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Paused Interrupt

 Paused Interrupt
type
FeatureClass
 Paused Interrupt
label
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt
page
PausedInterrupt
 Paused Interrupt
comment
Sometimes, the dialog isn't timed perfectly. In other words, when one character interrupts another character, it isn't likely to sound like an actual interruption, but merely that one character finished a line which ended in mid sentence and the other character began their own line. Example:
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })Most likely in video games, in which the individual lines of dialog are stored as separate sound files, and the actors themselves — no matter what their quality is — cannot correct this, and neither can the game engine. In games where you need to press a button to advance the text, this is more or less guaranteed to happen.
Similarly present in animation, in some cases, due to VO studios recording lines individually (usually due to actors being recorded separately or for audio engineering purposes) and the pause being the result of failing to time the lines properly in post-production.
Note how this is primarily a voice-acting trope. A similar phenomenon may show up in games with text-based dialogue, where the game overestimates how long it will take the player to read the line before replacing it with the interruption (which would usually be preferable to the alternative).
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })It can, however, come into live acting when sub-par actors are involved. Two actors reading their lines (or reciting from memory) will not act out an interrupt realistically. Sometimes this can be intentional, to give the audience time to process everything being said while still having an interrupt.
If there are delays in the middle of the sentence because words are being spliced in, that's Mad Libs Dialogue.
 Paused Interrupt
fetched
2022-04-22T05:10:33Z
 Paused Interrupt
parsed
2022-04-22T05:10:33Z
 Paused Interrupt
processingComment
Dropped link to AGoodNameForARockBand: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Paused Interrupt
processingComment
Dropped link to GameMod: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Paused Interrupt
processingComment
Dropped link to LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Paused Interrupt
processingComment
Dropped link to PrideAndPrejudice: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
 Paused Interrupt
processingComment
Dropped link to SoapWithinAShow: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Paused Interrupt
processingComment
Dropped link to StarWars: Not an Item - CAT
 Paused Interrupt
processingUnknown
PrideAndPrejudice
 Paused Interrupt
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Paused Interrupt / int_17bfcf60
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_17bfcf60
comment
Homeworld: Cataclysm tries to avert this, but fails. One character talks over another, and the interruption is in the first voice clip that plays - but the rest of the interrupting line is in another clip, and due to the game lagging as a result of the sheer carnage happening while the characters talk, there can be up to several seconds before the line resumes.
 Paused Interrupt / int_17bfcf60
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_17bfcf60
featureConfidence
1.0
 Homeworld (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_17bfcf60
 Paused Interrupt / int_1f720e0
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_1f720e0
comment
The Adventures of Willy Beamish has this exchange, which is much more pronounced in the Sega CD version than the PC one.
 Paused Interrupt / int_1f720e0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_1f720e0
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Adventures of Willy Beamish (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_1f720e0
 Paused Interrupt / int_26674ed5
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_26674ed5
comment
Pretty well averted in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, where characters interrupt each other pretty much immediately (for a good example of how to do it right, notice how Fatman interrupts Raiden's monologue about how great a person Stillman was, and how Snake cuts Otacon's lecture about what the camera program does). Not so much in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, though, which was bad because the radio dialogue was a lot more snappy and comical, particularly between Big Boss and Para-Medic.
 Paused Interrupt / int_26674ed5
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_26674ed5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_26674ed5
 Paused Interrupt / int_3976eb95
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_3976eb95
comment
This is one of the more regrettable resemblances to Mass Effect to be found in The Bureau: XCOM Declassified.
 Paused Interrupt / int_3976eb95
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_3976eb95
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_3976eb95
 Paused Interrupt / int_39b7671e
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_39b7671e
comment
Metroid: Other M has an almost comically long pause during one of Samus's internal monologues after joining up with Adam's unit. It was probably intended for emphasis, but with the poor voice direction and the need to load sound files off the disk, well...
 Paused Interrupt / int_39b7671e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_39b7671e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Metroid: Other M (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_39b7671e
 Paused Interrupt / int_43f52aa9
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_43f52aa9
comment
In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the first (or second) dialog you hear features this trope as one of the Blades tries to explain to his superior what you are doing in your cell.
Skyrim mostly averts this by having the dialogue overlapping each other. In the intro, for example, a priestess delivers the last rites but one of the soldiers, who are about to be excecuted, interrupts her. His line ("For the love of...") and her second line ("for you are...") almost completely overlap.
