I was about to have this discussion in The Outer Worlds thread about romance mechanisms and suddenly realized how huge AI will become not only in all things computers, but in how Human interactions could unfold in games…
Ref: Romancing a character In a video game-
The first time I ran into it, romancing a companion* was in Fallout 4 and there there was not much to it, but I enjoyed companions who without any real effort on your part besides helping them with a personal issue, grew to like you and approved or disapporved of your actions, with no real consequence. The perfect relationship, lol.
* I remember getting married in Skyrim, another Bethesda game but don’t remember much of a romance requirement in that game, and there your spouse stayed home, while you were out dealing with weighty issues.
As I liked my female companions (F4), but I was initially worried if I told one to go home, they would dump me, but this was not the case. The most nifty was getting a buff for sleeping with them along with the occasional saucy comment (especially from Cait) about only what you could imagine. I enjoyed it when a companion would ask for help and confide in me and I could help them, as it made me feel good at least within the confines of the game setting. Now In Outer Worlds, Parvati is asking me to help her romance someone else which I’m happy to do, but it does not have the same luster.
With AI, these relationships could easily become more complex.
Cyberpunk’s romance options mostly consist of supporting a character‘s position during disagreements with a third party, and helping them with conflict in their lives. These quests IMO were really well constructed, some of the best social time I’ve spent with a scripted character, but only as realistic feeling as scripted can be. The best aspect of romance in Cyberpunk, was how you could briefly go and actually spend time with a person just to be with them as I think of the Exploring The Old Neighborhood Quest with Judy Alvarez or go have dinner with River Ward’s family and play a laser tag game of sorts with his nephews.This was innovative and a first.
Now just imagine when AI is inserted into the gaming frame work, what possibility there will be for branches in the story line. Ok maybe they will be the same branches but the interactions will be much more fluid, I imagine that characters will be much more life like, more responsive and reactive. I can easily imagine AI in the middle of animation, doing away with the need for movement capture, and you might even be expected to speak though you mic to characters. 🤔
Ref: Romancing a character In a video game-
You have companion quests, and essentially Pavarti and Junlie is just another multi-stage companion quest.
Whereas I always think about romance in RPGs are more of a math problem - get enough '+' and about too many '-' and you win the prize - Jaheira! Unless it is Alpha Protocol, in which case where you have one 'real' romance and a couple of 'chance encounters' ... which is also cool. (especially since one of the chance encounters can cost you the real romance if you didn't do everything else right!)
The first time I ran into it, romancing a companion* was in Fallout 4 and there there was not much to it, but I enjoyed companions who without any real effort on your part besides helping them with a personal issue, grew to like you and approved or disapporved of your actions, with no real consequence. The perfect relationship, lol.
* I remember getting married in Skyrim, another Bethesda game but don’t remember much of a romance requirement in that game, and there your spouse stayed home, while you were out dealing with weighty issues.
As I liked my female companions (F4), but I was initially worried if I told one to go home, they would dump me, but this was not the case. The most nifty was getting a buff for sleeping with them along with the occasional saucy comment (especially from Cait) about only what you could imagine. I enjoyed it when a companion would ask for help and confide in me and I could help them, as it made me feel good at least within the confines of the game setting. Now In Outer Worlds, Parvati is asking me to help her romance someone else which I’m happy to do, but it does not have the same luster.
With AI, these relationships could easily become more complex.
Cyberpunk’s romance options mostly consist of supporting a character‘s position during disagreements with a third party, and helping them with conflict in their lives. These quests IMO were really well constructed, some of the best social time I’ve spent with a scripted character, but only as realistic feeling as scripted can be. The best aspect of romance in Cyberpunk, was how you could briefly go and actually spend time with a person just to be with them as I think of the Exploring The Old Neighborhood Quest with Judy Alvarez or go have dinner with River Ward’s family and play a laser tag game of sorts with his nephews.This was innovative and a first.
Now just imagine when AI is inserted into the gaming frame work, what possibility there will be for branches in the story line. Ok maybe they will be the same branches but the interactions will be much more fluid, I imagine that characters will be much more life like, more responsive and reactive. I can easily imagine AI in the middle of animation, doing away with the need for movement capture, and you might even be expected to speak though you mic to characters. 🤔
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