What if you don't want a follower?

As for spears watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8x4JQlqcWo

And add a spear point to those weapons. Thats what spear combat would be like combined with the ability to thrust. Mount and Blade does this, and spear combat is excellent in that game.



Yes, but not as strong, intelligence, agilde, wise, etc as those who dedicated themselves one style.

I'm glad the op doesn't make games.

A great RPG is not in the stats and inventory screens, it's in the gameworld.

Stats and gear are a mechanical way to simulate character progression, and they're just a legacy from the days when the genre was too technologically limited to do otherwise. RPG's like Skyrim show that devs can rip the roleplay from the mechanics and place it into the gameworld, and make it seem more organic and exploratory.

That's how an RPG should be, and it should not be a linear climb up a gear and stats ladder.

It was a suggestion, not an argument against it.

Besides, you do not have the magical ability or physical prowess to do it yourself in Skyrim, because the chests are more solid than they were in Morrowind.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning?
Might be just what I need after wanting to say all the same stuff that TPC brings up. I have screamed and yelled at the entire gamesas team over quite a few things in this game. I started with Daggerfall so I have literally seen the entire ES series played out and changed over time.

It's still a very wonderful action/adventure game, but in my mind it is not a whole RPG, but the best parts laid in with a bunch of stuff like Hunted: Demon Forge featured. I won't stop playing, but I have Morrowind and Oblivion in HQ fully modded and tweaked, so I can always go back to the good old days.

Clearly knowledge of how to open locks with magic has fallen into obscurity during the last 200 years. Mystical lockpicking might once have existed but it is no longer available. You don't need to retcon anything.

Ultimately, the Mercer issue isn't about power in a literal sense so much as purpose. If Mercer could acomplish what he wanted to do (break into physical places) with a simple magical spell rather than going though the hassle of the Karliah-Gallus-Skeleton Key issue, why would he not just learn the darn spell? It's a plothole.

Learning to lockpick is like taking the "50% more loots" perk. When you don't use it, you just get slightly less loot. Well, except in the Thief's guild quest line where it allows you some shortcuts.


You do not EVER need to unlock a door or chest. So you do NOT need to get a way to do that in all builds you make. Just swear a little when you see that locked chest and forget about it.

I got nostalgic and named a dagger after my favorite aptly named dagger (or combat knife in this case) I ever had in any game; I named it "Stabhappy", after the one that is in Fallout 3.

It's more like, "What is my character reasonably capable of?" A bruiser with a warhammer is reasonably capable of taking that mallet to a lock or a wooden door and cracking it open. The contents of the chest don't matter. The ability/inability to open the chest does.

I'm an old player been around a while. Don't forget if we old guys had not played for years Beth wouldn't be around now to make Skyrim. It's not wrong of us to expect some things in return basic things, like posting not turn into a mud slinging match based on a request that beth can either consider or ignore.

Now on topic the removal of some things not only takes it out of game but destroys cannon and lore. I understand some things could be attributed to timeline sure 4 slots vs whatever morrowind had can be said to be better armor making methods over time no problem. Just removing spears, crossbows, levitation, spell making without word or new lore is just sloppy. Did this knowledge get lost if so how so? Why are there books in game that mention levitation but no reason in lore why it's gone? Morrowind being close to Skyrim in the game world means there should be something anything to explain it.

It's not just that feature are removed but that with the removal of the items removes other things that were always there, and for some things they liked. Take light sabers out of the next starwars without any mention and see what you hear about. Same thing with spears etc. question being is why do Nords not have the means to make a sharp stick? Why can mages no longer enchant a stick or fly out of range of swords?

This is an Elder Scrolls title meaning that it should by all means follow established Elder Scrolls cannon. Had it been marketed as a stand alone title people wouldn't expect what they have come to know. I'm all for advancing mechanics etc but, not at the expense of the loss of franchise recognition.

You might want to remember that it's only the player character who can master a school of magic in a handfull of days. It's a conceit in how the leveling systems work in games; we accept that the player is unreasonably gifted and can learn things 50x faster than normal people because the alternative is that you have to park your character at the Winterhold college for 30 years to learn to be a master in casting fireball.

In the lore of the universe, people have to study for years and years to learn magical abilities, they don't just toss off a few spells and level up. The mages in Winterhold have a massive library we assume is full of all the magical tomes that your character, for some reason, just doesn't need to spend years studying, but the character in your example would.

So what stops him from using a regular lockpick instead, then?

Stabbing someone in the kidneys from behind does not require as much strength as blocking or parrying a blow from a longsword. If my character actively avoids melee battles and continually sneaks around, silently and invisibly why should he be as strong as a Companion-style character?

