AS MUCH DIALOGUE AS POSSIBLE

Okay, so games like Zelda and Final Fantasy tend to have a lot of background dialogue.

I love to read the dialogue, so I often make a point of running around after every major plot point and reading what all the background characters have to say, even if it takes a lot of time out of gameplay. I'm even in the habit of stopping to read the dialogue of every background character I pass by, even if I've read what they've said before and they aren't going to say anything new.

Does anyone else do this?

edited 12th Jun '11 10:30:06 AM by annebeeche

People who skip cutscenes and then complain they have no idea what is going on should be slapped.

And yeah, dialogue is alot of fun when its done right.

I agree. However there is a special, horrible piece of Hell reserved for developers who put long, unskippable cutscenes right before difficult segments.

Unskippable cutscenes when you already saw them are bad.

IM LOOKING AT YOU ACE R's MACROSS FINALE

I do that, Anne. It's one of the reasons I love Lunar so much.

I play point-and-click games for this. They are already 80% story anyways.

I always do this. I especially like it in video games where there are multiple playable characters that can have special conversations with NP Cs.

My brother: Let's just go to the next level! Me: No! I must see what Deadpool has to say to Iron Man!

Games like that are why i love crossover games.

Such a damn shame Mv C 3 had so little interaction between the characters....

Could you imagine a MK 9 style storymode!?

edited 12th Jun '11 10:52:37 AM by Thorn14

That would have been the best thing ever. I liked the little pre-battle quips that the characters had with certain others, but a real story would have made the game just marvelous.

I was really hoping just about every character had a crossover line, but sadly they were few and far between.

I could do without the battle quotes from Jill and Sentinel calling Deadpool a mutant, though...

edited 12th Jun '11 10:57:51 AM by foodbattle

Would Half Life count? Granted, that probably doesn't fit, but...

Yyyyyyyyyup!

... Pretty much all I have to say to the topic without going into unnecessary detail about how NPCs are the best thing in the world.

Now, I'm not a fan of unskippable cutscenes. However, if you're gonna give me those, at least give me a compelling story and interesting characters you can actually care for. Part of the reason why I loved Okami so much were the varied NPCs, who you could actually care for at times, and loathe at other times. It's that rare game that has enough interesting characters and a compelling enough story to make me go through tons of text.

I LOVE this aspect of Paper Mario.

I generally always try to talk with every person possible. I hate it when a certain dialogue drives the story further in a way that makes it impossible to talk with everyone else in this scene (because the characters leave the place, a huge incident happens, etc.). At least before I talked to everyone.

You'd have fun OP with Alpha Protocol

I try to talk to most background characters on the basis that a) it might help further the plot in some way or b) there's some sidequest or special reward linked to minor NPCs that I may have the possibility of missing.

edited 12th Jun '11 12:49:27 PM by X2X

This is the reason why Majoras Mask is still my favorite Zelda title. No game before or since has made me feel empathy for nearly every single NPC. The time limit and the way it was done (something that I normally hate) probably helped.

-raises hand-

Yep, that's me alright...Arc Rise Fantasia. The game has 3 Major Cities chock full of civilians in every single area, a number of minor towns/villages that also appears to be inhabited by quite a lot of people as well, and their dialogues change each and every single time an event happens, whether I just beat a boss or just met with a new character...

It adds a lot of flavor to the world, plus, a lot of NPC's have their own little story to tell if you talked to them all game long, my favourite are the Love Triangle and Your Cheating Heart stories that happens to some of the NP Cs...also, unlockables, outfits and other freebies. And some NPC's have dialogues that crosses over with other NP Cs.

Also, it's a good way to remember what's happening to the outside world beyond your party's quest.

edited 12th Jun '11 1:44:46 PM by Signed

I like how Golden Sun's Mind Read ability doubles the amount of dialogue you get from NP Cs. Especially when their thoughts betray lies, or when somebody notices what you're doing.

Dragon Quest. Party Chat.

I've played enough RPGs that have had seemingly unimportant NPCs start side quests or something similar that I now instinctively talk to everyone. Not because I enjoy reading the text, although it often is interesting, but because you never know where the devs are gonna hide EXP.

edited 12th Jun '11 2:32:33 PM by Blissey1

Fire Emblem. I am not normally a completionist, but I impulsively grind turns so I can max out my Supports. Not to mention the fact that most of the characters feel real and interesting to me.

, Amen to that. Part of the reason it takes me forever to complete a FE is due to a) Supports and b) keeping everyone alive. Also, the party chat in DQ was great. Especially in Dragon Quest VIII.