I totally agree with what you said here.
Yes, Bethesda could have done better, because it is a really cool feature I very much enjoy. But it isn't missing because Bethesda is waging war on dialogue or because the system itself is bad or that voice actors make it impossible to skill check... And overall it is still a 10 out of 10 for me without those skill checks I liked.
It seems like skill checks were one of those things they just ran out of time and forgot to do it, much in the way I forgot to wash my car last week... I don't hate my car, I just though buying groceries was a better use of my time.
But the dialogue wheel could potentially incorporate skill checks in a much more awesome ways than before. I am super excited as a modder to work with this and actually use some things that incorporate the real time dialogue that has changed since previous games and put in skill checks that actually have a timed element to them and create some sort of action real time, as in Mass Effect 2 and 3.
It seems like Bethesda made this cool system where the characters are free during conversations and not locked in a super awkward frozen stare in the center of your screen... But then they never implemented the mechanic in any way. They don't have the ability to do stuff in the conversation used... Stuff like if you are talking to your enemy and you see out of the corner of your eye that one of his men is creeping up with a gun, you can do something about it. Maybe taking that second guy out scares the guy you were talking to so much that he has changed his tone and is now giving you all the information he has.
What about a science check that shows up for about 3 seconds and then disappear that allow you to interrupt when someone is saying something dumb. But once they finish talking it is too late to take the interrupt path. I want to have a science check and half way through what Maxson is saying have the player interject, 'Let me stop you right there, that is not actually how things work blah blah blah' and to see Maxson looking dumbfounded at the player as a result as he gets schooled by a smart player.
What about if you are talking to a mercenary or something, and you start to get the notion that this is going to end in a fight, so a perception check pops up and allows you to subtly signal your companion to move into a more strategic position, and then you layer a charisma check on top of that where you try to draw out the conversation a bit longer and distract the mercenary until your companion is in position to lay an ambush.
So basically...
- I think Bethesda could have done better, but I still think the game is great.
- I think the new direction they are taking opens up a whole new world of possibilities that are yet untapped
- I personally am glad they are taking a new direction and moving forward
- I still respect the old systems and I truly hope some developer out there makes some great games for you, just not Bethesda