In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, persuading NPCs involves a unique minigame that combines strategy and timing to increase their disposition toward you, which can unlock information, discounts, or quest benefits.
How Persuasion Works in Oblivion
- Starting Persuasion: During a conversation with an NPC, click the "Persuade" button to enter the minigame. You will see a circular menu divided into four segments representing four actions: Admire, Boast, Joke, and Coerce
- NPC Reactions: Each NPC has preferences for these actions, shown through their facial expressions or, in the remastered version, color-coded indicators (green for love, yellow for like, orange for dislike, red for hate)
- Gameplay Mechanics:
- You must select each of the four actions exactly once per round.
- Each selection affects the NPC’s disposition points positively or negatively depending on their preference.
- After each action, the wheel rotates 90 degrees clockwise, changing the size of the segments (wedges).
- Larger wedges yield a bigger impact on disposition, so timing your selections to align liked actions with large wedges and disliked actions with small wedges is key
- Time Pressure: The minigame is timed, and disposition points decrease gradually as time passes, so make your choices promptly
- Goal: End the minigame with a higher disposition than you started with to successfully persuade the NPC.
Tips for Successful Persuasion
- Observe NPC Facial Cues: Hover over each action to see the NPC’s reaction; this helps identify which actions they love, like, dislike, or hate
- Plan Your Moves: Since the wheel rotates after each choice, plan the order of actions so that disliked or hated actions correspond with the smallest wedges, minimizing their negative impact
- Use Speechcraft Skill: Improving your Speechcraft skill grants perks that make persuasion easier, such as slower disposition loss over time, free rotations, cheaper bribes, and reduced negative effects from disliked topics
- Bribery Option: If persuasion alone isn’t enough, you can offer bribes to increase disposition immediately, though this costs gold
- Practice: The remastered version color-codes preferences after the first attempt, making it easier to strategize on subsequent tries
By mastering this minigame, you can effectively increase NPC disposition, gain valuable information, and unlock better trade deals in Oblivion.
