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[LordCBH]

Another showcase/reveal even has come and gone, this time PlayStation's State of Play, and it's really being hammered home how just genuinely awful modern writing is, not just in video games, but all media. A large part of that, I believe, stems from writers and developers just not letting their characters shut the hell up.

It happens in so many games now, as well as tv shows and movies. The characters just have to incessantly talk and quip and it is EXHAUSTING. The latest example of this was the 20 minute gameplay reveal of SSM's God of War Laufey, which I enjoyed other than the inability for the characters to shut up when it came to the gameplay.

This isn't exclusive to Laufey, as Ragnarok had this issue as well, just not to seemingly this extent. Silence is just as much a part of writing dialogues and characters as spoken content is. Silence lets the characters breathe and lets the players contemplate and think. Teams, I beg of you, let your characters be silent now and then.

Stop the Forspokening of the entire medium.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

 

[cireza]

Developers probably think that players are dumb. So you need to have the main character constantly explaining to you what is happening, what you are seeing and what you should do. Everybody must be able to complete the game.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Joss Whedon ruined millennial writers. Sick and tired of these Marvel quipfests for yellow paint gamers.

 

[Shubh_C63]

No can't do. The silent protagonist where they were treated as empty shells for player to fill in is over. Especially in these times where bunch of people keeps trying to find themselves whenever they watch a TV show and try to cancel/praise for exclusion/inclusivity.

A silent protagonist shell works for games like Bioshock/SystemShock I guess. Just different form of story telling.

 

[LordCBH]

No can't do. The silent protagonist where they were treated as empty shells for player to fill in is over. Especially in these times where bunch of people keeps trying to find themselves whenever they watch a TV show and try to cancel/praise for exclusion/inclusivity.

A silent protagonist shell works for games like Bioshock/SystemShock I guess. Just different form of story telling.

I'm not asking for a silent protagonist. I'm asking for developers to use silence as part of their character writing. To just not have the characters talk incessantly for the bloated run time of modern games.

 

[Rheon]

One of the absolute worst things about modern gaming.

Sony first party titles have consistently been the worst offenders for this.

 

[Gonzito]

Sony is the culprit of this crap. Horizon forbidden west was awful in this aspect, Aloy was spoiling the player every single puzzle before hand.

And they keep doing the same thing with God of War Laundry

 

[Guilty_AI]

Forspokenification is a nice term

 

[diffusionx]

Horizon FW and Ragnarok were horrible with this. Aloy sounded mentally deranged in Horizon.

It seems this game is still early, they didn't even give a release year, so we will see what happens.

 

[LordCBH]

One of the absolute worst things about modern gaming.

Sony first party titles have consistently been the worst offenders for this.

Sony is the culprit of this crap. Horizon forbidden west was awful in this aspect, Aloy was spoiling the player every single puzzle before hand.

And they keep doing the same thing with God of War Laundry

100%. And I say this as someone who enjoyed Forbidden West. But I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as the first one, and that's part of the reason why.

 

[MMaRsu]

I hate games that constantly do this

But Geralt of Rivia is no stranger to this as well folks

 

[LordCBH]

I hate games that constantly do this

But Geralt of Rivia is no stranger to this as well folks

I agree, though the issues seems to be getting worse with each passing year.

 

[Zacfoldor]

NPC dialogue in Elden Ring:

Maliketh, the Black Blade:
"Witless Tarnished... why covet Destined Death? ...To kill what?"
[He pulls the sword from his own flesh]
"O, Death. Become my blade, once more."

Ranni the Witch:
"I swear. To every living being, and every living soul. Now cometh the age of the stars. A thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the Moon. Here beginneth the chill night that encompasses all, reaching the great beyond. Into fear, doubt, and loneliness… As the path stretcheth into darkness."

Malenia, Blade of Miquella
"Heed my words. I am Malenia. Blade of Miquella. And I have never known defeat."

Drake Warrior Igon
Curse you, Bayle!
I hereby vow! You will rue this day!
Behold, a true drake warrior! And I, Igon!
Your fears made flesh!
Solid of scale you might be, foul dragon...
But I will riddle with holes your rotten hide!
With a hail of harpoons!
With every last drop of my being!

I'll be honest. Sometimes I even skip boss dialog.

No matter how great it is, unless it is like Elden Ring level then I'm probably going to skip it.

I think Pragmata did a great job with the dialogue.

 

[SJRB]

Stolen valor - Horizon was doing this shit way before Forspoken.

I hate games that constantly do this

But Geralt of Rivia is no stranger to this as well folks

Geralt saying flavor text like "wind is howling" or whatever is on a completely different level than the fucking character literally telling you how to solve a puzzle if you stand idle for more than 5 seconds.

