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communication and bargaining

Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2011 6:38 pm
by Maxor127
I used blue frog cheat to get 200 communication, but my characters seems to get the exact same deals when bargaining. I thought high communication meant lower prices? Or are there bugs with raising skills cheats?

Re: communication and bargaining

Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 12:54 am
by Zachski
You're playing the remake, right, and not the original?

In the original, bargaining acted more or less as a difficulty check - some characters wouldn't bargain without a high enough communications skill (though some could be influenced to be lower if you were a magic user)

In the remake, communications determines how low you can bargain something, with each thing having a different maximum. Having a high enough communications allows you to reach the maximum discount for that item.

For the record, whenever you're bargaining, there's two methods of bargaining.

1. Aiming for the sweet point. The lowest that a shopkeeper can go immediately from the start. The downside is that you don't build up your communications. This can take experimenting to find.

2. Bartering. You aim very low intentionally and build up until the shopkeeper issues their final price. You pay more in the long run, but get better communications.

Communications makes that "sweet spot" a lower price. It also makes shopkeepers barter for longer and settle on a lower price anyways.

At least, this is what I've experienced.

Re: communication and bargaining

Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 2:04 am
by Maxor127
Yes, it's the remake. What I did was I bartered with a merchant with 100 communication and reloaded and tried again with 200 communication, and I end up with the same lowest price.

Re: communication and bargaining

Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 12:40 pm
by DrJones
I remember some cheat flags don't activate until you leave and return to a room. That could be the case, and could also be that some items have a minimum price that I don't know of.

Anyways, you can get up to 250 communication by wishing the genie for it, but as that event happens at the end of the game with no place to use it, I don't think the merchants will take into account a communication stat above 200.

Re: communication and bargaining

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 3:43 am
by Maxor127
I guess I should've thought of that. Leaving and reentering the screen made it work.

Re: communication and bargaining

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:53 am
by max_black0
Whats the best way to boost Comm. Without cheating?
How can I get 200 point in it near the beginning? (since thats when I do most of my bargaining)

I need to buy ALOT of mana pills and my comm. SUCKS!

Re: communication and bargaining

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 11:30 am
by Erpy
It's one of those stats that raises slowly but steadily if you show politeness and courtesy. It's not easy to grind it to 200 at the beginning, but there are ways to make sure it's near 200 as your time in Shapeir is near its end:

- Greet everyone before talking to them and say goodbye before leaving.
- If someone does you a favor, thank them. (for that reason, it's actually better to get elemental-slaying equipment for free, rather than buying it) That includes merchants, paladins and even trees.
- Give Shema flowers after her performances. (giving her flowers normally gives a small honor and communication boost, but after her performances there's a point bonus)
- Haggle a lot. (haggling increases communication itself)

Particularly the greeting/farewell has a cumulative effect, the more you do it, the faster it starts to rise. You can't just keep greeting and saying goodbye to a single NPC though, that doesn't work.

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