I don't know if this has been discussed before, but what do you guys think the fact that the game is paused when we go into the tab menu to drink potions, apply poisons, change weapon/apparel, etc?

I was curious about this because I was watching Let's Play of Dark Souls and in Dark Souls, drinking potions, looting chests and others do not pause the game, and so the game becomes much more challenging, especially during combat. So in Skyrim, when the game is paused when you're in the inventory, it gives us the chance to spam potions and give us time to plan things ahead/take a breather during tough combat, etc. (I know that I could just use restoration spell for the challenge, but here, I'm talking about potions/poisons/switching weapons, etc.) It's good to an extent, but do you guys think the game should just continue (and doesn't stop time) when we go into our inventory? Would you like this challenge? or you think, well, Skyrim isn't all about combat like Dark Souls, so there's no point to it...

To me, right now, I guess it would make things much more realistic. Because obviously time just doesn't suddenly stop when you're looking in your bag pocket for potions. I know it's gonna require more animation, but it's just for realism's sake and also for more challenge when you're in combat, I guess. Oh, and if this were to be implemented somehow, it could just be available in expert or master difficulty or something.

Let me know what you guys think.

Edit: I guess I'll add the fact that "favorites menu" also pauses the game. I know it's quicker but it still pauses the game.

I think it's fine, Dark Souls is designed to be an incredibly hard game, Skyrim is not. If you are on PC though, the chances are that someone will be able to mod it.

I don't do this as much on the pc with the hotkeys, but I understand where you are coming from, it takes away from the possible fluid combat you can achieve but then again how would they implement as many battle tools as they have now with out some sort of restrictions? I normally play with my favorites menu quite often for different situations, but there are some staple battle tools I always keep in there.

But you have to think, when you go into your "inventory" in real life to get something, you don't have to go through a bunch of menus and such. You would know exactly where your "potion" or whatever is and you would just grab it and drink it. Maybe if they slowed down time rather than keeping it real time it could work.

My character takes pride in the fact he can open 10 50cl bottle and drink them in a milli-second.

Potions I hotkey so its always active battle, I can't stand menu hopping for potions. Mage I found the hardest to manage with hotkeys however and it kind of turned me off my mage character. I'll give it another shot when I can be more focused with my magic.

I`d like it if time didn`t stop when you took a potion in mid battle. You shouldn`t be able to eat food either.

But certain things would have to change. AI would have to be prevented from healing themselves with potions too and battles would need to be a little slower, I think. None of this super fast fighting which isn`t realistic anyway. Fighting would need to be slower and more tactical.

Well as for potion use you can use bound buttons to use them automatically, at least on PC no idea about consoles. As for equipment I find I use the favorites to from range to close in melee/ magic once during a fight so not to noticeable.

Hmm fighting is slow and tacitcal? Maybe once people get tired but generally a fight in real life is chaotic and brutally fast.

I don't like being able to spam potions, change armour or apply poisons in combat. I made a little rule for myself that I couldn't do any of that in combat. It's not the pausing that botheres me, it's that these things would take time, so they should happen when you actually leave the inventory. Switching weapons is fine because it takes time, and changing spells or shouts is fine because you could do those instantly.

Perhaps there should be an option to add something like that for people who want more of a challenge, people who want a more hard core experience. Some kind of hard core mode if you will. Hmmm...

Can't see it happening though.

Oh lord no please not.
I dont play strategy games anymore because they now all are 'realtime' instead of 'turn based'.
I like the chance these things give me to strategise, without them all that has to be done on the fly and there is simply less strategy possible.
Exactly the same like how a chess game played while on the clock is very different from one without a turn time limit.

If people want to mod it in, power to them, but Id hate to see something like this in the main game.

Well, I mean slow in relative terms. Not all fighting is an instant chaotic kill fest unless you don`t know what you`re doing.

Two skilled fighters can actually take a while coming to blows and then it is sudden when it comes.

That has not matched my real life experience. But I can understand that there is the hollywood icon of two masters posturing and defending the opponents lighning strike with their lightning defense. In real life with no rules and the purpose is survival it is formless and the end comes quickly usually do to a slip or mistake by one of the opponents.

BTW if you want to see a couple movies with really great coregraphy check out Ip Man and Ip Man 2.

Back on subject. Elder scrolls has always had non turn based combat but it doesn't lend it self to swapping out and using equipment. In the older games you generally didn't change tactic much as you had one attack skill for close range and one for long. Or you used magic. I will have to go back but I am thinking that Daggefall paused combat as well to change equipment and spells. So not new to this series of games.

