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BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT

Okay, but what if one of them is said in, like, a reeeally sarcastic way?

Also, if the characters you are talking to don’t have different actions in response to your dialog choices, even if the dialog choices are different, remove them

Pokemon (specifically Legends ZA) is somehow both good and bad about this. Most dialogue choices are just blatant rephrases of the same thing but sometimes there's actual different choices that yield different reactions

if you're Australian or British this actually makes perfect sense

To be fair, that reporter needed to be punched in the face

Those games were *egregiously* bad about this. Cannot stand Mass Effect for many reasons but this is close to the top of the list.

Me: *lies to the Prince of Seattle* Prince: “I already know about your secret childe.” My brain: “Then why the fuck was that an option?”

Maybe it was in Starfield...

your choices matter! unless we have to make a new cutscene for it

That’s hilarious

Hard exception: The Curse Of Monkey Island giving you 10 different ways to tell the Voodoo Lady you don't want to see pictures of her kids.

- Yes - Sarcastic Yes - No (the npc will give you the quest regardless) _ No, and you are a poop face 😠 (same outcome, but you lose 0.1 relation point with the npc).

Personally I think it’s worse when it does give you two different options but one is clearly the “wrong” answer and it makes a never-ending dialogue loop until you pick the other option. Like it’s fine if you want to laugh at my answer but if you give me a choice at least respect it

I will say that I can forgive it if the options are meant to establish what type of person you are, but even then the options need to be drastically differently written and not just Yes, *sigh* Yes, and No, Yes.

(*) yeah (_) true (_) haha you're right (_) i guess so...

Fallout 4: A: Yes B: Sarcastic yes (with no consequences) C: Tell me more (then loop back round to A) D: No (park this quest until I've levelled up a bit, then A)

HATE NEWSPAPERS

Agreed, its so immersion breaking when you can see that your choice doesnt actually matter. Ofc redundant dialogue options can add style and flavor when used appropriately. And games like detroit become human hide it very well, so dialogue choices can still feel impactful even when theyre not.

pokemon

A. I agree B. I also think this. C. This is a statement I believe to be true. D. *nod*

Pokémon Legends ZA.

My biggest gripe is when it's asking if you want to essentially have a tutorial, and you don't need it or you're replaying the game

It was actually a choice between having Lida go with you or having Naveen go with Urbain, but the point still stands.

It's kind of crazy because they don't have to do much. Give some actually different options, a different response per choice, and carry on with the rest of the story, changed or not. At least there is some agency then.

That's LA Noire in a nutshell www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmvS...

was that in pokemon, I feel like that was definitely in pokemon

No matter which one you pick: x I've got no choice. x Fine, I'll do it. -> I don't like this, but I'll do my duty. Shepard: "I don't like this, but fine, I'll do it. I'll do my duty. I guess I don't have a choice anyway..."

Shepard jesus I spent so much time choosing

yes no (but yes) sarcastic (yes) angry (yes) yay fallout 4 yay bethesda yay

Chimecho peeked behind the curtain

I only wish that Digimon Time Stranger actually let the MC be voiced and have actual dialogue, instead of just showing them voicelessly flap their gums with no dialogue box.

no because this can be really funny

I always feel cheated by false player choice

If MOST of it is that why, fully agree. ✌️ But as an occasional meta commentary on the status of RPGs, I think it’s brilliant. 🤗

PREACH

Not always, but often I see this where the response is the same for all answers, but what's happening is an invisible stat (usually something to do with personality tracking) is changing, so at the finale it'll tell you you're secretly evil/communist/bisexual/platypus.

Did you play Fallout 4 recently?

I think it’s really funny when games do this, but I suppose I’m easily amused.

Pokémon is the worst for this. "Are you ready?!" 1. Yeah! 2. Sure!

They want us to have immersion and agency as a self insert, but the character has a defined personality already and they are trying to trick us into thinking they don't.

I hate that. The illusion of having options.

FACTS

One of the weirder ones in Genshin is that it will often give two response options where the second is just a continuation of the first. Selecting either one causes NPCs to react like you said both in order.

I was so confused by Genshin dialogue choices until I realized that they're usually not a choice, the line just didn't all fit in one bubble. Though HSR occasionally does some interesting things with the options to indicate when characters are under some sort of 'fluence (which happens often).

Never

A recent variation that keeps cropping up: a dialogue “option” where both are the same thought, just split into two lines, like: - “It sounds like we’re gonna…” - “… have to do this!” I swear it just feels like the gaming equivalent of “are you still watching?”

I hate dialogue choices. Games like God of War and The Last of Us do it much better - just make emotional, well-acted scenes that move the story forward.

Cassette Beasts did this a lot. I guess the idea was to make the PC seem less like a silent protag, but it bothered me.

Flavor choices are okay when most choices do have branching decisions. Where most choices are only flavor it becomes frustrating.

Yeah okay this is totally correct. I dunno, unfortunate wording on the first tweet. They're eating you alive.

excited to read it when it drops! :)

This!!! bsky.app/profile/john...

i feel like that's a whole other problem, where they shorten the dialogue option button, but then when you click it the character says this huge long sentence that doesn't even resemble the option you picked. also think it was mass effect that started that?

Finally got into Hades (yes the first one) the other week, and I'm blown away by how much they achieve with dialog without having a single dialog choice. Really makes me think.

Screenshotting this as a reaction image because I know that it’ll be useful

I have to believe this is masking something else. Like is there a minimum word count for their writing contracts? Are they hiding a loading event behind the extra time it takes players to read and decide between two (fake) choices? What’s going on here?? I agree with your sentiment, though

Never made a post popular enough to be taken out of context and engagement farmed! Glad to inspire others to think of their favorite counter examples but feels bad getting traction off a petty complaint. Internet arguments are pointless! I’ll just keep making my games the way I like em