So, where do all the NPC's live?

[Iscah]

Your not fully playing single player rpgs then because normally there is 1 house per family of npcs outside destroyed towns and warzones... in fact if you believe that youv never complete a full treasure list in single player rpgs

And maybe we're just thinking of completely different RPGs here?

Improbably small towns are just a normal RPG thing, as far as I can think.

Also I can't imagine how completing a treasure list or not would affect whether you've seen how many houses are shown to be in a town. Or are you just saying that I'm not dedicated enough or paying enough attention or something?

(Does 100% on KH1/KH2 and GSC-era Pokémon Master count as completing a treasure list? Oh, and all the collectibles in Shadow of the Colossus. Stupid lizards dodging all my arrows.) >_>


But seriously, if I've completed a game's story and I'm not going to get anything out of 100%ing it except for a lot of frustration and an eventual pat on the back... I'm very unlikely to persevere. A lot of side content thrown into RPGs is annoying. No I'm not going to spend hours completing the fishing log and getting perfect scores on all the fiddly minigames just so I can say I beat them. I'd rather move on to playing something else.

[MikkoAkure]

I know it's all about separating the gameplay from the story, but I wish we could see more of how Limsa Lominsa is supposed to look. The game shows a few tiny rocky islands in a bay, but in the story, this is supposed to be one of the 4 most powerful places on the continent. Characters like Thancred and Rhoswen have backstories about living in "the back-alleys of Limsa Lominsa", which would imply actual buildings that aren't hollowed out of rock. 1.0 had a vague reference to a residential and market district off a ways, but always had the impression that the city proper was isolated to the islands and that the only settlements on the mainland were farm villages. Until convinced otherwise, I'll continue to blame "PS3 limitations" on why Limsa doesn't look completely like its concept art.

[Eldevern]

Well, it miss a little; sometimes, we can wonder where they are living since some villages look pretty small with really few houses. But it is understable for graphical ressources. But day/night NPC's, it is probably doable to make two characters for shops/quests NPC's and make disappear/change random no-named characters (after all we have the random Edda's ghost). Changing characters is mainly only changing name and character 3D model (and there are enough existing ones to just switch to another. And hide some at night is even easier).
Technically it is not really difficult, but it needs ressources to do the change for each map, each NPC's since for some, they will almost have to do this one by one.

[MorbolvampireQueen6]

And maybe we're just thinking of completely different RPGs here?

Improbably small towns are just a normal RPG thing, as far as I can think.

Also I can't imagine how completing a treasure list or not would affect whether you've seen how many houses are shown to be in a town. Or are you just saying that I'm not dedicated enough or paying enough attention or something?

(Does 100% on KH1/KH2 and GSC-era Pokémon Master count as completing a treasure list? Oh, and all the collectibles in Shadow of the Colossus. Stupid lizards dodging all my arrows.) >_>


But seriously, if I've completed a game's story and I'm not going to get anything out of 100%ing it except for a lot of frustration and an eventual pat on the back... I'm very unlikely to persevere. A lot of side content thrown into RPGs is annoying. No I'm not going to spend hours completing the fishing log and getting perfect scores on all the fiddly minigames just so I can say I beat them. I'd rather move on to playing something else.

Legend of dragoon ff5-6-9 and tbh 8 although never liked 8, breath of fire, legend of legia, Suikoden..

Also lets be honest kh although its great leaves out many rpg aspects and pokemon isn't a rpg lol
...

Now for why it would effect because all those house have around 1-4 treasures in it

[Kazrah]

On behalf of all WoW refugees, I feel like a more important question should be asked: where do NPCs poop?

Seriously, I think there's only one outhouse in the entire game. Give 'em a bedpan or something.

[Edax]

And maybe we're just thinking of completely different RPGs here?

Improbably small towns are just a normal RPG thing, as far as I can think.

Also I can't imagine how completing a treasure list or not would affect whether you've seen how many houses are shown to be in a town. Or are you just saying that I'm not dedicated enough or paying enough attention or something?

(Does 100% on KH1/KH2 and GSC-era Pokémon Master count as completing a treasure list? Oh, and all the collectibles in Shadow of the Colossus. Stupid lizards dodging all my arrows.) >_>



But seriously, if I've completed a game's story and I'm not going to get anything out of 100%ing it except for a lot of frustration and an eventual pat on the back... I'm very unlikely to persevere. A lot of side content thrown into RPGs is annoying. No I'm not going to spend hours completing the fishing log and getting perfect scores on all the fiddly minigames just so I can say I beat them. I'd rather move on to playing something else.

They did a better job with Kugane, as there are almost as many buildings (that you can't enter) as there are NPCs in the city. But you'll note how the Kugane zone is about the largest city zone in the game, so it's clear the devs are improving their craft.

[Iscah]

pokemon isn't a rpg lol

It's not a standard RPG, but all the mechanics of a turn-based RPG are there.

- going on a journey of exploration
- recruit new party members
- level them up by fighting monsters
- learn new skills
- explore dungeons with traps and puzzles
- random monster encounters
- find treasure*
- fight bosses
- save the world

* there are even "Mimics" - this is literally Voltorb's original purpose in Red/Blue. Looks like treasure, turns out to be a high-speed monster with a tendency to explode.


Pokémon was my introduction to RPGs. I'd never played one before - and when I started playing normal ones it was basically my frame of reference. "This works like Pokémon! You pick skills from the list and then we take turns at attacking!"

[Hysterior]

They sleep when you log out, I swear.

[Melichoir]

It would be cool if non-interactive NPCs retired to their quarters come the night hours, or during bad weather. Also, other non-interactive NPCs showing up during different times of the day. So long as we can't interact with them, SE can do whatever they want with them. I mean how long is that couple in the Gold Saucer going to embrace each other?

As another element of realism I would like to see; over at Costa del Sol, it would be awesome if one of Gejeruju's retainers grabbed his drink and threw it in his face, then tells him she quits. Then he just says, "She'll be back." thus starting the process all over again the next day.

This is pretty much spot on. NPCs should move from positiosn depending the time of day if theyre 'filler'. So I shoudlnt see some NPC kid asking his dad to buy more scones or something at 1 AM ET. Minor details like this in games make the world feel more alive. Heck basic shop dialogue can sometimes be nice. If a vendor says good morning, then says evening when its night time that would be cool. Theres a lot teh devs could do to improve the life of the world without much actual effort.

Dont get me wrong, I appreciate the small touches the game does have. But theres more to do I think.