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[DragoonWalker]

It's not just games but also movies and tv shows that won't shut up. Dialogue is an art and silence is the frame.

 

[StueyDuck]

I like to record all the details of my life in a journal, then tear all the pages out and put them in random places all around my house and workplace.

Also like to make little 30 second audio recordings on SD cards and scatter them about.

That way it forms a really compelling narrative if I die and someone has to piece the puzzle together about what I was up to.

It's funny that stick of truth ripped into this years ago yet devs are still doing it.

 

[StueyDuck]

Weak thread OP. You state games have too much dialogue, then describe a game where the dialogue and charcter interactions are a core part of the game. (BTW that's the reason I never started it, combat looks awesome dialogue looks tedious.)

Then compare it to a game that is the complete opposite to that in Helldivers 2, MP, no plot, no characters.

So when you say "video games talk too much" it reads false because even in your own example, you describe a game that doesn't.

It's not a 'video games talk too much' problem, it's a genre problem. It's like playing a turn based game then complaining combat is slow. Would Baldurs gate be even half as good without all that talking?

Sounds like you wish Midnight Sun's was a different game (I do too), but complaining that it isn't what you want it to be is a pretty weak complaint imo.

I guess you didn't play much xcom?

Basically the same game from essentially the same studio and they barely talk. Just the information you need then they throw you into the game.

If wanting a game to be a game first is "weak" then i guess we truly are at lowest point in gaming.

All spiderman has to do is make a quip then we play the game, we don't need 40 dialog options and some stupid romance option and 2hrs of exposition about why the stone of groblak in the sewer is bad that's just bad or as you would say... weak writing.

Sometimes the "it's not for you" argument doesn't really hold the water people think it does.

(Midnight suns is one of many games as well it just happened to be the example game of the thread I used, read other commentors who feel the same to get more examples)

 

[Danknugz]

i literally just stopped gaming pretty much. i still love retro console roms and mame / arcade roms and my gamepass ultimate padded out to july 2027, and i have a couple games i play, but most new games i don't really care about. i also don't really pay attention to the "gaming industry".

edit: i do have a inkling to go back and work on my nintendo backlog however

 

[Fafalada]

I don't mind characters talking as I'm exploring or fighting.

I do - it's pretty egregious in lots of recent games - Shenua's Saga went from 'voices in my head' in first game to 'chorus outright narrating the gameplay tutorial - for the entire game, all the time'.
And it doesn't stop with new games - Dead Space Remake's by far the worst quality is that the new Isaac barely shuts up anymore. It was bad in the sequels - but it's much worse in the remake.
Then there are games where 'gameplay dialogue' system just isn't up to the task - like Plague's Tale where while I'm sneaking around people will randomly loudly talk at each other, or just be out of context.

Admittedly when article says 'talk too much' I don't think of it as just voice. Lots of text-only games are entirely too dialogue heavy, and even indies often fall into that trap - but granted the standards for that were set way back in the 90ies, industry just collectively refuses to move past it.

 

[64bitmodels]

Uh-huh, so smartphones are popular, most people have short attention span, and the most mainstream games have little to no dialogue to serve that audience, like Call Of Duty, GTA, God Of War... Oh wait...
Nah, you got it all backwards.
4 lines of pointless dialogue ARE there to keep your tiktok brain engaged.
The suits seem to believe that gameplay won't hold your attention by itself, so they'll assault your senses 24/7.

he's talking about cutscenes in games which do require some attention span to keep attention to, also interactable NPCs with text. That's not something brand new, that's something we had back in the 90s with Final Fantasy.

I agree with some of the others that OP is just complaining about genres. Try something more fast paced like an FPS game, you don't have to think about text when you're playing Ultrakill, Trepang2, or Doom

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

Metal gear solid. 4 especially. You'll get a long ass motion captured cutscene where they over explain shit for hours, only for that scene to be followed up by a PowerPoint presentation with fmv footage explaining it all again.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

This is why multiplayer games are superior.

having actual humans with headsets creates the worst dialogue and banter in the entire history of gaming for me

 

[JayK47]

I start every game with the intent of reading or listening to all dialog. For most games, it is such shit, I quickly resort to skipping or skimming it to move things along. For someone who loves jRPGs, I am really getting tired of how much time is spent listening to the angsty teens talk. It is such mindless filler. It has gotten pretty bad. There was not that much talking in older jRPGs. Or at least, it was all text and I could read it quick and move on. Atelier, Tales, Trails, and Final Fantasy are major offenders in this regard. They really need to get to the point in these games.

