Small-Talk worth listening to. : V

» Sat May 22, 2010 6:53 pm

There's a particular piece of small talk you could listen to in a favorite game of mine. See if you can name it:

Guard1: Hey. I'm goin' to the bear pits tomorrow. Wanna come with?

Guard2: Pfuh. Couldn't pay me enough.

Guard1: Whaat? You soft belly. The bears have got these new muzzles with underslung cheek spikes. Heh heh. Last time I was there... Heh. There was a real eye gougin'. Heh hoo hoo.

Guard2: Nah. Naaaaah. It makes me sick. When I was a kid...

Guard1: Huh. Suprised your even in this job. (High pitched girly voice.) Ooooh the blood it turns my poor tummy.

Guard2: Shut up ya taffer! You want blood? Ya shoulda been there years ago. I tell ya, the bears then... They were sumthin' ta see. Those bears they didn't need no cheek spikes or razor collars and paw hooks and all that knifery they straps to em now.

Guard1: No paw hooks? Whud they do? Just... bump into each other?

Guard2: Hah! Naaaaah. Tha bear back then? They had claws as long as yer finger! And wicked teeth!

Guard1: Bears? Yer taffing me. They look pretty mangy and harmless. Long as they're not wearing harness.

Guard2: That's why I can't stand the pits now! You don't know what you missed. They just don't make bears like they used to.

Guard1: Woah! Killer bears. Whuda liked ta see that.

Listening to this was completely optional, but it was there, and it was fantastic. Skyrim needs small talk of this caliber, none of this mudcrab nonsense.

» Sat May 22, 2010 8:27 pm

Haha, That's great. I never heard that one.

It would be nice to fix how NPCs all had conversations at once near you, and at the same volume. I always have to turn my volume down when I'm at the market place, or else my head will explode like it was Fallout 3.

» Sat May 22, 2010 9:58 pm

yeah the small talk always anoyed me, like when i would hear the same 3 things over and over.

» Sat May 22, 2010 2:37 pm

Yeah longer and more conversations available. And when an npc initiates a convo, the other npc will respond with the set script.
Also, they need a friendliness level for each npc. They will only talk to other random npcs if they are friendly enough, and the other npc will only respond if they are friendly enough. Otherwise they'll just brush the initiating npc off. As long as there weren't many very friendly npcs you wouldn't have several conversations going on around you.

» Sat May 22, 2010 2:32 pm

I hadn't ever heard it before but since I've just started playing Thief: The deadly shadows, it sounded like something that would be in a thief game.

A google search later... and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2ehZt4wa3k

» Sat May 22, 2010 12:50 pm

I have to admit, I love the small-talk. Even now, after having played it hundreds of hours, I still like it. It makes the game come more alive and feel more immersive. Yes, I know there are bugs and all that, but I simply don't care about it, neither do I get annoyed by the mudcrab talk. It's part of the game's charm. Nothing makes this game as alive as walking through the Market District during the day and see everyone greeting each other, greeting you, stopping to chat a bit... it's awesome.

» Sun May 23, 2010 1:42 am

I'd rather hear of ways to make money or gain something. For example:

citizen x: hey bob, did you hear that the armoursmith has gotten arrested for debt. His goods are being sold supercheap at the tavern.

or maybe

guard x: did you hear that they're giving out a bounty o whoever can bring the head of bandit y

guard y: I hear that no city employees can claim. Even guards.

guard x: greedy scumbuckits

Stuff like this.

I've only ever played morrowind. But mabe the smalltalk should be a mutter unless you decide to "listen" or you focus on a particular npc.That should clear out the annoying background unless you want to listen.

» Sat May 22, 2010 10:56 am

I enjoyed the msalltalk in Oblivion, especially when guard captains would talk to other guards, as its something I rarely hear, and I think that each captain has unique dialogue. It just made Cyrodiil alive.

» Sat May 22, 2010 6:00 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj7kwnU_wMo

» Sat May 22, 2010 9:23 pm

I have read loads of complaints about repetitive dialog. My experiance was that if you initiate conversations often, the dialog upadates.
Every time I reached a new achievement I was hailed with accolades for it. Unsolicited, I mean, then when going into dialog they had the outdated one if I had not spoken to them before.
There was also quite a lot of interesting information to be picked up in npc small talk, ie. who were trainers for instance.

» Sat May 22, 2010 8:34 pm

The Taffer part gave it away, mate. xD

I'd absolutely love more interactions like that. I doubt there'll be many, though, considering Bethesda's prolly got their hands full with standard dialogue as it is.

» Sat May 22, 2010 11:22 pm

I enjoyed the msalltalk in Oblivion, especially when guard captains would talk to other guards, as its something I rarely hear, and I think that each captain has unique dialogue. It just made Cyrodiil alive.

Guard 1:"Go take your break."
Guard 2:"Good. I'm hungry."

Guard 2: "Go take your break."
Guard 1: "Good. I'm hungry."

http://www.endlessvideo.com/watch?v=7OcPKb54LkU&start=1m4s&end=1m14s

Also, it's hilarious when Ulrich Leland says "I don't know you, and I don't care to know you!" three times in a row to a poor guard.

