Game content - How keep an Open World interesting

[Suhiira]

Game content - How keep an Open World interesting

At the request of a couple people I'll open this topic.

This is NOT about a games combat or skill system, such topics have their own threads.
Nor is it about open world/multi-player/PvP good or bad.

It's about what sort of things can/should be in a game world to keep you, the player, interested in continuing to play the game.

I think we can all agree the standard endlessly generated fetch and kill quests are crap. As is grinding for loot/crafting materials (or anything else for that matter).
The question is ....
What sort of content would you like to see in a game that would make you want to play that game once the main story-line is finished?

As for myself ... I'd like to be able to interact with NPCs beyond the typical "Oh, you want me to X and you'll give me Y."
Not easy. Because you'd have to generate some sort of NPC discussion tree with multiple forking branches (else seeing the same dialog over-and-over gets old FAST).

An example might be:
Your character speaks with John Doe, he tells you his daughter was killed by street gang members ... looks like your typical "kill" quest. But when you investigate you discover she was secretly involved with a member of the gang and was killed by a jealous rival. It turns out however that the gang member both ladies were after is in fact a two-timing SOB who lead both on. While he may not have killed the girl he certainly created the situation that caused it to happen. What do you do?

You can see how at at each step in the "quest" branching dialog turned the "quest" in a different direction. You can't anticipate what's going to happen, you have to investigate, and ultimately decide what (if anything) to do.

 

[ZhynSci]

Hi.
map exploration, interaction with the environment and with npc and many interesting quests with a decent story line will definitely keep me in the game.

 

[Lisbeth_Salander]

I think we can all agree the standard endlessly generated fetch and kill quests are crap. As is grinding for loot/crafting materials (or anything else for that matter).

Speak for yourself. Some people here like me enjoy grinding.

You can see how at at each step in the "quest" branching dialog turned the "quest" in a different direction. You can't anticipate what's going to happen, you have to investigate, and ultimately decide what (if anything) to do.

I don't think the answer is to make even more quests in order to give life to Night City...

Endless random encounters is what Night City needs. Give an objective to those npcs: make them fight and interact with each other, gang wars, corporate wars, cops chasing criminals down, make the city chaotic and unpredictable, and I'm not talking about one in a lifetime event like sidequests.

To give life to the open world in a way that it looks like it is unscripted is something open world RPGs need these days.

This post over reddit sums it up pretty well.

 

[Zalhandra]

I'd like to see "silent scenes." I'm talking about the kind of things I've found when crawling around a fallout3/4 game. Not necessarily notes or terminals, but a scene set up to speak without words. Plenty of examples in various open world games but the ones i always remember are the ones from fallout 3/4, Vegas and even Skyrim. I'm not saying these should be the only things in there but I'd like to see what CDPR comes up with in this respect.

 

[lessthanjake123]

I think three things are key:

1. An open world will inevitably feel empty and boring if there aren't tons of quests and/or activities (such as mini-games) to do. At the same time, though, a game also is boring and tedious if it is filled with tons of uninspiring quests (such as simple fetch quests or other quests with no story). So you really need tons of side quests that are actually well-crafted and have a compelling story underlying them, as well as probably at least one or two fun mini-games that you can play in various places. Very few games have managed to succeed at this. Luckily for us, CDPR actually DID manage this with The Witcher 3, so I think they can do it again.

One thing I'd like to see added, though, is more relatively long side questlines. Being involved in a certain event/organization/etc over a longer term questline that spans multiple locales and has multiple important characters can do a lot to make the open world feel like it is alive with important things occurring outside of just the main quest. The Witcher 3 didn't always do this, partially because Geralt as a character is really a lone-wolf. But, in this one aspect, I think the Elder Scrolls games are perhaps helpful. I didn't play Skyrim all that much, but, for example, I certainly thought that the various guilds in Oblivion added a lot to my understanding of and immersion in the world. CDPR could implement something somewhat similar, except combine it with their infinitely better storytelling ability.