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

The most bizarre one to me is stories, characters and press conferences/interviews in racing games; especially when it's unskippable. I just wanna race cars ffs..

yeah that stuff is so weird, and it's always janky and/or cheesy.
guess its there to yell "hey this isnt a budget game" or something.

just make the racing good. all you need.

 

[BabyfaceRe]

I guess you didn't play much xcom?

Basically the same game from essentially the same studio and they barely talk. Just the information you need then they throw you into the game.

If wanting a game to be a game first is "weak" then i guess we truly are at lowest point in gaming.

All spiderman has to do is make a quip then we play the game, we don't need 40 dialog options and some stupid romance option and 2hrs of exposition about why the stone of groblak in the sewer is bad that's just bad or as you would say... weak writing.

Sometimes the "it's not for you" argument doesn't really hold the water people think it does.

(Midnight suns is one of many games as well it just happened to be the example game of the thread I used, read other commentors who feel the same to get more examples)

I played a ton of Xcom, which is precisely why I wouldn't touch this game as it is stuffed full of conversations and relationship building. It is a core part of the game and was advertised to be exactly that.

If you blindly went into the game thinking "it's Xcom but marvel" that truly is on you is it not? There were tons of reviews and previews, there is zero reason for you not knowing what you were getting into.

I knew well before release it wasn't for me and I didn't have some secret insider information, I had access to everything you did.

"It's not for you" is a perfect arguement here as its entirely accurate. You liked Xcom you don't like Midnight Sun's. You don't like it because of the addition of all the talking, ergo it's not for you. Again, myself and MANY MANY others knew this before playing the game even launched. Somehow you didn't? Or the more likely outcome is you did know that, idealisticly hoped it wasn't exactly what the previews said and instead was secretly just like Xcom, played it, got pissed off it was exactly as advertised and then went to a forum to cry.

(Your thread is about games have too much talking and you literally give the example of Helldivers 2, a recent game without talking, one of MANY. That's why I called it weak. There may be more games with talking as a focus but to pretend that is the majority of games is just blatantly false. You might aswell complain that "games have too much combat", depends on what you play and that's up to you. I personally don't play games where the core mechanics are ones I really dislike, not sure why anyone ever would but that's on you. Other people agreeing with you doesn't make your point valid. People agree on lots of things, like biological sex doesn't mean anything, doesn't make them correct.)

 

[StueyDuck]

I played a ton of Xcom, which is precisely why I wouldn't touch this game as it is stuffed full of conversations and relationship building. It is a core part of the game and was advertised to be exactly that.

If you blindly went into the game thinking "it's Xcom but marvel" that truly is on you is it not? There were tons of reviews and previews, there is zero reason for you not knowing what you were getting into.

I knew well before release it wasn't for me and I didn't have some secret insider information, I had access to everything you did.

"It's not for you" is a perfect arguement here as its entirely accurate. You liked Xcom you don't like Midnight Sun's. You don't like it because of the addition of all the talking, ergo it's not for you. Again, myself and MANY MANY others knew this before playing the game even launched. Somehow you didn't? Or the more likely outcome is you did know that, idealisticly hoped it wasn't exactly what the previews said and instead was secretly just like Xcom, played it, got pissed off it was exactly as advertised and then went to a forum to cry.

(Your thread is about games have too much talking and you literally give the example of Helldivers 2, a recent game without talking, one of MANY. That's why I called it weak. There may be more games with talking as a focus but to pretend that is the majority of games is just blatantly false. You might aswell complain that "games have too much combat", depends on what you play and that's up to you. I personally don't play games where the core mechanics are ones I really dislike, not sure why anyone ever would but that's on you. Other people agreeing with you doesn't make your point valid. People agree on lots of things, like biological sex doesn't mean anything, doesn't make them correct.)

i mean this is all just wishy washy, "I'm so smurt", gaslighting.

Basically if you have no stance then that is fine. But don't call someones thread "weak" because you don't really have anything to say.

just because helldivers 2 exists doesn't now mean the thread is null and void. Have you never had to think critically before? Oh well there was one good apple in the bunch so how can we say the latest trend of rotten apples is true.

