It’s How You Say It, Part One

IGN AU is offering up an interesting editorial piece that spotlights the methods developers have used in recent years to present dialogue within role-playing games. Fable II, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Mass Effect, Rise of the Argonauts, World of Warcraft, and Sentient are all used as reference points.

Instead of presenting a list of what can be said by you (as Commander Shepard), Mass Effect employs a radial, real-time mood response system. During conversation scenes, a few words represent the general tone of each response, and as you played you learn which direction will generally yielded which kind of response. Once you pick an option Shepard reacts with extended dialogue pertaining to your choice.

The fact that you can choose your response while NPCs are speaking is a nice addition, although the system is essentially a traditional one with fancy packaging. The most obvious disadvantage of this system is that, by its very nature, it removes a lot of control over what gets said. If a ‘mood’ option is too vague, you may find that Shepard says the exact opposite of what you intended. For example, one situation in the game where a character is set on killing herself shows how several unintended responses can result in unforeseen and unwanted consequences, in this case a character dying and the player failing a side mission.