The (player) dialogue is deteriorating at a worrying rate.

MattVH · November 2020

The PLAYER dialogue is deteriorating at a worrying rate. "the dark heart" quest was unsurpassed in this matter.
I'd give several examples but 1 stood out enough:

Player: "i don't understand."

I really feel that if a subject has been explained over and over this realy shouldn't be the only option to further a quest.

I hope 'writing'/story, but mostly; dialogue isn't concidered subjective by zenimax online, and this feedback is welcome. In that case i'd say:

Just always make it an "option" if you want the players to RE-explain dialogue or act oblivious. Don't make it the only thing to pick and to progress a quest. I feel like there should be a lot less questions in the quests.

Tiny spoiler:
Here's another example from the same "The Dark Heart" quest:

These two screenshots actually follow up. So the matter gets explained completely in the first dialogue topic, and the second topic has you already asking the dumb question. No it's not the other way around, haha. (Hell, the lost ability got explained 2 times before that through visions already)

I got the impression we had short memory loss, but now it's at a rate of 20 words it would seem.

And then there's people not recognizing you or you not understanding what the gray host is after 50 topics about it. The writing being very predicatable, especially in greymoor. But that could be more subjective and we have several threads about that. I wish there was more of a place for that kind of feedback though.

VaranisArano · November 2020

I tend to click through all the dialogue options and Elsweyr felt like it had a lot of options where I could ask to be reminded "Hey, remind me what the heck was I doing around here again?"

Which makes me wonder if this isn't a deliberate attempt by that ZOS writers to compensate for the episodic nature of playing ESO now. I mean, you could start the main quest of a chapter, then meet the hooded figure, then go do an event, and before you know it, it's two weeks later and you're asking Abnur Tharn, "Er, what was it I was doing for you again?"

Then you add in the quarterly nature of the storyline, wherein Greymoor rehashes the plot points discovered in the Harrowstorm dungeons because brand new players can't play the story in order.

That doesn't excuse repetitive dialogue from the same conversation, of course. But I do think it's a deliberate choice on ZOS' part to make things more repetitive on the whole, probably due to their story structure and the lack of railroading through the storyline.

MattVH · November 2020

VaranisArano wrote: »

I tend to click through all the dialogue options and Elsweyr felt like it had a lot of options where I could ask to be reminded "Hey, remind me what the heck was I doing around here again?"

Which makes me wonder if this isn't a deliberate attempt by that ZOS writers to compensate for the episodic nature of playing ESO now. I mean, you could start the main quest of a chapter, then meet the hooded figure, then go do an event, and before you know it, it's two weeks later and you're asking Abnur Tharn, "Er, what was it I was doing for you again?"

Then you add in the quarterly nature of the storyline, wherein Greymoor rehashes the plot points discovered in the Harrowstorm dungeons because brand new players can't play the story in order.

That doesn't excuse repetitive dialogue from the same conversation, of course. But I do think it's a deliberate choice on ZOS' part to make things more repetitive on the whole, probably due to their story structure and the lack of railroading through the storyline.

The optional choices are indeed for newer players that haven't run into parts of the story yet. I'm quite sure you're right about that. But that still leaves the oblivious questions inside the same dialogue sequence. I wish those were the same; optional and after the quest stage has advanced.

The whole "Who are you again?" is weird to people that pay attention, but at least it's an option. so i can't be too bothered by that.:)

It's fine when you can do that as an option and after the quest has progressed to the next stage. Sometimes there's no way around it though.

But again, I'm mostly annoyed having to ask NPC's to explain obvious stuff once again, that has been explained in the same dialogue sequence already.

cynicalbutterfly · November 2020

Sometimes those redundant questions are very helpful. Spefically after you've dropped a quest line for a time and return later on to it and have quite forgotten who everyone is. Or perhaps you had to take a break from the game for a while.

Minyassa · November 2020

Clearly the Vestige has taken a LOT of blows to the head. See, that's what happens when you let people hide their helmet.

vestahls · November 2020

Reading dialogue instead on spamming 1

VaranisArano · November 2020

cynicalbutterfly wrote: »

Sometimes those redundant questions are very helpful. Spefically after you've dropped a quest line for a time and return later on to it and have quite forgotten who everyone is. Or perhaps you had to take a break from the game for a while.

Agreed. Though when they repeat info and even the same exact lines farther down the dialogue tree in the same conversation, it starts to feel like the NPCs think dear old Varanis Arano the Vestige has the memory of a goldfish.

WaywardArgonian · November 2020

The worst is when the only way to progress the dialogue is by clicking a dumb dialogue option, and the NPC then berates you for your forced stupidity.

In general, I think the 'refresh my memory' dialogue options could be done so much better if they weren't written from a perspective of total ignorance on the player's behalf. Like I obviously know what the Gray Host is after doing all these quests about them, but I still might want to hear what this particular NPC has to say about them. So why not, instead of "What is the Gray Host?", make the option "What can you tell me about the Gray Host?"

MattVH · November 2020

WaywardArgonian wrote: »

The worst is when the only way to progress the dialogue is by clicking a dumb dialogue option, and the NPC then berates you for your forced stupidity.

In general, I think the 'refresh my memory' dialogue options could be done so much better if they weren't written from a perspective of total ignorance on the player's behalf. Like I obviously know what the Gray Host is after doing all these quests about them, but I still might want to hear what this particular NPC has to say about them. So why not, instead of "What is the Gray Host?", make the option "What can you tell me about the Gray Host?"

Couldn't agree more. I've always felt the same exact way. It's indeed the worst.

I would rather not sacrifice my own character's 1 grams of intellect for the sake of abnur tharn's snarky personality, or khamira being the favorite of the year. It feels so forced...

"dragons?"

"didn't you notice the oversized flying creatures? "

("no I'm apparently dense as hell, but you really are amazing. Fine. Much character building. Goodbye." )

I'd move on to another topic, but next up:
Thinking about all the times the dialogue was taking the moral high ground about killing (while being a silencer for the dark brotherhood).

I should just come to terms that light role-playing is not just tough anymore. It's impossible now.

Araneae6537 · December 2020

I’d love more dialogue options and characters reacting accordingly! I’m glad that at least in the DLC zones NPCs will recognize your race as for instance it’s quite jarring when characters talk to my Bosmer as if she were not one. (I just know there’s going to be some remark about how she isn’t one since Bosmer passives were messed up!

)

Nord_Raseri · December 2020

I've always hated the dialogue options in this game. Always looks like our characters are nothing but naive lost little lambs.

Resdayn_Fyr · February 2021

Yeah, I understand that there sometimes need to be dialogue options asking for clarification but I've found that the Vestige is, er, extremely slow.