Changes: Reaction

Revision as of 13:45, 19 July 2017

Tandi's good, neutral and bad reaction images

Character reaction is a game mechanic in Fallout and Fallout 2. It reflects general attitude of an NPC towards the protagonist. The reaction can be good, neutral of bad.

Reaction value is composed of two components: base reaction and static reaction. Base reaction is preserved between dialogues while static reaction isn't.

Initial reaction

Initial reaction is calculated from multiple factors:

Charisma compared to the NPC's Charisma, only upon the first conversation
- Karma has no direct effect (the code is commented out), only through relevant titles
Town reputation
Reputation titles
Presence perk and Sex Appeal trait
- Cult of Personality perk has no effect (the code is commented out)
- Karma Beacon perk also has no effect (the code is unused)

Characters marked as "evil" have their reaction modifiers from reputation titles (except Childkiller) backwards. Slaver title's effect sign rather depends on what the character thinks of slavers.

In only a few locations are appropriate characters marked as "evil" for this purpose in Fallout 2:

Den
- Strangely, Rebecca Dyer
Enclave Oil Rig
- Frank Horrigan
New California Republic (town)
- Buster
- Lenny (NCR)
- Merk
- Mira
- Merk's guard
- Oswald
- Rawhide Saloon patrons
- Skeeter
- Vortis' holding center guards
- Vortis
New Reno
- Bishop's man
- Drug dealers
- Mordino's man
- Ramirez
- Salvatore's man
- Strangely, Wright's children playing a game in front of their mansion
Redding
- Obidiah Hakeswill
San Francisco
- Strangely, Dave Handy
- Hubologists in robes
- Juan Cruz and Vikki Goldman
- Lo Pan
- AHS-7
- AHS-9
Vault 13
- Matt (Vault 13)
Vault 15
- Darion's dog
- Darion
- Darion's personal guard
- New Khans
- Karla
- Phil (Khans)

Changing

Reaction is changed by saying nice or mean things to the character by choosing appropriate dialogue options. For talking heads, the character's expression visibly changes.

There are also scripted changes by various amounts.

Under the hood

It's an integer from -100 to 100, with 25 and higher for Good, -25 or lower for Bad and Neutral for in-between. There's also a separate variable from -4 to 4 holding just the level. After one is changed, the other is converted to reflect the result. Both variables are recalculated each time a conversation starts, only the base reaction is saved.

Base reaction:

On the first conversation: each point of PC's Charisma over NPC's: +5 (if higher) / -5 (if lower)
After that, it's only altered by scripted changes

Initial static reaction:

Sex Appeal: ±20
Each level of Presence: +10
Each level of reputation title for general Karma: ±5
Berserker: -20
Champion: +20
Childkiller: -30
Slaver: -50, -25, 0 or +25 (mostly 0)
Each 2 points of town reputation: ±1

Changes:

The dialogue options adjust the level by one or two (?).
There are also scripted changes by various amounts as well as direct assignments. They can affect either base reaction or the effective reaction.

Effects

Compared to how much thought was put into the reaction system, it's largely unused. Only for very few NPCs does it affect the course of the dialogue. The most prominent effect it has on gameplay is slightly affecting barter prices.

