One of the things I’ve noticed when splitting up monologues is that the changes aren’t always for the better. In some instances, I feel like it transitions naturally. In other cases, I feel like the flow of the words is lost by the splitting question. For these conversations, I think a better way to present the backstories is through the use of scenes as opposed to a split or straight monologue.

Naturally, when the dialogue was constructed, I had no idea how to execute any of this, but now I know enough about the CK where I can implement these changes and do it in a way that’s consistent with the original layout. The dialogue stays as intended, the interaction is more dynamic, and by having free range of motion, you avoid the feeling of being locked into a conversation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf4h-MTZh54&

Here, we have two changes that were implemented in version 3.04. Both are examples of using scenes as opposed to splitting up monologues. Be forewarned, there are MINOR SPOILERS for the characters Zora, and MAJOR SPOILERS for the quest To Warm Sands. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJDPq6AVJHE

This video shows a similar effect with the initial meeting with Jaspar. With Flin, I start his dialogue early as opposed to after him sitting down. This prevents you from getting locked in to him for an extended period of time, while offering a different perspective and have free range of motion. You’ll also notice I sped up some of Flin’s lines, which I’ve been meaning to do for some time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYr6cTFoYig

Here with have a similar opening to Jaspar to help condense Among the Hist‘s initial sequence without removing any lines. Naturally, we don’t want to overuse the mechanic where we’re staring at people’s backs. There’s also the fact that with followers, you can’t orchestrate their movements as easily. Thus with Among the Hist, the sandbox feature is used when going into some of the protracted stories. This can be unpredictable – you don’t want him telling a sad story while riding the sword bicycle. However, I do think most of the sandbox items involve sitting down or standing still, so for the most part it should be a net gain.

In a game like Skyrim, objectives are pretty much essential. You can’t really keep track of what the hell you were doing given there’s so much shit to do. Still, objectives do have unintended consequences. They tell you there is a piece of candy waiting for you at a certain place, and place an incentive on visiting it.

This is completely benign if the quest giver is self-aware. If I want you to fetch my sword from a cave, the player should have it marked on his or her map. They should have an incentive to go there. Objectives are just a helpful reminder of the task at hand.

However, in other cases, as with the crabber Juryk, the quest giver has no idea that certain events are taking place around him. There’s no reason an objective marker should point you to the next location, given the information the crabber provides. In this case, I decided to let things happen organically. The odds you would never visit the inns and taverns are next to nil, so there’s never a worry that lacking objectives will hinder your progress.

Nevertheless, I thought it’d be a good idea to highlight this and other easter eggy quests like The Queen of Mereth in the blog, if nothing else than to give the actors their due.