Not having an idea of what you are going to say is such a pain in the ass.
I could handle the system being so shitty and broken if I at least had a decent idea.
But when I'm guessing my chances AND guessing what the hell I'm going to say, I may as well pick at random.
Honestly, aside from not having skill checks (which could be done in the game as they have at least one quest that shows that as well as I hear a few skill checks in Far Harbor), the dialogue system is what is really messed up about 4.
I swear if they fixed the dialogue system that would improve 4's RPG by a lot and pretty much fix my major issue with the RPG in it (that and skill checks).
1. No voiced player actor damnit. For one it ruins my immersion of playing my own character (she doesn't always say things in the tone I imagine it). Secondly, it means they try to lesson the amount of differing lines cause money going into the voice actor instead of something better like actual different choices and also NPCs reacting differently depending on what you say. Of coures that latter part is some conjecture, but it's very obvious in how NPCs react the same exact way many times no matter what you say to them that they didn't put effort in making what you say make a difference. But also... it really does break into my immersion when I'm envisioning my character in a way that doesn't fit how the voice actor envisioned her.
2. Have what you say matter and actually have NPCs respond accordingly (and not just hte same exact line no matter what you said). Most the time with how the NPCs react to you the responses are yes, yes, sarcastic yes (which they still respond as if you said yes and don't note the sarcasm), no but ask me again later.
3. Fuck the dialogue wheel. Sure, they could have done it and still allowed multiple responses, but they didn't. This and reason below is why the list option is so much better (and no, the wheel isn't easier for console. I'm a console user and don't see why the list was all that hard)
4. Speaking of dialogue wheel, Bethesda lied their ass off. They may have tried to make it so that you knew what you were responding when you picked an option, but you really don't. I'm so sick of being surprised by what I actually responded. Or not figuring out the difference between two options (witcher could be bad about this but not as bad as 4 is. And they never claimed that you'd be able to easily figure out what your character was going to say by the choices). Thank god for mods (there is one for 4 that spells out what your character is replying, right?)
5. Skill checks for some of the dialogue. Ideally don't tell me if I have enough skill to make the check (I actually did not like that about Vegas). personally I'd love it if a skill check meant that you could get a better resolution but it was more risk cause if you failed it was worse for you. And you had to decide if it was worth the risk, like if your skill was high enough you were willing to take that risk.
Yeah... I loved 4 after the survival mode was tweaked (i liked it before), but this is the glaring thing I think is majorly wrong with it. I can deal with the weak writing even but make the dialogue better and give me actual choices. Let me actually RP my character and what she says and how she responds. instead the game ends up rping my character for me (or rather the voice actor does cause no matter what you reply you get her personality in the reply and how she views the character).