As for the last complaint, it was about how creating a 'Master of All' character as regards stats completely removes the uniqueness and customisation you say you're trying to add with such a system. If everyone can max everything then everyone has the same stats in the end. So why not just have fixed stats from the start and use skills to differentiate?


Locks too complicated for picks to cope with.

But a great world is nothing without memorable people, events and depth, all things Skyrim lacks.

Bethesda are people like you and me. Can they not just do what they want?

And a mage with 0% destruction spell costs should be able to easily melt down any door he finds. Somehow, I think the game plays better when it's not allowed.

They won't be as strong as a pure warrior. Their strength will level up far slower than someone who's continually engaging in head-on combat. But they will get stronger because they are engaging in activities that require the use of strength.

In any case, this is simply an argument for more complex skill/attribute relationships. Sneak attacks made with a sword could generate a moderate increase in agility and a small increase in strength, and vice versa for non-sneak sword attacks.
Locks can't be too complicated for magic?

Thats like saying Lucas-Syndrome isn't a bad thing when it comes to things like video games.

I disagree somewhat with this, but this is my opinion. Going along the means why you think this current system is better and Oblivion's isn't, just doesn't seem to allow for role playing. If it is RPing for you, that is fine and I am not going to get into definition wars here, just pointing out. When you mention when someone chose an attribute in Oblivion, like Willpower, they would cast spells (this follows your strength comparison as well). Exactly what is wrong with that, as it has the player follow the style of character class they want to play and especially what they chose? Being a mage, one wants to raise the appropriate atts. to make being a mage powerful. In Skyrim, this doesn't matter anymore, because every skill levels easily and there's no real thinking (or even worry) about what a class to play, and in reality, class has been removed since all skills can be leveled earning XPs. You only earned XP in Oblivion according to the 7 major skills you chose and that kept the player sticking to the class they started playing. Honestly, the system in Skyrim acts more like an action/adventure system than any real role playing since all and everything can be leveled.

Your DAII comparison where you think that works (that was an awful game IMO, but not for choosing a class) is correct IMO, but it completely belies why you think Oblivion doesn't work and Skyrim does. DAII held you to your choice of class. You couldn't be a mage in DAII (or Origins for that matter) if you chose a rogue class to play as you only had abilities/talents related to that class to use. Even the Specializations were for that class. Now in Skyrim, you are not held to a choice of class as I already said, you can level all skills, so it doesn't matter. DAII, you could only have class type skills(talent/abilities) if you chose that class. That is RPing IMO and I honestly do not see the correlation here between DAII and Skyrim..

Open Very Easy Lock
Open Easy Lock
Open Apprentice Lock
Open Hard Lock
Open Very Hard Lock
Op-Need the Key to Unlock

0% destruction spell cost? I'm not sure what you're referring to. But, what detriment to gameplay arises from the ability to magically open locks (whether that be through alteration or destruction or whatever)?

Hokay.
Philosophical point: A difference that makes no difference -is- no difference. Where are the choices that actually make a difference?
Choices in the main quest. That actually have an effect on the game world. I'm not talking about 'I choose to pretend I have relevance in the game world'. I mean your in game actions that change things. You earn a reputation, good or bad.
Where are they? NOTHING YOU DO MAKES ONE DAMN BIT OF DIFFERENCE IN THE GAMEWORLD. You can sit on your butt for 1,000 game years and nothing changes. Alduin doesn't eat the world. No one seeks you out because you might be the chosen one. Empire or Stormcloaks, the only thing that changes is the armor the city guards wear.
Mages Guild. Do you have any options besides doing that quest line bing bang bong hey, you are Archmage even though can't magic yourself out of a wet paper bag! Can you side with Ancano? Can you just let the twit blow the college off what's left of the cliff? No. You do the linear quest or it sits there in your GUI forever....as does the situation you leave it in.
Branching quests; where are they? You are treated the same if you are the archmage of Winterhold or the Nightingale of the Dark Brotherhood. Your choice in the civil war makes no difference whatsoever. You have no option to refuse the vast majority of quests.....or accept them and betray one of more characters (outside of -very- specific instances).
What about the choices you should be having to make as Dovahkin, Hmmmmmmm? You alone wield a power given by the Divines. Aside from a couple of cheesy assassination attempts as you walk along the road, none of the power centers pay one diddly-damn bit of attention to you. Ulfric wouldn't be out chasing you down, as having a Dragonborn on his side would enhance his position....or if you weren't on his side, he wouldn't be out trying with all his might to kill you, as you could shout his ass into Oblivion? Why isn't one faction trying to make you Emperor, as you are Dragonborn as has not been seen since Uriel Septim VII, never mind Tiber Septim? Why isn't the Emperor doing =his= damnedest to have you killed, for obvious reasons? Where's all the choices that the Thalmor's meddling should force your way?

