[Falcon] A lot of games
force a lot of stuff on you.
The story calls for events, right?
Well, sometimes a smooth
tongue can avoid the worst.
Hi folks, it’s Falcon,
and today on Gameranx,
10 games where you can talk
your way out of anything.
At number 10 is “Deus
Ex: Human Revolution”.
The “Deus Ex” series is renowned
for a level of freedom
that they give players,
you know, to do everything in the game.
But in the original game,
there actually weren’t
a lot of opportunities
to talk your way out of a situation.
If you wanted to be
non-violent in that game,
your options were usually
just avoid encounters
and try to end things
using non-lethal weapons.
“Human Revolution” expanded
those options significantly.
They gave players more ways
to resolve problems socially
rather than just with
violence or subterfuge.
And these new dialogue challenges made it
so that some of the most
climactic events of the game
could basically boil
down to conversations.
They’re like boss battles
where you’re fighting
not with weapons but with words.
You know, not as cool.
No, I’m joking. These
are actually really fun.
– Your refusal to help me is
getting in the way of justice.
– Wait, wait. I never meant to imply that.
I wasn’t interested in
seeing justice done.
– [Falcon] I mean there’s obviously
also still regular boss battles
and there’s a lot of combat in the game
that’s mostly unavoidable, so
it’s not a perfect example,
but there’s large chunks of the game
where you can literally just
use the right dialogue choices
and it’ll reward you for
taking the non-lethal option
over a violent one as well.
At number nine is the
“Hitman World of Assassination” trilogy.
It’s not an PPG and there’s
no dialogue options,
but when you think about it,
talking is a massive part
of the “Hitman” series,
especially the recent trilogy,
and it really lets Agent 47
practice his gift of gab.
There’s a lot of situations
where your best option
to get close to a target involves talking,
and a lot of the time
these are also the most amusing
opportunities in the game,
like the bank mission where you
pretend to be a new employee
or the suburbs level where
you pretend to be a realtor.
There’s even an entire level
about literally just talking,
the murder mystery house from “Hitman 3”.
In that stage, most of your opportunities
to take out your target
involve pretending to
be a private detective.
Anytime Agent 47 gets to
talk in these games is fun.
Every line from the guy is just
dripping with deadpan humor.
– Follow you to the bathroom,
drown you. Terrible accident.
– Gruesome!
– [Falcon] Talking your way to a target
is hardly the only way to finish a mission
in a “Hitman” game,
but a lot of the time
it’s easily the funniest.
At number eight is “Fallout”
1, 2 and “New Vegas”.
Let’s just lump
all the Black Isle and Obsidian
“Fallout” games together
for this one, ’cause
they’re all about that.
The first two “Fallout”
games are especially good
for letting you talk your
way out of a situation,
but “New Vegas” is no slouch either.
They’re not games where you can avoid
every single instance of combat,
but there’s a lot of situations
where combat can be avoided
just by picking words correctly.
Comparing all three,
“New Vegas” is probably
the worst about it,
but it’s still better
than the Bethesda-developed
“Fallout” games.
There’s a lot of unavoidable
combat in “New Vegas”,
but if you invest your social
skills, it’s gonna pay off.
The original “Fallout”
games are some of the best
when it comes to talking your
way out of a problem though.
I mean, in the first game alone,
you can talk your way into
the bad guy’s main base,
talk your way past
multiple levels of guards,
and even talk the bad guy
himself out of his evil scheme.
Like, you can basically get
through the entire final dungeon
without getting into any combat.
It’s tricky, but it’s possible.
Those original games
do look pretty crude by today’s standards,
but if you’re willing to get past that,
the amount of options you’re
given for actual role-playing
are still some of the
best in the business.
At number seven is “Disco Elysium”.
This one’s a bit of a cheat
because the vast majority of the options
you get for talking rather than combat.
So like, yeah, but still this
weird as hell detective RPG
puts you into the head of a cop
waking up after a huge bender.
There’s voices in his
head telling what to do.
And even basic actions
like getting a tie off of a ceiling fan
can be just disastrous.
