Dialogue in Games: How to Wield It
Disclaimer: Includes minor spoilers for Kingdom Hearts 3 and The Last of Us Part II.
Playing games, analyzing ‘em, but not before a cup of coffee. My name’s Shreesha, and you’ll have to give me a minute ‘cause I’m—Still Brewin’.
Introduction
If narrative games were among the first video games ever created, I would be more than willing to forgive any inept dialogue writing or narrative design which might be native to that era, considering the high likelihood that most developers at the time were not writers but programmers and game designers. However, even after sixty-four years since the invention of the first video game, the state of dialogue in games today is completely unacceptable, especially considering how hundreds of the techniques used to write engaging dialogue have already been developed by writers from film, television, and theater (Tretkoff, 2008). While there are plenty of games with phenomenal writing, the sheer amount of games today with dialogue that is either shallow, shoddily localized, blatantly expository, comically unrealistic, contradictory to the spine of a character, or just downright unnecessary is, at best, disconcerting. For much of the foreseeable future, this industry will most likely continue to produce an ample amount of lackluster storytelling experiences, so, in an effort to address and possibly remedy the issue of lamentable writing in games, I believe it is imperative we thoroughly investigate video game dialogue in order to determine what makes it effective and what makes it ineffective. As a rule of thumb, dialogue should faithfully represent characters and their relationship to one another. Therefore, its use should only be in furtherance of a story and the development of its characters.
The Bottom of the Barrel
When pieces of media reach a vaguely defined, staggeringly low level of quality, an interesting and well-known phenomena takes place where audiences find that product hilarious and are able to enjoy its status as nonsense, driving interest and sales purely out of irony. In film and literature, this phenomena is a rarity, relegated to niche cult-classics. However, in games, it might as well be a time-honored tradition, seeing as how, every year, at least five games from popular franchises or companies meet this criteria. Kingdom Hearts 3 (2019), Resident Evil (1996), Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (2022), Shenmue 3 (2019), and The House of the Dead 2 (1998) are all famous for their laughably vapid dialogue, despite the fact that they are technically Triple-A games. These make up the bottom of the barrel. The reasons for their remarkable ineptitude are fairly simple, but if this industry is so hellbent on producing this type of game year after year, it is still worth discussing, at least as a preventative measure.
Take “The Gummiphone” scene from Kingdom Hearts 3 (2019). Donald Duck starts the scene off by abruptly reminding Sora about “the power of waking.” Then, after Sora admits he was thinking about Roxas being trapped without a body, he tries calling Ienzo on his “Gummiphone” to ask for help. Inexplicably, Mickey Mouse picks up the phone instead and Riku, who’s also there with Mickey, explains the concept of “Replicas” as a possible solution to Roxas’s existential problem. The scene basically ends with Sora agreeing to try and provide a Replica body for Roxas and Mickey deciding to ask Ienzo for more information. Completely disregarding the atrocious voice acting, this scene exists not only as a flagrant misunderstanding of realistic conversation but also as a paper-thin attempt at telling a story, as the scene focuses solely on pushing the plot forward. In particular, this initial exchange between Sora and Riku showcases some of the game’s infamously robotic dialogue:
Riku: “Replicas...”
Sora: “Huh?”
Riku: “Well, replicas are basically human.”
Sora: “Uh, what?”
Riku: “Oh, yeah... You wouldn’t remember.”
And with lines like, “The previous Organization XIII developed “replicas”: realistic vessels to place hearts in,” and “I’ll talk to Ienzo. He was in the Organization back then, so he might know more,” expository dialogue takes center stage while character development gets violently thrown out of the theater (Nomura, 2019). Putting aside the delusional interpretation of social interaction and the gratuitous barrage of exposition, the most critical mistake perpetrated by the writers for this scene is the astonishing lack of character development and relationship dynamics. When engaging conflict pushes the protagonist to change and possibly overcome their main character flaw, the basis for the progression of a good story is born. So, when already-shallow characters live from scene to scene without even an ounce of development or change, good storytelling becomes an absurdly steep, uphill battle. Only when characters are allowed to live, breathe, and spend time with one another is there enough personality, identity, and friction for the story to be propelled forward and for the audience to engage with it.
