Which would you rather have first: 'smart' AI NPCs, or your character's voice when you speak?

[ethethetheth]

Yes, we already sort of have the former in a 'good enough for government work' way but then we once thought 16 by 16 pixel sprites were the bee's knees. Every NPC having as much to say as the most detailed follower mod of today, all done in the cloud of course.

 

And yes, we already sort of have the latter but mostly only if you're a spy or having a hearing aid fitted. This one can be done locally with eight-years later oomph in your CPU & GPU, with only the tedious reading of walls of text to calibrate the way the voice will sound in your headphones.

Edited December 30, 2021 by ethethetheth
spelling!

[Varithina]

The second option in the poll is nothing more than a gimmick, it really does nothing for game play, assuming a game, well apart from take a crap ton of time and resources to implement, and make you wait depending on how it is set up for the slow as crap ai/game talk to actually get to the point.  In basically every game I play the first thing I do is enable subtitles and text speed skip, mainly due to the fact I can read a crap load faster than I have patience listening to in game npc spewing hot air.

 

 

[ethethetheth]

2 hours ago, Varithina said:

The second option in the poll is nothing more than a gimmick, it really does nothing for game play, assuming a game, well apart from take a crap ton of time and resources to implement, and make you wait depending on how it is set up for the slow as crap ai/game talk to actually get to the point.  In basically every game I play the first thing I do is enable subtitles and text speed skip, mainly due to the fact I can read a crap load faster than I have patience listening to in game npc spewing hot air.

 

 

but..but...but... Imagine the blooper reels as you wooltongue and f-bomb your way through a dialogue lines, your character's lip sync mimicking even your laughter - you'd get to 'retake' your line, of course.

 

I am using, right now, Dragonborn Speaks Naturally and I'm more than delighted by it. I can throw my fishing net from Fishing In Skyrim into the water by saying "I'll cast my net here" and I can order milkmaids from MME to do their thing with "you look full <term of endearment>, you should milk yourself".

 

Below are excerpts from an early Dragonborn Speaks Naturally's INI of mine (before complex word substitution commands) to further illustrate:
 

Spoiler

;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;Skyrim, Dragonborn & Dawnguard console commands
Cast magelight=player.equipspell 00043323 left; player.cast 00043323 player left
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;Hunterborn console commands (some) - dressing, skinning, harvesting, butchering and process not available without setting hotkeys, which I won't/can't
Forage area=player.cast 52014225 player voice
Use instincts=player.cast 0C035411 player voice
Track game=player.cast 52DA5E9B player voice
Start scrimshaw=player.cast 52025C0C player voice
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;Fishing in Skyrim console commands
Detect fish=player.equipspell 7900F949 left; player.cast 7900F949 player left
Throw fishing net=player.cast 7900A868 player voice
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<snip>

;; Hotkeys for taking potions during sex - MUST be favourited to the correct keys below or alter keys accordingly
Drink magicka=press 3
Drink stamina=press 4
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;; SSE Journal and MapTrack [ remapped from INS (scancode 210) to F8 (scancode 66) ]
Open my Journal=switchwindow; sleep 50; tapkey ~; sleep 50; tapkey tm; sleep 300; tapkey enter; sleep 300; tapkey 66
Close my Journal=switchwindow; sleep 50; tapkey 66; sleep 50; tapkey tm; sleep 300; tapkey enter; sleep 300; tapkey ~
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;; Companion Vilja - Horn hotkey shortcuts - MUST be favourited to the correct keys below or alter keys accordingly
Hey Vilja=press 5
Vilja, tell me your thoughts=press 6
Vilja, what are your thoughts on this place=press 7
Vilja, what should we do next=press 8
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;; Quicklight
Lamp on=press l
lamp off=press l
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;; Sexlab controls
Swap actors=press equals
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;; Easywheel activation
Easy wheel=press pause
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;; Defeat - position controller
Change position=press 0
Change stage=holdkey shift; sleep 200; tapkey 0; sleep 200; releasekey shift
;; Defeat - actions
Follower command=holdkey shift; sleep 200; tapkey g; sleep 200; releasekey shift
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;; Milk Mod keycommands
Check milk=press 9
Start milking=press 9 3000
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;; Solicitation keycommands (Aroused Creatures, Defeat, etc)
Solicit=press k
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;; Aroused Creatures keycommands
Invite beast=press b
Invite creature=press b
Invite animal=press b

Imagine saying all that as Doug Cockle's Geralt, or Jo Wyatt's Ciri, or whoever.

