A bit of a non sequitur here. NPCs in Morrowind, despite only having voiced dialog for greetings/combat/idle statements, seemed to possess a more interesting repertoire of dialog lines than their Oblivion counterparts. I'm not even talking about spoken dialog. Remember how many times you nearly fell out of your chair because you walked into a quiet guild hall when an NPC behind you suddenly let out an obnoxious, 90 decibel cough or started whistling?

I haven't played Oblivion in a while but I'm pretty sure nice little idle lines like those were nowhere to be found in the game, or at least were far less frequent. Definitely would want them back in Skyrim. It's a trivial request, I know, but all of these nuances in character dialog really help to make them seem more human. Deus Ex comes to mind, where enemy troopers had lots of idle lines: they'd start humming to themselves, or make offhanded remarks about recent events.

Some of these were scripted, but many were not - and there were many times when I was poised to KO them with a crowbar when they suddenly started whistling and I simply couldn't bring myself to hurt them. It made characters seem a lot more human, if you ask me.

*runs from "IT'S SUPERFLUOUS" replies*

I did not dig through the Voice Files in Oblivion, but in Morrowind there is a ton of dialog that is not in the game. Once unlocked by a mod, it changed the flavor and feel of the game. There may have been one of these for Oblivion.

However the Idle lines need to be fleshed out in any game as repetition can real jarring real fast. Especially when 5 generic NPCs say the same thing at almost the same time. If they give each faction 30 to 40 of these, and the generics about the same, it would really reduce the repetition.

Alot of that was also due to the reputation bar set so low in Oblivion.

In Morrowind everyone hated or at least distrusted you for a fair portion of the game, so the comments were varied and often insultiung.
Without a mod in Oblivion and spending an hour just waiting for all the npc's in an area to aproach other races, these were less common.
As for the most part most npc's would not respond in a negative way to your character.

I hope the little sound bites are brought back in numbers, NV had a few like these.
So maybe Skyrim will as well.

I saw a mudcrab the other day. Dreadful creatures.

I just hope npc's have more consistent voices this time, it was pretty weird when a deformed beggar lurched out the shadows babbling about gold and shoes, only to begin talking like a right proper gentleman when you asked him a question.

I know,right. That was so annoying.

Some of the random comments were so hilarious in Morrowind.


and he just stood there...holding his tail.

yes the sneezing use to throw me out my chair, oh god Oblivion feels so dead when no one is talking...

I hope this makes a return in Skyrim, the various coughs from the orcs (yelch)

I don't get the title of this thread?

I agree, but it's also why stuff like coughs, whistles, throat clearing, feet scuffling, and scratching are good, because they sound the same for everybody. Obviously you're listening to the same soundbite, but it's not necessary to have each voice actor do several coughs. Although, it would be cool to have like, a hacking, sickly cough vs just like a smoky room cough.

And I don't know...I like that every NPC has a lot of topics. Made it seem like maybe this guy MIGHT have something different to say on the subject, even if he didn't. I still think NPCs in MW were more "life like" than in Oblivion, and these are a few reasons why.

Many NPC's in Morrowind would just sniff as a dialogue trait, much like the "have you seen so and so" many would say at each other in the cities in Oblivion.
Some would add to these a comment about anothers / your hygiene.

They'd also comment on the quality of your clothing, if you'd dressed particularly extravagantly there'd be lines such as "you appear to be doing quite well for yourself".

Yeah I liked the coughs and whistling and "where is that slave"

But my favourite: "I don't recall using teleportation. Yet there I was, alone. Naked."

I will say this is the Best Thread I have read on here sense the Wave of new recruits. :cookie:

I was disappointed when no one in Oblivion commented on my running around naked like in Morrowind.

I like the blue plates but the brown ones seem to last longer.

I was once playing Morrowind and I heard a voice say "You're imagining things", and at the time, I was not at all sure that the voice came from the game. :blink:

Yes, I'd like more idle dialogue.

Idle dialogs are found in Oblivion's files, but were not implemented. Oddly enough, it is not possible to enable them either. There might be something missing in the code that prevents the NPCs from saying them when idle. I have no idea if they've been recorded, but the texts and sometimes the conditions are in the files.

Many of them are the same as Morrowind's, but there are couple of new ones. Such as one where a Khajiit recalls a nightmare where he was being pursued by a hairball.

"Hairballs attacking me. They were everywhere. It was the strangest dream."

A few others...

Wood Elf: "All I wanted was a hug."

Dark Elf: "Wood Elves. Why? What's the point?" and "Talking to yourself is not a sign of mental illness. It's not."

Nord: "Wonder why Solstheim wasn't on the old maps... not that anyone should care." :lmao:

Imperial: "I'm so hungry I could eat a Bosmer."

Oh !!!!

Much more varitey is needed; "Your shield arm looks strong" does not cut it more than twice.

"I don't remember using teleportation, but there I was. Alone. Naked...."

"I can't imagine eating one of those things".

"What did she say again?"


"Dirt Dirt Dirt, everywhere dirt"

i want every npc going http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEGaTdJcI8U&feature=related every second

Look at the muscles on you! :hubbahubba:

I could kill that guar. Those boots are ruined.