» Tue Oct 07, 2014 11:30 pm WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD!!!
After logging god-knows how many hours into Skyrim, I'm noticing something about Skyrim:
They got rid of the Radiant AI system!
Oh, they CLAIM that it's still there, and they are good at making the ILLUSION that it's still there, but it isn't nearly as fully realized as it was in Oblivion.
In Oblivion, NPCs went about their daily activities, even while the player was absent. Except that they actually DID them! The actions and schedules of NPCs still physically happened, whether you were there to see them or not.
In Skyrim, this was nerfed, so that the consequences of these actions happen, without the actions themselves.
Let me give you an example: There's a quest available at the beginning of the game, where you can ask a local farmer named Loreus to help a stranded Cicero with his wagon wheel. Or, you could opt ot turn Cicero into a guard for possession of contraband. If you choose the latter option, Loreus will appear, in his farm, cut up and dead.
The IMPLICATION is that Cicero killed him and his wife out of anger. However, that's not what actually happens. Nor is Cicero ever actually arrested. Cicero just stands there, indefinitely, until you reach his debuting spot in the Dark Brotherhood questline, and Loreus and his wife both just randomly drop dead for no apparent reason.
Also, if you convince Loreus to help Cicero, he never actually does so. You could return, ten months later, and Loreus and Cicero will still act as if they the wheel-repair was mere moments away. Then, when you reach the spot in the DB questline, he just gets teleported there.
Hell, you could go and kill that Dawnstar miner, travel south down the road to Falkreath, pass by Cicero on the way down there, enter the Sanctuary, and there Cicero is, talking to the Brotherhood, even though he never passed you on the road!
Now, you may think to yourself "Well, if I'm not there to see it, why does it NEED to happen!"
Well, to answer that question, let me tell you about a really fun gameplay mechanic from Oblivion. It was called the "Poisoned Apple," and using it really helped add to immersion, because using it the correct way made you feel like a REAL Assassin!
The way the poisoned apple worked was thus: You followed your target around (like an actual assassin), and learned when and where he hate food. Then, you entered that location when he wasn't around, and removed all the food in that location, and placed the apple there. Then, when it was meal time, they would only have the one apple that you left for them, so that was what they had to eat. When they ate the apple, they died.
But here's the good part: You didn't have to stick around to see that happen! As long as you did it correctly, you could go off and explore a nearby cave or ruin, and at some random interval, you would get a quest update saying that the target was dead.
So, having TRUE radiant AI (rather than the psuedo-radiant AI found in Skyrim) actually added immersion to the game in a distinctly noticeable way, even though you didn't HAVE to stay there to see it!
Now, on the other hand, let's take a look at Skyrim's pseudo-radiant AI:
In the quest "The Book of Love," you are tasked with going to Ivarstead and helping Fastrad choose between two bachelors. Whichever bachelor you side with will then run to Fastred, who COULD be out working the field in her parent's farm, OR she could be in her parent's house. If it's the latter, they will also enter the house.
Now, if you've done that quest a hundred times before, and already know exactly what's going to happen, you may think to yourself "Well, it looks like my work here is done. No need to stick around for the fireworks. I'll be heading back to Riften now."
Well, guess what? You can't do that! You have to enter the house and listen to the conversation - even though the quest itself requires no further input on your part - or else the conversation won't happen. Because Skyrim takes the approach of "If the player isn't there to see it, what's the point?" Thus, any time they want something to happen without you being there, they have to program that in manually (such as Loreus' scripted death), and Bethesda forgot to manually program in that this quest would be updated the same as if Fastred and the bachelor had their conversation.
Now, it's kind of hard to BLAME Bethesda for this! I mean, they are just human; it's understandable that they're going to make the occassional slip-up.
But, why are these slip-ups even available as a possibility? If Bethesda had kept its true radiant AI, they wouldn't HAVE to program this quest to update artificially! Fastred and the Bachelor would have their convesation in the player's absense; thus, no need to bypass it.
So, as you can see, having TRUE radiant AI actually makes a difference with immersion! And I really hope that, with a new generation of consoles, Bethesda can bring back the REAL radiant AI from Oblivion!
Thoughts?
