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Shining Star

Banned
May 14, 2019
4,458
The actual objectively right answer is the Trails series, it's basically this:

Tokyo Xanadu is the game where NPCs most stood out to me. They feel like they're living. All of them on the map have something new to say every single time you move forward in the story a tiny bit, they have interests and concerns and relationships with other NPCs (to the point that you can sometimes guess that two people in separate parts of the map are tied to each other before they mention it). There's sooo many of them and they all have their stories that update constantly as you progress through the game, yet you don't have to talk to a single one of them.

But across multiple games and even series.
 

Enduin

You look 40
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,492
New York
BotW. The attention to detail goes a long way to make up for the fact that very few have any real amount of depth or meaningful interaction with them. The unique names, appearances and even just a few lines for every single person in the game really helps to make them not feel like they're there to fill space, but actually live and belong in that world.

One of my biggest hopes is that BotW2 will make greater use of them and bring in that much needed depth and interaction with them to truly bring them alive.
 

Transistor

Hollowly Brittle
Administrator
Oct 25, 2017
37,189
Washington, D.C.
BotW. The attention to detail goes a long way to make up for the fact that very few have any real amount of depth or meaningful interaction with them. The unique names, appearances and even just a few lines for every single person in the game really helps to make them not feel like they're there to fill space, but actually live and belong in that world.

One of my biggest hopes is that BotW2 will make greater use of them and bring in that much needed depth and interaction with them to truly bring them alive.
My only complaint was constantly having to rescue some of the same people over and over again.

I just, kinda, wish they would stay rescued, ya know?
 

Piggus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,700
Oregon
RDR2, GTAV, and GTAIV. Rockstar are the best at what they do and clearly other devs are playing catch-up.

But a shoutout has to go to Oblivion and Skyrim too since they felt more like characters with routines rather than just NPCs that re-spawn. The "radiant AI" wasn't as cool as they made it out to be, but it still made for much more interesting NPCs.

You have to think that programming good NPC/crowd behavior is really challenging, but considering Cyberpunk has been in development for so long and is targeting really high-end specs, the bad crowd AI is really weird.
 
Oct 27, 2017
1,460
The NPCs in Xenoblade Chronicles are so good I spend something like 20 hours just trying to solve all the little problems and squabbles in the first village, burning myself out on the game in the process😭
 

Lulu

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
26,680
ps2 gta games. People on the street would say some wild shit that would have me crying.
 

Green

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,412
Morrowind. Terrible animations and "AI", but the best dialogue wiki system I've ever played.
 

DarthBuzzard

Banned
Jul 17, 2018
5,122
Lucy from Wolves in the Walls is the closest we've ever come to a true virtual character in a game that you can have a natural interaction with. Granted, it's entirely scripted linear sequences but the way they pull it off really makes you connect on a level unseen anywhere else.

Red Dead 2 also has great NPCs. If we combined Red Dead's AI with the level of connection and interaction you have with Lucy, we'd have something truly special.
 

arcadepc

Banned
Dec 28, 2019
1,925
Probably the scariest NPCs are in Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of the Earth

Call-of-Cthulhu-Dark-Corners-of-the-Earth-smartcdkeys-cheap-cd-key-3.jpg
 

Unicorn

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 29, 2017
9,564
RDR2 felt transcendental. For the first 10 hours of playing I kept prying to find seams, but the common 'holes' in interactions from any other game were seemingly filled. THAT alone was and IS nuts.
 
Nov 17, 2017
12,864
Xenoblade X's NPCs are always updating what they have to say as you progress and through quests, you can develop the relationships between them and track those relationships via a huge interconnecting chart. It really makes the hub city feel alive which heightens the game's theme.
 

s y

Member
Nov 8, 2017
10,433
RDR2, I like just going around, talking shit and getting into fights with NPCs.
 

Shairi

Member
Aug 27, 2018
8,584
Stardew Valley, I guess?

