Suggestion?: NPC's and Relationships

So I was reading some other posts on Quests and Lore that got me thinking, and perhaps it's not earth shattering, but may have some worth. I think it's pretty easy to see the general consensus is that UI usability could use some brushing up. Players either love or hate the questing due to the balance between knowing what to do and making you actually try beyond following question marks above NPCs.

So what do players/devs think about the possibility of replicating the same ideology that is implemented for the current Journal, but instead focuses more on NPC's. Since the idea is we should be talking to NPC's to learn their names instead of just automatically knowing them this would be a great way to take that interaction and put it somewhere you can reference later. We could build upon that by noting a partial piece of the conversation based on keywords, include the location the player met the NPC, and potentially any open tasks you've "agreed" to do with them.

In my mind I would envision it located in the 'J' Journal book as a top level object which would then either branch into region, city, or npc name. I'm not sure what would be most commonly preferred/useful. You could then click on an NPC name which would give you information about that NPC

-----------------------------------------
Name: Raymond
Location: Soltown
Tasks: None
About: Raymond built the homes in Solace bridge, which are now ablaze.. Considering he lost his hammer and has back problems he doubts he will be building anymore.
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With this method, I feel that it helps balance immersion (Your character is taking notes for you as he learns about the people he becomes acquaintances with) with usability (There is a place to help you recall conversations with). This wouldn't take any less action out of the game as you still need to read and meet the NPC's, but doesn't rely on you remembering everything you've done, talked about, and agreed to after a few hours/days of inactivity.

I would also think that there are enough in game resources and means to implement this without having to create a super complicated system just to get it working.

Here is the forum topic in which I was referencing:
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/quest-raymonds-hammer-soltown.45330/

 

@Lum
I like it!

 

hmmm mixed feelings. I like the concept that the character is doing things BUT.. I also think I'd prefer just taking notes myself. Otherwise I'll have all these notes in a journal to sift through.. much of which I didn't want in the first place. There is a definite preference factor here but one could also argue that too much automation is borderline hand-holding.

My own personal opinion/preference.. what I would really love to see.. if an actual, physical journal you could buy in the store or from Rild's Relics as a notebook. One of my fonder gaming memories.. strange as it may seem to some (even myself) was actually keeping a hand written journal while playing MYST. It would also I think be more in the spirit of Ultima to have the game not keep track of that information for you.

Most of the time I just keep notes of what I really want to remember in an Excel doc.

 

Yeah, there have been tons of suggestions on how to better organize or represent the Journal. I like the ideas you presented, as they were similar to some of the ones I wanted as well. Currently the Journal lists everything in the order you recorded them. But at the very least, I'd like for the ability to toggle that organization between entry date, location, or NPC.