So in anticipation of Dawnguard I've been mucking about with Skyrim, and I think I may have pinned down what (for me anyway) is the most immersion breaking thing about the game. And it's really simple:
Non player characters need a capacity to feel fear. Or at the very least a capacity to *learn* to be afraid.
In an effort to prove this, lemme ask you a quick question. How many times over the course of your time playing games have you faced the following scenario:
You're high level. You have all your favorite gear equipped. You've just finished piling up corpses around you four layers deep. There is so much blood the air tastes of copper. And you haven't even broken sweat yet. And as you stand triumphant over the bodies of your foes- you catch something out of the corner of your eye. Why, it's Bumfuck McMook! The last bandit/goblin/insurgent/terrorist/whocares standing. He has just finished watching you effortlessly slaughter everyone he's ever met. And what's this? He's charging at you headlong with a sword in hand. Why Bumfuck you brave, brave soul you.
You get my point here right? Unless I'm facing down mindless automatons or the criminally insane, my enemies should demonstrate that they value their own lives. I'm aware that they're just collections of 1's and 0's, but as long as you're calling them "bandits", they should behave as such.
If I get jumped by some thugs on the highway and I kill 3/4s of them in under 7 seconds by myself, then my guess is that the survivors first priority would be pissing themselves. Not charging headlong into certain death.
There are other more subtle examples of NPC fearlessness that mess with my immersion ("So you what, fetch the mead?") but the above is one of the most glaring examples, and it's one of the easier ones to fix mechanically.
Thoughts?
Non player characters need a capacity to feel fear. Or at the very least a capacity to *learn* to be afraid.
In an effort to prove this, lemme ask you a quick question. How many times over the course of your time playing games have you faced the following scenario:
You're high level. You have all your favorite gear equipped. You've just finished piling up corpses around you four layers deep. There is so much blood the air tastes of copper. And you haven't even broken sweat yet. And as you stand triumphant over the bodies of your foes- you catch something out of the corner of your eye. Why, it's Bumfuck McMook! The last bandit/goblin/insurgent/terrorist/whocares standing. He has just finished watching you effortlessly slaughter everyone he's ever met. And what's this? He's charging at you headlong with a sword in hand. Why Bumfuck you brave, brave soul you.
You get my point here right? Unless I'm facing down mindless automatons or the criminally insane, my enemies should demonstrate that they value their own lives. I'm aware that they're just collections of 1's and 0's, but as long as you're calling them "bandits", they should behave as such.
If I get jumped by some thugs on the highway and I kill 3/4s of them in under 7 seconds by myself, then my guess is that the survivors first priority would be pissing themselves. Not charging headlong into certain death.
There are other more subtle examples of NPC fearlessness that mess with my immersion ("So you what, fetch the mead?") but the above is one of the most glaring examples, and it's one of the easier ones to fix mechanically.
Thoughts?
. You are right I have slaughtered your friends effortlessly and am not hurt in the slightest and you think you can take me. If that was me I would be running away in very wet pants.
