When will the main character in RPGs say something brilliant

[Romanian_Dude2005]

In most RPGs, the best lines, the kind of lines that are quoted in forum signatures along the famous quotes of Abraham Lincoln, Aristotel and Benjamin Franklin are often wasted on quest-giving NPCs or the main character's rival.

But I would like to see atleast for just once, if I could say something intelligent, brilliant, original and inspirering during a dialog sequence. Something that could stop a raped girl from throwing herself off a bridge later in the game, something that will stop 2 sworn enemies to stop fighting and samefully admit their mistakes, something that will make even the highest autority in the gameworld to scracth its head and take lessons from my character, something that will inspire NPCs to believe/follow/support my character as if I was their spiritual teacher and inspiration.

Of course this should depend on the characters intelligence, but I would realy apreaciate to say for once "Man... I proud that I'm playing that guy".

 

[Ahzaruuk]

I know the feeling.

I just wish the dialouge in some games were like Drakan. Arokh's dialouge was awsome in that game

 

[sheek]

Nothing in any RPG has ever 'inspired' me. I don't play computer games for inspiration... For that to happen you need game designers to be inspiring. Sorry I just can't see a game design monkey being as inspirational as Abraham Lincoln, Jesus Christ or whatever.

 

[Romanian_Dude2005]

That was an exageration, but still most of the good lines in a game are wasted on NPCs rather on the main character despite his intelligence

 

[Bah]

Yeah, no kidding. About the only game lines I remember are the sword-fight insults from Monkey Island 1. But I wouldn't call those inspiring.

 

[HardCode]

"All your base are belong to us."

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

I have to admit, "rumours" moved me to tears.

 

[Texas Red]

"Curse thee to the darkest of pits, thou stench-ridden worm. Kneel before me in supplication, insect."

That rant goes on for a bit.

 

[Wulfgar]

I always found this one rather interesting:

Ok, I've just about had my FILL of riddle asking, quest assigning, insult throwing, pun hurling, hostage taking, iron mongering, smart arsed fools, freaks, and felons that continually test my will, mettle, strength, intelligence, and most of all, patience! If you've got a straight answer ANYWHERE in that bent little head of yours, I want to hear it pretty damn quick or I'm going to take a large blunt object roughly the size of Elminster AND his hat, and stuff it lengthwise into a crevice of your being so seldom seen that even the denizens of the nine hells themselves wouldn't touch it with a twenty-foot rusty halberd! Have I MADE myself perfectly CLEAR?!

:D

 

[Jim Kata]

planescape:torment

 

[TheGreatGodPan]

I liked J.C Denton's conversations with Morpheus and the bartender. He didn't have the better part of the conversation and there was the player was removed from making dialogue decisions with the designers taking over the character, but they were still better than average.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

If you said anything like what a NPC would say then other people will straight out attack you. The PC you are usually required to take shit because everyone in the game is an asshole and little babies who can't take a little heat. But when they do it to me OH ITS OKAY NOW.

 

[Zomg]

Let's have a little competence before we ask for virtuosity.

However, I did have some starts playing Deus Ex. I've got a replay of PS:T coming, but my memories of it at the moment are a little bit too corrupted to advance it as an example.

 

[Nael]

One of the only good conversations in Oblivion:

"Do you know what the fine for necrophilia is in Cyrodiil?"

One of the choices:

"Is it your first offense?"

 

[Whipporowill]

One of the only good conversations in Oblivion:

"Do you know what the fine for necrophilia is in Cyrodiil?"

One of the choices:

"Is it your first offense?"

Yeah, but then that's more of a joke than a stellar piece of dialogue.

 

[Micmu]

I'd vote for PS:T. TNO had often funny sarcastic replies and insults at his disposal. Using them slowly shifted your aligment towards Chaotic.

 

[Spazmo]

Re: When will the main character in RPGs say something brill

a raped girl...throwing herself off a bridge

This is exactly what is missing in modern RPGs.

