Skyrim - The Elder Scrolls V

[Kozmos]

So you can't power level anymore? Well that sucks, the most kick I've gotten out TES games was tediously grinding to become a god and then killing everyone without pause. Also harvesting souls of gods in Morrowind.

 

[Lillefix]

I have a question. Would I like Skyrim?

This is my experience from Oblivion(never played any other game in the series): Initially I liked it. In total I've played it around 30 hours maybe more. But that's for several different characters, I like to experiment with different characters before I find the one I want to win the game with. Anyway, I thought the sword fighting was cool, beautiful graphics, the quests were a bit simplistic but I didn't mind. I liked most things about the game. But then I increased in levels and I met more difficult monsters suddenly and my loot became more valuable. Then it occurred to me that I had more difficulty beating the same monsters now than when I was low level. At that moment something in my brain snapped and I have never even touched the game since then. Until then I didn't really know what level-scaling was, but for me it completely destroyed the game. I'm sure level scaling works for a linear game where you leave an area and never return, but Oblivion was a sandbox game!!! It simply destroyed my immersion into the game.

So, question is. How's level scaling in Skyrim?

 

[Kozmos]

I have a question. Would I like Skyrim?

This is my experience from Oblivion(never played any other game in the series): Initially I liked it. In total I've played it around 30 hours maybe more. But that's for several different characters, I like to experiment with different characters before I find the one I want to win the game with. Anyway, I thought the sword fighting was cool, beautiful graphics, the quests were a bit simplistic but I didn't mind. I liked most things about the game. But then I increased in levels and I met more difficult monsters suddenly and my loot became more valuable. Then it occurred to me that I had more difficulty beating the same monsters now than when I was low level. At that moment something in my brain snapped and I have never even touched the game since then. Until then I didn't really know what level-scaling was, but for me it completely destroyed the game. I'm sure level scaling works for a linear game where you leave an area and never return, but Oblivion was a sandbox game!!! It simply destroyed my immersion into the game.

So, question is. How's level scaling in Skyrim?

Interested as well. But couldn't you mod Oblivion to remove level scaling? I seem to recall being several for it.

 

[salty mud]

Seems like a pretty crass generalization to me. I never really got into Morrowind, only recently started playing a bit of Oblivion, but I'm loving Skyrim. I know a few other people who, like me, don't really play FPS games but are also loving Skyrim.

Given how much I hear people rave about morrowind, I've considered going back to try it again, and maybe finish my game of oblivion some time.

Man, you realize that the "older fans" audience has been considered secondary since Oblivion, right ?

I bought all CODs since COD4 but I grew tired of it and didn't buy MW3 and instead bought my first ever Elder Scrolls (partly because I loved both F3 and FNV and partly because it was what everyone was talking about on reddit and /v/). So yeah, I'm absolutely loving it and I fit in your CoD kid category...
Do you mind if I ask you what's your problem and why are you already making such generalizations and assumptions based on no evidence and specially now that the game's just been released?

I don't really buy this. It's just a tradeoff of different sorts of complexity - perks instead of numbers, which allows far more interesting, specialised and complex character development and gets rid of the awful gamey min-maxing. And no major and minor skills means you're far more free to develop your character according to how you actually play. So the complexity develops as you start fitting into a role, not because you're stuck with a bunch of arbitrary decisions you made at the game start. Plus perks are just flat-out more fun and rewarding.
And the end result is that you level and develop more naturally, to end up as a far more specialised and individual character than the generic fighter/thief/mage jack-of-all-trades you always ended up being in the previous games. So what has actually been lost role-playing wise? This is the first time that I've felt like the level-skills-by-use system has really worked.

Likewise things like smithing instead of repair - it serves the same end purpose and is no less complex (actually a fair bit more complex), but is far less tedious and feels more rewarding. It's not like lugging fifty repair hammers around ever made any sense anyway. Stealth is more complex and rewarding (though admittedly overpowered at high levels); outdoorsmanship is more complex and rewarding; spellcasting is more complex and rewarding (admittedly at the cost of spellmaking, though I'm not sure that's a huge loss); combat is (a bit) more complex and rewarding; shouts add an extra layer; the quests are deeper and more involved; there's NPCs that are actual characters; etc etc.

It's certainly more accessible than previous games, but if you judge it by how many interesting and meaningful options you have for building a character and playing the game then I don't think it's simplified at all.

Woah woah woah...

Spoiler :

Let me explain what I meant.

By Skyrim being your first ES game, I wasn't explicitly calling you a CoD kiddy, or anything close to that. It's from my own personal observations, maybe just a coinicidence and no one else has noticed this, but that the number of "younger" gamers shall we say has increased dramatically. My cousins for one; aged 12 and 10 never played Oblivion properly, love CoD games and were woo-ed by the trailers of Skyrim, in particular the dragon fights and dual-wielding mechanics. Does this mean Skyrim is trying to appeal to a 'wider audience' and succeeded? Or is it simply one of them moments when people are interested in a new game?