 Paused Interrupt / int_43f52aa9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_43f52aa9
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_43f52aa9
 Paused Interrupt / int_49a88435
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_49a88435
comment
Averted in Final Fantasy XII in at least one scene where Balthier interrupts Vaan. It's done very naturally.
 Paused Interrupt / int_49a88435
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_49a88435
featureConfidence
1.0
 Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_49a88435
 Paused Interrupt / int_513c73f3
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_513c73f3
comment
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World has a fair bit of this in the first half hour or so.
 Paused Interrupt / int_513c73f3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_513c73f3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_513c73f3
 Paused Interrupt / int_526d4c5c
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_526d4c5c
comment
Every Bioware adventure ever, including Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Neverwinter Nights. In one part of the first KoTOR game this is justified; the two lovers trail off as they see angry parents approaching, but before said parents are close enough to shout most effectively. Other cases, less so.
In Mass Effect you can choose the next dialogue option while the NPC is talking, which helps keep the conversation flowing. Of course, if you're focusing on the next dialogue option, then you miss what the NPC is actually saying.
Mass Effect 2 exacerbates the problem with the addition of dialogue interrupts. The player has to be quick to trigger them, but this (together with the loud 'ding' sound that plays when you do it) means it rarely sounds natural, even for a sudden interjection (and sometimes you have to trigger the interrupt before the dialogue actually reaches the point Shepard is reacting to).
One funny moment uses this to lean on the fourth wall a bit. After your normally fast-talking doctor suddenly bursts into song, even if you select something right away there seems to be a looooong Paused Interrupt... and then he coughs. Shepard is just as speechless as the player.
Mass Effect 2 sometimes has the opposite problem on fast PCs, where lines are spoken too quickly on each others' heels to sound natural.
 Paused Interrupt / int_526d4c5c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_526d4c5c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Knights of the Old Republic (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_526d4c5c
 Paused Interrupt / int_5908ee91
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_5908ee91
comment
Skyrim mostly averts this by having the dialogue overlapping each other. In the intro, for example, a priestess delivers the last rites but one of the soldiers, who are about to be excecuted, interrupts her. His line ("For the love of...") and her second line ("for you are...") almost completely overlap.
 Paused Interrupt / int_5908ee91
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_5908ee91
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_5908ee91
 Paused Interrupt / int_59a835fb
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_59a835fb
comment
Inversion: Sonic Adventure 2's localization took the rough (read: almost Engrish) translations of the Japanese script and placed them in the same sized sound files. Thus, the characters speak at the same time frequently, or may say things that don't make a bit of sense. The most hilarious example has one character repeating part of a line in a news report before it's even said.
 Paused Interrupt / int_59a835fb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_59a835fb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Sonic Adventure 2 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_59a835fb
 Paused Interrupt / int_5a0d652b
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_5a0d652b
comment
Warcraft III does this a lot, particularly when Arthas is in the cinematic.
 Paused Interrupt / int_5a0d652b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_5a0d652b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Warcraft (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_5a0d652b
 Paused Interrupt / int_5a1506e6
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_5a1506e6
comment
All of the dialogue in Eternal Sonata is punctuated with pauses. If even a quarter of a second were shaved off of each pause between lines, cutscenes would be up to 2 minutes shorter.
 Paused Interrupt / int_5a1506e6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_5a1506e6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Eternal Sonata (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_5a1506e6
 Paused Interrupt / int_5e91c7b
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_5e91c7b
comment
Resident Evil 2:
 Paused Interrupt / int_5e91c7b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_5e91c7b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Resident Evil 2 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_5e91c7b
 Paused Interrupt / int_629cd094
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_629cd094
comment
Dragon Age: Origins is guilty of this, too, both when the PC is talking to party members and when party members are talking to each other while exploring.
 Paused Interrupt / int_629cd094
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_629cd094
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dragon Age: Origins (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_629cd094
 Paused Interrupt / int_6aaf56f7
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_6aaf56f7
comment
Tales of Innocence suffers terribly from this, between the usual video game woes and a minimum delay between voiced lines of different characters, due to the dialog box design.
 Paused Interrupt / int_6aaf56f7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_6aaf56f7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tales of Innocence (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_6aaf56f7
 Paused Interrupt / int_70788a5
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_70788a5
comment
In SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom, the conversations are text box-based, meaning simple character changes are afflicted with this, let alone interrupts. The player can manually avert this however if they press the Next button with good timing.
