Poll: Are Skyrim enemies overpowered?

Mar 30, 2010
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All that's happened is Bethesda have taken on-board all the complaints about Oblivion's 'leveled enemies' system. I'm glad they've done it, I got really sick of the way all the fights in Oblivion were scaled to be 'a bit of a challenge but not much'. Yes, it is possible to stumble into a dungeon and find yourself way over your head, but do you know what? That's what makes the game worth playing. If I knew that every ruin I explored would be filled with 'adequate' enemies guarding 'adequate' treasure I wouldn't bother exploring - it's the thought of battling against the odds and coming away with a new and shiny overpowered toy that keeps me heading back into Draugr infested ruins again and again.
 

mikey7339

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Jun 15, 2011
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No, I've only had problems with 3 enemies so far.

The one ice troll when you are climbing up the throat of the world, had to run past him.

The second to last enemy in the mage guild quests caused me some problems, but luckily his A.I is pretty stupid.

And this one ghost in the cave with the guy that gives you the major contract in the dark brotherhood...I had to swallow my pride and leave him be until I'm a higher level.
 

VoidWanderer

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Sep 17, 2011
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Sabre Cats.

Giants are supposed to be strong, Dragons and trolls as well. But I will always run from those damn cats
 

Idocreating

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Apr 16, 2009
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bean burrito said:
I personally really like it when you have randomly powerful people, because that makes going through every dungeon a little more exciting, and puts me more on my toes.
This. The fact that some enemies remain a cakewalk and others "could" turn out to be a giant rape machine is what keeps you on your toes. Bandit pack? Ahh piece of ca-OHMYGOD THAT AXE HURT!
Capitano Segnaposto said:
Really? I like my shield for the most part. However it does suck that it barely works. I tried Duel-weilding and that didn't work out too well. My main is going to be Archery with some decent Destruction/Magic to back it up. I also adore Enchanting. The game just gives me so many options and I have a hard time choosing which one! I don't want to go all Magic, and I do love Bows. However I don't want the game to get too easy. I may do some bit of Archery but I am not a fan of Smithy.

So my idea is:

Archery for Range
Fire for Groups of People
Close Range 1 on 1: Sword and Board

Jobs:
Enchanting
Alchemy

I may also go for Stealth, I guess it just depends on what I end up using more as time goes on. I want to use more Dual Weilding, yet it just didn't seem that useful at the very beginning tutorial area. I do want to be a Deadly Khajit Assassin (Dual-weilding and Archery with Sneak) with some magic for those large battles I can't sneak in. Would that be a good idea?

Also I want to use more Heavy Armour since the Medium/Light look like shit. Would that be a good idea? I hate Bethesda, they give me so many ideas to choose and I can't pick just a few of them :(
Skyrim's system works in such a way that you can do whatever the hell you like. Heavy Armour doesn't affect magic, but it will drain stamina faster when running.

The only time as a caster you don't want armour is if you invested into the Mage Armour perk.
 

aksel

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Nov 18, 2009
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On another note, dragons get a lot harder throughout the game.

A while back I had no trouble with dragons, but giants on the other hand kicked my sorry little ass. Now it's reversed. Dragons are insanely harder, and giants I can take on.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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I have mixed opinions, it seems like a mess of the leveling system yet again, they seem to be trying to find a middle ground between everything becoming too easy like in Morrowind, and the level scaling mess from Oblivion, by using a combination of level scaling and planned encounters.

I do tend to agree that some enemies are FAR tougher than they should be, Cave Bears, Ice Trolls, and some of the human enemies like mages and Forsaken leaders. I also suspect some of these might be bugged though, for example I notice a tendency for enemy mages, especially dedicated wizards, to never run out of mana, and this includes when they are getting hit by some very high powered mana drain effects. On top of that it seems that NPC hit points scale in a way that doesn't match player progression, an enemy mage is liable to have far more hit points than your mage because the program doesn't make allowances for mages being fragile. Basically the NPCs aren't developed under the consideration that your choosing Health, Stamina, OR Magicka every time you level.

Of course a lot depends on your build as well, some builds are far more optimized than others given the way perks work. I think that like other games in the series there is a definate focus on melee, where it seems it's much easier to build a powerhouse of durability and damage dealing that way than it is with magic (not that it can't be done). I've experimented a bit with magic and melee and an optimized warrior is going to be dishing out more pain than a dedicated mage on average given when he's liable to be carrying for weapons.

That said, I think Bethesda is on the right track here, I think it's more statisfying than either Morrowind or Oblivion. Really my concern is that rather than trying to balance the game they are going to continue to remove options to leave only very simplistic, optimized paths, and less options to reduce the chances of making a gimpy character rather than finding ways to ensure there is no such thing as a gimpy character even with all those options.

Of course then again I do tend to notice that the number of skills goes down with each installment.... and in this one the magic system took a major blow, given that there is no spellmaker that I can see, and very few spells over all.

I will say though that this game is balanced with the assumption your going to be bringing NPCs with you, despite the AI issues. As you level up I think they consider the odds of you going it alone are considerably less. Seriously, things get a lot easier with an NPC along, and also being able to summon stuff helps a lot. Even if your not a mage getting Sanguine's Rose is fairly easy (and you can constantly recharge it with soul gems). So you should be able to have an NPC and a level appropriate Daedra with you in any tough fight after level 14. Also, don't just focus on your character skills, remember the shouts are there for a reason, some of them are kind of useless, but you can do things like freeze an entire room of enemies which paralyzes them and puts them under a DOT until they break free (as long as you don't attack them).

