AaronCorr: I played the game like I played Fallout with a lot of speech and science. In the end I was probably underleved because the final boss tore me to shreds in one go. I tried many different paths in the dialogue tree and passed the speech check but all paths led to either surrendering or attacking him. Now I got a bad ending because I had to surrender.
Is it even possible to stop the boss without fighting?
It's definitely possible, and I believe there's more than one conversation path that leads to a successful outcome (i.e. where you win without fighting and also without becoming part of... it...).
One of those paths requires intellect to be higher than a certain point. I'm not sure if this is absolutely required, but it probably makes it easier.
When you're in conversation with him, don't be afraid to go around in circles in the conversation, revisiting old topics and the like, as sometimes going down a dead-end-looking path opens up a new option, but that option may require you to get the conversation back to the start. By "back to the start" I don't mean quitting the convo and restarting - since that's not possible - just choosing options like "Huh, maybe you're right", then changing your mind - stuff like that.
I definitely recall pretending to agree with him before arguing my point, and I also recall I had to argue my point a couple of different ways before a new option popped up.
