BioWare NPC ages?

[coaster]

However, I personally am a firm believer that if a player needs to meet a certain ability/skill check in order to access a particular dialogue option, he should be aware of it. In my opinion, it brings a sense of gratification to the player to know that his investment into a non-combat skill/attribute is paying off.

 

I agree. It is no more jarring to me than the artificiality of having to pick one of three numbered text replies in conversation, and I like the roleplaying aspects being highlighted in this way.

 

One of these days I will actually play that encounter and not

change into the Slayer and rip that guy's head off at the end of the conversation

. Too much temptation, possibly says something about my real life alignment.

[SixOfSpades]

It's perfectly understandable that some people don't like this dialogue style, even more so because it was barely ever used in the original game. However, I personally am a firm believer that if a player needs to meet a certain ability/skill check in order to access a particular dialogue option, he should be aware of it. In my opinion, it brings a sense of gratification to the player to know that his investment into a non-combat skill/attribute is paying off.

In my opinion, what the original game needed to use a lot more of was stat-based conversational options at all, not options that contained direct references to that stat embedded right in the text. Fill the game with enough dialogues that include possible options like "I know enough about Helm to know that he would never hold a Judgement trial in the hall of three completely separate dieties, none of whom are even of his own alignment," and the player will know that stat-based conversations are par for the course, and you won't need to totally break the immersion with options like "[Wisdom] I don't think you're a true Helmite, Anomen, and I'm going to break your teeth for what you said to Mazzy."

 

Not that it matters, but Bioware's designers seem to agree, as this approach was used in all of their subsequent games (Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic...).

Wait . . . they actually had things like "[insight]" cluttering up half of every conversation? Gods spare me . . .

 

I agree. It is no more jarring to me than the artificiality of having to pick one of three numbered text replies in conversation, and I like the roleplaying aspects being highlighted in this way.

What possible alternative to prewritten responses could there be? An Eliza-style text parser? Can you imagine trying to script possible engine responses to that? The whole game would be reduced to Final Fantasy-style "Attack / Run / Magic / Item" dynamics.

[theacefes]

Personally I prefer the dialogue wheel of ME and especially DA2 over the wall of text responses.

[Daulmakan]

Personally I prefer the dialogue wheel of ME and especially DA2 over the wall of text responses.

You like having random responses?

[theacefes]

Personally I prefer the dialogue wheel of ME and especially DA2 over the wall of text responses.

You like having random responses?

 

I honestly don't mind the randomness or the fact that your choice isn't EXACTLY what the character will say. I think the PC voicing brings more immersion to the gameplay experience. But that's just me and what I like. I like games that present a cinematic experience. I don't expect everyone to like it.

[aVENGER_(RR)]

Wait . . . they actually had things like "[insight]" cluttering up half of every conversation? Gods spare me . . .

 

Pretty much, yeah. Here's a screenshot from NWN2 showing a dialogue screen where the player can make several different skill checks.

 

For the record, CoC's [insight], [Persuade], [intimidate] and [Lore] were lifted straight out of the original Neverwinter Nights.

[polytope]

Wait . . . they actually had things like "[insight]" cluttering up half of every conversation? Gods spare me . . .

 

Pretty much, yeah. Here's a screenshot from NWN2 showing a dialogue screen where the player can make several different skill checks.

 

For the record, CoC's [insight], [Persuade], [intimidate] and [Lore] were lifted straight out of the original Neverwinter Nights.

 

I didn't find it any more immersion breaking than vanilla BG dialogue having the possible responses numbered, or cues like "the party has lost an item".

[SixOfSpades]

Jaheira is roughly a decade older than Charname; the Roll of Years places the Tethyrian civil war (the "Ten Black Days of Eleint") in 1347 DR, the year before Charname was born. One of Jaheira's Lovetalks describes that she was a child during this time.

Correction. The Lovetalk does not actually state that Jaheira was still in her childhood. Rather, it just gives a bunch of hints: Her parents died and she went to live somewhere else (which could still happen to an adult), and these events defined who Jaheira became as a person--and therefore this was very likely, though not necessarily, in her "formative years." So it's all implied, nothing explicit.