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What was Radiant AI, anyway?

A ridiculously deep dive into Oblivion's controversial AI system and its legacy

Well quite a lot was missing — such as diagonal walking animations and a decent combat system, features which Bethesda games didn’t really have until Skyrim — but the most notable omission from a modern perspective was the lack of any kind of scheduled NPC behavior and / or non-combat AI. When you disembark The Platypus at the beginning of GTA IV and arrive in East Hook, while you might be able to see Algonquin ’s skyline in the distance, chances are nothing else about that part of the city is loaded in memory: there are no pedestrians, no traffic, no street furniture, and so on. A lot of digital ink has been spilled debating the reasons behind the lukewarm response, and I think the overall consensus is that despite the relatively unique setting (“Nasapunk” hard sci-fi), it still manages to be the most generic and least interesting Bethesda RPG to date.

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