I'm quite new to Skyrim, it was a Christmas 2011 gift from a friend, so I haven't had much experience yet. One thing I really like so far is the way you can change the difficulty setting without starting all over again. With this system I'm less likely to get permanently stuck on a hard bit and end up deleting the whole game out of frustration. Thanks to the designers for taking human impatience, lack of talent or limited game-playing time into account!

Isn't this a feature of most games since liek forever? I think only FPS's have the "start campaign permenently in X difficulty" thing going.

Most bethesda games these days have this feature and have since, I believe, Morrowind...

With a game as large and long as skyrim it's the only way to fly. They should have brought the slider back though.

Actually, i`m strange in that if I have to change the difficulty to a higher level I have to start over. After that i`ll never change it back... without starting over.

Welcome, Dino53.

Good to hear you like the game.

I'm the same way. The way I progress a character on one difficulty does not function the way I intend on a higher difficulty so it's easier to start over and adapt as I go.

True.

I hate to be the one to down it so far but....

It could use some further development. There have been big debates in the past about how upping bad guys HP is a cheap way to increase difficulty. I have to agree... it's a typical Bethesda fault. In their design to add so much to the game(a good thing) some things don't get fully fleshed out. Like the marriage thing for instance. We use to have the slider and now it's been weeded out as well.

Ah well. I guess I'm glad there is a difficulty adjuster of some sort at least.

They also hit harder, and you hit less hard.

Maybe some people are too young to remember this, but difficulty sliders used to ramp up the AI, so that not only were the NPCs deadlier, they also quicker/cleverer and had much more devious aim.

I think ther may be some rose coloured goggles happening here. You used to get larger mobs, or the NPCs moved faster, but I struggle to think of one game where the enemy had any sizeable fillip to their intelligence.

Yep, the AI has always been the AI. Its just weaker/stronger mobs, lower/higher health/accuracy/magika etc

Love that there is a slider in game, have never used it yet though!

There are actually several games that give you more aggressive / defensive AI when you ramp up the difficulty. The earliest that comes to mind is GoldenEye 007 on the N64 (1997). Some might say that the increased AI is just the engine cheating because the AI isn't any less stupid it just removes/reduces the intentionally slowed reaction time and aiming of the AI bots. But IMO, it's just reducing the handicap that was intended to allow for slower human reaction times.

A very similar change could be made for Skyrim. Even though pathfinding is pretty bad, you could still increase the propensity for blocking, the aggressiveness of the NPCs, the use of defensive measures like potions, fleeing, friendly heals, etc. You could also improve the aim and reaction time of enemy RDPS. I think that these types of AI scaling should be available to everyone, not just just heavily modded PC users.

Exactly, Agressiveness and attack frequence wouldbe big changers

I hate the adjustable difficulty system because I'm always tempted to cheat and put it on the lowest difficulty level if I'm having a hard time, and after that I feel dirty.

idk why people use GOD mode, adjustable difficulty is like a built-in god mode

not quite, God mode removes any and all chance of dying, you can literly walk away while a foe is beating you and come back and be perfectly fine.

I'm really happy that there are difficulty settings, they're very useful to me.

At least someone sees my point. Skyrim isn't my whole life, and it's so long-winded that I will probably only play through it once. To me it's important (for my own sanity and enjoyment) to have a mechanism that allows me to just get on with it when I want to. I don't feel any need to be the big hero and play on a hard setting. Once I'm past the roadblock, I can (and do) reset the Difficulty back to my initial settings and proceed on my merry way.

As an amateur 3D artist myself, I think Bethseda have done an amazing job in creating such a beautiful 'world' for us to walk around in. I get just as much pleasure from that as I do from interacting with the characters and following the story. Fast travel has its uses too, and I'm really glad it is there, but quite often I just walk the whole distance admiring the graphics. So the point is, whether you're a wimp like me or a killing machine, Skyrim allows you to play how you like, when you like. I realise I'm probably in the minority and I don't decry the philosophy of purist hardcoe gamers, just saying I like the way this game caters for all types.

I too appreciate the difficulty slider. With my current character I've only turned the difficulty down once and then raised it back. Some parts of this game are suddenly crazy hard for a particular level/defense style character, and then not... so yeah, the slider is a nice little 'perk'.

It's a nice touch I think. Personally I enjoy the expert level, this seems a nice balance of enjoyable challenge without having to save too much. As my character progresses further hitting 100 enchantment and alchemy I may find myself upping to master level.

This and all this. I start over with master, because I like everything to be difficult from the beginning, otherwise, I feel I have "cheated" myself in some way.

It makes it : work harder earlier , and the level gaining more rewarding. In fact, when I die stupidly from a mistake, and don't at least make it until I am level 20, then I am Dead forever, reloading from my very first save out of Helgen. (Unless I crash because of computer failure of course).
If i make it past 20, then I'm good until 25, then 30, etc. (self imposing limits has made me better and better at combat).

Actually, I just found a dragon mod on nexus that makes dragons very very difficult.......mmmmmmm.