86 replies to this topic

[Erephine]

:thumb: :^^:

I love (... very...) talkative NPCs.

[arconian]

I Love you and your dialogue heavy Chrysta, Sir K :w00t: . I've just read the developers diary and all I can say is...WOW! A very big KUDOS to Hendryk and Zyraen also! You've all been doin' great work. Keep it up! :thumb:

[Sir Kalthorine]

When ... Chrysta is released, it's gonna be a jewel just for the sheer amount of dialogues and work that've gone into it

I love (... very...) talkative NPCs

I Love ... your dialogue heavy Chrysta

Thanks for all the above comments, and I am glad that you are of the same mind as I am. I am aware, however, that there are people in the modding and playing community who - for perfectly valid reasons - tend to frown at what they see as "too much!" dialogue. And they do have a point - if one NPC has so much more to say than the others, then is that really in the spirit of making that NPC "blend in" to the game when they are so obviously "front-and-centre" when it comes to in-game chat?

I am, however, already prepared to accept the above opinion as a criticism when Chrysta is eventually released. I have stated up front that Chrysta will be a mod that IS deliberately dialogue heavy, and that she is being written with the lovers of that kind of mod in mind. In other words, I am prepared to sacrifice a little conformity for what I believe to be a lot more quality content - since I believe the latter to be what makes a mod worth playing and in order to make a big enough difference to a game most players already know inside out.

[Togashi Renshi]

to quote a no-name-wannabe-ghetto cousin:
w00t! Ths is teh shizzle!1!!!1!!!!!1 :thumbsup:

[Andyr]

Since the thread is locked, I though I'd post here that I quite like the new portrait.

[Jyzabyl]

Kudos. I love a good bit of dialogue! Keep it up. I love a good bit of blather! Keep it up.
I love the fact that old dogs can learn new tricks (woof). Can't wait for the mod, except I think this diary's got potential. I love a good serial... In tomorrows episode... Chrysta discovers a new armour polish and Sir K wonders whether he pulled all that hair out in frustration or it fell out through stress...Stay Tuned!!!

May the Black Bitch keep the varmints from your heels.

Jyzabyl

PS.

Or, alternatively, where people start spamming random threads full of flaming posts, totally unrelated banter, and porn links. A poll on this is not allowed, I take it?

Can I lodge a vote against the porn links. I've got nothing against porn, but don't we have to wade through enough of that c**p on other game sites!

[Lord Ernie]

I don't think there's a lot to worry about, Jyzabyl. As I actually hoped was clear, I was joking.

[Jyzabyl]

I don't think there's a lot to worry about, Jyzabyl. As I actually hoped was clear, I was joking.

Yeah, I kinda knew you were. bit touchy, spent many hours today being accosted by large breasted women, with exotic accents while searching for a No CD crack so I can burn my installations to DVD. I'm old, I'm cranky, I haven't been on a date since '02 and Percy called me a nerd

[Hendryk]

Does 'bi-weekly' mean twice a week or once a fortnight? Or either, depending on how you feel?

[Sir Kalthorine]

Does 'bi-weekly' mean twice a week or once a fortnight?  Or either, depending on how you feel?

Actually "Bi Weekly" is a magazine I used to subscribe to...

Hehe... you are right. I meant "fortnightly"

[Togashi Renshi]

Wait...what's the difference between a week & a fortnight (this coming from an American loser who knows nothing)? If I'm being totally ignorant/stupid, you may proceed to hit me with a fish.

[Meira]

fortnight = 2 weeks

[SConrad]

... although I also have my suspicions that he is an active member of RSPCW (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to WeiDU) and had decided to step in to prevent me from torturing and abusing game code any further .

RSPCW is secret information, Sir K!

In any case, good to be able to provide what little knowledge I possess.

[Lord Ernie]

I was wondering about the timing of the banters. As you obviously have planned a whole lot of them (at least 5 per NPC means 20 banters without any LT's), are they put on a different timer or something? Considering the fact that even now, when I play the game, I sometimes come across new (original) banters, and I wouldn't want to miss them on my playthrough with Chrysta (which is not to say I will play the mod through only once, of course).

All this to ask: are these banters accelerated in any way (perhaps even an optional component), or will I have to leave the game on pause for an hour now and then to ensure I won't miss any?