 Paused Interrupt / int_70788a5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_70788a5
featureConfidence
1.0
 SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_70788a5
 Paused Interrupt / int_72a1ac51
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_72a1ac51
comment
In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas there is a segment where an NPC, Catalina, calls the protagonist up on his cell phone to chew him out. As with most phone conversations in the game, this happens in real time. She flies into her usual rage, and hangs up on the player — but the game doesn't know how to handle a dramatic mid-call hangup. She just stops talking, there is no click or dial tone, and the protagonist calmly folds up his phone and puts it away without a second glance, precisely the same way he is animated to end every (complete) phone conversation.
Also can be averted by the player, who can cancel a phone call at any time without any paused interrupts.
 Paused Interrupt / int_72a1ac51
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_72a1ac51
featureConfidence
1.0
 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_72a1ac51
 Paused Interrupt / int_73cdb697
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_73cdb697
comment
At the beginning of the first Resident Evil, a particularly long pause can be found when a conversation is interrupted by a gunshot.
 Paused Interrupt / int_73cdb697
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_73cdb697
featureConfidence
1.0
 ResidentEvil
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_73cdb697
 Paused Interrupt / int_7668653a
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_7668653a
comment
Mass Effect 2 exacerbates the problem with the addition of dialogue interrupts. The player has to be quick to trigger them, but this (together with the loud 'ding' sound that plays when you do it) means it rarely sounds natural, even for a sudden interjection (and sometimes you have to trigger the interrupt before the dialogue actually reaches the point Shepard is reacting to).
 Paused Interrupt / int_7668653a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_7668653a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_7668653a
 Paused Interrupt / int_7a7a1a86
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_7a7a1a86
comment
Most of the dialogue and performances in Aliens are very good, which it glaring when one of the characters stops their line dead for no reason before being interrupted:
 Paused Interrupt / int_7a7a1a86
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_7a7a1a86
featureConfidence
1.0
 Aliens
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_7a7a1a86
 Paused Interrupt / int_7c576502
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_7c576502
comment
Destrega has a lot of these in the Story Mode.
 Paused Interrupt / int_7c576502
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_7c576502
featureConfidence
1.0
 DeStrega (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_7c576502
 Paused Interrupt / int_87f2d9f8
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_87f2d9f8
comment
Mass Effect: During the drop on Ilos, the engine is already struggling with having a conversation that involves more than two participants, so having a lot of paused interrupts in what is probably meant to be a tense rapid-fire chatter is excusable. Particularly notable is Joker's line, probably intended to cut through a bunch of panicking overlapping dialog:
 Paused Interrupt / int_87f2d9f8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_87f2d9f8
featureConfidence
1.0
 MassEffect
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_87f2d9f8
 Paused Interrupt / int_88393f75
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_88393f75
comment
The 1997 Blade Runner video game has a few rather egregious examples. Oftentimes, the interrupting character isn't even on-screen at the time, and the pause will linger until they have walked up to the spot where the conversation is taking place.
 Paused Interrupt / int_88393f75
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_88393f75
featureConfidence
1.0
 Blade Runner (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_88393f75
 Paused Interrupt / int_a32b6a64
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_a32b6a64
comment
Happens in The West Wing. The rapid-fire speech of the characters frequently involves one character interrupting another. All to the good, but the scripts always ended an interrupted character's line on a whole word, making this last word the cue for the interrupting character to take over. The end result is something similar to Fred and George's alternating speech than a genuine interruption.
 Paused Interrupt / int_a32b6a64
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_a32b6a64
featureConfidence
1.0
 The West Wing
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_a32b6a64
 Paused Interrupt / int_a81325d3
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_a81325d3
comment
Often in Final Fantasy games after X. There's often pace-breaking pauses in about every dialogue. Here's an example from Crisis Core:
He's pausing for emphasis. Evidently a lot of emphasis.
Some dialogue files in Crisis Core do take interruptions into account, usually by having the two lines as a single file. Though, you can only find this out via game modding.
Averted in Final Fantasy XII in at least one scene where Balthier interrupts Vaan. It's done very naturally.
And Final Fantasy XIII keeps the dialogue flowing pretty naturally too.
 Paused Interrupt / int_a81325d3
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_a81325d3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Final Fantasy (Franchise)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_a81325d3
 Paused Interrupt / int_b0183e04
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_b0183e04
comment
Garth Marenghis Darkplace is crammed with deliberately bad acting and includes at least one example of this trope.
