Poll: Should The Elder Scrolls go back to using a text-based dialogue system like Morrowind's?

[Loonyyy]

As much as I like the Voice acting and animations, and the sense of character and immersion they add to the game, I dislike the limitations on the quests. From Morrowind to Oblivion to Skyrim you can see a distinct decrease in the amount of endings, interpretations, and ways of going about most of the quests, to the point where some are ones that you don't like, but have no alternative with

Spoiler

(For instance, I wanted to turn in the thieves guild, set the legion on the shipwreckers, and force the Blades to accept Parthunax as having a right to live)

I'm not sure what the solution is. Unlike say, Mass Effect, where the story is more linearised and the options can be controlled better, it isn't enough to give the illusion of choice, especially given the scope of the game, while at the same time, the improvement made by voice acting is undeniable. By the illusion of choice, in a game like Mass Effect, the player is given many choices, but they're of a trivial or non-flowing nature, and don't greatly effect the course of the game. Hence, while a few details need to be changed, it doesn't necessarily effect the outcome, a character lives, or a character dies, that's it for the most part,.

I'd suggest that maybe TES doesn't need to do it, but I'd like an old school RPG of the Morrowind vein with a bigger focus on openness of interpretations. In fact, making something even more open than Morrowind would be even better.

 

[coffeedrinker]

Hmm, i enjoy playing 2D RPGs even today, which of course don´t have any voice acting, but can create a thrilling atmosphere anyways (imo).
But in an RPG like Skyrim, that has such stunningly beautiful grafics, wouldn´t you miss voice-overs? I mean it looks kind of weird when you see moving lips without hearing anything

 

[Vegard Pompey]

I voted yes, but there's a better answer: Keep the voice acting, but have it be in a fictional language. With the dialogue in a language no one understands, you don't need to voice every line and can use generic recorded lines for as much written text as you want.

 

[Scrustle]

No way. Conversations in Morrowind were really tedious and sometimes it was a real pain to find the thing you want to talk about. Voice acting is way more interesting and easier to understand.

 

[sifffffff]

Should we go back to riding horses instead of driving cars?

Hear me out here. There are some benefits using horses instead of cars provide. However progress only ever moves in one way.

The days of text based RPGS are at an end. The way Bethesda handled VA in Skyrim is the best job they've done so far (Except that one dude with the scratchy voice... He did Mercer Frey and a few others.)

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Nope.

Boring to sit through. I don't pick up a video game to read, I read books to read. I pick up a video game to play a game.

Someone needs to dim the Nostalgia lights in here. It's blinding to me.

 

[trooper6]

No.

I'm a console gamer and I'm not stupid. I don't have an aversion to reading. Heck, In Mass Effect I read every log entry. There's lots and lots of reading available for you in the modern console games.

I like voice acting because I like voice acting, not because I'm lazy or stupid or have a lack of imagination. I like voice acting because is a wonderful art form and adds a lot to a game. I still remember Sara Kestleman's work as Kreia in KotOR 2...Amazing! Actually KotOR 2 was full of amazing voice acting all around. Shohreh Aghdashloo was great in Mass Effect 2...the minute I heard her voice I was stopped in my tracks--my buddies as well.

Heck most of the most dramatic moments in gaming for me was also accompanied by really great voice acting.

Do I love Morrowind? Yes. But not because of the non-voiced dialogue. Rather, because the writing overall was really good...and I'm not talking about dialogue. I'm talking about the sense that they had someone who knew cultural anthropology and political science on board to craft really compelling conundrums and world for those conundrums to be a part of. They dealt with colonialism and ethics so well...structurally, not in your individual choices of dialogue. Oblivion didn't have the nuance and mystery and culture of Morrowind. But that didn't have anything to do with the dialogue system. As a matter of fact, one of the most moving moments of Morrowind for me was voiced, when Azura speaks to you at the end and when Azura speaks to you in general. That moment would have been way less powerful if it had been text only.

 

[Hyper-space]

But then ppl would actually have to read, which would significantly cut down on Beth's fanbase, and you know they would never want to do that. Bethesda doesn't want to make intelligent RPGs, they want to make fantasy FPS games that will attract some of the COD crowd and action gamers.

Ugh...

console gamers don't like reading.

It wouldn't sell.

UGHHHH....

You really think that generalizing millions of people as idiots will make you look any better? Guys, seriously, can we stop this? The only thing you are doing is making yourself look like a bunch of juvenile shits, fucking hell, this is worse than the Console wars.

But back on topic: I wouldn't mind text if I could read it. Don't know if my TV or the text itself is too small, but it just looks like a mess. Oh and if they made it less like Morrowind where dudes would just spout WALLS OF TEXT without you getting a word in. Give the character more options to contribute to the conversation instead of just reading/listening what the NPC is saying.

 

[Wolfram23]

I like voice acting and all, but I voted "no" for 2 reasons... I want more dialog options sometimes/less repeated voices, and I can read faster than they can talk. I suppose if they could just really, really put more budget into voice acting then I'd be happy with it exclusively.

Again, I do like the voice acting, I just don't like the limitations it imposes.

