SystemShock:
That's a lot of post, but that is the thing, whatever you think is obvious or not, IT IS YOUR CHOICE TO DO SO OR NOT, regardless of how "obvious" you think it is. You don't have to talk to the lady, you do not have to loot the bodies, you do not have to fight.
I am going to ask you the same question I asked the other poster: if, say, you decide to play an evil character, what do you do when the dialog gives you "good guy" dialog options? Do you say to yourself 'oh, no. Now I have to play a good guy'?
I baffles the mind why people don't understand choice in RPGs: the choice to make a game as easy or as hard as you want, the choice of following this or that quest, or no quest at all, the choice to use an item or not.
Please, ready my post on page 8 because it simply sums up what my point is quite well, and I'm not gonna re-write that or quote the whole thing.
You are comparing apples to oranges. If I have the two choices in the dialog, I can absolutely freely chose which one to take, depending on my character, that is correct. Because I can easily see which variant would suit my character best. I will select what my character would say.
As in any other situation. I will do what my character will do. And if my character finds overpowered equipment, he would take it. So will I. Well, I won't; but that's breaking immersion, because the moment I make a decision based on player knowledge/opinion rather than character knowledge/opinion (the character has no interest in me, the player, having fun, after all), I am not role-playing anymore. I am not playing my role. I am not doing what my role would do. Do you understand what I am trying to say?
Given the dialog example, I can chose among several things that my character, my role, might want to say. I'll take what suits him best.
Given the overpowered object/gameplay mechanic as example, I can chose what my character would do in such a situation, what suits him best.
In the former case, that'll influence the dialog to suit my role. Perfect.
In the latter case, that'll make things dull for me because from now on, my game is easy as cake, but I have no other choice, because I HAVE to do the thing most obvious to my character.
The dialog options are different in that my character finds one of them more obvious than the others: The one HE'D chose.
The overpowered stuff - example, however, confronts my character with a situation in which what HE'D chose is in conflict with what I, the player, want to happen. With the result being a loss of fun or immersion. In the conversation on the other hand, I, as the player, WANT my character to say what HE wants to say. Even if he does not share my opinion: I WANT to see what happens when he says what he'd say. That's the fun in role playing. Being overpowered, though, cannot be considered fun by me. Neither can letting my character make a choice that does not suit him.
It's a dilemma. Either I do what my character would do, and end up not having fun anymore, or I do what'll let me have fun in the long run, but lose immersion and enjoyment for the moment and force myself out of my role, out of my character, out of the game, the world, the Elder Scrolls.
Again, compare it to a book. Imagine a book in which the main character has several possible things to answer to a question. He settles for one thing. You're happy and carry on reading.
Now imagine a book in which the character could either turn into a comic hero at some point or not. Imagine you're reading, say, the infernal city, and Treb stumbles upon a full set of daedric armor for no apparent reason, or Anaig (can't get the double i without google now, too lazy to do that) creates lots of boost-intelligence-potions and then creates an uber-strength-potion to bring down the city all by herself. Would you not throw the book into the corner in anger? And given that they do not do it, but are still facing the situation (Anaig for example finds a book explaining how to create such potions, but decides not to do so because that'd be "OP"), would you not be even angrier? How is that comparable to different choices in a conversation?
I don't want my games to turn into a Brechtian play. I want it to be a piece of romantic or realistic art, not the kind that breaches the fourth wall.