9 Things NO Video Game Can Get Right

7. Dialogue Options That Don't Signpost Obvious Story Paths

When Mass Effect first came on the scene, I remember just being excited about being able to talk to NPCs. Seeing Bioware's revolutionary dialogue system in the preview stage felt like the next step towards video game interaction; of active storytelling in a medium.

Then we hit launch, and while the first two Mass Effects are a blast to engage with when it comes to dialogue, they still siphon all their "conversation paths" into very obvious places on-screen. The left-hand side of the wheel is ancillary, additional information you don't really need, and the next story-based choice will be on the right. Paragon "Good" choices are up top, and Renegade "Bad" ones are at the bottom, every time.

Whilst this totally works for "game'ifying" conversation, it takes away from what it should mean to navigate a thorny back n' forth with an imposing character, or do anything other than go for the obvious choice.

Mass Effect Andromeda attempted to remedy this by putting your answers into buckets based on emotion, but as that game's writing and throughline narrative was terrible, it still didn't work.

The Witcher 3 highlighted the next plot point in yellow, Fallout 4 was too vague with its "Sarcasm" option, and even something like Alpha Protocol fell back on umbrella topics over what you wanted to say.

Many have come close, but no game has accurately nailed the unpredictable human chemistry of a damn good conversation.