Skyrim - Not the next generation RPG

[gigantibyte]

So I'm not sorry I bought Skyrim, and after this post I'll be playing again. $60 was a great deal for what I got. However, I can't help but feel the game really hasn't advanced much in 5 years in terms of immersion, and in some regards immersion elements have been lost. l would gladly pay $200 for a game with:

 

- NPCs that responded to voice recognition and / or to non scripted topics

- Environments that were not static (trees can be chopped, new construction, houses can burn to the ground, etc.)

- catacombs and dungeons so large you could get lost (random computer generated would be best)

 

And not really about immersion, but my ideal single player rpg game would include access to an ingame but online player market to meet, chat, and trade with other players.

Edited December 13, 2011 by gigantibyte

[CelerasRingor]

I like all those ideas especially the destructive environments and the voice recognition. I once played a Japanese game demo on PS2 that was controlled entirely through voice commands and it was really fun.

[xxstuttaxx]

So I'm not sorry I bought Skyrim, and after this post I'll be playing again. $60 was a great deal for what I got. However, I can't help but feel the game really hasn't advanced much in 5 years in terms of immersion, and in some regards immersion elements have been lost. l would gladly pay $200 for a game with:

 

- NPCs that responded to voice recognition and / or to non scripted topics

- Environments that were not static (trees can be chopped, new construction, houses can burn to the ground, etc.)

- catacombs and dungeons so large you could get lost (random computer generated would be best)

 

And not really about immersion, but my ideal single player rpg game would include access to an ingame but online player market to meet, chat, and trade with other players.

 

I second the online area part fully.

[justwannaddl]

I don't care much for the online part but destructible environments has been on my list forever.

[Ianana]

I don't care about online at all. But building and destroying environments would be so cool.

[gigantibyte]

And voice simulation has come a long way. Voice acting is much better than reading dialog, but I think I'd rather have an NPC with a computer simulated voice and more conversation options.

[Drakhaoul]

I agree. With everything. Skyrim is a great game and I don't for one second regret buying it, but it's not really that next step up sort of game. I like your ideas quite a bit, in fact I was playing an online game called Vindictus a few months ago - all in all I found it to be a rather bad game and got bored with it after a few weeks, but even it (a free-to-play, low budget game) had a very impressive destructible environment. It wasn't FULLY destructive but it was still impressive and fun - I feel that if a game like that could manage it then Bethesda could with ease.

 

On a side note the most annoying thing about Skyrim to me is when I'm having a conversation with an NPC and a guard/townsfolk bumps into me and starts telling me about how they took an arrow to the knee, while I'm trying to listen to what my quest guy has to say.

[Artistdude05]

I kinda gotta agree with ya. It really doesn't feel all that different other than an upgraded Oblivion. Considering I been playing Oblivion for years still, and even intend to go back to it to finish some mods I didn't get a chance to play, that's not a bad thing. But it doesn't feel like a vast improvement. Skyrim's done a lot of things a lot better, but some things I'm sad they didn't improve on as much.

[Pushkatu]

And not really about immersion, but my ideal single player rpg game would include access to an ingame but online player market to meet, chat, and trade with other players.

 

Everything else, but this. There are enough vendors in game to trade with and we can chat on the forums all day long(we even have a chat room)

[Roltak]

1. NPCs that responded to voice recognition and / or to non scripted topics

2. Environments that were not static (trees can be chopped, new construction, houses can burn to the ground, etc.)

3. catacombs and dungeons so large you could get lost (random computer generated would be best)

 

1.

With todays technology that isn't really possible ... at least not in a game, and that isn't really the problem of the computer but that of us humans, we are just too lazy to speak properly, making it almost impossible for a Computer to decide what we say. Except naturally if you give 30-40 commands, like "Attack", "Defend" etc. Or train the program for several hours so it recognizes your speech patterns, both ways wouldn't be practical for a game like Skyrim .. except perhaps some key phrases in order to control your companion.

The other problem with voice recognition would be, that the NPC would have to understand what is said and that requires the kind of AI that we at the moment fiddle around in laboratories as in with one program not with several dozens. So that would require technology that goes far beyond what normal users have at this moment.

 

2. Once again the problem is the AI, implementing all of that wouldn't be that much of a problem (perhaps the fire, haven't read anything about a fire simulation library till now) but how should the NPC react to his house burning down? Or what happens if rubble falls onto the street and blocks the only exit ... and all that stuff, in a Shooter it is easy to just make houses destructible because bots and players aren't supposed to be acting normaly, but in an RP having NPCs bunnyhop over the rubble of a still burning house ... well that would be an immersion breaker for me.

 

3. Here the problem isn't really a technical and more of a practical limitation, mainly testing. In order for dungeons to be interesting they need a general theme, perhaps some surprises, traps, dead bodies, people already fighting when you come to them etc. etc. and with a designer you can have that easily, just make it, test it about a dozen times and you are finished, when the dungeons are procedurally generated you can't be sure that 12 is anywhere near enough ... there are an endless variety so there are endless things that can go wrong, perhaps the dungeon is too deep and underwater, or a fire is directly at the entrance. How can you be sure that a dungeon is fair to mages, rogues, warriors, archers etc? It would be possible but far far harder to perfect/test properly

 

So in my opinion what you are saying isn't next gen, but at least 2 generations ahead .. more likely somewhere around 3 to 4.

Personally I think the next big thing will be systems like the Radiant quests, just more complicated and powerful combined with a smaller version of your third point, making it possible for more complicated quests with costum(as in varieties of certain standard dungeons) dungeons for those quests, perhaps some twists etc. Perhaps even making it possible to let certain parts of the Main quest be controlled like that .. letting Actors betray you in one game and stay loyal in the next and stuff like that. Also perhaps dungeons changing over time, certain parts vanish because of flooding, cave-ins and coming back over time, changing inhabitants, because the bandits rove out the goblins, before being driven out by the minotaurs who are then killed off by a plague before the Spriggan take over that dungeons etc.

 

Note, I am no expert or guru, everything I just said was my personal opinion based on what I think/know/believe, so if you can prove me wrong I will be happy about it (I would gladly pay 200 for a game with intelligent NPCs etc.)