It’s a game where you’re not taking damage
from getting shot or beaten
up, at least most of the time.
You’re more likely to get
hurt trying to climb a tree
or failing a conversation check
and then you’re killed
in a violent conflict.
It’s a game where you can
potentially talk your way
out of a tough situation,
but you’re as likely to make
things worse with your talking.
Sometimes your big mouth is
more likely to get you killed
than to help you.
Believe me, I know all about that, hah.
I mean I’m obviously not dead,
but I’ve, hmm, we don’t need
to talk about that right now.
“Disco Elysium” though,
it’s a pretty unusual and interesting game
that I think deserves all
the attention it gets.
And while it’s not exactly
in the spirit of the list
because it doesn’t have a
lot of combat mechanics,
it’s still an RPG, you
can still get killed,
and you can still talk your way out of it.
In fact, it’s usually the correct option.
At number six is “Undertale”.
This indie favorite is, you
know, well known at this point,
but it’s worth mentioning
for a list like this
’cause it’s one of the
few JRPG-inspired games
that lets you get through
without, you know,
throwing a single punch,
much less other things.
Known for its tagline of the friendly RPG
where nobody has to die,
this game gives you the option
of sparing enemies in combat
rather than killing them.
That’s the feature that makes
this game really stand out.
It’s possible to go
through the entire game
without killing anyone,
not even the bosses.
You do have the option
to fight them normally,
but if you’d rather show
mercy, that’s available.
If you’re a genocidal
freak, there is an actual,
you know, genocide run option.
Kill everything, why not?
But to spare enemies,
you have to do something
to make them like you,
which is sometimes simple,
but sometimes involves
solving a small puzzle
using the act command.
It sounds basic,
but the game does a lot
to mix these things up
and every single enemy has
their own unique methods
to tame them, I guess.
In most games, you talk to avoid combat.
Well, in “Undertale”
you talk to end a fight
that’s already started,
which is kind of weird but like
it also makes perfect sense
in the context of the game.
And it’s great.
Honestly, it’s really an
interesting way of handling combat
and there’s nothing else quite like it.
At number five is “Shadowrun: Hong Kong”.
The recent trilogy of “Shadowrun” games
by Harebrained Schemes
started off pretty light
on the PPG mechanics.
In the first game, “Shadowrun Returns”,
you’re pretty much just doing
a linear selection of missions
with a lot of combat.
But the third game,
“Shadowrun: Hong Kong”,
the social skills are almost
as powerful as the combat ones.
This isn’t a game
where combat’s completely
avoidable per se,
but there’s a lot you can do to avoid
with the proper application
of social skills.
Most missions can be completed
without having to fire a shot.
Not all of them, most though.
That seems a bit
like it might make the
game a little too simple,
but keep in mind
there’s like a lot of
social skills in this game,
so you really have to invest in them
if you want to talk your way through
a lot of these missions.
And when combat becomes unavoidable,
you’re kind of at a serious disadvantage
for focusing on that.
Still, for what’s a fairly small RPG,
the amount of dialogue options
and different ways the game gives you
to talk your way out of
combat, really impressive.
At number four is “Planescape: Torment”.
This absolute classic from 1999
is one of the most unusual
and thought-provoking RPGs of all time.
There’s a good reason it is
highly regarded for its writing.
Now, the combat isn’t quite as well liked,
but that’s okay, ’cause if
you play your cards right,
you really don’t have to do combat at all.
Almost every single
plot-critical combat encounter
can be avoided either through stealth
or by saying the right things.
As far as I can tell,
there’s really only two
or four characters total
you absolutely have to fight,
and even then you don’t have to kill them
if you don’t want to.
This game was a major
inspiration for “Disco Elysium”,
because most of the story
is told through dialogue
rather than fighting
and that’s probably why
Elysium cut combat entirely,
’cause seriously, it’s the talking parts
that people like about this game.
The fighting stuff just
isn’t really that interesting
or at least as interesting, I guess.
There’s probably somebody
out there that loves it,
but they aren’t the
majority, let’s just say.
At number three is “Among Us”.
