking him up on the table. Nobody else at the dinner table so much as flinched. He moved around and did the same thing to a chick sitting closer to the others. No reaction at all from the other people.

It gets better. After that, the original target gets up, and goes to sit down to start eating again! Nevermind the fact he just got mysteriously back beaten by a big sword, he was apparently really fucking hungry! So, the player did it again while he was in the process of sitting down, thus knocking over chairs, plates, etc. It even knocked him over the table, tumbling around another NPC's lap. The player then did the same thing to the woman he attacked, crashing plates and things abound. Not one of the other people moved or reacted in any way.

RADIANT, BITCHES! YOU'RE IMMERSED IN IT!
 

DarkUnderlord

Professional Throne Sitter
Staff Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2002
Messages
28,544
Saint_Proverbius said:
You know what concerned me most about that video? The fact that even hitting for 6x damage, all they did was become unconscious. Don't tell me every single fucking person at that dinner table is an "Important NPC" which the storyline can't possibly do without?
 

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