Fallout New Vegas

[SMOGZINN]

Ultima 7 had the best NPC AI and that was 20 years ago. They would go to work, go to the local inn, go to bed but before doing that they would walk around the house closing windows and extinguishing candles etc. Hell, some of them would bake their own bread (with raw ingredients)

20 years later and we've gone backwards.

I also don't know if all that is AI as much as simple scripting. I think that in that game if you did something to disrupt their routines they just kept following their script and ended up doing things like putting out candles that are not there or going through the actions of baking bread in the middle of the street.

 

[Revolution 11]

All AI is basically scripting at some level. Better AI is just scripting for more unforeseen events. (Deus Ex was amazing in this regard, you could kill characters at different parts of the game and the dialogue and behavior would change later)

I don't think there is a single game that actually changes its own scripts dynamically based on the player actions.

Back to the thread, I hope we see actual weather in future Fallout games. Snow that saps your endurance, rain that reduces visibility, even hail that injures you, all would be great effects.

 

[artemicion]

I also don't know if all that is AI as much as simple scripting. I think that in that game if you did something to disrupt their routines they just kept following their script and ended up doing things like putting out candles that are not there or going through the actions of baking bread in the middle of the street.

True, but even then it'd be nice if devs put as much effort in scripting NPC as Origin did with the Ultima games. Skyrim is probably the closest modern analogue to Ultima, and the level of activity with respect to the average NPC is significantly less that U7. Most innkeepers in Skyrim stand static behind a bar, whereas U7 had them cleaning and setting tables and whatnot, taking breaks for meals, etc.

Of course, the downside with too much scripting is that it can be annoying as F*@$ looking for a specific NPC who is running errands around town when you need him/her. At least it was consistently easy to find Dupre in the tavern in U7. :-D

Edit: Another neat aspect of the Ultima games was that almost every NPC had some backstory that you could delve into to some degree, even if it was something super mundane like a banker having the hots for tavern owner, or something like that. I remember pouring a boatload of hours into U7 talking to every NPC and methodically going through all their dialogue options. They just don't go into that level of detail in games these days.

 

[Revolution 11]

Edit: Another neat aspect of the Ultima games was that almost every NPC had some backstory that you could delve into to some degree, even if it was something super mundane like a banker having the hots for tavern owner, or something like that. I remember pouring a boatload of hours into U7 talking to every NPC and methodically going through all their dialogue options. They just don't go into that level of detail in games these days.

This I think comes to the scale of games. The Ultima games had very basic graphics, easy to create environments, monsters, and objects. The developer couuld focus a lot more on scripts when there is less stuff in general to do. Current games are crammed with graphics, sound, detailed environments, character models, you name it. Scripts become a lower and lower priority in the grand scheme of things, unless a game requires clever scripts as a marketing point (dynamic events, OHH).