Dynamic World and Advanced A.I

[cairntrenor]

Dynamic World and Advanced A.I

Hey there

Everyone surely knows about the fact villages can spring up and be built by now by NPC's.
My question is, can these villages be attacked and destroyed by monsters? warring factions? robbed by bandits?

I've heard in some interviews that the A.I is quite advanced and can run in the background even when your not there to witness it. I'm just wondering if these villages that can be built, can also be destroyed basically by the A.I

It would add a certain danger to situations.. Like being in a busy town and it suddenly be attacked by monsters would be awesome!

 

[Lieste]

Many settlements are vulnerable to monster or bandits... or just the progress of the war and/or the trail of destruction left in the wake of Ciri/Wild Hunt/other interested parties.

Some settlements are 'fixable' others will be destroyed (inevitably, or because of your actions or inactions). Some might be 'fixed' then later destroyed, but we don't know many details beyond hints about the mechanics in [MENTION]CDPR[/MENTION] Q&A, developer showcases etc.

 

[Jinal]

don't expect too much. I think Geralt can free some abandoned villages from bandits, monsters and stuff, then npcs may settle in, new merchants appear. but this isn't "dynamic", so the village will probably not be destroyed again once Geralt secured the area. during quests -almost everything is possible. If you play the witcher 2 for example, you can definitely have the experience of burning villages, siege and riots...all within the storyline ofc

 

[cairntrenor]

Many settlements are vulnerable to monster or bandits... or just the progress of the war and/or the trail of destruction left in the wake of Ciri/Wild Hunt/other interested parties.

Some settlements are 'fixable' others will be destroyed (inevitably, or because of your actions or inactions). Some might be 'fixed' then later destroyed, but we don't know many details beyond hints about the mechanics in CDPR Q&A, developer showcases etc.

Did you pull this out of your ass or are these facts?

If they are facts, I am extremely hyped as hell! I didn't know there were wars that could destroy settlements?

I wonder if big towns can be attacked by factions and big epic wars can happen!?

 

[Jinal]

listen.. the whole world is at war. you see the traces of the war everywhere in the world (deserters in the woods, rotting bodies in the rivers, burned down villages, refugees...) but you don't "join a side" as you would in an MMO or Skyrim for example... you are just the witcher and you have your own business - this can ofc mean that you have to take sides from time to time... but this is all "scripted", within the world design, the storyline.

What Lieste means is that witcher series is all about decisions. you could for example during a quest side with one particular faction, what could then mean that you destroy a settlement that is from then destroyed forever. you could probably also decide to stay neutral - and the settlement would still be destroyed. or you could help the peasants flee in advance. who knows. this is possible but we don't know if such quests exist (but play witcher 2 to get a feeling for stuff like that).

what is confirmed: geralt can help villagers to settle in abandoned villages that will then flourish again - so that geralt has access to new merchants and maybe smiths. but this will - and here i am quite sure - involve questing and not dynamicly charge into a bandit camp, slaughtering everyone and wait until some peasants come along to rebuild their houses.

 

[Lieste]

I'm speculating about how things tie together or particular causations. But not speculating that Reds have said that these things will affect regions/villages during various events - possibly separate events but the *way* they were mentioned made them seem linked.

We know that consequences can be more complex than simple "good/bad" choices... so you might kill one monster or group of bandits, and this leaves the locals "free and happy"... but then later dead because they have no protection left... This has been hinted at several times, and I'd be surprised if it doesn't happen on a settlement scale (small village/farm) though doubt it would happen on a town scale.

We already have seen some summary executions based on Geralt's choices.

 

[cairntrenor]

listen.. the whole world is at war. you see the traces of the war everywhere in the world (deserters in the woods, rotting bodies in the rivers, burned down villages, refugees...) but you don't "join a side" as you would in an MMO or Skyrim for example... you are just the witcher and you have your own business - this can ofc mean that you have to take sides from time to time... but this is all "scripted", within the world design, the storyline.

What Lieste means is that witcher series is all about decisions. you could for example during a quest side with one particular faction, what could then mean that you destroy a settlement that is from then destroyed forever. you could probably also decide to stay neutral - and the settlement would still be destroyed. or you could help the peasants flee in advance. who knows. this is possible but we don't know if such quests exist (but play witcher 2 to get a feeling for stuff like that).

what is confirmed: geralt can help villagers to settle in abandoned villages that will then flourish again - so that geralt has access to new merchants and maybe smiths. but this will - and here i am quite sure - involve questing and not dynamicly charge into a bandit camp, slaughtering everyone and wait until some peasants come along to rebuild their houses.