2. Exploration needs to be compelling in an open world game. Cyberpunk 2077 will require very different exploration from that in The Witcher 3. TW3 had beautiful landscapes to explore, but most of the buildings in the actual cities and villages could not be entered. There was so much overland space to explore that this was fine. But Cyberpunk's setting will be a city, so it won't have vast overland space. As a consequence, a lot of the exploration will need to come indoors. I think this will be difficult to pull off effectively since there's perhaps a little less natural awe from exploring indoor spaces. But if CDPR can make the city setting mysterious and atmospheric, and make indoor spaces (whether they're homes, stores, office buildings, etc) actually have interesting things to see and find out in them, then it can be successful in this regard.

3. Open worlds can be at their most magical and interesting when the unpredictable happens in them amongst NPCs. If unexpected things never happen amongst NPCs, then each place you visit is really always the same each time you go to it. It can really add to the sense of exploration and immersion in the world when things happen without you being the catalyst. This is hard to program though. Bethesda games kind of do it, but I wouldn't say they do it perfectly. Their version of this is more just that weird things happen because their games are kind of buggy and NPCs can randomly freak out.

 

[Suhiira]

While it's probably impossible to do the interior of every building in a city I'd have to agree that some of them, that are not directly quest related, need to be available for exploration. Let's face it, exploring an office or apartment building probably isn't going to be very exciting, but just being able to certainly beats doors you can't open. Besides, a random desk drawer in a random office complex is a great place to hide an Easter Egg.

And I quite agree, two or the mini-story lines that cross multiple main story-line chapters would be damn nice. They don't need to be extensive, just not your typical mini-quests. Something as simple as making an NPC you need to speak with not available till later in the game.

Yeah, it's a city, non main story NPCs are going to make or break the immersion factor. Something as simple as the pawn shop owner you unload your junk on could be more then just a simple merchant. Maybe after a while he tells you about his son who disappeared in the Combat Zone and you eventually track him down and find out he's become a braindance addict. Do you wash your hands of him; help him kick his habit; what do you tell his father?

 

[Azriel7]

At the request of a couple people I'll open this topic.

This is NOT about a games combat or skill system, such topics have their own threads.
Nor is it about open world/multi-player/PvP good or bad.

It's about what sort of things can/should be in a game world to keep you, the player, interested in continuing to play the game.

I think we can all agree the standard endlessly generated fetch and kill quests are crap. As is grinding for loot/crafting materials (or anything else for that matter).
The question is ....
What sort of content would you like to see in a game that would make you want to play that game once the main story-line is finished?

As for myself ... I'd like to be able to interact with NPCs beyond the typical "Oh, you want me to X and you'll give me Y."
Not easy. Because you'd have to generate some sort of NPC discussion tree with multiple forking branches (else seeing the same dialog over-and-over gets old FAST).

An example might be:
Your character speaks with John Doe, he tells you his daughter was killed by street gang members ... looks like your typical "kill" quest. But when you investigate you discover she was secretly involved with a member of the gang and was killed by a jealous rival. It turns out however that the gang member both ladies were after is in fact a two-timing SOB who lead both on. While he may not have killed the girl he certainly created the situation that caused it to happen. What do you do?

You can see how at at each step in the "quest" branching dialog turned the "quest" in a different direction. You can't anticipate what's going to happen, you have to investigate, and ultimately decide what (if anything) to do.

That would be pretty cool. I just want NPC's to be more than walking signs and limited chat. I want to have a conversation with them with branching dialog and different outcomes. It would be cool if you could chat and have the NPC become a friend, enemy, love interest, rival..etc based on your dialog. You could also have dialog open or close based on your stats. Like a NPC that likes music will open up to a rockerboy, but will spit and walkaway from a cop. If you have a medical knowledge you could talk shop with a doctor or nurse...etc Alternatively your actions could set up a chain reaciton you cannot forsee. You seduce some random NPC for a one night stand. The NPC is married and the partner finds out about it and hunts you down. Out of nowhere some random NPC is coming at you with an axe and saying something about sleeping with their partner. Alternatively could have a homage to the original fallout and the family comes after you and demand you get married under a shotgun wedding. That would be really cool. Something a bit like the sims and a bit like the nemisis system from the shadow of mordor/war games. I know this would be pushing it, but this is one of the things I have always dreamed about for an RPG game. Were NPC's actually matter and are not just background decorations.

