We Need People In RPGs

[GameBanshee News]

Scorpia has two related editorials, entitled We Need People in RPGs and We Also Need..., about the need in RPGs of realistic NPCs and motivations.

For instance, we know all the “people” (a.k.a. NPCs) are really there just for us. They populate the world so it won’t look empty. They wait around with little odd jobs for us to do outside of the main line. They provide cannon fodder so we can grab goodies and level up on our way to Foozle.

Added to that is the fact that NPC personalities tend to come in just three flavors: forgettable, obnoxious, and helpless. Throw in the difficulties of conversation, and it’s no surprise that we have a hard time feeling anything beyond exasperation or antagonism for any of them.

These are some reasons why stories often seem drab in RPGs. The NPCs are just robots running through their scripts; they have little or no personality.

Spotted on RPGWatch.

[DesR85]

Is that necessary? What is a game suppose to focus on? The main character or the NPCs?

[Xandax]

Originally Posted by DesR85

Is that necessary? What is a game suppose to focus on? The main character or the NPCs?

It is difficult to have a good focus on the PC if everybody else (NPCs) in the world act like stupid drones. Good NPCs are very important for RPGs.
It isn't like "shooter" games etc where the NPCs are just there to be target practice. A purpose of NPCs in RPGs is to create the illusion of a world in which the story takes place. And if the NPCs are unbelievable, the world is unbelievable and thus the game is unbelievable.
It is like watching a movie and having everybody standing around reading their lines from a script except the "hero".

So yes - it is necessary for RPGs and similar genre.

[Faust]

Yeah, I'd agree. NPCs with interesting personalities and comprehensible motivations greatly enhance my enjoyment of RPGs. Some developers have done this better than others. I know the NPCs in games like Bloodlines and many of Bioware efforts, immediately come to mind.

[DesR85]

Originally Posted by Xandax

It is difficult to have a good focus on the PC if everybody else (NPCs) in the world act like stupid drones. Good NPCs are very important for RPGs.
It isn't like "shooter" games etc where the NPCs are just there to be target practice. A purpose of NPCs in RPGs is to create the illusion of a world in which the story takes place. And if the NPCs are unbelievable, the world is unbelievable and thus the game is unbelievable.

I would expect that from NPCs that play an important role in the game, but not those 'other' NPCs that litter an area doing mundane tasks within their pre-determined path. I probably misinterpreted the article and referred to the latter in that post.

[fable]

Ah, but RPGs don't need no stinkin' writers!

[Lady Dragonfly]

Originally Posted by GameBanshee News

They wait around with little odd jobs for us to do outside of the main line. They provide cannon fodder so we can grab goodies and level up on our way to Foozle.

Added to that is the fact that NPC personalities tend to come in just three flavors: forgettable, obnoxious, and helpless.

I think he is talking not only about "joinable NPC" but also about NPC populating the game world, the ones that tend to loose heirlooms in the caves, so Des is not completely off the mark.
I don't think the main problem with the non-joinable quest-givers is their generic "personality" - that can be fixed with a few clever dialogue lines. What makes a game boring is those NPC's generic kill-this-bring-that-get-rewarded side-quests.

As for joinable NPC in a party based RPG, I don't like "neutral" characters that stick around regardless of what's going on, never betray, never backstab, never leave etc.

[Siberys]

Originally Posted by DesR85

Is that necessary? What is a game suppose to focus on? The main character or the NPCs?

Neither. A GOOD RPG focuses on nothing, and brings a balance between all aspects of the game. Morrowind, Dungeons and Dragons, and World of Darkness are the only ones to have come close and/or done it right.

[kyle]

Anyone else remember Wizardry Crusaders of the Dark Savant? Great NPCs - not because of the writing or the scripted cut scenes they were placed in, but because Sir-Tech just wound them up and let them go. So in one playthrough, this NPC killed that NPC; in another playthrough, the other one won; in another, they never even met... etc. I think RPGs need to get back to that kind gameplay, ditch all this "more dialogue=better NPCs" philosophy.

[fable]

Originally Posted by kyle

Anyone else remember Wizardry Crusaders of the Dark Savant? Great NPCs - not because of the writing or the scripted cut scenes they were placed in, but because Sir-Tech just wound them up and let them go.

Actually, they didn't just "wind them up and let them go." I knew the team who made the game, and it included the most detailed series of concurrent plots among several races that I've seen in any RPG to date. It was all based on elaborate writing, some of it in the form of back-writing, material that determined what people did before they met you. But don't you remember the pages of text each from the Umpani, the T'Rang, and several of the other races? There were tons of dialog. That was probably one of the most dialog-heavy RPGs of all time. My suspicion is that you're forgetting that because it fit in so well with the plots and characters that you lost track of it. But it was there, at great length.