Something that strikes me as rather lacking in both today's RPGs and MMOs is the concept of dynamic NPCs that live lives of their own or at least create the illusion that they have free will and exist outside of the PC's universe.
Oblivion was the last such that I'd played, and basic as the NPC scripts were, they at least spent their lives in different places depending on the hour. This was similar to the meandering movements of certain mobs in the Realms of Despair. Since then, every NPC I've encountered comes across as pathetically static.
Yes, even in the vaunted Bioware titles such as Mass Effect 1 and 2, and Dragon Age... despite the careful art design, the passable animation, the near neurotic care taken to write each NPC with a background full of angst, conflict and tragedy so as to have thick bushy conversation trees after, it is my opinion that they lack a certain lifelike quality that made the NPCs of yore so compelling.
What makes the NPCs of games like Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment, such as Aeris, Jaheira, Viconia and Morte so much more tangible standing beside the embodied avatars of folk like Garrus, Wrex and Liara?
I think there are at least three reasons at work. The first is an artifact of their times and difficult to recreate. They were simply the first to act in such a humanistic manner, and we remember their stories all the better for it. It helped that they were only partially voiced, and most of their speech was left in text - text being the far more powerful medium to tickle imaginations. These days, Generation Z has no such patience for creative reading. Give it to them as a full 3D movie experience, or not at all. We cannot hope to harness this except in indie games that harken back to ancient times.
The second could be solvable had we some control over the content in any game. The issue of quantity versus quality.
There are an insane number of NPCs to be met and brought into the party in Mass Effect 2. This ostensibly creates choice, any number of Shepards could have a myriad mix of aliens and humans in their group and still be viable, while roleplaying the xenophobia of their dreams. Of course, when you start adding potential NPC deaths in the endgame due to a weak party, and factor in most gamer's completionist tendencies - the choice seems like not that much choice at all.
From that immense horde, you get to pick a grand total of 2 NPCs to travel with you. Dragon Age is not much better, you get 3, one of which might be your pet dog. In Baldur's Gate, you run with 5 at a time.
The quality of NPC-NPC interactions is much deeper when you run with more NPCs, who might spout character specific quips from time to time. In Mass Effect, the illusion gets worn down when you realise the same lines are given to different NPCs to voice in slightly different, but ultimately the same meaning, ways.
The old-time NPCs stay with you through the journey of the game. This ties back to the quality of the interaction, rather than a simple swap n' go every time a new scene occurs.
Lastly, and the most key of them all, as hinted in the post title. The oldtime NPCs had dynamic interactions with the PC. They weren't afraid to ask, nay, demand the PC pay attention to them now. They would initiate conversations, not just stand there like statues hoping the PC would come visit them to talk.
Part of this is the engine, of course, Baldur's Gate triggered NPC conversations on a player choosing to 'camp/rest,' but the reliability of this was not under the player's control. If the NPC felt like it (with some obtuse calculations under the hood), they'd start the chitchat. If not, then you waited until the next time.
I dearly want to see more of this. Not in a badly programmed sense where you'd have NPCs trying to approach you to talk and the PC would promptly run off and thus create a train of galloping NPCs (a la City of Heroes citizen marathon following a flying hero). But in the sense of being able to ping and page the PC every now and then. Oi, I'm here, respond to me if you want.
There's an old buggy space sim I still enjoy every now and then. Nomad. Or Project Nomad. Or whatever you call it. You can play it without sound, but it loses everything in the silent translation. If one is able to wrangle the crappy Soundblaster driver into a semblance of life, then the universe takes on a completely new tone. NPC ships that dance about in space will ping and hail you every so often. You don't have to answer, since the dynamic conversation tree that follows is not all inspired, and mostly consists of "Hi, PC. I am so-and-so. Would you care to trade?"
But the point is in the pinging. The semblance that life exists and the world is not all about you. The ships fly about, answer distress calls from other NPC ships, zap in and out of system as they will. Sometimes you can hail them and they would rather not even deign to talk to you at all.
Too often, MMOs these days appear to think that the players ought to fulfill this role to each other. Except that players being players, tend to go out-of-character and out-of-story-universe every so often. Sure, there's social interaction, but there is no world immersion.
No comments:
Post a Comment