Co-op dialogues unusable! - 30/01/14 08:03 AM
I've just played the latest Steam alpha yesterday in the coop mode and I'd like to point out that the dialogue system in how it's implemented now is totally ruining coop experience, but can be saved with a few simple improvements.
1) When my coop partner talks with an NPC I can see the NPC responses on screen but I do not see my partner's text. Probably a bug.
2) If my co-op partner skips the text (because he isn't interested, already seen it or just reads it faster than I am) then it leaves me seriously disoriented. I don't know where we are at the quest line and wan't going on.
To get back on track I have to speak with all the NPCs myself, but that means my partner will do something else while I repeat the conversation, that way the game forces us to run idependently of each other instead of cooperating. But then once in a while, out of the blue, the game will start a co-op dialogue where we *have* both to participate in a conversation (often this happens without me even seeing what was the dialogue about in the first place before the co-op part of the dialogue started).
3) If me and my co-op partner do not stand right next to each other there is a good chance a part of the dialogue will go off-screen or will be totally invisible to me.
I think one way to mitigate these issues is to provide a co-op conversation log in the interface. Might need to split it into several columns when both players talk simultaneously.
(A searchable conversation history in the journal would be cool, too, but not as useful in the rush of a co-op session).
Another option is to make all dialogues co-op, so that the dialogue window always opens for both players. But in that case there must be an option for both players to mark the currently displayed phrase as read before going on with the dialogue (e.g. to "end turn" in the dialogue pretty much like it's done in the tactical combat).
There might be a switch between the co-op and independed dialogue modes.
Another option is to voice *all* dialogues in order to time them and make them available off-screen and, again, prevent the current phrase from being skipped unless both players want it.
Would love to hear about other ways of improving the co-op dialogues.
1) When my coop partner talks with an NPC I can see the NPC responses on screen but I do not see my partner's text. Probably a bug.
2) If my co-op partner skips the text (because he isn't interested, already seen it or just reads it faster than I am) then it leaves me seriously disoriented. I don't know where we are at the quest line and wan't going on.
To get back on track I have to speak with all the NPCs myself, but that means my partner will do something else while I repeat the conversation, that way the game forces us to run idependently of each other instead of cooperating. But then once in a while, out of the blue, the game will start a co-op dialogue where we *have* both to participate in a conversation (often this happens without me even seeing what was the dialogue about in the first place before the co-op part of the dialogue started).
3) If me and my co-op partner do not stand right next to each other there is a good chance a part of the dialogue will go off-screen or will be totally invisible to me.
I think one way to mitigate these issues is to provide a co-op conversation log in the interface. Might need to split it into several columns when both players talk simultaneously.
(A searchable conversation history in the journal would be cool, too, but not as useful in the rush of a co-op session).
Another option is to make all dialogues co-op, so that the dialogue window always opens for both players. But in that case there must be an option for both players to mark the currently displayed phrase as read before going on with the dialogue (e.g. to "end turn" in the dialogue pretty much like it's done in the tactical combat).
There might be a switch between the co-op and independed dialogue modes.
Another option is to voice *all* dialogues in order to time them and make them available off-screen and, again, prevent the current phrase from being skipped unless both players want it.
Would love to hear about other ways of improving the co-op dialogues.