• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Tabris praises the worst dialogue in the industry

T

traveler

Not Wario
Teknopathetic said:
"The writing in the game your avatar is from actually gives them a decent run for their money."


You can't really call it dialogue, though.


Jade Empire's a low blow, btw. I'm holding out hope for Dragon Age, since they'll finally be writing for an audience with an average age above middle school.
Click to expand...

You don't think they're aiming for that with Mass Effect? I mean, not only is it clearly an M-rated title, but they've been pitching the dialogue system as a core component of the game. Not exactly the feature you want to use to sell middle school kids on your game.
 
M

methane47

Member
180px-Gears_of_War-Cole.png


"LOOK AT ALL THAT JUICE!!!!!!!!!"
 
J

jet1911

Member
traveler said:
You don't think they're aiming for that with Mass Effect? I mean, not only is it clearly an M-rated title, but they've been pitching the dialogue system as a core component of the game. Not exactly the feature you want to use to sell middle school kids on your game.
Click to expand...

It's Tek talking about a console game. Don't expect a reasonable comment from him. ;)
 
T

Teknopathetic

Member
"Not even back in SNES/N64 days?"


Rare did Uniracer right? I'll give them that. Everything else was meh-to-bad. Similar to Factor 5 only having Turrican.
 
E

Evlar

Banned
traveler said:
You don't think they're aiming for that with Mass Effect? I mean, not only is it clearly an M-rated title, but they've been pitching the dialogue system as a core component of the game. Not exactly the feature you want to use to sell middle school kids on your game.
Click to expand...
I don't honestly know which demographic they're aiming at with their "revolutionary dialogue system" pitch.
 
E

Enk

makes good threads.
Wow that was the exact opposite which I was thinking. If anything, Baldur's Gate I and II have shown they have some of, if not the best, written dialogue for an rpg I've ever heard. In fact, that's one of the primary reasons I have grown to respect BioWare so much. Their games are not only deep and polished, but their character's are clearly defined.

Playing their games is one of the few times where I actually cared about the plot as opposed to just fast fowarding through it. When you make a statement like the one in your topic, it shows you haven't played that many games (like jrpgs).
 
B

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
okay, so obviously the op was being facetious with the "worst dialogue in history" thing. but there are certainly some lines there that could have been easily cleaned up by a decent writer, should they have one on staff.
 
N

Night_Trekker

Member
Yeah, I think this is worse.

But those are genuinely terrible lines. The second example could work if the speaker were ironically poking fun at her (?) early, romantic ideals but I'm not confident that was the intent.
 
C

Crushed

Fry Daddy
Teknopathetic said:
"Not even back in SNES/N64 days?"


Rare did Uniracer right? I'll give them that. Everything else was meh-to-bad. Similar to Factor 5 only having Turrican.
Click to expand...
Except for DKC2, best game on the SNES, and upon its release was the greatest game yet in the history of mankind.
 
T

traveler

Not Wario
Teknopathetic said:
"Not even back in SNES/N64 days?"


Rare did Uniracer right? I'll give them that. Everything else was meh-to-bad. Similar to Factor 5 only having Turrican.
Click to expand...

Viva Pinata was the best game on 360 till Bioshock came out.
 
T

Teknopathetic

Member
"Except for DKC2, best game on the SNES, and upon its release was the greatest game yet in the history of mankind."


Man, you're easy to please.


"Viva Pinata was the best game on 360 till Bioshock came out."

That's more telling of 360 than it is Rare.
 
C

Crushed

Fry Daddy
Teknopathetic said:
"Except for DKC2, best game on the SNES, and upon its release was the greatest game yet in the history of mankind."


Man, you're easy to please.
Click to expand...

Indeed, which is why DKC2 was even greater for me. My previous statements were 100% fact, revealed directly by God to humanity. All disagreement is null and void.
 
H

Herpes Reasons

Banned
Teknopathetic said:
"Not even back in SNES/N64 days?"


Rare did Uniracer right? I'll give them that. Everything else was meh-to-bad. Similar to Factor 5 only having Turrican.
Click to expand...

golden eye
perfect dark
banjo
donkey kong country

shall i go on?
 
E

Enk

makes good threads.
&#1057 said:
Except for DKC2, best game on the SNES, and upon its release was the greatest game yet in the history of mankind.
Click to expand...

Those are bold fightin words my boy!

*Pulls together Megaman X, FF3, Actraiser, Demon's Crest, Castlevania IV, Super Metroid, Secret of Mana, etc. in one big gaming orgy hug!*
 
D

Deacan

9/10 NeoGAFfers don't understand statistics. The other 3/10 don't care.
People will complain about anything these days.
 
