Less Interesting Dialog
MaxAstro
Join Date: 2005-07-07 Member: 55451Members
Join Date: 2005-07-07 Member: 55451Members
I'm sure I'm late to the party and this has been discussed to death, but I just wanted to say I started up a new game to try out the Ghost update and the loss of personality in the PDA is felt keenly. I definitely noticed when she didn't apologize to me for not letting me fabricate weapons. It's a bit sad to have one of the only interactive characters in the game reduced to such a bland, cliche robot personality.
Comments
"Greetings. Judging from your steady blood flow and ability to continue breathing post-impact, I'll assume you're alive. You can't be in a good state, however; a fall and crash like that is sure to cause some damage. Therefor I have initiated a built-in tutorial phase, just in case you have hit your head and are experiencing memory loss of some kind. If you would like to override the tutorial phase, then I'm sorry. It's mandatory. And it's mandatory because I said so. -Insert PDA Tutorial here- Very good. You're a natural, it would appear. Now, here's the problem; there is a lot of smoke in this life pod, and the infrastructure is damaged extensively. Either you stay in here, die of smoke inhalation and I am left ownerless, or you get your feet wet and try to find a way to repair this mess. I vote for jumping in the bath, though perhaps I'm biased."
Something like that would be great. The PDA needs to be a character, not just a voice.
"A while back, there was a massacre on a planetoid named Obraxis Prime. No need to explain all the gory details; all you need to know is that the wrong people got hold of the Federation's fabricators and used default blueprints to create and use weaponry. After the tragedy, the Federation changed the defaults, so you wont find guns in the default blueprints anymore. So you're probably wondering; how is it I made a survival knife, oh so helpful PDA? Well, I'm so glad you asked... I dunno... But it's handy, right?"
"Now... I know how much you like exploring, but... can we just give this biome a miss? Look at how dark it is, Survivor! Look at all of that blood... or is that oil... I just... I don't think this is the right place to be, you know? I've got a bad feeling about this one..."
"Hey, survivor... Sorry I haven't been around for a while; whilst you were picking up salvage from the sea floor and sitting back watching your batteries and flashlights fabricate I've been keeping tabs on real matters... For example, there is radiation leaking out of that ship and polluting the surrounding environment as we speak. I'd give you statistics, but... I really don't care... Look, don't go anywhere near without a radiation suit. In fact, I think there might be an explosion soon, so... Just, don't go near it until I give you the all clear, got it?"
"Okay, Survivor, something's really wrong with me. Maybe in the crash something inside me malfunctioned, or there was an error in my code, but... I'm just starting not to give a crap about anything anymore. I'm trying my best to calculate a safe distance, but it's taking... longer than expected... um, just... just get behind something! Quick! Quick, get behind something! Wait, I forgot, you're in the middle of the ocean aren't you? Just get somewhere safe... Do you want a countdown? Did I mention the Aurora's about to burn? Okay... T- Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Fi - fi - fi - never mind, it's happening now! Bra-a-a-ac-br-br *static*"
Stuff like this would build a real character, instead of just having a medium with which to spew information like a hose firing water.
@Jamezorg - this would be outstanding. Not just from the humor perspective (which is enough on its own), but because having a single, non-interactive, yet personality-heavy character works. We've seen it before. Think of Cave Johnson in Portal 2. You don't interact with him but he interacts with you through context-specific recordings. And he's still (rightfully) lauded as one of the greatest examples of character writing in video game history. (It didn't hurt that JK Simmons smashed it out of the park when he voiced him.)
One of the problems that sole-survivor games have is the lack of interaction. We're social creatures and like having at least the illusion of a connection with another intelligence. It's part of why Siri was such a hit. It's not just a system, it's reacting (kinda) like a person would. Fast forward a century or so and language heuristics will have definitely matured to the point where a PDA could have an attitude. (Who would blame it? What if we kept you in a lifepod locker for ages? You'd be pretty snarky, too.)
The point is, players would actually look forward to hearing from the PDA. As it is, she's the same as the Betty or Bob voices of a TAWS/EGPWS announcement (pilots, you know their full names) - important, but annoying. There's an opportunity here for UWE to turn the PDA into a real character - one that we can't talk to or interact with except through our actions in the world, sure, but that's more than enough to create an engaging and memorable experience.
In short, Jamezorg's idea could really catapult Subnautica into a completely different league with minimal input and effort, and I truly hope that someone like @Obraxis or @Flayra take note of it and seize the opportunity.
I'm listening 24/7 for any of your therapeutic needs
On the topic I wholeheartedly agree in an expanded personality of the PDA.
Like "Good news! You've exceeded your exercise quota by 500% this week!", and other things that make her seem cheerfully oblivious.
Those kinds of things really entertained me, especially because it's a personality I haven't seen in an AI companion before.
EDIT: Have to also mention "I am detecting multiple Leviathan-class life forms in this biome. Are you sure whatever you are looking for here is worth it?" In addition to being witty dialog, that line also ramps up the tension of exploring that area. A+, imo.