It's kind of a bother to try and skill up alchemy when you're making single potions that are worth more than the entire wealth of a merchant. 1,000 gold isn't shit. Even with the speech perks, it still wouldn't be close to enough.
And, despite making like 20,000 gold worth of potions recently, I've only slightly increased my Alchemy. That is a slow skill.
There is 1 trader who has the business savvy to turn your investment into 10k every 2 days.
maybe it's the luck charm he keeps in his business...
riverwood trader.
@Sharp10r Do you need the first perk to invest 500 or the last perk to invest a thousand for this to work?
The first perk. After I got that and invested in him, I didn't need fence or the final perk in speech.
Not to start a whole thing on too-few-versus-too-many-trees, but I wish the speech tree would be more like Oblivion where cool skills "appear" at certain levels, specifically Investing. I mean, everyone eventually needs to offload expensive loot, and you shouldn't need to sacrifice perks to do that without it being a PITA.
Make it fucking expensive, like houses, fine. I just think some of that tree would be better served without the need to forgo other abilities.
i remember someone talking about being able to sneak attack while in combat with the shadow warrior level 100 sneak perk. is that true? if so that's pretty awesome
i've exclusively been using it as a way to completely break combat by jamming on my sneak key until they give up looking for me because i am a wisp of darkness
I think its true, its really weird. I've done it and gotten the sneak attack bonus while being detected the whole time.
What school of magic should I use for my stealth character? Maybe Alteration.
that's the level 100 sneak perk, you become invisible (a puff of black smoke) for 1.5 seconds or so when you begin sneaking while in combat (so you hit ctrl and quickly attack them while invisible)
and the reason you appear behind them is the backstab assassination cinematic always happens when sneak attacking, i guess, and it places you behind them
which is kinda cool but kinda sucks because isn't there a frontwards-sneak-kill? maybe i wasn't sneaking but i've definitely stabbed dudes in the chest
i've had great moments where i stabbed a guy in the back, he turns around, i shit myself as he pulls out his battleaxe, power attack again and give him the stab-in-the-gut hug. looked so slick it could have been on purpose.
i had that on two separate people once. slit the throat of one, the other saw me and i immediately stabbed him in the gut. shit looks mega sweet
but the best is when you manage to somehow bump into the person simultaneously with your assassination, and they say something while their throat is slit, like "what is the meaning of this!"
well mister i think the meaning's pretty obvious considering the gaping gash in your neck
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GrogMy sword is only steelin a useful shape.Registered Userregular
i remember someone talking about being able to sneak attack while in combat with the shadow warrior level 100 sneak perk. is that true? if so that's pretty awesome
i've exclusively been using it as a way to completely break combat by jamming on my sneak key until they give up looking for me because i am a wisp of darkness
I think its true, its really weird. I've done it and gotten the sneak attack bonus while being detected the whole time.
What school of magic should I use for my stealth character? Maybe Alteration.
The annoying thing in that video is that the guards are still hostile to him after the "last witness" is killed.
I think that's a faction thing. When I stealth killed Jon Battleborn and received no bounty, the rest of the battleborn family had turned hostile. Good thing I was an illusionist.
I would like to ask a few questions out here if I may. First off...
a little background. I've never played any of the Elder Scrolls games. Not a one. I have seen the gameplay a bit here and there and I understand just how huge the world is and all of the things that you can do. Got all of that, but I got Skyrim (PS3) for Christmas and I am a little lost and could use a little direction.
I have been reading through this thread some and it seems that a battlemage is not a good idea. I was hoping to have a guy in light armors with a sword and spell ready to go. Seems that this is not a good way to go though and that you really benefit the most by sticking to a single archetype (warrior, thief or mage). Is that an accurate assessment?
Are two handed weapons worth it? I think it is really stupid of the game to not let you still have a spell readied in the left hand so that you could simply hold your big sword/axe/hammer in your right and get your spell off with the left, then grab the weapon with both hands again and swing. Very disappointing if you ask me. Everytime I switch to use a spell, I have to go through the animation of sheathing my weapon and then drawing out a single handed weapon to compliment my spell. So...two handed weapons worth it? I am really digging the big swords (even though they are slow) and I want to know if I am making it all harder for myself later down the line.
