Difference between revisions of "NPC"

Latest revision as of 19:43, 25 October 2013

NPCs, Non-Player Characters, are the principle sources of information about the game's lore. They are also the usual sources for quests and quest rewards, and the NPC merchants are invaluable for equipping your hero for battle.

NPCs in Diablo 3[edit | edit source]

NPCs will play their familiar role in Diablo 3; giving quests, telling the game story, and sometimes assisting characters in battle. Not much has been seen of NPCs thus far; there were no towns or merchant NPCs in the Blizzcon demos in 2008 or 2009, and the few NPCs found in the field were simply there as part of quest dialogues.

While it's unknown just how much of an expanded role NPCs will play in Diablo 3, the team has given some hints of their plans. Julian Love spoke on this in an October 2009 interview. [1]

Planet Diablo:Can you tell us about the role of NPCs -- How big a role will they play in Diablo III? In Diablo II , sort of going along with that, they didn't move that much, they stayed in their general area of within their town; are they going to be more mobile in the game?

Julian: I'm gonna say yes, absolutely. Without giving you any details with exactly how, where, and why because it starts to reveal too much story, the intent there is, and in all ways really, the intent is to make the world seem more like an actual living, breathing world. This is why we have you interacting with the backgrounds as much as we do, this is why we're making the NPCs really play a bigger part in the story itself, and part of that will be getting more direct and active involvement with, you know, the NPCs themselves and having them move around and do things and see them doing the things that happen in the real world, not just hearing about it through dialogue.

NPC Conversations[edit | edit source]

Early concept for NPC dialogue; now removed. The Barbarian speaks with Deckard Cain.

NPC conversations in Diablo III are shown in the normal game screen. The camera merely zooms in a bit, while maintaining the same overhead view. The conversation is ended and the screen returns to normal if you click anywhere outside of the dialogue tree, or press the space bar or Esc key.

When the game debuted at the WWI event in June 2008, NPC conversations were portrayed in a special pop up window display which you can see below. This approach was abandoned between the June premiere and BlizzCon in October, since the D3 Team felt that it took players out of the flow of the game.

List of known NPCs[edit | edit source]

The following NPCs are confirmed to appear in Diablo III. They are covered on individual article pages; click through to learn more about them.

Also see the NPC category for a complete list of NPCs, both confirmed and speculated.

List of possible NPCs[edit | edit source]

The following are likely to be NPCs, but have not yet been seen in the game.

Leah[edit | edit source]

An official still image from the cinematic trailer.

Leah was mentioned by name in the WWI 2008 gameplay trailer, but was not seen in the BlizzCon 2008 demo. From what the Barbarian says in the WWI gameplay movie, Leah is an NPC who is Cain's assistant, who tells the hero that he (Cain) is missing in the Monastery, and must be rescued.

Some players have speculated that Leah is the young female referred to in the Gnarled Walkers lore entry from the official D3 website. In it, when speaking about the village of Wortham, Abd al-Hazir says:

I likewise found it odd that there seemed to be only elderly people in the village, with the exception of one beautiful young woman whose father was quite insistent I keep my distance from her. Though he was rude on this point, I found him to be a rather sociable sort once convinced I was not interested in his daughter. He introduced himself as Pablo DeSoto

Could Leah be Pablo DeSoto's daughter? The location seems wrong; she's in Tristram with Cain in the teaser cinematic and apparently in the quest as demonstrated in the WWI gameplay movie, but the journal entry might be outdated, or be information from before the game begins; perhaps demons entirely overran the village of Wortham, and Leah and Pablo de Soto were forced to flee to Tristram?

Pablo DeSoto[edit | edit source]

Concept art of Pablo DeSoto.

Pablo DeSoto is seen in detailed concept art, and mentioned in the Gnarled Walkers lore entry, as quoted above. He is said to be knowledgeable of magic and mentioned to have some sort of grudge against necromancers. This might be a flashback or homage to Gheed, the Necromancer-hating NPC merchant from Act One of Diablo II.

