Preview Oblivion prefun at C&VG

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

There's a <A href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/previews/previews_story.php(que)id=121667">preview</A> of <A href="http://www.elderscrolls.com">Oblivion</a> on <A href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/">Computer and Video Games</a>. Basically, rehashing most everything we've already heard, like:
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<blockquote>A major criticism of Morrowind was the lack of truly interactive NPCs, but this looks to have been improved drastically with Bethesda's new 'radiant AI' system. Basically, non-player characters now have full day/night schedules, general goals and personalities. They'll engage in non-scripted conversations with each other pulled from data in the world, and will react to you differently, depending on your character and previous actions. You can have conversations with NPCs, or just eavesdrop on them to discover new side-quests and find out valuable information. The new 'persuasion area' allows you to give your replies some attitude, so you can bully them, for example, or tell a joke - the one about the goblin and the farmer's daughter is always a winner. You can tell by the superb facial animation and tone of their voice if you've managed to win them over - or become the social equivalent of an income tax inspector. </blockquote>
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I'm sure IRS agents have lots of friends looking to avoid audits.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</A>

 

[Psilon]

Um, how's the persuasion area different from the Polite/Normal/Blunt setting in Daggerfall?

 

[Vykromond]

I'm guessing they probably tried for something more like the "conversation wheel" of the Sims 2. That's what the article makes it sound like.

 

[Visbhume]

I'm guessing they probably tried for something more like the "conversation wheel" of the Sims 2.

I haven't played The Sims 2. How does that "conversation wheel" thing work ?

 

[Vykromond]

IIRC, since I only booted the game up once or twice, clicking on a Sim other than yours brought up a circular "wheel" of conversation options, with like "insult," "tell a joke," "flirt," "hug," etc. Nothing earth-shattering, but there was a variety of options.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Yup, it brought up a radial menu based on your relationship with the other sim, what that sim is doing, and what's going on around them. How the interactions go is based on the skills of the sim, their relationships, their mood, their interests and so on. It's a fairly simple front end for a rather complex system under it.

Even something as simple as chatting is pretty complex because your sim will talk about things that interest it and if the other sim isn't interested in that, it will annoy the other one.

 

[Vykromond]

I think that could be an interesting tool if someone tried to incorporate it into an RPG framework. I'm not sure if it would work, but it's a thought.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Sounds interesting - I hope they didn't do the conversation wheel thing. Something like that worked in The Sims because all they said was "Blah blah" Sim-Speak. Picking a generic "Tell Joke" option for an RPG with fully-voiced dialogue would be a bad idea. Better if you could choose from a list of jokes which is selected based on a skill or something - and depending on what jokes you've learned from talking to people in the game.

 

[Claw]

Did you miss this article on RPGDot maybe? Get the mp3, relevant bit starts at ~2:35; there is some text on it in the article, too.

 

[NeutralMilkHotel]

Dialogue sounds like a mixture of topics and Dialogue line choices (like, how role-player excellently described how it might work if the two systems were combined in another oblivion thread).


Presenter: "so, people are also influenced by the words you choose in dialogue"

NPC's reply to whatever he was choosing say: "there's no reason to be rude"
"you can leave now if you want"
"oh, silly me, I should have known you were only teasing"
"Please, come on up stairs with me"

 

[Spazmo]

Better if you could choose from a list of jokes which is selected based on a skill or something - and depending on what jokes you've learned from talking to people in the game.

Basically, Insult Swordfighting from Monkey Island then?

 

[Vykromond]

Did you miss this article on RPGDot maybe? Get the mp3, relevant bit starts at ~2:35; there is some text on it in the article, too.

Ha, it is a conversation wheel! Called it!

Thanks for the link, Claw. Since this is the only RPG website I read, I completely missed out on that mp3.