Why exactly being able to parley through main story is a bad thing? Have you ever played Fallout series (disregard FO3 but include FO:NV)? Being able to talk the big bad evil to kill itself is the most epic moment of the entire series and arguably what set it apart from other RPGs as well as making it classic (and successful financially). Of course they need to make the parley/persuasion part making sense for the story, but having it is doesn't in any sense making it bad.

@Magiksmurf: What if that fukking fat cook uses his wit, words and luck to save the entire land from the dark force? Wouldn't that make the story 10 times more epic than the use sword and sorcery cliche?