The Top of the Line
Many games have been able to design elaborate narratives which meet a high level of sophistication and artistry, but unfortunately, these titles are few and far between in the halls of video game history. At the very least, they provide us with the opportunity to analyze their tales and uncover the secrets behind their successes, particularly as it pertains to the development of their characters and the stories they belong to. The Last of Us (2013), The Last of Us Part II (2020), God of War (2018), Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018), Her Story (2015), and Papers, Please (2013) are all among the few games to make up the top of the line. Their excellence may actually be hard to understand at first, but rest assured, the storytelling techniques they employ, however subtle, are precisely why audiences fall in love with their characters and feel invested in their struggles.
Take a scene from The Last of Us Part II (2020). The scene starts toward the beginning of the game, when Ellie and Joel walk along the narrow bank of a river. As Joel holds a tree branch back for Ellie to sidle along the small precipice ahead, he says, “Mind your step.” She replies, “I got it.” But as she slowly side steps, Joel pushes her into the river and says, “Oops.” After she ascends to the surface of the water and turns to face him, their wholesome exchange continues with Joel laughing.
Ellie: “What is wrong with you?!”
Joel: “You should see your face right now.”
Ellie: “What if I drowned?”
Joel: “You’re not gonna drown. You gotta work on that confidence, kiddo.”
Ellie: “Yeah, keep laughing, old man. See what happens.”
Later in the scene, she returns the favor humorously, nicely wrapping up the moment (Druckmann, 2020). Of course, the stellar voice acting is what brings the script to life and makes these characters feel like real people, but even on its own, the writing in this scene, while seemingly basic, illustrates an incredible amount about Joel and Ellie’s complex relationship. This one moment showcases their father-daughter dynamic, highlights Joel’s newfound geniality, accents Ellie’s teenage mannerisms, and introduces her novel ability to swim. While a long-winded and convoluted scene about an overly complicated plot line ended before contributing anything meaningful to its characters, a short and simple scene about a charming, little prank concluded having given its audience a myriad of exceptionally meaningful ways to interpret its characters, and it did so through a character’s behavior rather than through paragraphs of expository dialogue.
Conclusion
This thought-provoking dichotomy between a terrible narrative game and a brilliant one can create an environment ripe for in-depth comparison, allowing us to isolate the core methods for developing rich, engaging dialogue. As a result, I believe that, by examining Kingdom Hearts 3 (2019) and The Last of Us Part II (2020), certain guidelines for how to write dialogue can be formulated. One, in order to achieve realistic conversation which feels human, a character’s dialogue should be based mostly on their personality, identity, and spine. Two, instead of relying so heavily on exposition, dialogue should be motivated by characters’ behaviors. Three, dialogue should focus on building and growing characters through conflict and their relationship to one another rather than focus solely on the forward momentum of the plot.
There are far too many games with hopelessly incompetent writing... But there are also many games with breathtaking writing, works of art that can rival the greats of film, television, and theater. The prestigious few, which shine as the crowning achievements in video game history, will be a stark reminder that this medium is capable of so much more than anyone could possibly imagine. The golden classics, whose stories live eternally in the hearts and minds of millions around the world, shall be a beacon of hope for the pillars of innovation that are sure to follow. The masterpieces, it is because of these video games that we now know just how much this medium can accomplish. Through more sophisticated, compelling, and meaningful writing, we can make dialogue in games better. All it would take is a writer with the determination to put pen to paper. After all, “A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage.”
Works Cited
Tretkoff, Ernie. “October 1958: Physicist Invents First Video Game.” American Physical Society, American Physical Society, Oct. 2008, www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200810/physicshistory.cfm.
Kingdom Hearts 3. PlayStation 4 version, Square Enix, 2019.
The Last of Us Part II. PlayStation 4, Naughty Dog, 2020.
Thank you for reading. Have a nice day.