 Paused Interrupt / int_b0183e04
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_b0183e04
featureConfidence
1.0
 Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_b0183e04
 Paused Interrupt / int_bcadd7cb
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_bcadd7cb
comment
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade:
 Paused Interrupt / int_bcadd7cb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_bcadd7cb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Warhammer 40,000 (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_bcadd7cb
 Paused Interrupt / int_c72021c5
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_c72021c5
comment
Deus Ex was bad for this.
 Paused Interrupt / int_c72021c5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_c72021c5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Deus Ex (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_c72021c5
 Paused Interrupt / int_e25322af
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_e25322af
comment
Happens to Strong Bad a few times in Homestar Runner videos. When trying to say what the "R" in routine stands for, he draws the "r" sound out quite a bit before Strong Sad butts in. The same thing happens with the "th" when he tries to say the #1 item on his "bottom ten" is. The most (deliberately) ridiculous one is in the email "the facts" when he tries to recap the reasons Strong Mad shouldn't have his own cartoon. Not only is the recap itself an obviously contrived excuse to have something unimportant for Homestar to interrupt, he actually types the "ehgh" sound he starts the sentence with before Homestar starts speaking.
 Paused Interrupt / int_e25322af
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_e25322af
featureConfidence
1.0
 Homestar Runner (Web Animation)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_e25322af
 Paused Interrupt / int_e4732abc
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_e4732abc
comment
In the Stargate Atlantis episode The Eye, Weir's conversation with Sheppard was supposed to be interrupted by Kolya yanking the radio away. She stopped her line five seconds before it moved.
 Paused Interrupt / int_e4732abc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_e4732abc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Stargate Atlantis
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_e4732abc
 Paused Interrupt / int_e5de5644
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_e5de5644
comment
XIII had a scene near the beginning of the game in which this happens several times, not through dialogue, but through sound effects. As you're being interrogated, Amos is explaining to you his findings when he's interrupted by his intercom beeping - he stops talking seconds later. Later in the same scene, he's interrupted by a VERY LOUD EXPLOSION, yet keeps talking for almost three whole seconds before finally stopping to yell "What the devil's going on here?!"
This applies to all kinds of conversations in the game...making mandatory, unskippable scenes particularly painful to watch if you have to reload your checkpoint saves a lot.
 Paused Interrupt / int_e5de5644
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_e5de5644
featureConfidence
1.0
 XIII (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_e5de5644
 Paused Interrupt / int_e5feb1e
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_e5feb1e
comment
The Ace Attorney games have this a lot. For one thing, when the judge says that he's declaring a verdict, there's always a pause if someone is going to object at the last minute. When there's a text-based interruption, the line being interrupted does not wait for the player to advance the text before the interruption occurs, so this interruption effect works well. The lag with objections is presumably because in Ace Attorney Law School, judges are trained to pause at the last minute, specifically to allow attorneys to object.
 Paused Interrupt / int_e5feb1e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_e5feb1e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Ace Attorney (Franchise)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_e5feb1e
 Paused Interrupt / int_e9c7b01b
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_e9c7b01b
comment
Everyone in Dissidia Final Fantasy, due to the voice acting direction problems the game had, but especially Cloud, who can barely get through a sentence without saying "...I just..." and pausing for a billion minutes. His overall wooden tone doesn't help. Fortunately, the Dissidia 012 expansion improves the voice direction all over, except for the old content which has not been redubbed.
 Paused Interrupt / int_e9c7b01b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_e9c7b01b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dissidia Final Fantasy (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_e9c7b01b
 Paused Interrupt / int_ea3902af
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_ea3902af
comment
Full Spectrum Warrior had notoriously long load times between lines of dialogue. The resulting irregular timing completely disrupted several otherwise tense scenes.
 Paused Interrupt / int_ea3902af
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_ea3902af
featureConfidence
1.0
 Full Spectrum Warrior (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_ea3902af
 Paused Interrupt / int_eb6802b4
type
Paused Interrupt
 Paused Interrupt / int_eb6802b4
comment
And Final Fantasy XIII keeps the dialogue flowing pretty naturally too.
 Paused Interrupt / int_eb6802b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Paused Interrupt / int_eb6802b4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)
hasFeature
Paused Interrupt / int_eb6802b4

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 pausedinterrupt
sameAs
Paused Interrupt