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[JEMC]

HoloDust said:

Baldur's Gate 3 has at least 24 ways Shadowheart can hurl the main MacGuffin at you as part of Larian's New Vegas-Style 'n+1' system for players who ignore the plot: 'It might be even more'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/baldurs-gate-3-has-at-least-24-ways-shadowheart-can-hurl-the-main-macguffin-at-you-as-part-of-larians-new-vegas-style-n1-system-for-plot-oblivious-players-it-might-be-even-more/
Baldur's Gate 3 is bafflingly reactive. You can't drop-kick an owlbear without the ripples spreading out and causing some kind of reaction later on down the line. But it goes even deeper than I knew: In a recent interview, Larian CEO Swen Vincke shed some light on the studio's "n+1" design philosophy, and revealed just how far it goes to create solutions for times when "the player fucked up everything."
>> Ken Levine may have narrative LEGOs, but Larian has n+1. What’s better?

I thing the most disruptive thing within next few years in how games are made (especially RPGs) will be implementation of non-scripted AI NPCs, who are powered by motivations and goals, and systemic based worlds. Once you get that into games, pretty much whole game design paradigm will change drastically. So all this coding to make "narrative LEGO" and "n+1" will be very outdated very soon (and this is the reason why I think next Elder Scrolls is nowhere near being complete, since I'm certain they want something like that in that game).

We've been hearing devs talking about the AI of their NPCs for years, and now they have the tools for it. But it will still ask for a lot of work from the devs, giving them a personality and a story and a whole lot more, and because of that I don't expect a lot of games to really shine in that aspect. My guess is that most will do the bare minimum and call it a day.

Still, those narrative LEGOs and n+1 will have a place, as the devs will have to create the stories and boundaries for the player and the NPCs. AI will help with that, hopefully, but it won't replace them.

Jizz_Beard_thePirate said:

JEMC said:

Welcome back!

I hope you enjoyed your honeymoon.

Thanks, it was really awesome.

Also thanks for covering the hardware news for me while I was gone! Really appreciate it

I was going to say that it's been my pleasure, but I'd be lying. I'm glad you had fun and that you've come back so I don't have to do "your" news again.