I understand this, but I've seen a few interviews now that explain that the AI is calculated even when your not there to see it. They roam, hunt, and live in the world, although most likely on a smaller simulated scale when your not there. If this is the case, then it'd be nice to see things attack towns ( maybe not destroy them ). But deffo would love to see towns/settlements attacked or patrolling groups attacked etc

 

[Jinal]

they mentioned wolf packs hunting deer in the woods, or that are attracted by the smell of blood if you fight some other creatures in the wild. also bandits may lurk the main roads and attack travelling merchants - you can then probably decide to help them.

edit: this may sound harsh, but don't interprete too much into PR-speech. They did a great job creating a living, breathing world with npcs that have day/night activities, with monsters who actually wander around within their areas and kill some critters... but this stuff happens on a small scale to add "flavor" to the world and make it feel alive.

the things about the settlements is different here. seems to be a form of "unlocking" stuff and give the player some "progression", so that secured areas and finished quests feel more important - stuff should have an impact on the world, no? So makes sense that some quests will lead to real consequences, such as the death of important characters, destruction or the opposite, who knows what they will make us choose from? They can be quite cruel, you know?

 

[earthonline]

I read that NPCs have their own schedules and do certain stuff during the days and other stuff during nights

 

[cairntrenor]

Hmm, there was me hoping for something like A-Life from STALKER

Man, another game company needs to do something like this! but execute it within a larger world like the witcher.. Here's to hoping they have something similar

 

[Jinal]

they have different awesome stuff. mature content. its a game that accepts you are an adult - with all the consequences. previous witcher games had a brilliant story, nice voice acting, well written dialogues. Witcher throws you into a harsh brutal world and adds a hint of dark humor to it. you won't find any "bring me 20 wolf pelts" quests (maybe harpy feathers, but that's a different story), or similar meaningless stuff. witcher games are not easy (ok, you could play them on easy difficulty...), but rather challenging.
World is well done from what ive seen so far. but it isn't a sandboxy game. you can't amok-kill villagers for example. focus on scripted content.

 

[cairntrenor]

they have different awesome stuff. mature content. its a game that accepts you are an adult - with all the consequences. previous witcher games had a brilliant story, nice voice acting, well written dialogues. Witcher throws you into a harsh brutal world and adds a hint of dark humor to it. you won't find any "bring me 20 wolf pelts" quests (maybe harpy feathers, but that's a different story), or similar meaningless stuff. witcher games are not easy (ok, you could play them on easy difficulty...), but rather challenging.
World is well done from what ive seen so far. but it isn't a sandboxy game. you can't amok-kill villagers for example. focus on scripted content.

Yeah, I understand you can't be a murderer. It's set within the characters boundaries.. But it'd be nice to see NPC on NPC due to random occurrence of meeting

 

[vader1701]

Don't read too much into "Advance A.I", there's a difference between true A.I and scripted events.

 

[thislsmadness]

They've said that they are all pretty much scripted events. You clear out bandits/monsters whatever and then NPCs may show up to repopulate that town. During the prologue, you get a cutscene and it happens instantly to teach players how it works. Once you are out in the "real world" its happens more gradually. They've said that monsters cannot kill NPCs in towns because they don't want players losing out on quests, so I assume that means these town won't be retaken while you are away.

 

[Phinnway]

Everyone surely knows about the fact villages can spring up and be built by now by NPC's.
My question is, can these villages be attacked and destroyed by monsters? warring factions? robbed by bandits?

It is dynamic, but it's not quite as dynamic as that. You're not going to see villages popping up randomly and spontaneously getting destroyed by monsters. But you will see NPC behavior change based on your decisions in quests and things like that.

The example they gave in that video probably doesn't happen in the majority of towns. My understanding has always been that the dynamic NPC behavior depends on the situation. The whole "NPCs rebuilding an entire town" thing probably only happens in the most desperate, war-ravaged areas, but I could be wrong. It's just not the impression I got from things they said about the dynamic NPC system before they made that video.