In RPG games, how long does it take before you stop trying to talk to everyone?

[Kelanflyter]

Depending on the game.
For exemple in Baldur's gate, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Alpha Protocol… i talk to everyone
But in Pillars Of Eternity, i stoped talking to people because it was too much to read for Nothing (also, when i played the game it was not translated in French)

 

[Tyaren]

I always talk to EVERY NPC. And I talk so often to them until they don't have anything new to say anymore, lol.

 

[astro]

Right away?

Most game only have short sentences uttered by the majority of their NPCs. If it's jot a game with a deep conversation system or some necessary gameplay element, I ignore pretty much all of them from the start.

 

[fourfourfun]

I talk to them, but there often gets a point where I am actively just searching for quest triggers. Sometimes the dialogue is SO UTTERLY TURGID that I feel forced to simply read the subtitles and skip the voice acting.

Dragon Age: Origins was pretty bad for this. Knights Of The Old Republic too. Waves and waves of NPCs who absolutely love to expose their entire thoughts about their menial lives, adding precisely no colour to the game or story.

I can deal with cut-scenes, because you're watching something play out, but 5 minutes of someone's face telling me about how some fucking thing like how many horses use a road per day and a detailed history of the construction of the road - no.

 

[fourfourfun]

Like talking to the citizens of Rabanastre in FFXII as war looms closer and closer is secretly the best thing in that game.

Click to shrink...

You see this works for me, as the dialogue is text based and you can consume it quickly.

 

[Valkerion]

It very much depends on the game. If it becomes clear NPC's are there with nonsense flavor text only, fairly quickly. If they have interesting things to say or can occasionally give items, everyone is getting talked to.

FFXII is one I played recently where I basically did not talk to anyone on my replay. It's almost all flavor text unless you are looking for something specific.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

I like talking to NPCs till the end.. it's one important pillar in the whole experience to me.

 

[AgentLampshade]

I get bored quickly in the first town where it's either basic world-building or tutorial talk. In subsequent towns, I usually talk (until repeated dialogue) with one or two people on my route.

 

[MoogleWizard]

I never talk to all NPCs, not even in the beginning.

 

[Anoxida]

Depends on the game and how invested I am in the lore and the world. In trails of series for example I talk to a lot of NPCs (not all because the sheer amount is staggering). In Mass Effect trilogy I pretty much exhausted every dialogue I could find. In Outer Worlds I probably skip most of it, it's a good game but npcs outside story quests dont really have anything interesting to say.

 

[spman2099]

Back in the day when secret characters were a thing, it was mandatory to talk to everyone. However, now that we have inexplicably lost that, I don't usually bother.

 

[seroun]

Midway through!

 

[Deleted member 17402]

Maybe half an hour of reading everything an NPC has to say. Shortly after that I continue starting a conversation with everyone I see but fast forward through dialogue - I still talk to them because I've learned from experience that some NPCs might net you an item, but at that point I've lost interest in giving a shit what they have to say.

 

[Slime]

I talk to every NPC, and then when a plot flag happens I talk to them all again, etc. aka I have actual OCD and that is why DQXI took me like 300 hours to complete (I am actually still not 100% done)

 

[thetrin]

Until the point where I figure out the visual difference between useless NPCs and named NPCs that I should talk to.

 

[Deleted member 60410]

That all depends on how interesting the world is to me.

On a similar note I fucking hate when NPCs have multiple dialogues that require you to talk to them more than once, especially when some only have one. STOP THAT

 

[Starlatine]

One playthrough unless writing is extremely poor (eg Skyrim)

I talk with everyone as habit. Specially in pokemon games since theres always some npcs who give you good stuff so i do it to memorize which ones

 

[Dogui]

I don't. Sometimes i don't talk with every npc, but i would do the next town. Sometimes not all, but half of them, but i never just stop.

 

[dm101]

What is this blasphemy?

Always talk to everyone. At least twice.

Click to shrink...

Lol yeah.
I'm playing BG again and I only talk to a random few. Talking to all the npcs, especially with long winded conversations like in Outer Worlds just gets way too tiring.

