dialogue "puzzles"

[entrerix]

not sure what else to call them, but they were most prevalent imo in Torment. From the get go you are given tons of dialogue to explore with all manner of characters, and sometimes, hidden in those dialogues were valuable items, upgrades, xp etc etc

 

one of the first encounters in Torment (still in the mortuary) was a mute woman with needle fingers who could, with the right dialogue choices, do some work knitting your flesh or something, which resulted in an hp boost (i'm going by memory, this could be more or less completely wrong

 

i havent seen those types of rewarding dialogues in most rpg's since torment. F:NV had some, and there were maybe a few sprinkled around in some other recent rpg's, but nothing even close to the level they were found in Torment

 

I remember when i first played Torment thinking to myself "wow, this is the future of rpg's, gaming will never be the same, from now on all games are going to be trying to copy this masterpiece for decades".... instead the gaming industry completely shifted away from deep rpg's and nothing has come close since. dialogue puzzles were not the only ingredient which flavored the delicious stew of Torment, but they were one of my favorites.

 

so yeah, more of that please!

[Monte Carlo]

Here is a really important, practical issue: these were the main reason I gave up on Torment. Video games aren't books. My eyes were literally bleeding from all that text.

 

So dialogue puzzles: definitely. Outrageously long, wordy, dialogue puzzles? Maybe one or two, but for the love of god not too many.

[General_Disarray]

YESYESYES.

 

I adore being rewarded for pouring all my stat points into being able to talk eloquently.

 

I may get KO'd in a single hit from a squirrel but being able to talk down the big bad makes it so worth it.

[entrerix]

they could be included, but not be so mandatory as they were in torment. perhaps make similar rewards also accessible via fighting in tunnels?

[Ancoron]

I really liked that about Torment too and wish that this will be implementet in Projekt Eternity.

It is so rewarding when you can really influence the dialog and not get the same answer regardless of

what you choose.

[Monte Carlo]

Yes I want to fight in tunnels. Lots of tunnels.

[Domigorgon]

Yes! But it should be 50-50 in regards to combat vs. dialogue. Some players prefer one over the other. There should be a choice between combat and wits in some situations (not all, of course). Nobody is forcing you to talk, but if you like talking, you should be rewarded from time to time with little hidden gems.

[Baudolino05]

not sure what else to call them, but they were most prevalent imo in Torment. From the get go you are given tons of dialogue to explore with all manner of characters, and sometimes, hidden in those dialogues were valuable items, upgrades, xp etc etc

 

one of the first encounters in Torment (still in the mortuary) was a mute woman with needle fingers who could, with the right dialogue choices, do some work knitting your flesh or something, which resulted in an hp boost (i'm going by memory, this could be more or less completely wrong

 

i havent seen those types of rewarding dialogues in most rpg's since torment. F:NV had some, and there were maybe a few sprinkled around in some other recent rpg's, but nothing even close to the level they were found in Torment

 

I remember when i first played Torment thinking to myself "wow, this is the future of rpg's, gaming will never be the same, from now on all games are going to be trying to copy this masterpiece for decades".... instead the gaming industry completely shifted away from deep rpg's and nothing has come close since. dialogue puzzles were not the only ingredient which flavored the delicious stew of Torment, but they were one of my favorites.

 

so yeah, more of that please!

You nailed a good point here. Torment, in my opinion, still have the best dialogue system in the RPG genre (tons of options and checks, zero tags that help players to make the right choice), perfectly integrated with its magnificent quest design. If PE was similar in this area, I could stand even to a terrible combat system.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Baudolino05

[Water]

I would love to see another RPG where conversation is a viable way to gain experience/perks. An average RPG tends to just rely on combat for that, and I'd like to see a game where advancing doesn't mean, "bash orc skulls in to gain levels." (My ultimate dream would be to see an RPG where combat is a viable option if you want to get violent, but can be avoided entirely otherwise, if you're smart about it. However I understand what an extremely niche title that would be. )

 

As for abundance of text: I couldn't care less how much there is, so long as it's interesting to read. I had waaaaay more fun in the Brothel of Slaking Intellectual Lusts than in, say, Baator. (So glad that I could just have Annah sneak through to the exit.)

[Karranthain]

Definitely agreed.

[Badmojo]

not sure what else to call them, but they were most prevalent imo in Torment. From the get go you are given tons of dialogue to explore with all manner of characters, and sometimes, hidden in those dialogues were valuable items, upgrades, xp etc etc

 

one of the first encounters in Torment (still in the mortuary) was a mute woman with needle fingers who could, with the right dialogue choices, do some work knitting your flesh or something, which resulted in an hp boost (i'm going by memory, this could be more or less completely wrong

 

i havent seen those types of rewarding dialogues in most rpg's since torment. F:NV had some, and there were maybe a few sprinkled around in some other recent rpg's, but nothing even close to the level they were found in Torment

 

I remember when i first played Torment thinking to myself "wow, this is the future of rpg's, gaming will never be the same, from now on all games are going to be trying to copy this masterpiece for decades".... instead the gaming industry completely shifted away from deep rpg's and nothing has come close since. dialogue puzzles were not the only ingredient which flavored the delicious stew of Torment, but they were one of my favorites.

 

so yeah, more of that please!

 

I love this stuff and definetly want to see it in more RPG's. It is sad that modern games (reluctant to call them RPG's) just have everything solve by fighting and not using your brains.

[Kopi]

Yes, please add tons of these text rewards, obsidian!

[Gurkog]

Dialogue "puzzles", like in Planescape: Torment, put the RP in RPG. It is kind of hard to roleplay a personality when there are only binary choices in how to interact with NPCs.

[^Rayne^]

I actually saw a little of this in KOTOR 2 when you're working with the T3-M4 to restore his memory. I found this very cool as I liked that little droid. I definitely like these RP rewards and I find these moments far more memorable than the hundreds of battles that were fought.

 

I would also like to see choices in the dialogue tree actually go into unique directions and not just have 4 of the six options lead to the same dialog tree.