Is it just me or does anyone else find the dialogue overbearing?

[S1]

I like this game mechanically and as a pseudo table top rpg i actually find the interactions and episodes engaging. That being said, I find the dialogue overbearing, the writing isn't particularly good and I feel like what is said in 20 panels could probably be reduced to about 4 or 5. This is particularly grating when you're repeating an episode that you've recently read.

I often find myself trying to find a balance between skipping dialogue as quickly as I can and still having some semblance of an idea of what's going on in terms of narrative. I am wondering what other fans of the game think about this

[Syrris]

I don't have any issues reading or understanding it, and I'd put it well above most games' writing in terms of both content and style. More than anything, it's what sets Wildermyth apart from most fantasy games.

[NathanH]

I don't think the dialogue or indeed any of the writing is good at conveying information, but I think it is good for generating what I consider to be the Wildermyth atmosphere, which is wistful, dreamlike, fairytale, and slightly melancholic.

So yes, I do think it can feel overbearing at times, but I stopped worrying about understanding the details and concentrated more on getting the vibes from each scene. This pretty much removed the problem for me.

[LDiCesare]

I love the writing in almost all cases. I would make an exception for Omenroad, which either gives no text or dumps tons of panels in a huge loredump at once, but I love the dialogue in the base game (and am not native English speaker).

[Cadex]

Agree 100%. I love a lot of things about the game (such as the combat, character progression/aging, enemy variety) but the dialogue/writing is worse than I expected and probably my least favorite part of the game. It's often difficult to grasp what the narrative is trying to say, and most of the dialogue is just odd, as if the characters don't communicate like real people ever would.

[Cryptic]

dialogue is definitely overbearing.

[ZirosLlewelyn]

Originally posted by Dizzy Ioeuy:

It's because a large portion of the crap they are saying isn't even in English when it's "English!" they are made up glamlicious glitter-sounding fabwise inventorios!?

^as demonstrated.

Those are called kennings, they're a hallmark of Old Germanic poems like Beowulf or the Poetic Edda. Its a very metaphorical way of referring to things, so it can require using context clues to understand what's being talked about. But it is very much a feature of the writing, not a bug.

The writing style isn't supposed to sound like normal modern English, rather, its purposefully evoking the feeling of a much older storytelling tradition.

[Lesser John]

I don't know if overbearing is the word I'd personally use, but I can certainly see how people could have issues with the dialog.

My biggest gripe is that it tends to feel...especially notable in Omenroad...like you're talking to someone who will only say a few words at a time before pausing until you give them a "k" or a "uh-huh" or whatever. Then they give you a few more words, and wait for another "k" before continuing. I feel like I'm having a conversation with someone where I gotta constantly "press K to continue"...only here sometimes ya don't even get a few words from each "k"! Sometimes it's several of them before you get anywhere!

They could definitely stand to space out the dialog in Omenroad too, it can be a bit much to sit through at times when they string together several long scenes at once.

I can also see how the prose could come off as pretentious, or elitist, or "art house goon"-ish, or "wine snob"-ish, or impenetrably dense, or incomprehensibly flowery and poetic, or "assuming that everyone has a background in poetry or classic literature and making ya feel more than a bit embarassed when the complex metaphors and poetic prose and outlandish sentence structures and all are totally unreadable to you"-ish, or as needing too much mental investment for someone who just got off work and wants to chill and relax...not decrypt impenetrable and interminable complex metaphor and flowery poety one "k" at a time.

I personally found the writing overall to be quite penetrable, and a delight to penetrate besides! But that's me...I work with flowery prose and dense metaphors for a living, as well as for fun. Which means there's probably some serious accessibility issues for anyone who is unable or unwilling or uninterested in exploring nuanced worplay and poetic devices and all. Or all the made up words...while the use of nonsenseical words can be found in many well known and well liked places - like The Jabberwocky, or most of Shakespeare, or Dr. Seuss, or many popular genres of music both modern and classic; and is done for reasons ranging from imagery and metaphor to someone writing in a metered form and needing a word with the right number of syllables that also fits the rhyme scheme...I can also see how it could be annoying or mentally draining to read. Especially for anyone who doesn't have an interest/background in the subtle shades and flavors of words and simply wants to be kept in the loop regarding the overall events of the game.

Side note...I'm not trying to start some academic debate over word use or anything here...I'm a word-nerd but I try to not be "that" kind of word-nerd. But...if anyone feels like helping me understand the use of "overbearing" to describe the dialog, whether there's something I've not noticed in the game's dialog that is definitely best described as overbearing, or maybe I'm just using an outdated or wrong definition of "overbearing", or whatever, I'd appreciate it. Again...not looking to get into some academic nitpicky nonsense, I ain't trying to challenge nobody's use of the term or their reasoning for using it, or anything else. Did I miss the game being overbearing? If so, can you tell me approximately where and how it gets overbearing? Or am I using the term overbearing wrong or old-fashionedly?