Just some points to consider on the end there. If your not using everything availible to you, some of the battles, especially the big rooms towards the end of dungeons are going to be rough.

That said, there is no way a mage should be able to survive getting the Mace Of Molag Bal bounced off his head 10 times, and he sure as heck shouldn't have any mana left. I think the issue is that the hit points are based around dedicated melee builds, and need to be lowered in some places for targets that shouldn't be quite that durable.... I can't even begin to express the unreality of running into a Cave Bear that seems to be more durable than a Dragon.... yes bears are tough, but they are NOT sherman tanks.
 

Wayneguard

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Jun 12, 2010
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Teda64 said:
Yep though for me it's with bears
Fuck... the... bears...

OT: Yeah, some of the leveled enemies like bandit Chieftans and the like have ridiculous amounts of health and do insane damage FOR NO REASON AT ALL. I'm level 16 and I
just joined the imperial legion. So I was doing their first quest to clear out a fort full of bandits... simple shit I've done it a hundred times already. So I clear out 95% of it one or two-hitting most of the bandits (warhammer baby) and confidently stroll into the final chamber... and get laid the fuck out by three guys who were each pretty evenly matched to my PC. I had to sneak in and surprise them one at a time and run out the door before they could kill me and just whittle away at them like that... not fun. So yeah, some of the enemies seem super overpowered especially considering the rest of the schlock that populates the dungeon with them.
 

OManoghue

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Dec 12, 2008
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Yeah, some have too much health, and some human enemies seem to be stronger than even Elder Dragons.
 

3quency

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Jun 12, 2009
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In my first playthough I have disallowed myself from using any weapons other than my own two fists.
So yeah, it's hard.
But do-able, which is awesome.
 

Lazy Kitty

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May 1, 2009
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Well... Seing as everything dies with either a few fireballs or some lightning in their face...
No.
 

Private Custard

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Dec 30, 2007
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To follow up my post from a few pages back, here's the footage from the fight I had where one guy in a group was randomly 'hard-as-nails'. He really took me by surprise!

Skip to 2 minutes, shrine quest spoilers abound.

 

BloatedGuppy

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Feb 3, 2010
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I'm playing on Expert, as a Stealth-Archer-Sword and Board mix. 95% of the time the difficulty feels just about right. Mundane mobs are easily to kill, and I can snipe most of them at range in one shot, maybe 2 at most. Tougher mobs take several stealth arrows to take down, or I'm in for a brief melee scuffle after they close on me. End dungeon mobs can be a stiff challenge and require a lot of running around and/or potions, and possible reloads after I get swiftly gibbed.

The only thing that really gets me is the occasional bandit/mage who seems to have over-benefited hugely from the level scaling. I had one Bandit Marauder eat more arrows than a Dragon, and almost one-shot me with their own bow. That's silly. It's a bandit. He's wearing a loin cloth and using a hunting bow. There needs to be limits on how resistant to damage this guy is.
 

Ashley Kizer

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Jun 26, 2011
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ok, so im doing the college of mages quests... simple at first. then 10 creatures that are some sort of sick lovechild of ice wraiths and wisps (but much stronger) attack whiterun. i did have to other mages helping me, but that doesnt account for the EFFING DRAGON that decided to pop up as well. now im stuck in a dungeon between a draugr that can summon a damn Frost atronarch and a super op wraith creature! i am angry.

also, no matter how many dragons i kill, i dont seem to learn new shouts. i kinda just assumed its because i dont know the right shouts yet, but i dont know. and if i DO learn the proper shouts later, do i learn it instantly or do i have to go out and look for more effing dragons?
 

Psycho78

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Jan 12, 2011
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Seems like most of the difficulty comes not from any given enemy, but groups of enemies.

Two bears at once kicked my ass, but one at a time was fairly easy.

Last night I came across Mistwatch tower on my way to somewhere else. And of course there were bandits in there. I lowered a bridge and went into one of the towers, at which point I encountered 2 bandits with 2-handed weapons and an archer. They kicked my ass many times. Plain old bandits. I'm wondering if Skyrim does level enemies up with you to some extent.
 

Jimmy T. Malice

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Dec 28, 2010
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Fucking Ice Spikes. They're fun to use, but when enemies have them they're almost impossible to defeat. Even wards do next to nothing to stop them, and they slow you down so you're vulnerable to the next hit. The Necromage in Azura's quest who throws Ice Spikes and skeletons gave me no end of trouble. Not to mention the old lady necromancer who reanimates two Draugr Deathlords with shouts and magic and throws the Spikes.
 

BloatedGuppy

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Feb 3, 2010
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Ashley Kizer said:
also, no matter how many dragons i kill, i dont seem to learn new shouts. i kinda just assumed its because i dont know the right shouts yet, but i dont know. and if i DO learn the proper shouts later, do i learn it instantly or do i have to go out and look for more effing dragons?
Dragons only give you souls. Souls are like "shout currency", that you use to unlock words. You find words in various places scattered around the world (usually at the very end of Barrow style dungeons, but in other places as well). 1 soul = 1 word, up to three words per shout.