MadVader said:
So, suggest improvements.
For example, how would you have improved the Companions quest line?
Would you devise special dialogs if you are someone already important? Would being an Archmage allow you to skip quests? That's a waste of quests right there and even shorter path to Harbingerdom.
Should they have their own agenda with the Dragonborn? WHAT?
How would I have improved it? Well first of all that would require a redesign of the Radiant Quest system. As it stands, basically the Radiant Quests take a bunch of predefined templates and mix them together to produce a quest for you where you have to find the predetermined item in a randomized location or something similar. Unfortunately, this is the extent of the use of the system - for these incidental and useless quests. I'd like to see the Radiant Quest system be integrated both into the storyline and into the faction quests, where you do actually feel as if you have to work your way up the rankings within each faction as opposed to them automatically being deemed special and going on a dangerous delving trip into arcane ruins barely an hour into your induction into the College, or being told that since you've done maybe 4 or 5 menial tasks around Jorrvaskr that you're eligible to be let in on a generation-spanning secret cabal that controls the Companions, just because you sharpened what's-his-name's sword and ran around town for them, because you're special. I'd rather see you first have to work at establishing reputations in order to advance - perform research for some of the higher-ranking mages, investigate various arcana, defend a farmstead from bandit raiders, actually do things with the Companions that at least give the illusion that they're an organization that takes mercenary jobs for money as opposed to the reality of them being 7-9 people stuffed in a mead hall that do nothing but drink and beat the **** out of each other on occasion.
As I said, this would require a redesign of the Radiant System - NPC daily routines just aren't enough. There needs to be Radiant events that call NPCs away from their duties, and you can have the option to assist them to boost your reputation. Example - the College questline and a few sidequests have you delve into a few dungeons for artifacts or research, but other than the 4 or so places you visit in the course of these, apparently there's absolutely nothing else of interest to the College in all of Skyrim. I'd like to see the higher-ranking members go out on expeditions from time to time, and you can follow them and share in the rewards of such a venture or protect them to gain reputation. Same with the Companions. Something that would be an interesting addition to this would be for said persons to possibly die if you don't assist them depending on the circumstances, and then be replaced by another NPC, who will then have their previous position replaced in the heirarchy, all the way down until you get a randomized recruit to fill the gap.
Another thing that needs to be reworked, as I've said before, is the reputation system. First of all, it needs to be more than Like/Neutral/Dislike. There needs to be a return to numerical values. Secondly, it needs to be fleshed out in that reputation should not only encompass what you do for specific NPCs. Your character's progression and what you do also need to affect reputation, particularly for combat. For example, there could be several values for various traits, such as your tendency to use magic, melee, or stealth. When you kill someone in combat with one of these (or perhaps a combination), the values increase in the respective categories, to simulate your character's reputation. Values would also increase along with skill increases in the respective categories. These values could then affect character interactions - for example, a magic-user might face penalties from more superstitious types, and the Companions might not like it if you're more oriented towards magic, which could impede or perhaps halt your advancement in the organization. Similarly, the College might not like a pure blademaster, and would thus exclude you. The Thieves and Dark Brotherhood would be more concerned with stealth over swords, but magic might also be an asset. Morality could also be modeled like this, where certain people (Thieves and the Dark Brotherhood again come to mind) would not be inclined to associate with you if you're a good character, whereas evil characters would face reprimand from the populace, eventually becoming complete outcasts and attacked on sight if you do enough evil acts, such as murder.
These values, combined with more traditional cRPG skill and trait checks in conversations would help to make character interactions more meaningful and to help player immersion. Of course, this is still just scratching the surface of what an be improved in the roleplaying aspect.
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