Poll: What type of Dialogue tree suits your play style and should it have options?

[Uriain]

I have been making a run through the Dragon Age series, Mass Effect series, and Witcher series as I am quite a fan of each of these series on their own, and RPG's in general. I also was recently talking with a few friends on dialogue tree's and how they impact your game play.

Both of the guys I was talking to were in favour of "straight forward" style dialogue tree's which make your answer = your choice. Example being any time you get aggressive with someone (in a non intimidate move) you are trying to trigger a fight via dialogue.

Myself, I prefer a more ambiguous, which allows me to answer as "I" would, aka without the full knowledge of how the topic will play out, but you THINK it means . To me, this makes you think a bit more on your dialogue choices and can really make the story portions that much more exciting/entertaining when you are trying to guage/juggle your own personal dislike/agression for a character or situation against the mission/scenario your characters are in.

What are your thoughts

 

[skywolfblue]

Straight Forward for me.

I'm not too fond of moments when you read the dialogue choice and the text seemed to say one thing but when spoken/acted out meant something else entirely. Dragon Age Origins had that problem in spades, it was one of the things I was grateful that DA2 fixed to a large degree.

That doesn't mean the text has to match the spoken part word-for-word. Mass Effect 2/3 did a good job for the most part summarizing the idea of what was to come in a handful of words.

 

[Mikejames]

It depends on how "ambiguous" the choices are. I hate it when the tone of a dialogue option sounds reasonable in my head, but then my character voices it like he's being set up to kill someone. Just look at L.A. Noire.

 

[Thebazilly]

It depends on how "ambiguous" the choices are. I hate it when the tone of a dialogue option sounds reasonable in my head, but then my character voices it like he's being set up to kill someone. Just look at L.A. Noire.

This. But usually I prefer the more ambiguous responses, like in Mass Effect and SWTOR, which give the opportunity for you to be surprised by your character.

 

[Yopaz]

Honestly I don't really like dialogue trees at all. I prefer when a game has a single well written story rather than having an ending that's based on the choices you made during the game. I'll also wonder what would have happened if I said I wanted mayonnaise on my sandwich rather than red peppers, would I have got the ultimate ending if that had happened?

It's not really role playing either considering they don't do what I want them to do. I simply pick an option that is more akin to what I want than the other options.

 

[BarkBarker]

To try and emulate a conversation is impossible because it requires the element of unlimited adaptability, the dynamic nature of natural conversation is far from any dialogue tree could achieve and should be scrapped in turn for a normal storyline told through the characters as THEY are and less what I choose them to be, I am them only on the battlefield not the man inside their heads.

 

[Hazzard]

Witcher 2 has the problem of being misleading, I'm hiring a whore to seduce someone and I want her to do whatever she wants to him. It comes out as "Do what you like, just get him to move." Seemed a bit unfair, I was trying to ask nicely.

 

[WanderingFool]

I chose the "expansive" option, but really its more a peference for straight-forward. The difference thogh is basically the ability to change the tone in which you say it. Basically, you have the option of asking for a piece of information, and you can go the basic oot and just ask, or you can switch to charm mode and try to charm the informatin out, or choose the intimidate mode and scare the information out. Same basic question, but three ways to ask it.

 

[maconlon439]

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers had the best type of dialogue tree.

 

[Someone Depressing]

I don't want my character to accidentaly be an asshole. Or be too nice to someone I want to be an asshole to.

That's why I prefer SWOTOR and DAO's dialouge systems over ME1-3's. Honestly, I did not suspect that Shephard would punch the shit out of that poor news-reporter. That had taken meaback, and I didn't mean to do that.

 

[daklean]

I picked Ambiguous, not because I don't care; nor because I like surprises.
I chose it because I actually liked the dialog tree in Dragon Age2 (about the only thing i liked) where you had basically 6 different dialog types: (pardon my memory but its been awhile)
1.)there was the olive branch/peace offering branch (blue)
2.)respectful branch (blue)
3.)lazy/don't care branch (green)
4.)fully sarcastic/joking branch (green)
5.)i want to start a fight/insult branch (red)
6.)hard-line, not going to take no for an answer branch (red)

As I remember you would get to pick from the available 3 options to advance the story (randomly: 1 blue, 1 green, 1 red)

I felt the most sense of control over my character's personality (as in actually being able to RP as Hawke) with this system.

My reasoning is that, as in real life, my Hawke would answer differently with different people.
Talking to the Dwarf was almost always a green answer; with the broody elf guy, red; and with the outcast mage elf, blue.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

I prefer expansive, or at the very least straight-forward.

I wouldn't mind ambiguous if writers weren't shit and my dialogue never said something blatantly different then what I actually picked. Occasional surprises work, but only if I steer it in that direction in the first place.