NPC Scheduling: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* ''[[Arcanum]]'' - Partial example: salespersons walk into a back room at night to sleep, but stand completely still at their sales desk all day long.

* The first two ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' games had this. A notable demonstration of this is in the first game, where you had to wait until nighttime to enter the village tower (the guards would block the entrance otherwise) to acquire the Earth Key.

* ''[[Deadly Premonition]]'' has every single named story character follow a routine, which even changes depending on what's currently going on in the story. They even change their routine depending on the weather.

* Along with Oblivion (from the same company), very well done in ''[[Fallout]] 3''. Stand around a town long enough, you'll see people doing chores, going to eat, sleeping, etc.

* All of the NPCs in [[Infocom]]'s ''Deadline'' (published back in 1982) had schedules; [[Trial and Error Gameplay|figuring these out]] so that the PC could be in the right place at the right time to gather evidence was a big part of the challenge.

* Several of the ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' games had this, particularly the later ones (#8 comes to mind).

* The NPCs of ''[[Gothic]]'' operate on a realistic schedule, and also judge player's actions based on the time. Standing just inside a shop door during the day is fine. Doing the same at night is considered suspicious behavior.

* The ''[[Hitman]]'' series - most, if not all, of the characters will move about as time progresses; figuring out when and where is the best time to strike without being caught is how one earns the Silent Assassin rating.

** Some missions added difficulty by having the targets enter and leave the map on a schedule, giving you much less time to perform the hit and make your getaway.

* When visiting Tony the arms dealer's shop in [[Jagged Alliance]] 2, his assistant will sometimes inform you that "Tony stepped out for a bit," and is thus unavailable to do business. Both his absences and the times of his return are unpredictable.

* ''[[The Last Express]]'' - every character, event, and the entire rest of the game runs on a strict schedule. The [[Save Scumming]] feature is even based around winding a clock back, mirroring the titular train's scheduled route along the stops of the Orient Express.

* This was one of the selling points of ''[[Lure Of The Temptress]]''.

* ''[[Oblivion]]'' - Most of the them have scheduled "wander" times where they walk around randomly, but they also eat, sleep, go to certain shops at particular times, and sometimes go out to see mudcrabs.

** In fact (unless they're given an infinitely respawning item of food in their inventory) NPCs who don't eat regularly will starve and it's possible to assassinate an NPC by planting poisoned food.

** Taken [[Up to Eleven|to the logical extreme]] in ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'', where the stadiums in Nimbasa town open and close at varying times across the day to prepare for and hold sporting matches, NPCs that only show up on the weekends or weekdays, Swarming Pokemon that change each day, and the changing seasons of the world (which change at the end of each month of real time), which will cause certain NPCs and areas to become available or be made unavailable depending on the season and the weather. Certain pokemon are only catchable in the Winter, while a man who trades (the only) Munchlax in the game shows up in the summer, as well as [[The Cameo]] by Cynthia occurring then.

* The [[Rune Factory]] series - All characters wander around town and are found in their homes and shops at certain times/days.

* ''[[Shenmue]]''

 

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[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]