I have restarted a few different characters so far and I have not gone further than riverwood at the very beginning of the game. I did do a few things like Pinewatch and a few other small random encounters though. I keep restarting because I simply can't decide on a character that I like. I seem to start liking a character and then find a huge problem (read 2hander issues with magic above).
It seems that I will end up doing a LOT of material grinding and what not...which sucks. If you skip out on some of that and don't do blacksmithing or alchemy or enchanting, then are you seriously gimping yourself in the long run? Can you still get through the game and encounters without spending tedious amounts of time grinding through materials and skills?
I could go for a few suggestions on a good race to start with and a simple idea of what perks to train up. I already understand that most of the 1 handed perks are crap except for the damage one. I assume the same goes with the 2 hander perks as well? Is there a way to train your armor skill without taking damage?
Gah...I am getting long here. I don't want to make another 5 characters just trying things out. I would like to just pick one and go with it.
A Battlemage is a perfectly good idea. If you're going for a Destruction-oriented one, then like any Destruction character you will eventually want reduced spell cost gear, and Enchanting is the most reliable way to make that happen (although you can find randomly-generated items of that type from time to time in dungeons and on merchants.)
I agree that it's annoying to have to sheath a 2h weapon, and that's the reason I picked 1h for my hybrid character. 2h would be workable, though, you'd just need to anticipate the sheathing delay and avoid a lot of mid-combat switches. The advantages of the higher powered 2h strikes might justify their use. You could open up by blowing most of your mana pool, then cracking some skulls.
Blacksmithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy are all really powerful, but not necessary to get through the game. Blacksmithing can be a very easy skill to raise, because you can just buy the materials you need from a smith right next to the forge and shit out a bunch of daggers. You don't even necessarily need to do the mining yourself. Enchanting isn't too bad either; you could then proceed to enchant all those daggers you just produced, so long as you've been harvesting some souls as you play, and then you're rich and skillful. Alchemy is kind of a dick, by contrast; progress is slow and it takes a ton of ingredients to level up, although you could just fast-travel around, buy up a truckload of herbs, and use a spoiler guide to combine them.
You can pay someone to train you in an armor skill, or any other skill. Trainers have a limit on how high they can raise your skill.
Regarding race, it's not a huge deal, pick the one you like. Breton is pretty powerful; magic resist is a great stat and Dragonskin will save your ass in a lot of hard fights. High elf would give you more mana to play with. Dark Elves and Nords get a substantial elemental resistance, and Dark Elves get a head start on the slow-to-rise Destruction skill (although their racial power isn't great.) Orcs can Berserk, which could be a lot of fun.
I guess Alva the vampire seductress bitch gets to live a reformed life then. Seeing as the quest line is now over but she is both non-hostile and giving me generic NPC conversation.
I guess Alva the vampire seductress bitch gets to live a reformed life then. Seeing as the quest line is now over but she is both non-hostile and giving me generic NPC conversation.
happened to me too
MID-FIGHT! I was wailing on her and all of the sudden I got a fine for it.
My younger sister went through Skyrim without leveling once, it was actually a lot easier. Are there any mods that balance the game to make it more like Morrowind where leveling actually has value?
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StragintDo Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered Userregular
edited January 2012
Ugh, this is dumb. Some dude walks up to me, threatens me about snooping around like this is some kind of Scooby Doo mystery and then starts a fist fight with me. After I beat his broken and bloodied face down to the ground, I set the fool on fire to finish the job my fists started for getting all up in my grill and I get a bounty for it. This game is so unjust.
Stragint on
PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Ugh, this is dumb. Some dude walks up to me, threatens me about snooping around like this is some kind of Scooby Doo mystery and then starts a fist fight with me. After I beat his broken and bloodied face down to the ground, I set the fool on fire to finish the job my fists started for getting all up in my grill and I get a bounty for it. This game is so unjust.
I know where you are.
It's okay to pick fights with people in public but not to kill them. That's just bad form.
And brawling is a stupid minigame where you can't block and you just mash buttons. No idea who thought it was a good thing to include it.
My younger sister went through Skyrim without leveling once, it was actually a lot easier. Are there any mods that balance the game to make it more like Morrowind where leveling actually has value?
