I thought Morrowind had memorable NPCs. Oblivion had humorous ones and Skyrim took it to a more "realistic" level with NPCs, i.e. most of them are your everyday inhabitants. The NPCs may not all have epic stories but I loved talking to every one of them in all three games and getting the bits of lore they had, hearing their story, etc. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts in ES games, IMO.
But a bigger point I want to make (again) is that I don't think every game needs to be the exact same. If you want a story-based RPG with all sorts of story-driven NPCs, cut-scenes and an interactive movie feel, there are games that will satisfy that. Witcher 3 is a good example, or Mass Effect, etc.
I don't think an RPG needs to have everything coalesce in the same game. Elder Scrolls wouldn't be the same if it were modeled after the Witcher, and Witcher wouldn't be the same if it were modeled after Elder Scrolls. Gothic 1 & 2 wouldn't have been the same if they modeled themselves after Morrowind at the time, etc. etc.
I say let developers be unique and do their own things. These games are great because they are all unique.
On topic - All I need to hear is that it is Gothic-influenced. No need to say anything more.
Well, that of course is very fair point, not every rpg has to be the same.
Saying that, what i'm talking about, i'd say, is not really related to that.
Like, say, skyrim vs gothic (For me). Skyrim had npc with their daily shedules and all that. But, None of them (or barely any) were all that memorable. To me, of course.
I'm not talking about epic stories and amazing cinematics and what not. I get that Skyrim just isn't focused on that.
But my problem is, that in skyrim, people just act as if they are there for one specific reason, that is, to give you quest, and that's it, he/she's pretty much done with you. Sure you can chat but, they don't really feel to me like actual characters who live in that world. The feel like computer created 3d model, waiting for my 3d model to come close to it, so that it can trigger quest giving.
That's rather big immersion killer for me. Again, there may be some exception here and there, but it felt like that t me for the most part.
If you have npc's, in interesting world, you can't make them feel so computer generated and call it "it's different game style". Not really, it's still game style where imersion is big factor, and that type of character is just kinda killing that.
Take Gothic series. Take a lookat ….Ur Shak or what was that orcish shaman from g1.
You meet him the first time, you help him out, he starts to call you friend ever since, meaning, it's not just one certain event and the character is done with you. He kinda acts as if he's getting attached to you, and vise versa.
so he later helps you. You meet him several times, one time even in g2, and you each time see how he's relationship with the orc clan changes in some way.
Similar thing was with Gorn, with Lee, with Diego, with xardas, and others. They didn't just give you quests, they actually met you in diferent parts of the world, in different situations, interacting with you in different ways, hence, why they felt to me like characters who actually live in that world. Skyrim just didn't feel like that to me, and i feel like it should. Skyrim isn't trying to be different in that way, it's just imo not on par with g1 and g2 in that way.
And do note, i'm comparing 1999 game with 2011 game.
