SotA needs to learn from Ultima VII (Dialogue)

It would be nice, by the way, if it were possible to have multiple players in on the same conversation with an NPC. So you can have parties do storyline questing together, like in a tabletop D&D campaign. It would be an innovative approach.

I know right now the quest mechanics aren't designed for it, but think about it!

 

Thank you for the link Leinad.
I understand where @Lord British 's reasoning is going to, I just don't see it happening in this game. (Unless there's a major revamp of the emote engine and existing dialogues waiting hidden for the official release)
The limitations are with the existing technology and I personally find it a pity that the dialogue & text is not given the maximum chance to have an effect. Also I might have misunderstood LB's comment but all this thread was about is to provide additional descriptions of visible events - not insights into the NPC's mind or concealed feelings.

 

Yep, i forgot but Spoiler: disappointing answer

There's no emote to show someone's voice crying or menacing, blinking nervously, suttering, pausing or showing facial expression, we don't have that tech. An emotion is not "pointing somewhere at the sky" @Lord British

 

Not to ridicule this... but it could be worse if the NPC sighs and the current sound is used...

 

According to LB way of thinking this is the way to go... Again, i'd agree if we had Poland's GDP as budget (pun intended)

 

Yeah, the current sounds actually make it worse. Viola totally missed saving Charlotte because she thought her "scared" sound was people having sex.

 

Since we don't have Polands budget, someone responsible for quests needs to do a pivot and figure out how to put emotion into them on the cheap. It can be done, games with a fraction of our budget did it.

Check out "To the Moon." Try not to cry.

 

So @Lord British says "we can't see into an NPCs mind" therefore we can't have "she says coyly". It does not make sense. When I read a book it is also not just full of plain dialogue. Yes in a movie I see what they do, how they react and only hear the dialogue (usually). So does SotA have the visual quality of a movie or is reading the text with quite static NPCs which do not have facial expressions closer to a book? I'd argue that while it is not the same as a book it is WAY closer to a book than a movie.

So simply not wanting to do descriptive text in this context is incredibly short sighted and quite frankly silly. @Lum the Mad sorry man, one can't argue with the paradigm being so illogical.

edit:
I am also "alarmed" that this thread is going so long with RG being addressed directly so often and he didn't even know about it. I am aware that he is a busy man, but one might think this little project fans paid more than 10 Million dollars for already would warrant a look now and then. He seems to have a close relationship with his cell phone, maybe using one browser tab for SotA would not hurt. I am baffled.

 

I think Lord British already answered your questions at 0:28:11–0:29:52 on the Release 41 Postmortem livestream video.
It would be helpful, if somebody wrote a transcript of what he said, and pasted it here, though.

 

I am referreing to this live stream answer in the very post you quoted a part of. This specific part you quoted referrs to him not knowing anything about it when he was asked about it in the live stream.

 

I checked few scenes in the Build 602 (May 4).
Spite and Valhold have few NPCs with conversations with more than two people.
Solace Bridge Outskirts and Skrekk have one NPC with conversations with more than two people.
Resolute, Jaanaford and Soltown have no NPCs with conversations with more than two people.
Ardoris has two NPCs with conversations with more than two people (but only in the Offline Mode).

I find the present ratio of the NPCs with only one-to-one conversations vs. the NPCs with group conversations in the Online Mode unhealthy and unacceptable.
There should be at least 1 or 2 NPCs with group conversations in all NPC towns in the Online Mode.
Or at least in the NPC towns with a Devotional Shrine, if not in all NPC towns.
There are noticeably more group conversations in Ultima VII than in SotA.
It can be seen from gameplay videos of Ultima VII on youtube.
It surprises me that group conversations are non-existant in Soltown.
You would expect the refugee camp NPCs of Soltown to have group conversations just because the refugee camp is populated with so many different NPCs.
Another important point for me is the number of the group conversations of SotA which have more than 2 NPC participants as
the group conversations with more than 2 NPC participants can be easily found in Ultima VII.
For example, there is a conversation in Ultima VII with more than 5 NPC participants.

( Group conversation : a conversation with a NPC with multiple NPC participants. )

 

Why?

 

I dunno, because, "Why Not?"

 

Imagine being able to only talk to one person on the PvP forums whereas in the feedback section you talk to more than one. Or going out saturday evening. In one city you can talk with all of your friends, in another only with one. Seems inconsistent and unnatural.

 

You guys are talking about the dessert now while I am still trying to argue for getting the appatizer

I argue without avail, I might add, because, you know, we can't look into NPCs minds *quick look at cell phone*.... still can't get over RGs reasoning for the whole thing. Acting as if SotA is capable of showing NPC emotions in animations is just...

 

Best answer i have read so far tbh ^^

If it would be up to me i would talk to NOBODY at all
But seriously, i understand what you are talking about.
I am just surprised about the way this....demand....comes across.
And let'S face is: most NPCs anyway have nothing to say. At all.

 

Yes, you are right about that.

 

Dude! you just can't read their minds man! (see twitch stream vid)

 

I absolutley can. Even of those that aren't even ingame yet ;-)

But jokes aside and before i draw the wrong picture:
There are good quests and smexy dialouges in the pipeline, trust me.

Non the less: the average 08/15 NPC hasn't much to say at all.

 

Show me your ways oh grand master! *bow* So one day I will also wield the power of being able to enjoy SotA storytelling!

(edit: and yes the last few posts are pure resignation)