Talks too much?

[berelinde]

As it stands now, I've got most of the 'floaters,' talks cued by circumstances rather than by sequence, available to any relationship path. Between timered talks and floaters, that's 23 talks. That's a lot of talking from someone who's just a friend. In a sense, I kind of like the idea of a bromance for males and ineligible females (Assassins or PCs with wisdom or charisma of 7 or less - eliminating alignment restrictions and reducing kit and stat restrictions), but I also don't want to overwhelm the player who's just looking for a cleric who isn't voiced by Rob Paulsen. I've got a 'shut up' feature in the PIDs where the player can disable all talks, but I'm still wondering if I should reduce the talks available to friends by making the 'floaters' available only to the romances. The only reason I hesitate is that most of the floaters are comic relief. They're a bit of levity for an otherwise serious NPC, and I think friends might appreciate some light interaction with the NPC even more than lovers.

 

I'm also on a deadline, so I'm trying to streamline the amount of work I have to do to get the beta done by the end of March. Adding one line of code to the relevant script blocks isn't a big deal, but I don't want to add complications like 'kill this talk, but not that talk.'

 

So... thoughts?

[Jarno Mikkola]

As it stands now, I've got most of the 'floaters,' talks cued by circumstances rather than by sequence, available to any relationship path.

There is never too many talks if you ask me, and non-romance talks are better than romance if you ask this male Player Character player.

[berelinde]

Well, then, you should be happy, because with 23 talks on a variety of subjects, he'll keep you amused. Most of the actual "romance" content is available as other PC response options.

 

For example, Gavin might ask "How are your spirits holding up?" If you're just friends, your replies will produce different responses than if you're lovers. And of course, friends wouldn't have random flirts, because he won't exactly be blowing kisses to a buddy.

[Shaitan]

As it stands now, I've got most of the 'floaters,' talks cued by circumstances rather than by sequence, available to any relationship path.

There is never too many talks if you ask me, and non-romance talks are better than romance if you ask this male Player Character player.

I agree wholeheartedly with Jarno.

[Eleima]

I agree with Shaitan and Jarno. There can never be too many talks, it's what makes an NPC more "real". There's nothing that I hate more than having one of my crew have six or eight talks with me, and then be silent for the last two thirds of the game. Kinda breaks with the immersion, if you ask me. Granted, I know that requires a lot of work, that writing them up is not always easy (at least, I know that translating all those talks isn't fun: couldn't stand Xan by the time I got through with him, but it was worth it when I see all the happy French fans ). But still, makes for a more fleshed out character, I think.

[DeathAngel]

There's nothing that I hate more than having one of my crew have six or eight talks with me, and then be silent for the last two thirds of the game. Kinda breaks with the immersion, if you ask me.

 

I couldn't agree with this more it's so annoying. Also, all the effort you guys put into these things is very much appreciated just so you know.

[KathStoneDog]

Agree with the three previous posters.

 

It was the talk that made BG1 stand out for me way back, and that's just grown and developed.

 

I'm not sure I have a concept of too much talk, although I do like the idea that people who do can make them be quiet!

 

Kath StoneDog

[theacefes]

It was the talk that made BG1 stand out for me way back, and that's just grown and developed.

 

 

BG1 didn't really have any banter....at least, nothing like what BG2 had. Unless you are talking about the BG NPC Project....or I completely misread your post.

[KathStoneDog]

It was the talk that made BG1 stand out for me way back, and that's just grown and developed.

 

 

BG1 didn't really have any banter....at least, nothing like what BG2 had. Unless you are talking about the BG NPC Project....or I completely misread your post.

 

lol It still had more than the other stuff I was playing then!

 

BG NPC Project was another great leap forward.

 

Kath StoneDog

[KIrving]

Well I think you already know my answer. Still if I were to take Gavin in the party as a friend/useful cleric guy then lots of talks equals happy for me.

I've been playing with some NWN modules recently and so many of them are really lacking in talks with npcs. Granted, I think the whole walk over this spot to trigger script in NWN plus henchmen limitations doesn't help matters.

[berelinde]

It seems like everybody so far favors abundant dialogue. Not a problem, as this is actually less work for me.

 

Players do have the option of silencing him, however, if they find his chatter annoyng.

 

He has a lot of interjections. To eliminate all but the most important ones, you can tell him the following and the talks will continue, but the interjections won't.

~Gavin, I respect your opinion and I value your company, but I'd apprecite it if you'd let me do the talking when we meet new people.~

If you're feeling particularly rude, you can say this, but he'll like you a little less for it. Again, the talks will continue.

~You really do talk too much. When I want you to state your opinion to every beggar, sailor, or flower-seller we come across, I'll say so.~

If you want to stop the talks as well as the interjections tell him this. There's no penalty for it.

~Would you mind being quiet for a while? I need to concentrate.~

 

Getting him to start talking again is easy. The dialogue options there are pretty self-explanatory.

 

In the BG1 mod, I was getting reports from players that said he talked too much. Some had to resort to silence spells to get him to shut up. I'd rather just include the content and give players who prefer less chatter the ability to turn it off or on selectively.

[Guest Guest]

I definitely agree with everyone else - I like chatty people and I think most NPC projects nowadays work along similar guidelines. Xan and Angelo have a lot to say, and I always keep Keto around as well as she has a lot to say too. So, I guess if Gavin has a good deal of cross-mod content along with his other chattiness, he'll become a regular in my party.