CRPG: Now with save vs Box Text!

[Andor]

I've been playing a lot of Mass Effect lately. It is a really excellent game, but it does have a lot of dialogue, sometimes excessively so. I don't always need to hear some guys life story when I just want to buy some damn ammo.

So last night I was poking around the internet looking at previews for Mass Effect 2.

This is priceless....

They have included a 'dialogue interrupt system'. During some conversations an 'interrupt option' will flash on the screen, if you hit the right key you can break the dialogue and move straight on to the inevitable action. The example shown at E3 was a guard who refused to give you the information you wanted, so the main character stops in mid conversation and shoves him through a 100th story window.

I cannot tell you how many times I wanted that ability during the early days of D&D. "There is no save vs box text." I'd hear. And now a computer game allows me to do something I could not in PnP! Is not technology wonderful?

 

[jdrakeh]

Neat, but nothing revolutionary — CRPGs have allowed you to bypass cinematic cut-scenes for years.

 

[JoeNotCharles]

Sounds like the difference is that the dialog is now skipped IC, with a character action to match, not just considered to have happened but not shown.

And what kind of crappy DM insisted on reading every word of the boxed text and explicitly told you what he was doing?

 

[pawsplay]

Sounds like the difference is that the dialog is now skipped IC, with a character action to match, not just considered to have happened but not shown.

And what kind of crappy DM insisted on reading every word of the boxed text and explicitly told you what he was doing?

I was at Half Price the other day looking at some old AD&D modules. The Lost Temple of Tharizdun in the introduction actually tells the players that their PCs clamor to come to the aid of the NPCs and includes snippets of what they say.

 

[Wik]

That interrupt ability was something they wanted on the original Mass Effect, but couldn't script for some reason. So, it's cool to see it here.

Personally, though, I thought the conversations/dialogue was the best part of the game. It's a great game... until you get in a fight.

 

[Andor]

I was at Half Price the other day looking at some old AD&D modules. The Lost Temple of Tharizdun in the introduction actually tells the players that their PCs clamor to come to the aid of the NPCs and includes snippets of what they say.

Indeed. In the old days Box Text was a Dark and Jealous god and we who rolled the dice in those times lived in fear and trembling of him.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Somewhere I picked this up:

"You may not interrupt the DM's description [= boxed text] in order to gain a surprise round."

That'll show them uppity players!

 

[delericho]

Sounds like the difference is that the dialog is now skipped IC, with a character action to match,

I quite like this, except...

In a medium like a tabletop RPG, the only vehicle by which the players gain information about the surroundings they find their PCs in is through the GM description. In theory, if the GM is "reading boxed text" it is because it is (potentially) important - sure, the players may want to just get on with the action, but it may well be that they actually need to know this stuff.

Conversely, of course, neither GMs nor published modules should labour the point: "boxed text" should be kept short and snappy, with a minimum of unnecessary details. (Unless you're running "Wheel of Time d20", of course, in which case every detail of Elayne's clothing must be exhaustively described, or else you're not being true to the source. )