OXM Online put up a preview on Obsidian Entertainments upcoming Elder Scrolls mod.

<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">“Using skills in conversations is an emphasis for us,” says Sawyer. The idea in role-playing terms, he clarifies, is that if you’re talking to someone about explosives and that happens to be one of your strongest skills, you’re going to know a lot about them. Apparently, having an emphasis in certain topics means that if they come up in conversation, you’ll have a higher chance of influencing fussy characters. Sounds logical to us!
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As in most RPGs, you won’t always succeed when you’re trying to sweet-talk characters, but Obsidian is building the game so you’ll always have the chance to do so. They’re also making sure you can apply every single skill — including speech, sneak, barter, and explosives — in conversations. It’s an engaging level of non-combative RPG gameplay that Fallout 3 lacked.

Sounds as if Obsidian is about to focus too much on skillchecks and other irrelevant stuff. That way it'll be almost impossible for them to prove themselves worthy of Bethesda's legacy.

Spotted at: GB