Adria[edit | edit source]

Concept art seen at BlizzCon.

Adria, the witch from Diablo 1, is mentioned in Deckard Cain's journal, and was seen in concept art in the Blizzard Museum at Blizzcon 2008. Not everything in concept art makes it into the final game, but with a lot of returning elements from the story of D1 in D3, and much of the early action taking place in and around Tristram, a return of Adria seems like a safe bet.

Other possible NPCs[edit | edit source]

It is indicated that multiple characters from previous games are returning. Jay Wilson says in an interview that they're "bringing back a lot of characters from the previous games." This is elaborated on another interview in which he says that "people can expect to see characters from Diablo I, more characters from Diablo II, and characters from some of the books. We're definitely going to bring a few of them in."

A list of potential NPCs for Diablo III:

Abd al-Hazir - Travelling scribe, documenting lore.
Franklin Burroughs - He's a Dune Thresher-hunter.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-NPCs, Non-Player Characters, are the principle sources of information about the game's [[lore]]. They are also the usual sources for [[quests]] and quest rewards, and the NPC merchants are invaluable for equipping your hero for battle.
-==List of known NPCs==
-Here is the list of confirmed NPCs that are going to be in Diablo 3.
+'''NPCs''', '''Non-Player Characters''', are the principle sources of information about the game's [[lore]]. They are also the usual sources for [[quests]] and quest rewards, and the NPC merchants are invaluable for equipping your hero for battle.
+==NPCs in Diablo 3==
+NPCs will play their familiar role in Diablo 3; giving quests, telling the game story, and sometimes [[Followers|assisting characters]] in battle. Not much has been seen of NPCs thus far; there were no towns or merchant NPCs in the Blizzcon demos in 2008 or 2009, and the few NPCs found in the field were simply there as part of quest dialogues.
-===Deckard Cain===
+While it's unknown just how much of an expanded role NPCs will play in Diablo 3, the team has given some hints of their plans. [[Julian Love]] spoke on this in an October 2009 interview. [http://www.planetdiablo.com/features/articles/jlove101309/jlove_b.shtml]
-[[image:Cain-concept1.jpg|right|thumb|Deckard Cain concept art.]]
+::'''''Planet Diablo:'''Can you tell us about the role of NPCs -- How big a role will they play in Diablo III? In Diablo II , sort of going along with that, they didn't move that much, they stayed in their general area of within their town; are they going to be more mobile in the game?
-[[Deckard Cain]] is an essential character in the Diablo universe. As a wise sage and the last of the Horadrim, Cain has played an important part in both Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 games.
+::'''Julian:''' I'm gonna say yes, absolutely. Without giving you any details with exactly how, where, and why because it starts to reveal too much story, the intent there is, and in all ways really, the intent is to make the world seem more like an actual living, breathing world. This is why we have you interacting with the backgrounds as much as we do, this is why we're making the NPCs really play a bigger part in the story itself, and part of that will be getting more direct and active involvement with, you know, the NPCs themselves and having them move around and do things and see them doing the things that happen in the real world, not just hearing about it through dialogue.
-Deckard Cain is seen on the gameplay video[http://www.diablo3.com] from the [[WWI 2008]]. In the gameplay video the player rescues Cain once again, apparently in the New Tristram Cathedral.
-There is mention of Deckard Cain on the [http://www.diablo3.com main page] of the official page:
+==NPC Conversations==
+[[Image:Npc-interaction.jpg|400px|thumb|Early concept for NPC dialogue; now removed. The Barbarian speaks with [[Deckard Cain]].]]
+NPC conversations in [[Diablo III]] are shown in the normal game screen. The camera merely [[zoom]]s in a bit, while maintaining the same overhead view. The conversation is ended and the screen returns to normal if you click anywhere outside of the dialogue tree, or press the space bar or Esc key.
