Pretty much this. If Twitchers and Youtubers are save scumming who cares? Companions are very important to many people, and the fact that they can't die means I actually use them in Fallout 4 because I want to experience their stories.

If I fail a speech check because my Charisma is too low there's always another way around; the quests are designed that way (and it's fun to find other routes). If a companion dies it's the end of the road for their story arc. If I fail a speech check it's because of my characters skills (and a little luck). A companion can die through no fault of the player.

All in all I don't have any issue with the situation you are presenting here. But hey, that's just my opinion.

FO4 is the first time, i use any companion at all. I prefer the lone ranger aka lone wolf. Like i did in every Elder Scrolls / Fallout game befor. Firepower is a useless argument, imho. They are decoys for me, nothing more. Not to speak about: They block you 65% the time, when u are in a close combat fight. Point is .. ?

@Topic

The converstation via charisma (color based) is very confusing (because it′s new) at the beginning. It′s only some indicator, if your answer can work on the subject / topic on this NPC or Story Arc. I don′t care about the color. Why? I say, what i′ve to say - like in every RPG. When the NPC don′t like it. So be it

Fully agree, when some ppl doesn′t like it. Fairly: Give us some Option to disable the color in converstation.

It's worth noting the persuasion is only partially random.

At definite key Charisna stat points each "rank" of difficulty becomes 100%. You'll only get RNG affecting the outcome if your Charisma hasn't reached the corresponding key point. The more ambitious you're trying to be, for example a person with 1 Charisma tries to persuade Mama to break her lifetime habit, the more likely you are to fail completely and anger that person as your charm isn't working in your favor - and that means more reloads.

It's 99% determined that a player with 10 Charisma simply cannot ever fail a single persuasion ever. That means the greens likely become unfailable with around 3-4 Charisma and Oranges around 7-8. If you take those figures and rough estimates you'll see how anyone that isn't severely neglecting their Charisna ought to be able to get within close range of securing all but the reds thtough gear that boosts Charisma. For reds, if you're not 10, don't expect guaranteed success - there needs to be something to reward players who invested in Charisma early on otherwise nobody would.

Life is an RNG ;p

Anyways, at 15 CHA I have never failed a red option yet.

Two Possible Reasons.

1. It gives you an incentive to return to past locations.

2. Who really wasted perks in skyrim on lockpicking? No matter how small they make that Sweet spot, there was literally no reason to pick a perk in the lock picking skill tree.

You can't expect consistency from Bethesda. They make companions immortal so that you don't reload all the time, but make dialogue checks a little randomized to encourage savewooring for sore losers.

For the record, I really don't like absolute gating as seen in F3/FNV and I definitely don't like those thresholds to be visible or the skill "used" visible.

I really don't understand your issue. They same can be said of any success/fail mechanic. Heck, you can even reload after combat or anything if you're picky enough about the kind of success.

I know you're joking but then I wouldn't buy. I truly completely hate the checkpoint system for any RPG / sandbox/ open world game,

The thing with companions is that players have much more to lose with a dead partner than with a failed speech check. By losing my follower, I also lose my extra firepower, additional carrying capacity, and unique dialogue associated with them that activates during decision making and traveling. By failing a speech check, I usually only lose out on marginal benefits or the opportunity to solve problems without choosing alternative methods to achieve a goal.

To be honest, I actually like the RNG aspect of dialogue. It keeps charismatic characters from becoming too powerful and it adds a dynamic to roleplaying in that some events cannot always be solved with a silver tongue.

I do. I enjoy opening locks without breaking my lockpick, and winning some special treasure or extra gold is fun too. Also, I often want not to have some additional offensive or defensive power, and taking another perk in lockpicking is a useful way to avoid having that power.

I haven't done this once.