Oh my God, we are
talking about “Among Us”,
“Amug Us”, “Amagas”.
Please do not leave any angry comments,
just take a moment to think about this one
because it actually fits
pretty well, I think.
Honestly, any social deduction
or traitor game would fit,
but “Among Us” is the most popular,
so it’s gonna be the one that we use.
“Among Us” doesn’t really
fit the traditional idea
of a game that would normally
be on a list like this,
but if it’s because you
can literally talk your way
out of anything.
The difference here is that
because it’s a multiplayer game
rather than a single-player story,
your dialogue choices aren’t just binary
right and wrong options.
It requires actual cleverness and charisma
to talk your way outta something.
We’ve all seen it
like when a traitor does
something and gets caught,
only for them to somehow convince everyone
that it was someone else.
It’s a game that requires
real-life charisma
rather than a charisma
stat to talk your way out.
But it still counts.
If anything, it’s even more impressive
when you do it in “Among Us”
because you’re not just like
picking the right option
out of a list on a predetermined
like right and wrong thing.
You’re actually interacting
with other people
and using your social skills
to talk your way outta something.
At number two is “Arcanum”, a classic RPG
and in a lot of ways the true success
for the original “Fallout” games,
even more so than the actual sequels,
because above all else,
“Arcanum” is about player choice.
Set in a fantasy world
in the middle of an industrial revolution,
“Arcanum” lets you build your character
with technology or with magic.
That’s the main focus,
but there’s a lot of other ways
to build your character too.
If you wanna be a total
diplomat, you can be,
and the game lets you bypass
huge sections of the story
if you say the right
things at the right times.
Like “Fallout”, this is a game
where even the final
boss can be talked down,
but that’s hardly the only time
you can talk your way out of a situation.
There’s still moments
where combat’s inevitable,
but almost every situation in the game
can be resolved through dialogue.
That’s not always easy.
Sometimes you really have to pay attention
to find the right clues to resolve things,
but it’s all the more rewarding
when you actually get things right.
Now, the visuals were
pretty dated back in 2001
when the game came out.
And even with a fan patch,
the game can be kind of a buggy mess.
But if you want a game that
gives you a lot of options
to talk your way out of a tough situation,
this is one of the best.
And finally at number one,
it’s “Age of Decadence”,
a brilliant indie game that
can be a little intimidating,
but if you want an RPG that’s huge
and rewards players who like
to talk their way outta stuff,
this is where you gotta go.
In most RPGs,
the path of least resistance
is typically combat.
If you wanna talk your
way out of a situation,
it can often be a little
tricky to pull off.
In this game, however, talking
is the preferred option,
’cause combat is really
hard, like super tough.
Even against a single opponent,
your chances of death are super high,
and any injury you get
can be debilitating.
So inverse to pretty much
every other RPG in existence,
this game recommends you play a character
with a lot of social skills over combat
on your first playthrough
because it’s actually way easier.
Like in terms of difficulty,
you’d much rather be a
diplomat than a warrior,
which sounds crazy in a video game,
but hey, think about real life.
Is it easier to get punched in the face
and then beat the other guy?
Or is it easier to not
get punched in the face
’cause you didn’t say something
that got you punched in the face?
Like when you think
about it, it makes sense.
It’s more realistic than other RPGs.
I would definitely rather
talk my way out of a problem
than get into a sword fight.
Like, I’m good at talking.
Like, you listen to me talk
a lot of the week, right?
There’s a reason why this is my job.
My sword-fighting skills
leave a little bit to be desired though.
You can easily play this game
for dozens of hours without
using a weapon choice.
And unlike certain other
games on this list,
there still is combat.
It’s just something you
can avoid if you want to.
This is a game that has
flown under the radar
for a very long time.
But as far as games
that let you talk your
way out of anything,
there’s nothing else quite
like “Age of Decadence”.
And that’s all for today.
Leave us a comment, let us
know what what you think.
If you like this video, click like.
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now’s a great time to do so.
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is of course a subscription,
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And as always,
we thank you very much
for watching this video.
