Even though most players shun The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (and Remastered)'s Persuasion mini-game, we're quite fond of it here at 2Game. Setting aside its legacy charm for a little bit, it's a decently functional aside that adds a bit of depth to the Hero of Kvatch's interaction with NPCs around them, and it's a reasonable representation of the game's Speech skill. Is it nonsensical in a literal context? Yeah, but you still do want to know how to pull it off!

That's precisely what we're all about here, in fact. Down below, we've explained exactly how Oblivion Remastered's Persuasion/Speech minigame works and how to make the most of it.

How to Persuade NPCs in Oblivion Remastered?

Unlike its immediate successor, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Oblivion often gives the player very, very many different ways of accomplishing their objectives. Sometimes, this might mean you can pickpocket an NPC for a note of some sort, but also that you can maybe sneak into their home to look for a different source of information. Oftentimes, you'll also simply have the option to confront them directly, but this may necessitate a higher disposition than you currently have.

That's where Oblivion's Persuasion/Speech minigame comes into the picture. This is the tool that allows you to relatively quickly bump up your standing with a specific NPC to achieve a goal or, heck, simply make them like you more.

Here's a quick fact-sheet about Oblivion Remastered's Persuasion mini-game, then:

• It's timed, with the NPC's disposition dropping if you take too long to "talk" to them.
• The NPC's facial expressions tell you how they feel about a particular talking point. These are also color-coded: red is hate, orange is dislike, yellow is like, and green is love.
• You need to go through all four talking points before the mini-game is done, and the selector wheel turns clockwise after a talking point is chosen.

What this means, in practice, is that your go-to strategy for this mini-game should be to first assess how the NPC feels about a particular topic. Since you can only trigger a talking point once per Speech attempt, you need to line up the poor topics with low-value turns, while good ones line up with high-value turns. This is why most players feel the mini-game is fairly nonsensical, as you're more-or-less locked into your choices when you kick things off, and it's extremely easy to drop your disposition with the NPC six feet under.

The good news is that you can avoid Persuasion/Speech if you really dislike it that much. Sadly, it'll cost you: the 'Bribe' option is a straightforward increase in the NPC's standing with the Hero of Kvatch, and it's available right after you click on the 'Persuasion' mini-game icon in the lower left corner of the screen, upon opening up a dialogue tree.

As with most things, then, Oblivion lets you approach the challenges in front of you in a variety of ways. Whether you tackle them with brute force or not is entirely up to you!