 

[Suhiira]

The SIMS might be a bit much to expect, after all there's an entire game, or ... what's it up to now ... 4 ... dedicated to it.
BUT, great idea.
I'm afraid I'm not enough of a game AI designer to even have a clue how difficult it would be to create something similar for CP2077.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

So I have a couple - just a couple for now - of ideas regarding making the world a bit more active place for the player and the playercharacter whoever he might be at any given runthrough. This is all, I'd think, somewhat unusual in games today, but in my books that's only a good thing. Break the conventions and do something out of the ordinary. And something to keep in mind, none of this is meant to be something the player is required to tackle if he/she doesn't want to, just something to possibly occupy the player with at idle moments. Also, if you decide to read this all and possibly even comment, don't get stuck on details, this is just broad strokes stuff here not "exactly like this or bust". Mind the typos.

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I recently suggested something of a "text adventure" type building exploration to make the prop buildings and their lifeless doorways a bit more meaningful to the player, I mean... it's nice to look at a drawing of a door on a render of a building and all, I'm sure people stare at the all the time for how awesome they are, but certainly in a "game" it would be preferable to have it interactive interactive in some way, no?

Of course in huuuuge city, making everything physically enterable along with all else that's going on in the game is next to impossible, and also stupid and pointless a endeavor. RPG's have always had some level of abstraction, and I don't think such would hurt here either. So... Link the otherwise uninteractive doors as gates to a sort of text based minigame (not unlike those text adventure phases in Pillar of Eternity, but less prosaic and more stylized for Cyberpunk).

The first part is entering. The player steps in front of a door and a tooltip might say [Locked], the player then presses RMB and a small dropdown (or radial) menu appears giving the available options. Here it might be something like:
- Pick lock [related skill check] (or Hack if the door is electric)
- Force [str.feat check]
- Knock/Doorbell [Luck check] (randomly pressing buzzers and somebody might open the remote lock and let you in; they might also call the cops though)
Failing picking or forcing will reinforce the buildings security mechanisms and you have to come back some other time. Failing persuasion checks might build up and at some point the denizens might get suspicous on who's ringing peoples buzzers one at a time, and they'll call the cops, time to run away. Or something to that effect.

The difficulty of entrance would depend on the zone in the city. I.e. some high tech skyscrapers might require retinal or DNA scan so only a real pro can manage those (let alone what's inside).

The second part is, well... Once you enter a building via what ever method, there's a timer that starts (a couple of minutes, real time). You are trespassing in a building without anyones invitation or recognition, someone will eventually notice you skulking around. It might be a bit gamey, but I don't think it matters here, it just represents that you can't go in without risk and tension. Anyway, if there are several floors in the building, you have to choose which to go. The higher you go the less time you have, the more difficult it is and the more rewarding the results might be (or might not, nothing's certain).

After choosing the floor you have a choice of apartments (few of them). With each door you can
- Evesdrop [Awareness/notice check; if 0 there little chance of hearing anything]
- Bust in [Strength feat check; if 0 you can not do it]
- Pick lock [skill check; if 0 you can not do it]
Evesdropping tells you if the denizens are there at the moment (the higher the skill the more certain you can be of it), and what they might doing; you might hear a muffled fight, a television program, a phone, a videoconversation, someone getting shot, people having sex... it can produce little bits of trivia on the citizens and their moods in general, and perhaps even some kind of investigative intrigue if the guy in apartment #97 at Mercystreet 1 hates the bitch in apartmet #66 in Arasaka Square 29, maybe something can be done with that (a kind of a random task to look at when there's time -- weren't some people here for random unlimited tasks? Here's a possibility for that in a manner that's not about killing or fetching stuff for someone, but doing shit on your own initiative -- and if the result is blood, maybe you can read in on the papers, or perhaps you hear talk about your current [major NPC] acquaintance that can be of use with him/her....).

If you go in (busting the door will give you an instant time penalty as people hear it; lockpicking is silent, but that's not immediate either, i.e. three attempts might be costlier timewise than the penalty from kicking the door in) you have once again a few options:
- Investigate (harder awareness/notice check via Intelligence -- possibility to find higher level valuables (what ever those might be), maybe you can even find a hidden safe that has something of real value in the black market)
- Loot (easy awareness/notice check via Intelligence -- just take what looks like you can get an eurobuck of two of it)
- Vandalize (depending on the part of the city a Strength feat check from easy to hard -- just for fun, maybe you can see mention in the papers if you do it enough times, "A serial fecal vandal afoot in Arasaka Square, several apartments destroyed and soiled, police investigates", maybe you can even gain some respect from some lowlifes by bragging with it...)

If there's people inside when you bust in, there's a brawl (related skill checks) that ends up either dead or unconscious (randomly chosen based ont he brawl results) denizens or you being thrown out of the building. If the former, you better run because no mercy awaits you when the law arrives and finds you with blood in your hands.

The difficulties and results like loot and what you hear while evesdropping is drawn radnomly from a pool specific for the zone in the city (with a certain range so that it's not always the same), and it is also possible that you find nothing inspite of succesful skill check. And since it's all text based there can be a metric ton of variety and nuances cheaply implemented.

This all sounds longwinded, cumbersome and timeconsuming, but it's really meant to be just a quick little task where you click for few options and read short descriptions. All the attempts take a bit of time, so you really can't rummage houses forever and so the whole thing lasts but a couple of minutes at max and a few seconds minimum. If the timer runs out, cops will intercept you and what happens then is a topic for the police and law thread, it might be set up based on what you've been doing.

This is meant to be taken as a callback to the PnP... Those who have played it, imagine a situation where you decide to go rummage a random house. What would happen between the GM and the players. That's approximately what this is trying to emulate. And all it really does, is it gives the whole city a different feel when you know there might be some kind of interaction to be had with the building renders and the doorway-art you're standing next to most of the time.

And to add not every building needs needs this treatment, it'd be quite enough for the player to know that this stuff is readily available where ever he goes, but it doesn't need to be every building.

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Another thing. The AI bots roaming the streets like robotzombies that you can't strike a conversation with. A somewhat similiar method could be utilized here as above. Not "text adventure" stuff, but adding interactions with random results based on the area.

I.e. you walk to a random bypasser, right clikc and the dropdown menu would give something like the following options
- Pickpocket
- Interrogate [cop] - Interview [media] - Blackmarketing(?) [Fixer] - Charm [Rockerboy] - Chat/somethigsomething [other roles]
- Provoke
- Seduce
- Stalk

Pickpocket would iniate a short animation sequence in third person that's either the PC bumbs into the NPC and lifts his hands for "Sorry pal, my mistake" and continues on, or enages into a short interaction similiar to this (starting approx. at 5 minute mark): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZGY0wPAnus
Nothing major, just a couple of seconds during which the skill check is made and the possible loot drawn from the pool set for that NPC (difficulties and pools according section of the map and NPC social level).

Interrogation, Interviewing and such might provide class related interactivity with similiar semi-abstract implementation a pickpocketing above (not much extra dialog needed, just some subtle indications of what's going on)... cops might get random tips about lawlessness nearby or perhaps the NPC himself cracks up at the spot, Medias might get story tips and perhaps hints for something big that can be collected together during the game, Fixers might try to acquire customers that he can sell to someone (lowly NPC's might be easier to get and sell for less and vice versa for higher classes) with supplylines for what ever merchandise or maybe he can "try to" sell shit on the spot for few EB (might require some human perception to know if offering drugs to "this particular NPC" is such a wise idea, he might be a civilian cop, some militant antidrug maniac, or a cyberpsycho just on the edge) and so on...

- Provoke can get you a fight on the spot, but if cops see you two take one each other, there'll be an intervention
- Seduction might get you a temporary follower (few minutes), and who knows what else
- With Stalk you can mark an NPC and use the Shadow/Track skills to follow him (maybe for nothing else than to get him suspicious and panicked for fun), or maybe he at some point enters an alleyway to the a piss and you can mug him there, maybe this is a useful skill in some missions.

All kinds of little things to try and see what happens and perhaps collect a bit of a reward there. And of course using your skills might ease their future increases (depending on how CDPR goes with it). And I only used the most common skills as examples... What possibilities are there with the rest of them....

And not all NPC's need to have interactions all the time. They could just push you away with a "Piss offf, punk!" regardless of what your intentions were.

It is kind of a reward in itself already when you find an NPC to "interact" with, and that goes for everything else too that I've written here. Getting to this stuff need not be guaranteed all the time even if you had the skill. Some NPC's refuse to be interacted with, some houses might be under renovations or under police surveillance for what ever reason so you can't enter, some items are just too hard for you to meddle with... Although it'd probably not be hard, you'd have to seek this stuff out if you wanted it.

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Then theres the rest of the environment. Lamp posts, ATM's, firehydrants, carbage bins, parked cars, manholes electric boxes, camera surveillances, guard robots... All can have something small character related linked to them. Hack an ATM, or pickpocket a credit card and steal someone's pension (if you have the skills for those things). Overload an electric box at a wall (related skills check) and pry a firehydrant open (strenght feat check, eaier if you have a pipe wrench or a similiar tool with you) to soak the area with electricity, or kick a lamp post down (str feat check) to the water for same effect. Rig cars to explode with the right tools and skill to use them. Open manholes to hide under or possibly check if a hobo has a nest there (similiar to checking the apartments).

There's all kinds of little possibilities for interesting intearactivity.

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And then there might be some kind of narrative hook to keep your eyes open all the time. Maybe you're looking for someone or something, or maybe that someone or something is looking for you and it's not certain whether it's a good thing. And that cou oh shit I'm tired....


I could probably go on but this post is quite long enough here. The chief purpose would be to add PnP like interactive elements to test the characterbuild in small ways all around the game in a more or less abstract manner in order to keep the feel of the world from succumbing to the emptiness of other open world games where there's very little to experience beyond the storyline and where most of the game is a cardboard stage prop. This stuff might not appeal to everyone, but I don't think it needs to. As said, it isn't meant to be antything else but offer dynamic intrigue to the world for who ever wants to explore it deeper than what's obvious.

And I repeat, dont' take these too literally, they're just broad strokes examples for concepts I think might work in some manner with relatively little effort of implementation and design (compared to other, more major-league stuff you do in the game).

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

A couple of small additions...

Additionally to what as said above, the player might observe the NPC's - not just watch them, but click and choose an action "Observe" - and learn little things about them through the human perception skill. These things might offer special lines in dialog, and help spotting dishonesty or part truths (not much more needed than a behind the screen check and a "He's lying" or "He's hiding something" banner at the dialog, and you'd make it known that you are aware by clicking it) and help spot unusual behavior (like soon to pop cyberpsycho).

Additionally, you might be able to examine objects to potentially learning something (which might open up previously hidden details on objects that you can interact with). I.e. investigating corpses as a medic, you might have a chance to learn a bit more about human anatomy which might turn out beneficial in situations where such knowledge is called for. Examing computers and terminals not just to "hack better" but to gain knowledge on the subject that can be used elsewhere in dialog, or perhaps even in practice. And so on.

This is the sort of little stuff you might not even know is (and don't necessarily even need to, it's not mandatory) there before you decide to try it out, see a hint that there might be something like that, or see some other player do it. You find it out on your own, "Wait, I can do 'this'? That's cool! I wonder what else I can do?"

 

[walkingdarkly]

Endless random encounters is what Night City needs.

