My thoughts on NPC background immersion or interactions

Callenmore

Member
Feb 7, 2023
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First time posting, minus one quick appreciation from the latest patch updates, but I did have some thoughts on the game.
To be honest, I think the game is really great; I love the realism, the graphics, the sheer size of the game and much more. That being said, I feel like the cities need some regular folk/women and children/market shoppers, or something like that. They don't even need to do anything, just mill around from place to place. As it stands, the cities can feel very empty, or more - like a military outpost, there's simply no civilians! (other than merchants).
Again, they don't need to do anything much, but different animations like you'd find in a bustling city: people carrying baskets, kids running around, etc. Or, if they Could do something, it might be something as simple as just saying "hello". Just something to add more realism of a living breathing city.

Overall, it's the best game I've played, though admittedly I don't play many games on the computer, the previous one I played and liked was EQ2 a long time ago.
 

Jybwee

Active member
May 28, 2020
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On the roadmap, for "Epic Release", there is a goal of "Citizen Behavior". I'm not sure if Henrik has talked about it much on his streams, but just the name would suggest something at least akin to what you're wanting.

Also, there's always that delicate balance of stressing the systems... our pcs and the servers... with having more npcs and more animations and etc. I'd love to hear Henrik talk more in detail about what specific/realistic goals they have here.
 

Jackdstripper

Well-known member
Jan 8, 2021
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In MO 1 Tindrem had civilian NPCs walking around. You could even kill them and sell their heads to a shady NPC trader tucked away in the slums. While it was amusing for an hour or two it got old fast. It didnt make much money and the risk of getting caught by guards or players was high. In the end it only served at lowering fps when you were in the city.
 

Emdash

Well-known member
Sep 22, 2021
3,046
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Agree. It was like this in MO1. World 'immersion' beyond like swaying trees is at an all time low, but you got like 50 magic schools. :D