Skyrim Weight Inaccuracies
- Thread starter craftomega
- Start date
Bethsoft has never really given a fuck. In Elder Scrolls games iron weapons and armor are lighter than steel weapons and armor, yet IRL iron is heavier than steel. Plus look at the miraculous Fallout 3 and New Vegas miniguns that weigh between 15-25lbs when IRL they weigh 30-60+ pounds for the gun alone and another 20+ for the ammo backpack.
It gets worse: 1 wolf's pelt is lighter than the 1 piece of leather you take from it...... Apparently the tanning process adds a lot of weight.....craftomega said:
I'd be right there with you if I owned the game... I wouldn't say 4.5 lbs is a maximum for a longsword, but it's certainly heavier than most. Your average modern longsword (for example: an Oakeshott Type Xa made by Albion) tends to weigh just over 2 lbs (fun aside: viking swords tend to be lighter, and since Skyrim is viking themed, well...). sounds like Skyrim needs one of these [http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=38197].
During Bethesda's MASSIVE effort to dumb-down TES they changed 'Encumbrance' to 'Weight'.
Taking 'Weight' to mean 'Encumbrance' again, I can answer this the same way I answered this exact same question a few years ago about Oblivion...
An item's Weight/Encumbrance value reflects NOT ONLY how heavy it is, but how difficult it would be to carry. How would YOU carry around several different swords, various armors, as well as hundreds of Keys, Scrolls, etc?
If we want to get pissy about 'historical accuracy' and 'realism' while not complaining about the THREE-HUNDRED (300) base Carry Weight, then I think perhaps we need to just shut it and go back to playing the game.
EDIT: And another thing, regarding ANYTHING in the game needing to have HISTORICAL accuracy. I feel the need to point out that this game does not take place ANYWHERE in History on Earth. So. That argument is probably the worst ever.
Taking 'Weight' to mean 'Encumbrance' again, I can answer this the same way I answered this exact same question a few years ago about Oblivion...
An item's Weight/Encumbrance value reflects NOT ONLY how heavy it is, but how difficult it would be to carry. How would YOU carry around several different swords, various armors, as well as hundreds of Keys, Scrolls, etc?
If we want to get pissy about 'historical accuracy' and 'realism' while not complaining about the THREE-HUNDRED (300) base Carry Weight, then I think perhaps we need to just shut it and go back to playing the game.
EDIT: And another thing, regarding ANYTHING in the game needing to have HISTORICAL accuracy. I feel the need to point out that this game does not take place ANYWHERE in History on Earth. So. That argument is probably the worst ever.
I'm guessing the Skyrim weight stat takes size and ease of packing into account. A longsword is harder to fit into a pack compared to leather armor.
The materials on Nirn apparently aren't the same materials as we have on earth even if some have the same name. That's why the metal stuff is much denser ie heavier then the same metal stuff on earth. Since light armor is mostly made of leather and materials that have no namesake on earth it's lighter.
Also smithing mumbo jumbo magic technique that traps air in the armor stuffery so it's lighter and offers the same amount of protection. The reason it can't be used in weapon is because the sharpness of the weapons scares the magic from the technique away.
Also smithing mumbo jumbo magic technique that traps air in the armor stuffery so it's lighter and offers the same amount of protection. The reason it can't be used in weapon is because the sharpness of the weapons scares the magic from the technique away.
Yes, you could say that it's in another universe and that's the easy way out. But to explain why it makes sense could be said like...
What if the properties of leather and metals are different in the Skyrim universe?
That would explain a lot.
The 2-handed swords, leather, even some other random stuff. Like why Arrows weigh absolutely nothing. The wood made from them weigh lighter than our wood, etc.
What if the properties of leather and metals are different in the Skyrim universe?
That would explain a lot.
The 2-handed swords, leather, even some other random stuff. Like why Arrows weigh absolutely nothing. The wood made from them weigh lighter than our wood, etc.
Would you care to explain why? I mean, presumably you mention this counterargument to your thesis with the goal of preemptively discrediting it, but then you mention no reason whatsoever for why it isn't a valid argument.craftomega said:
I'm actually kind of with you. I like (certain kinds of) realism in a game like this, and I wonder the same thing you do. The thing is: I can't really imagine it being for any other reason than game balance. I guess it's possible that all of the developers are completely ignorant of this information and they didn't bother looking it up, but this seems very unlikely to me in such a huge production. Furthermore, I've heard this criticism before in other Elder Scrolls games, so I'm sure the devs did too. It's hard to imagine something like this not happening on purpose.
How exactly it affects game balance, I don't know. I'm curious too.
Best not argue because the fact is it's all unrealistic. 300+ pounds of equipment and no moving penalty?
Eh, I'm not going to say to balance the game, per se, but it definitely helps to give the game flavor. You're going to be carrying your armor on you no matter what...it's pretty unlikely that you'll have multiple sets of armor to swap out; unless you've got really high-level enchanting, you're probably just going to be wearing the best of whatever kind of armor you've decided to level up. So there's not much of a reason to incentivize not carrying armor, because you're pretty well stuck with it. On the other hand, it's pretty easy to see why a character would stockpile weapons: enchanted weapons are all over the place, even at early levels, a character might want separate weapons for two-handed/one-handed/archery, and you might want to carry around weapons you only use in specific scenarios (e.g., silver swords for undead or soul-capture enchantments for soul-farming). So, there's a lot more reason to make the player choose swords than to choose armor.
Also, this is a game where "ebony" is a type of metal and quicksilver comes in ingots...who knows if mammoth leather, e.g., might not weigh far more than what we're used to?
Also, this is a game where "ebony" is a type of metal and quicksilver comes in ingots...who knows if mammoth leather, e.g., might not weigh far more than what we're used to?
For the same reason that Bioware didn't properly check the ramifications of Tali's sweat composition... because only terrifying die-hard fans actually care.
Also, balance.
(I love this thread.)
Also, balance.
(I love this thread.)
Other then the last paragraph i like this idea alot. So the dumbed it down to the point of being vista all over again >.>Trevor Thomas said:
I want to see what kind of OCD maniac makes that.hazabaza1 said:
OT: So the fact your character can run around with 300kg of shit, not even feel it and not have a pack of any kind doesn't bother you; but inconsistent weight stats (a mere statistic on a menu, that merely bears glancing at) doesn't?