"Tonight's Body Lotto scores just in. In the South Side Combat Zone, 12. North Highlands and University District, 4. And this just in - a light plane crash at Night City Metro Airport with no survivors. Winners for tonight are..."
--Nightly News Program, c. 2020(CH.7 Friday Night Firefight, page 105)

I would like to see a day cycle to go with the time cycle and that merged with the map. Meaning depending on what day it is and what time it is, npc activity the player can run into would be different. For example, it's Friday and it's between 7 & 8 pm, there should be some firefights somewhere. Or like in my quote from the book, there should be more than just police chases or npcs beating up each other.

 

[Decatonkeil]

It's inevitable that a game will eventually be out of new content after all post-release support has been finished and enjoyed. But for whatever reason we seem more accepting of this fact when a more strictly linear game finishes. We don't have a feeling that its world feels empty, it just finished and it was short, long or adequate.
Whichever answer we are going to give is either going to be beside the point: "add MORE missions", "add MORE sidecontent", "add MORE distractions", "add MORE minigames", "add MORE systems"...
Even I'm going to say something along the lines.

First "what about when the main storyline has finished"?
This is more difficult a question to answer than you would think.

Does it assume that you just ignored a sizeable proportion of the side content? Including sidequests having to do with it? Well, then, there's that for you. Finish it. It depends on how the story was structured if this will play our as content that it would make sense that you were to play it after saving the game post-final story mission and credits roll. Maybe the game doesn't allow you to save post final mission and this mission will wait patiently for you to finish any other side content.

There is another posibility... but in this day and age there really isn't much of a place for it in a game. I'm thinking of having an Epilogue episode to the game where we play the story after the main quest. It can be fine enough in a case similar to what I just said: you can play the sidequests and keep meeting some regular NPCs and companions in the status quo post credits roll. But, and this is what doesn't seem to have a place nowadays, beyond DLC and expansion packs is that the Epilogue has its own missions. Kinda like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Can that be considered finishing the game? Should this post-credits missions have been part of the main story?

The other thing that could keep these games alive after the main story could play into things like managing the personal objectives and motivations of our character/role. Maybe something like building up some kind of business or project. Something that we could start doing during the main campaign but maybe we didn't pay that much attention to it. It can be thought of as something like the property in Vice City or San Andreas. And there was also some sidecontent in the latter that fit the endgame or Epilogue perfectly: remember the triathlon.

An Epilogue playable episode can be just perfect for things like that even if they're situations that jump the shark a bit. The game world doesn't care anymore that you become the one and only leader of the mob or your business grows enough that it will attract the attention of the big Corps. It's fanfic beyond that point, you could theoretically be playing into a date that would contradict possible sequels, so let's embrace that.

Maybe you could pursue the championship of some bloodsports or martial arts, increase the audience ratings of your TV/Radio station or show, make it big as a Rockerboy, clean the streets of crime... rid the streets with crime, create a drug empire with your own synthetic creation, go FBC, make it into the local corporate boardroom of one of the big ones...

 

[Rawls]

As for myself ... I'd like to be able to interact with NPCs beyond the typical "Oh, you want me to X and you'll give me Y."

Agreed. I would like quests that are merely about uncovering a story, learning more about a character, and maybe getting a new merchant to interact with out of it, or cheaper prices at the nearby bar or something. Maybe you can get access to information that makes a future quest easier as your reward for learning the stories of night city. Little ambiance quests like this are highly underrated IMO. The writing just has to be strong ... which fortunately is CDPR's strong suit. Quests don't have to all be run and do this and kill seven badguys along the way.

Endless random encounters is what Night City needs. Give an objective to those npcs: make them fight and interact with each other, gang wars, corporate wars, cops chasing criminals down, make the city chaotic and unpredictable, and I'm not talking about one in a lifetime event like sidequests.

Mmmmm ... strongly disagree. Randomly generated quests allow for longevity but sacrifice quality. I'd rather the story burn out than fade away (if that makes sense). RPGs should end IMO, not be endless time sucks of diminishing quality.

