I don't mind a fair amount of chitchat in video games,
especially if it reveals something about a character, an important plot point,
or forces you to have your character make a moral decision, as was often the
case in Fallout 3. But the useless,
rambling nature of characters in Skyrim oftentimes approaches Mass Effect levels, with characters telling you the same thing three times but in slightly
different fashions, just because you happen to be a big, stupid, hulking
one-eyed Nord named Kraktar. It's insulting, boring and worst of all, the
conversations don't matter - you can respond any way you want and it doesn't
change anyone's perception of you or which run-and-fetch-it quest you have to
do next.
In Game of Thrones,
the dialogue is, frankly, somewhat better than anything in Skyrim. There's an economy of language on display and the writers
make use of a fascinating technique known as "subtlety." And even when the
yammering starts to run a little long, it's generally OK, because if there's
not some currently on the screen, you know you can look forward to some decent...
