You know if it wasn't for the gift of imagination I think I wouldn't gotten bored from skyrim a long time ago.

What I find disturbing is the lack of intelligence from the NPC's. I can agree with many here that being around them simply have that cold robotic feeling. Nothing intelligent to say but to repeat their sentences over and over again. You can't help but to kill 'em all and put them out of their misery.

For an example I went to whiterun to sell some full soul gems and to buy empty ones from Farengar Secret-Fire and mind you that I became the archmage, and I am wearing the gear. Right after the transaction He tells me "http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g322/Raidensama/Skyrim/TESV2012-02-1413-38-00-36.jpg WTF! Does he even know what the Archmages gear looks like?

If anyone ever seen the movie Mom and dad saved the world starring Jon Lovitz you can clearly see that Skyrim reminds me a lot like the planet Spengo where theirs nothing but complete idiots living there.

What Skyrim desperately needs is INTELLIGENCE! Not some fat giant walking around in the jams video. Since Beth doesn't want this game to be Muliplayer then hire some good writers so we can actually enjoy playing the game instead being around brainless NPC's too the time.

Imagine harder.

yep, and considering it was done miles better in previous iterations (new vegas, fallout 3, even oblivion), how in the seven levels of hell did they manage to make it worse? Jesus, even in morrowind people greeted you based on you faction standing - 'hail spellwright of house telvanni' etc

I've been saying it over and over-- the lack of dialogue options, the lack of consequence, and utter NPC non-recognition of WHO I AM kills the immersion. If I'm level 2 and just came back from my first dungeon-- sure, don't acknowledge me. If I'm the Harbinger of the Companions or the friggin Archmage I need more than a random comment from a guard once in a while.

I love this game, but the limited dialogue options / NPC recognition was a massive oversight.

Not that i disagree with you, but not everyone in the world would know right away if your archmage, what you look like, what your robes look like. If I became archmage then a day later got to whiterun and the all called me archmage. Id Kirby flip the place into realism.

The problem with Skyrim is because of the Non-content locking based on class/faction, there are things that the player can do that in a real fantasy world, would be hard to explain. Warrior Archmage with no dragon shouts comes to mind

Yeah, that'll solve all of Skyrim's issues.

We can just... imagine.

I always enjoyed the roleplaying...the priestess of dibella and the naughty forsworn is one of my favourites

This, folks, is called rationalization. Try to steer clear from it, and don't make excuses for Bethesda.

Yes, the NPCs do tend to resemble zombified alzheimers patients if you play the game a lot.

"If your going to the Blue Palace, you might want to rethink that outfit."

"[censored], you gave me the outfit...to wear at the Blue Palace!!!"

You might be surprised...

Gave me a good laugh. Thanks!

Its fine to rationalize some things. Theres a good chance that npoc would never find out your arch mage because of rpogramming. But im just explaining what should happen, if programming was perfect. Basiccaly a chance to know of events that occur around skyrim based on many things such as class, profession, nobility, etc

the problem with that argument is the fact that he's a Mage. One of a castle, too

That's the trouble. Beth make the best worlds/backgrounds out there if you want annoy them on rpgcodex and do some make believe, but you are in a way doing some of the devs' jobs for them. I personally love their games for this, that's just me, but you shouldn't have to.

fixed

Unless you can give a reasonable explanation as to why everyone would know of my exploits.I do not recall any newspapers,town criers.bards etc spreading tales of my deeds.

Maybe the psychic guards from Oblivion all retired to Skyrim and like to gossip

Imagination is key, the other games didn't allow for good RP without using imagination either, nor did they really have more dialogue choices, just more topics

One thing Oblivion and Morrowind got right though: NPCs should NOT say their unique line upon you brushing past, they should just say "Hello there" "What is it?" etc. (and preferably with more conditions like stare for 5 seconds within 3 feet of the NPC) and say their line upon being activated, that way they don't spam you and the lines aren't as irritating.

What it did get right is reducing the amount nobodies say. Random people on streets do NOT want to talk to you.

Bloviating for intelligence.... yet denoting a Jon Lovitz movie.
I see big irony in this post.

Yeah. I have to admit that the OP is right on in their assessment of this particular issue. No game is perfect but indeed, when I strut into Dragonsreach wearing the Arch-Mage robes, the court wizard should be able to recognize it. Being constantly reminded that the NPCs are simply programmed robots is a drag. I chalk up most things to technilogical limitations but this isn't one of them.

Cerebral hemorrhage


Farengar should know right away what an archmage robes look like... hes a wizard himself! He knows all about the college of winterhold. I'm certain that he went there once to learn all about magic.

...Savos Aren clearly changed the robes since then, just so Farengar would look a moron later

Alternatively, Farengar is the most sarcastic wizard on Nirn

...or a badly prorammed bot in a video game

Interesting premise- that communication between and with the NPC's has degraded with Skyrim. I say 'interesting' , because though it's obvious, there are many, and I mean many here, who would challenge this assertion, and say that it's not so. They say Morrowind was the greatest of all, so you don't need the communication. Then they trot out Oblivion's weak points- the rote dialogues between NPCs as if that was all there was in Oblivion. Finally, they say it's not true, there's lots more interation in Skyrim than in any Elder Scrolls game. Now's it's your observations against theirs- and just a disagreement.

Then we go through the same process about the lack of attributes- how theyr'e really there after all- and how we dont need them- they got in the way.

Magic is over rated, I never liked those spells- etc etc.

I'm just shocked to see a thread where a simple observation of fact is actually agreed upon. NO, there is not the same level of interation between NPC's, either amongst themselves or with the player, as there was in Oblivion. And yes, this does make it a much weaker rpg.

the poll recently about how many hours you've played Skyrim showed that most had far less than 200 hours. I wonder if the admiration for Skyrim will change any after several playthroughs?

Whenever I want to pretend and play along, I just sing... The Imagination Song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW4tY8mQ_1o

This^ A game (for roleplaying purposes) cant have everyone knwoing at all times what you did 500 miles away the second you do it (sure a couple days away) Sure word can travel across land, but it shouldnt always happen. Fable which is a victim of this, sorta had a explanation for this, Albion citizens are talkative bastards, and their were usually always witnesses


Your right, I should have gone deeper, but something that can work, i posted it above your post i beleiev

Based on the NPCs Class, Class status (poor,rich, noble), Connections, distance from event, etc, there should be a percentage that causes a chance that they know. It would be a farely easy system which would be hard to create.

Jim Bob the mage is a mage of the high court of Dunabar. He gets 10% boost on anything related to magic. He also gets an extra 10% bonus for being a high ranking offical of the Dunabar court, where information is eaiser to obtain on events of epic porportions. He gets a -10 percent on anything that is related to feats of strentgh because he is apathetic of svck things. He also get a plus 50% on anything related to the the village Frun next to Dunabar.

Event. A warrior PC comes in Frun, Slaughters everyone with pure might alone. 50% + 10+ 10- 10 = 60% chance he would hear about this quickly

this system could work, then if you added a time varaible that increases the chance of things being heard based on time past and distance. You got a decent system. How to program.. well.. i dk

You seem to not be capable of seeing a difference between every person in Skyrim knowing who you are, and the friggin Court Wizard telling the Archmage that "if you have the aptitude, you should consider joining the college in Winterhold." NPC's and civilians in Whiterun should *probably* know who the Harbinger of the Companions is.

but sure, keep "thinking" and rationalizing it in your head so it doesn't look like Bethesda made a mistake.