 

[IDKFA]

I know this is a hot take, but i feel i'm surely not alone in feeling this way. I have aired grievances similar to this before on here, But recently i decided to startup Midnight suns on ps5 since it's now on premium, excited to jump into the great turn based action that firaxis is known for.

right off the bat i am hit with just an awful story beat, poor writing, terrible dialog. so my reaction is to just skip and i did and it was great, i was in the tutorial interacting with the combat system all was great. However as soon as the combat encounter is over i am stuck with another awful cutscene, for some reason Iron man is a bumbling fool who is basically simple jack, I think we know why self inserts would have done that but what ever i can skip. now im some dude in a graveyard, cool, walk forward, oh look! back into more long stretched out dialog. skip skip skip, choose some dumb dialog choice, skip skip, and now im in some town hall thing, loads of characters around me and guess what you can do, that's right, talk to more npcs and have more and more and more dialog thrown at you over and over and over....

so i close the game, delete it off my harddrive and launch up Helldivers 2 and BAM!!! im playing a video game within seconds, jumping around, having fun.

so basically im asking if anyone else feels this way about modern gaming? it just seems to be writers and artists trying their hardest to push their self inserts or beliefs or whatever onto you over and over and over and you barely get to play the actual game. Games are just so boring now, i'd rather watch a tv show or a movie.

If developers insist on being dialog heavy and story heavy it has to be some of the best writing out there and barely any developers working right now have that sort of talented writing staff behind them.

anyway that's my rant for the day. enjoy yours

I'm with you.

If I want a story I'll watch a film or read a book. Both are far superior at storytelling than video games.

With a game, I just want to get straight into the action.

 

[digital_ghost]

Also women talk too much

Living with some women is harder than any dark souls.

 

[Lorianus]

Every new character that i met in Wuthering Waves was yapping 10 minutes of exposision at me when i encountered them, it was ridiculous.

 

[Drell]

If it's a narrative gamey dialogs can be good, but not until the game let you understand and apreciate the gameplay loop.

 

[Paasei]

I play a lot of Hitman. After a few thousand hours I still have no idea about its story. You can skip all of that and go straight into the level and start making the most disgusting/clean/creative kills imaginable. That’s what it’s all about.

 

[BabyfaceRe]

i mean this is all just wishy washy, "I'm so smurt", gaslighting.

Basically if you have no stance then that is fine. But don't call someones thread "weak" because you don't really have anything to say.

just because helldivers 2 exists doesn't now mean the thread is null and void. Have you never had to think critically before? Oh well there was one good apple in the bunch so how can we say the latest trend of rotten apples is true.

If you think I'm gaslighting, being wishy washy or claiming I'm smart, that is absolutely your take. Throwing out a bunch of buzzwords doesn't make you correct, nor does ppl agreeing with your opinion. If you don't understand the term "critical thinking" then why use it?

Games have too much talking is a straight up false statement, proven by you're own example of a modern game that is not plagued by too much talking.

What you're really saying is you don't like the genre of the game you played but you are blaming the game for not being what you want, instead of understanding you are just wishing it was something else. (Again, I do too but my response is to not play a game that isn't for me, not to play it and then complain about it on a forum seeking validation.)

There is nothing critical about your view. It is hyper subjective and personal to your own tastes that's all. Saying there's too much first person perspective in games while playing Destiny, while you know The Division exists, rings false. Your not even engaging with my points just trying to shut me down, I see your game OP.

 

[StueyDuck]

If you think I'm gaslighting, being wishy washy or claiming I'm smart, that is absolutely your take. Throwing out a bunch of buzzwords doesn't make you correct, nor does ppl agreeing with your opinion. If you don't understand the term "critical thinking" then why use it?

Games have too much talking is a straight up false statement, proven by you're own example of a modern game that is not plagued by too much talking.

What you're really saying is you don't like the genre of the game you played but you are blaming the game for not being what you want, instead of understanding you are just wishing it was something else. (Again, I do too but my response is to not play a game that isn't for me, not to play it and then complain about it on a forum seeking validation.)

There is nothing critical about your view. It is hyper subjective and personal to your own tastes that's all. Saying there's too much first person perspective in games while playing Destiny, while you know The Division exists, rings false. Your not even engaging with my points just trying to shut me down, I see your game OP.

Lol ok bud, enjoy.

 

[64bitmodels]

Oh well there was one good apple in the bunch so how can we say the latest trend of rotten apples is true.

There are also many other not rotten apples out there, but you took midnight suns and extrapolated it to all modern games.

RPGs are going to have a lot of text. Simple as. Play a shooter/platformer next time

 

[Valonquar]

Fortnite: Save the World mode NPCs literally never shut up ever.

