Interview Exciting Oblivion persuasion mini-game is revealed!

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Another <a href=http://www.elderscrolls.com>Oblivion</a> <a href=http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=223640>fan interview</a> has been posted. The interview contains many evasive answers and this little gem about the persuasion min-game:
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<blockquote>The persuasion minigame is very different from what was shown at E3. <u>It plays much more like a game now</u>. Similar to the one we showed, the game still uses a circular interface divided into four quadrants for the different persuasion types. The art is completely different and fully animated now. Each of the four quadrants will fill with wedges of different sizes. The size of the wedge reflects the scale of the potential effect of your choosing an action. Choosing a large wedge has a great effect; choosing a small wedge has a small effect.
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As you highlight in turn the Admire, Boast, Joke, and Coerce quadrants, the person 's face shows his reaction to each of the actions. For each of the four actions, he will Love one, Like one, Dislike one, and Hate one. <u>Don't take too long, because the person 's disposition is steadily falling</u>. The person 's disposition goes up when you select a Loved or Liked action and goes down when you select a Disliked or Hated action.
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The potential gain or loss for each action is based on your Speechcraft and how full the wedge is. Try to select fuller wedges when they are aligned with actions the person likes. Try to select less full wedges when they are aligned with actions he doesn't like.</blockquote>You must admire Bethesda's willingness to keep pushing the envelope

 

[Chefe]

http://tetrismotherf.ytmnd.com/

 

[Dreagon]

I must be visualizing this wrong, because what I picture is just an embarrassingly bad addition to an rpg. I mean embarrassing to the point that I would not want people to know I was associated with it's creation. It's just such an over the top sellout to the lowest common denominator that it's cringeworthy.

 

[Vault Dweller]

No, sounds like you are visualizing it right.

 

[Chefe]

I personally would have used more expletives to visualize it more correctly, but you've got the jist of it.

 

[Spazmo]

That's completely horrible. Now, I'm assuming here, but let's try to consider why Bethesda decided to implement this "feature". My best guess is that without it, dialog was too boring. But rather than fix the godawful worthless Wikipedia dialog they're hellbent on using and implementing proper dialog trees that add options based on stats and skills... they put in some kind of retarded flashy minigame with bright colours that will either keep you entertained or give you a fun seizure.

But I think my favourite question has to be:

Will you take advantage of fast hard disk and large amount of RAM?
Yes

No shit, more RAM will make the game run better.

 

[Whipporowill]

Will the mini-game be started with screen flashing and a countdown "3 - 2 - 1 Go!"? Kewl.

 

[Astromarine]

This has sold me on the game. I want to buy it, install it, play it, and track down the NPCs that Love being Coerced. That should be buckets of fun.

 

[Whipporowill]

So when will they announce that the game has been retitled "Dance Dance Oblivion" anyway?

 

[crpgnut]

I'm just wondering if the responses are color coded. If we could have blue, yellow, green, and red buttons that made a musical sound when you selected them, that would be so uber! Simon says, "Joke!", and unfortunately it's on us.

 

[FrancoTAU]

Well, now we know why they've been so silent whenever dialogue has been brought up.

 

[Fresh]

GTA:Oblivion

 

[Aibric]

This is one of the worst things i've yet heard about Oblivion. I have gone from looking forward to this piece of software, to being skeptical about its quality, and now to the point where I will definitely not buy it. Oh, i'll play it to find out if its as bad as I think, but no way am I forking out $50.00 for something that now seems to be aimed at the same market as Chuck E. Cheese. Bethesda has just encouraged an act of software piracy. They should be ashamed.

Also, is it me, or does this guy seem strangely preoccupied with the wedges?

 

[Jason]

I get the feeling this is all some twisted reverse psychology gambit that I'm not smart enough to understand. Do they want me to buy the game or not?

 

[Chefe]

GTA:Oblivion

Don't make fun of GTA like that.

I get the feeling this is all some twisted reverse psychology gambit that I'm not smart enough to understand. Do they want me to buy the game or not?

It's called Reverse Marketing. They're trying to make the product sound so bad you just have to buy it to see how bad it actually is.

Unfortunately for them, Reverse Marketing in software hasn't worked since the invention of cable and dsl modems. Instead, it creates rabid software piracy. Apparently, marketing guru Pete didn't get the memo.

 

[Fresh]

This is one of the worst things i've yet heard about Oblivion. I have gone from looking forward to this piece of software, to being skeptical about its quality, and now to the point where I will definitely not buy it. Oh, i'll play it to find out if its as bad as I think, but no way am I forking out $50.00 for something that now seems to be aimed at the same market as Chuck E. Cheese. Bethesda has just encouraged an act of software piracy. They should be ashamed.

Also, is it me, or does this guy seem strangely preoccupied with the wedges?

Wedge occupation is a general trait of the human heterosexual male.

 

[Severian Silk]

Will the mini-game be started with screen flashing and a countdown "3 - 2 - 1 Go!"? Kewl.

You will have to navigate Mario into the different wedges.

 

[obediah]

This is one of the worst things i've yet heard about Oblivion. I have gone from looking forward to this piece of software, to being skeptical about its quality, and now to the point where I will definitely not buy it. Oh, i'll play it to find out if its as bad as I think, but no way am I forking out $50.00 for something that now seems to be aimed at the same market as Chuck E. Cheese. Bethesda has just encouraged an act of software piracy. They should be ashamed.

Also, is it me, or does this guy seem strangely preoccupied with the wedges?

Wedge occupation is a general trait of the human heterosexual male.

Don't forget self-loathing closet homosexuals that have to think of the boy in the subway restroom while mechanically pistoning into their wife, avoiding her dead eyes and fake moans as he desparately tries to save the sham marriage for the sake of his children - who happen to be the only things keeping him from ending it all.

 

[Fresh]

 

[LlamaGod]

This is a bad design idea no matter where you stand at in videogame design opinions, it's just plain bad.

I can't believe people are blinded by fanboyism enough to actually defend this.

 

[Chefe]

Hyperboy:

 

[Aibric]

Don't forget self-loathing closet homosexuals that have to think of the boy in the subway restroom while mechanically pistoning into their wife, avoiding her dead eyes and fake moans as he desparately tries to save the sham marriage for the sake of his children - who happen to be the only things keeping him from ending it all.

-awkward silence- ...you okay, Obediah?

 

[obediah]

When I was a kid I started playing computer and console rpgs because I hated those stupid mindless arcady games that had no point. Now 20 years later, their revenge is complete.

I can't wait for the insta-death jumps, and invisible moving platforms in Fallout 3. Maybe they'll replace that pesky save system with a 400 character long code you get after each boss.

 

[Claw]

So when will they announce that the game has been retitled "Dance Dance Oblivion" anyway?

Don't you mean "Dialogue Dialogue Revolution"?

I don't know what to think. I am not in disfavour of minigames in general. I didn't mind lockpicking in Splinter Cell, and enjoyed it in Gothic. But this.. just expands on the awfulnes of Morrowind's persuasion system.

 

[Whipporowill]

So when will they announce that the game has been retitled "Dance Dance Oblivion" anyway?

Don't you mean "Dialogue Dialogue Revolution"?

Stop stealing my jokes and making them funny! Damn you!