I don't see why there can't be a mix. Like, "random" NPCs have pretty generic voice acting (think guards in Skyrim) and lots of text chat - tho I mean more like unique chat, like if you need help finding someplace it's easier for them to make dynamic directions in text than to have a hundred voiced lines. Then for main story/quest NPCs they could be voiced.

 

[Flying Dagger]

I always thought of it as a vocal minority who always hated how choice in games was being eroded and how we should all go back to text boxes.

Though having never played planescape or being able to get myself into Deus Ex or Fallout 1 or 2, I don't really have the reference points.

The way I see it (and maybe I'm in the minority) but if I'm playing a game that's anything from 5-100 hours, I feel that giving me a choice on what to do just means I'm missing stuff. As fun as a "choose your own adventure" book is, they're never as good as a normal book, and even if it was a choose your own adventure book written by Johnathon Stroud, I'd still resent having to re-read the first 50 pages just to get a different page on page 51.

And designers/producers feel the same way, they know most people will only play the game once, if that (look at the % marks on steam achievements, a lot of people don't even play the games they buy), And if you've spent major amounts on designing an area, or writing a story branch, you'll want the player to see it. It's uneconomical to cater to the very few who enjoy playing the same game over and over again.

For me - A game has to be tremendous for me to get to the end and be willing to immediately sit through the first section again. To my knowledge - the only time I have done this is with Zeno Clash (And the only decision to be made there was to not use any weapons, though that had a lot to do with the incredible combat in that game).

But mostly, I want to be engrossed in the world. Voice acting, even if I skip it, does engross me, whereas having to read ten pages of dialog does not. If I wanted a book, I could very easily pick one off my shelf which is far superior to any videogame plot.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

Way to make hilariously stupid generalizations with no basis in reality... PC gamers are entitled, pompous dickwads.

Well, that moral high ground soon fell quickly - you just made a 'hilariously stupid generalization' about PC gamers!

Don't you love it when you catch people tripping on their own words?

 

[Woodsey]

No, I hate text-based dialogue, and it wasn't a particularly good system in Morrowind.

And for the inevitable twats that claim preferring voice acting to read makes you an idiot: its less engaging, it doesn't mean people can't fucking read.

 

[dishwasherwong]

I voted no, even though I loved the system in Morrowind. Such a system wouldn't work today; technology has progressed far too much to have text-based dialogue boxes. To say yes would be an answer coloured by nostalgia.

Morrowind's interface was clunky, the graphics were sub-par (in the un-modded vanilla game), the combat system was nothing short of awful and, as some people have commented, some NPCs would have many dialogue options, especially the Savant NPCs that talked about many different topics making it a confusing mess at times, with a lot of the topics being repeated from one NPC to the next. This was acceptable in 2002, but wouldn't work now

It would never compete against games of today, Bethesda has to go with the times to keep the series profitable and ultimately keep it going, however; I would say that if they intend to develop this fully voice acted game idea further, they need more voice actors and flesh out these NPCs so that they truly are unique. Skyrim is a VAST improvement over Oblivion and they are making great strides in a fully voice acted game world containing hundreds of NPCs, but there's more work to be done.

This doesn't mean going backwards and effectively damning the franchise due to obsolete game mechanics.

 

[DementedSheep]

No, I like my voice acting. It?s not that I don?t like reading, I read allot of books and I?m one of those people who actually reads the books in elder scrolls games but voice acting is more much more immersive, engaging and voice helps characterise. It?s not just what they are saying its how they say it and I admit I get bored and find it harder to connect with a character if you?re just getting a lot of massive text dumps in a game. It's beeen ages since I?ve played I remember morrowind having terrible conversations system, walls of text and very little input from you. They could compromise, no voice acting for the player character I don?t mind and they could have voice acting for important bits but text for extra stuff if it?s really a problem.

 

[ZeroMachine]

They would never go back, and for good reason. As much as I love Morrowind (top 5 best games of all time imo) the way Morrowind handled text-based dialogue is incredibly obsolete. Best solution for future titles: make a HUGE budget for voice acting/recording. They have the resources. There is no excuse.

^
This.

And get people that can write better dialogue. The games have such little real character to them.

 

[evilneko]

But then ppl would actually have to read, which would significantly cut down on Beth's fanbase, and you know they would never want to do that. Bethesda doesn't want to make intelligent RPGs, they want to make fantasy FPS games that will attract some of the COD crowd and action gamers.

I don't mind reading when the writing is good, but writing is one of Bethesda's biggest weaknesses.

Though the dialogue in Skyrim does get in my nerves when its regurgitated so much. Is it weird that that is what I hate about the game most? I feel like a person on the verge of a murderous psychotic breakdown whenever I go into a city. I cautiously walk around and try to avoid coming too close to a person, lest they ask me to brew them an ale again. And when I do get too close and they inevitable tell me something they've told me 100 times already, I will snap and put an arrow through everyone's eye. Then I'll pour void salts on the wound.

You're in luck. There are two different mods to deal with this issue!

http://skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1928

http://skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=746

As for full voice-acting or not, I suppose it depends on the game. I really can't imagine, for example, Mass Effect, not having fully voiced dialog. OTOH, I also play Mount and Blade, which has practically no voicing.

 

[cthulhumythos]

i would be ALL FOR THAT. i mean, voice action is cool and all, but having a ton of characters who say a ton of things is preferable.

that is all.