Incoherent or unrealistic NPC behaviors

[reddesert]

1. Irrelevant NPC behavior in interior locations during quests:

After having played the game myself and watching several streams of relatively new players, I always found it jarring that when you talk to a static NPC in an interior location where the quest target is also present, they just reply "Never mind..." I believe this happened in original Daggerfall as well, so it's obviously not a bug in that sense.

Though it is a small aspect of the game, in my opinion, this breaks the fourth wall in a very incoherent way and gives players a bad experience. Of course, one might expect the NPCs in the same region as the quest target to behave differently than they would normally, but that response doesn't make any sense. Maybe a standard script could be cooked up for them to use for a response instead of that? I feel this would go a long way to preserve the flow of the game narrative, instead of making new players question what is going on after they've just found where they're supposed to be.

2. Talking to an NPC who has already given you a quest does not even open a dialog window:

Again, a valid aspect of the original game. In some ways it can be argued that it makes sense. But it's certainly off-putting for some players to be blocked from interaction with someone they've just talked to. Maybe a script could have them say "How's %QUEST_NAME% coming along?" or something similar instead.

3. All walking NPCs respond to you, even if it is to tell you off.

Technically, this is not that realistic as some of them might be busy and not talk to you at all. I can understand why no one might want to change this aspect of the game, as it can be hard enough finding locations through NPC dialogue if you aren't spamming each one you find, but in the interest of realism I would think most would just walk right by!

[MrFlibble]

1. Irrelevant NPC behavior in interior locations during quests:

After having played the game myself and watching several streams of relatively new players, I always found it jarring that when you talk to a static NPC in an interior location where the quest target is also present, they just reply "Never mind..." I believe this happened in original Daggerfall as well, so it's obviously not a bug in that sense.

I'm not sure what exactly you mean here -- that NPCs reply this way to your asking about a quest item or person which/who is right there? I believe that all NPCs behave the same way regardless of any quest that is running, except that there are extra dialogue options and replies to "Any news?" that are relevant to the running quest(s). So an NPC's response to you will be based on the usual factors including your personality and speechcraft skills (etiquetts/streetwise), reputation and faction alignment.

And yes, NPCs are known to response randomly, so you can ask the King of Worms about the Necromancers and he may tell you he knows nothing about it -- or give that silly response ("I had one once but the wheel fell off").

2. Talking to an NPC who has already given you a quest does not even open a dialog window:

Again, a valid aspect of the original game. In some ways it can be argued that it makes sense. But it's certainly off-putting for some players to be blocked from interaction with someone they've just talked to. Maybe a script could have them say "How's %QUEST_NAME% coming along?" or something similar instead.

I suppose that this could be done, theoretically, if there's a way to make sure this does not break any game logic that concerns the execution of quests.

3. All walking NPCs respond to you, even if it is to tell you off.

Technically, this is not that realistic as some of them might be busy and not talk to you at all. I can understand why no one might want to change this aspect of the game, as it can be hard enough finding locations through NPC dialogue if you aren't spamming each one you find, but in the interest of realism I would think most would just walk right by!

I think you're viewing this from a modern POV and expecting them to act like passers-by in a busy urban environment. However, I believe that in medieval times the reactions could be different, and people would not turn away from someone addressing them, if only for virtues of Christian charity and love for your neighbour. Besides, the player character in DF certainly has a social status above that of a commoner, and completely ignoring this kind of people could actually risk undesirable consequences for the peasants and the like.

[reddesert]

Thanks for the reply MrFlibble! I agree with your responses for the last two points.

On the first point, I am specifically talking about the flat NPCs in for example a house a player has been sent to for a quest, that would be there regardless of the quest. Yes they would normally respond randomly, but due to the quest instead only say "Never mind..." I wish I had a screenshot of this but don't have one on hand at the moment. Maybe it hasn't happened to you in a while because you know not to talk to them in those cases? Or maybe it is only for some quests that this happens - but it definitely does happen.