NPCs are so detailed and diverse in this game

[Mihauki]

NPCs are so detailed and diverse in this game

Hi,

I have been playing the Witcher 3 since the game came out, but I have been focusing on doing all the main and side missions, killing monsters and exploring every question mark.
While I have enjoyed the beautiful landscape in this game, I didn't realize until recently how detailed and diverse NPCs are in this game.
Many game will have a lot of NPCs, but in most of these games the NPCs just randomly walk or stand there for hours and do nothing.
In this game NPCs have so many different activities and even a single NPC will do different things ie. a woman will wash clothes, than stand up look around for a few seconds before staring to sweep the floor.
Some NPCs will pick herbs, but there isn't a single animation for that: some will stand, some will knee, some will have a basket, they will pick different herbs, they will pick some herbs and put them in their basket, while other herbs they will throw away after examining them.
And the world and your actions will effect NPCs: they will know about monsters you killed, children will drop their toys, if you bumb into them and some NPCs will hide under roofs, when it starts raining.

Really enjoy what CDPR did with the world and NPCs. Don't think there is another game out there, where the world feels so real.
I did a video about NPCs in W3. Check it out if you like:

 

[ttchip]

I was expecting a jab at how often they reused the same faces and hairstyles, to be completely honest.

 

[HumAnimaL9000]

I was expecting a jab at how often they reused the same faces and hairstyles, to be completely honest.

lol me too. The longer I play the more I feel that npc's are just fodder fill rinsed & repeated. I hear the exact same things from them over and over ...

 

[cyberpunkforever]

now make a vid about monsters, animals and brothel ladies

 

[GZulu]

People would strongly disagree. There are a LOT of clones out there...

 

[ann.ltd]

The animations are really cool. I didnt know as much as 33% what you shown me. And i played 100+ h .
What the weird part about NPC is. They putt so much attention into those details, why than not putt in more variety of faces, clothing and hairs. I don't know what tools they are using for building NPC's. Tools like i have seen in the New Fallou 4 gameplay so much potential. Or charterer building tools from MMO's. Hope they upgrade the red kit 3 engine with as a strong body/face builder like those examples. Than you will not only get a lot more variety in faces, but body type too. Skinny, fat people plus tall and short people.
And im missing disabled war veterans missing a leg or a arm. Chopped off in combat.

 

[Geragio]

Its a nice little touch for sure, but it makes it all the more jarring when you come across a village and its inhabitants just stand there in the same spot from where you last left them after completing a quest there. The dead bodies don't even get removed.

 

[HenryBukowski]

Read a funny thing about NPC's in PC Gamer. Apparently if you unlock the console and use the camera to zoom around, you can see what NPC's do when Geralt isn't anywhere nearby.

Apparently, their faces melt and their eyes pop out of their sockets when Geralt's not around : D.

 

[Christopherrolf]

I've been impressed by this aswell, just watching NPCs (and animals) go about their daily lives. Love all the little details you just don't find anywhere else, like a woman plucking a hen, or cows resting, or people beating rugs, children playing etc. There's so much life.

And fuck the cloned faces, what would you expect with hundreds and hundreds of NPCs, it doesn't bother me at all as long as it isn't main characters (was a bit of an immersion-breaker meeting several Keira clones for example).

 

[lif_andi]

I very strongly agree with the OP. Also I found that there are some things you can do to change things that are not quest related. I killed some people that were making me angry who were without quest markers and it changed part of an important story.

Sure there is some repetition in places, but for me this is still the most diverse NPC creation I've ever played through. Entering a village and just observing all the groups of people, listening to what they have to say can be really rewarding.

 

[Mogsters73]

I wish I could bitchslap that dude playing the flute.

 

[helios969]

I pretty much agree but would like to see maybe another dozen character models added and dispersed throughout the world. The world is alive like none other I've encountered though. Oh, yeah, and fix the guy(s) who walks like a marionette doll controlled by someone with spasms. On the one hand it's mightily amusing, but on the other very much out of place.

 

[ARKANOiiDe]

The thing that hitted me the most when i saw Wh***son Junior clones all over the world, i dont mind to see some NPC clones that you dont even interact with, but for such important story character like Jr. i would expect to have an original model You know, you finish his questline and then suddenly you meet him everywhere

 

[turuzzusapatuttu]

For those who are complaining about NPCs with the same hairstyle and saying always the same phrases: go play Dragon Age Inquisition and then make a comparison between the two games. The Witcher 3 will always win.

 

[HenryBukowski]

In the Witcher 1 it didn't matter at all that there was basically one character model for each character type; I.e, Poor man, merchant, rich burgher.... peasant woman, townswoman, reverend, nurse, soldier....only key characters had separate models... it didn't detract at all. So I don't think the npc models thing is much of an issue.

 

[rock4one]

I'll say it! I thought after having 3 yrs. to make TW3 they could of had different faces for NPC's... I was confused at first a couple of times...I was like: Aren't you the guy from blah, blah, blah, I said to myself: I see; they were lazy and pasted the same face from the other guy...

 

[Mihauki]

I am little bit surprised, that some many of you feel like W3 is clone city.
Yes, I also see clones from time to time, I see that same looking merchant with glasses in every 3rd village. But overall I think the diversity is enorm. I just checked in a village in Skellige and all of the around 20 inhabitans had a different face.
I also do not mind the repeating frazes and voices I hear. I watched the video about the German voice recording on CDPR Youtube channel and they said they did somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 takes, while a normal movie voice over requires only 1,000-1,200 takes. I can only imagine how much it cost CDPR to record so many takes in 7 languages and with a lot of different voice actors. I have to pay at work a few hundred Euros for voice acting just to record a simple 15 second radio commercial. If you have around 1,000 NPCs in this game (just a guess) and want for each of them a different voice actor in 7 languages, you would need to pay 7,000 checks... unreal.

One more thing: If you create a game like Order 1886, which has a playthrough time of 6 hours it's possible to create a unique face an voice for every NPC, but if you have a game with 100 hours of playthrough time and additional 100 hours of exploring the world and doing sidequest, than it's hard not make every NPC unique in such a big world.

Thought I must admit, that while I don't mind the face and voices, it's kind of strange that 95% of the NPCs seem to have the same body type. From time to time you come across a bandit with a belly or a muscular worker, but all other NPCs seem to have an ideal weight. I cannot remember seeing a fat woman or even more important: very skinny hungry looking NPCs. This is a war torn world after all, many people should be starving and you should meet desperate women, who want to sell their body for some food.

And im missing disabled war veterans missing a leg or a arm. Chopped off in combat.

I agree crippled war veterans are really needed to get the war feeling.

 

[Mordamir91]

Man I have seen hundreds of npcs with the same face =P
Copy/Paste

 

[JasonShepard]

In the Witcher 1 it didn't matter at all that there was basically one character model for each character type; I.e, Poor man, merchant, rich burgher.... peasant woman, townswoman, reverend, nurse, soldier....only key characters had separate models... it didn't detract at all. So I don't think the npc models thing is much of an issue.

Oh God yes, it's so much better than The Witcher 1 and 2 (to an extent). I miss that fat man model in TW1 though. And the old woman model.

 

[GZulu]

Yes, yes. You guys are right.