Is anyone more intrested to see the A.I or how NPCs work ingame for skyrim?
I think it would awesome for a game simulate actual human behavior though thats probably far off in the future.
Still it would be intresting.

the npcs are what I expect to have lots of improvements

My expectations are minimal until I receive strict well-defined descriptions of what to expect. And even then, I'll probably be skeptical (Oblivion's E3 Radiant AI demonstration is still in the back of my mind). Not that I don't think things will likely be different. I'll just be a little wary.

In The Witcher, a game I never finished and had a fair share of gripes about, the unimportant NPCs added more atmosphere than most RPGs to date. It isn't necessarily the same as A.I., just stuff like -

Children playing some kind of skipping game only stepping on certain stones
The homeless huddled around a fire at night, some homeless use typical phrases, one I remember in particular "ah... life " In an exhausted sounding old homeless man voice.
prosttutes trying to get attention
etc.
I would occasionally find myself stopping just to watch some NPC's idle animations. I wish more games had this. NPCs should not mill about aimlessly and talk about random unrelated subjects.

Now, of course, me being a huge Thief fan, muttering, drunken guards with hilarious dialogue and slow reactions cannot go unmentioned! Also non-combatant characters running in terror, screaming for the guards, etc. etc. NPCs that reacted to dead bodies, light levels, sound, etc. Thief series had probably the best AI of any game I've played, F.E.A.R. is the only notable contender.

Read on game informer npc will be so close to humans it seems we will be very suprised alot.

This, for me, the feature that will either make Skyrim great or not. Forget about spears, romance, pets and the like, A.I. is where it's at. I can't wait for the technical details on this one.

That sounds awesome! Now I really must play that game! I thought it was a little hack&slashy but if the atmosphere is so believable, it must be great.

The Enhanced edition in particular was also highly polished. And it wasn't all hack and slash, the story and characters were far superior to whatever passes as an "RPG" nowadays, Oblivion included. For me there was only one annoying thing, the fact that so many NPCs had identical looks. Other than that, it was a real gem of a game and I can see it is and will continue to be influential for many other games in the genre.

Bethesda should learn from the Fable series. Emotes and rude expressions would be so good.gif

@ Wildeyes
I beg to differ.

@ iomind
You forgot the lousy ingentory system But yes, great game that one.

@ Oblivionfreak76
They kinda said that with OB as well. Still I'm optimistic, they had time to polish it.

How so?

Villager: "He don't look like no mudcrab chaser to me. Then again I ain't never meet one before"

Dragonborn: *farts*

Comparing TES to Fable is like comparing Hendrix to Justin Bieber. I would elaborate on the subject but it's pretty pointless.

@Hellknight - Personaly I'm not too bothered by menus, inventories and the like. I've been playing PC games ever since I was the owner of an Amiga, so you can imagine why. But of course, I can see why not everyone was happy with it.

@ Wildeyes
The very example you gave explains why I don't want it. It's just a gimmick of the many that Peter added to his Fable franchise. It's just immature and boring.

@ iomind
Yeah, I guess my main gripe was the inventory from the original. EE improved it greatly though.

Edited for fail-typing.

Meh. Show me one instance of the Elder Scrolls series where you get to hold an NPCs hand. Yup.

But why would you do that? What does that do? What does it add? It doesn't make the act more meaningful if you don't even feel attached to the NPC. Read this week's Extra Punctuation over at The Escapist to see what I mean. Innovation is a great thing as long as it adds to the overall experience. Sticking a nail in a door just because you can doesn't mean it's a good thing to do it.

And looking it another way. Just because something exists in a game doesn't mean it should in another.

Speak for yourself. I'm sure Todd agrees with me. This is why they probably put in woodcutting and other immersive NPC "door nails". Bethesda needs to put these things in because they realize how far ahead of the curve and forward thinking Lionhead Studios are. They are being left behind by Fable.

Indeed, and then the NPC models often were generic.

rofl at the troll

I really wish they've added random events thouyghout the map... maybe a village being raided by bandits and you are being asked to help... either the villagers or the bandits.. :angel: and stuff like that

Good ones. And I think something like those you've mentioned from The Witcher especially wouldn't be hard to implement at all, no? The devs should really note that something as simple as this adds so much to immersion.

It's funny how the first Thief game had guards with better AI than Oblivion.

I'm really hoping the AI has improved a lot. For me, having believable AI would really help immersion. In particular, the animations while in a conversation with the PC, or just the types of conversation which the NPCs have among themselves. They've said they've improved on the former, but not sure if there has been anything said yet on the latter - although I'm sure it will be better this time round. I'd like to see NPCs "recognise" each other and act accordingly - so NPCs would react differently/have different conversations if they were talking to a friend, stranger, relative, partner, child etc.

Thief series is awesome and hopefully Thief 4 is set to be revealed soon at GDC. Many features from Thief would make Skyrim's stealth stellar including how npc react to sounds, movement, contagious alert radius, comments, etc.

I saw a mud crab the other day. Foul creatures. Still, I hear the meats rather tastey.

A.I. is very importaint to me! And this is what I want.

The number one most importaint thing for is that I dont want the world to revolve around me. and then there are these.

hunters walking around the woods hunting.
bandits setting up traps and ambushes that target both player and other npc's
animals hunting/fighting eachother.
random npc's completing random quests and or adventuring.
factions fighting eachother.
npc's stealing/breaking the law.
Dragons swooping in and mass murdering.
Dragons fighting you in the air (of course your on the ground), flying around and swooping in while breathing fire on you (a REAL challenge to kill one)
Bands of npc's forming to take down dragons/other strong monsters
Random Giant or stronger version of regular creatures (mini boss monsters that respawn) and lead the lesser beings. um.... That is all I can think of now
OH and! npc's hunting treasure/harvesting items from trees/ore/and the like.