 

[MMaRsu]

Stolen valor - Horizon was doing this shit way before Forspoken.




Geralt saying flavor text like "wind is howling" or whatever is on a completely different level than the fucking character literally telling you how to solve a puzzle if you stand idle for more than 5 seconds.

Oh yeah for sure but it was the first thing I thought of when I tried to think back on when this kind of thing started

"Hmm must be a Wyvern nest"

"Hmm cave trolls"

"Hmm there were drowners here"

Shepard never used to say shit unless he was talking with someone

 

[Magic Carpet]

It can be too much. I don't mind a little, but nowadays it's way too much.

 

[Robb]

Yeah, I hate it. There should at the very least always be an option to turn off all non-cutscene dialogue. I don't need my character running around talking like a schizophrenia patient while exploring, if you can even call it exploring at that point..

 

[lughnasadh123]

Telling you how to solve puzzles is a no-no. Having chatter however is excellent that helps make the game feel alive while also giving a sense of companionship with your character as if they are talking to you even if it's to themselves. In some games it makes a lot of sense given the characters often isolated relationship with other people in the world. I'll happily take all the quips than have another boring ass mute character.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Stolen valor - Horizon was doing this shit way before Forspoken.

Geralt saying flavor text like "wind is howling" or whatever is on a completely different level than the fucking character literally telling you how to solve a puzzle if you stand idle for more than 5 seconds.

Yeah, there's a HUGE difference between your character making comments periodically that relate to the universe, story, etc. and constant yapping about anything and everything going on. I remember the barks in Ragnarok being especially annoying regarding puzzles, or the remarks while fighting. Hearing them constantly yap is annoying enough, hearing the same line more than once in a small window is even worse.

I really don't understand why it just keeps happening. It's like they think folks have short attention spans and constantly need to hear something, lol.

 

[The_Observer]

I remember when the trend was the "silent protagonist" with the bullshit excuse that the player can better insert him/herself into the main character that way. I'm glad it was over. But now I can't agree more, it's horrible nowadays that they just can't be silent. And I also agree that the main problem is the horrible millennial marvel style writing which makes me sick. I think this trend started with the first Horizon game.

 

[DAHGAMING]

They give off propper main character energy.

 

[Zacfoldor]

I think it started in Witcher 3 when they gave the witch a radio for you to take into the cave.

 

[LordCBH]

I remember when the trend was the "silent protagonist" with the bullshit excuse that the player can better insert him/herself into the main character that way. I'm glad it was over. But now I can't agree more, it's horrible nowadays that they just can't be silent. And I also agree that the main problem is the horrible millennial marvel style writing which makes me sick. I think this trend started with the first Horizon game.

Honestly the first horizon was tame compared to the sequel, which was still somewhat tame compared to Forspoken and this. It just keeps getting worse…..

 

[The Cockatrice]

• Yes

  Votes: 2996.7%

• No

  Votes: 13.3%

I like the yapping. I've played more than a decade without yapping, so for now I'm ok with more than a decade of yapping. In 2030 I might change my mind.

 

[MMaRsu]

I remember when the trend was the "silent protagonist" with the bullshit excuse that the player can better insert him/herself into the main character that way. I'm glad it was over. But now I can't agree more, it's horrible nowadays that they just can't be silent. And I also agree that the main problem is the horrible millennial marvel style writing which makes me sick. I think this trend started with the first Horizon game.

In many games a silent protag can be a good thing

I dont want a talking mario

I dont want a talking protag in a fallout/oblivion etc where I make my own character and choose from lines of dialogue

I dont want talking banjo kazooie

I dont want a talking Gordon freeman

 

[Generic]

I don't care too much but the cube from Laufey is fun.

 

[Mownoc]

It's created for the ADHD, Tiktok/YouTube shorts generation.

The type that can't even pay attention to a video so the bottom half the screen has to have some random GTA V or Trackmania car flipping going on that has nothing to do with the short.

 

[Zacfoldor]

• Yes

  Votes: 2996.7%

• No

  Votes: 13.3%

I like the yapping. I've played more than a decade without yapping, so for now I'm ok with more than a decade of yapping. In 2030 I might change my mind.

In jrpgs I need the dialog even if I skip most of it.

In P5R sometimes you need to read a bit of the dialog to rebase yourself in the game.

JRPG and CRPG both really benefit from lots of good dialogue.

I think the quality of the writing matters a lot. Like BG3 had a lot of dialogue but nobody will complain about that one because the writing is good and not marvel-esque.

