Mass Effect 4: 12 Mistakes Bioware's Next Gen Sequel Must Avoid

5. ME3's Dialogue System

The dialogue wheel in Mass Effect 1 was a slick solution to clunky conversation interfaces in RPGs. Three response options would be on the right side: a polite/good one on the top (Paragon), a neutral one in the middle, and a pragmatic/jerk/space racist one on the bottom (Renegade). On the other side was an option to pump characters for more info, which would remove the regular options and put a bunch of topics all around the wheel, or special dialogue reserved for people who maxed out Shepard's Paragon or Renegade reputation. While ME2 toned down the Renegade option and added interrupts as a way to do Paragon or Renegade actions in certain situations, ME3's conversation wheel felt like a step backward. There were only two options, Paragon and Renegade, in most situations. Bioware tried to justify this by saying the Reaper War plot demanded definitive choices in dialogue, which didn't seem true when so many conversations took place outside of hectic situations. It also wasted the new Paragon/Renegade reputation tracking system, which allowed players to pick dialogue selections they wanted without locking them out of dialogue. Bringing back the dialogue wheel's neutral option would help make the conversation choices feel less artificial and forced. Adding some better context clues, like a Deus Ex: Human Revolution style text preview of what the player character will actually say, would also help ME4's dialogue wheel standout against the lackluster one from ME3.