Multichoice quest dialogues?

[NikitaTheTanner]

One thing I didn't see implemented, which just begs to be added is a multichoice quest dialogue option. Don't get me wrong, I think what the team has done with the quest scripting is stunning and allowed many to create new and interesting quests, but one things the game still suffers from is the lack of options for the player. I might be wrong, but I think it's currently only possible to ask player yes/no questions (the one you get asked if as you pick a quest).

I already saw some creative use of yes/no questions, for example, for tavern quizzes, but imagine if you could choose from multiple options - how many possibilities would this create?! I can't fully imagine, just some ideas:
1) Better puzzles or quizzes, where you to select a correct answer. Maybe some factions would even have some exams where you have to study in order to be promoted!

What school of magic does Levitation belong to?

• Alteration

• Mysticism

• Restoration

• Thaumaturgy

2) Choose your reward - present multiple options of reward to player. Maybe a skill increase in one of the offered skills, and you select which one.

Great job, Emilia! Now, what skill training would you like to receive as reward?

• Archery

• Axe

• Blunt Weapon

• Long Blades

• Short Blades

3) Branching quests - select which branch of the quest to follow and which to ignore.

Geralt, we don't have much time! One of us has to go to the Crazy Laboratory of Dexter, and another will have to protect the guild hall!

• Go to the lab

• Protect the guild hall

4) Roleplay options - want to rob a person blind or lend them your money? Maybe just ignore? Or give an advice? Offer healing? You could present many more options to the player this way.

I'm a traveling merchant! Would you like to get a look at my merchandise?

• Barter

• Talk

• Rob

5) Even proper dialogs - player could have multiple response options, or ask different questions, all within the current quest system.

Saint Jiub, would you like to hear a joke?

• Yes, I do

• I'd like to tell one

• No, thanks! I am not a very humorous person

So, if possible, I hope this will be realized one way or another in future versions, it would definitely open up many possibilities for future mods.

Sorry if this was proposed before, I just didn't see a similar topic. Regarding the feature lock, not sure if it counts as minor or major though (probably the latter), still thought it worth asking Even if this will be available only much later, it's still something worth having.

options.jpg (202.56 KiB) Viewed 1526 times

[pango]

Main difficulty is probably buttons graphics.all existing ones are separate graphics, each with its own text.
So either we'd have to continue that trend and bundle more graphics for all the buttons we want, or we need to be able to display a button in the same style with any text on it...

[NikitaTheTanner]

Thank you for the reply, pango! I don't think it's necessary to keep the buttons for the multichoice selection. Of course, it's a stylistic choice, but I feel it might not look good for some of the bigger answers. My picture was more of a joke, and showing the general idea, but instead it can be a list of modern buttons, like used in other parts where the classic UI needed an extension, for example, saving menu.

If the limitation are the art assets, and not the coding, I think many would agree that it's worth expanding the functionality with some new UI elements, even if they'll be very basic at first iteration, maybe the UI can be improved in future versions.

[Lokkrin Zhataros]

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[NikitaTheTanner]

Yes, yes, exactly! I think that many people probably didn't even think about it before, but it would add much needed to depth to the quests and at least some ability to roleplay, plus potential branching options in quests based on your selection. It's definitely a must have, and I hope it will be implemented one day. I think currently it's one of the biggest limits in providing an interactive narrative in the game, as opposed to just following a script.

[UnopenedCanofSpoopy]

One of the things I hated about Morrowind is it's dialogue system. Asking someone about something shouldn't result in an encyclopedia entry text dump.

[TheLacus]

I think this is a nice addition, not only for the quest system but also as an additional UI control available to mods. The first step would be to agree on a proposal for a nice and classic looking layout for the UI (ideally using only classic textures and fonts). A piece of grey background with custom text in standard yellow could be good enough.

The integration with the quest system can be worked on at a later time.

[NikitaTheTanner]

Well, yes, no need to change any existing quests definitely - this is up to the modders, but to give additional tools would be great.

How would it look as the UI is up for debate, I would personally not mind it being a selection list, like when you are choosing a class:

DF-misc-Class_List.jpg (397.56 KiB) Viewed 1348 times

Or answering questions during class selection:

class-questions-falsecolours.png (50.27 KiB) Viewed 1348 times

It could be multiple buttons with gray background as per my original picture, but this might not look good with larger dialog/selection options, and it would be hard to match it with the classic Yes/No buttons. The Yes/No buttons should definitely be kept as they are, the new options being a thing of its own.

Simply giving an interactive list with the same font as the rest of the text, but maybe with some bullet points to the left, and highlight when you mouseover an option might be easier to implement and just as practical/fitting to the game style.

[Lokkrin Zhataros]

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[TheLacus]

Stone background is not strictly necessary, but I'd rather keep it as simple and consistent as possible, without deviating from classic window except for the addition of custom text buttons. Major reworking of classic UI would be up to mods.

Spoiler!