 

[The_Observer]

In many games a silent protag can be a good thing

I dont want a talking mario

I dont want a talking protag in a fallout/oblivion etc where I make my own character and choose from lines of dialogue

I dont want talking banjo kazooie

I dont want a talking Gordon freeman

Yeah sometimes it can be better, but Gordon Freeman being silent was always weird to me for example.

 

[LordCBH]

• Yes

  Votes: 2996.7%

• No

  Votes: 13.3%

I like the yapping. I've played more than a decade without yapping, so for now I'm ok with more than a decade of yapping. In 2030 I might change my mind.

Spoiling my beautiful 100% Yes responses.

 

[Unfortunatecookie]

100% agreed, couldn't have said it any better.

 

[Hypereides]

This guy said it best: less is more.

I don't understand why modern west coast gamedevs don't apply this principle to their games. I'm guessing its because they're chasing the Tiktok attention span audience who can't go 5 minutes without getting stimulated or engaged.

 

[SupaComputa]

It's always elementary school level writing too, at best it's YA level.

 

[Embearded]

You have no taste.
I like it as it is, thank you very much.

 

[LordCBH]

The type that can't even pay attention to a video so the bottom half the screen has to have some random GTA V or Trackmania car flipping going on that has nothing to do with the short.

God that shit annoys me so much when I find a video. Instead of expecting better, we're just catering to the lowest, most base individuals.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

This guy said it best: less is more.

I don't understand why modern west coast gamedevs don't apply this principle to their games. I'm guessing its because they're chasing the Tiktok attention span audience who can't go 5 minutes without getting stimulated or engaged.

Because they are as retarded as the audience they are aiming at. They are bad writers. They are not even writers, to start with.

It's the same as making companions for every MC. Instead of using the environment, music, animations, and other elements to deliver the message, they need a chatty companion. But it's not because they think we are dumb. It's because THEY are dumb and can't do any better.

 

[DryvBy]

I stopped playing Horizon 2 because she wouldn't shut up. And her voice is annoying to me.

 

[Laptop1991]

Even worse with, "Bethesda's every one is talking at the same time", BS, you can't understand what they are all saying. and some dialogue is like hearing the whole of the Encyclopedia Britannica, it feels like it's never going to end, or stop.

 

[LordCBH]

Because they are as retarded as the audience they are aiming at. They are bad writers. They are not even writers, to start with.

It's the same as making companions for every MC. Instead of using the environment, music, animations, and other elements to deliver the message, they need a chatty companion. But it's not because they think we are dumb. It's because THEY are dumb and can't do any better.

I love to write stories and stuff. The difference between me and them is I know I'm bad at it.

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

Retards talking to themselves and chatty radio buddies can fuck right off. Lazy writing and gameplay design.

I don't mind it existing, just give me the option to turn it off ...and design levels/areas with that in mind. Please and thank you.

 

[Bojji]

Sony is the culprit of this crap. Horizon forbidden west was awful in this aspect, Aloy was spoiling the player every single puzzle before hand.

And they keep doing the same thing with God of War Laundry

I bet they won't reach quality of 007 laundry machines in this game.

 

[propano]

I also hate this trend, but I think there is a strong disconnect between online communities and the actual market where this stuff is sold. Probably, market research and the associated so-so implies that having this chatter is good for hooking the zoomer generation. We are in the minorance.
It's also possible it's just a leftover from 5 years ago (when design and development started) MCU success.

 

[RoboFu]

They can't, got be easy interactive movies these days for the common folk. not too hard... press A to win.... participation trophies for all!

next people will create AI players to beat bosses for you.

 

[rm082e]

I have noticed LLMs are very wordy and over-long when they summarize things. It makes me wonder how much of these scripts are written by LLMs.

It also makes me appreciate how little dialogue there is in From Software's games.

 

[LordCBH]

I bet they won't reach quality of 007 laundry machines in this game.

I want to shove that cube into one of those laundry machines from First Light lol

 

[Anchovie123]

Bring back the silent protagonist!

If Nintendo ever gives Link a voice the series is doomed.

 

[Fake]

Dude you are very late to the party.

This was a persistent problem with Playstation first party, until Astro Bot break the cicle.

And looking at Playstation first party reaction to criticism, like their Facebook/Twitter/Youtube disable like buttons, disable comments and such things, I don't think they see this as a problem.

In fact, they Disneyfy their games at open hands.

 

[LordCBH]

I have noticed LLMs are very wordy and over-long when they summarize things. It makes me wonder how much of these scripts are written by LLMs.

Probably a lot more than we think.

 

[mckmas8808]

NO!!!! I like the talking.

 

[John Bilbo]

Luckily in shmups and other arcade games there barely are any dialogue.