NPC's

[Levian]

There's just a whole bunch of them in this game, huh?

Do you talk to everyone? do you only talk to the ones with actual names? do you not talk to anyone at all, or do you follow strategy guides to know exactly which ones to talk to?

When I reach a new town I'm usually too eager to bother to talk to everyone, especially because almost everyone seems to not say anything important at all. I do have some periods where I go around talking to everyone though, to see if I've missed out on anything.

[Flying Mullet]

The sheer number of NPC's in this game detracted from it for me. I viewed entering a new town as a chore because I knew I'd spend the next hour talking with NPC's so that I wouldn't miss any quests or other vital information. I know it comes with making a world more fleshed-out, but it was tedious to talk to them all.

[Slothy]

That's probably why you couldn't talk to them all Mulley. I loved walking into a town and going around seeing how many people there were and who I could talk to. In fact, I'm the opposite of how Flying Mullet feels. Because the world felt so fleshed out I wanted to explore it more and talk to people, whereas games with fewer NPC's and less history generally make exploring feel more like a chore for me.

[Flying Mullet]

I've always enjoyed the games where you physically stumble upon places to explore, not where you have to talk to a random NPC or a series of NPCs to open something up. Something about the physical aspect of exploring the world always appealed to me.

Dragon Quest 8 is a perfect example. I enjoyed roaming the countryside looking for the scattered treasure chests. I know for some people that was tedious and boring, but I loved it.

That's probably why I love Final Fantasy VI so much. The sheer number of places to explore after you obtain the airship in the WoR is so exciting to me. Even now, after dozens of playthroughs, I always love the feeling I have when I first board the airship in the WoR and trying to decide what to check out first.

[Raistlin]

Hell no I didn't talk to everyone. I did at first but it became too much.

I agree with Mullet about the physically exploring aspect. I never got tired of thoroughly exploring each new area I encountered.

[theundeadhero]

I force myself to talk to everyone out of habit but like FM in FFXII it became a chore rather than enjoyable.

[Wolf Kanno]

I can't think of too many instances new locations opened up from talking to people in XII, its actually the most exploration heavy entry in the series since the NES days in my opinion.

I loved talking to the NPCs in this game but its because they actually had meaningful things to say for once and they also changed in unexpected ways as the story progressed. I always found it amusing how the Archadian soldiers stationed in Rabanastre grew to think of the place as a second home. Its little things like that that made the title interesting for me. For once I didn't feel like I was talking to an automation that has his or hers two token lines that's barely a sentence.

[Levian]

I can't think of too many instances new locations opened up from talking to people in XII, its actually the most exploration heavy entry in the series since the NES days in my opinion.

There's a random guy you have to talk to in Rabanastre to start the search for the wind wane. That in itself tells me there's probably other NPC's out there who'll give me quests and I end up having to talk to everyone anyway to make sure I haven't missed anything. The fact that there's not so many of them only makes the process more boring xD

but yeah, there's plenty of exploring to do in FFXII! giant maps. :mog:

[crazybayman]

Yeah, I tried talking to everyone, and it got tedious, boring and too time-consuming.

It definitely be better not having to talk to so many NPCs to find stuff out. Especially when 95% of them don't really have anything that useful to say.

[Jecht Shot]

Usually for every FF, I'll go back and talk to people after every major event. Often somebody would have interesting and relevant stuff to say, even if it wasn't totally related to the gameplay. It might just be a little bit of backstory that would immerse me in the world.

FFXII is the first one that I did not do that.

I think there's 3 reasons for that.

1. There seemed to be just too many NPCs compared to previous FF games. This was especially the case in the big cities like Rabanstre and Archadia.

2. When I did talk to them, they didn't really seem to have anything interesting to say. So I kinda gave up after a while. Now, I like FFXII, but this might've been the by-product of having a not-so-great story and character development (IMO!).

3. In all honesty - and this wasn't FFXII's fault - I was playing FFXI at the time, and I was pretty burned out on talking to NPCs.

For FFXIII, I'm prepared to talk to NPCs again, which doesn't seem to be a chore this time since they talk automatically. Yay.

[Flying Mullet]

Usually for every FF, I'll go back and talk to people after every major event. Often somebody would have interesting and relevant stuff to say, even if it wasn't totally related to the gameplay. It might just be a little bit of backstory that would immerse me in the world.

This is the biggest downer in Dragon Quest VII for me. After you go back and forth in time you have to keep speaking with townsfolk in both times before and after events to find the fragments of those slabs to open gates to the next area. So it wasn't even a minor detail or some side-quest you could activate by speaking with numerous NPCs again and again, it was to advance the game. Ugh.

[Vermachtnis]

There were way too many people for me to talk to so I narrowed it down to two types: The one's I kill and the ones that sell/give me stuff. Everything else is decoration.

[Jiro]

After I found that wind wane guy I started to freak out thinking I'd missed stuff. I don't know if I did or how much I did, but it's all too overwhelming for me to care. I like lots of NPCs, particularly if they do something, serve a real purpose. But I don't like how the little quests are impossible to keep track off - I would've liked a little journal or something that keeps minor quest notes as well as plot summaries and other important things. A history book that you fill in by talking to the denizens of a world would be fantastic incentive for me.

[PeneloRatsbane]

i liked talking to the NPC, i like that arcadian family that keep flying around and the kid is freaking out about a wyrm or something.

[BG-57]

This is the biggest downer in Dragon Quest VII for me. After you go back and forth in time you have to keep speaking with townsfolk in both times before and after events to find the fragments of those slabs to open gates to the next area. So it wasn't even a minor detail or some side-quest you could activate by speaking with numerous NPCs again and again, it was to advance the game. Ugh.

I actually loved the time travel aspects of the game, but it did mean a lot of running around.

In FFXII, I did like to talk to everyone because it added to the atmosphere. I liked the fact that the Archadeans weren't all evil, just soldiers thrust into a situation outside their control.