The folks over at bethesda have said they like to play other games that are out to see what people are rponding to. Games like mass effect have made character interactions such a huge part if games. Do you think that Skyrim will have anything like this. I felt very lonley in oblivion. I never spoke, or touched anyone. I had no friends or "real" companions...only a nord maid in Skingrad that gave me wine and pie. If you want me to save the world i'd like to have a few friends to make it worth saving. Anyone else with me?

I believe they are, it mentioned it somewhere. Not it like dragon age style, more like to effect the quests that are generated and how people respond.

I agree, V needs moar nord maids to give you wine and pie , apples can be added as a DLC .

I'd like to see friends and such, but only courting and marriage if they do it right

I believe one of the updates mentioned that NPC`s may join you as companions to go on quests.

Hopefully there will be more companionship in Skyrim as playing Oblivion on the Xbox 360 was horrible without any companion mods.

The brotherhood/mage followers were just..meh.

Yeah, the new RAI looks to rectify one of the biggest issues with TES and RPG's in general. The way NPC's react to your presence and actions.

In oblivion, you could talk someone up until they liked you 100 % and then simply MOVE (not take) a simple worthless object on a table and they would call the guards on you, or even attack you.

My friend was playing the other day in a tavern in the Imperial City and he accidentally pressed A on a cup in the middle of a bar and everyone in the bar stood up, called for the guards, ect. It realy kinda pulls you out of the game.


The new AI system keeping track of who your friends are, and NPC's reacting more realistically to your actions is a dream come true for TES.

I would love to able to have a romance in TES-Skyrim...in a game so rich with fantasy and culture, beautiful cities and mountain vistas, the world itself has a romantic feel to it already. It doesn't need to be as fleshed out as other games, but I would love to find someone, use speechcraft or illusion magic to make them like you more and ask them to move into your home. I just want someone there when I'm done looting caves and killing trolls...is that so much to ask?

I know exactly what you mean. When i first played Oblivion, i loved it but after playing Mass Effect and Dragon Age... well Bethesdas games just start to feel lonely, even in Fallout 3 life was a lonely one. I never felt i had a single friend. I would love if Bethesda took notis of how BioWare handles NPCs, then again, i would also love if BioWare took notis of how Bethesda handle open worlds. Because when i play Dragon Age, i miss Bethesdas eye for details and openness. It's sad really :laugh:

Maybe even the possibility of marrying into royalty and getting some property like a small fort with a village. This would obviously be happening in the later stages of the game (level and fame requirements would have to be in place). Also side missions. But then again romance in video games is usually lame so i don't know how it could work and not look cheesy.

I agree 100%! Oblivion has been out for almost 5 years and I still have never played a game like it. The massive open world, the eye for detail...the world felt alive! My only complaint about TES4 for be the character are UGLY and every NPC might be walking around living their AI life, but it was lame cause I just wanted them to hang out with me...even if they do have vomit enducing faces.

I'd be very happy if Bethesda included a romance sub-plot (optional, of course), but I have no expectation that it'll happen. In fact, I'm very doubtful that Bethesda will even include questing companions. Having an NPC tagging along for a specific quest isn't the same thing at all. There's no time (and hence not enough dialogue) to get an insight into the NPC's character - unless they've been written as a caricature.

The Elder Scrolls series has some great strengths, but questing companions aren't one of them.

"The improved Radiant AI technology is also more aware of how a citizen should react to your actions. As you perform tasks for them or terrorize them by ransacking their home, the NPCs develop feelings about you. If you're good friends with a particular NPC and barge into his house during the middle of the night, he may offer you lodging rather than demand you leave the premises. “Your friend would let you eat the apple in his house,” Howard says. If you swing your weapon near an NPC, knock items off their dinner table, or try to steal something of value, they'll react with an appropriate level of hostility given their prior relationship to you."

Straight from the GI website, in their article about http://www.gameinformer.com/games/the_elder_scrolls_v_skyrim/b/xbox360/archive/2011/01/17/the-technology-behind-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim.aspx. I don't know how deep this relationship system goes, but sounds like steps in the right direction to me.

Since I don't really have real life friends, I sure hope so!!!!

Seriously, not too important to me. I'm usually in it for the exploration and dungeon crawling. I love to mess with the AI but I don't consider that making friends. On the other hand, if the AI can interact with me in a realistic fashion I'm truly impressed from a technical standpoint and will spend hours and hours watching what they do and how they react to what I do. But alternatively, that is to say, on the first hand, I like that even if the AI is kind silly. Oh yes, I just trashed your house - oh yes, you didn't react at all!