Intentionally negative thread titles aside, I have some valid criticisms.

Everyone remembers the goofy "I saw a mudcrab!" conversations from Oblivion. They were comical because they didn't seem like a real life conversation between two people. Although the implementation was bad, ambient dialogue as an idea is wonderful and highly immersive. Ambient dialogue makes the world seem alive, where NPCs seem like they are actually going about their lives and chatting with neighbors.

When Skyrim was announced, I expected that the silly "I saw a mudcrab!" would be reconstructed into a more natural form of dialogue between the NPCs of the game world. Sadly, instead of improving the feature they just got rid of it entirely. Don't believe me? Go into a city and listen for any dialogue that isn't specifically scripted to happen between NPCs. You won't find any. Unless Bethesda scripted two NPCs to have a conversation, they won't.

While it's true we don't have to listen to goofy conversations, we now have no conversations at all. This has made cities in Skyrim seem dead compared to cities in Oblivion. Ambient dialogue has so much potential in large, open world games like this. It is a shame the feature was scrapped entirely.

Does anyone else agree? Discuss!

Agree, even though the oblivion ambient dialogues were simply [censored] "I saw a mudcrab the other day, nasty creatures - Im done talking to you! - bye - good day!" ... Skyrim couldve atleast had 10 non scripted random things npcs can say when encountering eachother face to face...

I do agree. It seems strange that Ysolda and Nazeem have the same conversation every time I go into Whiterun... well, until he ended up dead.

Nazeem is the most annoying one and it always insulting the people in Whiterun. I heard him once talking to the grocerie woman "If you would have bought the goods from ME they would be much fresher!!" or similar like that. But only the randomly talk is missing. Your Character is also now some kind of a robot who completly ignores the people. He doesn't even look at people he talks to.

I have been overhearing lots of interesting conversations between NPCs all the time.

Calcelmo and his nephew, the Jouane Manette and the children in Rorikstead, Oengul War-Anvil and Hermir Strong-Heart in Windhelm, the NPCs at Darkwater Crossing, etc.

Those are all specifically scripted to happen though, aren't they?

AFAIK they only really happen once or twice depending on what happens.

There is a little boy and girl in Whiterun, I hear the little girl bullying the boy all the time, squeezing him for cash, it's funny.

I fear it's asking too much for true random voice acted dialogue. Wouldn't that be very costly to implement? I mean, are we really expecting a different conversation between Nazeem and Ysolda every time you enter Whitrun?

I have overheard interesting, non-quest related conversation (at least, as far as I can tell, overhearing it didn't launch any quests). Just recently I overheard Wilhelm, the proprietor of Ivarstead's inn, encouraging the bard not to give up playing music. They talked for about 2 minutes in the background as I snooped around the inn.

I think the way they did it in Skyrim is a great improvement from Oblivion.

ambient dialogue as you call it, for me, is needless.

the fact that there is scripted dialogue that i can listen to, but, is meaningless is all i need. in fact, i usually reload those sections just to listen to it.
i don't need the game to actually give every npc a life with a job and conversation outside of me. it's fine, but, not needed and definitely not a negative.

besides, voice acting is overrated and needless anyways. for me.

They don't SEEM scripted to me. The specific things said, maybe, but the actually meeting and conversing, no. I see different NPCs conversing all of the time.

That's the problem. They say things once, the first time you go there, and never again. If you go back now all you will have is silence. And we aren't asking for a lot of dialog here. Just 10-20 (that seems good for me) random conversations people can have. That's at least 4 times as many as were in Oblivion

I hear plenty of dialogue between NPC's although it's not random like Oblivion.

I want ambient dialogies between monsters.

-I saw an Imperial by the town the other day. I steered cleared of him.
-Disgusting creatures, I hope to never see another one again.
-Well, at least they're slow and not too bright. Their swords are sharp though.

Agreed. It's weird how NPCs are silent if they don't have anything scripted to say.

I think you're wrong.
OP is right, Oblivions world feels more alive, and even though it's only dull talk it's still better than silence.
Do the NPCs not see eachother? Do they only see you?

I find there is more specific, unique dialogue between people. Some people don't interact with others, which is realistic. Just because I live in the same town as someone doesn't mean I want to talk to them. I notice in Riverwood the children talk to each other with unique dialogue and I'm sure more instances of this happening occur.

Don't play the game.

All i hear is "Hello i am Nils!", "They call me Captain" , "I am working in the shop of Belithor" over and over and over and over and over again......Nothing like "They say syndicates of wizards have led a boycott of Imperial goods in the land of the Altmer"

This. In Oblivion every single person knew and talked to every other person. The richest people in the Imperial City shouldn't just walk up to a beggar and go:

"Hello"
"Greetings"
"[insert something about rumours here]"

That's just not realistic. Instead we have semi-random dialogue, in that it only happens between certain people. Which IMO is much better.

It was a nice touch in Oblivion, made the NPCs seem more alive, if a bit stupid And the unintentional humor in some of them was priceless:

"The priests and priesteses of Dibella, murdered!"
"By the Gods!"
"No doubt."



All in all, i feel Skyrim is more lacking in "nice touches" than Oblivion.

I don't recall encountering any areas populated with groups of silent NPCs. On the contrary, there seem to be quite a few "chatty cathies." Even bandits have a lot more interesting communities in Skyrim. I've encountered bandits arguing about cheating at card games, griping about paternity disputes, even singing some interesting songs.

I agree I actually miss hearing about the other provinces. Now they just repeat their greeting over and over and over and over and over and over....

Okay, I won't.

Instead, I'll spend that time making another 141 threads just like this one.


@bootysweat
I do like it how the bandits have random ambient dialogue, I just wish I saw the same thing with civilians.