T w e n t y S i d e d

We talked a bit about guards and solving crime in this episode, which reminds me of one of my ancient Oblivion posts. The way the game handles crime is a perfect illustration of how the game makes itself seem dumber by making the AI “smarter”. (Or at least, more sophisticated.)

Lots of people have complained about the flaws in the system where stolen items can’t be sold to any reputable shopkeeper. After all, if I steal an apple and go to the next town, certainly I shouldn’t need to fence the apple! This is an understandable complaint, although truly solving this problem is more difficult than it seems at first glance. It requires a lot of AI to figure out if an NPC should be able to spot an item as stolen.

So in an ideal world, what would determine if someone could spot a hot item?

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Skyrim EP5: You’re Making a Mistake…”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Chris hit on a really good point in this episode, which is that Elder Scrolls AI goes along with zombiekind much better than with sapients. The mindless bloodlust, the lack of idiotic and repetitive combat taunts, the sometimes janky pathing, the inept “search for the player” stealth mechanics… it all fits mindless beasts, and comes off as unintentional comedy when used by gangs of bandits.

I also enjoy the scenery of Draugr ruins more than the somewhat bland caves used by bandits. I think Draugr ruins are more interesting places to explore, their inhabitants make more sense, their loot is more varied, their atmosphere is more tense, and the traps are more clever. But the fact that they’re so good is probably why they’re featured in the core game so often, which is why people get sick of them.

I suppose that having just a couple of different “spook” foes would help alleviate this. As the game stands now, caves are filled with one of the following: Draugr, Falmer, Forsworn, Necromancers, Vampires, Dwemer Automatons, or Bandits. (There are many factions of “bandits”, but they all play pretty much the same.) There are also a few wildlife foes scattered around: Bears, saber cats, skeevers, spriggans, wolves, and giant spiders. While these wildlife foes don’t have their own dungeons, they appear in little pockets to break up the monotony.

That’s not bad in terms of foe variety. But this game is so huge and the dungeons so numerous that it’s pretty much inevitable that you’ll start to feel like it’s getting repetitious, particularly if you wander off to do some unstructured dungeon diving.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Since this recording, I did indeed start a new game as an unarmed / heavy armor user. It strikes me as being OP the moment you get the “do your glove armor rating in damage” perk, although it’s annoying to get to that point. I parked myself in a cave and let a bandit tickle me with his dagger for 20 minutes to get heavy armor that high. That skill levels slow.

I’ve heard it suggested that unarmed is weak in the late game. I’ll let you know how it goes. Or maybe I won’t. I might forget.

I actually really like the love triangle quest we talked about here. It has a lot of freedom and is kind of playful about it. (I do wish the “none of the above” option was a little easier to find, though.) For context, here is how it goes:

Sven and Faendal both love Camilla. If you talk to him, Sven will ask you to deliver a letter to Camilla, supposedly from Faendal. The letter is written to make Faendal look incredibly bad. You can deliver the letter and lie to Camilla as asked (making Faendal look bad), or you can deliver the letter and tell the truth (making Sven look bad), or you can give the letter to Faendal, who will turn the trick around by writing a false letter of his own. Or you can start the quest with Faendal, which offers the reverse choices and outcomes. OR you can pickpocket the false letters from both of them and make them both look bad.

That’s, what? Six ways to resolve the quest? This tiny little easy-to-miss sidequest about a silly love triange between three not-so-bright people has lots of freedom. On top of this, there are after-quest outcomes where the other parties respond if you choose to murder one of the three.

Remember this freedom when we get to one of the many, many no-option, no-choice dialogs that plague the main quest.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.