This was quite a good read. Your style of writing in this particular article was very enjoyable.
Please do use it more often!
Please do use it more often!
Bethesda Hates Mages: 12 Reasons Magic in Skyrim Sucks
- Thread starter Shamus Young
- Start date
Many correctly identify the problem - Bethesda messed it up. Most do not understand why though. It was due to the project lead's desire to phone-in his commitment to this project, and spend as much time as possible doing anything else, while still taking a massive share of the credit and profit from the rest of the team. You see, Todd has decided that since he is such a master game-smith that he "don't need no stinkin' game design document (GDD)". What happens when you do not have a comprehensive, well considered GDD? Well, magic like this is one good example. Where you have to throw in a stun-lock effect, which is basically just another cheat, to make the damage spells worthwhile. I could go into many of the other factors in magic to illustrate how cobbled-together the entire system is, but the horse is dead already and only mods can bring it back to life. If Howard is to continue eschewing GDD's you can expect more of the same, so you should never buy a Bethesda title in the first four months of it's release (takes them that long to patch it past Beta stage anyway + you might get it a bit cheaper), and then the modders can begin to fix yet another "Blockbuster Mega Hit", while Bethesda spends more time on DLC instead of fixing their messes.
When you are making $400m from a game that you only spent $20m to develop (too much to management like Todd), you really should be doing a better job.
When you are making $400m from a game that you only spent $20m to develop (too much to management like Todd), you really should be doing a better job.
You've leveled loads of mages, and haven't noticed that mysticism has been removed in Skyrim? You've leveled countless fighters without noticing that stamina does not affect carry weight, and is thus only useful for mages if you plan on running away a lot? And nor did you realise that your fighter does not level only weapon skills but block and armour as well? Sorry, but I don't believe that you ever got past the tutorial whilst researching this article.
You sparked a discussion on The Skyrim Blog, but they debunk these points pretty handily. Being a mage doesn't suck in Skyrim; you may just be doing something wrong.
Im glad im not the only one who thinks this. Im always a mage/caster of some sort in ever RPG i play and it seems like Bethesta is biased twoards stealthy characters or warriors depending on the game. Much like with the Deadric armor vs. Arch Mage Robes comparison.
Well,if you say magic is really poor in dmg, you're probably (and most surely) talking about destruction. Yes, it's true, it's quite underpowered, compared to melee. But the rest of magic is actually quite powerful. In illusion, if you have the proper perks (no need of potions) you can use all spells to anyone whose level is lower than 80, and characters whose levels are higher than 80 are very rare in skyrim. In alteration, you can paralyse someone for up to 33 seconds, and paralyse an area for up to 22 seconds. In restoration, you can heal yourself for up to 700 health whenever you want, and thus you dont need potions anymore. And finally, the most powerful school in magic: conjuration. If you have a volkihar vampire thrall, equip it with a very powerful weapon you enchanted and improved (no need of the enchanting-alchemy-smithing cheating), it can kill almost anything. Also, vampires dead thralls can regen at night if you have dawnguard (I don't know if it's a bug or it's intended).
Well yeah, but if you hardline do pure anything it is gonna suck. A warior with no potions and no enchants is not going to get far. A stealthie with no weapon skills is gonna faceplant every 5 min. The power is in the synergy. Illusion + sneak + conjuration =unstopable. Conjuration + heavy armor + any weapon skill is pretty badass. Enchanters can pretty much roll over everything.