Viral Clip From 'Forspoken' Sparks Debate On What Constitutes 'Bad' Video Game Dialogue

It's been just over five months since the first trailer for Square Enix's new video game Forspoken hit the internet and quickly became a meme for its over-the-top, quippy, Marvel-esque narration. The game officially comes out today, which means it's time for the internet to see if the cringe in the trailer made its way into the final product.

As reviews and reactions for it ramp up today, one viral clip tweeted by user @G27Status has been at the forefront of the dialogue discourse:

I present to you actual dialogue from Forspoken pic.twitter.com/IzygNHHM2T

— MrMattyPlays (@G27Status) January 23, 2023

The scene finds the protagonist Frey chatting with her magical Cuff. Cuff waxes poetic on the nature of destruction and corruption and Frey needles it for its pretentiousness. @G27Status held it up as an example of cringeworthy dialogue in Forspoken, but unlike the unanimous pile-on that occurred after the trailer dropped, this clip proved more divisive.

As @G27Status' tweet racked up 7,900 quote-tweets in just a day, many argued that they were being too harsh and the dialogue in the clip was pretty decent, not unlike something you'd hear in an Uncharted or Spider-Man game.

I really don't see what's so bad about this. It's just the same generic mainstream banter you see in MCU films. Feels weird to single this game out for having "cringe" dialogue when this kind of sarcastic main character is a really pervasive presence in entertainment right now https://t.co/L6VA2Jvuin

— John Wolfe (@JohnWolfeYT) January 24, 2023

Seriously, this is just a standard two-part role-inversion joke.

- Character 1 says serious thing.
- Character 2 doesn't engage seriously & mocks them.
- Character 1 breaks type & mocks them back.

I could show you this exact joke in Aristophanes & Menander. It's FINE. https://t.co/FTuD8DyhUh

— Many A True Nerd (@ManyATrueNerd) January 24, 2023

the dialogue in that #Forspoken clip going around isn't any worse than the vast majority of dialogue in like Uncharted or Spider-Man or Horizon.

Y'all have already decided to hate this game and are just making up reasons to support that.

— vincent (@halfbloodvince) January 22, 2023

Others were less charitable, saying it reminded them of commonly reviled dialogue tropes, particularly those associated with Joss Whedon.

From the Joss whedon and James gunn school of TV comedy dialogue… https://t.co/IpEKVQ8bWE

— Carlos The Prophet Digital (@BobDigi69) January 24, 2023

Seeing people defend this as "realistic dialogue" and "actually if you were transported to a fantasy world, you'd be making sarcastic quips all the time," and I'm convinced people think Marvel movie dialogue is real.

No it isn't. Have you talked with a person before? https://t.co/Hz60DIcqS5

— Gravantus (@Gravantus) January 24, 2023

This reminds me so much of YiiK, where any chance at clever dialogue is murdered because they get through points that only need one sentence in entire paragraphs. https://t.co/vXEdovHG0i

— Almighty (TAL) Bundy-Chu (@bundy_chu) January 24, 2023

While reactions to the clip seem fairly split, it's possible Forspoken may mark a turning point for video game writers to move away from light-hearted, quippy dialogue, particularly voiced by teen characters.

As several commenters pointed out, the highlighted clip isn't remarkably different in tone from many popular franchises, particularly Marvel's Spider-Man. It's also likely the case that Forspoken's script was completed well before the backlash to its style was in full force, making it the scapegoat for the public's recent distaste.

It's also worth noting that if you really dislike the in-game dialogue, you can also turn down some of it through a custom option in the game's settings menu that offers a slider for banter frequency.

in forspoken there is indeed a “high” setting for banter. are you brave enough https://t.co/mAliudiywa pic.twitter.com/h0mqKp8Gqo

— Gene Park (@GenePark) January 24, 2023

Discussions about Forspoken's dialogue aside, there's also a bit of backlash going around during its release about the PC requirements for hardware, which are pretty astonishing to many users. Since being shared online, memes and other reactions to it have been quite negative for the game's high-end settings.

When you're still rocking a Voodoo 2500 graphics accelerator and you see the Forspoken PC requirements: pic.twitter.com/2HVV6Y1ntX

— Darryn Bonthuys (@Darrangedd) January 17, 2023