 

[mitch1971]

You know what I find just as irritating, is the silent protagonist. I know the reasoning for it - you are the character, blah blah blah - but do I have to be struck mute!! At the very least, have a voice that replies with the simplist of verbal acknowledgements. It's so silly when a character asks you to help and then comes out with : Your silence is all the confirmation I need. Really!? If I have no choice in the matter then at the very least have the character say, yes, ok, agreed, etc. It's just dumb. Infact, I feel more disconnected from the character not having anything to say than an actor saying shit for me.

It's even worse when you think the reason for them not having a voice is the expense, to then hear them say stuff through gameplay - the first decendant for example.

 

[StueyDuck]

There are also many other not rotten apples out there, but you took midnight suns and extrapolated it to all modern games.

RPGs are going to have a lot of text. Simple as. Play a shooter/platformer next time

I've played many rpgs where the story and dialog isn't insufferable.

It's strange that because it's an rpg that means it's allowed to be shit

Mass effect barely rambles, all long winded lore and exposition is found externally on the ships computer for those who want to enjoy it.

It's so weird that we act like games haven't already solved this problem.

 

[Kataploom]

Like 70% of every Horizon Zero Dawn dialogs felt waaaaay too overextended, like I swore they were ending like 2 or 3 times before they actually ended and fucking couldn't stfu... I really hate that shit.

I think games like Souls-likes, farming and survival have been very popular due to they not talking to the player too much, in general that's the thing with indies as well. People just want to play a game.

But it's also a matter of dialogs not feeling important or relevant, even if I love Xenoblade 3 sometimes they overextend some sidequest stories and dialogs and I start feeling tired of it, but even so the actual story is amazing and they can be there talking for half an hour for all I care lol.

 

[MafiaMurderBag]

I start every game with the intent of reading or listening to all dialog. For most games, it is such shit, I quickly resort to skipping or skimming it to move things along. For someone who loves jRPGs, I am really getting tired of how much time is spent listening to the angsty teens talk. It is such mindless filler. It has gotten pretty bad. There was not that much talking in older jRPGs. Or at least, it was all text and I could read it quick and move on. Atelier, Tales, Trails, and Final Fantasy are major offenders in this regard. They really need to get to the point in these games.

What I love especially about FF7 & 8, is that the dialogue is realistic. The characters have unique personalities & they talk like how real people would speak, there's a certain grit.

Most JRPG's now are these whimsical, generic clean & simple dialog which not even a 10 year old would use, no personality other than young & noble, young & cute & young & snarky.

Sea of Stars especially has ribs & ribs if dialogue to say something that could've been said in 2 text boxes.

 

[MafiaMurderBag]

Every new character that i met in Wuthering Waves was yapping 10 minutes of exposision at me when i encountered them, it was ridiculous.

I feel the same way on Genshin impact. You talk to an npc at your own peril. You think it'll be quip worth one text box before you know it, you're held prisoner while they ramble about how they were thinking of boiling stone carrots for a dish but their existential dread is holding them back.

 

[PsyEd]

In CoD you need a perk for your character to STFU...which is a waste. I mean I really don't wanna know if you need say it loud that you're reloading or getting stitched up...giving away your position in the process. In SP adventure games it's seems ok but MP games...it feels weird for me.

 

[Tell’em Keb]

I completely agree. The older I get (43), the more I just want games to shut up and get out of the way. Most stories don’t warrant the amount of reading, audio logs, conversations, etc that are put in games these days.

 

[nkarafo]

I recently started playing Forza Horizon 5 and the dialog almost made me uninstall the thing. They constantly talk to you with this obnoxious, overexcited style like that kind of parent who try to overhype their children. You can't skip it so if they want to talk to you about new events on the map, you have to let them finish before you can have any control back. And if that's not enough they also talk to you while you are racing. And of course, because the game map is in Mexico, they have to address you as "amigo". It's all just a constant audio cringefest.

Mercifully, the audio options can fix this problem for me. I turned down the voice volume down to zero and enabled the subtitles. So if i'm interested to hear what they say i can just read them. Otherwise i just enjoy the racing events without the constant yapping. It doesn't fix the waiting time while they explain you new shit but other than that the game is now 150% more enjoyable to me and i think i'm going to use this mute+subs method on other games as well. Because it never bothered me in the older text based games.

 

[clem84]

Might I suggest this OP.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

I'll never forget the glory of Doom 2016's intro area and the rejection of a typical story, then the blissful silence after