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Hot Take: Video games talk too damn much.

Euler007

Member
Tldr.

Seriously though, I dropped FF7Rebirth because of Chadley and Mai. Peak obnoxiousness.

shut the fuck up GIF
Just spam the circle button.
 
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Evolved1

make sure the pudding isn't too soggy but that just ruins everything
The most recent hyper-offender of this for me was Remnant 2... the intro to that game is fucking offensive. The absurdity of some massive fucking lore dump at the very beginning of a game (how about devs actually try and earn their lore / my attention) was such a profound turn off. I immediately binned that piece of shit and hid it from my library, because even seeing puts me in a sour mood.... remembering I actually paid full price for that trash.

This post was cathartic.
 
Partial agreement. They talk too much about boring mundane shit. When they are saying interesting things that I want to hear I think it enhances a game a ton.

I'm loving basically every cutscene in Rebirth. I really like these characters, the game surprises, makes me laugh, etc. I'm happy to forgive a lot of talking to get all of that.

But yea, Chadley? Shut the fuck up.
 

Nvzman

Member
Midnight Suns is just awful in that regard. Some of the worst and most awkward dialogue I've encountered. Gameplay is great though.

I grew up with point and click adventure games and always enjoyed stories in games. When dialogue became voiced I was amazed. Lines of dialogue felt like a luxury and I treated it as such for quite a long time. A new dialogue option in a game like KOTOR was like a reward to me. These days though, there's so much padding that I struggle to resist the urge to skip dialogue in so many games. The amount of cut scenes and bland writing is frustrating in so many games especially RPGs as the quality doesn't always hold up. 5 dialogue options which are all lore dumps can feel like a punishment now. I guess part of it is having played many games you get a bit jaded and don't care as much about generic honorable knight #768 and his dragon issues or that predictable plot twist.
No you are entirely correct, the problem with almost all modern games is that the dialogue is way, WAY too padded with meaningless shit.
Imo in-game dialogue should be usually only relevant to crap going on around you, the RE games are pretty good with this (Ethan has a lot of "WTF is THAT" moments in RE7 to semi-guide the player towards certain objectives). Contrast this with a lot of other games, where you'll have a character explaining meaningless boring lore shit while your companion asks what some random ass statue decoration on the side of a cliff means.

Games need to ditch writing teams bigger than like three people.
 
FF7 Rebirth bad for this too, every time I meet someone to play Queen's Blood with they have some dumb long preamble story and then also a follow-up after you beat them. I was skipping one guy's follow-up dialogue (which you can only do one line at a time) and it must've been like 8-9 full lines of dialogue for just some nobody NPC that you never see again.

Every time you talk to Chadley to get some materia or whatever he's got 3 or 4 lines of dialogue to spout off about what's happening, and always has some same similar type of comment after every objective you complete in the world. It's tiresome.
 
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Robb

Gold Member
Agreed. Walk and talk sections and lots of banter are the absolute worst. Not to mention when there are puzzles in the game and they can’t keep quiet and start dropping hints. If it’s not a cutscene then:
shut-the-fuck-up-dave-chappelle.gif

, and let me play the game in peace.
 

The Stig

Banned
I totally agree that some games can get tiresome with so much dialog.

Try Helldivers 2.

Minimal dialog and whatever dialog IS in, is vitally important to democracy AND freedom.
 
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Vlodril

Member
Depends on the quality of the dialogue. Planescape Torment and Disco Elysium were incredibly verbose but they were compelling so i didn't mind it at all. Ff16 on the other hand people kept talking but saying nothing so i started skipping after the first few hours (didnt finish the game either).
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member

This is the worst offender iv found in recent memory, worse all the gameplay mechanics can't be played with one hand... who the fuck puts a twin stick shooter in a porn game?

I don't need 20 minutes of exposition dumps from the character I expect the most to come out of her mouth to be "urgguuuuu srrrrrrrrrrp guuuuuuuh"
 
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darrylgorn

Member
I'm okay with it as long as I can spam the A button to skip each dialogue line. And none of this faster text speed reveal, go straight to the end of the dialogue line goddamn it.
 

simpatico

Member
You should all default to SHMUPs if you feel this way. Join us. We have cool spaceships. Hurry before the Steam sale ends!

Buy:

Crimzon Clover
DariusBurst Chronicles
Deathsmiles
DoDonPachi
Radiant Silvergun
 

Umbral

Member
I hate listening to stories so much I almost want a tl:dr about the original post above mine.

