Bethesda VS Obsidian (A comparison on dialogue)

A side by side comparison that showcases the creative differences in dialogue between Bethesda and Obsidian. Bethesda has displayed an inability with writing concrete endings for the Fallout series. Yet they've somehow are also incapable of writing good dialogue as well

Videos:

[spacebarisntworking]

I can not express how much I love the scene with Legate.

-The positions with him higher so it seems he's above you while you have finally crawled up to his level.

-His voice and dialogue make an intimidating yet alluring character.

-How you debate whether taking the dam would mean the legion would fall.

-How he was disgusted by the Omertas plan because he saw no honour in it.

-And in the end he understands your point of view and wants to meet you again to test his and the legion's strength.

[Gillpradi]

Legate had more facial expression and emotion than the Father

[Mr_Jumbles]

When you get a more emotional reaction from finding 200 year old super glue, than you do finding your long lost son.
Yeah somethings wrong with the writing department.

[epicmemes]

No matter how high your speech skills are you can’t get a refund in Fallout 76

[thacc]

I never thought watching an unkillable mailman talking to a Roman cosplayer about war would have more emotion than a father comforting his son in his last moments.

[matt]

Bethesda: You wouldn't understand, so I don't need to explain it.
Obsidian: You wouldn't understand, so I *do* need to explain it.

[jftnd]

Sole Survivor: "Shaun, can you explain the institutes motives for me?"

Shaun: "No, no I don't think I will."

[AnonymousRandomDude]

-“Why are you doing this?!”

*”It’s too complicated for the writers—I mean, for you to understand.”

[DemiDogg]

Also obsidian:
"Are you a man of peace or war?"
"Pizza"
"I see."

[TheJsabrao]

Obsidian
Courier: if you are against the legion, why not join the NCR?

Mr. House: the ncr is walking the same path of the pre-war goverment, their leaders are corrupts and has a lack of vision. If you want to see the fate of democracies, just look out the windows.

Bethesda
Sole Survivor: why are you replacing people with synths?

Father: you don't understand, *IT JUST WORKS*

[lithium]

You can tell Obsidian made parallels to real history and philosophies in their writing while Bethesda seemed to use straight to DVD films and CSI Miami as their inspiration.

[BrokenSwordAlliance]

Obsidian's Fallout: [philosophical pondering on the meaning of survival and life in a world seemingly beyond saving]

Bethesda's Fallout: "Wow! Cool wasteland!"

[KoeSeer]

''A baby is drowning in the lake:

-Fallout 1
Ask for more information
Agree to help
Decide not to help
Accidentally say something that pisses the NPC off, failing the quest
Reveal too much information about yourself, causing the Super Mutants to track your vault more easily

-Fallout 2
Ask for more information
Agree to help
Decide not to help
Accidentally say something that pisses the NPC off, failing the quest
Pop culture reference about the baby

-Fallout 3
Yes, I will save the baby
Depends on the caps
I will not save the baby
[Intelligence] The baby is drowning

-Fallout New Vegas
I will save the baby
I will not save the baby
[Barter 30] Double the caps and I'll save the baby
[Medicine 30] Thanks to my medical knowledge, I will easily be able to save the baby
[Survival 15/30] Uh... yeah, I totally know how to swim

-Fallout 4
Yes
No (Quest is on hold)
Sarcastic (Yes)
"What's a baby?"

-From steam reviews.

[yungmouseboy]

New Vegas: *Thought out, well constructed argument to persuade and force the Legate to come to the realisation that Caesar has set the Legion on a path of doom and the Legate must rebuild before they can continue West*
Fallout 4: "Do thing"
"no"
*Angery*"do thing"
"Ok sorry"

[paragonrobbie]

A villain has to have motives.
A good villain has to have some understandable reason for said motives.
A *great* villain has motives that are probably better than yours.




Edit after 3 years: After thinking on it, the reason itself doesn't need to be logically better than yours, but at the very least convincingly better. Some amazing villains don't have a twisted ideal that motivates them, they just want to do whatever they want because they can, but they are very charismatic when doing so. In the words of Mr. Plinkett on emperor Palpatine: "He's evil, but he loves it and you gotta respect that."

[Bloodletter]

"It's complicated. You wouldn't understand."

Translation: Bethesda wrote themselves into a corner and have no idea why the Institute kidnaps people and replaces them with synths. Nor do they have any idea why it keeps the surface unstable with their antics while claiming that surface dwellers can't get their shit together.

I mean look at that sentence Father uttered. They actually meme'd themselves.

[Shady]

“Leave now. Leave, while you still have... hope.”

The weight of that line can define an entire franchise.

[oliverhasselbalch]

Fallout 3: "Where's Daddy?:
Fallout 4: "Where's my son?"
Fallout 76: "Where are my nuclear launch codes to nuke xxXPussyx69xLordXxx's shitty shack he spent 6 hours building?"

[adriannaranjo]

"Can you explain your motives"
Obsidian: "Sure, pass hard speech checks and navigate a philosophical debate dialogue tree where the villains give you hard questions to answer and you get an insight to their motive"
Bethesda: "It's too complicated, I wouldn't expect you to understand"

[pilotj]

Obsidian: Morally Grey character with understandable motives but can also seem evidently flawed

Bethesda: Disney Villains