Mechanic for locating missing NPCs

Gameplay
#1

As I was browsing this forum and its buglist topics, I noticed that lot of people have problem with finding some NPC which are gone missing (herb woman being a usual suspect).
This could cause some serious frustrations even in finished game, especially due to very complex AI and day cycles, because when you want to just finish or advance the quest and you need to talk to somebody, you don´t want spend half a day looking for this npc in his home, pub, woods, work, field or anywhere between these places, and repeat this routine few times in each quest.

So I would suggest that when talking to major/any NPC, there should always be some option like “Haven´t you seen /Person X/?” That NPC could than give you some broad voiced answer like “I last saw him near his house/near his work/near the pub” or something unspecific like that, so it isn´t too hard to do voice overs, and after that he could mark you this NPC on your map for limited time (few ingame hours).

I think that this approach have lot of benefits over no pointers/marks at all (causing you to get stuck and get frustrated), or permanent pointer like in most RPGs, where it over time turns into “follow red mark” game, which greatly breaks immersion.

Or do you have any other ideas or info how will this work?

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#2

I think this is a good idea, but I personally would only like it implemented if the NPC you asked ACTUALLY saw them last at the pub.

I don’t know how difficult that would be to implement, but if the NPC you’re looking for came into an NPCs field of vision earlier in the day, it should be internally noted for that NPC. Then that can be called upon when you ask them a question. Depending on when you ask them should indicate the confidence in their response. If the NPC just saw them, “Oh, I just saw him at the pub.” But if it was several hours later, “Hmm, I think I saw him at the pub.” If a full day passes, that information is no longer relavent; “I haven’t seen him today.”

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#3

Well, I really think that mechanics should be simple and straightforward if possible… Your solutions only redirects searching for my NPC to searching an NPC which saw my wanted NPC not long time ago :smiley: Also it would be MUCH harder to implement voice overs, as number of lines required would be far greater.
And it could get really confusing, because you have to determine what exactly does it mean, that NPC saw the other NPC - does it require line of sight, are of hearing, how long is maximum “spotting distance”… waaay too complicated, for worse result imo.

#4

I think there’s a difference between complicated and complex.

Complicated insinuates a degree of convolutedness and deficiencies.

I think it could be implemented in a way that is realistic, effective, and elegant; albeit complex.

#5

Well, complex almost always leads to complicated, and then convoluted. Game will be complex enough already, without trying to change one very simple mechanic (quest mark) to something which requires 3 weeks of implementation by 10 people.
And I can already see the situation; I see herb women go around pub. I need herb women 5 hours later. So I go to bartender, ask for her… and he tells me he never saw her, because she was basically in that damn pub, but was more than 5 meters away from bartender, so he doesn´t recall her… aaand we are screwed, because now I can choose to search for her directly, or randomly talk to all fcking NPCs in the world just in case somebody saw her… thats definitely not elegant, thats crap.

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#6

If NPCs have a daily schedule, perhaps the other NPCs could just describe that schedule. So if you ask the bartender about the herbalist woman, he might say “well, in the evenings, she usually goes to […].” Obviously you’d have to place limits on which NPCs you can ask a particular person about, or you’d end up with an enormous list…

#7

Well you run again in the voice overs problem… for such tiny feature, that would be waaaaaay too much work imo.
And realistically, its quite easy to know the schedule, either npc is at work, or pub, or home etc… problem might be his transitions and unexpected states (pub is full, wife is cheating on him at home, so he cries at the neighbour doorstep :D)

#8

Those are good points, but surely the voiceover problem would be just the same - if not worse - for the solution you proposed in the OP. Maybe just make quest markers optional so that players can switch them on temporarily if they get really stuck?

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#9

I don’t think there will be any voice over issues. Hell, Fallout4 had more dialogue than Fallout3 and Skyrim combined. It’s not like voice work takes up large amounts of the disc anymore. It’s a non-issue.

#10

Are you joking? They started 2 years ago with the voice work!!!

large amounts of the disc anymore
Yes, that´s really shit. They put only 5GB (of the Game) on the DVD. Have to download 21GB. No idea how many space the voices take, but I think, you are right, that´s not a problem. :smile:

We had a similar topic:

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#11

The entire game comes on the PS4/X1 blue-ray disc.

And, just like creating the world, animations, etc., you create the story, the dialogue, record the voice work, etc. It’s a part of the process; it’s not like this separate thorn in the side towards completing the game. That’s all I mean. The game isn’t going to be done in your arbitrary “2 years”, so why would it be some issue if the voice work takes some time.

#12

Sure, it would be done in whole voice over package together with other lines… but all those solutions seems to have waaaaay to many combinations to do it effectively. I proposed about 3-5 line variations and simple to implement system.
Please consider, that every hour of voice over costs many hours of recording, and every hour costs a hell of a lot of money. And for what? For dubious, half-assed quest marker which works 20% of time. Just not worth it.

#13

I guess I’m just an advocate of ambition and pursuing the complex with strong intent of an elegant and sophisticated implementation that will deepen the world. Pushing boundaries of video games is more important to me than going for an “easy fix”. I want the world to not just look alive, but feel alive also. Many games struggle to accomplish this. Hell, I don’t think any game has really accomplished this yet, but some games have made progress here or there.

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