Non-playable characters have come a long way with their AI intelligence. As the gaming industry has expanded on everything, developers have been able to make characters seem more real over the years, however, a lot of times characters in games are missing something. NPCs are often copied and pasted from one another in most open world games. Not only that, but they tend to make in-game decisions that are totally idiotic. It’s time for the AI in NPCs to be brought to the next level, not just intelligent, but humanized and having more character.
The latest game in BioWare’s fantasy role-playing series went through ten years of development turmoil
In early November, on the eve of the crucial holiday shopping season, staffers at the video-game studio BioWare were feeling optimistic. After an excruciating development cycle, they had finally released their latest game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and the early reception was largely positive. The role-playing game was topping sales charts on Steam, and solid, if not spectacular, reviews were rolling in.
Its easy they called the die hard fans people in their nerd caves who will buy anything and then went woke to reach modern audiences....insulting the nerds in their caves along the way showing utter contempt for their fan base. very hapy it failed and any company who insults their fan base and treat their customers with contempt and insults, in future, i also hope fail.
It’s disappointing but not surprising to see what's happening with Dragon Age: The Veilguard and the broader situation at BioWare. The layoffs are tragic — no one wants to see talented developers lose their jobs. But when studios repeatedly create games that alienate their own fanbase, outcomes like this become unfortunately predictable.
There’s a pattern we’re seeing far too often: beloved franchises are revived, only to be reshaped into something almost unrecognizable. Changes are made that no one asked for, often at the expense of what originally made these games special. Then, when long-time fans express concern or lose interest, they’re told, “This game might not be for you.” But when those same fans heed that advice and don’t buy the game, suddenly they're labeled as toxic, sexist, bigoted, or worse.
Let’s be clear: the overwhelming majority of gamers have no issue with diversity, LGBTQ+ representation, or strong female leads. In fact, some of the most iconic characters in gaming — like Aloy, Ellie, or FemShep — are proof that inclusivity and excellent storytelling can and do go hand in hand. The issue arises when diversity feels performative, forced, or disconnected from the narrative — when characters or themes are inserted not to serve the story, but to satisfy a corporate DEI checklist. Audiences can tell the difference.
When studios chase approval from a vocal minority that often doesn’t even buy games — while simultaneously dismissing loyal fans who actually do — they risk not just the success of individual titles, but the health of their entire studio. Telling your core customers “don’t buy it if you don’t like it” is not a viable business strategy. Because guess what? Many of us won’t. And when the game fails commercially, blaming those very fans for not supporting it is both unfair and self-defeating.
Gamers aren’t asking for less diversity or less progress. We’re asking for better writing, thoughtful character development, and a respect for the franchises we’ve supported for decades. When you give people great games that speak to them — whether they’re old fans or new players — they will show up. But if you keep making games for people who don’t play them, don’t be surprised when those who do stop showing up
I thought the writing and character development were fine. Sometimes things just dont resonate with people.
As The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered takes up 125GB, original designer Bruce Nesmith recalls fitting Skyrim into a tiny file size.
Skyrim is still my favorite ES game. I’m playing through it again right now since I never finished it.
Morrowind is by far my favorite. But I’m getting old and played Daggerfall Morrowind and Oblivion before Skyrim
That judicious lack of oversight permeated everything in Bethesda's RPGs, in a positive fashion.
I much prefer a left alone Obsidian and Larian Studios. Bethesda's formula has grown old for me.
Larian hit another level with DOS:2 and then took it even further with BG3. They do high quality work.
I agree, I found it an interesting game. But nowhere near worth the hype (unless you include mods)
Skyrim blew my mind when it released. That game took me to the gaming, promisedland. Going back to it when it was updated for the PS5, it felt slightly rough around the edges, but great for its time
We should leave Obsidian alone. Bethesda on the other hand should be kept under constant psychiatric observation.
It's a really nice thought and I like the ideas but games take far too long as is and keep getting delayed, trying to make more individual npcs in a game and fleshing them out would add way more time to development imo.
It would probably be a lot more sensible to develop robot A.I that can sit at the computer for hours on end with little/no breaks, and develop A.I itself instead of getting humans to work on it.
Not only that but they could use them to cure diseases and make discoveries for us at a super fast rate compared to humans. I really think that is a possibility, too bad tech like that is advancing so slow and governments are (mostly) interested in wasting money on war instead.
i know ill get disagrees, but no AI is smart. Im a coder ive coded my own AI. If you see what actually makes the creater appear intelligent its nothing more then smoke and mirrors most AI, and it has for the past 30 years hasnt gone much farther then
for(player in view)
walk_towards_player
if(distance==player)
Attack
basically thats pretty much almost every AI made in a nutshell. Sure they may animate more smartly and some AI may follow instead of attacking. But AI really hasnt advanced at all, and you especially know this if youve made your own as you compare it to games. Where you notice the AI isnt all that complicated. For example a big hit game the last of us, ellie, who is a follow character does nothing more intelligent then follow the player. It just appears smarter because its talking from a set script. Thats not smarter, its just emitting a sound now just like how when you shoot a gun it emits a sound.
edit: also fighting games the AI generally appears to be smarter as the AI needs to be able to beat you, but its just using an algorithum mathematical forumaly to choose the best choices of attacks at ranges and certain set situations
if(range==mid)
do these certain attacks
kinda like that. Obvously there a tiny bit more complicated. but in a nutshell AI hasnt advanced at all in the last 2 decades at least. and thats been done sense the first mortal combat...
I don't think AI in games has improved that much AT ALL. I yet to see a single game where AI acts better than it did in Crysis 1, where they could navigate in complex terrain, take cover behind objects, and run away if they had to
That's for FPS game where AI is a huge factor in direct gameplay, RPGs can probably get away with more things when it comes to AI, and hence it pretty much haven't progressed from basic path-finding, to direct attack with X ability based on distance from the player, and that's about it.
As far as how NPCs talk and what they say and stuff, that just comes down to a lot of scripting. Which probably would not be too difficult to do with studio would hire separate developer just for that job, but I believe most of them simply decide to save money and go with minimum "good enough" approach. Hence all the brain dead NPCs we see in every RPG, and have been seen for years and years.
Sometime I feel like the only thing that really keeps improving in games lately is graphics, everything else is so similar to how it use to be 10 years ago, or in some cases even worse. Pretty sad.
You're talking about what's stupid but you start off with 'AI intelligence?'