+1 for random encounters
just started playing BG2 again and it struck me how much more 'alive' waukeen's promenade felt compared to the populated area's in BG3. Even with no D/N cycle, some kind of NPC routine would already help to alleviate the static world feeling. How hard can it be to code a few wild animals like deer and wolves roaming in the wild and have some NPC activity that helps make the world credible. In its current state it feels like we - the player - arrive in a kind of post-catastrophic-event place where no one travels on the roads anymore, no one is working (where does the druid grove get their food, wood, etc from ?). Adding a few moving and also mundane stuff (farmers plowing the fields, lumberjacks getting timber, traveling merchant caravans, bandits, etc) would really improve the feeling of exploration and adventuring in the forgotten realms instead of the current situation where it seems as if instead of traveling the party is simply moved from one custom tabletop scenario to the other with every "zone" feeling as if it was something like a distinct "level" in a platformer game instead of a specific area of a living world . The few encounters you currently have feel a bit pushy in how they all NEED to tie in to the main story (e.g. the two sect members near the owlbear cave). While these type of NPC's and encounters are certainly a big plus for the main story what is really missing now are contextual, mundane or ordinary things one would expect to exist and happen in any fantastical universe, as besides the exceptions (adventurers, important NPCs,etc) the majority of inhabitants still lives the work-sleep-eat-repeat life. Given the medieval fantasy genre BG3 and DnD is a part of this usually means taverns (functional ones, not the burning inn level) , people doing all kinds of agricultural and artisanal activity, markets, merchants, etc.
Last edited by SerraSerra; 10/08/21 02:59 PM.
