This is a cool way to do modern dialogue

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Lord_Darkmoon, Dec 9, 2017.

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  1. Womby

    Womby Avatar

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    Most RPGs give you a choice of one of three or four sentences as your reply. It is easy to ensure that you have explored all conversation options.
    SotA, on the other hand, allows you to type in any word your heart desires. That sounds great but is, in fact, a disaster because you can never know if you discovered everything there was to learn from a given NPC.
    This is exacerbated by the fact that there are more valid responses than those keywords listed in the interface. It's like taking an exam and not being given the results.
    That, in my opinion, is the real issue - not formatting or picture placement.
     
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  2. Paladin Michael

    Paladin Michael Bug Hunter

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    You're right - it's one of the very important issues, making it more confusing to follow the story.

    Typing words would be great with a great parser. We don't have it. So this "feature" is the opposite of fun.
    After receiving 20 times the same answer on our entered words takes away the fun very soon to ask further.
    After this we take the (click)"path of underlined words" and ... the next confusing happens: again and again the same text flushes the text window ...
    Following the story? Moment - scrolling back at beginning of the text ...
    Sometimes one sentence contains 3 further keywords leading in another direction ...
    And we have no possibility to filter received informations ...

    Yes, there is a great need of a better presentation of dialogue and (quest)journal, too, to tell and feel the story more interesting ...

    I don't think it is too difficult to be done. I guess it will happen until end of I/2018 ;)
     
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  3. Bubonic

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    I agree. Initially, I was excited about the prospect of a parser with typed NPC interaction. However, I assumed the parser would be modern and robust. Currently, it feels clunkier and less intelligent than infocom's parser from the late 80s.
     
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  4. Beaumaris

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    I remember days when the text parser *was* the entire game. So from one perspective, anything we have on top of that in SOTA is a real asset. :)

    [​IMG]
     
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  5. Jamet

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    I'm not sure there is a parser at all, in SotA. There is a list of keywords, and their respective responses, and you're not shown all of the words. So if you are not into very simple guessing games, this might frustrate you. To actually have a more sophisticated parser in SotA would require that a lot of the interaction between you and an NPC is basically a mini text adventure all in itself - and it would take a lot of effort, planning, and ... better writing? Sadly, we don't have Bob Bates writing the dialogue trees/nests. So we are stuck with just shots in the dark, whenever we're not sure, and a completely linear experience.

    A parser in this context - is a mechanism made to make it look like the game knows what you want. There are very simple 2 word parsers.

    use switch
    get book
    open door


    These are fine for interacting with a world and items, I suppose, but too clunky for anything else. It basically enables you to say "Hello", to Frodo in Lord of the Rings, for no reason, like in the old C64 adventure, but unless a puzzle requires you to speak a simple keyphrase to somebody at some very specific point in the game, there is no real use for it.

    say frodo
    HELLO


    Back in the early 80s, the Infocom games had (to this day still have) some of the most sophisticated parsers ever put in video games. At the time, they were superior. This thing can deconstruct quite complex sentences, and even understand something like:

    Lift the coffee cup carefully, and empty it into the kitchen sink.

    So it knows you actually want accomplish one thing, by having two things done. But not only performs them in sequence, but in context, because otherwise, you would spill some.

    And if you really feel like going all out with what a parser can do in modern day games? Be amazed. Never seen brilliance like this before: http://store.steampowered.com/app/532980/Thaumistry_In_Charms_Way/
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2017
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  6. Lord_Darkmoon

    Lord_Darkmoon Avatar

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    Yeah way to go! SotA has exceeded the level of text adventures of the 80s! Now THAT is an advancement in the gaming market! ;)

    You know what, as funny as that is - and YES THIS WAS MEANT AS A JOKE! - sometimes I really get the impression that people here haven't really played modern games...
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2017
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