885 réponses à ce sujet

[the_one_54321]

I don't remember Leliana talking about pudding...

[AlanC9]

Sylvius the Mad wrote...
So if an NPC has a reaction you didn't expect, you can't say why that happened with any confidence.  Maybe you misunderstood the line you chose, or maybe the NPC misunderstood what your character said, or maybe you misunderstood the NPC's reaction.

You can't know which of these is true, so pointing to this event and claiming you know why it happened is silly.

What does "any confidence" mean in this context?

If I've "Misunderstood the line (I) chose" that's almost certainly because I didn't know the tone that line was delivered in; I can't recall any time where I misunderstood the literal text. Of course, this is exactly what defining the PCs tone will prevent.

That would leave just the NPC misunderstanding my character's actions, or me misinterpreting the NPCs actions. Sure, that will still happen; that can happen in any communication whatsoever. But what of it? Not being able to predict the reactions of others with 100% certainty simply doesn't mean that I shouldn't attempt any such prediction. Even moderate accuracy with that helps me steer the interaction where I want it to go.

[AlanC9]

the_one_54321 wrote...

I don't remember Leliana talking about pudding...

"Oh, I have tales of pudding like you would not believe... perhaps we could retire to my tent and I could regale you?"?

It's on the romance track, but it's possible to miss this entirely. Her dialog conditionals are kind of messed up, enough so I'm not actually certain what the design intent was for her romance track.

[the_one_54321]

She's fickle, and hopelessly romantic. This type of mindset tends to require a degree of randomness and mind reading.

[Sylvius the Mad]

the_one_54321 wrote...

Thats fairly correct, except that you can say with certainty that it happened because of how the NPC percieved whatever the player said/did. That much is certain.

Right.  But we don't know how the NPC perceived that, or why.

[Sylvius the Mad]

AmstradHero wrote...

I've said it before - the nature of the NPC's response is always the same regardless of your personal interpretation because it's been written that way by the writers of the game.

I disagree.  I've interpreted exactly the same NPC reaction entirely differently because it occurred in a different context.  Where and when things are said, and in response to what, matters.

A specific response in reaction to someone being awkwardly flirty is very different from that same reaction in response to someone being jocular, even if it sounds the same.

[the_one_54321]

Sylvius the Mad wrote...

the_one_54321 wrote...
Thats fairly correct, except that you can say with certainty that it happened because of how the NPC percieved whatever the player said/did. That much is certain.

Right.  But we don't know how the NPC perceived that, or why.

We don't need to know such specifics. We only need to know that cause and effect is taking place.

[Sylvius the Mad]

AlanC9 wrote...

If I've "Misunderstood the line (I) chose" that's almost certainly because I didn't know the tone that line was delivered in; I can't recall any time where I misunderstood the literal text.

Would you have noticed?  Maybe you just blamed the NPC.

Some of the written options had ambiguous grammar.  They could have meant any one of a number of things.  I usually picked those options when I was trying to be evasive.

[Sylvius the Mad]

the_one_54321 wrote...

Sylvius the Mad wrote...

the_one_54321 wrote...
Thats fairly correct, except that you can say with certainty that it happened because of how the NPC percieved whatever the player said/did. That much is certain.

Right.  But we don't know how the NPC perceived that, or why.

We don't need to know such specifics. We only need to know that cause and effect is taking place.

But what is the effect?  Sure, we can say that the NPC behaved a certain way, but we don't know whether the NPC actually understood what we did, or that we actually understand the NPC's reaction.

Using this cause and effect to determine that the NPC misunderstood the PC's tone is absurd.  We don't have enough information to do that.

[the_one_54321]

How do you not have enough information for that? The PC said something and the NPC reacted. If the reaction didn't fit action then either the NPC misunderstood or the PC used a tone that you didn't intend.

[Sylvius the Mad]

How can you say it didn't fit? How would you know if it fit? We don't know the NPC's starting point or his perceived context. We don't know his conversational objectives.