2/10/12 - Jellyfishes and NPCs

I just re read what i posted yesterday and realised i hadn't put up my jellyfish so the whole NPC thing would seem like a shot in the dark.
Because i wrote my jellyfish in green it isn't showing up too well in photos so I've made a quick digital version to show my thoughts and ideas and things.

I've been playing around with the idea of the NPC personality and yesterday had drifted from just NPC's to Companion characters because i wasn't sure why you'd need to grow attached to just a random NPC that wonders around. When wondering you don't need to grow attached to other people around you in the street so why need it in a game? I then thought about the characters you do interact with, maybe people who you talk to for part of the storyline. I'd need to investigate into how well these people are animated in an existing game or a couple of existing games to give a slightly broader perspective. The whole companion thing started to break down in my mind a little when i realised that it's probably more down to the voice acting and script. whether you like a character you're with or not. For example in Skyrim when you have a companion you're not going to pay attention to how they follow you or how they fight as long as they do it well. This is backed up by the fact there are websites which rank the companions in skyrim mentioning personality but when playing, you notice the animations for each of the characters is the same as any other character with the same skillset.

Not my picture

http://www.ugo.com/games/skyrims-best-companions

 In portal 2 you do grow attached to your companion in 2 player but i think that's more down to how they act in cut scenes and the little moves such as high five and dancing that you can do extra to interact with them. But maybe thats the sort of animations i should be focusing on? Cutscenes give the animator more control and a short window to convince the player that your character is an individual. And the little character interactions just add to that base that the cutscenes lay down.
Heres the trailed for the co-op mode which illustrates my point perfectly:

I think the fact the companion in this instance will be controlled by a human would also play into how you would feel about them. The personality of the player will be reflected in the actions of the character they are playing.

Not my picture

Going back to a previous point on NPC's you encounter for quest lines i think i'm going to go do some investigating. I'm going to re play Fable 3 and take notes on anything i think is done well or anything which could be improved to see if (from fable 3's perspective) theres anything to research in this question.