gothic 1 & gothic 2 pretty much set the standard for RPG atmosphere. Oblivion's version is just.. fail. it was too ambitious (yet far too simple than it should've been... I saw those E3 videos and it was crazy. the RAI was hyped to the skies!).

RAI was overhyped. Personally I think clever scripting can do a better job of it. I mean, I enjoyed watching a guy pickpocket someone else and get killed by a guard. And yet, should he have done it with the guard right there? Should the guard have killed him over a piece of cheese?

I just want a better interaction system, ie, being able to tell every NPC simple commands whose success is based on disposition. And a better disposition system. If I bribe a guy 10 gold, he might tell me a secret, once. If I give him 100 gold, he might help me kill someone. And although his Disposition raised enough to help me kill someone that day, it would fall back down. It would be a LITTLE higher, cause he knows I got the cash. But there's a "what have you done for me lately" necessity. But while bribed loyalty is short lived, the kind earned through friendship or affiliation would be more permanent.

I am sure most of you have read this or about this, but here's a link about the Radiant AI for Oblivion:

http://adamshrugged.com/money/radiant-ai-revisited/

Yeah I never liked the 'it was great at first, very clever, but everyone started killing people to get what they want so it had to be dumbed down' explanation. Certainly there's a way to make them not kill other people to get what they need. I don't think it was ever much more advanced than what we saw in Oblivion ourselves, and that E3 video was just ridiculous.

But, it's more than just scripts.

There is a difference between a script that tells an NPC to stand at position X,Y,Z in the market at 9:00 and a script that tells an NPC to go to the market and eat at 9:00. The second type of scripting leaves open how the NPC will get the food and leads to more randomized behavior.

RAI is not as miraculous as it was hyped but it is better than Gothic NPC scripts.

I'm hopeful too, now this game in part is made for current generation consoles (I'll get it on the PC OFC) - areas where they still can innovate is the AI, the already confirmed animations, and perhaps the main story (!) ?

Opponent AI in combat and NPC dialogue options seem to be the more pressing NPC related issues imo. I would also like more skill depth so that when I just want to play a specific character type it is satisfying, rather than "Being able to specialize means everyone else who wants to do EVERYTHING with EVERY character has to put more effort into the game!" I think that would kind of be the point, no?