SwSh Player Character dialogue?

[JFrombaugh]

One thing that was notable about the Gen VII games is that the protagonists are actually not mute. At several points in cutscenes you are given the option of picking one dialogue option or the other, and which one you pick will dictate some things that happen, even though it doesn't actually impact the storyline. For example you can make Lillie get mad at you, or mess with the Team Skull Grunts by saying you don't remember who they are. In USUM this was further expanded upon with the Rotom Dex dialogue interactions.

I think it's pretty likely we will see this return in SwSh (especially with the confirmed return of Rotom) but what do you all think about it? Do you like the idea of GF expanding on it further in these games by maybe giving you more options or longer lines depending on the situation? Or did you actually like the days of silent protagonists better?

 

[techitisJ]

I really enjoyed having the option to choose your own dialogue. It really made the player feel a lot more like a person, rather than just a shell that is controlled by the person behind the controls. It gave them a bit more personality, and you got to see other parts of the other character's personality because of it.

Plus, some of the replies you could get was awesome. I love the one from Hau in Malie Garden where he's like "hey, did you know?" and if you answer "of course" instead of allowing him to finish he'll just be like "I haven't even finished the question yet." That was a funny one.

 

[Knightwolf09]

It could be an experimental way to give your character more personality. Other game have taken this kind of route for silent protags and I by far welcome it. And hopefully our character will have more expressive reactions to boot.

 

[Sakuraa]

I liked having more variety with out answer choices and I'd like to see it return.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I loved being able to tell Professor Kukui "Aren't you cold?", so I do hope they give us dialogue options.

 

[Knightwolf09]

Oh yeah, not sure if relevant enough for this thread, but I want to see more starter interaction in the story. Like what we had in SM and USUM. We seem to get some promise of that in the Dynamax trailer with choosing your starter.

 

[FANG-TAN]

They should do it like Growlanser III or any other JRPG that allows you to literally customize your character's personality with dialogue choices, such as blocking off choices if they're too far off from your character's built personality traits. I think I suggested this along with return to BW/Xtransceiver-styled 2D artwork cutscenes on the old BMGf blog system, but those evidently went down the toilet. At the beginning, there could even be a questionaire for your character's astrology signs, blood type, or anything that can contribute to how your character can act towards others.

i.e.

Spoiler

(Player), we gotta stop Ghetsis from using Kyurem to take over Unova!

• Let's go after him right now, and gather a bunch of other trainers! (not enough charisma)
• You're right, he won't get away with this! (+3 Heroism points)
• Sounds kind of scary, buy I want to protect this region. (+3 Timid points)
• It really doesn't concern me (not enough asshole points)
• Do it yourself, doughnut head (not enough edgelord points)

 

[Juizel]

I honestly don't care that much for whether or not SWSH will feature dialogue options that are essentially "YES/NO" but in full sentences if it does nothing but have an effect on maybe the next 1~3 text boxes as it was in gen 7.

Imo, in Pokémon games these dialogue options are completely useless overall, because it never matters. In most other games I play that feature dialogue options, you can build some sort of relationship with characters and which options you pick may affect those, but in Pokémon it's just.... I don't know, there to give any kind of illusion of choice?

 

[colours]

I honestly don't care that much for whether or not SWSH will feature dialogue options that are essentially "YES/NO" but in full sentences if it does nothing but have an effect on maybe the next 1~3 text boxes as it was in gen 7.

Imo, in Pokémon games these dialogue options are completely useless overall, because it never matters. In most other games I play that feature dialogue options, you can build some sort of relationship with characters and which options you pick may affect those, but in Pokémon it's just.... I don't know, there to give any kind of illusion of choice?

For a while, I was fairly struggling to put my own thoughts into words in this thread, but I essentially agree with this poster.

While I think player character dialogue is something nice to have, it's really only for flavour reasons and won't really change anything fundamentally about the game itself. Even if more "options" (so to speak) were added, it'd really only amount to flavour text and that'd be about it. Pokemon games aren't the kind of games that are known for fundamentally altering the way you play based on your choices, which is why it was so hard for me to really care about this kind of thing in the first place.

I guess the tl;dr is that it'd be nice to have, but I can't picture myself personally paying that much more mind to it.

 

[Almonds]

I'm also indifferent to the dialogue options mostly because they don't do much to affect the story. In previous games, you could also express your opinion when asked what your favorite color is. They usually result in getting starter pokemon or items, which are collectibles that you can use in the game.

If they are going to add dialogue options to make it seem as if our character is having a conversation with other characters, I wish they'd add expressions to the player character. I'm going to be disappointed if my character is witnessing a crisis moment and they are staring at the scene with a blank smiling face.

 

[Fairy Type Arceus]

You were never really mute, you would always have a text box saying go_____

Or

Your opponents weak get em _

 

[JFrombaugh]

In the new Japanese trailer showcasing all of the currently revealed Pokémon, look at around the 1:02 mark.

Confirmation that you will be able to talk to your Pokémon in Pokémon Camp?

 

[PinkIceFox]

points at skyrim Do like this.

points at fallout 4 Don't do like this.

Since it's a nintendo game, AND pokemon, I don't expect choices that change the story drastically. I don't expect anything at all beyond the status quo. But if they could add a little bit of dialogue to feel like my character isn't their pre-conceived grinning yes-man who is friends with everything that moves that'd be great. Let me have the option to sass something I can't stand. Let me tell Rotom to shut up.

 

[SUP3RN0VA]

I always enjoy having dialogue options, however, I think they need to reach a certain standard, otherwise it feels pointless. I don't expect any dialogue options that changes the story or anything (although that would be great to see in the future) I believe the best way to ado it is to offer several different dialogue options for each scenario, each that provides different options as to how people with different personalities would give. For instance, they should always offer a "really friendly" option, a "more serious option" for those that don't really like answering in overly friendly ways, a "humours option" where possible, and perhaps options that give subtle sarcasm or condescension, just to have those kinds of options. They just need to provide several different dialogue options for different kinds of personalities to make this feature worthwhile, as opposed to just having two options that sometimes barely even differ in any way.