Case of small talk

[Mr. Personal]

Why does this part of the game feel so frustrating/boring?
- Is it negativity/lack of the dialogue?
- Is it because we are forced to go through it wihout ability to skip?
- Is it lack of desired outcome? (Example. With hard smalltalk you get 1 star engineer instead of 4-5 star)
- Is it randomness of the minigame activation? (Waiting 1-20min front of an NPC group to only get activation from a pilot instead of vendor 5 times in a row, when trying to hire a trade agents)
- Below average "acting"?
Edit: Added reasons
- Low Framerate makes minigame a hard to play
- Stupid responses from NPC
- Repetive
Is reason behind sum/part of all of these, or is it something else you have noticed?

Edit:
Suggested solutions
-Good/High relations with a NPC's faction would allow a player to gain certain benefits for free and with low relations a bride would be required
-More Dialogue
-Fallout 1-3 style dialogue
-Remove dialogue
-Shorten dialogue

[Commander_K]

For me it's clicking in the mini game at the right time. It always seems to stutter just as it passes over the right region (it feels like frame rate drop but I'm not sure it is).

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

I find the lack of a skip option [for previously-selected] Smalltalk frustrating too. Best I can suggest is the Quality of life guide listed on the wiki here, which offers some suggestions for reducing the impact.

[Ezarkal]

I'd say all of the above, plus the fact that whatever these NPCs say, I find it bland and freaking stupid. While I think the idea of being able to sweet-talk traders is good, the whole thing could be better than it is now. I hope it will feel a little more "lively" in the next game.

For now, I avoid small talks with the help of mods like TAF, Show Skills and Black Market Seminars.

[Senner]

I don't mind it. They just need to add 50 or so more of them.

[Nanook]

Some people are just more tolerant than others, I guess. I find the whole smalltalk thing very irritating and boring, not to mention non-immersive. You should be able to walk up to any NPC and initiate a conversation rather than waiting for them to say something inane. Your ability to get positive results from a conversation should be based on your rep with the faction the NPC belongs to, not some silly moving scale you have to click just right.

Do it the old fashioned way: walk up to an NPC and start talking to them. Perhaps bribe them if they don't like you much, or maybe choose from among different convo paths. But please, lose the silly clicky-clicky arcade thing which is simply a hand-eye coordination test and is totally unnecessary. Make conversation more like it is in the real world.

[/rant]

[A5PECT]

I like the idea of being able to chat up an individual to progress at certain points of the game.

The thing that gets me the most is that smalltalking is the only way to acquire certain services and items, especially ones where it doesn't make a lot of sense (training seminars?).

[pref]

Listening to the same sentences over and over again is for parrots.
You would even avoid real people who keep saying the same thing regardless if they can phrase it differently every time or not.

Only time i used smalltalk when i entered a system for the first time, as i was curious what's up with the natives.
Wouldn't play this game without TAF. Or a skill hack for employees.

[Ezarkal]

Wouldn't play this game without TAF. Or a skill hack for employees.

...or your mod to skip all the useless chatter. That came as a real blessing to the game. Thanks again.

[pref]

cheers!
Actually when i was finished i spent like 5 mins assigning ships randomly and calling all kinds of traders with a huge grin.. i just cant grasp ES' intent behind this design at all.

[Len5]

Suggested solutions
-Good/High relations with a NPC's faction would allow a player to gain certain benefits for free and with low relations a bride would be required

I like this. The more benefits and recognition you get from a higher reputation level the better. Even when I'm the biggest player in the DeVries system e.g., people still have no idea who I am.

The small talk system the way it is, should be abandoned, I think. But I'd still like some kind of conversation with npc's for benefits in which they'll have an opportunity to acknowledge your reputation.
Maybe they could say how the (dis)like your impact on the economy or in battles or say something about your activities as a pirate.

[Mr. Personal]

What I heard is that was the old system in one of the previous Xgames