Quite honestly, I am either for strictly pre-writte dialog or completely free text parsing. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
I always hated the Elder Scrolls system with keywords... cause I never know what the player character will say when I click on the word.
Pre-written dialog is quite time consuming and can be a problem if you want to make a non-linear and free gameplay. But since I doubt that a real non-linear and free gameplay is possible in these days, I can live without individual dialog lines but with fixed and pre-written words.
The completely free text parser is more complicated of course... it should allow you to enter any word you want or any word combination aka sentences... and the dialog system should always find a suitable answer for that, preferably not by choosing a given dialog line option but by text lines which get constructed in reply to the player's line. Add in voice recognition and dynamic voice playback (dynamic: the computer modulates the speed, tone, pitch etc. so that you can use any word in any place of a sentence) - and you have your perfect dialog system. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
But briefly: I prefer the DD system if the game allows it...
And from a translator point of view, I HATE dynamic text dialog lines with placeholders like
"Hello, use %1 to obtain %2. Then bring it to %3, who will give you %4. Bring that back to me and I will give you %5"
What sounds perfect in English is quite impossible in German and other languages for example! So, DEATH TO PLACEHOLDERS! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />
