Do the NPCs interaction seem a little 'wooden' to you?

[galenwolf]

edit: the description should have read "No matter the situation the actors just stand and talk, no emotion with body language is given." but I ran out of room.

 

This is really my only gripe about the game, I loving it in every other aspect.

 

In Oblivion my major problem was NPCs. Because of the lack of VAs in the game you ended up very lack luster voice performances, they lacked emotional depth and if two male nords where speaking to each other you'd think it was one guy arguing with himself if you closed your eyes. Worse still they would just stand there and not move, they looked like talking heads on top of manikins.

 

Where as in other games if someone was angry they might end up taking their anger out on innocent items on their desks etc, in Oblivion the people just stood there.

 

Now with Skyrim the hugely increased voice acting talent has improved the voice acting a hundred times over, however the manikin problem is still there. There is no body language to translate the now emotive voice with movement.

 

You might get a scene where you come across two people arguing, they sound like they are arguing but they are not moving like they are arguing. If you have someone come up to you in fear for their lives, they stand there calmly whilst screaming "HELP I'M GOING TO DIE!" rather than grabbing you for dear life.

 

I might have been spoilt with games like Mass Effect, but in that game when someone was angry, you could tell. Same with people who where scared, confident, nervous etc. Aria in Afterlife is a prime example, she just exuded confidence of someone who was in charge and they knew everyone feared and respected them. Garrus was another, I could look at him and think "he's about ready to shot someone", I can't do that with Skyrim.

 

What annoys me the most is seems like a trivial mistake to make, especially for a company that tries to make games as immersive as possible.

 

The much improved voice acting covers it up - a lot, especially compared to Oblivion, but I still pick it up.

 

What does everyone else think?

[Smosh]

It certainly can be done. I met a Jester on the road and he was very animated. It just seems they only did it for the occasional NPC.

[BarefootWarrior]

I think the actors or other NPC's seem ok, but it is my own character I wonder about. I went back to Oblivion Elder Scrolls to look at my warrior there. In Oblivion, when he is standing there, he looks around, looks at anyone talking to him, even frowns or busts out with a big smile. But in Skyrim , he just stands there, blinks, does not respond to anyone even if they are talking to him, does nothing until you move him no personality what so ever. :rolleyes:

[TwoToedSloth]

I agree with the OP. The animations in the game are poor in general. They are excellent given the scale of the game, but compared to linear games they are far behind the curve. The voice acting has made up for a lot of this. It's amazing aside from the times where a character will repeat the same lines over and over again as you walk by.

 

I've noticed the lack of attention to character this time around as well. I especially think that your dialogue choices are extremely narrow in skyrim compared to other open ended RPGs and even to prior Elder Scrolls games(unless I'm not remembering them correctly). There were a ton of instances where I did not agree whatsoever with the 1 or 2 dialogue choices...