But, this was me with Metro Exodus. I just wanted to shoot cool shit and it was non-stop talking and standing around. Unbelievably boring. I tapped out in 10 minutes.
I enjoyed Metro: Exodus and played it twice, but you’re right about it. I just wanted to be let loose to explore but they wanted to tell a gripping story. They’re pulling in opposite directions. I tried to start the DLC but I couldn‘t deal with Sam’s constant blathering. It got worse in that expansion. I dropped it about 30 mins in.

I’m fine with story, voice acting, and cutscenes in games but it better be good. The deal is you can stop the game for a minute or so to show me story or something but you better let me have a large chunk of uninterrupted play with little to no self-talk or banter.
 

IAmRei

Member
Same, i like the game who are not heavy in chit chat. But for some, they need the conversation so it like they are just hearing or reading the stories.

My favorite games are Zelda, Metroid, MH, and Soulsborne game. See the pattern? They might had story, but all my best games are not much talking.

Talkative games, which i like are yakuza series, dragons dogma, shin megaten and some rpgs, but i know that is different beast, and i can stand to hear a lot in there.

TLDR: depend on the genre, i can stand lot of chats, but mostly, i like game that not much talking.
 
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Depends for me but yes, these days I mostly want gameplay. It used to be opposite but the ND/SSM blueprint was dead to me at the end of the PS3 gen. Also, most "amazing" stories in gaming don't come off as amazing to me. I'm not a snob but I feel like I've read enough fiction/non-fiction and seen enough films to know when a story is truly amazing or if it's just being praised to high heavens because a lot of people have shallow tastes. Sorry.

I want fun gameplay over all.

FF7/Rebirth is the one game that I play for the cutscenes and graphics.
 
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BbMajor7th

Member
Yeah, I'm with the OP here. So much completely facile dribble coming out of most characters most of the time. I don't know if the dialogue needs to go away completely, but video game writers, across the board, need to stop smelling their own farts and have a little faith in players to get by without every single plot point or quest objective spelled out in dialogue.
 

GametimeUK

Member
I much prefer it when a game uses the medium to its advantage. As much as TLOU is incredible, large portions of the game when it comes to the cutscenes are no different than sitting down and watching a TV show.

I prefer it when a game throws me in there, gives me the jist and then I'm off to create my own story. I played Black Mesa recently and the game rarely (if ever) strips player control away from you and its beautiful.
 
Most of Skyrim had the perfect amount of character dialogue. Not too much, not too little, and you were mainly given important information about quests with minimal fluff. Sometimes quests were given or solved in one sentence.

57juolsyhef51.png


If you wanted to know more, you'd read the books.

I really like ESO, but the biggest problem for me is that the characters will sometimes say paragraphs of nothingness and most of the important dialogue is saved for after dialogue heavy moments. It really urges you to mash through it all, speed read, or skip entirely.
 

StueyDuck

Member

how this game (and mostly it's sequels barring the thirds conclusion) was just a perfect storm of talent and writing. along with just the score and mmmm it's all so good.

i love how even when he's not skipping calls, each character has at most two lines of chat. "did you find so and so" "you mean so and so, yes" "that is good commander, what will you do now" "i will go here and do this" ... done.

now some chop will fucking natter on at you for 30 fucking minutes. i'm getting starfield style vietnam flashbacks here even thinking of it.
 
how this game (and mostly it's sequels barring the thirds conclusion) was just a perfect storm of talent and writing. along with just the score and mmmm it's all so good.

i love how even when he's not skipping calls, each character has at most two lines of chat. "did you find so and so" "you mean so and so, yes" "that is good commander, what will you do now" "i will go here and do this" ... done.

now some chop will fucking natter on at you for 30 fucking minutes. i'm getting starfield style vietnam flashbacks here even thinking of it.
Fully agreed on Mass Effect as a whole, but a lot of RPG developers and fans don't see the importance/excellence of Mass Effect 2's story pacing. It is damn near perfection.

It doesn't bloat you with 'go here, farm this' quests. It doesn't waste your time with 'fetch quests for the village', and it doesn't waste your time by mixing in too much personality and fluff with the importance of story dialogue. Lastly, it doesn't overstay it's welcome by being 80-100 hours. It tells a very, very strong main story and set of side stories, and it is done. That's it. The player is left fully satisfied but eager for a sequel.

There's so much to say about the greatness and cohesive experience of Mass Effect 2 that's simply lost on minds of gamers who equate length to quality, or the gamers who think that endless fluff dialogue adds 'character'.
 
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I am in the boat where I like to have it, but I need it to serve a purpose and be concise. I don't want to listen to an essay about someone's opinion whether something is justified and whether they are feeling discontent. I just need the classic Who, What, Why, Where, and How? Just the facts.
 

Outlier

Member
If a game can only tell it's story through exposition, then it better be a deep and engaging or gtfo.

