About Dialogue in RPGs

[Milennin]

In RPG Maker games, dialogue is pretty common, but there are a lot of different ways to use it. Do you keep your dialogues short, or maybe you have none at all; do you give dialogue only to side characters and NPCs or do you let your protagonist speak?

I'd like to hear from you the length or depth and what kind of dialogue styles you prefer when you are playing an RPG, and what ones you are using in your own RPG Maker projects. What are some things to avoid when writing dialogue for RPGs? What advice would you give people who are looking to improve their dialogue writing?

(Note: the first two questions in the poll are aimed at dialogue between characters in the player party)

Discuss.

 

[Matseb2611]

Good topic.

I personally like for the inter-party dialogue to happen on a regular basis, usually when new developments happen - main story progresses, they're entering new places, or even if something unusual has just happened on the map. Basically anything that might get a reaction from the player should technically get a reaction out of the protagonists too. It's important to keep a good balance, I think, between the gameplay segments and cutscene segments. Sure, flavour text is needed, but if I am stopping the gameplay to hear a conversation every second, it can hurt the pacing.

As for the length, I believe the dialogue should only be as long as needed to get something across to the audience. I don't like it when characters repeat themselves too much or needlessly go into too much detail and info dumping. It needs to be short and concise to progress the story, BUT, it should also allow some room to develop their personality. Developing drama within the party is a good idea. Not all protagonists will react the same way to the unfolding events. Not all of them should stay silent when they disagree with the main character's decisions. There'll likely be a lot of clashes of interests, and that is something I like to see. In essence, they should be treated as real people.

As for the graphical side of things, I like there to be at least facesets for the main characters, though if it's possible to have faces for everyone, emotions, or even busts, that's even better.

 

[Uzuki]

What helps me out when writing dialogue is acting it out. I just love directing so it's easier for me to play the characters and respond accordingly. It's also a great way for you to see if your scene flows naturally and you can easily spot out anything forced or worded incorrectly.

 

[cabfe]

If you're spending hours with several people, I think it's best to make them have a personality, an interesting story and/or side quests/meaningful insight. Anything that makes me interested in them and not want to dump a useless member in the next tavern.

I have played amateur games where you are given a sidekick for no particular reason, who sides with you for no more reason. That's really bad.

If they're here with you, give a reason and expand on it.

There's also a simple rule to keep in mind when writing a character, even the dumbest NPC: everybody has a story. They didn't just pop out of nowhere.

As for facesets/busts, I prefer them to have a few emosets available, because you can't have an interesting character with only one face. It happens in movies, where an actor always shows the same face in the whole movie, sometimes across several movies (yet they are praised because they're good looking...) and it just doesn't work.

Now, having everyone have a face is a lot of work and probably not needed.

The "no face at all" feels cheap, unless you compensate this lack by custom poses for the sprites that convey the emotion like an emoset.

 

[RoooodWorks]

I like lots of dialogue, so long as it interesting and each character has their own personality. I also like dialogues that explains their back stories as well. I love reading each characters lines in my own voices and listening to what they say is always interesting to me.

about the face and busts, i don't mind either so long as it shows what emotions they are displaying for that dialogue

 

[Luiishu535]

These questions can be pretty hard, since it all depends on what kind of RPG it is and what the developer is aiming for. I've always enjoyed a minimalist approach though; do much with little. RPGs are videogames too, so you can't just have nothing but dialogue without any gameplay. That's not to say that there can't be gameplay within the actual dialogue itself. If you're going to make your RPG extremely text heavy, it would probably be a  good idea to make a lot of things optional, instead force-feeding your game with lore.

Some other notes I have on this manner:

• Make cutscenes/or part of cutscenes skip-able. This is good for replay value, especially if the player loses against an important plot boss and has to button mash through the same cutscene again.
• On that matter, I think it would be wise to not have too much dialogue/long cutscenes before fights if they're not skipable. Learn to write your RPG with both story AND gameplay in mind. 
• Have moments; you're characters can be bubbly from time to time. There's a time for everything.

Also, I'm surprised there aren't more text-based/visual novel games here in the community, seeing how many people only look for good stories without a care in the world for gameplay or whatnot.

About facesets: I like them (if they're well-made and fit the situation/game), but I don't find them absolutely necessary. An RM-classic called Prelude of Identity, did not have any facesets at all. Still, I felt that the dialogues were great, characters had personality and story was enjoyable. No facesets also lets the player use his/her/its own imagination a bit more. Portraits are fine as well, but also aren't a necessity IMO.

 

[Silent Darkness]

When you're making an RPG, character development is UTTERLY CRUCIAL! Just as much as the battles.

Assuming that the banter dialogue builds character, even just a little, the more the merrier.

 

[Shake0615]

There's also a simple rule to keep in mind when writing a character, even the dumbest NPC: everybody has a story. They didn't just pop out of nowhere.

This is probably the best advice someone can give when it comes to dialogue in RPGs. You can spot an amateur writer a mile away when every NPC says things like "These flowers are so beautiful!" or "I'm off to the bakery!" or something equally irrelevant to the plot. NPCs are an excellent opportunity to reveal bits and pieces of your lore in a non-obtrusive way. Remember that the C in NPC is character, so give them character.

As for inter-party dialogue between major events, it has to do one of two things: advance the plot or reveal character in an interesting way. If it doesn't do either, then it must be cut or else it's just getting in the way of your story. It should also be short and succinct.

