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[Malice Song]

I know there is an option to reduce the rhetorical tendencies of NPCs. Even then there's still a good amount of combat chatter going on.
The problem with that is that it often obscures displayed HPs and in more frantic battles large amounts of character models. Not to whine too much, but it can make recognizing the need for and applying first aid to followers annoying at best and not possible at worst. Which actually reduces immersion (which seems like the sole function of the chatter feature), since they are not calling for help, when wounded, and certainly they'd be aware, if their employer is in fact a medic.

Which is why the ability to completely disable the talkative nature of NPCs would be appreciated.

[Wipe]

Which is why the ability to completely disable the talkative nature of NPCs would be appreciated.

Ouch, that's very bad i think; according to lot of pve players, fonline pve is too "silent" compared to the originals. It's just one of dozens of details we (still) lack compared to originals, but it's another story, heh...

How about something else instead: colorize *own followers* names in spamchatbox, same way as it's done in awareness info - and i'd like to make it depend on that, too :> ~~ random idea it is, but i really wouldn't want to see all NPC's messages disabled, for many reasons.

[JovankaB]

I agree with Malice Song. I wish NPCs were more talkative and had some ways to express "personality", but it doesn't mean they should talk during fight. I don't remember how it was in Fallout, and personally I don't care. I agree too much talking during a fierce combat struggle can reduce immersion. When people get shot they don't say bold or "funny" things. It's cheesy and nobody would do that, except maybe in some B class movies. I would rather see them commenting after the battle. I think it would be a better moment to say something funny or useful for NPC.

Gameplay-wise in TB it's not a big deal because the messages disappear before the turn ends. But combat in FOnline is primarily real time and in RT it only adds additional mess to already frantic combat. In real time combat you don't have time to enjoy any NPC messages, you try to keep them alive or kill them. It's a good example how trying to make game "more like original" doesn't always make sense.

To sum up, whether it's good in TB is arguable (immersion is a matter of opinion) but I think it would be hard to stay on position that it's good in RT because it adds no real value and makes the combat even more obscure and chaotic. Maybe the messages could be simply disabled in RT combat.

Ouch, that's very bad i think; according to lot of pve players, fonline pve is too "silent" compared to the originals.

If you could disable it for your followers only, or for RT only, those pve players who think that way wouldn't see any difference.

[Marko]

The conversation after combat ends is good idea. And during the battle, if they would only speak one at a time - it would reduce the overhead and clear up much of the problem described.

Mali, do you think that would work? To have them talk only 1 at a time with a time delay between comments? And then shift the majority of their comments to after-battle?

[BenKain]

I've seen excessive combat chatter even bogs down turn-based combat, more so than it already is. I encountered a group of homeless people near the Den, and when I went to enslave them (a happy, warm enslavement) they stood or ran to the edge of my FoV, then preceded to scream "I'm being killed" and "Help Meee!" very rapidly and for the full thirty seconds, with six hooligans in the encounter.

I defiantly agree that, not including the above example, the 'quipy' Fallout chatter, while amusing, tends to be immersion breaking and slightly annoying. Also, as Malice said, the floating text tends to get in the way of Awareness pop-ups, and that can be deadly for a follower heavy character.

I also +1 to after-combat chatter. It makes much more 'RL' sense to have the characters converse about the battle and the like after the heat of combat. Perhaps you could use those comments to gauge a followers proximate loyalty as well. A person's tongue is much looser after a frenzy. For example, after a battle with some raiders, your Ghoul slave's turn to you and say, "I would have gladly given my life for you, master" when they have high loyalty, but when it is low they say something like "..sssI wish I could make Master a nice grease-stain like thatss..." 

[Malice Song]

What I didn't want to suggest was globally disabling the feature. I think it was fonlineconfig.exe where I could choose between verbose and infrequent combat messages. Which suggests to me that disabling could happen on  a player-to-player basis. So if someone really needs that stuff, it wouldn't affect him. If you play a medic/leader on the other hand, the feature is the exact opposite of immersive. Personally in combat I do nothing but giving orders and healing people. If my mercs shout anything, I'd expect them to scream a "I'm hit!" in my direction, when their HP drop, to indicate they need help, instead of childishly taunting their opponent.

The main problem I have with it is basically the obstrusiveness in RT combat. I usually field 3 mercs and often face twice as many sentient opponents. When you get almost a dozen and sometimes more individuals, that can't keep their mouth shut, your only indication of their health is their awareness popup and it's your job to keep them alive, things can become quite hectic and not in a good way. If it's so chaotic that I just loose track  of what's happening, that's fine. If I can't see a merc because he's buried in enemies or hiding behind a mutant, that's fine, too. If I can't check his health because a text popup gets in the way, that's simply annoying, because it feels completely unnecessary and at least to me it seems as if it takes way more away from the experience than it adds.

That's not to say that I am universally against it. Solo PvE players may enjoy the agonizing screams of NPCs and I am not planning on taking that away from them. For a medic it is a significant distraction in form of bad UI, though, and if it was possible to disable it for their client, I'd think a lot of players with similar builds would chose to do so.

How about something else instead: colorize *own followers* names in spamchatbox, same way as it's done in awareness info - and i'd like to make it depend on that, too :> ~~ random idea it is, but i really wouldn't want to see all NPC's messages disabled, for many reasons.

I'm probably a bit dense, but I don't really understand what you mean here. Fwiw, chatbox isn't a problem, really, it's text above NPCs heads, that jumps in front or all around of awareness info or even obscure entire NPCs in some cases

[JovankaB]

If I can't see a merc because he's buried in enemies or hiding behind a mutant, that's fine, too.

And I don't think it's fine. It's consequence of the screen projection, you character could stand right behind the follower and still have problems to get info about their health or helping them. Only because of the projection angle. It's UI obstruction that often has nothing to do with battle situation.

Maybe option to have some info in corner with status of visible followers and button to use a skill on them would make game more tactical and less about having monkey agility to click 3 uncovered pixels of your follower.

[Malice Song]

Well, yeah, I consider Fallout 2 to actually be a really poor game when it comes to gameplay mechanics compared to today's standards, so I tend to chalk that one up to reminders of past limitations. So it's not so much fine as it is somewhat expected from outdated gameplay mechanics.

The main difference I see is that not much suspension of disbelief is required to accept one loosing track of human followers amidst towering mutant, whereas loosing track because they talk is a bit silly.

Maybe option to have some info in corner with status of visible followers and button to use a skill on them would make game more tactical and less about having monkey agility to click 3 uncovered pixels of your follower.

Obviously I'd be completely in favor of that.

[T-888]

...

It's a problem with the isometric viewpoint and the perspective in what the animations are made. Can't fix that.

Don't see this change very relevant , but i say it's funny when you read things like this from NPC's " you fucked up my pretty face. "

[JovankaB]

Well, yeah, I consider Fallout 2 to actually be a really poor game when it comes to gameplay mechanics compared to today's standards

In Fallout clunky interface wasn't really a problem because it didn't have real time combat and it generally had slower pace and less clicking.

It's a problem with the isometric viewpoint and the perspective in what the animations are made. Can't fix that.

You can make UI that isn't obstructed by what's happening on screen. (e.g. a side-list with names of visible followers which you could click like you clicked them).

[Gob]

Fuck yes! I was farming Slaves near Klamath and there was this piece of shit Peasant who kept talking until his turn was finnished. He didn't even move just standing there and saying random messages. I spent 30 minutes in that encounter.