Edited by Lord Ernie, 29 May 2005 - 03:26 PM.

[Hendryk]

I'm rather more interested in your...um... personal notes. If you are going to become a chemical engineer, might I suggest that the vast, untapped shale oil, coal tar and oil sands of the New World might be a better destination than the depleting oil fields of the Old? Some reasons are:

1. More people here speak English, of a sort, and somewhat fewer are inclined to shoot you on sight. Almost nobody would want to blow you up and you can even get British football scores in a lot of places. More homey, you know?
2. Over the medium-to-long term, you'd probably do better financially in a start-up venture than somewhere in the bowels of a huge corporation fighting it out over diminishing returns.
3. By helping to provide an economically and environmentally sound (not to mention timely!) way of bringing much needed energy resources to market, you'd be doing the world a lot more good than would be possible anywhere else.

Of course, in the Middle East, they have the 1001 Arabian Nights. Here, we only got season 6 of the Sopranos. No contest there but surely a paladin would be expected to forsake something for the greater good? Even a dual-classed paladin/chemical engineer?

Edited by Hendryk, 29 May 2005 - 08:56 PM.

[Sir Kalthorine]

Er... I kinda didn't mention oil, bud

In case anyone else thinks I have turned into a greedy despoiling capitalist, the project is one sponsored by the Environment Agency and involves methods of extracting solid wastes from quarry washings and run-off to reduce pollution of nearby rivers and water table.

[Jyzabyl]

Nothing wrong with a little, ideallistically appropriate capitalism. It happens to the best of us. You reach a point in your life when living on the spirit of beauty and joy isn't as appealing as, say.. eating a couple of times a day or indulging in a nice glass of Merlot during a late night forum session (Yes I am avoiding finishing that assignment.)
What's happening with Chrysta? Have you pulled out your hair yet? Has Chyrsta discovered the source of that annoying squeak in her right gauntlet? Has the RSPCW staged a raid yet? Do the RSPCW have a secret handshake... or a T-shirt.

[Sir Kalthorine]

What's happening with Chrysta? Have you pulled out your hair yet?

No, just hers...

Has Chrysta discovered the source of that annoying squeak in her right gauntlet?

Yup, Boo had crawled in there to keep warm and she hadn't noticed.

Has the RSPCW staged a raid yet?

Nearly... unfortunately the RSPCW attack group leader misread their orders, and they headed over to the local community centre and raided the stage instead.

Do the RSPCW have a secret handshake... or a T-shirt.

A T-shirt... with a motif dedicated to all those modders out there who always react so positively to criticism of their work:

[Sir Kalthorine]

Sorry, Lord E, I somehow missed your questions... so apologies for the delay in responding.

I was wondering about the timing of the banters. As you obviously have planned a whole lot of them (at least 5 per NPC means 20 banters without any LT's), are they put on a different timer or something? Considering the fact that even now, when I play the game, I sometimes come across new (original) banters, and I wouldn't want to miss them on my playthrough with Chrysta (which is not to say I will play the mod through only once, of course).

All this to ask: are these banters accelerated in any way (perhaps even an optional component), or will I have to leave the game on pause for an hour now and then to ensure I won't miss any?

Although some banters are timer-triggered, there is also a large proportion of event/location triggered ones - one way we are trying to get around the very problem you state of getting the timers right so that people can listen to all the banters while not have them become annoying by firing off every few minutes. Now you have flagged it as an idea, I may very well think about including an optional banter acceleration component for Chrysta... I've added it to the list of "highly desirables" for the mod, anyway.

[Lord Ernie]

No problem, Sir K. The fact that you keep bothering to answer all these questions still amazes me. As for the answer: I like it. I don't mind being plagued by banters every two minutes, especially if the PC has his say in it (or if they're good ), but a mixed location/time-based solution would probably work better.

As for your new DD post about adaptive banters: they have been done before, but not to such a degree. Heck, even Bio put something similar in, with Anomen, Sarevok, and for a single banter, even Viconia. Still, when this is done in more detail, it's... very promising. Coinicidentally, I'm putting similar stuff in the NPC I'm coding, if he ever gets finished, anyways.

Edited by Lord Ernie, 12 June 2005 - 03:48 PM.