Do the dialogue options matter?

[Wendygoon]

Not sure if I missed something but the story so far is confusing me, I honestly have no idea whats going on. I'm given these really vauge and no context questions, such as "Is it traveler? is it friend?" Do my answers actually impact anything? if so, seems kinda unfair that I could screw something up beacuse I dont have any clue what the games trying to tell me.

[RLgoes1st]

No nothing big that will lock you out of game content.. At the end of the dialogue you're referring to you will get the choice to follow the Atlas path or explore freely.. If you choose the latter you will at some point be able to follow the Atlas path anyway, which is part of the main storyline.

[Wendygoon]

Ah, ok then. Thanks!

[RLgoes1st]

You're welcome!

[Knightingale]

So....
What do the choices mean? Which do you pick for following the storyline?...

[RLgoes1st]

When you play through the storylines the meaning of those questions will become clear, I wouldn't want to spoil it for you. But the answers you pick in this case will not influence the outcome.

[Adarynin]

I think it's their attempt to let you personalise the story.

E.g. in one of these dialogs, I got the option to ask who I am talking to, or ask what is X. My character was annoyed and impatient, so I immediately wanted to talk about X -- and possibly learned less about the NPC. Maybe _you_ will be curious about the NPC instead and remember them differently than I. Seems just to be different strands of the background story.

There's also a "life or death" decision somewhere, but that's again rather about expressing your personal attitude and does not end the story.

I have not seen any point where remembering the details became relevant to continuing, or where the consequences impeded me. Maybe towards the end?

Then there are the incoherent interactions with random locals?! What's up with that. :-) Even if they get mad, it doesn't have consequences for the rest of the dialog or the rest of the game. I think it's just giving us a picture of foreign/alien/exotic behaviour?

[Emilkof]

I think the dialogue is poorly written and needs an overhaul...but I'd prefer that HG focus on fixing critical bugs and optimization before working on the story.

[Haunt Fox]

Originally posted by Adarynin:

I think it's their attempt to let you personalise the story.

E.g. in one of these dialogs, I got the option to ask who I am talking to, or ask what is X. My character was annoyed and impatient, so I immediately wanted to talk about X -- and possibly learned less about the NPC. Maybe _you_ will be curious about the NPC instead and remember them differently than I. Seems just to be different strands of the background story.

There's also a "life or death" decision somewhere, but that's again rather about expressing your personal attitude and does not end the story.

I have not seen any point where remembering the details became relevant to continuing, or where the consequences impeded me. Maybe towards the end?

Then there are the incoherent interactions with random locals?! What's up with that. :-) Even if they get mad, it doesn't have consequences for the rest of the dialog or the rest of the game. I think it's just giving us a picture of foreign/alien/exotic behaviour?

Yeah, the dialogues are mostly just cultural puzzles, that become somewhat easier as you learn words and learn about their mindsets at ruins and plaques (similar to the monolith puzzles). Getting them right _does_ increase your reputation with that race, though.

I like it, it's a nice change from the usual sort of video game puzzle.