Unexpected Surprises in Dialog Trees:

[^Rayne^]

It’s been a long time since I played Planescape Torment, but after the launch of this project I reinstalled it on my computer and made a lot of graphical updates made by the superb mod community. When I started the game in the Morgue I encountered a zombie thrall that was carrying a note that was sewn into its mouth.

 

I was happily surprised when I was able to free the note, examine it, and discovered an interesting puzzle, all handled in the game’s dialogue tree. When I figured the puzzle out I had unlocked a magical enclosure, which held the "Rule of Three Earring". I have to say this was one of the more rewarding ways to find a magic item in any of the Infinity Engine games and I was definitely surprised by it.

 

I don’t recall if I found this the first time I played PST years ago, but it was a fun surprise that really sets expectations for the rest of the game. This is a world full of unexpected surprises. All these years later with dialog trees in tons of different RPG games I don’t recall seeing anything clever like this hidden in the dialog trees. I wish there were more surprises like this in games. I see the industry has failed to take advantage of these sorts of opportunities, but I am hopeful the team over on Project Eternity will be able to recycle this idea and sneak a few of these in Project Eternity. It’s attention to details like this that make games exceptional and causes them to live on in the memories of players.

[yulva]

You are absolutely right.

But I doubt that there will ever be a game as well-written, creative and full of surprises like Planescape: Torment.

[Tale]

Good and bad surprises, so long as they're interesting. Like the dialogue trees are laced with pinatas and dropbears.

[Starglider]

I'm all for well written dialog trees but remember that they're not the only dialog mechanism. Banter between party members (timed and on visiting location) is great for filling out characterisation. Mass Effect 2 had hotspots where you could get party members to comment on the surroundings. A rarely seen option that I personally like is being able to drag-drop an inventory item onto a character and (if it's a major plot item) have them comment on it. It's a little more convenient and natural than clicking through a dialog tree to get to 'ask about this item'.

[^Rayne^]

I'm all for well written dialog trees but remember that they're not the only dialog mechanism. Banter between party members (timed and on visiting location) is great for filling out characterisation. Mass Effect 2 had hotspots where you could get party members to comment on the surroundings. A rarely seen option that I personally like is being able to drag-drop an inventory item onto a character and (if it's a major plot item) have them comment on it. It's a little more convenient and natural than clicking through a dialog tree to get to 'ask about this item'.

 

I'm definitely not suggesting they shouldn't provide other routes for character interaction, I just wanted to comment on this one technique used in PST that I thought was brilliantly handled and a lot of fun. My hope is that by mentioning it here, the developers might notice this and keep it in mind for the design phase of the game.

 

The more they let the player interact with characters, objects, and the environment the better in my opinion. It all adds to immersion and makes for a holistic role-playing experience.

[Tychoxi]

Yes, they have all but outright stated that this will be the kind of experience we'll be getting. yay!