Quote Originally Posted by Iscah View Post
The thing with that situation is that 2.X Alisaie in the Binding Coil and 4.0 Alisaie in the Sirensong Sea (and in fact every single version of a character appearing in a different location or in a cutscene) are functionally separate NPCs. The NPC that is 4.0 Alisaie never replaces 2.X Alisaie, they simply appear in different places and during different quests. And time-bubble shenanigans are in play as well - you might be seeing the two Alisaies simultaneously, but they do not actually exist simultaneously. You're just somehow interacting with her at two different points in her life at once, until you've resolved the role you were supposed to play in assisting her younger self. The Binding Coil always takes place in the 2.X period, regardless of when you actually play it.

On the other hand, Urianger is the same NPC located at the Waking Sands from 2.X up to 4.4 (or beyond if you leave his quests unfinished), and has to remain constant. The Waking Sands NPC cannot change costume because then if you walked up to him to start your next step in the Binding Coil quest, if it transitioned to a cutscene he'd suddenly be back in his other costume.

For that matter, I don't think NPCs actually *can* change costume, as such. Their character data includes their gear. For a character to change their clothing, I think it would actually mean having a second NPC at the same location and activating it (and deactivating the original NPC) at the appropriate time. And if you did that to a character who has quests attached to them, I think that would mean the quests are still linked with the original NPC and not the replacement.
So you think it is a programming design restriction more than anything else? If that is the case, that is unfortunate.