Bioware let's have a talk about your conversation system.

[Aiden_the-Joker1]

Yes thank you. You have summed up my opinions exactly. I really do not know what to say now because I agree with every point 100%. i guess I could go off on an evil rant about SCIENCE if anyone wants to hear that.

 

[BeeRye]

For me, its the fact that I knew exactly what my Warden would say in origins is what I liked most. I like knowing what my character is going to say. With DA2, and Mass Effect, I have to guess at what he's going to say. Multiple times I've had Shepard say something that was not related to the little summary. Mainly when I try saying that he's not working for Cerberus(he then says that he is working for Cerberus). This didn't happen much, but it happened enough for it to really get annoying. There's also the issue of not knowing the tone of what you'll say. Femshep's dialog with Jacob is a prime example of this(she'll start flirting with Jacob out of the blue). Granted this is minimized in DA2 now that we can see the tone of the words, but there's still the issue of not knowing what he'll really say.

In short, I liked Origin's dialog system better because I can pick exactly what my character was going to say, rather then pick a summary and hope the actual dialog matches.

I can fully agree that I would prefer to know exactly what my character is going to say and in what tone. I don't like having to guess at it and yes, ME2 was quite annoying as far as this was concerned. I like to here it voiced after I've chosen it too though. Silent protagonists just don't work for me in Origins. You're supposed to be having conversations with you companions, but the blank silence just makes it incredibly one-way traffic. But yes, the ideal compromise for me would be a fully voiced character where you could read the exact sentence and were told the intended tone.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I prefer the wheel, cuz when i've got 7+ options (as was the case in DA:O) I'll always go for the sarcastic/witty response or the "let's be nice to everyone" response.

And i like knowing when the convo will progress. The "investigate" section on the wheel does this nicely so i can click everything there then choose my sarastic response to progress.

With DA:O I have no idea if i'll progress if i ask this or if i'll loop round for another question. This always leads me to reload my last save if i really wanted to ask something but the game as progressed me past it.

 

[Wayneguard]

Mass Effect's conversation system is one of my favorite aspects of that series. I wish more games would implement it.

 

[Belgian_Waffles]

I want to illustrate a few points, however I don't know how to multi-quote so bear with me.

1. I do like the dialogue wheel, it doesn't work however for a game like Dragon Age which deals with extreme grey situations
2. Shepard is normally spelled with one "P" however Bioware felt like being a black sheep and spells it with two, go figure.
3. Susan Boyle, Susan Boyd. I fucked that one up sorry.
4. I love Bioware, I'm no means a hater, every single one of there games is high up on my top 50 games. Dragon Age: Origins is second only to Ocarina of Time.

 

[Dogstile]

B: Quit it with the damned Good - Neutral - Evil reply system. It's stupid as hell and doesn't add any depth of moral conflict to the game but rather takes it away. Rather than encouraging the player to respond as they might were it actually them being asked a question or, alternatively, trying to actively roleplay in the roleplaying game, it instead encourages canned replies based purely on the alignment rather than the merits of the words themselves. Basically it's stupid and has to go.

My only issue with that is with the current problem of only seeing a bit of dialogue, clearly saying which is which to the player is the only way we can make sure we know what we're doing without the game having to use massive cliche's. I'm talking about a "fuck you, punk!" every time you want to do something evil.

 

[Zaik]

I think its fine, just I would like when you select an answer that your character say what you selected instead of a pile of other words.

Yeah, that sometimes bothers me. I mean, for example, in Mass Effect 1, when you're riding the elevator up after you use the mining laser to rescue Liara and a Krogan pops out, the renegade option says "Kill this bastard." That's awesome. So you select it, and Shepard says "We don't have time to deal with this idiot, charge!" That sucks. A lot.

You can't really have all of Shepard's dialogue be 1-3 word responses(about all you can fit in the dialogue wheel without looking silly), but sometimes that short bit is just better.

 

[Ace of Spades]

I fucking hate the text responses. My character always has the same stony-faced expression and never opens his mouth. I much prefer the system in Mass Effect. Having a character with no spoken dialogue doesn't work for a game that isn't viewed from first-person.