Jeez, leveling gets you really fun perks... I guess you could cheat the scaling by refusing to level, but that's basically an exploit. You're missing out on fun content.
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
I have no idea how anyone could say leveling doesn't have value.
If you're referring to scaling enemy levels, that mechanic does not operate like it did in Oblivion.
I'm 100 hours in, level 40, and I haven't even been to the Greybeards yet. Is there anything wrong with that? I'm a perpetual explorer in these games; I can never stay focused on the main quest. I really like this character and I kinda want to stick with him. Does the game scale all the way to level 100?
My younger sister went through Skyrim without leveling once, it was actually a lot easier. Are there any mods that balance the game to make it more like Morrowind where leveling actually has value?
Oblivion had the exact same problem. Mainly due to scaling in general.
I emerge from the Temple of Meridia with a blade that she called "The Dawnbreaker." I pass the corpse of a dragon I slew not moments before entering the Temple, and I think to myself "it is a rather remarkable weapon; perhaps I can sell it for some mead."
As I head to Fort Hraggstad to claim it for my own, I come upon an Orc, standing over two slain sabercats. There is a stillness in the air; the snow hangs as if hesitant to land.
I hail him and ask him to tell of this great battle that must surely have occurred, and why he is out here in the cold with nothing but a kilt and a mace. He tells me that he is out here awaiting a good death, as he is too old to be Chieftain of his tribe or to claim for himself an Orc woman and start a family; that is why he is standing here over two great beasts with a hopeless gaze. I see few wrinkles on his face, and his hair is still full and dark.
When he asks from whence I came, I mention that I had just slain a dragon not 100 paces south on the very road on which we were standing. with this, his eyes flash in anger, and he curses my very existence for most likely depriving him of his "good death" in a mighty battle. As the honorable Nord that I am, I offer to give him his good death. He accepts my generous offer.
Not 5 swings of my axes later, and he is pleading for mercy. I stay my blades, for this is not his good death.
And that was when he claimed that the Nords are fools for wanting a long life full of greatness, that the Orc way of a short life punctuated by a glorious death is best. This. Will. Not. Stand. I use my voice to explain to him the error of his ways.
The skies clear, and he understands.
I find him 100 paces down the mountain, in the jaws of the wyrm. As I sheath my blade, I smile.
This was a good death.
Joolander on
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
My younger sister went through Skyrim without leveling once, it was actually a lot easier. Are there any mods that balance the game to make it more like Morrowind where leveling actually has value?
Oblivion had the exact same problem. Mainly due to scaling in general.
And brawling is a stupid minigame where you can't block and you just mash buttons. No idea who thought it was a good thing to include it.
I was having trouble with them on my glass cannon mage, until I realized I could have heal equipped in one hand and punch with the other. Sure, its cheating, but lets me skip possible the worst mechanic in the game.
There's still scaling, and it can be rough for your character if you don't level properly or are playing on the higher difficulties.
It's nowhere near the disaster that Oblivion was. For the most part, Skyrim's scaling is pretty good - you can find areas that are higher or lower level than you, which makes exploration fun, but there's still some scaling on some NPCs within a range, so the challenge doesn't disappear entirely and it's not too frustrating.
Oblivion pretty much set every monster identical to your strength all the time no matter what. Skyrim doesn't work that way at all.
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
Yeah. I mean...things die pretty fast when I fight them.
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Forever Zefirocloaked in the midnight glory of an event horizonRegistered Userregular
There's still scaling, and it can be rough for your character if you don't level properly or are playing on the higher difficulties.
It's nowhere near the disaster that Oblivion was. For the most part, Skyrim's scaling is pretty good - you can find areas that are higher or lower level than you, which makes exploration fun, but there's still some scaling on some NPCs within a range, so the challenge doesn't disappear entirely and it's not too frustrating.
Oblivion pretty much set every monster identical to your strength all the time no matter what. Skyrim doesn't work that way at all.
It's the FO3 method. It works pretty well. Unless a character's gotten 20 levels solely from pickpocketing and lockpicking, combat shouldn't be a problem.
My younger sister went through Skyrim without leveling once, it was actually a lot easier. Are there any mods that balance the game to make it more like Morrowind where leveling actually has value?
Oblivion had the exact same problem. Mainly due to scaling in general.
