We've already had it confirmed that earning the appreciation of NPC's will have some benefits, such as they may offer you a bed in their home if you break into their house during the night, rather than attacking you or demanding you leave. I'm wondering how deep these benefits will go. Oblivions "relationship" system was very shallow. Play a mini-game, increase a number, get information. That's it. It'd be nice if you could go for a drink with NPC's if their disposition was high enough, or other activities such as hunting, gambling, going to the arena (if there is one.) What the NPC likes doing would be specific to that NPC.

This could even have some significance in quests - if you're trying to ween information out of someone, you could take them to an Inn and get them drunk until they blurt out all their secrets. If you need someone dead, invite them on a hunt and "accidentally" kill them with a stray arrow, or lure them into a wolves den and leave them to the mercy of the wild dogs.

Let me know your thoughts!

Second poll question needs to be a multiple choice thing. If we can only choose one though, I'd go with hunting as that could be very fun and a perfect opportunity to "accidently" hit your NPC buddy with an arrow.

I'd love to be able to play cards and dice for money in Skyrim. I've been wanting to see a proper gambling minigame in a TES game for a while, and it's something that I can see fitting the Nords pretty well.

Sorry, I meant to make it multiple choice. It's fixed now.

I believe it was in the GI podcast in which Todd explained that they toyed with the idea of having every NPC be a potential companion, but sounds like they scrapped that idea.

I heard that too. Still, he said there will be a large number of companions in the game.

I could see this going both ways. It could be cool to pick from a lot of different NPC companions as long as it doesn't get too Fable-y. On the other hand, the limited number of companions available in FO provided for a deeper experience with each companion.

I could see there being a mix. A few companions have deep stories and related quests before they join you, while other, more vanilla companions will just join you and you can use them as a meat sheild.

Yeah, you're right. I also remember hearing that. But I'm not talking about companions, I just mean a quick activity, after which they return home (assuming they can.) For example: A new conversation topic, 'activities,' could be implemented. You can select this, then choose from a list of potential activities like the one in the poll. They then decide, based on their disposition towards you, and maybe other factors like your reputation, the activity in question and their profession (would an old shoemaker really come out hunting?) whether they want to come or not. If you try to abuse this and use them as a companion, they'll notice and go home. Once the activity you offered is over, they'll return home.

Sorry if my meaning wasn't clear!

Double post... my bad. :blush:

I like this :clap:
They should take into account when they decide if they follow you more parameters such as the hour, the weather, their jobs, the "breaks" they have in their schedule, the recent local events (ie dragon attack), whether they have a family or not, their religious/moral allegiances. I'd also like to have shady quarters with thugs and mercenaries that one can hire to help for the dirty jobs like assassinations.

Nice ideas! It definitely makes sense for them to turn you away if you turn up in the middle of the night asking if they want a quick game of cards.

NIKO ITS ROMAN, YOU WANT TO GO BOWLING?

/c


Seriously though, if I wanted friend interaction I'd phone my friends.

Maybe some select NPCs, but if you could do this sort of crap with everyone, it'd really lose it's novelty. Maybe make a few specific NPCs who are, you know, actually interesting and then give them specific activities (hunting, boxing, drinking, etc).

dude, i loved doing that in GTA, it was hilarious. It would add a little realism to the game if they put a mechanic like that

Hahaha, I won't deny that it was GTA that gave me the inspiration for this thread...

gta 4

Obviously drinking.

Skyrim is like the Ireland of Tamriel. :foodndrink:

Yes, lots of the options plus the "other" - chess!

Nice idea! There are probably plenty of other board games which would fit into the nordish culture as well.

activities with npc friends would be fun. adds to immersion and overall gameplay personally i like the gambling, racing and hunting ideas the most