As much as I liked Oblivion and its magic, It was kind of stupid, there where too many spells first off, and then there was repetitive animations.


Atleast in Skyrim the spells are much more entertaining.

I don't mind the less amount of destruction.

Would love more things to summon though. My main problem is the lacking of scaling for destruction

I don't mind, except maybe for conjuration.

But like what born2beagator said, what people complain about is the scaling (or lack thereof)

I don't. Everything I need is already in the game; I feel most spells in Oblivion weren't very useful.

I agree with this and the OP of course. The way i see it, adding spell making would have basically took us back to Oblivion with the same animation for everything. I prefer less with unique animations.

Don't know about you but I miss all of the spells that got removed.

Flamethrower spells were cool... until I leveled up a few times and they became useless. Now I find myself using projectile spells, the same exact type of spells I used in Oblivion, except now I can't create powerful custom spells to supplement my arsenal.

Magic in Skyrim is a fail.

I think video games, regardless of what platform it's on suffers from problems with it comes to spell complexity. First if you're going to have a lot of spells you're going to have to make sure you have an interface that allows you to easily and fluidly switch between them. Second you have to have spell functionality. You can have 300 spells but if only a handful of them are actually worth using all the numbers mean nothing. And then there are issues with there are only so many ways you can add complexity to "spells that blast and kill enemies." before it all begins to blur together. This is where I think video games are a poor medium for spell complexity because the biggest area you have to expand is utility spells and hardware/software places a big limit on your ability to do that.

Like others have said, there would be plenty of spells in destruction if they actually scaled. As it is you're only using a couple of spells at any one time because the spells you got earlier are useless.

my complaint with spells in skyrim is that you cant use the best ones later one. i dont like using chain lightning or fireball because you constantly end up hitting you companions and my favorite type of spells like flame or sparks are useless later on. it would be nice if we could upgrade lower level spells to use up more magicka but do more damage. the one area i disagree with is conjuration. i really miss my daedroths and clannfers.

I miss some of the summons, and the command spells.

But not enough to really complain about it.

Yes you are. Don't use fancy animations and more unique spells as an excuse. Most spells are useless at a higher level.

Frankly I am fine with it. The mage I am playing at the moment has 70+ Conjuration and Destro, and I really like all the options I have. I think the best part is that you honestly can play anyway you want.

I am focusing more on the mage thing, but I also like duel wielding conjured swords and crushing things with power attacks. I kind of went Mage Warrior.

So many think you are stuck as one thing or the other...I say screw that. I play the way i want and don't ask others how I should play. That way the game just learns from my playstyle and only gives me better options for what I like to do. I don't even have any crafted smithing gear, and didn't really level enchanting. Kind of makes things a bit more interesting without min/maxing.

i think ur confused here. its a common mistake though. u may not mind having less choices, but can u honestly say u'd rather have less choices than more? can u really come here and explicitly state that ur happier with less variety? id venture a guess and say no.

skyrim gives u the bare minimum to succeed. thats it. flamethrower-type spells? 1 per school. aoe spells? 1 per school. master level spells? 1 per school. chain lightning is the ONLY variety placed in this game. it is the only spell that seems to be there for variety only. there is quite literally 1 spell per dmg plateau. thats it. want a mid-level ice spell that isnt a borig projectile? tough. ur going to use ice spear and ur going to like it

want to summon bound armor? too bad. u get an armor buff. what about the master level spells? just a higher buff. dont like it? tough...

want to summon cool-looking bound weapons? svcks. u get 1 style. dont like it? tough.


skyrim is devoid of ANY variety at all. while u may not mind it, u cant say u wouldnt prefer more...

I have to disagree OP. I'd rather have hundreds of useless and repetitive spells and a few that worked with the option to make my own than have 1/4th the spell choices while all of them are useless with no option to fix it. The spell system as it stands is broke. As has been stated, anything mages can do can be done through dragon shouts better, with many more options and actual scaling.

They should have known before they even sat down to design this game that spell creation removal was going to make a lot of people upset. I just don't care what game I play anymore these days, the more creation elements and ways I can influence MY game with my own personal touches, the better.