The exact same problem that Skyrim doesn't have.
What, the enemies scaling off your level instead of your skill levels? The entire reason why sitting at level 1 the entire game turns you into a pocket god?
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
My younger sister went through Skyrim without leveling once, it was actually a lot easier. Are there any mods that balance the game to make it more like Morrowind where leveling actually has value?
Oblivion had the exact same problem. Mainly due to scaling in general.
The exact same problem that Skyrim doesn't have.
What, the enemies scaling off your level instead of your skill levels? The entire reason why sitting at level 1 the entire game turns you into a pocket god?
No, the enemies having a minimum and maximum level range relative to your own. E.g., a dungeon might be 10-20, or 30-40, etc. If you go to the first dungeon at level 1, everything is going to be scaled at minimum to level 10, and if you go in the second, a minimum level 30.
Have you played through the entire game without leveling? I find it hard to believe it makes you more of a "pocket god" than hitting level 50 and having a bunch of 100-skill perks.
Not leveling in Oblivion allowed you to raise your skills to insane amounts, such that it didn't matter what your stats were, since your skills were simply that awesome.
Skyrim allows the exact same thing.
Same problem.
EDIT: Smithing 100 at level 1. Likewise with Alchemy. If you stay at level 1, the game thinks "Oh, level 1 dude with level 1 skills and equipment"
But with the crafting skills that line gets really blurry, really fast.
My younger sister went through Skyrim without leveling once, it was actually a lot easier. Are there any mods that balance the game to make it more like Morrowind where leveling actually has value?
Oblivion had the exact same problem. Mainly due to scaling in general.
The exact same problem that Skyrim doesn't have.
What, the enemies scaling off your level instead of your skill levels? The entire reason why sitting at level 1 the entire game turns you into a pocket god?
Some enemies scale with your level within a range of 5-10 levels or so, but lots of places will put an end to your level 1 fun very quickly.
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
edited January 2012
I know what you're saying, but again I really don't see how it's any different from just playing out the game, if not flat-out worse.
You need to take perks to get the really good uses out of Smithing and Alchemy and Enchanting. You'll never upgrade anything above flawless, never craft glass or ebony or daedric weapons, never double enchant anything. And these things are far less likely to drop for you, seeing as gear is level based as well. You might have 100 in these skills, which will do things like improve damage, damage reduction, etc., but that is pretty minimal. The perks represent the real benefits of leveling up skills, not the skill levels themselves.
Not to mention that your health, magicka, and stamina will only be 100--your carry weight never changes, you are severely limited in the spells you can cast, and will be pretty consistently 1 and 2-shot by 2-handed wielders and spellcasters.
Skyrim and Oblivion are pretty demonstrably different games. Have you played a level 1 character in Skyrim to confirm what you're saying? Saying it worked in Oblivion is not the same thing.
My younger sister went through Skyrim without leveling once, it was actually a lot easier. Are there any mods that balance the game to make it more like Morrowind where leveling actually has value?
Oblivion had the exact same problem. Mainly due to scaling in general.
The exact same problem that Skyrim doesn't have.
What, the enemies scaling off your level instead of your skill levels? The entire reason why sitting at level 1 the entire game turns you into a pocket god?
Some enemies scale with your level within a range of 5-10 levels or so, but lots of places will put an end to your level 1 fun very quickly.
Not if you're decked in full flawless equipment, have some fuckawesome enchants, and are hopped up on some really awesome drugs.
High risk, yeah, but if you decide to grind out... well... any skills at all, a level 1 run is absolutely possible, and would probably be noticeably easier, besides some points. Not nearly as easy as Oblivion's level 1 run, but still.
This is like comparing going over a chest high wall to having to make an arduous climb over a barrier an inch tall, though.
But to answer your original question, rayofash, once we get the Construction Set changing the leveled list minimum/maximum level should be a breeze. Such that you're always getting your rear end handed to you early on, forcing you to level, but have the ceiling be much lower.
Think Morrowind style scaling, basically. IE: there isn't any, or very very little.
EDIT: GoodKingJayIII, check the original quote. Apparently it is possible! Otherwise rayofash wouldn't have said it!
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
Even if a level 1 run is possible I don't see how it somehow lessens just playing the game the normal way.
