Adding Life to the Cities!

[Kailok]

I apologize if this has been mentioned before, I tried to find it in the search to see if it's been commented on before but I didn't find anything so I decided I'd make a topic about it.

I was just thinking that if SE added more NPCs within the cities it would bring more life to the cities and make them seem more robust. What reminded me of this was I saw this picture that was posted up on the na.finalfantasyxiv.com website a while back:

http://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/200906/03/79/c0024579_23351252.jpg

That picture really makes it seem like the Adventurers Guilds from FFTA that were bustling with adventurers looking for missions. I walk into the AG in Ul'Dah and there's a few NPCs in there but they don't look like they're enjoying each other's company, in fact, they don't even seem aware of each other's existence. The lack of a larger amount of NPCs walking around is one of the reasons the cities are somewhat boring to me. I know it's supposed to be "players" that fill the streets, but I feel like a lack of life in the cities is one of the reasons that some players left the game in the first place. Not everyone in the city is going to be one of us adventurers.

For example's sake, please take a look at the screenshot below.

Gridania - http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/ww198/Khalus_Akuhei/FFXIV/Gridania001.jpg

This is the ramp to the more important areas (Adventurer's Guild) in the city, but you don't see any NPC's traveling down it or strolling along.

I can't think of a single NPC in the game that walks on it's own path around the city. In fact, I've never seen an NPC walk on their own at all.

I think with the addition of The Grand Companies, and the looming disaster at our feet, it could give reason for hordes of citizens to start flocking to the cities to be under the protection of the Grand Companies from the Garlean Empire.

Just an idea. I'm aware we have to wait until the Battle Systems have been improved first, but I figured it should be a part of the overall awareness of what needs doing. People beg for realism yet we're walking around inside of cities with approximately 40 total NPC citizens.

Please don't be rude, if you don't like the idea, then at least give a constructive and fair reason as to why not.

[viion]

Hell yeee we need this, all the cities are so boring, dull and lifeless. Not only with environment roaming NPC's but also just how it looks. Its all very bland.

[Leeloo]

Remember this vid? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5oj7SHgmDc

Around 0:40 it shows a brief clip of npcs walking around LL. I forget if that's part of the opening cutscene if you start there or not because if I make a new character I always skip that stuff now. But either way, the world needs to be more alive like that.

[Kailok]

Yeah I remember that. That area at 0:40 is exactly what I'm talking about. Also around 1:45 where it shows the tutorial for Ul'Dah players. During that festival there were loads of people on the sides of the streets. Not adventurers. Not Shop-Keepers. Citizens.

[Mack]

I like the idea but SE doesn't seem to.

[Seif]

The illusion of life doesn't come from complex animations nor other Hollywood-tricks it comes from something unexpected happening in the world you live in.

Say you're talking to an NPC on Monday and it just so happens that on Mondays the NPC needs your help with a unique quest or that when you accidentally talk to another guy after that he has some related information to share because you completed a quest for the Monday guy.

A shop might be closed during the night and that NPC is standing in the Black Shroud fishing. He might have a different line of dialogue up his sleeves that let's you have a small peek into this NPCs life outside of potion-selling.

Depending on your rank an NPC might tell you about a quest or initiate an entire quest-line that highlights the history of Eorzea.

But SE decided to go ahead and destroy any chance of immersion in this game by making the "!" marks and then downgrading proper quests into mindless leve-likes.

[Bled]

I never understood why roaming NPC's were never implemented, when essentially all your doing is looping a predetermined path or randomly assigning pathing. I'm not a game developer but the classes i took in both high school and college made it seem like roaming NPC's were not unapproachable or a big financial sink, hell we had Rampaging Ram in 11 that roamed Konschtat Highlands whats the difference? Roaming NPC's in my opinion are one of the easier ways of bringing life to the cities that is greatly needed.

[Mack]

I think what would help in giving life to the NPCs themselves is making them important to YOU the player. What I mean is say you pick up a quest in Ul'Dah, that quest can be initiated in Ul'Dah as part of a quest chain and makes it way to another city perhaps where you would meet the same NPC there as well. Or Perhaps a quest kills off an NPC, he should disappear from the city, etc.

[Kailok]

The illusion of life doesn't come from complex animations nor other Hollywood-tricks it comes from something unexpected happening in the world you live in.

Say you're talking to an NPC on Monday and it just so happens that on Mondays the NPC needs your help with a unique quest or that when you accidentally talk to another guy after that he has some related information to share because you completed a quest for the Monday guy.

A shop might be closed during the night and that NPC is standing in the Black Shroud fishing. He might have a different line of dialogue up his sleeves that let's you have a small peek into this NPCs life outside of potion-selling.

Depending on your rank an NPC might tell you about a quest or initiate an entire quest-line that highlights the history of Eorzea.

But SE decided to go ahead and destroy any chance of immersion in this game by making the "!" marks and then downgrading proper quests into mindless leve-likes.

This kinda reminds me of the idea that guild wars 2 is going with. But in FFXIV terms, that would be cool, I just don't see it happening for a while. Though, I kind of liked it when the regular vendor shops in FFXI were closed during the night until a certain time. Made you realize that the citizens needed time to sleep!

They don't need to be complex either. Sure, some NPCs could give you cool quests, but I mainly want to see citizens bustling in the streets of Ul'Dah. It even has a bazaar looking area in the left corner of the city and the only ones there are the shop owners and a couple of jugs.

[Atomsk]

I worry less about the absence of NPCs and more about the absence of actual players.