E3: Skyrim

[ultraddtd]

I don't want to take anything away from what Skyrim is trying to do or how great it is sounding, but I don't understand this point:

"the game lets you fight however you like simply by choosing what you'd like each hand to do."

Didn't we already do this in Oblivion? I often had a character that would blast away with spells from long range and once the enemy got closer I'd switch to melee. I guess what I'm not getting is how fundamentally different or superior the new version is. Game journalists keep touting the choice we have in combat, but it doesn't really sound new to me, just slightly evolved. Am I missing something here?

Ah, ok, let me clarify. In Oblivion, you were either casting spells, or you were using weapons. In Skyrim, you put whatever you like in your left hand - a spell, a staff, a dagger, an axe, a shield, whatever - and then do the same for your right. Want to carry a shield and be armed with a heal spell? You can. Want to put a fire spell in each hand so that you can effectively wield a more powerful spell? No problem.

It's a more flexible mix-and-match approach to combat/defense. But I don't think you're wrong calling it an evolution of what was already there, though this allows for greater blending of playstyles, especially when it's combined with the new skill system.

No, no, I get that but even so, it doesn't really sound that different. I get that it's probably much better, but I think the emphasis that it's a "new" feature is misleading. Oblivion gave us lots of choice too and didn't really hammer us into a predefined class either. Sure, you chose or created one which gave your stats a starting point, but from there on out you could fight and cast spells however you saw fit, within your abilities.

Again, I'm getting that Skyrim will do it better, I just think the hype on the "choice" aspect is a bit disingenuous in some ways.

I saw this wasn't answered so I thought I'd clarify the differences for you.

In Oblivion you had Major, Minor and untagged skills. You either selected these by choosing a preset class or selecting the skills you wanted. Either way, your progression through the game was determined from those choices you made at the outset. Major skills increased dramatically through use, minor skills increased at a regular rate and untagged skills increased very, very slowly.

What this meant was, if you found a skill that you liked but didnt make a major skill it took a while to increase, and if it was untagged it took forever to increase.

Skyrim does away with the tagging. All skills increase at the same rate. Therefore, if there's a skill you like you can raise it at an except able rate. Also, since you're not locked into choices at the beginning, you can just do whatever and experiment.

There is a catch, however. Skill progression is linked to how your character levels up. Leveling skills is what increases your character level in Skyrim. The higher you level a skill the more it counts towards your character's next level. Therefore, working on a few skills will increase your character level faster than working on all of them equally. That may not seem like a big deal, however enemies don't scale 1to1 like they did in Oblivion, and you won't be able to play the entire game at level 3. Therefore, even though you can increase skills at the same rate, you might slow your progression by not trying to specialize in certain areas.

 

[Zom-B]

I saw this wasn't answered so I thought I'd clarify the differences for you.

In Oblivion you had Major, Minor and untagged skills. You either selected these by choosing a preset class or selecting the skills you wanted. Either way, your progression through the game was determined from those choices you made at the outset. Major skills increased dramatically through use, minor skills increased at a regular rate and untagged skills increased very, very slowly.

What this meant was, if you found a skill that you liked but didnt make a major skill it took a while to increase, and if it was untagged it took forever to increase.

Skyrim does away with the tagging. All skills increase at the same rate. Therefore, if there's a skill you like you can raise it at an except able rate. Also, since you're not locked into choices at the beginning, you can just do whatever and experiment.

There is a catch, however. Skill progression is linked to how your character levels up. Leveling skills is what increases your character level in Skyrim. The higher you level a skill the more it counts towards your character's next level. Therefore, working on a few skills will increase your character level faster than working on all of them equally. That may not seem like a big deal, however enemies don't scale 1to1 like they did in Oblivion, and you won't be able to play the entire game at level 3. Therefore, even though you can increase skills at the same rate, you might slow your progression by not trying to specialize in certain areas.

Uh, thanks? I guess? I know all this already. What I'm trying to say is that this is simply an improvement on how Oblivion handles character building.

More specifically, I'm referring to the fact that one of Skyrim's talked about features is the ability to "play how you want" with whatever weapon/spell in whatever hand. That's great and will be better than Oblivion.

However, in Oblivion I could still have a shield in one hand and a spell in the other. Or a sword and a spell. I realize that the Skyrim system is much improved, but Oblivion also allowed you to make any character you wanted and play it any way you liked, whether or not it was truly effective.

I guess I appreciate people trying to explain to me something they believe I don't comprehend, but at the same time, those very same people don't seem to be comprehending what I am saying. The behind the scenes mechanics and number crunching will be much improved, but in the end both Skyrim and Oblivion allow you to "play the character you want", albeit in different ways.