NPC "citizens" responding to undetected player characters - breaks immersion for stealth gameplay

SirIronclad · March 2017

I don't remember if this has always been the case but I've noticed that if you e.g. break into a house NPCs consistently threaten you while approaching them, although nobody actually detected you. This really doesn't many any sense and should be fixed.

redspecter23 · March 2017

Tamriel is a world where it's commonplace for someone to be stealthed invisible (or actually magically invisible) 1 foot away from you in a well lit room. You would learn quickly that those noises and your cupboards opening and closing and being looted are more likely a thief than a ghost (which is still fairly likely in this world as well). Not to mention that you may see your front door open, nobody walk in, then the door close behind nobody, all while being locked only 2 seconds ago. It might just tip you off that someone is in your home, even if you don't see them.

SirIronclad · March 2017

Sure, but then NPCs should turn around and fight. Undetected means undetected. Also the voice lines are written in such a way that they're usually directly addressing the player while not facing him.

Mystrius_Archaion · March 2017

SirIronclad wrote: »

I don't remember if this has always been the case but I've noticed that if you e.g. break into a house NPCs consistently threaten you while approaching them, although nobody actually detected you. This really doesn't many any sense and should be fixed.

This is because you are trespassing. They are on heightened alert. If you unstealth they will treat you perfectly normally and kindly, not even asking you to leave despite you recently breaking in.

This is sadly an artifact of the same problem at the heart of every game ever....the all-knowing computer.
The computer, and thus the npcs, always know where you are. The computer just forces them to behave, for the most part, as if they do not know that.
It's like repressing memories on-the-fly.