It really boils down to writing as an art versus writing as a communication method. Anyone who came into this game expecting clear, concise narrative/dialog that conveys information in an efficient and easy to understand manner...I'd say they have every right to dislike the dialog...even at its best...or even to feel insulted or condescended to or embarassed or whatever else by it...as my wife actually felt when I tried getting her to play. Said it felt like it was making fun of her for taking a different major in college than the game devs/writers thought she needed to have to play it.

A big theme in this game is the whole "journey vs destination" thing. The writing style itself is the same way. It's rarely about the actual information conveyed, or the "destination" of the writing, but rather the experience of reading it and the feelings and thoughts stirred in the process. Which....again...I find that all deeply enjoyable and incredibly refreshing compared to everything else I've ever played, but I also can easily understand innumerable ways a person wouldn't feel the same.

[Nonbinary]

Originally posted by Lesser John:

I don't know if overbearing is the word I'd personally use, but I can certainly see how people could have issues with the dialog.

My biggest gripe is that it tends to feel...especially notable in Omenroad...like you're talking to someone who will only say a few words at a time before pausing until you give them a "k" or a "uh-huh" or whatever. Then they give you a few more words, and wait for another "k" before continuing. I feel like I'm having a conversation with someone where I gotta constantly "press K to continue"...only here sometimes ya don't even get a few words from each "k"! Sometimes it's several of them before you get anywhere!

They could definitely stand to space out the dialog in Omenroad too, it can be a bit much to sit through at times when they string together several long scenes at once.

I can also see how the prose could come off as pretentious, or elitist, or "art house goon"-ish, or "wine snob"-ish, or impenetrably dense, or incomprehensibly flowery and poetic, or "assuming that everyone has a background in poetry or classic literature and making ya feel more than a bit embarassed when the complex metaphors and poetic prose and outlandish sentence structures and all are totally unreadable to you"-ish, or as needing too much mental investment for someone who just got off work and wants to chill and relax...not decrypt impenetrable and interminable complex metaphor and flowery poety one "k" at a time.

I personally found the writing overall to be quite penetrable, and a delight to penetrate besides! But that's me...I work with flowery prose and dense metaphors for a living, as well as for fun. Which means there's probably some serious accessibility issues for anyone who is unable or unwilling or uninterested in exploring nuanced worplay and poetic devices and all. Or all the made up words...while the use of nonsenseical words can be found in many well known and well liked places - like The Jabberwocky, or most of Shakespeare, or Dr. Seuss, or many popular genres of music both modern and classic; and is done for reasons ranging from imagery and metaphor to someone writing in a metered form and needing a word with the right number of syllables that also fits the rhyme scheme...I can also see how it could be annoying or mentally draining to read. Especially for anyone who doesn't have an interest/background in the subtle shades and flavors of words and simply wants to be kept in the loop regarding the overall events of the game.

Side note...I'm not trying to start some academic debate over word use or anything here...I'm a word-nerd but I try to not be "that" kind of word-nerd. But...if anyone feels like helping me understand the use of "overbearing" to describe the dialog, whether there's something I've not noticed in the game's dialog that is definitely best described as overbearing, or maybe I'm just using an outdated or wrong definition of "overbearing", or whatever, I'd appreciate it. Again...not looking to get into some academic nitpicky nonsense, I ain't trying to challenge nobody's use of the term or their reasoning for using it, or anything else. Did I miss the game being overbearing? If so, can you tell me approximately where and how it gets overbearing? Or am I using the term overbearing wrong or old-fashionedly?

It really boils down to writing as an art versus writing as a communication method. Anyone who came into this game expecting clear, concise narrative/dialog that conveys information in an efficient and easy to understand manner...I'd say they have every right to dislike the dialog...even at its best...or even to feel insulted or condescended to or embarassed or whatever else by it...as my wife actually felt when I tried getting her to play. Said it felt like it was making fun of her for taking a different major in college than the game devs/writers thought she needed to have to play it.

A big theme in this game is the whole "journey vs destination" thing. The writing style itself is the same way. It's rarely about the actual information conveyed, or the "destination" of the writing, but rather the experience of reading it and the feelings and thoughts stirred in the process. Which....again...I find that all deeply enjoyable and incredibly refreshing compared to everything else I've ever played, but I also can easily understand innumerable ways a person wouldn't feel the same.

i was a bit confused about the use of overbearing here too, but thats because when i hear that word i picture someone being overprotective or oversimplifying things. i looked up overbearing in writing and saw people discuss it as being too dialogue-heavy, meaningless dialogue, hard to keep up with, instead of cutting to the point. for writing meant to express emotions n stuff, where youd want to analyse every bit of what the writer wants to get across, i can see it make more sense, but not to drive forward a story where you want to know the goal or get to the point of the whole talk. i think youd expect bits of it if the theme is there, but not every conversation so it diverts from the purpose of a cutscene. it wouldnt be so bad if the cutscenes are not necessary to follow, but theyre the only thing explaining whats going on... maybe if there was a separate lore panel, for example opening up that wildermyth book to read whats been written so far... they could blast that bit up with intricate writing for people to decipher, while leaving the cutscenes more down to earth and focused on explaining whats going on

