TL;DR: NPC greetings now change based on a 5-tier relationship depth system — strangers introduce themselves formally, acquaintances recall your name, friends reference your last conversation topic, and close friends skip the pleasantries entirely.
Every NPC in the game used to greet you the same way regardless of history. Now greetings reflect how well they actually know you.
5 tiers of relationship depth — stranger, acquaintance, familiar, friend, and close friend — shape how every NPC opens a conversation. A stranger introduces herself and asks what brings you to the village. An acquaintance remembers your name and mentions something you talked about last time. A friend drops the formality and references a shared experience. A close friend skips the pleasantries entirely — “You’re back. Good. I need your help with something.”
Memory-based topic references pull from your actual conversation history. If you spent your last conversation discussing the ore shortage, the NPC might open with “Still thinking about that ore problem?” instead of a generic greeting. The system retrieves the most recent conversation summary and weaves its topic naturally into the opener.
Multi-factor approach scoring determines which NPC walks up to greet you when you enter a village. The system weighs curiosity (personality trait), current mood, unfulfilled ambitions, reputation with you, village renown, social need (how long since they talked to someone), and proximity. The result isn’t random — the NPC who approaches you is the one with the strongest reason to. An ambitious blacksmith who respects your work will approach before a content farmer who barely knows you.
Approach motivations — heroic, ambition, commitment, social, or curiosity — shape the conversation opener. A heroic approach references your recent combat deeds. An ambition approach hints at a goal they want help with. A curiosity approach is pure interest — they just want to know who you are.
The difference between a stranger and a friend isn’t just reputation points. It’s how they say hello.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do NPC greetings work in Wanderfolk?
NPC greetings in Wanderfolk are driven by a 5-tier relationship depth system: stranger, acquaintance, familiar, friend, and close friend. Each tier changes how the NPC opens conversation — strangers introduce themselves formally, while close friends skip pleasantries and get straight to the point. NPCs also reference the topic of your last conversation using memory retrieval, so greetings feel personal and contextual rather than generic.
What determines which NPC approaches you in Wanderfolk?
When you enter a village, a multi-factor approach scoring system determines which NPC walks up to greet you. The system weighs the NPC’s curiosity trait, current mood, unfulfilled ambitions, reputation with you, your village renown, social need, and physical proximity. The NPC with the highest combined score makes the approach. Each approach also has a motivation type — heroic, ambition, commitment, social, or curiosity — that shapes their opening line.
Do NPCs remember previous conversations in Wanderfolk?
Yes. Every conversation in Wanderfolk is summarized and stored as a vector embedding in persistent memory. When an NPC greets you, the system retrieves the most recent conversation summary and can reference its topic in the greeting. A blacksmith you discussed ore prices with might open with a comment about the market. This memory-based reference system works alongside the 5-tier depth system to produce greetings that reflect both how well the NPC knows you and what you last talked about.