I’m Falcon, you can follow
me on Twitter @FalconTheHero
and we’ll see you next time
right here on Gameranx.
10 games where you can talk your way out of anything.
[Falcon] A lot of games
force a lot of stuff on you.
The story calls for events, right?
Well, sometimes a smooth
tongue can avoid the worst.
Hi folks, it’s Falcon,
and today on Gameranx,
10 games where you can talk
your way out of anything.
At number 10 is “Deus
Ex: Human Revolution”.
The “Deus Ex” series is renowned
for a level of freedom
that they give players,
you know, to do everything in the game.
But in the original game,
there actually weren’t
a lot of opportunities
to talk your way out of a situation.
If you wanted to be
non-violent in that game,
your options were usually
just avoid encounters
and try to end things
using non-lethal weapons.
“Human Revolution” expanded
those options significantly.
They gave players more ways
to resolve problems socially
rather than just with
violence or subterfuge.
And these new dialogue challenges made it
so that some of the most
climactic events of the game
could basically boil
down to conversations.
They’re like boss battles
where you’re fighting
not with weapons but with words.
You know, not as cool.
No, I’m joking. These
are actually really fun.
– Your refusal to help me is
getting in the way of justice.
– Wait, wait. I never meant to imply that.
I wasn’t interested in
seeing justice done.
– [Falcon] I mean there’s obviously
also still regular boss battles
and there’s a lot of combat in the game
that’s mostly unavoidable, so
it’s not a perfect example,
but there’s large chunks of the game
where you can literally just
use the right dialogue choices
and it’ll reward you for
taking the non-lethal option
over a violent one as well.
At number nine is the
“Hitman World of Assassination” trilogy.
It’s not an PPG and there’s
no dialogue options,
but when you think about it,
talking is a massive part
of the “Hitman” series,
especially the recent trilogy,
and it really lets Agent 47
practice his gift of gab.
There’s a lot of situations
where your best option
to get close to a target involves talking,
and a lot of the time
these are also the most amusing
opportunities in the game,
like the bank mission where you
pretend to be a new employee
or the suburbs level where
you pretend to be a realtor.
There’s even an entire level
about literally just talking,
the murder mystery house from “Hitman 3”.
In that stage, most of your opportunities
to take out your target
involve pretending to
be a private detective.
Anytime Agent 47 gets to
talk in these games is fun.
Every line from the guy is just
dripping with deadpan humor.
– Follow you to the bathroom,
drown you. Terrible accident.
– Gruesome!
– [Falcon] Talking your way to a target
is hardly the only way to finish a mission
in a “Hitman” game,
but a lot of the time
it’s easily the funniest.
At number eight is “Fallout”
1, 2 and “New Vegas”.
Let’s just lump
all the Black Isle and Obsidian
“Fallout” games together
for this one, ’cause
they’re all about that.
The first two “Fallout”
games are especially good
for letting you talk your
way out of a situation,
but “New Vegas” is no slouch either.
They’re not games where you can avoid
every single instance of combat,
but there’s a lot of situations
where combat can be avoided
just by picking words correctly.
Comparing all three,
“New Vegas” is probably
the worst about it,
but it’s still better
than the Bethesda-developed
“Fallout” games.
There’s a lot of unavoidable
combat in “New Vegas”,
but if you invest your social
skills, it’s gonna pay off.
The original “Fallout”
games are some of the best
when it comes to talking your
way out of a problem though.
I mean, in the first game alone,
you can talk your way into
the bad guy’s main base,
talk your way past
multiple levels of guards,
and even talk the bad guy
himself out of his evil scheme.
Like, you can basically get
through the entire final dungeon
without getting into any combat.
It’s tricky, but it’s possible.
Those original games
do look pretty crude by today’s standards,
but if you’re willing to get past that,
the amount of options you’re
given for actual role-playing
are still some of the
best in the business.
At number seven is “Disco Elysium”.
This one’s a bit of a cheat
because the vast majority of the options
you get for talking rather than combat.
So like, yeah, but still this
weird as hell detective RPG
puts you into the head of a cop
waking up after a huge bender.