One reasonable argument against PCs getting the good lines is the idea that PC dialog should be universal as possible. NPCs should be written with interesting and memorable personalities, yes, but you want a minimum of dialog options to span a maximum number of possible characters and character motivations. So, if the end result is to ask the NPC about his missing shovel, there's no need to write that line ten different ways ("I am a fighter! Tell me about SHOVEL!" "I am a sassy fighter! Tell me about SHOVEL, lol!" "I am a grim and serious fighter. Tell me about SHOVEL, and make it dramatic."). However, for responses that occur because of character skills/attributes/actions, there you can start to tailor some specific and more memorable lines. If a line shows up because you have a lot of charisma, and maybe if you're done a few things to make you somewhat on this NPC's bad side, then make the reply snappy and witty. I just don't think every PC should always be Mark freaking Twain in dialog all the time.

 

[Norfleet]

It's a tradition in gaming that the main character tends to say little if anything. An article about that is here. So only a minority of games actually give your character anything to say except one-liners. Hell, for years, your character spoke in only single words: "Name!" "Job!".

 

[Kos_Koa]

The idea of the silent protagonist makes sense, even disregarding the technical limitations of the past. I am conflicted in which one I prefer since I love the silent hero type, but having my PC say something that could stop a raped girl from throwing herself off a bridge sounds nice as well.

 

[Zomg]

You guys come up with the nicest ferinstances.

I've been playing Facade, and I want to talk about it, but I'm about a year and a half late. I'm trying to think of a way to work it into an active topic, but it's pretty well impossible. I am vexed.

 

[Wulfgar]

You guys come up with the nicest ferinstances.

I've been playing Facade, and I want to talk about it, but I'm about a year and a half late. I'm trying to think of a way to work it into an active topic, but it's pretty well impossible. I am vexed.

Oh puh-leaaase, benevolent Zomg, tell us about "Teh Facade"! Spin your epic tale, you great bard, before we burst with curiosity! :D

 

[Inziladun]

Facade? I remember playing that and accidently kissing people all the time.

I'm not really a fan of games where you have to guess at what to say though. After typing 'Shut the fuck up, you retarded monkeys, stop arguing' and was replied with a 'what?', I stopped playing.

Well congratulations, now you have a reason to talk about Facade. :wink:

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

I always found this one rather interesting:

Ok, I've just about had my FILL of riddle asking, quest assigning, insult throwing, pun hurling, hostage taking, iron mongering, smart arsed fools, freaks, and felons that continually test my will, mettle, strength, intelligence, and most of all, patience! If you've got a straight answer ANYWHERE in that bent little head of yours, I want to hear it pretty damn quick or I'm going to take a large blunt object roughly the size of Elminster AND his hat, and stuff it lengthwise into a crevice of your being so seldom seen that even the denizens of the nine hells themselves wouldn't touch it with a twenty-foot rusty halberd! Have I MADE myself perfectly CLEAR?!

:D

I have a feeling that this was Baldur's Gate 2, but I can't remember where...

 

[Zomg]

Yay! re: Facade

It is a very easy game to dislike, despite being kind of enjoyable fluff on its own merits. It is instant middlebrow canon, for one thing, and derives most of the critical first impression that got it some ephemeral fawning from seeming like more than it is. The dialog parsing is no less frustrating than an Infocom game's, and in most cases more so because things keep happening as you type and unlike Infocom you don't have a text box generating soft constraints on your "word universe". It may be that there is a sophistication to the parsing that I don't grasp that means the timpani-pounding "This is the future!" talk had some merit, but in terms of raw interface use I see no difference.

In effect, the interest of the game comes from you wildly trying to wed your intent to the rather random results of your dialogue, while a bunch of small component semi-static narratives whiz by, after which the resolution is generated by tallying up a few integer counters. It's actually pretty interesting for a few playthroughs, because it is certainly gameplay I haven't seen before. I think it would also be kind of fun as a slightly improvisational acting sim, if you know the obfuscated keywords that will "solve" each small component narrative, to just run through it hitting your marks, almost like a rhythm game.

It bothers me that no critic asked the question, "What would this be like as either full IF or as dialog trees (or even as an RPG)?" I've never seen anything in there plot wise that they couldn't do. You still have your egregiously middlebrow story and cedilla to ward off the art demons, so what would it look like? I think the answer in either case is a much more satisfying game and interactive narrative, where your intent and what happens aren't so absurdly divergent , and in the dialogue tree case a game more humble about its limitations and exhaustibility. Its quality as a rhythm game would decline, though.

 

[Balor]

Well, I remember a dialogue with Kreia about nature of salvation... GREAT stuff.
I just love her philosophy. Nietzsche rulez!