Do you think that Telltale games have too much dialogue?

[Bloody Eugene]

Do you think that Telltale games have too much dialogues? And that would be good to reduce the amount of dialogue and give more "game" instead?

[caeska]

It really depends on the game, in some games it can be appropriate to have a lot of dialogue provided it's not so much that it gets repetitive and bland. Dialogue should contain key pieces of information that helps you solve the puzzles and fill in the rest with jokes and interesting tidbits related to the game world.

The Sam & Max games did the dialogue portion really well, I never thought that S&M had too much dialogue in it at any point. But BTTF I felt had too much dialogue in places, each episode had at least one guy with a ton of useless dialogue that was boring to listen through.

But a game can have a lot of dialogue and still be good. Take The Silver Lining for example. That game is very much dominated by dialogue but it's done amazingly well because it's interesting and relevant, and the music + moving camera angles adds a lot to livening up the game world and gives it an incredible atmosphere.

[Bloody Eugene]

The situations where I found it very tedious are when you have to click on every single choice to go on. Why you give me choice if I cannot escape one and I have to listen to all? Isn't it better to join all the fake choices in only one dialogue cutscene instead?
I think this happens when there are a lot of dialogues and to keep the player awake they give you this bad gameplay choice. Like if they press "Pause" and you've to click "Play".

[puzzlebox]

Generally I've been ok with (and enjoyed) the amount of dialogue in TTG games. It's usually witty and interesting without much filler.

However, I tend to compare things like Tales of Monkey Island (where there were several good dialogue-based puzzles, not just "click everything in sequence" scenarios) with BTTF, where at times you literally have a cutscene pause while it waits for you to click a single available dialogue option before continuing.

The Tales model, to me, is fun and engaging. The BTTF model is more of an annoyance. If there's only one option, or if you have to select all options to get to the next cutscene without your choices having any actual impact on the game, then why can't the game/cutscene just go ahead by itself? It makes me feel like a child who sits up the top of a double-decker bus and pretends they're driving it with their paper plate steering wheel.

[Vainamoinen]

I wouldn't make this a general rule. I am not against a lot of dialogue. If it's intriguing, engaging and interactive, lots of dialogue means a lot of fun.

In BTTF, the problem was too much exposition. In episode 3, you had to cope with a completely new situation, and a tediously long line of characters wanted you to monotonously play back their lines to unravel the details of the situation. So you had to talk to Parker, Biff, Lorraine, Jennifer, Needles and finally George before you could even DO anything in the game. They gave George so many lines that I almost fell asleep. That really beat the purpose of the game.

Originally Posted by puzzlebox

It makes me feel like a child who sits up the top of a double-decker bus and pretends they're driving it with their paper plate steering wheel.

I add to puzzlebox' descriptions the "three choices - same answer" problem in BTTF. This was so incredibly annoying in episodes one to four that I eventually actually thought they were bothering us on purpose. And finally, puzzlebox... I have never seen the problem described so piercingly accurate on these forums. And you well know that many have tried.

[LuigiHann]

The only time when I ever felt like there was "too much dialog" was at the beginning of one of the Wallace and Gromit episodes, and that was just because it seems out of character for Wallace to talk so much.

Back to the Future does have a lack-of-game problem, but the dialog is not at fault.

The Sam and Max games and Monkey Island both have a pretty good balance overall.

[Sausy Gibbon]

Because I've only ever played the Sam and Max games I chose no. If the dialogue is well writen gamers would want to hear it (unless there one of those people who just skip all the story and just want to play the 'game', but why would they play adventure games) if it's not written well then the gamer just doesn't want to be bovered with it.

[Elvenmonk]

Puzzlebox said it perfectly. They have great wording, so I don't notice if it is too wordy. However, there's BttF.

[MusicallyInspired]

Yep. Just a tad. Definitely in BTTF Episode 3.

[Rather Dashing]

Exposition exposition exposition exposition. Exposition exposition! Exposition exposition exposition. Awkward question?

Pick one:
-Sensible reply
-Awkward reply
-Hilarious awkward reply

Result:

"....uh...."
"GENERIC INTERRUPTION! I, AS A CHARACTER, CARE NOT WHAT YOU SAY AND THUS CHOOSING SUBCONSCIOUSLY TO SAY SOMETHING MAKES NO PRACTICAL DIFFERENCE!"

[tredlow]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

Exposition exposition exposition exposition. Exposition exposition! Exposition exposition exposition. Awkward question?

Pick one:
-Sensible reply
-Awkward reply
-Hilarious awkward reply

Result:

"....uh...."
"GENERIC INTERRUPTION! I, AS A CHARACTER, CARE NOT WHAT YOU SAY AND THUS CHOOSING SUBCONSCIOUSLY TO SAY SOMETHING MAKES NO PRACTICAL DIFFERENCE!"

I second this. I thought they finally stopped doing it after TOMI, but I think BTTF started it all over again.

[JuntMonkey]

Yikes these are bad results. I haven't played a Telltale game yet that didn't have too much dialogue, although Sam & Max TDP was much more tolerable playing on a PS3 rather than sitting at the computer clicking a new option every 30 seconds.

[DrRocketGenius]

Originally Posted by JuntMonkey

Yikes these are bad results.

Well... adventure games do tend to be text heavy and that's way people like them.

[tredlow]

Originally Posted by tredlow

I second this. I thought they finally stopped doing it after TOMI, but I think BTTF started it all over again.

No, actually I take it back. I recalled some moments in BTTF, and I remember this actually doesn't happen anymore. I remember conversations can change directions depending on your choices (though it always ends the same, of course. But, at least your choices can cause impact towards the conversation.)

[Spadge]

All the Exposition and the linearity of the whole thing made me give up on BttF. And then there was that thing in Puzzle Agent 2, where you end a conversation and they just tell you where to go and what to do... I really hated that.

[StarEye]

Often, but only because they tend to use lots of dialogue instead of making decent puzzles. So instead of solving a puzzle by talking to one person then talking to another and then talking to the first person I talked to again, they should, you know, put some actual puzzles in the game.

[corruptbiggins]

I may be sad but I love expositionary dialogue. The more irrelevant details the better for me!

[Hayden]

A lot of dialogue is fine by me if it's actually made up of quality content, features good writing, and the game also has other interesting gameplay elements. An example of this - 'The Longest Journey'. This game has a heck of a lot of dialogue (okay, some may say that there was a little too much at some moments in the game), but I liked the way it was written, I liked the way it was spoken and presented by the voice actors, and I liked the fact that there was actually some decent gameplay in between the extensive dialogues.

'Back to the Future', however...

[lattsam]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

Exposition exposition exposition exposition. Exposition exposition! Exposition exposition exposition. Awkward question?

Pick one:
-Sensible reply
-Awkward reply
-Hilarious awkward reply

Result:

"....uh...."
"GENERIC INTERRUPTION! I, AS A CHARACTER, CARE NOT WHAT YOU SAY AND THUS CHOOSING SUBCONSCIOUSLY TO SAY SOMETHING MAKES NO PRACTICAL DIFFERENCE!"

I'll have to remember that for upcoming episodes of my abridged series!

[Guinea]

I don't think the problem is the amount of dialogue, but the ratio between dialogue and gameplay and the quality of said dialogue.