I recently suggested something of a "text adventure" type building exploration to make the prop buildings and their lifeless doorways a bit more meaningful to the player, I mean... it's nice to look at a drawing of a door on a render of a building and all, I'm sure people stare at the all the time for how awesome they are, but certainly in a "game" it would be preferable to have it interactive interactive in some way, no?

I would love if all the notable locations had wikipedia like journal entries too them. Information age and all that. You ought to be able to look up info on just about anything that's noteworthy.

One thing I'd like to see added, though, is more relatively long side questlines.

Yes. This. I'd be fine with somewhat fewer, deeper quests than TW3 and then a focus on small ambient events.

You are trespassing in a building without anyones invitation or recognition, someone will eventually notice you skulking around. It might be a bit gamey, but I don't think it matters here, it just represents that you can't go in without risk and tension. Anyway, if there are several floors in the building, you have to choose which to go. The higher you go the less time you have, the more difficult it is and the more rewarding the results might be (or might not, nothing's certain).

I'd like it if when you're somewhere you aren't supposed to be and are seen by and NPC or camera ... then the timer starts but you don't see it ... and within 2-3 minutes the police are showing up.

Another thing. The AI bots roaming the streets like robotzombies that you can't strike a conversation with.

I like it ... but sounds really difficult to implement with enough variety and depth to result in quality interaction.

Then theres the rest of the environment. Lamp posts, ATM's, firehydrants, carbage bins, parked cars, manholes electric boxes, camera surveillances, guard robots... All can have something small character related linked to them. Hack an ATM, or pickpocket a credit card and steal someone's pension (if you have the skills for those things). Overload an electric box at a wall (related skills check) and pry a firehydrant open (strenght feat check, eaier if you have a pipe wrench or a similiar tool with you) to soak the area with electricity, or kick a lamp post down (str feat check) to the water for same effect. Rig cars to explode with the right tools and skill to use them. Open manholes to hide under or possibly check if a hobo has a nest there (similiar to checking the apartments).

Love it.

Additionally to what as said above, the player might observe the NPC's - not just watch them, but click and choose an action "Observe" - and learn little things about them through the human perception skill. These things might offer special lines in dialog, and help spotting dishonesty or part truths (not much more needed than a behind the screen check and a "He's lying" or "He's hiding something" banner at the dialog, and you'd make it known that you are aware by clicking it) and help spot unusual behavior (like soon to pop cyberpsycho).

I'm not sure how I feel about the text. I'm not sure if it would be good or not in practice, but I've always thought it might be cool to give the PC character and inner monologue to simulate the character's thoughts. So the characters voice speaking to himself "inside his/her head" from time to time. Not all the time like real life, but to notice things like lies. Or to comment on how they're feeling. It's risky but I've always been interested in the idea. Most games just do this by having the character speak to themselves out loud ... but dialogue might be improved if little noticed like lie detection are done via inner monologue (assuming you have the skills to notice it).

I would like to see a day cycle to go with the time cycle and that merged with the map. Meaning depending on what day it is and what time it is, npc activity the player can run into would be different.

I frankly expect something like this. TW3 did it. No reason to go back.

 

[Lisbeth_Salander]

Mmmmm ... strongly disagree. Randomly generated quests allow for longevity but sacrifice quality. I'd rather the story burn out than fade away (if that makes sense). RPGs should end IMO, not be endless time sucks of diminishing quality.

In what universe does "random encounters" equals randomly generated quests? There is a huge difference between the two. Ramdomly generated quests suck, but ramdom encounters are necessary in order not to make absolutely empty open worlds deserts with nothing in them.

 

[Suhiira]

In what universe does "random encounters" equals randomly generated quests? There is a huge difference between the two. Ramdomly generated quests suck, but ramdom encounters are necessary in order not to make absolutely empty open worlds deserts with nothing in them.

Well, they don't have to be randomly generated, they could well be scripted events set to trigger at a certain time/place and/or after other events have taken place.