 

*sigh* But numbers speak louder and you all seem to prefer option #1. I'm happy that, if my crystal ball is right, we'll get both.

[Kendo 2]

Smart NPCs every time.  When you adjust game difficulty they don't become fucktard Bethesda bullet sponges; they use better tactics, hide behind cover, retreat when out-gunned or have suffered heavy losses, etc.

[ethethetheth]

17 minutes ago, Kendo 2 said:

Smart NPCs every time.  When you adjust game difficulty they don't become fucktard Bethesda bullet sponges; they use better tactics, hide behind cover, retreat when out-gunned or have suffered heavy losses, etc.

Like the combat AI from F.E.A.R. or something similar? I'd put up with mere barks for that kind of opposition.

[Kendo 2]

Something as basic as Mass Effect is better than enemies performing a kamikaze charge every time.  I remember in FO4 I had a stack of about 20 raider corpses in front of me; I was in power armor and using a gatling laser and I'll be damned if the last raider didn't charge me like nothing had happened.  It was fucking ridiculous.  Avoiding any game mechanics like that is a huge win in my book.

[OmegaBlaster]

Smarter AI. The second option still beholden you to the ability (or lack thereof) of the writer, and that's not going to magically get much better in a console generation or two. 

[Varithina]

11 hours ago, ethethetheth said:

but..but...but... Imagine the blooper reels as you wooltongue and f-bomb your way through a dialogue lines, your character's lip sync mimicking even your laughter - you'd get to 'retake' your line, of course.

 

*sigh* But numbers speak louder and you all seem to prefer option #1. I'm happy that, if my crystal ball is right, we'll get both.

 

Who cares about bloopers, they are something that I ignore utterly, I simply do not care who fucked up when creating something, it is simply wasted time/effort and resources from what ever they are actually trying to do, nothing more nothing less, funny maybe, that depends on personal views, personally I think they are just cringe worth most of the time.

 

As for your crystal ball, more likely we will get option two from developers, and they will ignore option one, as option one actually takes brains and ability, something that game developers seem to be having less and less as time goes by, take a look at current top games, look very very good, with mostly garbage game play and usually bugged to hell, and rarely get fixed properly, and they wonder why we prefer to play 10-12 year old games, that are actual games rather than just pretty graphics with nothing going for them.

[NickNozownik]

Definitely smarter AI. NPCs acting like people with common sense during combat and also reacting to things such as their homes being robbed, bodies laying around, weather, people being murdered for no apparent reason. It makes the world feel more alive and I personally like messing with npcs. Without smart and well designed AI it just feels empty and shitty. It can look great but that's about it, everyone will still blindly charge at you and ignore the fact that their relatives got murdered and you turned them into zombies.

 

I'm expecting this kind of stuff mainly from indie games, my expectations towards the biggest titles and companies are extremely low. I'm impressed if something isn't a complete and utter dumpster fire.

[spoonsinger]

Re:- "Realtime digital audio processing that converts your voice, including your bone conduction 'head echo', into that of your chosen character's?"

 

You do know that there is a sizable percentage of those people around you who don't experience an inner monologue, (assuming you do)? I find it weird and disturbing, but over the years I have come to terms with it as they do seem to function perfectly well as human beings.

[ethethetheth]

6 minutes ago, spoonsinger said:

You do know that there is a sizable percentage of those people around you who don't experience an inner monologue, (assuming you do)? I find it weird and disturbing, but over the years I have come to terms with it as they do seem to function perfectly well as human beings.

