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With the kind of free-roaming RPG style this game is going for, I think it'd only be logical to add relationships. I propose two kinds of relationships with people:

- Complex relationships: These are with important character that will get to personally know you, such as a friend or boss. They will always remember you and their relationship with you.
- Simple relationships: These are with minor characters like salesmen and random people on the street. They won't remember you, so if you leave the screen/level/whatever you can basically reset the relationship.

The central aspect of complex relationships is simply a number. -100 is a relationship of hate, 100 is deep love, etc. This number is persistent and can be changed through deep conversations, impressive actions, battling people, etc. Added to that is a temporary offset, which temporarily affects the persistent relationship. This offset is affected by giving people gifts, making them angry, etc. As the name suggests, it wears off after time.

Now, relationships will of course impact gameplay. Numerous scenarios can be imagined, like not getting jobs from someone if they don't trust you, someone who hates you coming to attack you with a gang, a friend joining you in a battle, etc.

Ideas on this?

I think the concept of relationships goes without saying!  It's merely a discussion about the details.

I'm going to spend a while thinking on the specifics, but until then here are some things the system should have in mind:

1) betrayal; there's going to be PLENTY of this in Dathon, and we need to consider how the system will interact with / cause / prevent such situations.

2) conflict of interests; someone may like you, but because of the faction they're aligned with may actually be your enemy... or vice versa. 

3) reputation; your reputation may vary among different people, impacting their first impression or long-term reaction to you.  Your reputation may vary among different groups.

4) respect / purely business; there may be people whose idea of "liking" you has more to do with whether you are an asset to them.  They will like you for as long as you're useful, then discard you once you're not.  Is this concept of likability a subset of the one you're talking about, mutually exclusive, or perhaps an independent parallel?