[Once A Villain]

Yes, dialogue trees are the subject of my latest poll regarding adventure games. I have mixed feelings about them myself. They are wonderful, I think, in games where the player's choice actually changes the course of the game in some way. But honestly, how many adventure games use dialogue trees for that purpose? I believe in good gameplay, but I don't believe in adding elements that aren't really necessary.

Now, some of you may know that my favorite adventure game of all time is The Beast Within. I love almost everything about it, and I wouldn't change anything. However, the dialogue trees in the game aren't necessary. I don't mind clicking the various options and seeing the next part of the conversation, but the same effect could be had by just clicking the character again when he/she stops speaking. This would be sort of like most console RPGs. When you click a person they talk to you, but once they stop talking you can talk to them again and hear new stuff.

What I'm trying to say is that far too often dialogue trees give the ILLUSION of choice without really having anything to do with choice whatsoever. Most of the time players are just going to click through every single option until they've played the conversation out anyway. The only time dialogue trees are critical, in my opinion, is when the choices truly matter...changing the course of the story, etc.

Anyway, what do you guys think?