-:"When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of [[Tristram Cathedral]] seeking clues to defeat new stirrings of evil, a fiery harbinger of doom falls from the heavens, striking the very ground where Diablo once entered the world."
+When the game debuted at the [[WWI 2008|WWI event]] in June 2008, NPC conversations were portrayed in a special pop up window display which you can see below. This approach was abandoned between the June premiere and [[BlizzCon 2008|BlizzCon]] in October, since the D3 Team felt that it took players out of the flow of the game.
+<br><br><br>
-There is also a lore item, named [http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/world/lore/journal.xml Deckard Cain's journal], in the official Diablo 3 website. The main events of Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 are introduced in the journal.
+==List of known NPCs==
+The following NPCs are confirmed to appear in Diablo III. They are covered on individual article pages; click through to learn more about them.
+* [[Captain Rumford]]
+* [[Crying Ghost]]
+* [[Deckard Cain]]
+* [[Escort_Mission|Escort Mission Soldier]]
+* [[Injured Villager]]
+* [[Mr. Meat Wagon]]
+* [[Little Girl Ghost]]
+Also see the [[:Category:NPCs|NPC category]] for a complete list of NPCs, both confirmed and speculated.
-By the looks of it, Deckard Cain will be a major NPC in Diablo 3.
 ==List of possible NPCs==
+The following are likely to be NPCs, but have not yet been seen in the game.
-As of now, we don't have a lot information concerning the Non-Player Characters. Because of that here is a section dedicated to possible NPCs as well.
 ===Leah===
@@ Line 29: / Line 41: @@
 [[image:Leah-concept1.jpg|right|thumb|300px|An official still image from the cinematic trailer.]]
-[[Leah]] is mentioned by name in the gameplay trailer. The barbarian says to Deckard Cain that Leah worries for him. (Leah was confirmed as her name when Blizzard called her that in [http://www.diii.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1149&cat=550 an official wallpaper].) It seems that Leah gave the player the quest to rescue Deckard Cain in the catacombs below the old Tristram Monastery.
+[[Leah]] was mentioned by name in the [[WWI 2008]] [[gameplay trailer]], but was not seen in the [[BlizzCon 2008]] demo. From what the [[Barbarian]] says in the WWI gameplay movie, Leah is an NPC who is [[Cain]]'s assistant, who tells the hero that he (Cain) is missing in the Monastery, and must be rescued.
-There is an interesting passage in the [http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/world/bestiary/gnarledwalker.xml Gnarled Walkers lore entry] in the official page, concerning the village of Wortham:
+Some players have speculated that Leah is the young female referred to in the [[Writings of Abd al-Hazir: Entry no. 0020|Gnarled Walkers lore entry]] from the official D3 website. In it, when speaking about the village of [[Wortham]], [[Abd al-Hazir]] says:
-:"I likewise found it odd that there seemed to be only elderly people in the village, with the exception of one beautiful young woman whose father was quite insistent I keep my distance from her. Though he was rude on this point, I found him to be a rather sociable sort once convinced I was not interested in his daughter. He introduced himself as Pablo DeSoto"
+::''I likewise found it odd that there seemed to be only elderly people in the village, with the exception of one beautiful young woman whose father was quite insistent I keep my distance from her. Though he was rude on this point, I found him to be a rather sociable sort once convinced I was not interested in his daughter. He introduced himself as [[Pablo DeSoto]]''
-There is speculation going about that Leah, the girl from the cinematic trailer, is actually the daughter of Pablo DeSoto mentioned in the lore. Other speculations include Leah being the new narrator, Cain's daughter or apprentice.
+Could Leah be Pablo DeSoto's daughter? The location seems wrong; she's in Tristram with Cain in the teaser cinematic and apparently in the quest as demonstrated in the WWI gameplay movie, but the journal entry might be outdated, or be information from before the game begins; perhaps demons entirely overran the village of Wortham, and Leah and Pablo de Soto were forced to flee to Tristram?
