More developer clarifications

[Sander]

New Vegas developers have offered some more clarifications on the information being released. Primarily, it appears that Area 51 might not be in the game:<blockquote>The Area 51 thing was pure speculation on PC Gamer's part. We did not show it or confirm whether or not it's in there. PC Gamer put it in because it's Nevada, and they think that means it will be in there.

I'm not saying it is or isn't, just that we haven't said either way.</blockquote>Furthermore, J.E. Sawyer explains why dialogue options are always shown:<blockquote>There are a few reasons for including this:

* In the same way that a locked safe beyond your Lockpicking skill indicates, it lets the player know that there's an option here.
* Some of the NPC responses to low skill checks can be pretty entertaining.

I also do want to clarify what is meant by "no penalty for failure". All it means is that you won't wind up in a worse position than you were before selecting it. If a dude bursts in and is intent on killing you, he's still going to want to kill you if you fail the Speech check to talk him out of it.</blockquote>Why they added the Hardcore mode:<blockquote>It's true that a lot of people have modded in those features, but a lot of the things in Hardcore mode are also things that I personally wanted to play the game with. I realize not everyone does, but it's the only way I play it.</blockquote>And why the addition of the dialogue doesn't increase costs (apparently people are worried about costs):<blockquote>When taken in the context of all of the VO that needs to be recorded for the game, alternate responses for low-skill dialogue checks account for a very small percentage of lines.

F3 also (often) had alternate lines for failed skill checks; they just originated from the same player line. Player lines aren't voiced, so there's no real increase there.</blockquote>Thanks Ausir and iii.

 

[SharkClub]

Too... much... news.

 

[CloudlessDruid]

the last time I got this excited and optimistic about fallout was... When I heard the Fallout 3 was being developed. Soon after that, very soon, I got really disappointed. Lets hope it doesn't happen again, because my expectations are getting kind of high each new information we have

 

[maximaz]

So basically, the way I understand it, if your skill is low, you will see a less intelligent version of a response than you would with a higher skill level. You don't see less lines or anything, just different versions. Technically, that would mean that you don't exactly see all the possible lines.


That also explains why you can't fail. The choice presented to you is already a winning or a failing choice. So, as far as the PC is concerned, the NPC does not choose responses based on PC's stats; instead, PC's lines are generated based on the stats and then NPC responds to those. It's the same thing as before, it's just that it's presented differently.

This is how I understand it. I may be completely off.

 

[Stanislao Moulinsky]

So basically, the way I understand it, if your skill is low, you will see a less intelligent version of a response than you would with a higher skill level. You don't see less lines or anything, just different versions. Technically, that would mean that you don't exactly see all the possible lines.


That also explains why you can't fail. The choice presented to you is already a winning or a failing choice. So, as far as the PC is concerned, the NPC does not choose responses based on PC's stats; instead, PC's lines are generated based on the stats and then NPC responds to those. It's the same thing as before, it's just that it's presented differently.

This is how I understand it. I may be completely off.

The way I understand it is that both the "failing" and "winning" lines are available (if you have a high enough skill, that is), that you can, basically, choose the wrong option even if you have the good one.
Otherwise I can't make any sense of "Some of the NPC responses to low skill checks can be pretty entertaining."

 

[UncannyGarlic]

The way I understand it is that both the "failing" and "winning" lines are available (if you have a high enough skill, that is), that you can, basically, choose the wrong option even if you have the good one.
Otherwise I can't make any sense of "Some of the NPC responses to low skill checks can be pretty entertaining."

That would be cool. Honestly, I just thought he was saying the same thing again in a way that may be clear to people who don't get what no penalty means. He probably just means that there's no special penalties for skill failures, the result (other than the dialogue) is the same as if you'd failed it any other way. I think the simplest explanation is that you don't get the benefit of passing the check.

 

[Blackened]

All dialogue options are always shown, this means that they aren't affected by the player's Intelligence? If that's so, I'd be really disappointed.

 

[Danilh]

All dialogue options are always shown, this means that they aren't affected by the player's Intelligence? If that's so, I'd be really disappointed.

No, the point is that even if you succeed a skill check, you still can chose to fail it(i think)

 

[Dionysus]

No, the point is that even if you succeed a skill check, you still can chose to fail it(i think)

Not really. If you have the appropriate attribute or skill level, then you will get a dialog option that will give you a positive result. If you don't have the appropriate attribute or skill level, then you will get a different option that will give you some flavor text, but no other consequence.

I'm surprised that this is confusing people as much as it is.

 

[Stanislao Moulinsky]

No, the point is that even if you succeed a skill check, you still can chose to fail it(i think)

Not really. If you have the appropriate attribute or skill level, then you will get a dialog option that will give you a positive result. If you don't have the appropriate attribute or skill level, then you will get a different option that will give you some flavor text, but no other consequence.

I'm not sure of that.

Furthermore, J.E. Sawyer explains why dialogue options are always shown:

* Some of the NPC responses to low skill checks can be pretty entertaining.

If the good line replaces the bad one this clarification doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[Dionysus]

^It's pretty obvious from Sawyer's description on the Bethesda boards. You might want to read the actual posts so you can see what he said and the questions he was responding to. The article was very confusing, though.

 

[Danilh]

Ok, i read the post, i think i understand it now.

If you fail, nothing changes(if you were not allowed in the city and fail speech, you are still not allowed in, if someone is trying to suicide and you fail, they'll suicide) but if you succeed then you change something.

 

[el_jefe_of_ny]

Uh.

what?

Something is lame about this feature, no one can figure it out yet. And having all the dialogue options there means you know all versions of the game. F2 and F1, you have acompletely different rpg experience having more int or less int. I see things now at int 9 that I never saw before at int 6, etc.

makes me want to play it more and make my char more int heavy, sacrificing health and other stats.... sighs.

wtf does this all mean?

 

[Tagaziel]

It means you see all the choices, but depending on your skills and stats only a few will be those that actually have an effect, while the options you do not meet the requirements of display a "stupid" version and don't affect the conversation.

 

[Ravager69]

It means that it always shows you places where your skill can be used in a dialogue, but if you do not meet the prerequisits (sp?) then you won't see the line that'd lead to success, but a "failed attempt" line. Something like this:

[NPC, which is a doctor] "So you say you know stuff about medicine and want a job at our clinic. Tell me first, what would you do in situation X?"

and then if your Doctor skill is high enough you see:

[PC] "I'd give him two dozes of dopamine and then move on with some steroids" <- (random bullshit made up for example)

if it's not high enough, you'd see:

[PC]"uh....I dunno, give him some aspirine?"

You will see one or another, depending on your skill, not both at the same time regardless of it. It's not that bad if you ask me, helps you to avoid missing out on content. On the other hand, it takes the element of surprise when you find out in the third playthrough that you could solve the problem if only you knew something about electronics.