 

[Rawls]

In what universe does "random encounters" equals randomly generated quests? There is a huge difference between the two.

My bad. I misunderstood what you meant.

 

[Lisbeth_Salander]

Well, they don't have to be randomly generated, they could well be scripted events set to trigger at a certain time/place and/or after other events have taken place.

We can have both. If we could ramdomly generate enemies clothing and equipment that would be nice, don't you guys get tired of killing the same type of enemy that looks exactly the same? I do..

 

[walkingdarkly]

First "what about when the main storyline has finished"? This is more difficult a question to answer than you would think.

Not with 2077 being an open-world sand box game, then you just follow the line of all other open world sand box games. Though this hangs on 2077 having a traditional main story-line, I say this because of the amount of sources and resources that CDPR can tap for creating quests and story lines for 2077. Heck, in the Core book for 2020 there's a chapter with 10 what if scenarios for beginners to run through that could be full month long campaigns, specially if a talented GM tweaks them. And this is not taking into consideration the handful of books dedicated to adventures and campaigns. Heck that's an idea CDPR can do with 2077 and their dev kit for players, allow players to make their own custom story lines to share with other players like you can do with Shadowrun Returns.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

I would love if all the notable locations had wikipedia like journal entries too them. Information age and all that. You ought to be able to look up info on just about anything that's noteworthy.

There's a skill called library search. Maybe there's some use for it here opening up some trivia to those seeking it. I.e. you could use some handheld device to skim through the references in NC history database, maybe you find something, maybe you don't at that time. The higher the skill, the more and the more likely you are to find something relevant. Not just history and trivia either, but you might stumble into information that might help you infiltrate the place (blueprints, security scans, historical info that might hint of a route....), or which might be valuable to certain black market dealers.

Nothing you couldn't live with, but could be cool to find out. And gives a reason for a character skill to exist.

I like it ... but sounds really difficult to implement with enough variety and depth to result in quality interaction.

I'm sure there'd be some difficulties, and I suppose the effect of the feature would be just as much psychological as it would be concrete (the knowledge that it isn't just an empty shell that walks past you, that you can do stuff with it but simply look or kill). Doesn't need to be super important or super indepth in my mind. I didn't think of it as something the player necessarily wants to exhaust immediately, or something the player is driven to do excessively. Just a bit of a buffed interactivity on the road to which you affect with how you build your character and where there's a bit of something to gain too over just a visual effect.

I'm not sure how I feel about the text. I'm not sure if it would be good or not in practice, but I've always thought it might be cool to give the PC character and inner monologue to simulate the character's thoughts.

Why not. I just threw the text bit there as a representation of the character noticing it. But the dialog could well read "[Human Perception 3]Hmm, there's something suspicious about this... You're not being honest with me, are you? Listen, those eyes look valuable. Maybe I'll take them after this discussion. What do you say?" (It can do without that bracketed tag too).

That is, if they are going with dialog lines and not "keywords" that'd be more easily handled if they're still thinking of going for real time dialog system they hinted at some point.

 

[Suhiira]

Not with 2077 being an open-world sand box game, then you just follow the line of all other open world sand box games.

Just because a game is designed using an open world, or sandbox, format doesn't necessarily mean you can keep playing it forever. There's nothing inherent in either format that requires a game be designed to be played after the main story-line in complete, look at Witcher 3.

There's a skill called library search. Maybe there's some use for it here opening up some trivia to those seeking it. I.e. you could use some handheld device to skim through the references in NC history database, maybe you find something, maybe you don't at that time. The higher the skill, the more and the more likely you are to find something relevant. Not just history and trivia either, but you might stumble into information that might help you infiltrate the place (blueprints, security scans, historical info that might hint of a route....), or which might be valuable to certain black market dealers.

Ever play "Secret World"?
It has it's own in-game internet.
I recall one mission where you needed to hack a laptop and the owner used his wifes name as the password. You found a company ID card on him. Then you had to go to his company website, access the personnel records, and look up his next-of-kin to get the password.