Hello all,

I played FO3 multiple times through and never really focused much skill points on speech.... and it worked well for me.

On multiple Forums I see a lot of people saying they will selecting Speech as a tag skill in FO:NV...?

Why? Is it just for the RPG element? Cause I never noticed it making a huge difference for me before... thoughts?

Speech plays a big part in FO1 and 2. I never really saw it as extremely important in FO3 but it made some things a lot easier and a lot less bloody

Edit; I will tag the same skills I do for every Fallout game
Small Guns (Guns)
Lockpick
Speech

They're the most useful and you'll be needing them the most.

I believe it's because Obsidian has focused much more heavily on Speech/dialogue being a more intergral part of the New Vegas experience. So it's most likely going to have more of an influence towards outcomes and the direction of quests etc then it did in FO3.

Speech was VERY useful in Fallout and Fallout 2. I distinctly remember that I was unable to beat the Master in Fallout, but was able to Speech him to death (which is actually as rewarding as the battle itself). In short, it was damn awesome and felt like it actually added to the game. In Fallout 3, it got you extra cash and it was easier to beat [final boss guy of Fallout 3] via VATS than the speech option (plus, the speech option wasn't very rewarding).

I guess some people are hoping it'll be better in Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian is good at this sort of thing).

Speech was useful in Fallout 3, I'll get back to you on specifics


But yeah, it's mostly so you can take care of situations peacefully if needed.

This is the kind of game where being all talk with nothing to back it up is a winning strategy so it's as viable as being a creepy, mumbly, nut stroking a gun.

I have found it useful to choose a weapon type ( for me Guns), an "open a container skill" (for me science) and a skill which you find useful, (for me speech).
I enjoy being able to choose the outcome of my situations, and i generally find that with speech this is possible. Plus i find it adds to role play quite a bit, hence why i don't reload on speech fails.
As others are saying generally in most quests there will be a speech option and in my opinion its nice to be able to choose whether you want to use it or not.

Uhh, that's not quite right. The Speech skill (especially with Avellone writing the game) opens up all kinds of opportunities. I think Speech is going to be far more useful in "Fallout: New Vegas" than in "Fallout 3."

I agree, from what I have read speech sounds like it will be more impotant in FO:NV then it was in FO3... but I usually make a Good Karma character who solves issuse of bad guys with hot lead :flamethrower:

Still debating if ill invest much in speech...

Anyone see the fearful prescence perk? This I think will be a hint to many of the more tyrannical speech options.

I don't remember playing Fallout 1 very clearly but i do remember using it a lot in the second game. It had a much smaller impact in Fallout 3 but it was still useful. For a while now i have been thinking that speech and barter should be combined.

While we're at it, lets just make two categories for Fallout games from now on.

Weapons
Not Weapons

As a roleplayer, Speech was very important for me if I decided to play an orator, which I did once or twice in Fallout 3 and again in New Vegas.

It's easy to just reload after you fail a speech check, but I don't do that, so I see Speech as an important skill. I aim to let my words be my weapon in New Vegas -- though I'm not to sure if that'll be good enough for Caeasr.

My Tag skills will likely be:

• Speech
  
• Guns
  
• Barter/Lockpick/Repair

My charisma will be set to 1.

I solve problems by making them go away, in a hail of gunfire.

I'm fairly sure I'll be using speech as it's party of my standard fallout build.

Indeed, thats what I do as well. Repair, Lockpick, and Science. Are my usual Fallout Tags. Speech is something I heavily invest in.

I neraly always invest some skills in specch, it is always helps and can lead you to many secret or funny things. It can also help you complete missions in the way you want it, without resorting to violence

I always invest a lot in charisma/speech and this will be no different.

Ditto

Yeah, the writer of the game is the same guy that wrote Planescape: Torment. Anyone that knows anything about that game knows dialogue and talking was 10 times more important than combat. I expect to see some really interesting options to appear in dialogue with the Speech skill with Chris at the helm.

I forget where I read it, but someone has already mentioned that there are more uses for the Speech skill in this game than FO3, and I found it pretty useful in FO3.

Supposedly there is now an option to resolve most quests peacefully, and I am willing to bet a lot of those ways involve talking your way out of trouble.

And the Fearful Presence perk sounds like it could be neat. Someone gives you an ultimatum in dialogue and you reply with something like "I don't make deals with dead men." as you blow their head off to end the conversation and send all their faction buddies running scared from your bad-ass-ness.

I've been thinking a lot about the character I'm going to create and I think I'll rely more on Speech skills in FNV for maneuvering around the different factions. I'd like to do less blasting away (if possible) and see how things turn out. Each of us is creating our own story and path and I'd like to be more pacifist this time out. See you in the casino.

Another reason to get Speech:

In Fallout 3, higher speech only gave you a higher percentage chance for Speech to work. You could reload and try again if you failed the Speech check. In NV, you'll *need* a certain amount of Speech skill to pass the check. It's not random. If your skill isn't high enough, you have zero chance.

That said, Speech still isn't a must have - you'll get extra dialogue options by having high skills or stats, too (high INT, high Medicine, etc.).

Based on Obisidians track record, I'm thinking there will be more significant uses for Speech and the other "extra dialogue" options.

I didn't realize this - thanks for sharing.
How does Charisma factor in to passing a Speech check with NPC's?

Speech was always used to skip sidequests and stuff which I usually did anyways, because why would you want to skip it? either that or make some side quest shorter but still I'd rather have the high skill options like when you rescue initiate Pek or w/e (BoS guy) and his gun is jammed and he's like "It's broked Wtf bro" and you're like,
[small guns] yeah it's a simple jam, just pull back on the slide and... there, you're good to go.

Well, IIRC, in Fallout 3, Charisma boosts speech by 5 points per point of Charisma (IE if you have a base of 15 Speech, and put 10 charisma into it, it'd be 65 Speech, 80 if you tagged it). Assuming Obsidian hasnt drastically altered it, it just boosts your speech and barter, and can unlock charisma related dialogue if its high enough.