I`m talking about my real life experience.

that said, yes, some fights I`ve been in have been chaotic, but more from the other person`s side than mine.

I like that it's paused because, by the time it would take for me to scroll through 50 potions to find a healing one I'd be dead.

TB is my preferred, but Bungie's (realtime) Myth 1 & 2 twisted my arm to achieve a place on a pedestal among my favorites.
*And Relic's Homeworld did this also.


Both Diablo and Baldur's Gate did not pause the game when in the inventory, but Diablo only covered ½ of the screen; not so with BG. In BG it was a pain to be reading item descriptions and notice your PC getting hacked to death while the game screen was covered up by the menus.

IMO a RPG's menu should exist outside of the game (and pause the game while you're in it). Spamming health potions is a problem easily solved (and has been in various RPGs); you just cue the actions selected in the menu to happen one after the other once the menu is closed. Drink three potions and have the PC drink three potions once the action resumes. It was this way in Witcher 1, when you chose to drink a potion while being attacked.

In Fallout 3 when you are given several items via the console, they are inserted one after another once you close it (or at least it appears so ). If the PC were to be seen to eat or drink consumables as a result of inventory choices or hot-key use, and not be able to actively defend while doing it... Spamming would cease.

This. TES games are not Diablo and they're not Dark souls. I play TES games because I like the fact that I can use tactics and strategy. In fast paced adventure games, the success or failure depends up on how fast you can press buttons more than what weapons and armor you have, where you position yourself for battle, the order in which you choose spells, etc. It's hack n slash.

It's a game, so screw reality.
I played a game that had no pause for it's inventory system and it was horrible and did not enhance my gameplay experience, just made it frustrating.

i want a hardcoe mode that does all the equip degradation, limited potions over time, real-time lockpicking, food/sleep, weather/gear penalties,etc.

Main issue is the terrible user interface, in an MMO like WOW it's impossible to pause the game ever, still it work well.
Simply because you have an hotbar with +50 slots for spells, action or potions, you can keybind all of them to any key even shift or ctrl + key.
No the hotbar is also mouse controlled who will not work in Skyrim, but with decent keybinding and a simple way to show the bindings things get easier.

Give me Gothic or Risen style potion drinking any day.

I personally use the tab menu to pause the game when i need to go do something. Its easy and right by my finger. So I would not like such a feature.

I want that pause to take some time and plan out what I am going to do. I like to think of it similarly to what Sherlock Holmes does in the movies.

Looks like most of us preferred the default "pausing" of the game in the inventory/favorites. Oh well, it's the ES series after all, not Dark Souls. Although I kinda like Bladewatcher's idea of slowing time in inventory/fave, at least time doesn't fully stop, don't know how this will be implemented though, gotta change the user interface and such. Or I guess if this feature of no pausing in inventory is to be implemented, then I guess it's gotta be in the higher difficulties for those who'd like the challenge. Anyways, thanks for all the thoughts, guys!

I agree with the idea of non-pausing menus. Being able to glag down five healing potions in the middle of combat doesn't make things any easier anyway. You know they know that people do this, so they make it harder for a lot of battles. "Yeah, there's no way they'll get past this guy with the average amount of health, but all the gotta do is pause the game and drink a couple potions."

It just makes more sense to have a few potions on your belt - maybe just one - and have a hotkey for that. Ditto with everything else. I find it silly that it's possible to enchant a full set of armor or clothing with sneak enchantments, sneak around and shoot stuff with a bow, then if somebody sees me, freeze time completely, change every stitch of clothing except my damn underwear and put on some heavy armor with a set of enchantments to boost melee, put away the bow and arrows, equip a sword and shield, all in zero seconds. It's just ridiculous. Can you imagine how pissed off you'd be if the enemy could do that?

I thought about this before the game came out. I figured the only menus that should freeze time would be the save/load/quit menu, allowing you to save or just pause the whole game so you can go pee, but make it impossible to do anything while time is frozen except save or load a game. Wanna check your map? Better make sure you're in a safe place first. Wanna read that book you've been carrying around as a clue to the quest you're on, or check a treasure map? Better make sure there isn't a bear or bandit getting ready to eat/kill/rob you first.

Hell, I think it would make sense if it took like a twenty second animation to put on/take off armor and boots, given that they're all strapped and buckled onto your body. You ain't Iron Man, guys; that stuff doesn't automatically take itself off in two seconds. A real set of armor would probably take a lot longer than twenty seconds to put on or take off, so I think twenty seconds would be fairly generous but would obviously make it so you could only use it realistically. No toting around two or three sets of armor with different enchantments for different purposes. If you want that, enchant multiple rings for different purposes.