If you want to improve writing dialogue, I suggest studying screenplays. Find the screenplay for your favorite movie and pore over it. A great writer can do the things I mentioned above in a very economical fashion. So study how they are able to achieve so much with so few words and it'll do worlds for your own writing.

 

[Ishiirou]

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[Token]

When it comes to dialogue, less is more. If it's not plot critical then it had better be good or else you're wasting the players time. If you want to include banter or general chatter from NPCs then it should be done in a way that is unobtrusive. The player should retain full control of their character and be able to move, shop, check menus as the characters talk.

 

[kranasAngel]

Personally I find dialouge to be relatively important, but I like to write dialouge with the idea that most players may skip it. I usually fill towns with tons of npcs who have interesting things to say, but, nothing usually plot relevant. The player can figure out what to do without talking to misc npcs, but I give those NPC's fun dialouge anyway.

 

[TheHonorableRyu]

I'd split consideration of dialogue into two categories: event dialogue and non-event dialogue. Event dialogue is the material written for the storyline, NPCs, scripted sub-quests, and optional camp-like features. Non-event dialogue is any talk that happens during routine functions of the game, such as performing actions in regular battles.

I like for there to be a fair amount of event dialogue, but the amount should be constrained by quality. Every attempt should be made to make each piece of included dialogue interesting in some area(s), such as plot advancement, characterization, world-building or flavor, providing useful information, comedy, etc. If the writing is dull and uninteresting more people will just skip through it. What's worse is when some of the event dialogue is interesting/useful but most of it isn't, so the player feels obligated to waste their time clicking through everything to get the interesting/useful stuff. A player should feel rewarded in some way for taking the time to read your story dialogue or talk to an NPC. They should want to do it. It shouldn't be a chore. If NPC dialogue doesn't tell the player exactly what they're searching for (such as some information that will advance the storyline) it should reward them with something else that's interesting so that the search becomes fun and immersive in itself.

With non-event dialogue the main thing is creating atmosphere and personality. It's better handled through voice acting/sound design and the words don't have to be particularly profound: it could just be the characters yelling, grunting, or shouting pet phrases. There could be a lot of it, a little of it, or none at all. I personally don't have a preference: it depends upon the kind of game. But care should be taken to make the dialogue match the kind of atmosphere or effect you're trying to achieve. Characters barely speaking and mostly grunting is going to have a different effect than characters being chatty and constantly vocalizing. Dialogue where the characters sound serious, sinister, or desperate is going to have a different effect than dialogue where the characters sound playful, cheerful, or peppy.

 

[Ronove]

Ok so I voted but I have cavaets to what I voted for.

When entering new places, or smaller segments in addition to the main story.

This is great but it gets really boring and annoying if they constantly talk and stop you from progressing. You have to find a good balance cause clearly we want to get to know these characters but we don't want to enter every single new area and get some small skit that really doesn't pretain to what's going on. So yes, this is good, but keep it short or your players are going to lose sight of what they should be doing. One thing I've done is I like my flavor text. So I have been adding small little conversations with some areas to get flavor text from with the whole party. So for example in the first town of my game you can read some records and stuff in the townhall. Some of them will have little dialogue with two characters so you can get a feel for the game's history and the character's reaction to it. But I do definitely love little small character building events and definitely love it when games have them.

Enough to give characters some room to show personality and development, maybe even add drama.

Same condition as before. You don't want it too long it either bores the players or makes them lose sight of what they should be doing. Make sure it fits with what's happening around them and don't make it too long. You aren't writing a novel--you're writing dialogue. Drama is great and it helps the plot but do it wrong and you've just introduced something that just muddies your plot or makes it drag. You definitely, at least to me, want personality and development to shine in dialogue but you don't need to write us a novel to do that.

A single face picture for the main characters will do for me.

This is the only answer I was torn on. I think this comes from your graphical capabilities. Can you give every single NPC their own face without wanting to chop off your hands? Then I think you should do it. Me? Can't do it. It annoys me and some of my NPCs are generic but I do not like generic faces. So I made sure at least since my game has one main town, to give important people faces who will have their own side quests should you choose to partake in them. I also think should you have faces with messages, you should go the extra mile and have emotions especially if your game is emotional and drama. Since we're already looking at a face if they are forever stuck in a face since that's their portrait, it kills the mood. However, I don't think devs should feel pushed to do this if they don't really have the means. If it's too much work to do emotions for everyone, then just make sure you have a neutral face. I'd prefer emotions but I'm not going to look down on your game if you don't have them. I have played games with no portraits and they are just as well made as one with portraits up the wazoo. I prefer faces but I won't immediately turn down a game that doesn't have them. You just gotta make sure in that case your dialogue is on point and you convey things with sprite movements and the like.

 

[2fruit]

How about choice progression dialogue or interactive dialogue as its most commonly known. Where the player gets to choose from a few options what to say to progress the dialogue, usually leading to different unique outcomes. I believe this compensates well for long dialogues as the player is actively involved and not just a spectator.

 

[Amuseum]

What's also important is the quality of the writing and style. I'll cite Planescape: Torment as it is undoubtedly one of the best writing for a video game. It has an enormous amount of text, but it doesn't feel burdensome because the writing, plot, lore, and style together are so immersive, interesting, engaging. But something like this demands a professional writer who is prolific and has good style.