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Here’s a first look at Starfield’s persuasion minigame

Bethesda says that Starfield is now at 250,000 lines of dialogue, and gives fans a first glimpse at its points-based persuasion minigame

Starfield dialogue persuasion minigame: A space pirate with a broken and patched up helmet in Starfiled

In a new Q+A video, Bethesda’s Todd Howard has unveiled more details about Starfield’s dialogue system, including a first look at the persuasion minigame that’s woven into this aspect of the space RPG.

First teased during an earlier developer roundtable, this persuasion system was a fresh take on the rather simplistic system that was in Oblivion. At the time, Howard said of the new Starfield system that “it feels like you’re having a conversation where you’re actually trying to persuade somebody of something.”

Now we know how it’s going to work, thanks to this unlisted video on Bethesda’s YouTube channel, spotted by ‘Biosnake’ on ResetEra. By picking a ‘persuade’ dialogue option, you are then sent to another menu that gives you a range of responses. Each response costs a certain number of points, and you have a certain number of turns or attempts to get a character on your side. The on-screen UI also suggests that there is an Auto-Persuade function, if you don’t fancy making your own path through this minigame.

“It feels natural, not like I’ve just entered some other mode where I’m not doing regular dialogue,” Howard says in the Q+A.

Howard also gives some updated figures on how much dialogue is actually in Starfield.

The last quoted figure, which Howard gave in an interview with IGN after Starfield’s big showcase during Summer Game Fest, was 200,000 lines. Apparently this has now swelled to over a quarter of a million lines of dialogue (252,953 lines and counting, according to Bethesda’s graphic).

Despite ditching Fallout 4’s player voice in favour for a classic silent protagonist, it’s safe to say a lack of engaging dialogue is not going to be an issue in Starfield.

For more info on the upcoming space game, check out our guides on the Starfield planets, factions, and weapons.