This is re visiting a topic from a while ago, but to all those who complained about the moment in the E3 demo were Todd shot down one, and the other just stood there.

The buffed Nord actually had 100 sneak. This may have been mentioned, but with 100 sneak, I doubt a low life bandit would be able to spot a master sneaker in a dimly lit ruin.

I am saying this because it was so frustrating seeing the supposed TES fans slating EVERYTHING. So yes, the game's NPC's aren't stupid, Todd's char is just awesome.

The npc doesnt really need to see where the arrow came from to do something other than just stand there as his friend dies in front of him though. Not that it bothers me though, I dont really play sneaky characters much.

Todd had 100 Sneak.
All makes sense now

But just cause you cant see the killer doesnt mean your friend didnt die!! gahhhhh

The npc pulled out a weapon, readied a battle stance, and than got killed by a second arrow. All within a span of a second or two stretched out with time slowing archery perk. This has been beat to the ground. NPC's are not going to be that stupid.

yeez...

He got his bow out, right? If you can't see who did it, the least you can do is prepare yourself.

BY GOD! MY FRIEND HAS BEEN KILLED BY AN UNKNOWN ASSAILANT! THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION IS TO... DRAW MY SWORD AND STAND STILL! AHA!

Yeah , the AI we've seen so far svcks .... svcks real hard !

apparently one of the sneak perks is to hide in daylight

:whoops: We shall see

no [censored] sherlock

not this AGAIN!!!
todd had a archer perk that slowed time...

I think it was some really bad AI.

It doesn't matter that he didn't know how his friend was killed or where the killer was. He stood there and didn't even react to it. He didn't look around quickly, he didn't run away. He just stood there motionless until it was his turn.

Dumb AI will be in this game; there simply is no way it couldn't be.

I guess having 100 sneak may look like the NPCs' AI drop a lot, but it doesn't really. Making them unknown of your presence basically is your attributes of being a master sneak.

2 people talk, in eye contact with one another. 1 dies in front of you. If you do not react to the fact you were actively engaged in conversation with someone who is now on the ground with an arrow in his head, then it's dumb AI, no matter what sneak level you have.

If, instead, I wait for them to stop talking and one turns to look away and I snipe the other, then it makes sense that he would not react. I could then move in for an up close and personal kill or, if the AI was good, listen in as he goes "Hey.... where are you?.... where did you go?...... Hello?" as he moves around searching for his friend. Even better, if he finds him, he gasps takes out his weapon and goes looking for you (or if he's weak-willed, he screams and flees the area) The latter would be good AI.

And the 100 sneak also stops a bandit from being able to see his bandit friend drop dead 1.5 meters away from him right over a campfire? It frustrates me when I see TES fans not being vigilant enough to notice something wrong and speak out about it to further improve the game .

you know since people say that todd had his sneak up at 100. what would have been the outcome if his sneak was at 1 would the bandit turn and run towards todd or just sit there.untill we get more info on this or play the game ourselves then all anybody can do is just speculate.

I'm with you.

I want to know what happens if Todd never fires that second arrow. Are NPCs even capable of a more intelligent response?

I want to know what perks Todd has. He apparently has that archery perk for slowing time, which would excuse at least a portion of the NPC's seemingly-slow response. What else?

I want to know what would happen if Todd were a low-level archer and a low-level sneak. Although the bandit's response may seem unrealistically delayed, it may be realistically relatively-delayed. If the bandit's response is slower against a high-level sneak than it is against a low-level sneak, it allows for the higher-level sneak to take more actions against his victim than a low-level sneak could manage.

I want to know how much of the delay is there for keeping the game fun and the character manageable. I do not particularly want the game to demand that I myself display amazing dexterity and reflexes to keep up with NPCs who are scrambling and ducking about like hyperactive squirrels. When I want that, I have Unreal Tournament.

i noticed in quakecon leak video bandit looks around after seeing there friend shot as todd howard gets double stealth kill

I've seen this topic on multiple boards and in my mind this is the example I always give. First, I want you to remember how annoying it was when you silent killed someone with an arrow in Oblivion and then somehow every one in the immediate vicinity knew exactly where you were. Now my example.

NPC1 and NPC2 are talking while you're stalking them from a distance.

N1: Man this places is creepy!
You: *Draws arrow back*
N2:Yeah I kno-----HWUG
N1: *Readies weapon has about half a second to look around* HEY WHAT TH-------*THWAP* (Dead)

seems like it happens pretty fast and pretty realistically to me.

Very rarely do people spring to action when they witness someone else die from a non-explosive projectile. Many people absolutely freeze up when that happens. I'd like to see, however, maybe the AI crouching down to inspect the dead (if hit with an arrow).

Which brings me to my next point, if an NPC is hit from a distance with a ranged weapon, their compatriots should have a different response than if they are just generally attacked. Sneak or no sneak, if my friend gets shot by an arrow, I might freeze up, I might look down to check him out, or I might hurriedly look around, but after all of these I will certainly quickly get behind cover. And if I were more experienced and battle tested, then I wouldn't freeze up, I wouldn't look around, I wouldn't check him out, I would just find cover to the direction opposite of the penetration point of the arrow (if I witnessed the arrow striking him).

I think Todd's character being 100 sneak factors into it, but more importantly I'm hoping that it being a low level bandit also contributed to the situation.

I don't get where you people keep getting the idea that he was his friend. Clearly the guy that got shot was a dike and the other guy was happy to see him die. But he was the quiet solemn type so he didn't make a big deal about it. RP that turkeys.

Who said he needs to spot us? He needs to friggin run for his life when his friend gets pierced by a [censored] arrow! Which he didn't.

The funny thing is they could easily fix this. All they would have to do is have NPCs immediately go into a simple animation of reaction to their buddies dying. I can see some bandits just pulling out their sword and looking around because they're cold and don't really care, but some should at least show a little emotional reaction.

Not that difficult Bethesda...

They may have programmed them to act that way on purpose to show off the archery better.

When they showed off Gears of War 2 way back when they programmed the demo so that Cliffy could show off the chainsaw gun more so he had it so that enemies would do melee, up close stuff more.