Dialogue choices are some of the most important aspects in RPGs, because they actually matter. Making the relevant decisions makes or breaks these games.
In some of these games, picking the wrong dialogue options leads to game-altering outcomes. If that happens, then you are better off praying that your recent save file wasn’t hours ago.
But we aren’t here to talk about save-scumming. We are here to discuss in the list below, some of the best RPGs where dialog choices actually matter.
Dialogue Choices That Actually Matter in Some RPGs
Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is a game that harkens back to the good old CRPG and tabletop RPG days. That was a time when dialogue choices actually mattered in determining in-game progression. This title does just that and does it very well.
The game was released in 2019 by independent developers at ZAUM. It quickly rose to success and won prestigious awards such as Role Playing Game of the Year.
In an era where modern AAA games were streamlining the video game experiences into a non-linear journey. Disco Elysium was released and showed the world that a game where you simply make dialogue choices can be just as entertaining and worth it.
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Larian Studios is a well-renowned developer in the industry these days. They are responsible for the critically acclaimed Baldur’s Gate 3, released in 2023. But right now, we are going to talk about Divinity: Original Sin 2.
The Divinity games are a long-running series that is created by Larian Studios. It utilizes original tabletop RPG rulesets like Pathfinder and Dungeons&Dragons. This sort of source material also inspires it to have a game that is based around dialogue choices.
The game provides multiple races to choose from and various important characters to recruit. This also brings in its fair share of decision making, and making wrong choices can result in severe consequences.
Baldur’s Gate 3
What better way to follow up a Larian game discussion with another one? Baldur’s Gate 3 was the developers’ biggest project they worked on after Divinity: Original Sin 2. But the licensing for the game never belonged to Larian.
The studio just happened to helm the third game, which became a phenomenal success. But this isn’t to distract you from the fact that choices are any less important in this game.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is probably a lot of modern casual gamers’ first taste of how much dialogue choices matter. The wrong decisions in this game can lead to severe results that reflect on other characters, either leaving or dying forever.
Citizen Sleeper
Going back to more CRPGs like Disco Elysium, where the main gameplay revolves around making dialogue choices. Citizen Sleeper is a sci-fi game with cyberpunk themes that does the whole choice-based design really well.
Citizen Sleeper was released in 2022, developed by the amazing people at Jump Over the Age. The plot of the game follows a Sleeper whose mind has been transported to a non-biological body.
The game is heavily dice-based, just like Disco Elysium and other tabletop RPGs. This makes the choice-based gameplay loop all the more intriguing.
Catherine
ATLUS is known to be the developer of some of the best modern Japanese RPG franchises. While the Persona series is their most well-known work, we are going to look at another game instead.
Director Katsura Hashino of Persona fame released a puzzle platformer title named Catherine that had RPG elements. It is probably the most unique and niche game in Atlus’ catalogue that utilized choice-based dialogues really well.
The game follows Vincent, a man who is stuck in the middle of a relationship between two characters. The game balances social sim RPG aspects of making choice-based decisions really well. On the other side, it also gives players a fresh take on puzzle platforming games.
Shin Megami Tensei
Following up on the discussion around ATLUS with another one of their franchise. The fans might tell you that Persona games are what the company is well-known for. In reality, the Shin Megami Tensei franchise is where it all started.
These games were inspired by Western RPGs like D&D, as well as popular video games such as the Ultima and Wizardry games. Shin Megami Tensei usually follows a chosen character who is left at their own devices to decide the fate of the world.
The series does this by utilizing the old school alignment systems, such as chaos, neutral, and law, found in TTRPGs. Thus, making dialogue choices very crucial to the gameplay, as they dictate the game’s ending.
Undertale
For those of you checking out this list just to see if we didn’t forgot to include Undertale, be at ease. This game is probably the RPG that is all about critical dialogue choices that actually matter.
Undertale was developed by a solo indie creator named Toby Fox and immediately became a hit once it dropped. The game’s plot follows a world where monsters were banished after a huge war with humans.
Undertale utilizes an interesting kind of gameplay, which Toby Fox has said was inspired by Shin Megami Tensei. There are two routes the players can go down for separate endings.
The genocide route has the player killing every character. But the pacifist route is what the real game is about. Players have to play through critical dialogue choices in every encounter to decide the fate of the ending.
Mass Effect Trilogy
The Mass Effect series is considered one of the finest sci-fi video game experiences in existence. The trilogy reached new heights that even the fourth game could not reach. But that’s besides the point because we’re here to talk about how much choices matter in this game.
The plot of the trilogy follows a soldier named Commander Sephard who protects the galaxy against the reapers. Mass Effect, being an RPG, put immense emphasis on player choices, especially through dialogue.
Making decisions according to what one feels is right eventually determines several aspects of the game. These can include relationships and even the endings in the game.
Dragon Age: Origins
Dialogue choices are important in every game in the Dragon Age series. But we also believe that it’s particularly more impactful in Dragon Age: Origins. This was the game that particularly took the franchise to its present-day fame.
Dragon Age: Origins, just like most RPGs, allows for character creation at the beginning of the game. It is also at this point that the players get to choose a race for the character.
The created character will be treated according to their race in the game. This is where the genius of Dragon Age lies, as this heavily leans into the outcome of in-game dialogue choices.
Players will get to interact with other characters through dialogues. Either to persuade or intimidate, which leads to consequential outcomes.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Fire Emblem games have been the heart and soul of Japanese strategy RPG titles. It is also the most important RPGs that is exclusive to Nintendo consoles with every release. The last mainline Fire Emblem title did some things that made it worthy of mention in this list.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2019. Being a game about war makes player dialogue choices very important. This is where the social sim aspects of the game become important.
Three Houses expanded on the social sim mechanics that the franchise was already partially known for. Making or breaking relationships through thoughtful dialogue choices leads to several outcomes. These include marriage and consequential story beats that dictate the ensign.
