I would tend to agree. An old GM of mine had a language called Woodland Creature than anybody could learn and use to talk to squirrels, it doesn't change the fact that its a squirrel you're talking to. Its not the Legend Lore spell. (In fairness, the Woodland Creature language was originally for fey and the like, but the players liked it so much that everybody wanted to take it. That and Drow Sign became the esperanto of his game world, at least as far as pcs were concerned. And Kara-Tur Common. You had any of those three and you could communicate with any group of pcs.) The language did replace the spell Speak with Animals, but then when's the last time you saw a group of players lamenting, "If only we had the Speak with Animals spell. If only!"
I played a greenbond who got the Speak w/ Plants ability in an AE game, and for whatever reason I'd always interrogate the trees in a very stereotypical cop-show-like way. "Listen up, you may be a mighty oak but right now I am the only one who can help you, so tell me what you know because after this I'm gonna go ask that elm and you know he's gonna roll. You've got all the slack in the world until I walk away and then I'm going to zero you out." I'd have the giant in the group stand back and hold his axe in a vaguely threatening manner. It's how I entertained myself with a barely useful ability.
I played a greenbond who got the Speak w/ Plants ability in an AE game, and for whatever reason I'd always interrogate the trees in a very stereotypical cop-show-like way. "Listen up, you may be a mighty oak but right now I am the only one who can help you, so tell me what you know because after this I'm gonna go ask that elm and you know he's gonna roll. You've got all the slack in the world until I walk away and then I'm going to zero you out." I'd have the giant in the group stand back and hold his axe in a vaguely threatening manner. It's how I entertained myself with a barely useful ability.