A possible reason may be that it's proved to be excessively restrictive. There are few ways to improve an unfavorable reaction once it's established, so it would effectively lock out a large portion of the game from a player wishing to play as anything other than a goody-two-shoes.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 '''Character reaction''' is a game mechanic in ''[[Fallout]]'' and ''[[Fallout 2]]''. It reflects general attitude of an NPC towards the protagonist. The reaction can be good, neutral of bad.
+Reaction value is composed of two components: ''base reaction'' and ''static reaction''. Base reaction is preserved between dialogues while static reaction isn't.
-Reaction is mostly changed by saying nice or mean things to the character by choosing appropriate dialogue options (increases or decreases reaction level by 25).  For [[talking head]]s, the character's expression visibly changes.
 ==Initial reaction==
 Initial reaction is calculated from multiple factors:
-* [[Charisma]] compared to the NPC's Charisma
+* [[Charisma]] compared to the NPC's Charisma, only upon the first conversation
+** [[Karma]] has no direct effect (the code is commented out), only through relevant titles
-* [[Karma]]
 * [[Town reputation]]
 * [[Reputation title]]s
 * [[Presence]] perk and [[Sex Appeal]] trait
-** [[Cult of Personality]] perk has no effect (the corresponding code is commented out)
+** [[Cult of Personality]] perk has no effect (the code is commented out)
-** [[Karma Beacon]] perk also has no effect (its code is unused)
+** [[Karma Beacon]] perk also has no effect (the code is unused)
+Characters marked as "evil" have their reaction modifiers from reputation titles (except [[Childkiller]]) backwards. [[Slaver (reputation)|Slaver]] title's effect sign rather depends on what the character thinks of slavers.
+In only a few locations are appropriate characters marked as "evil" for this purpose in ''[[Fallout 2]]'':
-Characters marked as "evil" have their reaction modifiers from karma and reputation titles (except [[Childkiller]]) backwards. [[Slaver (reputation)|Slaver]] title's effect rather depends on what the character thinks of slavers.
-Only in a few locations are appropriate characters marked as "evil" for this purpose in ''[[Fallout 2]]'':
 * [[Den]]
@@ Line 54: / Line 52: @@
 ** [[Salvatore's man]]
 ** Strangely, [[Wright's child]]ren playing a game in front of their mansion
-* [[San Francisco]]
+* [[Redding]]
 ** [[Obidiah Hakeswill]]
+* [[San Francisco]]
 ** Strangely, [[Dave Handy]]
 ** [[Hubologist]]s in robes
@@ Line 71: / Line 70: @@
 ** [[Karla]]
 ** [[Phil (Khans)]]
+== Changing ==
+Reaction is changed by saying nice or mean things to the character by choosing appropriate dialogue options.  For [[talking head]]s, the character's expression visibly changes.
+There are also scripted changes by various amounts.
 ==Under the hood==
-Under the hood, it's an integer from -100 to 100, with 25 and higher for Good, -25 or lower for Bad and Neutral for in-between.
+It's an integer from -100 to 100, with 25 and higher for Good, -25 or lower for Bad and Neutral for in-between. There's also a separate variable from -4 to 4 holding just the level. After one is changed, the other is converted to reflect the result. Both variables are recalculated each time a conversation starts, only the base reaction is saved.
+Base reaction:
+* On the first conversation: each point of PC's [[Charisma]] over NPC's: +5 (if higher) / -5 (if lower)
+* After that, it's only altered by scripted changes
+Initial static reaction:
+* [[Sex Appeal]]: ±20
+* Each level of [[Presence]]: +10
+* Each level of [[reputation title]] for general Karma: ±5
+* [[Berserker]]: -20
+* [[Champion]]: +20
+* [[Childkiller]]: -30
+* [[Slaver (reputation)|Slaver]]: -50, -25, 0 or +25 (mostly 0)
+* Each 2 points of [[town reputation]]: ±1
+Changes:
+* The dialogue options adjust the level by one or two (?).
+* There are also scripted changes by various amounts as well as direct assignments. They can affect either base reaction or the effective reaction.
 ==Effects==
-Compared to how much thought was put into the reaction system, it's severely underused. Only for very few NPCs does it affect the course of the dialogue. The most prominent effect it has on gameplay is slightly affecting barter prices.
+Compared to how much thought was put into the reaction system, it's largely unused. Only for very few NPCs does it affect the course of the dialogue. The most prominent effect it has on gameplay is slightly affecting barter prices.
+A possible reason may be that it's proved to be excessively restrictive. There are few ways to improve an unfavorable reaction once it's established, so it would effectively lock out a large portion of the game from a player wishing to play as anything other than a goody-two-shoes.
 [[Category:Fallout gameplay]]