Alternatives to NPC romance, since it's a polarizing topic

[Shougun]

A lot of the issues people brought up with cannon msq important npcs is why I think going with a dedicated companion would be the route if you wanted a highly personal experience. IIRC Star Wars mmo games have some examples of this.

I certainly think you could have a few more personable moments with cannon npcs (tying greater bonds of friendship, don't know why but I particularly liked the road trip and camping vibe from FFXV, I'd dig some of the brighter moments of that inspiring some of this content), but obviously one would have to be careful with the whole Arieth experience lol. HOWEVER, we still have that problem in some way anyways due to the level system if anything a quest system would be 'far' better than the level system as quests would add more personal experience to the npc, making any impact to them more emotional than pure frustration ("I leveled this guy for 10 hours so he can die?? vs I got 3 hours of good story moments, this emotionally pulls me harder than otherwise"). I've suggested it for other things but I believe using echo can be part solution to any sort of missable situations. Say if someone died or made some other transition that would normally logically lock you out of something in the past- you might be able to use echo to 'recall' the event. Just leave a static-y sepia variant of themselves with quest marker to notate that it's now an echo quest.

On the surface it's a nice idea, but when one sits and thinks, there is a large problem;

Can I be buddies with Haurchefant? He makes me smile... after... all.

Before or after skewer party? :3

Edit:

So kind of like what Star Wars the Old Republic did:

https://swtor.fandom.com/wiki/Companion

You have multiple "Marrie" options. They actually did a really good job. As you gain influence with two different "romance" options the one you didn't choose is included in the cut scene with the one you did chose. They get all hurt and say something in line with their character personaly. I maxed them all out (well all the ones available at the time to me when I was playing) and I got to say each personal story was amazing. It really did add to the game.

Aw yes, this is what I was thinking above. I remember a lot of people saying they were interesting.

[kaynide]

The more prominent the character and the more they change in the MSQ, the more noticable it's going to be if there's also a second version of them "stuck in time" from an earlier era of the game.

There is a weird twilight zone moment where you can have Urianger in the first playing with fairies with everyone fretting about how to bring him home while simultaneously finding Urianger at walking sands fretting about..was it Titan?

(Not saying I think this is fine or even that it should be a thing..just pointing out an oddity)

[Iscah]

There is a weird twilight zone moment where you can have Urianger in the first playing with fairies with everyone fretting about how to bring him home while simultaneously finding Urianger at walking sands fretting about..was it Titan?

(Not saying I think this is fine or even that it should be a thing..just pointing out an oddity)

He'll be fretting about whichever EX primal fights you haven't finished yet, or Alisaie in the Binding Coil.

If you've finished all his quests, he won't be there, but until then that copy of him needs to remain in place so you can interact with him for those level 50 quests. (The final stage of each quest or quest chain ends away from the Sands though, so you don't see him vanish or anything.)

But yeah, it meant he was a static character for a very long time who could only turn up in cutscenes and then leave so he'd back back in his spot for quests.

[sarehptar]

Rowena and Gerolt are also very static characters. It doesn't matter what order you encounter them in; their personalities never really change or develop. ARR-era Gerolt in Hyrstmill is acting just the same as ShB Gerolt in Gangos, and he hasn't so much as changed his pants in the meanwhile.

The more prominent the character and the more they change in the MSQ, the more noticeable it's going to be if there's also a second version of them "stuck in time" from an earlier era of the game.

