Dialogues in The Witcher 3

[1erCru]

Dialogues in The Witcher 3

I had some trouble getting through the first two Witcher games, mainly due to the nearly constant dialogue. Now there are arguments for and against the use of narrative in games. The interesting part is in their attempt to tell the story through heaps of exposition they end killing immersion.
I dont want to turn this into the ADHD versus Bookworm thread. I do think that toning down the mere quantity of narrative will actually make the world seem more believable.
The game world should empower the player to tell most of the story in their head. A lot of times a well written NPC with a handful of lines can be brought to life with only a small number of lines.
I cant imagine with the size of the game world being created for TWH they will continue on the same dialogue trajectory that the first two games hurled at us. It will be interesting to see. Im pretty excited despite the critisism.

 

[paulthu]

What? No! I want more dialogue.

 

[wright1978]

I have to disagree. I'd ideally like more dialogue from key characters, nut definitely not less.

 

[cmdr_silverbolt]

I disagree there was any superfluous use of verbal information in either game, it was just enough to set the tone and atmosphere of the game world, so I would like TW3 to have a similarly wonderful script (dialogue/storytelling).

Also, I think complaining about "too many words" is unnecessary when you can just skip the dialogue; since all you want is the gist of the game world, you have the information from the Journal to provide you with that.

Welcome to the forums.

 

[LarsMN]

Dialogue is like 90% of what I do in witcher games, easily my favorite part of the franchise.

 

[Kassandrian]

What I founc slightly disturbing was the not situation dependent will of every person to spend hours talking.
I am playing a witcher,
a person that is despised, hated, feared and yet needed by people - so in contrast to, let's say Dandelion, it's often difficult for Geralt to have really personal conversations.

Cool would be, to see people shun you.
CDPR could use the balance between dialoque and it's absence in a better way, to illustrate the world more. People being tense, joyful or simply repellent, depending on situation would help.

SO, yes to a lot of dialoque (I liked the small details in the dialoques, it's a nice way to present a world) but more reactive?

 

[kitta]

They did that, someone shouted the "mutant is talking to me", and various NPCs would say something about Geralt, sometimes not so nice, as he passed.

 

[AngelOfPassion]

My favorite part of the games is also the dialogue. I was dissapointed with the reduction of dialogue from main characters from TW1 > TW2. I kept going back to Zoltan, Dandelion, Triss etc... to see what they were up to and to see what had changed or to see their input on my new quests but they never had any new dialogue so I just stopped visiting them.

Would love to see a huge increase in dialogue for TW3.

To solve your problem though they could do it Morrowind style (but still voice acted FYI) and not make it mandatory. In Morrowind you chose how much you wanted to talk to a certain NPC and weren't forced to...

 

[darcler]

While I agree wholeheartedly that a good writer respects each word and is able to covey his message through concise form, there are also various other factors that should be considered. I'm not exactly sure how the amount of dialogues could detract from immersion, but there is a complex world to present, and a complex story to be told, with multi-faceted scope. The here and now we'll be playing in is a result of events from a deep past, and motivated by expectations of future events. Text (including speech) is virtually the only way to present all these things, and dialogues are IMO the most engaging. Plus there are stylistic aspects to consider, both in creating the feel of the world and in being somewhat faithful to the books, Sapkowski relying heavily on dialogues, and in fact preferring them over different forms of narration.

So no, I do not agree with putting less dialogues into TW3. Just the opposite: I want even more of them, especially since this will be open world.

 

[Demut]

Given how much the game was holding your hand (through the Journal and what not) you didn’t even have to pay attention to the dialogue if you loathed it so much, OP.

 

[Sirnaq]

Hey op, ever heard about story driven rpgs? You know, like witcher games? Also if you detest witcher games so far i doubt you'll like witcher3.

 

[gregski]

Edited the title so it reflects the topic better.

 

[omniknight]

I couldn't disagree more. Moar dialog!

 

[addar]

dude, rpg is not for u, go play skyrim or Gta, there is just few Dialogues, and u dont even need to think or choosing, just watching

 

[Garrison72]

There are a couple instances that might qualify as info dumps. The last conversation with Letho comes precariously close. That sort of thing they should avoid. But less dialog? No. In fact, I want more dialog with random people, like we had in TW1. This is a narrative game and as such, it's not for everybody. I can tell myself any story I want in my head while I'm doing anything, if that's what I so desire. I don't want the game to pretend to do this.

 

[vivaxardas2015]

More dialogue, please. I used to hunt down every NPC in TW2 just to may be get a bit of extra dialogue. And sometimes I got lucky. For example, I got a conversation with Dandelion about Wild Hunt poems only on my third try.
I actually liked the final conversation with Letho. It reminded me Agatha Christie novels, where the entire mystery is explained at the end. It was long, sure, but it was in line with the politics-heavy story, and also gave some background on Yennifer, and some previous events.

 

[gibb_geralt]

In a game where pace is a necessity, too much dialogue that conveys too little information can definitely become an obstacle. Since TW3 is going to be open world, and pace is pretty much non-existant in those settings, i see no reason why dialogue should be shortened.

 

[Damariel]

Definitely more dialogues... we are going into open world after all.

 

[wichat]

Less dialogue? And deprive us of these great pearls of humor, which CDPR gives us when least expected?

 

[jerf.674]

Sorry OP, but I'd also like to see more dialogue, certainly not less.