Almost everyone ignores the persuasion minigame in Oblivion if given the chance. I don't blame them—it's really weird and doesn't make any sense if you think about it for five seconds. Why the heck would you always need to admire and coerce every person you try to persuade? And yet, I earnestly enjoy this weirdo minigame, so I'll coach you through how persuasion works in Oblivion so you don't put your foot in your mouth every time.
Disclaimer
This guide is valid for both Oblivion and Oblivion Remastered. Although the remaster uses a visual redesign to make the persuasion minigame just a little easier to understand, the rules are all the same as in the original.
Persuasion is an essential tool for gathering info during certain quests. Some NPCs won't talk to you at all or will only give you information you want if their approval rating is high enough. To start persuading an NPC in Oblivion, click the button with a face (original) or silhouette and arrows (remaster) below your dialogue options while in a conversation with them.
How does persuasion work in Oblivion?
Oblivion's persuasion minigame is basically a randomized puzzle, admittedly a really weird one. Here are the basic rules:
- Each NPC makes facial expressions to indicate which topics they love, like, dislike, and hate
- Clicking disliked topics removes disposition points while liked topics earn them
- You need to use all four topics (admire, joke, boast, coerce) exactly once, even the disliked ones
- The wheel rotates a quarter turn clockwise each time you click a topic
- The game is timed—you lose disposition points each second, so don't dally
- The goal is to end with more disposition points than you began
Essentially, Oblivion's persuasion minigame is a strategy-lite brain tickler. Knowing that you must click all four segments at least once and that each click will rotate the wheel, your goal is to strategically try to line up the most influential wedges with the topics that NPC likes most while waiting to click their disliked topics when they line up with smaller wedges.
Each time you start a persuasion game, begin by quickly hovering over each of the four topics and taking note of the faces they make to see which topics they do or do not like. Now consider the starting position of your wheel wedges. If a hated topic already has a small wedge or a loved topic has a full wedge, click it first to lock that topic in!
If the character's most loved topic isn't already in the right position, consider how many quarter turns it will take for it to be in the right position. Dole out your other clicks strategically, going for low bars on hated topics and high bars on liked ones.
Persuasion in Oblivion Remastered
Oblivion Remastered makes the game just a bit easier by color coding each topic after you've attempted to persuade a given NPC at least once—each topic is red (hate), orange (dislike), yellow (like), and green (love). This means you can visualize their likes and dislikes without having to judge an argonian's facial expressions, though it is annoying that orange and yellow are a bit easy to mix up at a glance. The remaster also turns each wedge into a set of four possible concentric bars, so it's easier to see which pieces have the most influence.
Persuasion skill buffs
Just like other skills in Oblivion, you'll earn experience in Speechcraft by using the skill, which includes persuading people. You can unlock a few different benefits that make persuasion easier as you level up.
Level | Rank | Buff |
|---|---|---|
0 | Novice | No perks |
25 | Apprentice | Disposition decreases more slowly over time when persuading someone |
50 | Journeyman | You can rotate once for free when persuading someone |
75 | Expert | Bribes cost less |
100 | Master | Disposition no longer decreases over time while persuading and is less affected by the least liked topic |
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