Poll: Do you like NPC schedules?

[GeneralGrant]

The last two games I've played are Fallout 3 and Mass Effect 2-and, among other things, a major difference between the two is how they handle NPCs. Mass Effect takes the classic route of NPCs who hang out in one location, making them easy to locate and convenient for the most part. It's not very realistic, but at least I don't have to wonder where the guy for the quest is going to be and whether he'll be there when I want to do it.

Fallout 3, on the other hand, takes the approach of having NPCs hang out in various different places and be in closed stores and buildings, requiring you to wait around for their shop to open. The game does at least feature the option to wait, but that doesn't make it any less irritating that it's a requirement. The game's map also does not point out where these people actually are going to be-for some of the quests I had to wander through the entire town of Megaton several times to find whoever the NPC was I needed to talk to. It's a needless irritant and one of the reasons I have never been able to get into a Bethesda RPG.

So, do you love the realism of schedules or do you prefer the much more convenient method of rigid NPC positions. If you can't tell, I prefer the latter. Realism should never compromise gameplay, and I feel that NPC schedules in most games do compromise gameplay for me. At the least, add a map that tells me where the NPC is at all times if you're going to move him around.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

If there is a "wait" system fine.

If not...*glares at Radiata Stories*...then no.

 

[Signa]

I think the only game that pulled it off right was Majora's Mask. Even so, it was really irritating if you missed your appointment with a NPC because you would have to start the game over.

 

[magicmonkeybars]

Gothic did this well.

 

[Hazy]

If there is a "wait" system fine.

If not...*glares at Radiata Stories*...then no.

I nominate Shenmue for the cold glare as well.

However, there really is something eerily surreal about waiting at a bus stop with several co-workers as you prepare to go home.
Only to realize you are playing a game...

So, to answer the OP, yes. It helps to humanize the NPCs and give them a sense of realism - that they're not just waiting around for you, and function as a real person.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I never really found it an issue in Fallout 3.

Only time I got a bit frustrated was trying to find Dr Li in Rivet City for the first time.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

If there is a "wait" system fine.

If not...*glares at Radiata Stories*...then no.

I nominate Shenmue for the cold glare as well.

However, there really is something eerily surreal about waiting at a bus stop with several co-workers as you prepare to go home.
Only to realize you are playing a game...

So, to answer the OP, yes. It helps to humanize the NPCs and give them a sense of realism - that they're not just waiting around for you, and function as a real person.

Haven't played it. REALLY WANTED TO. But haven't gotten around to it. That, and my old Dreamcast broke.

 

[Hazy]

If there is a "wait" system fine.

If not...*glares at Radiata Stories*...then no.

I nominate Shenmue for the cold glare as well.

However, there really is something eerily surreal about waiting at a bus stop with several co-workers as you prepare to go home.
Only to realize you are playing a game...

So, to answer the OP, yes. It helps to humanize the NPCs and give them a sense of realism - that they're not just waiting around for you, and function as a real person.

Haven't played it. REALLY WANTED TO. But haven't gotten around to it. That, and my old Dreamcast broke.

It's really deliberate in it's pacing - but it's all done in the name of realism.

Provided you explore a bit, you start to see that the world really does come alive.

 

[sephiroth1991]

It gives them persanity, so it hink it's better

 

[Artemicion]

I'm a big fan of Fallout 3, and I know where you're coming from. Among the most irritating parts of the game is having to wait for stores to open. The realism of such a system is an acceptable reason for it, but the system is overall unnecessary.

The other part of this argument being the moving NPCs like Crazy Wolfgang and the rest of the traveling merchants, which are also very annoying. The least Bethesda could have done is label where they are on your map.

Concerning all of this new realism craze: The more and more games try to be realistic, the more I'm inclined to go back to my PS2. There's a fine line between fun and not, and the addition of realistic events in games tends to push the envelope toward the edge of this line. Fallout 3 is by no means a realistic game, but it's full of these realistic bits, like NPC schedules, or irradiated water, and that can sometimes get in the way of the potential fun to be had. I'm certainly not saying that realism should be abolished, but the possible detraction of fun and inclusion of irritation should be kept in mind.

