Name change without save editing..

[Nekotamaishi]

Hear me out .. I kind of like to RP my way through the game. I pick choices based on how I would pick them in my characters shoes. The game can be quite immersive that way. Since I do this I usually start the game with a fairly normal human name etc. cause i always start as a human, however after a while and a whole lot of twisted kinky fun whats left of my character seldom resembles the human that started. Now of course you can save edit the game and change the name but in my mind thats technically cheating and i don't like to do so ... so I was wondering.. could you maybe add a registrar office on Tavros, or even maybe have Anno through her role as Steele tech liaison or something that you could go to and be able to have your characters name 'legally' changed? 

 

[Zavos]

Two big problems i see with this: stuff like mails call your name, if you could change your name it would need to save your name at the time as a variable for pretty much every mail.  That is a chunk of save bloat in itself.   Other problem is that there are lots of NPCs that will barely know you by name, and after you change your name they will all magically know your new name.  Then again, they magically know you're you regardless of what changes you go through between conversations so perhaps you could get away with that. 

 

[Nekotamaishi]

Two big problems i see with this: stuff like mails call your name, if you could change your name it would need to save your name at the time as a variable for pretty much every mail.  That is a chunk of save bloat in itself.   Other problem is that there are lots of NPCs that will barely know you by name, and after you change your name they will all magically know your new name.  Then again, they magically know you're you regardless of what changes you go through between conversations so perhaps you could get away with that. 

Yeah I always in my head assumed there was some kind of universal RFID chip or something implanted in everyone to explain away that last part. Like first time I played through i was almost disappointed after I had fooled around with Penny as a human and came back as a Zil she wasn't like "Who are you?" or at least "Oh my god what happened to you!?"... ironically the time it should matter in my mind .. Emmy... if you turn all ant she will kick you out like she never met you. Definitely an aspect of the game you have suspend disbelief slightly more heavily on. 


That said, is it really all that complex? I mean if you change your name with a save Editor it doesn't seem to cause any additional issues, why then can't a simple mechanic that executes the same thing be written into the game? Also keep in mind like 90% of NPCs call you Steele anyways. 

 

[Krynh]

You can ask for the feature but no-one will go out of their way to write and code it. Especially when there are more important things to be added

 

[PyrateHyena]

It would be a blatant lie to say that I have not thought about this, though I have more often thought about a change of the pc's last name to piss off old (presumed) dead daddy and get rid of those annoying "are-you-THAT-Steele-the-offspring-of" dialogue-bits. Quintessencially and sadly it is to much work nobody would want to do (at least I would not want to do it).

 

[Noob Salad]

I thought you could already do this, lol.

 

[Ormael]

There could be some simple NPC that allows PC to change name in some kind of online mega database of all lifeforms. It's still just name change not surname or something similar. Ofc it would mean game would start using new name and for all those npc that not call PC by surname but name...it would be slight weird like some new added npc that PC meeting for the first time on some remote planet already using new PC name.

 

[Neoptolemus]

Hear me out .. I kind of like to RP my way through the game. I pick choices based on how I would pick them in my characters shoes. The game can be quite immersive that way. Since I do this I usually start the game with a fairly normal human name etc. cause i always start as a human, however after a while and a whole lot of twisted kinky fun whats left of my character seldom resembles the human that started. Now of course you can save edit the game and change the name but in my mind thats technically cheating and i don't like to do so ... so I was wondering.. could you maybe add a registrar office on Tavros, or even maybe have Anno through her role as Steele tech liaison or something that you could go to and be able to have your characters name 'legally' changed? 

Really depends what you want.


Do you want every NPC in the game to suddenly go from calling you "John" to "Nohj"? Trivial from a coding and writing point of view. I imagine it'd get approved if someone wrote up a little registry office.


Do you want a scene where you tell Anno "I've decided to change my name, call me Nohj"? Primarily a writing challenge.


Do you want to change your last name from Steele? Never-going-to-happen, would need ~100 scenes to be checked and rewritten.

 

[Nekotamaishi]

Really depends what you want.


Do you want every NPC in the game to suddenly go from calling you "John" to "Nohj"? Trivial from a coding and writing point of view. I imagine it'd get approved if someone wrote up a little registry office.


Do you want a scene where you tell Anno "I've decided to change my name, call me Nohj"? Primarily a writing challenge.


Do you want to change your last name from Steele? Never-going-to-happen, would need ~100 scenes to be checked and rewritten.

Option A is what I had in mind, B works too though as you said maybe more complicated. C never crossed my mind. Too core to the storyline to be honest.