{"id":1280752,"date":"2026-03-21T04:09:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T04:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9PsKUQxmiLzrDiKgmxVsgG"},"modified":"2026-03-21T04:09:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T04:09:51","slug":"lets-just-kill-everyone-on-the-station-the-videogame-audio-log-was-apparently-invented-to-avoid-awkward-rpg-dialogue-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/lets-just-kill-everyone-on-the-station-the-videogame-audio-log-was-apparently-invented-to-avoid-awkward-rpg-dialogue-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Let&#8217;s just kill everyone on the station:&#8217; The videogame audio log was apparently invented to avoid &#8216;awkward&#8217; RPG dialogue trees"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<p>In a recent episode of <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/WkFZusNYjUU?si=chpSm1Y6MqN_aPiL&#038;t=538\" target=\"_blank\">Nightdive&#8217;s Deep Dive podcast<\/a>, Looking Glass Studios programmer Marc LeBlanc shared his recollection of how the team came up with the audio logs in System Shock, which are now a ubiquitous game design standby.<\/p>\n<p>LeBlanc came to the topic after describing why Shock 1 eschewed RPG stats, unlike Ultima Underworld before it and Shock 2 after. Basically, Looking Glass was struggling with a perennial action-RPG conundrum: how to make D&#038;D-style stats and skills matter, but also not feel limiting or frustrating when you already have full control of a character\u2060. Waving your weapon at an enemy without landing any hits in Morrowind is a classic example of this disconnect.<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-video\" data-nosnippet >\n<div class=\"video-aspect-box\"><iframe data-lazy-priority=\"low\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WkFZusNYjUU?start=538\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;The other thing we didn&#8217;t like was the state of talking NPCs. We didn&#8217;t want to have [players] pick from three options, navigate a conversation tree with content,&#8221; said LeBlanc. &#8220;It was especially awkward to pair with what felt like a real world simulation everywhere else, to be pulled out of that and be picking things from a menu didn&#8217;t seem great.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was [System Shock designer] Austin Grossman who came up with the idea of &#8216;Let&#8217;s just kill everyone on the station, and you&#8217;re just gonna go through their diaries.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The results speak for themselves (literally, heh): Though sometimes overused these days, audio logs can be an atmospheric way to deliver exposition without bringing the action to a screeching halt, in contrast with cutscenes, written codex entries, or chunky dialogues\u2060.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been running into some of that last one talking to rambling Rasputin priest Durance in my ongoing Pillars of Eternity replay. And hey, it was kind of a prescient sci-fi prediction on Looking Glass&#8217; part: Everybody on Citadel Station has a podcast.<\/p>\n<p>LeBlanc is also clearly still a fan of audio logs as a storytelling tool, arguing that they offer players choice and agency in how they listen and react to them: Do you find a quiet spot to pay attention and listen, explore and half-listen, or charge into battle with somebody talking in your ear? &#8220;I think it works because, in a funny way, it&#8217;s kind to the player&#8217;s agency. By not offering a choice, it allows you to fully inhabit the choices that you do have,&#8221; argued LeBlanc.<\/p>\n<div class=\"product\"><a data-dimension112=\"f43f2ccc-75df-4dad-9f99-887b71f5316d\" data-action=\"Deal Block\" data-label=\"2025 games\" data-dimension48=\"2025 games\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><\/p>\n<figure class=\"van-image-figure \" >\n<div class='image-full-width-wrapper'>\n<div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:400px;\">\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:100.00%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"Vji3V6i3HDWUHeQ22PrjFL\" name=\"New Project (8).jpg\" caption=\"\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/lets-just-kill-everyone-on-the-station-the-videogame-audio-log-was-apparently-invented-to-avoid-awkward-rpg-dialogue-trees.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" credit=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/new-games-2025-upcoming-pc-release-schedule\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-dimension112=\"f43f2ccc-75df-4dad-9f99-887b71f5316d\" data-action=\"Deal Block\" data-label=\"2025 games\" data-dimension48=\"2025 games\" data-dimension25=\"\"><strong>2025 games<\/strong><\/a>: This year&#8217;s upcoming releases<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/the-best-pc-games\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best PC games<\/strong><\/a>: Our all-time favorites<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/the-50-best-free-pc-games\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Free PC games<\/strong><\/a>: Freebie fest<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/best-fps-games\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best FPS games<\/strong><\/a>: Finest gunplay<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/best-rpgs-of-all-time\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best RPGs<\/strong><\/a>: Grand adventures<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/the-best-co-op-games\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best co-op games<\/strong><\/a>: Better together<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/rpg\/lets-just-kill-everyone-on-the-station-the-videogame-audio-log-was-apparently-invented-to-avoid-awkward-rpg-dialogue-trees\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a recent episode of Nightdive&#8217;s Deep Dive podcast, Looking Glass Studios programmer Marc LeBlanc shared his recollection of how the team came up with the audio logs in System Shock, which are now a ubiquitous game design standby. LeBlanc came to the topic after describing why Shock 1 eschewed RPG stats, unlike Ultima Underworld before it and Shock 2 after. Basically, Looking Glass was struggling with a perennial action-RPG conundrum: how to make D&#038;D-style stats and skills matter, but also not feel limiting or frustrating when you already have full control of a character\u2060. Waving your weapon at an enemy without landing any hits in Morrowind is a classic example of this disconnect. &#8220;The other thing we didn&#8217;t like was the state of talking&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/lets-just-kill-everyone-on-the-station-the-videogame-audio-log-was-apparently-invented-to-avoid-awkward-rpg-dialogue-trees\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1280753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[748,34],"class_list":["post-1280752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pc-gamer","tag-games","tag-rpg"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Let&#039;s just kill everyone on the station:&#039; The videogame audio log was apparently invented to avoid &#039;awkward&#039; RPG dialogue trees | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a recent episode of Nightdive&#039;s Deep Dive podcast, Looking Glass Studios programmer Marc LeBlanc shared his recollection of how the team came up with\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/lets-just-kill-everyone-on-the-station-the-videogame-audio-log-was-apparently-invented-to-avoid-awkward-rpg-dialogue-trees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;Let&#039;s just kill everyone on the station:&#039; The videogame audio log was apparently invented to avoid &#039;awkward&#039; RPG dialogue trees | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a recent episode of Nightdive&#039;s Deep Dive podcast, Looking Glass Studios programmer Marc LeBlanc shared his recollection of how the team came up with\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/lets-just-kill-everyone-on-the-station-the-videogame-audio-log-was-apparently-invented-to-avoid-awkward-rpg-dialogue-trees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-21T04:09:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/lets-just-kill-everyone-on-the-station-the-videogame-audio-log-was-apparently-invented-to-avoid-awkward-rpg-dialogue-trees.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/lets-just-kill-everyone-on-the-station-the-videogame-audio-log-was-apparently-invented-to-avoid-awkward-rpg-dialogue-trees\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/lets-just-kill-everyone-on-the-station-the-videogame-audio-log-was-apparently-invented-to-avoid-awkward-rpg-dialogue-trees\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"&#8216;Let&#8217;s just kill everyone on the station:&#8217; 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