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Certain RPGs make the tantalising promise that you can skip combat altogether, by talking your way past the bad guys. But how can we turn this into genuinely interesting gameplay?

Warning - This video contains story spoilers for Mass Effect (1) and Life is Strange (Episode 2), and also features content related to suicide.

Games shown in this episode (in order of appearance)

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (Eidos Montreal, 2016)
Planescape: Torment (Black Isle Studios, 1999)
Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian Entertainment, 2010)
Baldur’s Gate (Bioware, 1998)
Mass Effect (Bioware, 2007)
Alpha Protocol (Obsidian Entertainment, 2010)
Undertale (Toby Fox, 2015)
Ladykiller in a Bind (Christine Love, 2016)
Portal (Valve Corporation, 2007)
Rayman Legends (Ubisoft Montpellier, 2013)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos Montreal, 2011)
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment, 2015)
LA Noire (Team Bondi, 2011)
Heaven’s Vault (Inkle, 2019)
Resident Evil 2 (Capcom, 2019)
The Walking Dead: Season One (Telltale Games, 2012)
DOOM (id Software, 2016)
Florence (Mountains, 2018)
Griftlands (Klei Entertainment, 2021)
Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream, 2018)
Civilization V (Firaxis Games, 2010)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All (Capcom, 2002)
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter (Frogwares, 2016)
Persona 5 (Atlus, 2017)
Call of Duty: WWII (Sledgehammer Games, 2017)
Watch Dogs 2 (Ubisoft Montreal, 2016)
Middle-earth: Shadow of War (Monolith Productions, 2017)
Far Cry New Dawn (Ubisoft Montreal, 2019)
The Outer Worlds (Obsidian, 2019)

Music used in this episode

Here’s Where Things Get Interesting - Lee Rosevere (https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/albu...)
Wonder Cycle - Chris Zabriskie (https://chriszabriskie.bandcamp.com/a...)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution soundtrack - Michael McCann
Life is Strange soundtrack - Jonathan Morali
LA Noire soundtrack - Andrew Hale
Candlepower - Chris Zabriskie (https://chriszabriskie.bandcamp.com/a...)
Oxygen Garden - Chris Zabriskie (https://chriszabriskie.bandcamp.com/a...)

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