Current Events > Games where NPCs appear to have a lot of agency?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Are Rimworld and Kenshi kind of like this?

My friend and I were talking about this the other day. What if you were given a quest to go steal an ancient artifact, then when you got there, someone had already taken it! Not because it's scripted, but because an NPC also needed the money and beat you to it. So now you have to try to find who took it and track them down.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/75848a89.png

NPCs in the Trails series always have new things to say after major story events and whenever time passes etc. if you talk to them you can see them live out their own little storylines and whatnot. It makes the world seem like its alive. It doesnt have much gameplay effect though but it is often foreshadowing for upcoming side quests and even main story foreshadowing

Your allied soldiers and officers in most Dynasty Warriors games when theyre out of range and have high morale.

Red Dead Redemption 2.

obviously it's scripted, but NPCs go through detailed, routine schedules, that make them feel like they're living out some approximation of a life rather than waiting for your character to come along:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MrUJJgppMn4

Oblivion had it's moments.

There was this one time, I accepted an assassination quest from the dark brotherhood, but you had to go to this obscure location out in the country to get it.

I accepted the quest, and when I did it put a marker on my hit. I look over, and right across the river, like 40 feet away, my target is walking on the road nearby. I thought the quest just went that way, until upon replays I realized that character would travel ALL OVER the map, and I just happen to get really really lucky in that instance that he happened to be RIGHT BY ME when I accepted the hit.

boxoto posted...

Red Dead Redemption 2.

obviously it's scripted, but NPCs go through detailed, routine schedules, that make them feel like they're living out some approximation of a life rather than waiting for your character to come along:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MrUJJgppMn4

Majoras Mask stands out in this regard too.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Majoras Mask stands out in this regard too.

Same with Xenoblade

JimmyFraska posted...

Oblivion had it's moments.

Yeah, unlike having just a daily routine there were weekly or monthly aspects coded into the behavior of NPCs. But since most of them weren't tagged as Essential it was easy for them to die when traveling in the wilderness. E.g. you'd be walking through some grasslands and stumble onto the body of a Khajiit courier.

Goblins also endlessly fought wars over their Totem Staff items. You could trigger an Everquest style train by grabbing a Totem and taking it to some place you wanted to get attacked.

Dwarf Fortress is kind of the most advanced game in this regard.

DuneMan posted...

Yeah, unlike having just a daily routine there were weekly or monthly aspects coded into the behavior of NPCs. But since most of them weren't tagged as Essential it was easy for them to die when traveling in the wilderness. E.g. you'd be walking through some grasslands and stumble onto the body of a Khajiit courier.

Goblins also endlessly fought wars over their Totem Staff items. You could trigger an Everquest style train by grabbing a Totem and taking it to some place you wanted to get attacked.

Yes. Or surprisingly, at least in certain dungeons, there would even be random adventurers going in and fighting stuff. Though they were pretty rare if I remember, I only saw that a few times across many play throughs.

In Skies of Arcadia, there's another explorer that can find the various "discoveries" in the game before you if you take too long. If you find them before him, you get more money. You can eventually recruit him to your side so there isn't a time limit to discovering them anymore.