Yesterday I was playing Jade Empire and marvelling at what beautiful and detailed dialogue that the designers have done for the game which fleshed out the major and minor characters, bringing complexity and depth to the game world. Jade Empire is a Darkside game, but Adventure games has beautiful dialogue too.

I propose we share excepts of game dialogue of Adventure games in this thread by quoting examples of game character speech and very briefly tell the context of that line.

Hi Benedict -- I tend to remember the dialog that makes me laugh. Here are some examples. I'll try to think more about dramatic dialog, maybe add some examples later.


From Discworld Noir:

Lewton: Play it again Sam.
Samael: You know, no-one's ever going to believe you said that.


From Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express:

Greta Ohlsson: [after the train stops] You have sprained your ankle!
Hercule Poirot: It is not I who has sprained my ankle, Madmoiselle! It is the train who has sprained my ankle. I hold none of you at fault!


From Sam & Max Season One: The Mole, the Mob and the Meatball

Max: [Dying] Mother of mercy! Is this the end of little Maxie? O Death, where is that guy, Sting?

Arghh! The pain! The pain! And only two days to retirement! You gotta promise...to... Tivo The Dukes of Hazzard for me! Promise me!

For cowards die a thousand deaths, while heroes die but once. Unless they're playing video games, in which case heroes die a lot, too. So goodnight, fresh prince! And may Charlie's Angels sing thee to thy rest.

[Reviving slightly]So... cold! Why am I...so cold?

I tend to remember the funny stuff best too. My favorite dialogue is from the RPG Divine Divinity:
Two skeletons talking:

First skeleton: "Hey look, it stands to reason. You can't eat 'cause you don't have a stomach."

Second skeleton: "Aha! So how can we speak? We don't have no vocal cords either. Answer that, Mr. Clever!"

First skeleton: "You're right, you know. Think about it; we don't have no muscles or flesh on our bones either, so what keeps us together, sort of thing?

Second skeleton: "Best not to think about it. I don't want to fall to bits because of extra existential thought..." (From the Divine Divinity dungeon)

But for an adventure game:
From “Jessica Plunkenstein and the Dusseldorf conspiracy” :
“Look! A three headed monkey!”
“Like I’m going to fall for that one again.”
“It’s tap dancing!”
“Why didn’t you say so?!”

And,
“…Why can’t I travel at the speed of light?”
“Because as a body approaches such a velocity, it becomes infinitely massive. Like your mother.”

And,” Friends don’t let friends be eaten by yetis.”

I love Discworld Noir, wish there would be a sequel.

Discworld Noir's dialogue is incredibly memorable.

Some examples from memory:

Lewton: The amount of trust in Ankh-Morpork wouldn't fill a cup. And it's a small cup I'm talking about.

Carlotta: Don't you like me Lewton?
Lewton: I like many things. I like dogs for instance. But I wouldn't trust one not to bite me.
Carlotta (flirtatiously): I won't bite.
Lewton: Shame, I wasn't bitten in a long time

Lewton's old flame (very sad): It hurts to hear talking you like that.
Lewton (as cynical as ever) : Good.

Mankin: I don't like your manner.
Lewton: I'm not selling it.

Mankin: That's some pretty hard-boiled dialogue. How long do you boil it?
Lewton: 10 minutes from the moment the water starts to rattle.

First meeting between Von Glover and Gabriel Knight in GK2, when Gabriel tries to prove his lineage to be allowed in the club. Great little innuendos there.

Von Glover: (questioning tone) You are a member of the Ritter family? Of Rittersberg, Bavaria?
Gabriel: What used to be Bavaria anyway.
Von Glover: (relaxing) Oh, it will always be Bavaria to us. May I see those papers... Hmm, I see... Well, you must tell me all about how you ended up in America, Herr Ritter. (a small pause) And about your hunting there. (again questioning tone) You're a hunter are you not?
Gabriel: It's Knight now. Gabriel Knight. And yes, I hunt - absolutely.
Von Glover: Very well! Gabriel?! Like the angel. Join us. (extending his hand to Gabriel) My name is Von Glover. Baron Friedrich Von Glover.

I thought Ceremony of Innocence had some wonderful dialogue, beautifully read by the actors concerned - but my brain refuses to remember any of it
The game Private Eye based on a Raymond Chandler novel had some typically noir lines in it - such as:

"open the door honey, this is the night we put out the trash"
"thats Browning - the poet not the gun"
"go ahead and faint; I'll catch you on the first bounce"

The most memorable though was this piece of musing:

“I’d been drinking - Chanel No 5, and kisses, and the pale glow of lovely legs, and the mocking invitation in deep blue eyes. Innocent things like that”

Never heard of the games Flotsam you mention above. Where can I go to read about them? Also are they new games and vista compatible? Thanks for letting me know.

Sherryah

Sherryah -- for more info about Ceremony of Innocence, read flotsam's review here on metzomagic.com. You can also read more about Private Eye here, -- another review by flotsam (Steve Ramsey) at metzomagic.com.

"Thomas? Herr Doktor Klingman here. Show our wolves to Mr Knight"

- Doctor Klingman's voice in a doctored recording, Gabriel Knight 2

The foriegn language inclusions, spoken by native Germans, complete with accents, is always a pleasure in Gabriel Knight games.