12 réponses à ce sujet

[EpicBoot2daFace]

I often wonder why we don't see crowds of people walking around cities like Kirkwall and Denerim. You'd think these two big cities would be very populated. Yet, there are only a handful of people who live there.. or so it would seem.

These NPC's just stand there the ENTIRE game doing nothing. Most of them don't even give quests, they're just background statues. Why not make them actually do stuff like in Skyrim, and make it more populated like in Assassin's Creed?

It would make the worlds they create far more interesting and immersive.

[Eternal Phoenix]

They're actually part of the plot. They serve as a warning and look into the plot for Dragon Age 3. This guy below for instance is Lowtez Draken and he happens to be the antagonist of Dragon Age 3. He's a powerful mage (hence why you see copies of him throughout Kirkwall. Lowtez actually created those clones of himself by his own magic) who is spying on Hawke throughout the years to understand him/her. Lowtez is actually responsible for Hawke vanishing as he kidnapped Hawke just as he kidnapped The Warden. Why? It's for his plot to conquer the whole of Thedas which will be revealed in Dragon Age 3.

Older Lowtez Draken looking like a badass.
 

This way, Bioware can turn around and say that the antagonist of Dragon Age 3 was actually in Dragon Age 2 and could be observed. This will make sense and show a continuity of the plot from DA2 into DA3.

Young Lowtez Draken on a sunny morning.
http://t1.gstatic.co...J6v1x_2VOHxS5  

Lowtez Draken's appearance has faded over time because of his constant time-travelling. Technically he doesn't even exist and is a real bastard as he killed his own father but still "exists" which technically means he is uncreated and just is.

If you're referring to these guys:

 
They're part of the plot too. They're aliens from the moon which was actually a planet that was hit by a mass accelerator. The planet was actually the twin planet of the planet that Thedas is on and the inhabitants could jump from one planet to the other in the past. When the mass accelerator (used by an advanced race) hit the planet, the aliens jumped into Thedas but their features have become faded as a result of the radioactive material used within the mass accelerator.

The moon in Dragon Age.
 
The moon in Mass Effect.
 

These alien men and women are doing things. They're watching and waiting for the right time to strike and conquer Thedas. They're trying to understand the world and gain an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the Thedas peoples. This is why they stand about. They're thinking and occansionally you see them in groups discussing what they know about Thedas. I sent one of my reporters to question one of these aliens but the alien took offense and slapped her around the face!

One of the aliens getting angry.
 
Here, the aliens discuss everything they know about Thedas.



On an unrelated note, I once made a topic about why NPC's don't do anything and I suggested that they should have schedules too:

http://social.biowar...index/8210831/1 

Bioware games seem to be lacking when it comes to NPC's schedules or simply making NPC's move about. Well at least recent Biowares games are lacking. Baldur's Gate had NPC's moving about and the NPC's you encountered depended on the time. For example, at night you would encounter drunks and prostitutes. In Neverwinter Nights, there was no schedule but NPC's moved about, spoke to one another and you had guards patrolling.

Dragon Age 3 at least needs NPC's who do stuff.

Modifié par Elton John is dead, 10 juillet 2012 - 06:57 .

[LolaLei]

More NPC's in the cities in the same sort amount as Assassin's Creed would be pretty cool, it would certainly make things seem more bustling and alive, especially if DA3 is set in Orlais.

[Arius23]

What the hell is wrong with the moon? It looks like someone tried to split it in half.

Blood magic for sure.

On a related note:  I don't mind NPCs mingling around not doing much, but if you are going to visit the same area over the course of many years, at least make it grow, or shrink, or CHANGE in someway that reflects the passage of time.

Modifié par Arius23, 10 juillet 2012 - 08:39 .

[Maclimes]

Arius23 wrote...

On a related note:  I don't mind NPCs mingling around not doing much, but if you are going to visit the same area over the course of many years, at least make it grow, or shrink, or CHANGE in someway that reflects the passage of time.

This. There are actually people walking about, talking to each other, and interacting in Kirkwall. Often, they'll even interact with you briefly before moving on. (There's a lady in Lowtown that flirts with Carver everytime I walk by. Fun times).