My point was more that most people just... don't care? Yeah, there are situations where it would probably not make sense for a character to appear in, say, some random room in Mor Dhona if they're supposed to be off on the moon... But do the vast majority of players care that much about there being an outdated NPC around? Does every single player who happens to be starting the Coil of Bahamut questline while also playing Shadowbringers really think to themselves: "This is the most game-breaking thing ever, how annoying to leave this outdated NPC here?" You might notice it, but the percentage of people who would be really bothered seems very small. And for people who really, really care about immersion, there's always the option to... not engage with the custom deliveries for that NPC until a point in your story in which it makes sense to do so? Likewise, there's already a system built in place for devs to update custom delivery NPC models based on a player's quest progression; (spoiler, watch out!) Ehll Tou, for example, changes models during her deliveries based on your progression. And the whole outdated look thing is kind of moot anyway, because most custom delivery NPCs can be glamoured once you complete their questline. Don't like the scions wearing their old clothes? You'll literally be able to glamour them into new ones--hell, even their own new ones, via the Mogstation. In fact, this would probably be a plus for people who happen to like some of the older outfits better than the newer ones and would like to see Y'shtola or Thancred in their Heavensward gear again, etc. etc.

At some point I think that we have to just logically weigh the costs versus benefits; to me, and I think many, many other players (given how often the idea of personal quests with the scions comes up), there's no question of which would be the better option: the thought of an outdated version of an NPC showing up in some building I would never enter otherwise versus never getting any side quests with the most meaningful characters in the game isn't remotely in the same realm of disappointment...

[kaynide]

He'll be fretting about whichever EX primal fights you haven't finished yet, or Alisaie in the Binding Coil.

I meant this as a support that the devs might not really care about continuity per say. Not that I agree with that.

Or maybe that devs have since tightened their use of NPCs and because of things like this they might avoid certain side stories. Who knows tho!

[Barwara]

To add to your idea, it would be nice to have side quests that deal more thoroughly with story lines that aren’t related to the MSQ, instead of just being fetch quests, globally speaking. I’m not thinking necessarily of romantic plotlines, but just side stories that are engaging, wether its with main NPCs or new ones. I just want to do a side quest that takes more than 15 minutes to complete and doesn’t ask me to fetch, deliver, or gather something, and which doesn’t tell me exactly where to click and where to go. Plus it would be a nice way to expand the world’s lore and give you the feeling of a real ‘open world’ game, which it really isn’t right now.

Back when I was playing ORS/RS3 the quests were the most appealing aspect to me, because each quest is its own storyline, and sometimes it can take you hours, or days to complete it. The more quests you do, the more you discover the world’s history, lore, etc.

[Alleo]

How about they introduce these things to NPCs that have their story done? For example after shadowbringers you will leave certain npcs behind. I would love it if we could start a few side quests where we can visit them and see how they are doing. Kinda like post moogle quests but tailored to these specific npcs.

[_Koneko_]

but the wol is already married with the most loving and never ending fetch quest

[Juzjuzz]

Tbh i'm a bit against NPC romance because of the mariage with other players and "WhY iS tHaT cHaRacTeR nOt GaY/sTrAiGhT/bOtH?" xD. I'm not against one sided romance, but in that case what's the point to have more than 1 NPC aniway? I'd rather have any one-sided romance happen naturally and surprise me a bit. No romance at all is okay too.

Buddy quest is better imo but it might end up just like a normal side quest and friendship levels won't be important at all (just making it longer).
In mass effect 2 you do loyalty mission for 2 main things : purely for story and knowing a characters you are interested in AND not letting that character dying (or quit the team but i'm not sure). The less loyaly missions you do and more characters will die. In mass effect 2 eatch friendship coins serve a goal. If i'm not wrong depending on your dialog choices in story eatch character will change too.
So whats the bait for buddy quests aniway? Even if it's just "do quests and fill a bar" it has to be something else that just 1 cool cutscene where the "BFF" of your choice puts his hand on the WoL shoulder (and then nothing changes). 1rst thing i think about is changing some dialogs in MSQ, like in the start of HW when you already have your DRG at lvl 50 and finished all the quests avaidable (Estinien recognize the WoL and some dialogs change if not wrong). It can be done but difficult to keep track of and it's pretty cool imo.

Roles quests are already some kind of "buddy" quests already (just like in the MSQ you get closer to some NPCs). You encounter another "adventurer" and then get closer to him (even if you don't have frienship points, who needs that aniway xD). I liked the fact that at some point roles quest NPC appeared in the MSQ too.