I much prefer not just show, but play engaged stories, if the game is story heavy. This is why ES: Oblivion blew my mind, when I first played it. I never experienced an RPG like that, before.
 

StueyDuck

Member
KoJima hates this thread.

I am normally cool with story but mgs4 was excessive and there are more.
Honestly.. Kojima for me is an exception.

Like yeah 90% of what people say is nonsense, but he's always managed to get good performances and make what's happening interesting.

Although mgs4 is definitely indulgent. That final cutscene was tough, even as a huge fan of his work and content. I will agree mgs4 is a tough one. But what a strong start though, those weird tv ads. Like I still remember the first time watching those and thinking ok this shits gonna get fucking weird and I'm here for it
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Way too much. Metro exodus is amazing but they never shut up. Any npc you look at talks. All the time. Everyone. At once
 
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KoJima hates this thread.

I am normally cool with story but mgs4 was excessive and there are more.
Kojima makes up for dialogue with an incredible level of cinematography, which is a skill that more story-based game developers should look further into.

The base-level test in this is ‘how do you make two characters who are simply talking to each other, look and feel more engaging’.

Hell, there are still scenes in high profile games of 2023 and 2024 that can’t even hold a candle to the MGS3 intro scene.

halo-jump-mgs3.gif
 
Nope I play point and click adventure games where the whole point is walk and talk. Give me AAA detective game with no shooting please.
 

Zheph

Member
Kojima makes up for dialogue with an incredible level of cinematography, which is a skill that more story-based game developers should look further into.

The base-level test in this is ‘how do you make two characters who are simply talking to each other, look and feel more engaging’.

Hell, there are still scenes in high profile games of 2023 and 2024 that can’t even hold a candle to the MGS3 intro scene.

halo-jump-mgs3.gif
A lot of people would skip all of that today and tell you it's too much they want to play, span is getting shorter and shorter
 
A lot of people would skip all of that today and tell you it's too much they want to play, span is getting shorter and shorter
No, the quiet millions who like that type of artistry still show up. They show up to these games when they’re done right. However, some of these are the same games GAF doesn’t like, and at worse(when deep in the GAF bubble) they will falsely state that a game like that didn’t sell well even though the double digit millions sale number is one google search away.

In an attempt to keep us on topic I won’t say the names of these games. Just understand that cinematic AAA experiences still sell quite well and as the old saying goes ‘if you build it, they will come.’
 
This is sooooo true. Why do games need SO much meaningless talk and dialogue? And if you're gonna have it - at LEAST make it interesting, well-written and worth my time. In 99% of all games this kind of dialogue is just there and doesn't add to the immersion or the enjoyment or anything. Japanese games are the worst offenders by far.
 

Big Baller

Al Pachinko, Konami President
I hate listening to stories so much I almost want a tl:dr about the original post above mine.

But, this was me with Metro Exodus. I just wanted to shoot cool shit and it was non-stop talking and standing around. Unbelievably boring. I tapped out in 10 minutes.

Exodus is the worst. All the characters are talking through each other. Artyooooooom
 

KXVXII9X

Member
You may just not prioritize stories in games which is a valid preference.

I'm the opposite and grew up with JRPGs and point and click adventure games so the story and dialogue were often front and center.

I get wanting to pick up and get straight to the gameplay though. I do think a lot of games are written horribly and have too much unneeded dialogue.

When the stories and dialogue are good it has me glued. The Yakuza/LAD series is one example.
 

KXVXII9X

Member
I don't hate talking and story in video games, but today's writers try to be too clever and subversive, employing complicated symbolism, keeping everything vague and open to interpretation. A perfect example of this sort of narrative faffing about would be Returnal. Are the events happening in the game actually real or the delusions of a mentally ill person. I don't know, I'm not going to watch a 1h video with Vatisvidya or whatever explaining.

The recent Side Order DLC to Splatoon 3 on the other hand was simple story wise, they focused on snappy dialogue (that does not overstay its welcome), cute and mostly interpersonal drama.
I had a x100 better experience with that than Returnal.
I think you explained why I haven't been as interested in a lot of modern game stories as of late. I see this outside of gaming too. Simple doesn't always mean bad.
 

Kadve

Member
I have no problem with cutscenes. What i hate though is games taking control away from you every 5 minutes just because your character needs to "react" to something.

Also audio logs that start playing the moment you pick it up and cant be skipped. Love the 2016 Doom game but boy did the action grind to a halt due to them.
 
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BlackTron

Member
I do think I play less games these days because of this. Trying a new game today always means suffering through an intro sequence with a load of dialog I can't stand, after downloading and installing the game and updates. Whereas in the past you could switch to the first level of a different game in ten seconds.
 
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