No matter how you chirp about all your imaginings, if the game doesn't recognize it, it isn't relevant in the game world. People are having to gimp themselves to even halfway play a character they want to. Think about that a moment; a player has to deliberately break the game in a negative fashion to have the character they want to play. Not metagame. Not grind. Gimp. Sure Skyrim is a fun tech demo.......and that is all it ultimately is. And no, I don't want Morrowind (although another game -in- current day Morrowind.....the whole province, or whats left of it.....might be nice); I'm still waiting for the game that is worthy of the title of 'Sequel to the 1996 GOTY Daggerfall'. Because Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim certainly haven't earned it.

Oh, and Daggerfall certainly was -not- my first CRPG.....or even my first Bethesda CRPG. That was Arena (Ultima's and Might and Magic were in the firsts).....and DF was a huge improvement.

And I keep responding to the fan-drool as having ridden the whole ride, it is painful to watch a once encompassing roleplaying experience sink to the lowest common denominators in graphics vs story, thought vs linearity, challenge vs 'Even Bubba can play this game!'.

Well, now that this topic has been aired again and the comments are flowing I will add my own list of Where the Hell did all my (fill in yourself) go to.

One of the biggest problems for me right off the bat was the Magic system. To simple give you a bunch of generic tomes and then never allow you to custom craft spells is unforgiveable. That was half the fun of Morrowind and Oblivion. I am so glad there is Midas Magic at least for the PC community.

The whole magic system and the pathetic College of Mages is just annoying and a total step backwards for the game devs.

Removing the damage done to armor and weapons from use and combat is also a big deal to me. I am so used to just whipping out my repair hammer after combat and banging away at my broken gear. That was a major factor in the realism of the combat and battle of the last 2 games. I get hit by a freaking bear or Giant and I want my armor to get shredded like it would in real combat.

Limiting the enemy scaling to 25-30. That just kind of makes the game pointless after level 35-40. Even on Master it still gets pretty easy to get multiple kill-moves and savage kills on most enemies. I want to encounter bad ass enemies who will give me a mighty test of my battle skills and experience. A lot of people evidently wanted the weak and limited enemies. Thank Talos for Wars In Skyrim and a few other mods that add new combat difficulty and enemies.

I could keep going for a few more hundred paragraphs, but I think I made my point. I started with Arena, then spent a whole lot of time on Daggerfall. I have played well over 1500 hours of Morrowind and about 2000 hours of Oblvion due to a chronic disease I am suffering from (confined to bed for weeks, alas). I guess that makes me pretty qualified to be critical of the new and stripped down ES.

I'll shut my gob now and try to help make the game better by posting to the developers and supporting the amazing modding community.

I really do love Skyrim and have played over 200 hours. It is just the fact that the longer I play, the more I miss a lot of the old things that polished up some other warts and pimples that the other games had.

What you are saying is that Bethesda is making a loss with Skyrim or that Skyrim is not fun to play.

You will find that you are in the minority with your opinion, and you know what they say about democracy? It is like when two wolfs and one sheep decide what to eat for lunch.

That's where weighting could come into play. How you level your skills could affect the rate at which your attributes increase, much like they affect how your character's level increases. Depending on which skills you level and how often you level them, it could influence how much they affect your attributes. Besides, you seem to forget that it's just one aspect of a larger system. Perks would still come into play.

I'm not saying the idea is perfect. It could certainly use some fine tuning.

One of my biggest problems with the system in Skyrim is that it's too simple. Now I'm sure a lot of people would reply that simple is good. It allows you to learn the system faster and is generally easier to use. And that's true. What's also true, though, is that simple systems are almost universially less flexible. That's how you simply it, by cutting out options. I would prefer a more complex system. Not a complicated one, a complex one. There's a difference. A complicated system is just hard to use. A complex system, while usually still difficult to learn and use, comes with a trade-off. It's complexity is a result of more options and greater flexibility and that generally makes it a much more powerful system.

I've sliced myself while cutting up foodstuffs, it didn't require a great amount of strength to do an annoying amount of damage. Sticking something sharp into someone's back and killing them in one hit is a less a matter of strength and more an issue of dexterity and stealth. If my character's blades are sharp, he doesn't need to be strong to get the job done. A behind-the-scenes stats system like what's been suggested would muddle up his concept in an entirely unwelcome way.

As I said before, it would also be utterly pointless if players could max out all stats. Where's the customisation in a system like that? Well, it's where it is right now, in the skills.


Not in their present state. You'd need a whole new way of locking chests and the like to counter magic.