Immortality of quest NPCs

Gameplay
#61

Seems like there could be more immersive ways to deal with the problem.

Depending on the context, some could survive being killed and show up hospitalised some time afterward, delaying your quest, in other cases they might just be replaced by someone else and in other cases, a strong group of enemies from the faction of the dead NPC could promptly track you down and kill you, or if you’re in the quest that the NPC is helping you with, it could be your mutual enemies that kill you because you didn’t have the NPC to assist you. There’s also the possibility to let players skip important parts of the main quest, replacing those parts with something less glamorous, interesting and work intensive, that would still lead to the next part.

In a perfect world, it would be obvious that killing a particular NPC is a bad idea and the consequences would make sense within the story.

Anyway, option 3 isn’t so bad. I hope you have time to make the system seem reasonably flexible though, even if not foolproof.

#62

I think it will be better if we keep the main story NPCs alive. Option 1.

#63

I believe the best method is if these guys are important NPC’s i imagine they have bodyguards you are either not going to get close or get killed before you can kill them. i guess a good player might be able to though, but it would be a hard fight.

#64

I’m not sure we can take for granted that all NPCs that are critical to the completion of the story-line quest are going to be important enough that they’ll have bodyguards at all times. As far as I can tell from the OP, the requirement is that they’re unique people (think named, possibly known by the main character directly), not that they’re royalty or anything.

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#65

that is a fair point, but i imagine most NPC’s around this time are not push overs and can hold there ground or survive long enough to get backup, i guess assassination is the only way to do them in quickly

#66

Possibly, but it all depends on who they have in mind. I haven’t read up on the backstory of our character, so I’m not sure he has any family, but imagine for example his sister/mother/other relative/close friend was crucial from a story perspective. It’d most likely be easy for a player to kill such a character at will as it would come as a complete surprise from their perspective and they may well not be capable fighters.

#67

It is quite hard to kill someone, for example during this time it would be odd for people to walk around with a sword at all times, only nobility did that at least in england. or military.

A dagger yes because they were used for other things. You have to remember people from this time were far more able than we are now

#68

About the 3rd option (I voted for) – is it possible to make auto-save to return the player to the moment just before he attacked the NPC?

P.S. In case of game crucial NPC, what about short in-game animation showing that Henry would never be able to reach his goal (never found a water-chip and the vault 13 died) before the load/continue option?

#69

For some NPCs it could be appropriate if they start a dialog as soon as you draw your weapon around them that might end with you holstering your weapon.

‘Why are you drawing that sword, sure you want to go through with this?’

#70

I agree with that. I might not go berserk and kill everyone, yet it would be nice to get a warning if there is an important person crossing my sword. You know… accidents happen :wink:

#71

Hmm, It could be a type of difficult level:

Difficulty 1 : Dumb AI, 2x damage and unbreakable quests
Difficulty 2 : “Normal” AI, normal damage and some quest could be broken (Important characters are immortal)
Difficulty 3 : “Intelligent” AI, 1/2 x damage and any quest could break
Difficulty 4 : AI, 0.25x damage, if you look strange at someone you could get killed and almost anything that you do will break some quest…

Ok, this last one could be removed… : )

#72

LOL. I meant that if you want help the dumbass player not ruining his game that probably should do it.
And you keep the option to kill any NPC if you want to.

#73

I think all those choices are somewhat restrictive in a way, breaking the game, the fun, or immersion of it. But when you think deeper what hasn’t been done that would solve all this ? There is a solution.

The 4th choice :

In the real world, if someone dies there will usually be someone to take his place where he left. Why wouldn’t NPC be able to inherit the quests of other NPC’s ? Let’s say the King dies and he was a main aspect of the quest, surely his son or brother or adviser could replace him for all his quest related stuff. That could even happen at random so you never know how it’s going to impact the game. That doesn’t break immersion, this isn’t restrictive and it’s far more realistic than ANYTHING that have been done yet. At least from the games that I know about.

I know that could mean more voice acting for the actors, but I think it could work !

#74

Possible, but horrible! I can’t imagine, that killing any friendly character NPC - on immersion level a person - would not end with Henry being killed or arrested by a mob or guards. In a realistic scenario everyone should be mortal so the option 3 is way to go. I believe it worked same way in Mafia too. Anyone important died, the mission was over and you needed to make another attempt. This time protecting important persons. … I know it’s 12 years later and there are whole new generation of players, that are used to get everything served and simplified, but please don’t do it with this game. My personal plea.

#75

I bellieve that Warhorse (MadSmejki) already answer that here and here…

#76

I think an option in the option that lets you kill all NPC’s so thews that want to follow the story can avoid killing the main story NPC’s but have the option for those that want to just have fun can kill as he/she wishes with nothing stopping the immersion

#77

I’m definitely for option number 3 !!!

1 Like
#78

I do agree that option 3 is the way to go, but there should be a ‘‘safety’’ that transfer quests to at least another NPC in case you kill someone, or that someone dies by accident. I’m not saying that it should be an absolute law however. If you kill every NPC except one, he shouldn’t have all quest and items. But I think all ‘‘important’’ NPC should have least one person that take care of it’s stuff if he dies. It’s how it happens in real life too. If you die, you’ll be missed, but someone will replace you at your job, in your family etc etc.

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#79

Also going for number 3. It’s part of the realism you’re promising. However I’m wondering about some things. Of course a certain NPC can be part of several quests and therefore the death of that NPC might cause several quests to break. Is it possible to have “backup NPCs” like family members or best friends who might have the same information or items like the actually intended NPC would have? I don’t know about hereditament and wills in medieval times so that needs to be put into consideration. Sorry if that ws mentioned in earlier posts but I didn’t read through all posts yet. I’m still on my way home from vacation but wanted to reply as soon as I had enough time. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#80

You could find “Some Items” on said deceased person, like notes and what not that could tell you of other quests to complete. Just a thought to ponder.

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