Something I'd really like to see is quests related to characters with high speechcraft. Like to convince people of things, or collect money, to stop a war between families such as in the Imperial City. Usually, in order to get people to do something for you in OB, you have to do a quest for them. I'd love it if a social-skilled player got the option to try and talk it out.

I'd also like to see options to bring people back to the guards or threaten/intimidate them into not throwing their life away by attacking you.

I know it probably won't be in the game, but it's just a nice idea. Anyone else like to see something similar? I know we're a bloodthirsty lot here, but the option'd be pretty cool.

Peaceful Resolutions

But sure, peaceful solutions is exactly what speechcraft should be about, if it still is in the game. It might have been united with merchantile for all I know.

(Axe Wielding Nord) "Hello Mr Smith"
(Mr. Smith Replies) "Hello Axe Wielding Nord"
(Axe Wielding Nord) "I would like to talk to you today about my axe"
(Mr. Smith Replies) "That is quite a big and powerfull looking axe"
(Axe Wielding Nord) "Indeed it is.... If you do not mind, I would like to discuss with you the properties of such a fine axe and its usefulness with the removing of heads"
(Mr. Smith Replies) "Ohh yes please... I want to hear all about it"
(Axe Wielding Nord) "How about I provide you with a demonstration?"
(Mr. Smith Replies) :bolt:

This is a pretty basic RPG mechanic. I'd love to see plenty of it.

I agree that it's a basic mechanic, but I don't remember it in Oblivion... Definitely would like to see it in Skyrim though.

I don't remember it in a lot of games I've played... (Oblivion and Morrowind included.)

But I wouldn't mind more oportunities for non-combat solutions for quests in Skyrim. Not every quest should have this, of course, I mean, I don't expect to talk Alduin out of eating the world, but we can have it where it's logical. If I get to confront someone and speak to that character before killing him, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to try to talk said character out of fighting. That doesn't guarentee it will work, but there's no reason I shouldn't be able to try, except for the game not being designed to let me do so.

I agree completely :wink_smile:. At least it will be a option.

Player: Hey Alduin, can you maybe not burn the whole world? Pretty please...
Alduin: Ok, since you asked so nice.

Yes to this!

Both oblivion and morrowind where lacking in giving you the ability to talk people into doing what you want. Some alternate quest paths witch allow you to convince people, scare them of or letting others do the job for you would really add to the gameplay experience.

Speechcraft plus peaceful resolutions?

Why,

You mean, two plain silly ideas combined together to achieve great ridicule?

Peaceful resolutions is a serious no no in fiction (Robert Mckee, ?Story?). Even if you'd broom it away as a mean to solve minor quests in Skyrim it would still taste like 5 decade old watered down neo-hippie stale porrige. :celebration:

Hell, *NO* :flamethrower:

He's going to eat the world, not burn it

It wasn't in Oblivion or Morrowind because they were flawed. They may have been good games, but good games can be flawed.

Now it's not all about getting attacked by bandits and convincing them to let you go, but about ending things with the least bloodshed possible (yours and theirs). Maybe you can convince someone to give you some help for the upcoming fight.

Fallout 3 did utilize speech more than OB and New Vegas actually made the game possible to play as a purely diplomatic character.
Hopefully Skyrim will continue this trend.

I guess I'm just spoiled because the first RPG I ever played was Arcanum. On one pass through, I was pretty much the evil angel of death, but I discovered talking to people and using persuasion was really quite fun in a different way, and cut out a lot of boring mindless culling of mooks. I kind of missed this in MW and OB.

Of course not every quest could or should have this kind of mechanic, but I prefer games where I feel like it's *people* I'm interacting with, whether they agree to lay down their swords or not, and whether all you have to do is ask nicely to get information, or alternatively lie through your teeth.

I found it wasn't balanced well in Fallout. One could either opt for a hard encounter or simply choose the dialogue option marked "SPEECH" and know for certain that you can resolve it instantly. One solution requires far more work than the other. I made sure all my characters had speech since it was such a powerful skill.

I think speech alone should not be enough. It should be a combination of speech and another skill depending on the situation.

As i recall, it is theoretically possible to complete the main quest in FO3 without killing anyone. Supposedly you only had to kill the roaches in the tutorial.

it would certainly be interesting to have nonviolent resolutions possible for many or even most quests in game.

I doubt 100% peaceful resolutions would be possible... for example i'm not quite sure how you could extract a dragon's soul without killing the beast.

Yeah the speech could have done better with some balancing,
but still I like it a lot more than in Oblivion where it dosen't really do anything important. I'm not really either controlled by which skills are the best,
I mostly play for fun and create the builds that sounds most interesting.

I thought it was good in New Vegas (to bad there was nothing to explore in that otherwise fine game). The people you used speechcraft on all had something to lose. Generals, people in High places (owner of casinos, gang leaders and so on). It made sense in the world setting.

Now Skyrim, I don't know. It could work, but if you can charm the end boss (dragon?) to fly away, leaving you with, "You know, you're right. Good talk". Well that would be an anticlimix if there ever was one.

I've always enjoyed having options to settle things in a diplomatic way both in real life and games. At the same time however I don't think there should always be such an option available just as there is not always that option in real life.

I mean walking up to a bear both in game and in RL both should have some major consequences and rarely will that bear decide to be your friend or strike a deal with you.

A bandit could though.

I haven't played Fallout 3, but would multiple speech options, some ending with the desired result, others ending in conflict help balance it? Not marking the diplomacy route 'SPEECH' would seem like a good move, too.

But I really like the idea of being able to play an entire game through diplomatically. I'm not saying I would, and I certainly wouldn't repeatedly, but I feel a lot more involved in the story if I don't have to kill everyone I come into conflict with.

Yeah, I mean with this storyline I believe it will be very difficult to to finish the main quest in a purely diplomatic way,
however I do think that the more situations you can solve by both stealth and diplomacy the better. Hopefully, next time Bethesda will do a storyline that is more friendly to classes that aren't epic knights in shining armor. If you can't resolve something with diplomacy I still think you should be able to use cunning and stealth to solve it.

I'd love for social skills to play a larger role in the game, a lot like Fallout's approche where you could talk your way out of fights and give speechcraft some otherwise missing meaning.

?Conflict is the engine of fiction?
Paraphrasing famed author James Scott Bell

....

People who are suggesting talking their way out of fights fail to understand the nature of fiction, of which video games are just a specific implementation. Conflict and its resolution - a resolution where stakes are high, where the Hero has something to loose, such as his life in order to attain his goals, like slaying the damm fragons. Take conflict away, that is take risky conflict resolution away from fiction, video games included, and all you are left with is
Pastoral Composture. Nice to look at,
Boring as hell.

I hope that there are many ways to solve quests, including speech. It would be awesome.

I personally hate the speechcraft checks,never levep-up this skill. :verymad: