Eschalon: Book I Interview
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Q: You have mentioned that NPCs can "clutter things up" - does this imply you see dialogue as less important than some other gameplay elements or is it just a matter of the right balance?
A: There have been many good RPGs with fantastic NPC interaction, but we've all played RPGs where the NPC dialogue begins to take something away from the game. Maybe the dialogue becomes annoying because it's poorly written or acted, or it interrupts game flow because it does nothing to advance the storyline or breathe life into the gameworld. NPC dialogue is only as important as the storyline requires it to be. Developers need to acknowledge this, and as you said, find the right balance with the game's dialogue.
There is plenty of NPC dialogue in E:B1 and we want to make sure it works well within the flow of the game. We keep the NPC dialogue essential and informative by making sure dialogue branches don't wander too far off the current subject. Furthermore, E:B1's storyline is supported by a narrative script, so we don't have to rely on NPCs to tell the entire story.
You'll also find an exclusive screenshot right here.