Don't like how people complain about not being able to design their own spells? Try and imagine armor being only 1 piece (eg, you can't mix and match pieces) on your character, like in game the item is called 'steel armor set', 'dwarven armor set', etc. or imagine when you go to create your character, you aren't allowed to tweak the appearance, you have to use a preset. How about only being allowed to play a Nord, no other race. Enchant health on an item, with only one static amount, always 20 health. How boring do you think that would become?

People enjoy being able to customize and create things. (well one would argue that most people playing this type of game do) Taking away a creative element that was always fun and has been a mainstay of the series just makes you scratch your head and say wth? The technology and power of the systems we play these games on is expanding, but the interesting bits of the game are being removed, so the game can look... prettier?

It is something many of us accept (have little choice), but definitely do not agree with. Not a good direction to go towards with the magic using/spell portion of the game. If enchanting, smithing and alchemy can be more in depth, then by god the magic portion should be too.

I was honestly hoping given the time between morrowind and oblivion to skyrim they were going to blow us away with something deeper and more amazing than ever in the magic department, but it feels like a cop out and a huge, lazy step backwards to me.

This may be a little off topic but, the whole dual wielding spells into a stronger version thing doesn't seem to impress me either. Many times I can cast two spells of the same type from each hand (not where they combine into one) for far less mana and achieve the same damage as the dual casted combined spell. The only reason I see to use the combined spell? The perk that stuns, which imo is a lousy, cheap mechanic when combined with spells that take little to zero mana.

Thread subtitle — "Tired of complainers."

First post:


The irony here is... well, it's palpable.

Anyway, in my opinion, function is ultimately much more important than form where game mechanics are concerned. A comprehensive, complex and satisfying magic system is more important than shiny fireworks displays. A functional map that's at least semi-usable for something other than fast traveling and placing your marker (and on the PC, even placing your marker is wonky) is more important than cool-looking clouds and mountains. Finally, constraining the skills and perks to fit the 6x warrior-6x thief-6x mage/constellation gimmick is far less important than having a smooth, well designed statistics system.

Don't get me wrong, I still love Skyrim and am enjoying it greatly. I just feel that this emphasis on "wow factor" and flashiness is a detriment when they take it a little too far. The flash wears off after a few hours, but game mechanics will be there the entire time you're playing the game.

Well, the shouts are basically spells.
So now every "class" has restricted Magic and Mages look a bit stupid since the shouts are pretty much spells they dont have anymore but instead similiar shouts on a timer.

Im with ya man but complainers flock too these topics cause they think whatever they're personal opinions are matter too the rest of the people on here. the people who actually like skyrim are playing it right now the forums are lost too the rational people til we finally take a break from the game.

I don't mind less, but I do think it was a bad idea to get rid of so many utilitarian spell effects that defined magic play in past games. Axing spells like open lock, water walking, and feather were bad moves IMO.

You probably don't realize this, but you're part of the problem, not part of the solution. Congratulating yourself and those who agree with you while insulting everyone else is childish at best.

I don't mind it at all. I've only ever counted the effects, not the individual spells, and by doing so I noticed an INCREASE in spell effects in Skyrim, not a decrease.

Though, I did only count effects because you needed to have the spell effects for enchanting, and you could create your own unique spells with multiple effects.

While I don't exactly expect a full-blown spell creation system from a DLC, it would be awesome to be able to have a more dynamic spell creation system using the two-hand system. It would basically be like overcasting with two different spells, but instead of firing two spells at once (like it does now) it would combine the spells into a completely new effect, ala Fable 3. Fire in one hand, Frost in the other, cast at the same time and you would get Steam. Fire in one hand, Mage Armor in the other, cast at the same time and get a Fire Cloak. Invisibility in one hand, Courage in the other, cast at the same time and... I don't know... Slow Time? I am sure there are plenty of things people could come up with and create all sorts of nifty combinations based on the spells already in the game.

And wanting free reign too complain about personal opinion is pretty childish too.

First you agreed with the OP — who was himself complaining about other people's personal opinions — and at the same time, your own post contained complaints about the opinions of those with whom you disagree.

If the irony in this thread were gold-plated, I'd use it to purchase a Batmobile constructed entirely from winning lottery tickets.

1) I think you mean "hypocrisy"

2) That would be the flimsiest Batmobile ever!