There’s voices in his
head telling what to do.
And even basic actions
like getting a tie off of a ceiling fan
can be just disastrous.
It’s a game where you’re not taking damage
from getting shot or beaten
up, at least most of the time.
You’re more likely to get
hurt trying to climb a tree
or failing a conversation check
and then you’re killed
in a violent conflict.
It’s a game where you can
potentially talk your way
out of a tough situation,
but you’re as likely to make
things worse with your talking.
Sometimes your big mouth is
more likely to get you killed
than to help you.
Believe me, I know all about that, hah.
I mean I’m obviously not dead,
but I’ve, hmm, we don’t need
to talk about that right now.
“Disco Elysium” though,
it’s a pretty unusual and interesting game
that I think deserves all
the attention it gets.
And while it’s not exactly
in the spirit of the list
because it doesn’t have a
lot of combat mechanics,
it’s still an RPG, you
can still get killed,
and you can still talk your way out of it.
In fact, it’s usually the correct option.
At number six is “Undertale”.
This indie favorite is, you
know, well known at this point,
but it’s worth mentioning
for a list like this
’cause it’s one of the
few JRPG-inspired games
that lets you get through
without, you know,
throwing a single punch,
much less other things.
Known for its tagline of the friendly RPG
where nobody has to die,
this game gives you the option
of sparing enemies in combat
rather than killing them.
That’s the feature that makes
this game really stand out.
It’s possible to go
through the entire game
without killing anyone,
not even the bosses.
You do have the option
to fight them normally,
but if you’d rather show
mercy, that’s available.
If you’re a genocidal
freak, there is an actual,
you know, genocide run option.
Kill everything, why not?
But to spare enemies,
you have to do something
to make them like you,
which is sometimes simple,
but sometimes involves
solving a small puzzle
using the act command.
It sounds basic,
but the game does a lot
to mix these things up
and every single enemy has
their own unique methods
to tame them, I guess.
In most games, you talk to avoid combat.
Well, in “Undertale”
you talk to end a fight
that’s already started,
which is kind of weird but like
it also makes perfect sense
in the context of the game.
And it’s great.
Honestly, it’s really an
interesting way of handling combat
and there’s nothing else quite like it.
At number five is “Shadowrun: Hong Kong”.
The recent trilogy of “Shadowrun” games
by Harebrained Schemes
started off pretty light
on the PPG mechanics.
In the first game, “Shadowrun Returns”,
you’re pretty much just doing
a linear selection of missions
with a lot of combat.
But the third game,
“Shadowrun: Hong Kong”,
the social skills are almost
as powerful as the combat ones.
This isn’t a game
where combat’s completely
avoidable per se,
but there’s a lot you can do to avoid
with the proper application
of social skills.
Most missions can be completed
without having to fire a shot.
Not all of them, most though.
That seems a bit
like it might make the
game a little too simple,
but keep in mind
there’s like a lot of
social skills in this game,
so you really have to invest in them
if you want to talk your way through
a lot of these missions.
And when combat becomes unavoidable,
you’re kind of at a serious disadvantage
for focusing on that.
Still, for what’s a fairly small RPG,
the amount of dialogue options
and different ways the game gives you
to talk your way out of
combat, really impressive.
At number four is “Planescape: Torment”.
This absolute classic from 1999
is one of the most unusual
and thought-provoking RPGs of all time.
There’s a good reason it is
highly regarded for its writing.
Now, the combat isn’t quite as well liked,
but that’s okay, ’cause if
you play your cards right,
you really don’t have to do combat at all.
Almost every single
plot-critical combat encounter
can be avoided either through stealth
or by saying the right things.
As far as I can tell,
there’s really only two
or four characters total
you absolutely have to fight,
and even then you don’t have to kill them
if you don’t want to.
This game was a major
inspiration for “Disco Elysium”,
because most of the story
is told through dialogue
rather than fighting
and that’s probably why
Elysium cut combat entirely,
’cause seriously, it’s the talking parts
that people like about this game.
