I'm not overly bothered about levitation. When they partially cut it out of Tribunal originally I was like "eh?", then realised what it enabled in terms of using the MW engine. Since then, like CCNA, I've not missed it in OB or Skyrim.

One thing that does irk me, though - almost as much as people saying things are "broken" when they don't mean broken - is the charge that the devs are "lazy" if they cut something. Now, I'm not defending every cut and every design choice. But I'm pretty sure that it wasn't the case that Todd Howard walked into the office one day and said, "hey guys, have you finished levitation?" and a deve says, "well, I couldn't really be bothered. I'm too busy watching lolcats on the internet" or something. Bethesda is a working business. Unless you can show me that they all work two hour days and spend one of them on lunch, laziness is the wrong word to use.

To hell with levitation, bring back classes, attributes and the cut skills!!!

I too enjoy the challenges of the terrain, although there have been spots where I was "this close" to making it to the top of a ridge but could not make it, which necessitated a very very long trek around. For my more magically inclined characters I missed not being able to levitate, even if for just a few seconds, to get over the top of a ridge or to get around an obstacle to reach a higher point on the mountainside where the terrain allowed for further progress. Would have been fun and made me feel like a right powerful mage.

Levitation just costs a LOT more to add to the game than any other feature! That's why it was cut and not something else.

But again, this thread is about why didn't they, not why don't they now even though none of the level design supports it. Were they to have included it from the beginning there would obviously be differences in their world design to take advantage of the verticality levitation affords.

It was broken, but could've been easily fixed (dragons being one of the ways).

OT:
They are just rubbing salt into our wounds.

I stopped reading at page 2 so bare with me. This endless list you mention seems to only include magic as a solution. Since this thread was originally about in game lore (levetation in books but not in the game) how could you leave out the fact that almost all of Skyrim's citizens seem to hate magic? Of course there are court wizards, but they do not all specalize in wards, and the citizens would not be too happy about any type of magic constantly hovering above their heads.

This is actually why I stopped reading this thread. I was interested in the topic, the implementation of lore during gameplay. Congratz Admoni, on being so passionate about your negativity towards bethesda's dev team, that you had to hijack this thread. Surely when you make your own game, it will be much better.

lol

I completly disagree with the "i want because i want it" attitude. it is the most childish and two year old thing you could possible say. this is Bethesda's game, they have the right to strip anything out, or add anything in they want. lots of features have been lost between oblivion/morrowind, lots have also been added.

i see so many posts here trashing this game, and its really sad. I wish this vocal 1% on the forums would say this stuff in real life to the other 99% of people who play and love this game, but obviously that would never happen. internet gangsta's i call em, easy to say and trash stuff from behind a keyboard.

also, stop disrespecting the Devs and people that made this game. many work long hours and spend a long time away from their homes and family to bring you this game and they dont deserve your hate.

dont like the game?
take it back, trade it in, or get a refund.

want to levitate, i win, easy button?
spend a couple grand on a PC, download the CK, make/mod it all yourself.

think oblivion/morrowind was better then skyrim
go play it and stop posting here. you will have more fun, and so will we, i promise.

The quest in Solitude where you kill the wolf queen is a pretty big example of why they left levitation out. There are so many things you can do with dungeon design that would be just broken if people could levitate straight to the end objective.

Admittedly, a high mana cost could offset some of the 'stay in the air forever' bits.

Such nonsense.
First of all, way to make assumptions.
Im exactly the same on here as I am in real life, except in real life im more ascerbic and less polite, as real life doesnt have Terms of Service.

Secondly, there is no hate.
If you dont understand the difference between valid critique that is backed with arguments, logic and emotion, fine.
But it really grinds my gears when people go: 'Oh its whining, oh its hating' because thats a very arrogant way of dismissing any argument without having to deal with the merits of said argument.

Thirdly, what on Nirn is wrong with wanting great things from previous installments in the new game?
Why must I 'go play Morrowind' to find these great features? I would like a new game that sports them thank you very much.

Fourthly, no-one wants an easy 'I win' button. We would like it if 90% of the game wasnt cut. We would like to see how fantastic elements of previous iterations work with the latest technology.