I know consoles get a lot of flak, particularly in these type of threads and it's clear to me that the number of console gamers of games like this have risen quite dramatically. Those people who used to talk about Call of Duty now talk about Skyrim, Kill Streaks have turned into perks, and over power n00b tubes have become the Orcish Bow of Flames.

@polycrates; I guess it's just a matter of opinion. I for one like a bit of number crunching, and setting up my character in Oblivion was one of my favourite parts. It was a good feeling to leave the initial dungeon already quite competent say, in the school of destruction magic, but my archery skills were sub-par. But this could be balanced out by choosing an appropriate birth sign, either for a trade off or an even bigger bonus. I was kind of disappointed with there being absolutely no further character customisation apart from their looks and race.

 

[Disgustipated]

I like it so far, but I am worried I will get bored of it like Oblivion. I still think I prefer Bioware games with a strong main plot to help "push" you forward and give you some urgency to finish the game. Right now the plot is pretty weak, and they are just telling me to go from town to town without explaining why. Sometimes I get lost doing subquests, and never finish the game. I do have fun, mind you, but I never finish. Although it is possible a game is worthwhile, even if you never finish. But I can't say that about Oblivion.

I did have fun killing a cow in the first small town you come to (after you leave the town that the game starts in with you as a prisoner). The people in the town weren't too happy about that, so I had to reload. I had no idea cows were so fast. After I initially damaged it, it took off, and I had to chase it down to finish it off.

The game is beautiful, although I do have crashes to desktop every now and then. I make liberal use of the quicksave.

I like the character leveling system much better than Morrowind and Oblivion even though it's less complex. The previous games seemed to encourage power gaming in getting X5 and X3 stat increases. I didn't like feeling pressured to play the game that way. Sure I tried character stat mods for Oblivion, but they still had problems. Sure you can lower the difficulty to deal with level scaling, but I don't like to lower difficulty. I still wish they had kept main stats you could increase though. As far as I can tell, there is no strength, dexterity, and other stats anymore? The only thing you can increase is health, magicka, and stamina? Kind of lame, but the perks are nice.

The difficulty is about right for me now. I'm in the middle, and I do die on the tougher creatures when I go up to them with only light armor on. I reload, and move around to avoid getting thrashed.

I could go heavy armor, but I'm playing some weird fighter/mage/thief hybrid. I wear light armor with a 1-hander in right hand, and spell (right now just the flame spell you start with) in my left. I love roasting people, and then bashing them on the head with my mace when they get in melee range to finish them off. I prefer that over a sword and shield, or 2 hander. I do love the 2 hand system, but it still a little wonkey if you use keys 1-8 hotkeys, sometimes the spell doesn't go into the hand you want it to. I don't know how to fix that. But if I do use the favorites (unfortunately this isn't as smooth as keys 1-8) the spell or sword will go into the hand I want it to.

edit: one more question: why do the citizens around town keep saying I look sick? I don't think I'm sick. what gives?

 

[salty mud]

I have the looking sick thing, too. You haven't got Hircine's ring, have you? That's when it started for me.

 

[Disgustipated]

Just noticed I have ataxia. Effects is under P (spells). Last time I checked effects, I was okay. I probably got that from the undead in the first dungeon by the starting town. Not sure how to cure it, but I'll either buy a potion or visit the temple.

As for the alt tab thing the easiest for me to get back into the game is hit alt-tab or click the game icon in my task bar, then hit alt-tab again, and move the cursor box over to the game window (it currently shows 4 boxes, the game, my firefox window, steam, and my desktop). That does the trick.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

There is also a pickpocket perk that raises your carrying capacity by 100! Anyone aware of other ways to increase that, other than enchanted items you can equip? It seems like without the Strength ability to level up that has become something that does not level, or am I wrong? I am a huge hoarder in these games so carrying capacity is always something I try to max out.

Since nobody has answered yet, here you go: raise your stamina. Raising your stamina when you level instead of health or magicka also increases your carry capacity by 5.

 

[Double A]

Just noticed I have ataxia. Effects is under P (spells). Last time I checked effects, I was okay. I probably got that from the undead in the first dungeon by the starting town. Not sure how to cure it, but I'll either buy a potion or visit the temple.

As for the alt tab thing the easiest for me to get back into the game is hit alt-tab or click the game icon in my task bar, then hit alt-tab again, and move the cursor box over to the game window (it currently shows 4 boxes, the game, my firefox window, steam, and my desktop). That does the trick.

Visiting temples is usually cheaper. If you don't use that skill often you probably could get away with not curing it.