-Be as it may, it is clear that there is some significance to the appearance on the cinematic trailer, as these take a substantial amount of time to prepare. Any random NPCs may be dropped out of the game as the development progresses but Leah was important enough to be put in the trailer which they had to begin working on months before the game announcement.
 ===Pablo DeSoto===
+[[image:desoto-concept1.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Concept art of Pablo DeSoto.]]
+[[Pablo DeSoto]] is seen in detailed  concept art, and mentioned in the [[Writings_of_Abd_al-Hazir:_Entry_no._0020|Gnarled Walker]]s lore entry, as quoted above. He is said to be knowledgeable of magic and mentioned to have some sort of grudge against necromancers. This might be a flashback or homage to {{iw|Gheed#Special_Necromancer_Introduction Gheed}}, the Necromancer-hating NPC merchant from Act One of Diablo II.
-[[image:desoto-concept1.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Concept art of Pablo DeSoto.]]
+===Adria===
+[[Image:adria.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Concept art seen at BlizzCon.]]
-[[Pablo DeSoto]] is seen in the concept art and mentioned in the [[Gnarled Walker]]s lore entry, as quoted above. He is said to be knowledgeable of magic and mentioned to have some sort of grudge against necromancers, as it is revealed in the [http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/world/bestiary/gnarledwalker.xml Gnarled Walkers lore entry].
+[[Adria]], the witch from [[Diablo 1]], is mentioned in [http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/world/lore/journal.xml Deckard Cain's journal], and was seen in concept art in the Blizzard Museum at Blizzcon 2008. Not everything in concept art makes it into the final game, but with a lot of returning elements from the story of D1 in D3, and much of the early action taking place in and around Tristram, a return of Adria seems like a safe bet.
-There is writings on upper left corner of [http://www.diablowiki.net/Image:Desoto-concept1.jpg the concept art picture of DeSoto] indicating that he is been around at least from December 2006. Pablo DeSoto is also the only person named in the lore section of the official page. This indicates that Pablo DeSoto is an important character, most probably a NPC. This would make sense if the speculation is proven right about Leah being the daugher of DeSoto.
 ===Other possible NPCs===
-Other possible NPCs include [[Adria]], the witch from [[Diablo 1]], which is mentioned in [http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/world/lore/journal.xml Deckard Cain's journal] and other NPCs which might be returning to the game. Everything is possible but without appearance on the gameplay trailer, cinematic trailer, artwork or the official page's lore section everything is open to speculation.
+It is indicated that multiple characters from previous games are returning. [[Jay Wilson]] says in [http://www.diii.net/n/680404/more-d2-classes-playable-in-d3 an interview] that they're "bringing back a lot of characters from the previous games." This is elaborated on [http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/08/12/diablo-iii-storyline/ another interview] in which he says that "people can expect to see characters from Diablo I, more characters from Diablo II, and characters from some of the books. We're definitely going to bring a few of them in."
-However, it is indicated that multiple characters from previous games are returning. [[Jay Wilson]] says in [http://www.diii.net/n/680404/more-d2-classes-playable-in-d3 an interview] that they're "bringing back a lot of characters from the previous games." This is elaborated on [http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/08/12/diablo-iii-storyline/ another interview] in which he says that "people can expect to see characters from Diablo I, more characters from Diablo II, and characters from some of the books. We're definitely going to bring a few of them in."
-Here is a list of potential NPCs for Diablo III:
+A list of potential NPCs for Diablo III:
 * [[Abd al-Hazir]] - Travelling scribe, documenting lore.
-* [[Adria]] - Witch from [[Diablo 1]].
 * [[Franklin Burroughs]] - He's a [[Dune Thresher]]-hunter.
+{{Character navbox|d3}}
 [[category:basics]]
 [[category:NPCs]]
+[[category:Abbreviations]]
+{{BC}}