 

[searanox]

If the game has a time of day system of some sort, then yes, it makes sense that NPCs go to sleep at night and do whatever it is they do during the day. Not so much a fan of totally random or strange, unpredictable behaviour which makes finding crucial NPCs difficult, but breaks immersion quite a bit when you don't have decent AI behaviours based on time of day and the like. It's got to be all or nothing.

 

[BENZOOKA]

I like the NPC system of Fallout 3, but the option of NPC's not moving anywhere works usually well enough in other games.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Nah, I want NPCs to stay where they are. Sometimes takes a long time to find the guy you're doing a quest for, even with the wait function. May not be realistic, but walking aimlessly around town like in Fallout 3 is hardly more realistic.

Also, it's easier to see in which ways you can finish a quest and whether or not a quest is broken. "Ah, this NPC is gone... that shouldn't have happened."

 

[Artemicion]

...but walking aimlessly around town like in Fallout 3 is hardly more realistic...

That, and the fact that you can't ask other NPCs for the whereabouts of the one you're looking for.

Seriously, how hard would it have been to make a "Do you know where I might find #variable ?"
with the response "Sure, last I knew they were #variable ."

 

[squid5580]

If there is a "wait" system fine.

If not...*glares at Radiata Stories*...then no.

Yes that is the title I was trying to remember. Thank you. And for that reason NO!!! Even with a wait system there is a major problems if no one tells you what time frame they might pop in. First you need to be in the right place at the right time. Second you could end up waiting in 1 hour intervals until they pop in. Third waiting is just not fun. It is like a load screen only longer.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

If there is a "wait" system fine.

If not...*glares at Radiata Stories*...then no.

Yes that is the title I was trying to remember. Thank you. And for that reason NO!!! Even with a wait system there is a major problems if no one tells you what time frame they might pop in. First you need to be in the right place at the right time. Second you could end up waiting in 1 hour intervals until they pop in. Third waiting is just not fun. It is like a load screen only longer.

Yes well, I'm playing Radiata mixed in with ME1/2 at the moment, and boy...does hunting for NPCs to recruit suck. THANKS, BRADYGAME OFFICIAL GUIDE! It has NPC schedule in it.

 

[Plurralbles]

there's nothing like playing oblivion, trying to kill/rob/vampire someone, breaking in to their house and having an "ok, where the hell are they?" moment.

Remember Glarthir? His quest was the only time I realized that NPC's even had schedules. But afterwards I started realizing it a bit more and more and now it's just... I'm a freakin' stalker in that game.

 

[Indecizion]

hate when important npc's go somewhere without telling you where

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

there's nothing like playing oblivion, trying to kill/rob/vampire someone, breaking in to their house and having an "ok, where the hell are they?" moment.

agreed, one time it glitched the ONE fucking person i was supposed to kill into the wall so i stealthed the shit out of the whole damn place until i rubbed up against a wall and i hear a "AH GUARDS" through the fucking wall and then i had to reload it


most of the time its an annoyance...some games do it good, which is great, but when the NPC's suck anyways, and have no life to them, it just makes it annoying and doesn't add to the realism...so i'd prefer not to have it, but if its a sick ass game then by all means go ahead.

 

[Poomanchu745]

The thing I think that games should change is how NPCs react to stimuli in the environment. I remember when I played Fallout 3, there were two guards standing one in front of the other and I went behind the first and pulled out my shotgun. I point blank took his skull off and then VATs to kill the other. In real life if there was a guy standing behind me with a shotgun I would be paying attention to him.

NPCs need to watch things that people in real life would watch. Like if a squirrel went running by it should catch their attention for a second or two. Or if you are aiming a shotgun at their head from behind they should start to react in such a manner that shows they are trying to move or kill you first.