 

[illram]

Ataxia comes from skeevers, probably comes from other stuff but I know I got it from them once. Cure disease does the trick. But I get the "looking ill" thing also and I don't think I have any active diseases or negative effects...

 

[Disgustipated]

yeah, should have went to the temple, the potion was over 200 gold. The next day the alchemist said I still looked sick, but no one else did. Just a bug.

I tried fighting a giant, that didn't go so well. I haven't messed with a mammoth yet, I think I need one of their tusks.

 

[DaemonDD]

edit: one more question: why do the citizens around town keep saying I look sick? I don't think I'm sick. what gives?

Wilderness-enemies, or rather any creature enemy, can make you contract a certain disease if you're hit by them enough. You can easily solve that by buying or creating a cure disease potion. There should be an alchemist in every major city. Also, the cure disease potion is also a good tool for avoiding turning into a vampire if you've contracted their disease.

Also, while doing the main quest, I was briefly interrupted while going to one of the destinations I was going to. It was an Elder Dragon! Jesus, those things hit you hard if you don't counter their shouts.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

yeah, should have went to the temple, the potion was over 200 gold. The next day the alchemist said I still looked sick, but no one else did. Just a bug.

I tried fighting a giant, that didn't go so well. I haven't messed with a mammoth yet, I think I need one of their tusks.

Was it the alchemist in Whiterun ? She always says you look sick. It's not a bug, it's just her sales pitch.

Is it possible t kill giants in melee ? Every time I tried I got crushed with one blow. I did manage to kill one with help from Lydia and my Flame Atronach. It involved Fire Runes, and a lot of running (sprinting) around and attacking with bow and magic.

 

[Double A]

Maybe you could if you got to level 50, wore heavy armor, had a sword the size of a mountain, and only leveled up your health.

Or you could just go 100% chameleon.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I doubt the chameleon exploit still exist. I haven't seen any spell or item with that effect.

Question: Where can I find hostile Flame Atronachs ? Smith guy in Riften seeks Fire Salts and I'm too cheap to buy them from an alchemist.

 

[uat2d]

Is it possible t kill giants in melee ? Every time I tried I got crushed with one blow. I did manage to kill one with help from Lydia and my Flame Atronach. It involved Fire Runes, and a lot of running (sprinting) around and attacking with bow and magic.

I sure hope so. I am specializing in two handed and heavy armor and only improving my health but I can still only survive 2 or 3 hits from them (lvl 20).

Dragons, on the other hand, are much easier.

 

[DaemonDD]

So.... Do bluescreens permanently damage my computer? I certainly don't hope so, because I've had two of them today while playing Skyrim. I think it's because of the game, but I'm not certain.

 

[uat2d]

So.... Do bluescreens permanently damage my computer? I certainly don't hope so, because I've had two of them today while playing Skyrim. I think it's because of the game, but I'm not certain.

I have never had that issue with Skyrim (or with anything else on this computer I have now for over a year).

 

[Disgustipated]

I'm still not very good at this game. I'm fighting a hagraven (spelling I'm not sure of). on the blessings of nature quest. She shoots fireballs which are very powerful.by the time I get to her, I'm dead. And one time I did get to her, but I couldn't do much damage to her. I'm not sure if I'm too low a level or what. I wish I knew about what level I'm supposed to do these quests. I got by the witches okay, although 2 at one time were tough. My sneak isn't high enough to approach her undetected, although maybe I'll wait and try at night.

I'm not sure why I'm struggling at so many battles in this game.

 

[Maniacal]

I have a question. Would I like Skyrim?

This is my experience from Oblivion(never played any other game in the series): Initially I liked it. In total I've played it around 30 hours maybe more. But that's for several different characters, I like to experiment with different characters before I find the one I want to win the game with. Anyway, I thought the sword fighting was cool, beautiful graphics, the quests were a bit simplistic but I didn't mind. I liked most things about the game. But then I increased in levels and I met more difficult monsters suddenly and my loot became more valuable. Then it occurred to me that I had more difficulty beating the same monsters now than when I was low level. At that moment something in my brain snapped and I have never even touched the game since then. Until then I didn't really know what level-scaling was, but for me it completely destroyed the game. I'm sure level scaling works for a linear game where you leave an area and never return, but Oblivion was a sandbox game!!! It simply destroyed my immersion into the game.

So, question is. How's level scaling in Skyrim?

The level scaling in Skyrim from what I've seen posted is limited, some monsters or foes will level up with you until level X (ie 20) and then stop, others will start at say level 15 (even if you are of a lower level) and then scale with you once you reach that level until they hit their cap.

Or something along those lines, it isn't perfect but it is a MUCH better system than Oblivion's. And like Oblivion there will be mods to change it anyway (which, by the way, there are several pretty major mods that fixed Oblivion's level scaling). I think you will enjoy it.