And why does everyone have to say something to you when you just walk by? I understand when friends greet you, but it just feels weird when a random guard says "Speak." when I'm just walking past him.

» Sat May 22, 2010 12:35 pm

I saw a snow crab today. Horrible creature.

» Sat May 22, 2010 12:42 pm

I thought the newsreaders in Assassin's Creed 2 were fantastic. They talked about everyday things and some news relevant to your character. Some people should grumble about taxes or fleas, some people should be happy because they're a new father.

» Sat May 22, 2010 11:13 pm

what game is that random dialogue from?

sure as hell couldnt be oblivion...

i do wish there was better conversations, but the random conversations didnt bother me any... i did like hearing about the nerevarine and those kinda things.

» Sat May 22, 2010 6:35 pm

Fallout 3 did the dialogue a bit better by having NPCs actually recognize who they were talking to and who they were themselves, and there were actual unique conversations for certain NPC<->NPC combinations. This was especially well done in Megaton. They'd even talk about the death of certain NPCs in Megaton, even though those NPCs are not supposed to die in any quest. It would only happen if the player decides to murder them.

» Sat May 22, 2010 2:58 pm

I didn't like having to overhear conversations in Oblivion. Especially in a crowded area like the Market District. Instead of sounding like a crowd it sounded like... just a bunch of people trying to talk over each other. Okay, maybe that's what a crowd's supposed to sound like but it just doesn't sound right in Oblivion. In a crowd voices are supposed to mix together and get all muddled but that's not what happens.

» Sat May 22, 2010 8:10 pm

Fallout 3 had some awesome NPC-NPC talk, it hinted a lot of things about the NPCs background etc... Like, did you know Jericho [censored] Jenny?

» Sat May 22, 2010 5:00 pm

I saw a mud crab the other day.....nasty creatures

:facepalm:

just kidding

, that small talk is from the great stealth fantasy game thief; which I hope skyrim will learn a thing or two from; hint, hint :poke:

the taffer gave it away honestly.

» Sat May 22, 2010 1:17 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj7kwnU_wMo

"You've gone... you've gone too? far this time you camel-mannered, tunic-wearing mollycoddle! An arrow in the throat ought to shut you up!"

LOL!!! I love how he freaks outs omg that was so awesome, lol I don't know what to say it was just hilarious

» Sun May 23, 2010 1:11 am

I would love random conversations that have RELEVANCE to the WORLD around you!

NPC 1 - So how is Earl doing?
NPC 2 - Good, I guess. He joined the Mages Guild last week and I haven't heard from him.

NPC 1 - I heard this was the best town to join the Mage Guild. They really care about their people here. I am sure Earl will be fine.
NPC 2 - Yeah, I just hate when I don't hear from him. Last year, we were traveling through Morrowind and swore we saw a dragon fly through the air.

NPC 1 - There are some nasty things out in the wild. Have you ever seen the legendary Mudcrab? The one with huge fangs, enough to kill you with!
NPC 2 - Um, I have some other errands I have to do, talk to you later.

NPC 1 - Bye! I might just go to the library and look that one up.

» Sat May 22, 2010 10:27 am

I would love random conversations that have RELEVANCE to the WORLD around you!

NPC 1 - So how is Earl doing?
NPC 2 - Good, I guess. He joined the Mages Guild last week and I haven't heard from him.

NPC 1 - I heard this was the best town to join the Mage Guild. They really care about their people here. I am sure Earl will be fine.
NPC 2 - Yeah, I just hate when I don't hear from him. Last year, we were traveling through Morrowind and swore we saw a dragon fly through the air.

NPC 1 - There are some nasty things out in the wild. Have you ever seen the legendary Mudcrab? The one with huge fangs, enough to kill you with!
NPC 2 - Um, I have some other errands I have to do, talk to you later.

NPC 1 - Bye! I might just go to the library and look that one up.

mudcrabs with fangs, hmmmm might just make them less lame

» Sat May 22, 2010 6:37 pm

I have to admit, I love the small-talk. Even now, after having played it hundreds of hours, I still like it. It makes the game come more alive and feel more immersive. Yes, I know there are bugs and all that, but I simply don't care about it, neither do I get annoyed by the mudcrab talk. It's part of the game's charm. Nothing makes this game as alive as walking through the Market District during the day and see everyone greeting each other, greeting you, stopping to chat a bit... it's awesome.

This sums it up nicely for me. I loved the small talk. Doesn't matter what it's about.

» Sun May 23, 2010 12:09 am

"You've gone... you've gone too? far this time you camel-mannered, tunic-wearing mollycoddle! An arrow in the throat ought to shut you up!"

LOL!!! I love how he freaks outs omg that was so awesome, lol I don't know what to say it was just hilarious

That would also be good, oblivion's voice actors sounded boring and emotionless. (save mankar cameron and martin)
it would also be cool to see some randomly generated fights like in the vid.

» Sun May 23, 2010 2:31 am

I don't want the small talk to be advertisemants for shops in this game.