Walter Reid
If a Tree Falls in the Woods...
I was talking to a friend today about Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and the nearly inexhaustable content. However, it seems despite all the wonderful things that the game presents we as gamers can always find some things that could be improved. Oblivion is no exception.
The Problem
My friend plays as a theif in the game and often times is forced to break in someones house to aquire his wealth. While my friend loads up on goodies, the owner peacefully sleeps the night away. Then my friend carefully sneaks out without anyone being aware that he was even there.
At least that is what was supposed to happen.
Occassionally the owner wakes up and, finding someone strange in the house, things hit the fan fast. At these moments my friend must implement a more drastic means of silencing the NPC.
Deadly Force. A cry in the night, then nothing.
It is this cry in the night, however, that attracts the local guard to the residence and get my friend caught and thrown into prison.
However, what if my friend escapes through the back door without ever running into the guard?
What if my friend does this dastardly deed behind a wall of wood planks and rock to muffle the cry?
What if my friend hides in the shadows of a dark locked room with no windows until a guard searches the area and come out after he is gone?
I’ll tell you what happens, every guard from here to Morrowind knows my friend did the crime and will treat him accordingly no matter what he does to cover it up—either with a fine or a fight.
The Solution
For a game as magical and complex as Oblivion I wouldn’t expect issues of this nature from occuring. It was an issue in Morrowind and it still doesn’t make sense in the real world.
Guards aren’t magical (at least not in the sense I’m talking about, they don’t know or shouldn’t know that you’ve comitted a crime before they’ve seen you do it.
If you kill an NPC and that NPC gives out a cry of help I believe someone should come to his/her aid. This guard can hear that cry, however, if you escape before that guard shows up or hide very well that guard shouldn’t know you did it. If someone (not a guard) saw you do the act have that NPC report it to a guard.
Maybe this is an issue of being processor intensive, however I can’t image it being that intensive an operation.
On top of this I don’t understand why when you steal from an NPC they should feel the need to follow you till the end of the earth. If you steal a dish rag it’s as if you’ve stolen the crown jewels. The NPC should have a memory that fades with small crimes or in the case of larger ones might spread slowly over to other towns…
I just don’t see how this is still an issue after all this time.
Again in a fantastic game such as Oblivion this is a small point to harp on, but it’s these moments that pull me out of the game and for a game as immersive as this, that’s just not right…
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