I was referring in the poll to the purely mechanical phenomenon of sound -- specifically here generated by us -- travelling through us, in much the same way that Beethoven got to continue making music despite going deaf by having a stick between his teeth and 'hearing' the vibrations transferred along it, and in the way we have natty earphones that rest on the cheek and mean you can hear music even if you hate earbuds and headphones.

 

But yes, I am aware that some have no internal voice in the psychological sense. And also that some have an unverbalised accord between facets of themselves. Personally I think I've a single inner monlogue or voice that flips between critic and admirer as the situation warrants -- or doesn't: I'm my own cackling worst enemy sometimes.

 

I don't think any of these three (no internal voice, single-situational, or quorum/accord) is dysfunctional or less of a human being because of it.

[spoonsinger]

58 minutes ago, ethethetheth said:

I was referring in the poll to the purely mechanical phenomenon of sound -- specifically here generated by us -- travelling through us, in much the same way that Beethoven got to continue making music despite going deaf by having a stick between his teeth and 'hearing' the vibrations transferred along it, and in the way we have natty earphones that rest on the cheek and mean you can hear music even if you hate earbuds and headphones.

 

But yes, I am aware that some have no internal voice in the psychological sense. And also that some have an unverbalised accord between facets of themselves. Personally I think I've a single inner monlogue or voice that flips between critic and admirer as the situation warrants -- or doesn't: I'm my own cackling worst enemy sometimes.

 

I don't think any of these three (no internal voice, single-situational, or quorum/accord) is dysfunctional or less of a human being because of it.

 

That is a most eloquent response to a flippant observation which was probably taken out of context to the question posed. I apologize to you and yourself.

[ethethetheth]

15 minutes ago, spoonsinger said:

I apologize to you and yourself.

No need, or if there is then I too should apologise for going all fusty didact on you.

[HighwayDio]

Let's be real here, people cant even take VR seriously enough and like to do stupid things with it. That's why some VR titles give little effects when doing certain things and adding special Easter eggs when someone does something their not suppose too. Some people will touch a characters ass or chest if presented too, poke the NPC's in the face or pick the nose or poke the eyes. Throwing random things at NPC's, etc, etc. Its a good concept and I can see its potential, but I don't think people would want it.

There would be no actual way to include your own voice as a option in games that has the NPC's actually understanding it. Alexa and Xbox can barely recognize our voices at times and respond with something different then what we said. Plus allot of people rather pick a voice or have none at all for a more role-play like immersion or just immersion in general. Its just too much work and like Varithina said, is more of a gimmick then a actual feature.

Plus, why it may be funny to have stupid IA at times and make allot of things funny, I think allot of people will agree that a smarter AI is a much MUCH more better option then just adding your own voice and all, since allot of games rely on AI being smart. And a AI needs to be VERY smart to understand your own voice commands without it taking what you said out of context, and with how people are, the AI won't be programmed to do what people ask. I already know for a fact people will say stupid random things to the AI to mess with it or find a way to brake it. Too much time, effort, money, etc, etc.

Imagine asking the AI to sing or do a strip tease using a voice feature like this, and seeing how the AI will respond. Or look at AI Dungeon for example, for God's sake that game can go from 0 to 100 in just one sentence lol.

Edited January 9, 2022 by HighwayDio

[Guest]

Definitely the AI. I can't stand the sound of my own voice. 

[Guest]

I think the character should be mute.

As the hero, you have no voice. At least that works for me best.

 

 

[Clea Strange]

I voted for smart ai npc

[Rex Dark]

In an rpg, the first one.

However, if it can be made to work anywhere, including out of game and in person, the second one.

[TolstoyTony6265]

I tried to play Resident Evil 5 *by myself*.  Even tho that was years ago, Sheva is *still* running into walls somewhere in videogame land...lmao! 

 

Smart AI by a longshot...I don't like listening to myself when recorded.  My voice sounds better to me in my head. 

[Idyll]

It's a very difficult dilemma...

 

On one side, I'd love to have access to games like those we can read about in books/comics of all sorts of genres, and on the other hand, I'd love just as much to be able to experience "being someone else" and thus role play like it was real without RL features breaking the immersion.

 

If there was an option for it I would have voted for both since I want them just as much as the other.