Lastly, these non-sequitors, baseless put-downs and glorious marginalisations grind my gears.

So in the spirit of your post I would advise you to go to reddit if you like to talk like that, but if you prefer a decent conversation where people actually listen to what other people have to say and where arguments are responded to on merit instead of ad-hominems you can post here. It would be more fun, cause less annoying, I promise you.

I can see what he's saying though. Constructive criticism is fine but there are so many posts that are just full of hating and whining. It seems to me you have that "I want it, so I should have it" attitude.

i dont really need to say anything, you said enough.

as i said:
-trade it in
-mod it
-dont play

pick one and have fun

Just make it require 100 level 1000 magic points and various perks before you can use it. That way only the very most powerful mages could use it and the regular theif wouldn't even get close.

I probably havent said enough, or you wouldnt have printed a 'swallow-or-shove-off' reply.

All these options are irrelevant, because they have nothing to do with the dissapointment that is Skyrim magic.
Why would I trade it in? That makes no sense. Just because I would love to have seen better magic does not mean that the game is ruined forever without them, nor did I ever indicate such.

Modding it is not an option for me and over half of the other Skyrim players, as we do not play it on a pc.

What is so difficult to understand about a dissapointment being a dissapointment?
Have people seriously lost the ability to see anything in any other shade as black and white?

Levitation was a fantastic way to open the world up, to utilise the third dimension.
Without it the game is less interesting because flatter and I lament this.

That is the crux here, that is the point I am making and to tell people to swallow or shove off is just a rude way to not have a conversation.

Levitation is obsolete, unless you're playing second life. Lol.
Books mention it, as to mention a lost art; possible homage to Morrowind? Who knows.

Better yet, how about Bethesda just design the TES world instead of a lame superficial approximation?

Since Bethesda created the world of the Elder Scrolls, I'm fairly certain that their version is the "real" one.

Don't bother...
In the flow of the ongoing topic your post was a circular argument. Pushing the idea that levitate is not necessary was your intent. That argument is nothing but a pointless evasion of the actual topic at hand. Whether levitate is purposeful for certain character builds is meaningless. Whether Bethesda designs places for one specifically needs levitate is also pointless.

Levitate exists in the TES world. There you go. End of story. Bethesda, for two games now, has ignored this fact and has proven to be unable to present the TES world as it is. And this is just a small portion of what they've proven to be incapable of delivering on. Rather than first perfect and present the world as it is (and then expand) they instead decided to cut things out and fill the game with fluff.

Well, if that's the angle you want to go, just consider that levitate DOES exists in Oblivion and Skyrim, it's just that no NPC and player found it for sale yet.

I agree. And since their version of the TES world includes levitate it would be nice to see it along with all of the other parts of the world that are mysteriously missing from SR.

Has anyone else in this thread pointed out that it's perfectly logical for there to be mentions of levitation in books and none in the game when you take into account that in Oblivion the Empire http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Levitation_Act. (Like the Passwall spell in Daggerfall, which is mentioned as having been lost somewhere in Morrowind.)

Yeah, I miss levitation but I'm not pissed about it. Now, the unarmored skill, that I really miss.

It does?

*Searches*

Strange. Their latest version of the world of Nirn doesn't appear to include any levitation spells. Perhaps you were thinking of a different world?

Yes, resorting with pen and paper rp-ing to cover for actions that were created more than a decade ago in older game systems is.....

One great thing for the defenders of Beth's poor designs is they will always win the argument. All they have to do is repeat the same tired old defenses over and over and over. Drown out the critics with repetition. While you are adding zero to the conversation at hand you still fly under the radar.

The argument you are trying to convey is false. As it was when the hundreds of times it has been used, and refuted, before. TES exists throughout the games and each game is not stand alone. Levitate exists in the TES world.

Except it doesn't anymore. Because the world of the Elder Scrolls isn't some objective, persistently existing being that is defined outside of the developers' offices. Bethesda created the world, so they define the rules. Period.

Of all the arguments in favor of levitation, the argument that it's part of a world that is wholly created by a development team who have clearly decided to not have levitation in their world is the weakest I've seen.