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I love games with basically no dialogue

S

sanstesy

Member
I love games that just let me play, play and play and as a result there is no surprise I love games that don't feature long-winded dialogue no matter if that is well or poorly written.

For example, Super Mario Galaxy is a good game but the constant interruptions in between levels and even inside the levels themselves were pretty grating. No surprise that Super Mario 3D World is my favourite 3D Mario game ever. That game dosen't waste your time with any of that nonsense while delivering constant platforming goodness.

Similarly, old 2D Metroid games. Recent discussion surrounding a new Metroid game reminded me of the fact how cool the first few Metroid games were in that respect. The first Metroid Prime was best at this but I was still not a fan of the abundance of text logs you had to get through in order to get some of the history and story of that world. Not only is it tiring delivery it is also making that lore and world way less mysterious. On the other hand, another game of Retro Studios called Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze does this storytelling without any of these logs by sheer extraordinary environmental design - no text or dialogue reading required! Whatever Retro is working on right now I hope they go forth with that approach for their next game.

Maybe people can post some examples of recent times that pull this off well. Note that I'm not advocating that less dialogue is objectively better. It's just a huge preference of mine I've noticed over the years of playing games.
 
I love all kinds of games and have been playing many story driven games recently... thats why its refreshing to play a muliyplayer game every now and then.

Yakuza 0 is alotta reading and I'm just like... "Lemme go back to UC4 multiplayer..." lol
 
Whereas they have some minor dialogue, Team ICO games are far more focused on the game-play.
They are as follows: ICO, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian.
 
The Last Guardian is a great example. You communicate through body language, and the sounds Toriko makes offer subtle hints. Team Ico's games excel at this.
 
Journey and Inside are good examples - forgot them! But I think in return they are still pretty cinematic games. Not exactly the replacement I have in mind.

InsaneTiger said:
Soulsborne

He he he he he he
Click to expand...

There is plenty of dialogue over the course of every Souls game. Less than the standard these days but still more than enough. Actually, similar as it is the case with Metroid Prime I also don't like the text dumps in item descriptions. Wish they would completely double down on environmental storytelling instead of that cumbersome method of delivering information.
 
If its a story driven game i hate missing something but for multi you don't need it. But one of my favourite movies is SOLDIER (kurt russel) where there is not much talking
 
agreed. atmosphere and mood are fine [D*Souls], but except in very rare cases I hate dialog.

3 exceptions - I like dialog in Uncharted franchise, TLOU, and Portal. It's okay in some ME and DA:O... basically, maturer themes work better for me.
 
Unlike world of final fantasy
Fuck that game

Let me play andearn myself. Give me small short hints. Don't interrupt the gameplay every minute and force me to hear a stupid pos NPC explain every little thing to me.
 
I'm with you on that preference, OP. It's not a unilateral preference, because I really enjoyed the first season of The Walking Dead, and I think the dialogue in Grim Fandango is the only thing that kept me from dropping it out of frustration.

I can't think of any huge, recent games at the moment. Usually when I just want to play, I go for more arcade-style stuff like Thumper or Rez.
 
I played ABZU thanks to PS+ and it felt like a great palate cleanser. No dialogue or any real challenges. Just relaxing.


Though I do love wordy games. Persona my jam.
 
i'm the same. can't stand filler and excessive dialogue/cutscene interruptions. just let me play the damn game
 
sanstesy said:
I love games that just let me play, play and play and as a result there is no surprise I love games that don't feature long-winded dialogue no matter if that is well or poorly written.

For example, Super Mario Galaxy is a good game but the constant interruptions in between levels and even inside the levels themselves were pretty grating. No surprise that Super Mario 3D World is my favourite 3D Mario game ever. That game dosen't waste your time with any of that nonsense while delivering constant platforming goodness.

Similarly, old 2D Metroid games. Recent discussion surrounding a new Metroid game reminded me of the fact how cool the first few Metroid games were in that respect. The first Metroid Prime was best at this but I was still not a fan of the abundance of text logs you had to get through in order to get some of the history and story of that world. Not only is it tiring delivery it is also making that lore and world way less mysterious. On the other hand, another game of Retro Studios called Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze does this storytelling without any of these logs by sheer extraordinary environmental design - no text or dialogue reading required! Whatever Retro is working on right now I hope they go forth with that approach for their next game.

Maybe people can post some examples of recent times that pull this off well. Note that I'm not advocating that less dialogue is objectively better. It's just a huge preference of mine I've noticed over the years of playing games.
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
I agree as it's definitely not a case of something is better than nothing. If it isn't done right and in many video games it's not, don't bother .

How else do you think I platinumed fallout 4 ? Skip, skip .... Imagine my fallout character in real life ...

1. Huh a real town I should setup shop here
2. This Preston guys annoying but that castle is pretty cool . What's he going on about now?
3. Brotherhood huh? Well they seem to have good gear I'll just go along with them for some gear. They make good backup.
4. Institute? Are those the robot dudes ? They annoy me I'll just shoot them.
5. Wow this institute is big but they are pretty annoying . Huh? You're my son ? Oh yeah I guess I was looking for you but I don't like your face so too bad for you.
6. These settlements are mine I built them and I'm the king of them. I'm gonna see how high I can build .
7. Oh yeah railway I should see if they're still alive some time .