B

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
shitty dialogue in an rpg should be complained about. you'll be hearing a lot of it. complaints work under the presumption that if enough people show a distaste for it, maybe things will eventually get better
 
T

traveler

Not Wario
beelzebozo said:
shitty dialogue in an rpg should be complained about. you'll be hearing a lot of it. complaints work under the presumption that if enough people show a distaste for it, maybe things will eventually get better
Click to expand...

Agreed. It's less forgivable with Western RPGs as well. (For native English speakers that is) I'm just hoping this is solely due to the fact these were trailer lines. Hopefully the majority of dialogue isn't so melodramatic.
 
E

Enk

makes good threads.
&#1057 said:
Nope, sorry. Wrong.

All of those games are great, but not as good as DKC2.
Click to expand...

Ok, that's it!

*rolls up sleeves*

Playground, after school Monday! I'll show you what this pirate is made of!

All your base are belong to Enk!
 
X

XHitoshuraX

Banned
&#1057 said:
Nope, sorry. Wrong.

All of those games are great, but not as good as DKC2.
Click to expand...

Wow crushed....your a une putain stupide infantile :D

And Belez is right, though to be honest concerning Mass Effect specifically, the dialog has always been suspect. In the end, if you're going to blame the writers, blame the actors as well.

EDIT: too harsh.... ::mumble::
 
J

J-Rzez

Member
jet1911 said:
Wow... you should not play Gears of War then.
Click to expand...

:lol

You wouldn't think it'd be cheaper for Epic to buy a room of monkeys and fill it with typewriters than hiring a real writer, wonder why they did it?
 
G

GremlinInTheMachine

Banned
DevelopmentArrested said:
What the fuck is a Canadian hick? Sounds like you have the worst dialogue on Neogaf, douche.
Click to expand...

All Canadians are hicks by virtue of Canada lacking anything resembling a national culture and Candians being guileless simpletons.

Mint?
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
L

Learn2read

Member
"How did you end up serving on an Alliance ship?"
"I enlisted right out of med school. Earth always seemed boring to me. Too safe, too secure. I figured the colonies were teaming with exotic adventure. I wanted to travel the stars, tending the wounds of tough soldiers with piercing eyes and sensitive souls."
Click to expand...

I just happened to be checking out some Mass Effect trailers and came across this line. The character who said this said it in a world weary, self-deprecating, and sarcastic manner.

I just think the OP ain't all there.
 
X

XHitoshuraX

Banned
The Sphinx said:
Twing-twang? You may need to play it.
Click to expand...

/slap.gif

I did the official thread silly thing.

And yes, bioshock did have fantastic lines but I'm talking about the quality of delivered lines, the pacing timing and actual acting of the lines...
 
B

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
see, bioshock had some great writing that was also highly stylized. it managed to never (well, so far as i was concerned anyway) cross the line between stylized and self-parody.
 
EviLore

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
While Baldur's Gate II is clearly the best rpg ever, and has top class writing, it's not exactly fair to let them ride on that credibility for seven years. Of Bioware's other RPGs, the only one with tolerable writing is KOTOR, and it has its sour aspects like the entire carth character (and kotor 2's writing is better). Baldur's Gate 1's writing is legitimately terrible generic fantasy drivel (but at least the passages are short, so it doesn't really grate on me), NWN1's campaign writing is even worse because it's filled with LONG and painful expository garbage rather than short and to the point garbage, and jade empire, eh well, the writing itself is usually not puke-bad except that it completely fails to capture the essence of its setting.

JRPGs largely fail, I'd wager, by inadequate translation jobs and horrendous voice acting. FFXII's great localization made for a pretty compelling story (well, from the 20 or so hours I played). If other games had that treatment the frequent awkwardness english speakers encounter would probably be addressed to some extent, although it wouldn't save generic effeminate teenager saves the world storylines.
 
B

buckfutter

Member
J-Rzez said:
:lol

You wouldn't think it'd be cheaper for Epic to buy a room of monkeys and fill it with typewriters than hiring a real writer, wonder why they did it?
Click to expand...
They actually did have a real writer at one point, I think someone who even had a hand in Bioshock, but sometime before release Epic decided that they didn't need a story or characters in order to sell a game about armoured slabs of beef with chainsaws slamming clumsily through a gauntlet of scaly bugmen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I am a 'Filthy Casual' - welcome to my meltdown my fellow potatoes
2 3 4 5 6
250
15K
Putonahappyface replied
  • Locked
Metaphor: ReFantazio Details Story, World, Tribes, Characters, English Screenshots
Hype
2
522
Fake replied
The Best (and Worst) James Bond Video Games of All-time
Opinion Retro
19
3K
NeverYouMind replied
GTA III: behind the scenes of the game that propelled Rockstar to the top of the world
Analysis Retro Game Dev
47
8K
Uhtred replied
Videogame subtitles could learn a lot from comic book lettering
Opinion
26
2K
AV replied
Top Bottom