 

[Mechaplum]

I "sample" the NPCs in the first half hour then make my mind if it's going to be worth talking to non critical NPCs from there on out.

 

[llLeonhart]

Why would I stop talking to npcs? Inject that lore into my veins.

I'm actually surprised I'm skipping dialog for the first time ever in Death Stranding, but it's only the "thank you" from when you complete standard delivery

 

[Phil me in]

As a kid/teen I'd speak to most.

As an adult not a single one, don't give a fuck and don't have the time.

 

[salary0n]

It's JRPG man, you're supposed to talk to everyone.
But yeah, recently I'm getting tired to talk to anyone, so I always skip most of them, only talk to a person that pique my interest.

 

[Deleted member 2618]

Like an hour

Or after the point of getting 15 side quests in a row from talking to NPCs.

 

[Jannyish]

It depends on the game really. If the NPCs are well-written and have actually relevant dialogue or stories, I will talk to them through the end. For example, playing through a Kiseki game without talking to the NPCs really is like just playing half the game.

In franchises like Pokémon, I literally only do it because Game Freak keeps hiding items behind NPC dialogue without marking it on a map.

And for every new game I will just try for like 10 hours and if I feel like the npc dialogue isn't adding anything of worth to the game, I will stop.

 

[Mirabai]

I talk to no NPC unless i have to. I play RPGs for the combat, i dont care about the lore. So i said it.

 

[Flygon]

I tend to talk to every NPC.

It becomes a problem because some games put too much effort into their NPCs.

 

[sirap]

It really depends on the game. In Outer Worlds, I stopped talking to NPCs (even some of my own crew members) when I reached Monarch. That's when I realised how shallow that game was.

 

[Hieroph]

but at some point, you just... stop.

Click to shrink...

Ah yes, when the credits roll for the second time after completing the post-game.

Time to start a new RPG and start talking to all the NPCs again.

 

[Amakuni]

Depends on if the NPCs give you items. If they dont I'll avoid them.

 

[FlintSpace]

I found Outer World NPC talking tolerable only if I play for 2 hours and take a long 2 day break. Otherwise my patience for listening to their crap runs thin.
I really need to socialize more lol

 

[Cyanity]

I need to talk to every NPC, even if I'm getting sick of all the dialogue lol

 

[Thac0]

Yeah, I don't understand the question. Talking to all the characters is the game for me.

 

[Deleted member 8860]

In my book, an RPG where I don't want to talk to the NPCs is a failed RPG.

Definitely talked to everyone in the Gold Box games, Dragon Warrior I-IV, Chrono Trigger, Mass Effect 1/2/3, Undertale, and NieR Automata.

 

[Moara]

Depends on how engaged I an with the game and its world. In something like Outer Worlds, I talk to everyone and exhaust all the dialogue. That IS the game to me.

In something like Persona 5, I did talk to the towns people quite a lot until I got tired of the game's poor pacing and I just wanted to finish it.

 

[SmokedSalmon]

I talk to everyone at least twice. It's not always the most fun thing in the world, but it's what I do.

 

[Deleted member 18379]

One of the things I struggle with when it comes to npc heavy rpgs. I don't want to miss out on content or secrets but I usually get tired of talking to everyone real quick.

 

[flaxknuckles]

I talk to everyone but start skimming through dialogue at some point even if the game has amazing writing honestly.

 

[PatriotSaro]

If its a good JRPG like Dragon Quest? Everyone gets heard.

If its Pokemon or a western JRPG? Eh.

 

[logash]

Some times when I try to do this I take it so far that it feels more like I am checking boxes than organically experiencing the world. In my 25+ years of gaming, I have yet to figure it out.

 

[petethepanda]

Never, pretty much. I would say "as long as it's a game with interesting writing," but if it's not, I wouldn't continue playing it in the first place.

 

[HereticGrin]

I try not to talk to any NPCs I don't have to, unless they give me missions or are part of a mission I don't waste my time.

 

[Falchion]

If they're important characters with changing dialogue then I'll always try to hit them up but if it's just random NPCs in a town that have the same three lines, I'll stop almost immediately.