You can only directly talk to quest-givers? : V - Skyrim

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 11:21 am

Let me be honest, I dont mind that you cannot talk and question every single person, but only quest-givers can be spoken to or questioned? I mean, that seems like a very small percentage of the population. What about shop owners and such? Are they ALL quest-givers? I really liked being able to speak to all NPCs....Fallout 3 and Fallout NV improved greatly upon Oblivion's system------It seems like this is working backwards. This is an RPG, it needs to have lots of dialogue, at least optionally... They claim immersion is so important, but if you can only interact with a few people, then how much can we feel immersed?

EDIT: From the other article, it says that non quest-giving NPCs will only offer rumors when you click A to talk to them--but no interaction. (Like passerby NPCs who offer a random quip when you query them). Not much better though.

I don't get what you mean, it seems they're still moving in the direction that Fallout was taking it. With people just named "Settler" or "Townsperson" and such. People that just spout a line at you when you "activate" them.

When I read that quote I thought that it was going to be too similar to how they did it in Fallout 3

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 11:03 pm

Okay, I've crossed over to the dark side. I don't really have a problem with this anymore. As long as the people who should be interesting are actually interesting, that is.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:42 pm

i don't think its just quest givers that have dialogue. im sure shopkeepers and guild members will have more dialogue options

i dont see why its such a big deal. most npcs in oblivion only have the "rumors" option in dialogue, so its just saving time

Hell, it's actually adding more. GI mentioned them talking about their locality, whereas most NPC's in Oblivion/Morrowind just said "Did you hear about the Chapel of Dibella?" or "Did you hear there's a boat to Solstheim? Very cold place." The main difference between Skyrim and Oblivion is that Skyrim doesn't have you stop them in order to talk and press the only conversation button, instead just having them talk about it on their own.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 6:46 am

you could speak to everyone in oblivion... with only a "rumour" option, 90% of them said the same thing.

however... in fallout NV, you could only speak to a portion of the populace.. but they said a hell of a lot more than 100% of oblivions population.

even if skyrim has its own proportion of 'mojave wish for nuclear winter' type... im sure those you can speak to will have enough to say.

No, a lot of them said something unique. Go play Oblivion and talk to named NPCs. Most have a unique piece of information to say under the name of the city they live in.

...Where do people keep getting these false pieces of information about games from? :facepalm:

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 7:25 pm

My interpretation is that random jerks just have a few lines to say when you talk to them, and they have no topics. More important people (merchants, priests, main quest givers, etc) will have something worthwhile to say. Honestly, its no different than any of the other games, and its most similar to Daggerfall, where most people hated you or didn't have anything to say.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:06 am

Thanks for the clarification LostInSpace.

I hope that the uninimportant NPCs still have in enough dialogue to make some quests feel more realistic. For instance, if a quest requires you to talk to or give an item to a certain NPC in a certain town, then it'd be nice to be able to go to that town and find that you can ask the unimportant NPCs about the location of that quest related NPC.

Just rumours would be a little too bland, I think. Hopefully they'll also have dialogue options for services and the location of certain NPCs.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 5:01 pm

If that happens I will not buy the game, heck, even in Daggerfall you could talk to incidental people,

Total immersion breaker.
/me&tes
If the explanation of LostInSpace turns true, it might save the day.
I have learnt there will no major difference from OB or earlier in that aspect, so no worries here...

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:15 am

No, a lot of them said something unique. Go play Oblivion and talk to named NPCs. Most have a unique piece of information to say under the name of the city they live in.

...Where do people keep getting these false pieces of information about games from? :facepalm:

Also, most of them were associated with quests...

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:17 am

I don't see it as a huge loss. If someone is of little importance then they would only be able to talk about the town their in and rumors. And they would probably say the same thing any other unimportant person would.

My only issue is that you can determine who is important for the rest of the game or not by whether or not you can engage them in dialogue. I guess I need to have an answer to the question "Will people who are potential quest givers always have a dialogue tree, even if you are not engaged or near their quest?"

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 7:39 pm

Also, most of them were associated with quests...

No, the dialogue was just there to be there. Even in those NPCs that were related to quests, the information I'm referring to had nothing to do with the related quests, but a lot of those with unique dialogue were also completely unrelated to any quests. Please, to anyone who doubts this, load up an Oblivion character, choose a random city, and walk around talking to NPCs. Excluding beggars and unnamed guards, you should find something unique said by pretty much every person.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 11:47 am

From the French magazine:

Now, this may be one of two things: poor translation or misinterpretation by the person who wrote the article. It may also be true.

Let me be honest, I dont mind that you cannot talk and question every single person, but only quest-givers can be spoken to or questioned? I mean, that seems like a very small percentage of the population. What about shop owners and such? Are they ALL quest-givers? I really liked being able to speak to all NPCs....Fallout 3 and Fallout NV improved greatly upon Oblivion's system------It seems like this is working backwards. This is an RPG, it needs to have lots of dialogue, at least optionally... They claim immersion is so important, but if you can only interact with a few people, then how much can we feel immersed?

EDIT: From the other article, it says that non quest-giving NPCs will only offer rumors when you click A to talk to them--but no interaction. (Like passerby NPCs who offer a random quip when you query them). Not much better though.

eh...........im not concerned. as much as i loved morrowind it was kind of annoying to see the same topics pop up over and over again. i would prefer a small number of topics and then individual NPCs would have a topic specific to them. dragon knight saga does this exact same thing. if i just run up to some random person i will get a short response but that its unless its a quest giver........im pretty sure that if i started running up to random people in real life most of them would be polite but brief or downright rude so its not unrealistic at all to me.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 7:31 pm

eh...........im not concerned. as much as i loved morrowind it was kind of annoying to see the same topics pop up over and over again. i would prefer a small number of topics and then individual NPCs would have a topic specific to them. dragon knight saga does this exact same thing. if i just run up to some random person i will get a short response but that its unless its a quest giver........im pretty sure that if i started running up to random people in real life most of them would be polite but brief or downright rude so its not unrealistic at all to me.

That's how Oblivion's individual NPCs were with each having a unique topic of information.

Seriously, is there some legally binding contract you signed that resulted in you being unable to say anything good about Oblivion?

People wonder why they lose good parts of the series and it's because they forget or are completely opposed to praising them. It's all complaining. What do you expect to be done when you mention nothing of what was done right?

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 5:20 pm

I was worried about this at first. But then I realized that as long as the NPCs still speak, it doesn't really matter to me whether it's via a dialogue tree or whether I personally walk up to them and initiate it. On the contrary, this may feel more natural to me because it will be as if they choose on their own to start speaking up about current events, my character's deeds, the world, the weather, their life, rumors, etc. That could be really cool and natural in a way that walking up and starting a conversation isn't. And then for quests, which require more detail and direction, as well as more roleplay in terms of what we ask, we have dialogue trees.

It seems like a good compromise with an aim toward making NPCs seem more natural and live. At least potentially.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:21 pm

French is my native language and i read the article and it does say that only quest givers have a dialogue tree, other npcs only comment on rumors, which is pretty much what they were already doing in oblivion so it's no big deal

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:45 pm

The more i think about this fact, the more i think back in Oblivion, most NPCs only had one option - rumor. considering you no longer enter conversation mode with anyone, it's easy to say that you can't question anyone. They're just saying their piece and letting you move on.

although i would love to have had the option to ask about ques goals to random people, like;
"Tell me my good man, have you any information to offer one who seeks Caius Cosades?"
"well yes, outlander, go across the bridge, down the street, last house at the end"
"Thank you good sir"
"we'll be watching you, scum."
<_<

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 8:58 pm

Mistranslation. That's it. Why would you only be able to talk to quest givers if Bethesda went through all the trouble of overhauling the dialogue system? Furthermore, Bethesda has already said that they've recorded a lot of the dialogue for the game already.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 11:51 pm

I imagine the system will be like the one in NV you can talk to quest givers, shopkeepers and some interesting NPC, but generic townspeople will merely have greetings. I like this System :tops:

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 2:12 pm

Mistranslation. That's it. Why would you only be able to talk to quest givers if Bethesda went through all the trouble of overhauling the dialogue system? Furthermore, Bethesda has already said that they've recorded a lot of the dialogue for the game already.

Yet still no Wes Johnson? I'm worried that my Imperial male will sound like a wimp... :unsure:

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 4:29 pm

The more I think about this, the more I like it. In a way it will probably make you feel like an "outlander" again. It was a little odd when an NPC in Morrowind would greet you with something like "Make it quick outlander, or go away" and proceed to tell you everything you want to know.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 1:32 pm

I don't think the article literally means what is says. How about quest related NPCs? Surely some quest would have you talk to them which would need some dialogue structure. I'm more comfortable hearing from Beth concerning this topic.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 1:09 pm

The more I think about this, the more I like it. In a way it will probably make you feel like an "outlander" again. It was a little odd when an NPC in Morrowind would greet you with something like "Make it quick outlander, or go away" and proceed to tell you everything you want to know.

Did anyone here encounter a Dark Elf ashlander in Pelagiad's tavern that claimed not to speak much of whatever language the player character spoke yet went on to give detailed information on any topic the PC asked about... in perfect whatever language the PC speaks?

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 2:51 pm

Did anyone here encounter a Dark Elf ashlander in Pelagiad's tavern that claimed not to speak much of whatever language the player character spoke yet went on to give detailed information on any topic the PC asked about... in perfect whatever language the PC speaks?

I was thinking of the exact same NPC, haha.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:46 am

Yet still no Wes Johnson? I'm worried that my Imperial male will sound like a wimp... :unsure:

There is a myriad of talented voice actors out there. I don't play Imperials so I guess not having this guy doesn't really affect me. But that's not what the topic is about. There's no way Bethesda would limit dialogue options strictly to quest givers. Even only having dialogue for quest related NPC's doesn't make much sense considering Bethesda is trying to create a more believable world. Having a world full of NPC's that you can't even talk to goes against that structure.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 2:02 pm

I was thinking of the exact same NPC, haha.

He looked just like my character.

» Wed Oct 06, 2010 6:47 pm

Mistranslation. That's it. Why would you only be able to talk to quest givers if Bethesda went through all the trouble of overhauling the dialogue system? Furthermore, Bethesda has already said that they've recorded a lot of the dialogue for the game already.

It makes sense if all the NPC can be quests givers at some points. Remember : based on your characteristic, NPCs can approach you to save their daughter, magic-duel with you, kill their neighbour... You add to that specific NPCs like shopkeepers, faction members, and the number of un-tasked NPCs that have only rumours and that you cannot question is not so great. And that's not even counting in the possibility that according to various quests, the NPCs might be able to answer your question (example, you arrive at a precise stage of the main-quest where you must find a guy in a town, then you can suddenly ask NPCs where the guy is) : it has been done before, and I don't see any evidence to the contrary.

*edit* Un-tasked NPCs can talk, apparently : you just can't question them.