Don't get me wrong, i still think your Gripes are awesome and correct. Only the dialogue thing bothered me a bit so i felt like i needed to state my mind in that matter.
There's something i would like to add to this.
There are tons of other ways of reinforcing your RPG's with storytelling and dialogues. There is the very clichée, overused and awe-inspiring DUNGEON traveling!
Nobody realy likes a game full of dungeons(This is from my opinion only, take note of that)
Please, oh, PLEASE!! Do not overuse dungeons in your game for crying out loud! If there's anything i hate most it would be when i play a game that has random encounters and tons of boring dungeons that you have to travel through.
And even if you do have a lot of dungeons, at least keep them interesting.
Do not use the normal:
"We must go to this dungeon and get the key to that castle"
So you go to the dungeon and it looks like this:
- Find switch
- Go through tons of corridors with tons of random encounters to the place you just unlocked
- Come to a new bigger place within the dungeon
- Find the new switch and press it
- Go to the door you unlocked
- Find a key to another door
- and once you're done with all the boring stuff you get to fight a boss at the end as usual which has no background story whatsoever...
Try to keep it interesting instead of doing the same thing over and over and OVER AND OVER!! I hate games that keep using dungeons as a timewaster as dungeons are never realy fun at all, it's the same thing as any other game that uses this idea.
Now, i'm not saying you should not put dungeons in your game. I'm just saying that you should try and make it interesting instead of doing the same thing over and over(see the list above).
Remember that a game is supose to be fun, not annoying.
So how do we make a dungeon fun? With a bit of creativity you can go a long way.
(remember, that this is till stated from my opinion.)First of all, we need to look at a dungeon in a different way. When you say the word
Dungeon, what's the first thing that comes to mind...? That's right, puzzle solving, random encounters, looking for keys etc...
We must first change how we use the word
dungeon. Do not think of it as a... well... dungeon
Instead try to think of this place as a different area within the outside world. Forget the word dungeon or cave or temple, whatever you wanna call it. Try to imagine this place as just another place within the overworld where lots of cutscenes, exploring, boss fights and story relevant things can happen.
It's is realy hard to explain what i mean, but i am trying my best.
It's okay to fetch a key for a door or pressing a switch for it. But not over 50 times in a single dungeon...
Another thing is to keep the story up even within the dungeon. Add a few cutscenes, make some easter eggs, make mini-games, make the characters experience the dungeon as well and not just yourself.
I hope you get my point, i must go now.