But the CHANGING, yes... That same lady is STILL wandering around Lowtown 7 years later. 

[thats1evildude]

EpicBoot2daFace wrote...

These NPC's just stand there the ENTIRE game doing nothing. Most of them don't even give quests, they're just background statues. Why not make them actually do stuff like in Skyrim, and make it more populated like in Assassin's Creed?

I'm not a dev, but I'll take a stab at this.

Keep in mind that the NPCs in Skyrim and Dragon Age serve entirely different purposes. Skyrim is a sandbox RPG, so the PC must be able to do all sorts of things with NPCs: talk to them, rob them, kick them in their daddy-bags, etc.

In Dragon Age, the emphasis is on fleshing out a small cast of characters, plus your party members. Much like film and television, the NPCs are just extras — they fill out a scene and that's pretty much else. The reason that most of them look "unfinished" is because they're just Faceless Masses.

You could make the NPCs in Dragon Age more detailed, but these things do take resources and there are limits to what the devs can accomplish.

Modifié par thats1evildude, 10 juillet 2012 - 08:57 .

[Eternal Phoenix]

Dragon Age: Origins had detailed NPC's and getting them to walk isn't hard. I take it you haven't ever modded any games? The Witcher 2 is focused on a small cast of characters and yet has NPC's living their daily life via a schedule. There's not really an excuse for a Bioware game NOT to have detailed NPC's who do things especially since Bioware games are supposed to be AAA titles.

Mount and Blade has detailed NPC's PLUS they walk around town. Mount and Blade was made by two people.

Yeah, Bioware really has no excuse now.

Modifié par Elton John is dead, 10 juillet 2012 - 10:08 .

[thats1evildude]

I haven't played either game, so I'll have to take your word on it.

[MagmaSaiyan]

the only way we are getting interactive npcs, is if we strip only having the protag, no/less back story on companions, even less choices that matter, then sure it can be done, or even more years to complete it

[Eternal Phoenix]

You know, I get people's point. DA is about a small cast of characters but I would love to see the world being a bit more lively with townsfolk, even if it's them simply walking around.

[EpicBoot2daFace]

Elton John is dead wrote...

Dragon Age: Origins had detailed NPC's and getting them to walk isn't hard. I take it you haven't ever modded any games? The Witcher 2 is focused on a small cast of characters and yet has NPC's living their daily life via a schedule. There's not really an excuse for a Bioware game NOT to have detailed NPC's who do things especially since Bioware games are supposed to be AAA titles.

Mount and Blade has detailed NPC's PLUS they walk around town. Mount and Blade was made by two people.

Yeah, Bioware really has no excuse now.

This.

I don't think it's a hardware or resource issue. Keep in mind that BioWare did the same thing with KOTOR. Infact, in that game, there were far more people walking around and talking with one another than in either of the Dragon Age games and that was on the original Xbox. Still, they didn't do very much and were basically background noise.

I understand Skyrim is an open world RPG, and thus, the devs have different goals in mind. However, it certainly isn't impossible for BioWare to add more NPC's to their (allegedly) populated cities and give those NPC's schedules. Not being an open world game doesn't excuse the obvious lack of effort here.

Kirkwall was ridiculous because at the beginning of the game, the guards don't want to let you in because the city is FULL of refugees. Yet, when you walk inside and start looking around, the whole damn city is empty! What the ****?

Denerim wasn't much better. The capital of Ferelden and it's just as empty as Lothering. Have you seen the marketplace? Almost empty. The worse part is your companions remark about how much goes on here and how many people there are. Where?

[Orian Tabris]

In the Denerim Marketplace, there was a couple of NPCs who'd wonder around on a set path. Just sayin'.

[Ryllen Laerth Kriel]

Bioware hasn't made a city feel "lived in" since Baldur's Gate. NWN's NPCs came close, but the plot was godaweful with the exception of a few side quests and the few cities we did see usually were at war so not many NPCs were about or didn't want to talk. It would be nice if a city had more bustle, or at least the illusion of it. Kirkwall was supposed to be so filled with refugees that they weren't going to let Hawke in, yet it's a ghosttown inside.