A real psychopath .
 
Nah, story in most cases makes or breaks the game for me. I get pretty bored with games that offer no additional substance other than pure gameplay.
 
Same here, I dont even read anything not related to crucial items, I just want to play not read a story whatever.

The only exception to this to thsi day is Bloodborne, I read it all in that game because is incredible awesome the cosmic stuff and lovecraftian of it all.
 
A Bird Story had no dialogue and I really enjoyed that. It's only a couple of hours long but it tells a nice story.
 
I've noticed a lot of these examples of games with no dialogue are still very cinematic games. That's why I had a hard time bringing up recent examples in the vein of Tropical Freeze and Super Mario 3D World.
 
Here here. Even the best game writing is woeful compared to every other form of entertainment.

Hyper Light Drifter
Little Nightmares
Inside
Journey

Edit: Virginia
 
Crypt of the Necrodancer has done wonders for me in this aspect. In mere seconds you're bumping some nice tunes and fighting monsters.
 
sanstesy said:
For example, Super Mario Galaxy is a good game but the constant interruptions in between levels and even inside the levels themselves were pretty grating.
Click to expand...

A good game? Mario Galaxy is a masterpiece. Mario himself could recite the dialogue of the entire script of Gone With The Wind in the middle of a boss fight and it still wouldn't ruin that game.

Having said that, I completely agree with your point about games being better without dialogue.
 
The older I get the more I am starting to feel this way too. Such a relief when you don't have to have a 15 minute exposition for the introduction of a game and you can just start playing.

It's a little weird for me though. If a game is going to have dialogue, I'd rather it be very frequent, almost like watching a movie/playing a visual novel or have barely any at all. For some reason I am more annoyed when a game tries to go for the middle ground. Although, I haven't played very many RPGs recently that have gone for the middle ground there. Not to say that trying to balance story and gameplay is bad, but with games that have long-winded story parts, you at least know what to expect instead of getting an inexplicably long scene out of nowhere.
 
Hey everyone, this is Dusk Golem aka AestheticGamer. I have posted on NeoGAF since 2011, and have decided to resign. I have enjoyed posting about horror games here for years, but I no longer wish to support the site and will be leaving for good. I will still be around the internet, I go by AestheticGamer on YouTube, I make games on Steam as Yai Gameworks, and I plan to go by Dusk Golem on other forums. I'll be joining an off-set of the GAF community leaving to try other ventures like ResetEra (Official Twitter for that here: https://twitter.com/reseteraforum ). I hope some of you who read this may consider it, and I plan to try to expose more people to horror games in the years to come. Just not here.

I hope you all are having a good day, and know I always loved the community, and in the end it's the community I'm going to stick with, not the site itself. If you want to follow me, my official Twitter is here: https://twitter.com/AestheticGamer1
 
HeeHo said:
The older I get the more I am starting to feel this way too. Such a relief when you don't have to have a 15 minute exposition for the introduction of a game and you can just start playing.

It's a little weird for me though. If a game is going to have dialogue, I'd rather it be very frequent, almost like watching a movie/playing a visual novel or have barely any at all. For some reason I am more annoyed when a game tries to go for the middle ground. Although, I haven't played very many RPGs recently that have gone for the middle ground there. Not to say that trying to balance story and gameplay is bad, but with games that have long-winded story parts, you at least know what to expect instead of getting an inexplicably long scene out of nowhere.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can vouch for this. I'm playing Nier: Automata at the moment and the problems I have with that game have nothing to do with the dialogue.
 
SomTervo said:
Limbo, INSIDE, Little Nightmares, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian

Play them
Click to expand...

Played like over half of them. While they may feature minimal to no dialogue they heavily lean on cinematic moments and a lack of gameplay focus for me. They are great examples of story-driven games with no dialogue, though.
 
sanstesy said:
Played like over half of them. While they may feature minimal to no dialogue they heavily lean on cinematic moments and a lack of gameplay focus for me. They are great examples of story-driven games with no dialogue, though.
Click to expand...

Yeah the first three on my list are the best examples.

Limbo, INSIDE and Little Nightmares have like literally no cutscenes or dialogue at all, start to finish. Just pure, beautifully handled gameplay.

The Team Ico ones are just minimalist but still a bit stop startey
 
Metroid has already been mentioned.
Mario games and DK games are obvious.


I would say Wario Land 4. Some dialogue, but an overall charming well made platformer.
 
I like a mix. Persona is one of my favorite series and that's almost pure visual novel at some points. But at the same time I like my Metroids as devoid of communication as possible.
 
SomTervo said:
Yeah the first three on my list are the best examples.

Limbo, INSIDE and Little Nightmares have like literally no cutscenes or dialogue at all, start to finish. Just pure, beautifully handled gameplay.

The Team Ico ones are just minimalist but still a bit stop startey
Click to expand...

I didn't play Inside and Little Nightmares so I will give them a shot. Wasn't too impressed by Limbo that's why.

HeisenbergWW62 said:
You should play the MGS series
Click to expand...

I played MGS2. Worst first impression ever after the ship segment.
 
I played the original NiGHTS into Dreams for the first time not too long ago and I was really impressed by how well it told the story without dialogue, especially for a development team that clearly wasn't used to working in CG. It really makes the horribly directed and written cutscenes in their later games perplexing.
 
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