At what point do you level up speech?

[StaceyPowers]

In a lot of RPGs, leveling up speech is super important to get the best results. But doing that as a newbie is awkward, as combat tends to take priority. How far into a game do you usually start focusing on leveling up speech?

[Shagger]

I tend to level things up in a balanced way, so speech just takes as long as it takes. I do consider crafting and combat skills mor important in these types of games, so speech isn't a huge priority as there is usually another way round a problem.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Shagger

[Withywarlock]

I make a point of improving my in-game speech skills immediately. Combat is expected and mandatory in 99% of RPGs, so it doesn't really matter if I develop my skills in it or not because the game is balanced in such a way that you can't reach a point of no return regarding your fightiness. I'll leave my rants about balance for another thread.

One thing I like about video games versus the tabletop is that I don't have to come up with the answers myself: the game does it for me, and if my character is more intelligent or charismatic than I am (of which there's no doubt), there'll be dialogue options and such to reflect that.

Prevention is better than the cure. If I can prevent a fight from breaking out, I can make friends or at the very least pass the obstacle with less time consumed. If a fight does break out, the enemy will either flee, be broken or become enraged and make mistakes they otherwise would not.

It's a pity how most games' speech mostly applies only to physical rewards; an extra gold here, an additional item there. Having favours in court, a get-out-of-jail-free card, or a specific service goes a much longer - and more memorable - way.

Edited July 17, 2022 by Withywarlock

[Heatman]

In most cases, I don't always care about speeches while playing. It's one of those things in RPG games that I haven't bothered with as other things needed to be focused on seems to be more important for me. Combat is majorly my important focus and that gets more of my time. 

[Empire]

train speech and then pickpocket that gold back. it is a nice cheaty way of leveling up both speech and pickpocketing easily. works well up to level 51. after that training fee jumps up and pickpocketing gets harder.

after that you may wanna do bard's college questline early. it gives you +15% faster speech leveling and many other opportunities to level up speech.

[Justin11]

Do I care about speeches when the battle in an RPG is tough on me? Who cares, I face the challenge and forget about balancing of speeches in the game. I love staying on top of the actions and modifying my character's speeches. 

[Clasher]

For bloodborne I was more focused on finding the answers and completing the mission that speech balance or leveling.

For persona series (persona 4 and 5 specifically) was a different story, I have played other games off the series but for this two speech become more important and it's balance.

[Yaramaki]

Yeah i tend to level up speech pretty early on in any game if it's an option, usually it gives me more satisaction that i can talk my way out of things rather then having to kill or fight as it's usually the most peacefull option. Obviously it's not saying much since you're usually killing about half the population of your average village in an rpg.

I'll admit that i rarely play games on hard anymore these days, so combat skills won't matter as much anymore if it's getting too hard on normal i'm even include to change it to easy.

[Clasher]

7 minutes ago, Yaramaki said:

Yeah i tend to level up speech pretty early on in any game if it's an option, usually it gives me more satisaction that i can talk my way out of things rather then having to kill or fight as it's usually the most peacefull option

Peace has never really been an option for me in a video game that involves fighting for survival or whatever motive.

Well, I still do take the peaceful approach just for the fun of it and it gives me the feeling of been part of the game to an extent.

Edited July 18, 2022 by Clasher

[Kane99]

Lately I've been playing fallout 76 with friends, and theyve been telling me to put all my stuff into intelligence and strength. But other than that, been trying to balance things out. 

Most games I play I just try to balance it out. 

[Withywarlock]

10 hours ago, Kane99 said:

Lately I've been playing fallout 76 with friends, and theyve been telling me to put all my stuff into intelligence and strength. But other than that, been trying to balance things out. 

Most games I play I just try to balance it out. 

With Fallout 76 having less emphasis (to my knowledge) on NPCs Speech isn't really necessary in that sort of environment. If I recall correctly Speech in F76 was more about bolstering your teammates' abilities, and does indeed reflect how Speech worked in ye olden dayes (like how many teammates you could have, and their morale). Intelligence and Strength, with the exception of the CRPGs, are usually the best stats to go for. At the very least they open the most doors in dialogue barring Charisma itself.

Edited July 19, 2022 by Withywarlock

[Heatman]

14 hours ago, Kane99 said:

Lately I've been playing fallout 76 with friends, and theyve been telling me to put all my stuff into intelligence and strength. But other than that, been trying to balance things out. 

Most games I play I just try to balance it out. 

With the kind of glitches that I experienced when I was playing Fallout 76, I couldn't cope with continuing playing the game. I can't remember the last time I touched that game. 

How's everything with the game right now? 

[Shagger]

3 hours ago, Heatman said:

With the kind of glitches that I experienced when I was playing Fallout 76, I couldn't cope with continuing playing the game. I can't remember the last time I touched that game. 

How's everything with the game right now? 

 

I'd like to remind everyone, and by everyone I mean @Kane99 and @Heatman, that this thread is meant for discussion on levelling speech mechanics in video games. The last post from each of you made don't mention this at all and instead are all about Fallout 76. @Heatman, I'm particularly concerned about what you're trying to do here I've seen this from you before and I think old habits are starting to creep back. @Kane99 may have started it, but it's similar attempts you have made to goad people into more off-topic posts that put have put threads completely off the rails in the past. It has got so bad that threads end up only existing as a private chat room for whatever off-topic conversation you feel like having to harvest posts. Just because somebody goes a little off topic, it is not an invite for you to have an entirely different conversion in that same thread.

 

If you want to discuss Fallout 76 with @Kane99 or anyone else, use PM's or got to/start a Fallout 76 thread. This really isn't hard.

 

One of these days, I'm going to get board of warning you.

Edited July 19, 2022 by Shagger

[killamch89]

Personally, in Skyrim, if it's important to that particular character's playthrough, I tend to make time to level it along with my combat skills. Either that or whenever I'm not out hunting dragons/bandits/citizens of Skyrim, I tend to do it when I'm staying in a city/town.

[Scorpion]

I typically start focusing on leveling up speech after the initial few hours, once I understand the game's mechanics and combat.