For years now, games (mostly RPG’s) have advertised realistic dialogue. From humble beginnings, to the well-known KOTOR series, to Mass Effect and beyond, dialogue choices have made their home as a gimmick of the video game industry.
Yes I said gimmick. Why? Because these ‘realistic’ dialogue choices are often plagued by both obvious directions, and unrealistic answers. I have played many games involving dialogue and am less than impressed in most cases.
Back when KOTOR was released in 2003, dialogue choices were a minor thing, largely unknown to the general public. KOTOR brought the concept to the forefront of gaming, allowing players to choose what to say, and sometimes even use special skills you gained from your character to affect dialogue. While a major step forward, this setup was very shallow, with a clear and easy distinction between the good (usually the best) and bad (usually leading to the worst case scenario) choices. The return dialogue was also very poor (compared to today’s standards at least), as certain things said kept the pace and mood of the conversation very staggered and choppy. Nothing quite like a steadfast supporter of the Sith deciding to allow a total stranger allied with the Republic into their base just because I’m ‘persuasive’.
While KOTOR ran mostly off shock value, it did set the stage for better games, the most well known being the space opera RPG, Mass Effect. Most gamers have heard of the dialogue wheel it utilized, and received praise that it discarded the word for word style of past games, using just general ideas to trigger prerecorded lines, giving conversations a much more realistic feel. This however, does not mean it was free of flaws. It was still obvious in presenting the choices to the player, listing the best option at the top and the worst at the bottom. The jagged change in opinion from KOTOR was significantly smoothed however, giving a much needed step forward for dialogue choices.
Unfortunately, things took a small step backwards with the latest user of dialogue choices, Dragon Age: Origins. Reverting back to the KOTOR style of dialogue, the player would pick out of a list of choices, which it would then be implied that the silent protagonist (why they didn’t have the player speak since the character DID have a voice) would say, complete with the immediate changes in mood. The only reason I don’t call this a complete remake of the age old system, is because it does not always place the best choice at the top and vice versa, forcing the player to actually think things through.
Unfortunately it seems like dialogue choices will always be one step forward and two steps back when it comes to gaming. Perhaps some visionary will combine Mass Effects system with Dragon Age’s… but until that day, we shall need to deal with these… ‘Realistic’ dialog systems.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
As both an avid gamer, and a person able to disregard opinion while making a critical analysis, I respectfully disagree with you on this topic.
“Nothing quite like a steadfast supporter of the Sith deciding to allow a total stranger allied with the Republic into their base just because I’m ‘persuasive’. ”
I was under the impression that being persuasive in a Star Wars game was part of the “These are not the droids you’re looking for” mind trickery.
This exists in real life too. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to get privileged information out of someone. Ask any mentalist (Derren Brown is my personal favorite), or a successful salesperson. Persuasion is extremely easy when armed with a sharp wit, quick tongue, and the right gestures.
You also mentioned that Knights of the Old Republic ran off of “shock value.” Perhaps you mean innovation? Marilyn Manson strikes me as shock value. Howard Stern strikes me as shock value. KOTOR was unique, and that uniqueness (alongside being one of the better Star Wars games out there) is what carried it. There was very little shock in the game to speak of. Though I’m not certain how this applies to dialogue.
How do you feel about Jade Empire, or the Elder Scrolls Series (and more recently, Bethesda’s take on Fallout)? Jade Empire, being BioWare, is similar to the other games you mentioned for obvious reasons, but what about other games with dialogue choices? There are also many, many popular games that had dialogue as a main feature. Even some massive multiplayer online games required the player to create their own dialogue to initiate quests. How did you feel about the way dialogue was handled in those games?
Let’s get back to dialogue choices. Your main issues at hand are how staggered, unrealistic, and predictable the dialogue is. Here’s how I approach it – so what? Yes, I know that if I choose the top choices in Mass Effect, I will get little blue points, and if I choose the bottom choices, I will get little red points. I guess it only matters if you want to go strictly one way through a game, and not enjoy any of it. I personally tried to weigh my options, and yeah, I got pissed the few times I chose the steady answer and didn’t get the points I wanted, but all in all, I’m not psychic, so why should I assume that every character is going to react the same to my positive or negative statements, just like in real life? I don’t like when games play themselves for me, so if the choice goes from clear to not being clear, then oh well. I revert to an old save or continue on with the consequences, since I can always do it again on another play-through.
The staggered dialogue, I’m not sure what you mean there. Are you referring to the pauses, most likely caused by the reaction speed of the games/consoles? That would not be the fault of the script writer(s).
For quality, as someone who reads and writes both fiction and non-fiction frequently, I don’t see a lot of problems with dialogue in the games you’ve mentioned. In fact, I loved talking to the characters, because I had no idea what they were going to say. How was I supposed to know that Dr. Mordin Solus (ME2) was going to sing a hilarious, Salarian version of Gilbert and Sullivan. It’s certainly not cut from the same stone as Aaron Sorkin’s amazing works, but it’s not terrible.
It’s come a long way. And though it may be possible that this device is being overused due to it’s popularity, I also wouldn’t fault the writers nor the voice actors for anything appearing unrealistic.
For a while games were boasting their ‘realistic’ graphics, and there was an interesting competition to see who’s game could sport the most realistic expressions in the cut scenes. That then spread over to game play, and the seamless quality between the two. Now it’s like every other released game on an HD compatible system is almost flawless in that department. But would you really want to play a game that looks exactly like real life? I think this dialogue device will go through the same evolution. It will get better, but in terms of realistic dialogue…it’s entertainment. People will favor their stock answers because it’s a way to be more ideal (or contrary) to who they really are. Or they’ll do what Liz said and just replay the event.
And I loved Jade Empire. Even the dialogue choices.
On a different note: when you have a game like Heavy Rain which is totally dependent on dialogue and interaction, you need to do more than make the dialogue choices look pretty. That’s an instance where I see innovation in effective dialogue choices (and subsequent voice actor/character response) being sacrificed for innovation in concept development.