Dispositions often conflict with my character

[plenilune]

From what I've gathered, the dispositions system is designed to reward players who respond to dialogue in a consistent manner for role playing reasons. So, I decided that my character would be "aggressive and passionate," but the term seems to be interpreted so broadly that it does not really align with my character, i.e. aggressive as in bold vs hot-headed, passionate as in romantic vs zealous. 

 

Also good vs evil can be a deciding factor in dialogue options but dispositions does not take that into account.

 

I know JES' recommendation is to pick whatever feels appropriate for my character (and maybe turn off the qualifiers), but I also don't want to be locked out of dialogue options linked to a high level of disposition later in the game. Most likely, if I truly role-played my character, I'd have a moderately inconsistent distribution among all personality types, and be punished according to the system.

 

What are your thoughts?

[Zwiebelchen]

Don't care about disposition. Take what is appropriate for you. Some left-out disposition choices will not matter in the long run.

[plenilune]

Well, shouldn't they matter, this being a CRPG? I presume the choices with the biggest consequences have higher disposition requirements.

[sparklecat]

In my experience so far, dispositions are less used as requirements to unlock dialogue choices and more reacted to by characters; someone will say something like "everyone says you're really nice, but I never thought you'd help me with my problem!" if you're benevolent, or some such.

[BrokenMask]

There are only few moments were dispositions unlock dialog options(two different conversations I can think about), most of the time dispositions are used for how characters react to you. So like, if you have high honesty, then people are more likely to believe you.

[Zwiebelchen]

Well, shouldn't they matter, this being a CRPG? I presume the choices with the biggest consequences have higher disposition requirements.

 

What I was trying to say isn't that disposition doesn't matter; i was trying to say that you will encounter enough disposition choices that missing out some of them doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

 

In other words: chances are you will still be able to "unlock" high disposition choices even if you didn't take them all.

 

 

Also, think of it like that: if a disposition choice doesn't fit your idea of how to play your character, maybe your own personal agenda isn't as extreme as you think it should be?

For example: if the "aggressive" choice seems way too extreme for my taste, wouldn't that mean that my character isn't as aggressive as I think he is? So in that case, would it actually fit my character to have a 100% aggressive disposition?

 

The way this system plays out is phenomenal! Due to the fact that some people like and dislike certain dispositions, it's even possible to play a "grey" character, who tends to stay away from any of the extremes and is known for applying common sense and case-to-case judgement on anything he encounters.

 

 

So, my advice: roleplay your character as you see fit from the choices presented to you. If your character turns out not being 100% on either of the scales, chances are that that actually fits your character better than being an extremist. The impacts on dialogues of extreme disposition can be equally negative and positive. It's not like the "unlocked" choices always yield better results!

Edited March 30, 2015 by Zwiebelchen

[plenilune]

That makes sense, that most people are not at the extremes of personal traits. I'm actually happy that this aspect of the game is not as game-y as I was led to believe. Happy RPing!

[Zwiebelchen]

Yup. It's one of the games best features. I just wished it would matter more (from a cause-and-effect point of view) than it does currently, as it's more or less only altering dialogue itself, not it's outcome.