Official: Final Fantasy XIV Youtube channel

[Gulkeeva]

Was secretly hoping that the NPCs will move around all day long (e.g. Witcher) for a more immersive environment, but I guess it doesn't look that way.

Possible.. in final, doubt they'd work on that for an alpha for bug testing though. Although it would suck when you try to go buy food/repairs/new gear and its 2am and all the npc's are asleep

[tymora]

Would be so awesome looking for that specific NPC for a quest or whatever and not knowing where the hell he is currently.

Just an issue with you impatient folks. Even in those games where NPCs "disappear", they are usually on a strict schedule so it is easy to keep track. Key NPCs should always be up. Shops can be 24/7 with a different shop keeper...etc.

Minor details like a different location will be up on wiki or some other equivalent within a few days of release anyway.

Just do something else if NPCs not up...not like there will be a lack of things to do.

And regarding equipment fixes, just shout for player crafters?...I would think players can do the fixes in this game.

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In Witcher, you have NPCs taking cover when it is raining, bitching about current news, taking breaks, just walking from one end of town to the other, knock off at night, go to work from their houses in the morning...makes it very much more like a living world.

Granted that that is a single player game but this can pretty much all be client side in MMOs. (only need game time to decide where the NPC should be).

Aion's way of doing this is a bit retarded though. Mobs just pop in place when the time comes. That adds nothing to the environment.

[Vacht]

upgrades

http://cdn.gameist.com/static/conten...kimak/neo1.jpg

lol

[Seanr]

Would be so awesome looking for that specific NPC for a quest or whatever and not knowing where the hell he is currently.

Would be even more awesome if his family didn't know either.

"Daddy went out for milk 3 days ago..."

[Hyan]

Yeah.. if I'm unable to do what I want, I should do something else instead. What if I don't want to do something else?

Most NPC's are part of some quest or feature at some point.. Pretty large amount of "key" NPC's if you ask me.

But at least there's a wiki! This game needs more "look up info from the net" stuff like XI, indeed. Unnecessary complexity is wonderful.

I'm not impatient- I played FFXI for 6 years, isn't that an epitome of patience in itself? Doesn't mean I don't hate it when I can't do something because RP'ers want "immersion" though. I'd just like to get my shit done.

[tymora]

Would be even more awesome if his family didn't know either.

"Daddy went out for milk 3 days ago..."

Quest to find him then!

[tymora]

Yeah.. if I'm unable to do what I want, I should do something else instead. What if I don't want to do something else?

Most NPC's are part of some quest or feature at some point.. Pretty large amount of "key" NPC's if you ask me.

But at least there's a wiki! This game needs more "look up info from the net" stuff like XI, indeed. Unnecessary complexity is wonderful.

I'm not impatient- I played FFXI for 6 years, isn't that an epitome of patience in itself? Doesn't mean I don't hate it when I can't do something because RP'ers want "immersion" though. I'd just like to get my shit done.

Lets see it from another perspective. If so long as all NPCs behave in the same way (consistent), be it staying at home at night or be at work in the day or just standing in the same spot all the time, it wouldn't take long for the average player to know where look. To add on this, they can always add other NPCs who tell you where said the NPC of interest is.

[fantasticdan]

NPC vendors being closed at certain times/days was one of my favorite features in FFXI, I really hope it returns in XIV.

"This shops hours are 4:00 to 16:00."
Wait for a half hour.
"Firesday is this shop's weekly holiday."

So immersive!

[Seanr]

Quest to find him then!

Found him, he's started a new life. Doesn't want to go home anymore.

[Hyan]

Lets see it from another perspective. If so long as all NPCs behave in the same way (consistent), be it staying at home at night or be at work in the day or just standing in the same spot all the time, it wouldn't take long for the average player to know where look. To add on this, they can always add other NPCs who tell you where said the NPC of interest is.

Thats true, but still creates unnecessary complexity that most players wouldn't enjoy, because it just prolonges the quest unnecessarily. Going to where the NPC usually is, and finding out he's not there, then having to figure out where he could have went.. and say if there were 6 NPC's in the questline and you had to find each of them -somewhere-... Most players would find such feature a pain in the ass, I'd guess.

Or maybe that's just me. I don't think I'm that different from the rest though.

Once people memorize how each NPC acts it's not such a big problem, but that doesn't happen overnight, and when it does, the magic is kind of lost already. NPC's act the same way, every day, over and over again.

NPC vendors being closed at certain times/days was one of my favorite features in FFXI, I really hope it returns in XIV.

"This shops hours are 4:00 to 16:00."
Wait for a half hour.
"Firesday is this shop's weekly holiday."

I cannot overlook this one either.

[tymora]

Thats true, but still creates unnecessary complexity that most players wouldn't enjoy,

If I remember right, it was one of the selling point of several top-selling titles (admittedly single player) out there so much so they would actually write it on the box.

To name a few...
Oblivion?
Witcher and the upcoming Witcher 2.
Dragon Age

[Hyan]

A good feature in those games is also that you can skip time to make the NPC be in the correct spot. That doesn't really work in an MMO.. you wait like the rest of us.

I did find it annoying to look for quest NPC's in Oblivion, but if people really enjoy it, I guess I could be in the minority too. Most of the time it was just an annoyance to me.

[Gulkeeva]

Personally I don't like having to go... "find" the npc I need to go do stuff with.. (or if in wow wait for it to respawn). Although at least in wow, you can rage kill anyone in range.. if others aren't already... (oh the joys of the sunwell npc's).

[Ghostsix.Midgard]

they don't have to go far, but the way they just stand there staring blankly..
let them walk around the store at least, hammer something, sweep the floor.. anything except just standing there.

[Lucavi]

Personally I don't like having to go... "find" the npc I need to go do stuff with.. (or if in wow wait for it to respawn). Although at least in wow, you can rage kill anyone in range.. if others aren't already... (oh the joys of the sunwell npc's).

Sunwell killing -did- pass a lot of free time, and pissed off the alliance to boot.... at least until the pally buff.

I'm on the fence on this one. In theory, and when showing the game off to my friends, I want as much immersion as I can, in order to both brag about it and to get them to play the damned game. When its 10 minutes before work though, and I'm FLYING across the zone to hit up that NPC to get this quest done before i log for work (short commute), I don't want the NPC dude to be AFK in his house taking a shit and boning his wife before SHE goes to work (in-game). So yeah, I can see where both sides have their disagreements.

[fantasticdan]

I'm on the fence on this one. In theory, and when showing the game off to my friends, I want as much immersion as I can, in order to both brag about it and to get them to play the damned game.

You want to brag to your friends that NPCs in a video game are inaccessible at certain times? Really?

[Hyan]

It always sounds cool and awesome on paper!

[Lucavi]

You want to brag to your friends that NPCs in a video game are inaccessible at certain times? Really?

I want to boast to them about the immersion factor in the current MMO I'm playing, and the quality of the NPCs is but one of many potential selling points, especially when I'm trying to get them to spend their money on the game.

Having semi-lifelike NPCs is an improvement that can go a ways toward bringing someone new in. I didn't think I'd have to fully explain that, but what can you do?

[Shuichi]

Not particularly fond of the "NPC is currently not home" idea this time. If I only have a certain amount of time to play one afternoon and can't do the one thing I was looking to do because a NPC was not there, that would not be fun. FFXI is the grand master of time sinks and it would do SE well to drop those major time sinks.

[Fawkes]

I would rather have an NPC leave for an hour than stand there and tell me the store is closed for an hour, if I were forced to choose between the two.