I think it's really hard to pull of believable NPCs in big open world games.

I remember the first time playing The Witcher 1 and being quite impressed when villagers tried to hide when it rained. It's kinda ironic how bad the NPCs are in Cyberpunk.
 

Deleted member 864

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,544
Animal Crossing, all of the villagers is one of the main reasons why I love the series so much. I always feel excited to see who I'll get when somebody moves out or who will be my first villagers when first starting.
 

Dylan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,260
If we are considering all NPC's, including ones you don't directly interact with, it's probably Hitman.
 

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
39,046
RDR2 has the best NPCs of any game I've ever played. Not only do none of them ruin the experience if you aren't paying attention, but If you pay attention you can literally watch an NPCs regular life.

I can't find it now but there's that farmer family near the the second camp that has a weekly routine that takes them across nearly the entire map even into regions that you can't travel into until end game. It's amazing. Search for the video of you can.

man the videos in this tread
 
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Stencil

Member
Oct 30, 2017
10,381
USA
I think Moon: Remix RPG had really good NPC interactions. Of course, the game is somewhat based around that, so the authored experiences were important. Earthbound had really good NPC dialogue too. Modern games? I'm not sure, I liked the way FF7R dealt with it in that you kind of just heard dialogue in passing, nothing really stopped you in your tracks if you didn't want it to.
 

Xiaomi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,237
Disco Elysium if we're allowed to deviate from the open world genre.

Open world, probably New Vegas. The way you stumble upon people and things who are interacting in interesting ways is great.
 

Deleted member 279

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,270
Does modded Skyrim count? Handful of mods give the game the best NPC's and immersive conversations
 

Nephilim

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,283
RDR2. Besides stuff already mentioned in here one of the most impressive things is that every NPC looks unique (or the game does a masterful job at hiding clones) and like real persons full of life.
Not even to mention the amazing camp stuff, which is insane. Or how animals behave...

RDR2 is such an incredible achievement, hard to believe it exists.
 

Deleted member 8752

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
10,122
I really liked the NPCs in Legend of Mana on PS1. They were well drawn and had great dialogue. Many of them had their own quests like in Majora's Mask, but they also would come and fight along with you with their own unique moves.
 

Theanine

Member
Oct 3, 2020
147
Majora's Mask. They each have a daily schedule and routine which really adds to their believability as characters.
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,013
Shenmue 1/2/3 and Deadly Premonition. All of them have individual NPCs that go about day/night schedules and have a ton of charm to them. My top pick would be Shenmue 1 because they all have so much dialogue throughout the game, and most of the fun when replaying the game is seeing what the different NPCs will say, I'm always discovering a funny/cool piece of new dialogue.
 

CHC

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,247
RDR2. Besides stuff already mentioned in here one of the most impressive things is that every NPC looks unique (or the game does a masterful job at hiding clones) and like real persons full of life.
Not even to mention the amazing camp stuff, which is insane. Or how animals behave...

RDR2 is such an incredible achievement, hard to believe it exists.

I remember in RDR2 I antagonized this one guy. Usually the NPCs get a little mad or just laugh it off when you insult them just once, but not this guy. The INSTANT I insult him he launches at me full force, instantly attacking with no warning. We fight and he won't back down so I wind up shooting him. Then on his body I find a letter from his wife saying she's leaving him because of his temper.

He didn't have a formal role in the game or a name or anything, just some random NPC. It was so crazy.
 
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ket

Member
Jul 27, 2018
12,983
Watch Dogs 2 and RDR2 have the best NPCs. I'd argue Watch Digs Legion and the recent AC games also have some neat NPC stuff.
 

Prine

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
15,724
RDR2, GTA5, nothing comes close.

Rockstar are beyond everyone.
 

Gpsych

Member
May 20, 2019
2,897
All this talk about NPCs on schedules and having unique personalities and no one brings up Ultima VII. It's still the best game for NPCs ever made even though it came out 400 years ago.