The fighting stuff just
isn’t really that interesting
or at least as interesting, I guess.
There’s probably somebody
out there that loves it,
but they aren’t the
majority, let’s just say.
At number three is “Among Us”.
Oh my God, we are
talking about “Among Us”,
“Amug Us”, “Amagas”.
Please do not leave any angry comments,
just take a moment to think about this one
because it actually fits
pretty well, I think.
Honestly, any social deduction
or traitor game would fit,
but “Among Us” is the most popular,
so it’s gonna be the one that we use.
“Among Us” doesn’t really
fit the traditional idea
of a game that would normally
be on a list like this,
but if it’s because you
can literally talk your way
out of anything.
The difference here is that
because it’s a multiplayer game
rather than a single-player story,
your dialogue choices aren’t just binary
right and wrong options.
It requires actual cleverness and charisma
to talk your way outta something.
We’ve all seen it
like when a traitor does
something and gets caught,
only for them to somehow convince everyone
that it was someone else.
It’s a game that requires
real-life charisma
rather than a charisma
stat to talk your way out.
But it still counts.
If anything, it’s even more impressive
when you do it in “Among Us”
because you’re not just like
picking the right option
out of a list on a predetermined
like right and wrong thing.
You’re actually interacting
with other people
and using your social skills
to talk your way outta something.
At number two is “Arcanum”, a classic RPG
and in a lot of ways the true success
for the original “Fallout” games,
even more so than the actual sequels,
because above all else,
“Arcanum” is about player choice.
Set in a fantasy world
in the middle of an industrial revolution,
“Arcanum” lets you build your character
with technology or with magic.
That’s the main focus,
but there’s a lot of other ways
to build your character too.
If you wanna be a total
diplomat, you can be,
and the game lets you bypass
huge sections of the story
if you say the right
things at the right times.
Like “Fallout”, this is a game
where even the final
boss can be talked down,
but that’s hardly the only time
you can talk your way out of a situation.
There’s still moments
where combat’s inevitable,
but almost every situation in the game
can be resolved through dialogue.
That’s not always easy.
Sometimes you really have to pay attention
to find the right clues to resolve things,
but it’s all the more rewarding
when you actually get things right.
Now, the visuals were
pretty dated back in 2001
when the game came out.
And even with a fan patch,
the game can be kind of a buggy mess.
But if you want a game that
gives you a lot of options
to talk your way out of a tough situation,
this is one of the best.
And finally at number one,
it’s “Age of Decadence”,
a brilliant indie game that
can be a little intimidating,
but if you want an RPG that’s huge
and rewards players who like
to talk their way outta stuff,
this is where you gotta go.
In most RPGs,
the path of least resistance
is typically combat.
If you wanna talk your
way out of a situation,
it can often be a little
tricky to pull off.
In this game, however, talking
is the preferred option,
’cause combat is really
hard, like super tough.
Even against a single opponent,
your chances of death are super high,
and any injury you get
can be debilitating.
So inverse to pretty much
every other RPG in existence,
this game recommends you play a character
with a lot of social skills over combat
on your first playthrough
because it’s actually way easier.
Like in terms of difficulty,
you’d much rather be a
diplomat than a warrior,
which sounds crazy in a video game,
but hey, think about real life.
Is it easier to get punched in the face
and then beat the other guy?
Or is it easier to not
get punched in the face
’cause you didn’t say something
that got you punched in the face?
Like when you think
about it, it makes sense.
It’s more realistic than other RPGs.
I would definitely rather
talk my way out of a problem
than get into a sword fight.
Like, I’m good at talking.
Like, you listen to me talk
a lot of the week, right?
There’s a reason why this is my job.
My sword-fighting skills
leave a little bit to be desired though.
You can easily play this game
for dozens of hours without
using a weapon choice.
And unlike certain other
games on this list,
there still is combat.
It’s just something you
can avoid if you want to.
This is a game that has
flown under the radar
for a very long time.
But as far as games
that let you talk your
way out of anything,
there’s nothing else quite
like “Age of Decadence”.
And that’s all for today.
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I’m Falcon, you can follow
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