Bringing back climbing mode - Good idea or bad one? : V - Skyrim

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:50 pm

Yes, an added dimension for exploring is always a good thing.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 12:53 am

Would be cool if Khajiit could climb trees.. Ive read the book in Morrowind about the Khajiit wars and how they ambushed their enemies from the trees.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 7:14 pm

I see no point in it. :shrug:

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 11:34 pm

Several "body related skills" could be implemented as a single skill, with multiple perk routes depending on what was important to you. Climbing, running, jumping, swimming, with various perks in each tree branch. I have a hard time coming up with a good fully working skill perk tree for all of these as single skills.

The mod I will never finish includes the following "Athletics" skill tree. Note that climbing is a minigame-like event that occurs on select surfaces designated for this purpose. It plays a similar role to lockpicking, allowing you to skip parts of dungeons and access special locations. The minigame involves planning a route from the bottom to the top of the surface by moving from one handhold to another without running out of stamina or falling.

I'm actually really proud of the constellation design, it forms a running guy. The perks below are gouped by "branch".

Athletics
Each point in this skill decreases the rate at which sprinting, power attacks, gymnastics, and grabbing handholds use stamina by .5% (-50% at level 100)

Level 0-
Conditioning: You run 10/15/20/25/30% faster and jump 10/15/20/25/30% higher (Improves at 20, 40, 60, 80)

Level 30-
Acrobatics (prereq: Conditioning): You ignore 50/75/90% of fall damage (Improves at 60, 90)

Level 50-
Gymnast (prereq: Acrobatics): You can perform a flip mind-air (a sort of "double jump"), or tumble on the ground, at the cost of stamina. You can also make melee attacks mid-jump.

Level 70-
Agile Assault (prereq: Gymnast): You gain a 20% chance of scoring a critical strike (+50% damage) after performing a mid-air flip or a tumble, and can get a special kill animation.

Level 25-
Apprentice Climber (prereq: Conditioning): You can reach handholds 25% further away without risking a fall

Level 50-
Adept Climber (prereq: Apprentice Climber): You can reach handholds 50% further away without risking a fall

Level 60-
Practiced Grip (prereq: Adept Climber): You don't automatically lose stamina while climbing, though each handhold you try for still costs the same. Rank 2 (level 80): Your stamina regenerates normally while climbing.

Level 75-
Expert Climber (prereq: Adept Climber): You can reach handholds 75% further away without risking a fall

Level 100-
Master Climber (prereq: Master Climber): You can reach handholds 100% further away without risking a fall

Level 30-
Strong Swimmer (prereq: Conditioning): You can "sprint" while swimming, and attack with melee weapons in the water.

Level 50-
Deep Diver (prereq: Natural Swimmer): You can hold your breath for five times as long.

Level 100-
Legendary Reflexes (prereq: Gymnast or Adept Climber)
You can slow down time by 25% at will (adds a on/off toggle power) but this will steadily drain your stamina.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 6:33 pm

First time I climbed a building I was like :biggrin:

, first time I levitated in Morrowind I was like :woot:

. But because not everyone can do it, it makes the dungeon design harder. Still I would like it if possible.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 11:45 am

I was always disappointed by the fact that so much of the Daggerfall freedom was done away with from Morrowind onward. I understand the decision, but with games that have been released in the interem (the Assassin's Creed and Crysis series, for i.e.), I think the time has come to incorporate these skills back into The Elder Scrolls games on a level that's up to par with modern-day free-roaming titles.

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 12:35 am

I want to climb the Throat of the World and not walk the 7,000 steps. :rofl:

» Sat Jun 09, 2012 12:31 am

Daggerfall climbing was pretty stupid, you could climb up an vertical wall, but not an sloped roof who would be climbable in real world unless it was a modern metal roof.
You could not climb down but had to jump.
Skyrim has few places where climbing straight up will be useful, even in Daggerfall it had limited use outside dungeons where it was very useful.

Would prefer better rock climbing and it would be easier to make.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 11:05 pm

As a purely technical matter, the hardest part on a PC is animating the movements:

every surface has a movement characteristic associated with it. Crates can be climbed, fences can be climbed or vaulted, that big steel door does not act as a surface you can interact with as a means to move, that decorative one across the street can be climbed because it has holes in it that you can use as footholds, etc. This rock, you can climb with n skill, or m skill and s strength. This wall requires l. 83 in "movement", or 62 Agility and 43 movement, and you can climb straight up it.

You won't see such a system DLCed into Skyrim because of the excessively cramped memory space on consoles. (I offer no opinion on what the rest of the hardware would be capable of without the very small memory pool built-in to the systems). On the whole, I wouldn't expect Bethesda to try for whatever game they do on a new generation of consoles, either. It would be a remarkably different approach if they start adding and building upon, rather than reducing and removing.