Hey Dragon, welcome to the forums!
One of the problems with keeping these nameplates is that Daggerfall can (and does) reuse the same building for different quests with a different surname. Daggerfall doesn't even try to resolve this and just stacks all the nameplates on top of each other, leading to a cluttered mess.
See, it's not
really "The Wicking Residence". None of the occupants are likely to even have that name. It's just some random "local/remote house1-4" with a random surname generated at the time quest was instantiated. There's no tracking in the game data to persist these names in the way shops can. Residences don't even have a name key at all. And the way Daggerfall resolves this is by just slapping down name stickers and hoping for the best. The core issue is actually that residences have no function before or after a quest they are involved in.
Check out the following automap image:
- buildings.jpg (230.59 KiB) Viewed 4102 times
Now imagine that several of the buildings have been involved in one or more quests. Suddenly the signal to noise ratio goes down. Those shop names? They
mean something, they're the signal. These are places of business and rest.
The residences however, outside of their involvement in a quest, are just noise. They
subtract usefulness from the map by stealing eye focus away from functional, persistent buildings.
I appreciate the alternate points of view from you guys, it gives me more to think about. But I'm still not convinced that maintaining classic's sticker-mad behaviour here is wise or warranted.
