» Wed Dec 14, 2011 4:56 pm
I was not part of the Skyrim dev team, so I could not possibly know what kind of schedule, conflicts, focus, management they had. It might not be entirely correct to assume that more of the dev's efforts went to graphics than dialogue. One probable reason FNV had a great NPC interaction was most likely influenced by the fact that its engine and mechanics were mostly established by Fall Out 3 already. They could afford to spend more time on the immersive dialogues. Skyrim most likely could not afford that same luxury.
The comparison with Oblivion, however, seems fair. They had roughly the same development time, and immersive dialogues in Skyrim not being on par with Oblivion does not show good progress (in the scripting aspect). Considering Skyrim's continuation of Oblivion's genre and gameplay, and the massive success of Oblivion, TES V should be equal or better on the dialogue aspect, since Oblivion already achieved this.
Posters who praise the reaction dialogues of NPCs to your unequipping armor and being naked need to realize that these triggers are VERY easy to accomplish. These do not depend on where you are in the story, quest, faction, or race. These dialogues are excellent touches, but they do not excuse the flaws of the bigger picture: it hurts the game much more when something as huge as finishing a major arc like DB has no impact on the citizens of Skyrim, or people randomly conjecturing that you are a dragonborn even though, besides escaping a dragon from Helgen, you have not learned Shouts or have anything to do with dragons whatsoever (remember Dragonborns have not been seen for hundreds of years, it's not something people wildly guess at).
You know that guy in Ivarstead who lost his sister? The one not exactly right in the head and speaks in a distinct voice, broken grammar? One random greeting of his was "My favorite drinking buddy! Let's get some mead," the same voice as the drunks from Riverwood, Whiterun, and heck every other town. Come on.
The "Thank you" quote is triggered when a summoned undead is killed, or sent back to Oblivion, thus gaining some form of peace. This trigger happens with allies or neutrals alike, from my experience of playing. It does not have anything to do with the stolen necklace. However, it's coincidences like these that make every player's experience unique.
So my 2-cent is... Bethesda made an excellent game. I can't blame them for the flaws of the dialogue, because I don't know if it was due to laziness. The flaw, however, is definitely there, and if you play long enough, you will notice it. You cannot deny there is no flaw, but you should not criticize the team of being incompetent, either, because you do not know what it's like to work on a game this massive, regardless of its 5 years development time. Many games (coughDarkVoidcough) show great promise but have fallen short because in our modern, instant information age, money relies on deadlines. 5 years for a game this big is probably not that long. What I know is, the game is overall good enough that I would not right out say they were lazy, even if it's about dialogue.