In-Game Conversation

[Reish Vedaur]

I'm sure I'll sound a bit like a sycophant or someone desperate to prove they belong on the team, lol, but here goes:

One of the things that impressed me in Quest for Glory 3 was that your linguistic skills actually played a role in what topics could come up or if you could convince certain people to do certain things.  I think something like this would be great for the game.  However, I didn't really like the fact that you had to have a stat for it, and here's my reasoning.

Typically, in social situations, like minds seek each other.  Linguistic skills aside, if someone is talking about the same topics and has the same mannerisms and method of questioning as you do, you will tend to respond more, and open up more freely.

With that in mind, I think Fighters talking to other fighter-ish characters should have more influence over the conversation, and have the ability to take command of conversations with some, weaker characters.  Magic Users, Wizards, whatever you're deciding to call them... speaking to other intellectuals tend to have that same kind of impact, but they also have the ability to reason and piece things together for those they're talking to.  Paladins have the ability to seek a moral grounding on every topic, and as such many of the.. non-evil people, for lack of a better term, respond better.  Thieves, however, have a distinct advantage over everyone but fighter-ish characters, as they have the ability to lie straight through a conversation and get information no one else could, sometimes well before they normally could.

[Silverbolt]

Sounds interesting, though I don't know how easy it would be to implement...

[Reish Vedaur]

I'm always willing to back up my concepts with content, but I know what you mean, all that thought behind a concept in order to keep the continuity of the game in-tact just to add a feature some people might not even really notice.

ADDENDUM: Let's do an example... For the very few of you here who have not played and beaten QFG1, don't read this...

Take Karl up on the battlements.  He gives you information regarding Elsa von Spielburg, the Baron's daughter who has been kidnapped, and Yorick, the jester who has vowed to find and defend her.  Asking about Yorick reveals many striking similarities between him and the warlock everyone keeps talking about.

Now, assuming that the character knows about Elsa, the warlock, and Yorick, the magic user could use the Deduce skill and solve this little puzzle for Karl, which may gain you more skill points in intelligence, or perhaps gain you access to an area you would otherwise never get to, like the guards' barracks, within which you may even find a new spell scroll -- heck, a Meep had one after all.

Speaking of the Meeps, perhaps the Thief could, in this hypothetical situation, Lie his way into the Meeps' coffers, saying the dryad had willed that they give up their accursed money or some such.

There's not that many situations I can think of from QFG1 but I'm not really talking about changing everything in the game; just a few bonus things for the character classes, which like the character classes themselves would add more replay value.

[lazygamer]

I like this idea quite a bit, it certainly helps make the game more different for each class.

Besides moral grounding, people would also put more trust in a paladin, since paladins are not selfish and backstabbing.

[Corsair5]

That depends on your point of view.

[Reish Vedaur]

Paladins have the ability to seek a moral grounding on every topic, and as such many of the.. non-evil people, for lack of a better term, respond better.

As I said.

[Guest_JohnWWells]

(From the plot team.)

Some of us are trying to add just a tiny bit of this to the dialogues as we work. It's nothing that's too likely to really alter the game mechanics significantly, but having some class-specific topics and responses does liven up conversations a bit.

[Reish Vedaur]

That's good to hear =)

[BF]

Yeah, a touch of this is really nice in a game. Too much would make it too obvious though.

[aragorn256]

It is an interesting idea but that comes with two problems:

1.) In order to make the dialogues look natural, the designer team would take more time to finish the game. Should they rush it, the quality of the dialogues would look poor

2.)To be a character class is not to be a specific character. Fighters could range from idiotic brutes(barbarians) to refined warriors(samurai). It would be extremly hard to implement such a feature to such expectation.

3.)(This one is for the nostalgic group, I don't expect many to agree) It would change the way the game is viewed and this will not be a QFG like the old ones(I don't say it will not be a good game,rather another game)

[lazygamer]

2.)To be a character class is not to be a specific character. Fighters could range from idiotic brutes(barbarians) to refined warriors(samurai). It would be extremly hard to implement such a feature to such expectation.

Despite this range, fighters still have alot in common. Also, the hero would probably be a specific type of fighter. Basically, clever, smart, and not particularly refined or brutish(that's how he seemed in the QFG games).

[Reish Vedaur]

Both good cases, actually, but I would side with lazygamer because although in an RPG you are supposed to have the ability to mold him in the way you wish him to be, his goals are to be heroic and as such his behavior is almost static and set in stone.

[aragorn256]

lazygamer, you are right indeed. I had not in mind the QFG games specifically but the Rpgs as whole. I think I need a break to think more clearly.

As to Reishvedaur

Heroes are not a static type of character. In QFG games you seek Glory(thus Quest for Glory) but that's not the general way. Think about humility, a humble fighter and a proud one(in the same party). Would their conversation be the same? Yet they are both Heroic.

[Corsair5]

Not really. How many warriors are humble? Warriors are always the prideful ones, Paladins are the ones that are supposed to be humble. I really don't know how a humble Fighter would act, mainly because I've never had to deal with one, they're always arrogant.

Just look at Swordy Lordy.

[aragorn256]

You are wrong Corsair my friend. This is the cliche,not the general rule.
And Paladins are not always humble. Pride has been the downfall of many a Paladin.(my favorite class,I have read about it  both in fantasy and in history)