[ianliew]

I've not played Omenroad yet, but the vanilla game definitely has beautiful dialogue. The scene is set up dramatically, and the whole thing usually ends up feeling really wholesome. The dialogue brings the characters to life, and has been responsible for more than one legacy character being saved simply because I loved the way they said something. Not everyone likes to read, though, and I myself don't always read stuff when in a hurry (especially when I've played that event countless times in the last 24 hours), so thankfully the "F" key is there. The option to skip is welcome, but the dialogue is, at least for me, what makes the game hold such a great place in my heart.

[karinundmaedels]

Originally posted by Lesser John:

Which means there's probably some serious accessibility issues for anyone who is unable or unwilling or uninterested in exploring nuanced worplay and poetic devices and all. Or all the made up words...while the use of nonsenseical words can be found in many well known and well liked places - like The Jabberwocky, or most of Shakespeare, or Dr. Seuss, or many popular genres of music both modern and classic; and is done for reasons ranging from imagery and metaphor to someone writing in a metered form and needing a word with the right number of syllables that also fits the rhyme scheme...I can also see how it could be annoying or mentally draining to read. Especially for anyone who doesn't have an interest/background in the subtle shades and flavors of words and simply wants to be kept in the loop regarding the overall events of the game.

Yup, here's the thing: I've played this game for 250 hours. I'm not a native speaker, I'm quite okay with simple day-to-day english as long as you don't expect my grammar to be perfect or my words to be precise, since i have vocabulary of... like 3000(?) words at best, probably, despite using the language daily. I can read texts, but i cannot read books, since I don't know like 50% of all words. Looking up specific words is no option to me, cuz until I've looked up all words in a chapter, I've forgot about the story already, so my only option is ignoring anything i don't know and use my imagination. I never came even near classical literature or poetry.
Even in my own language, i hate classical literature, but i read a ton of uh... suspense literature, being written for entertainment, not art or highly intellectual meta thoughts.
On the same time, I also have autism, which for me means that I have lots of difficulties following plotlines, and i literally cannot follow typical thought trains you'd have normally when you read a book, since my association thought tree is completely different
I do have an extremely high vocabulary in my own language and know every nuance of its grammar, so i can totally understand why neologisms, metaphores, creative usage of grammar and word stems, etc. are fun and very useful to convey precise connotations in a short time. (Unless they are in classical literature or poems, i hate those :D )

So, if you want to look how i can try to understand Wildermyth's flowery language... forget about wordplays. Completely. I don't even recognize if a word is a normal word or a wordplay, because my modus operandi is to ignore any word i don't know. I don't recognize if a sentence is supposed to be slang, wildermyth-weird or high literature, because for me all of them are one thing: hardly understandable. And it's really really reallly really reallly hard to follow a plot in Wildermyth, cuz like you said, it doesn't even try to make it easier.
Art wants to provoke feelings, here are mine, when i read Wildermyth's texts: annoyed, bored, laughing because of the absurdity how much effort the writers did put in the text and how little is conveyed. Laughing because it's fun/frustrating how nonsensical it is on purpose, when I do recognize words but see that they aren't used in their common meanings. Laughing when i read a tl;dr of a plot and see that really, the story i was imagining in my head (with the usage of the words which i did understand) was way better than the story of the main plot.

Honestly, i came to the conclusion that my approach (ignoring what i don't know, and imagining the rest) is possibly even the best approach for this game, cuz for me it conveys the atmosphere, while not even bothering trying to understand single words.

[Milkie]

I'm a bit biased, I tend to tailor my own writings to a more casual tone. That is decidedly not the tone of Wildermyth. An argument can be made that medieval fantasy allows for some flowery language, but sometimes it all just gets a little long in the tooth.

[NickG]

It's literally the essence of the game. I mean, you can find a lot of other tactical RPG that don't have this style. There's also the DLC, which is awesome if you ask me (really enjoying it, and I am getting an story, I don't understand what people is saying about no story)

[Nazkai]

For what it's worth.. I find it rather refreshing, whimsical and fun. It is in a word Unique.

[Dizzy Ioeuy]

Originally posted by Nazkai:

For what it's worth.. I find it rather refreshing, whimsical and fun. It is in a word Unique.

Or in it's words maybe it is "Windsewn Sparklertime."

[Derpykat5]

I personally enjoy the folk-tale-esque style of writing because it's not something you see a lot of other media do. I also love being exposed to interesting words I've never heard before because no other writing style would use them. It's not so flowery as to be "overbearing" though, but I can see it being difficult to understand for some people, especially non-native speakers.