The game might be easier? Big whoop...game is already easy and like GoodJay said by staying out level one you're missing out on half the fun of playing a TES game.
Even if a level 1 run is possible I don't see how it somehow lessens just playing the game the normal way.
The game might be easier? Big whoop...game is already easy and like GoodJay said by staying out level one you're missing out on half the fun of playing a TES game.
It doesn't.
Nor did I say that. Merely that it had been a previous issue.
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
Even if a level 1 run is possible I don't see how it somehow lessens just playing the game the normal way.
The game might be easier? Big whoop...game is already easy and like GoodJay said by staying out level one you're missing out on half the fun of playing a TES game.
It doesn't.
Nor did I say that. Merely that it had been a previous issue.
Right, I wasn't saying it's impossible, just that it doesn't seem to be the kind of thing that would make the game easier. You seemed to be suggesting that running through at level 1 would ensure your character is an unkillable powerhouse. I was just refuting that.
If you weren't saying that, then I misunderstood. Carry on.
Even if a level 1 run is possible I don't see how it somehow lessens just playing the game the normal way.
The game might be easier? Big whoop...game is already easy and like GoodJay said by staying out level one you're missing out on half the fun of playing a TES game.
It doesn't.
Nor did I say that. Merely that it had been a previous issue.
Right, I wasn't saying it's impossible, just that it doesn't seem to be the kind of thing that would make the game easier. You seemed to be suggesting that running through at level 1 would ensure your character is an unkillable powerhouse. I was just refuting that.
If you weren't saying that, then I misunderstood. Carry on.
For most things it probably would (rayofash's post would tell me that, for instance), but unlike Oblivion there are encounters that aren't scaled. Krosis, for one! It'd lock you out of content unless you cheesed the hell out of it. If you're doing a level 1 run, you're probably going to be doing that anyway, so moot point. :P
Personally, I just make my numbers go up when it's time for them to go up.
If it's the main story quest, sure, you can do that at level 1. It's probably the easiest series of, well anything, in the game. Just going for the main quest was also shorter than "finishing" Whiterun for me.
Oblivion was the same way. If you just did the main quest and nothing else, you'd be done in a matter of hours. It's been awhile since I played Oblivion, but I seem to remember the mages guild whole questline seeming longer than the main plot. They just seem to assume you're going to do something other than go straight forward, and make no effort to force you to do otherwise. It's both a strength and weakness of the game.
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
Oblivion's main quest actually is pretty short if you don't grind out the gates for each city.
I'm almost lvl 50 and have just visited the Throat of the World for the first time.
I have enjoyed every second of this game. And I have left the difficulty at the "normal" setting.
I can easily see myself playing well past lvl 50.
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StragintDo Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered Userregular
I can't decide what to do with my caster character. I don't really feel like rolling through the companion stuff again. I tried to do that Forsworn quest in Markarth (or what ever its called) and I ended up getting bugged, the guards would not attack the forsworn at all and they chased my ass all the way to Whiterun so I restarted the character since I had no earlier saves (auto save feature is kind of lame). So I'm once again attempting to figure out where to start. Any suggestions?
PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
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BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
edited January 2012
A Khajiit with 91 Smithing and eventually maxed Heavy Armour is about as close as you can get to level-breaking the game. And given that some dungeons have lower level limits on the enemies they spawn, I'm not even confident you can 100% the game with it.
Though now I think about it, you could probably do some interesting stuff with Elemental Fury, Marked For Death and Slow Time on that build.
Posts
The first perk. After I got that and invested in him, I didn't need fence or the final perk in speech.
Make it fucking expensive, like houses, fine. I just think some of that tree would be better served without the need to forgo other abilities.
The annoying thing in that video is that the guards are still hostile to him after the "last witness" is killed.
i had that on two separate people once. slit the throat of one, the other saw me and i immediately stabbed him in the gut. shit looks mega sweet
but the best is when you manage to somehow bump into the person simultaneously with your assassination, and they say something while their throat is slit, like "what is the meaning of this!"
well mister i think the meaning's pretty obvious considering the gaping gash in your neck
I think that's a faction thing. When I stealth killed Jon Battleborn and received no bounty, the rest of the battleborn family had turned hostile. Good thing I was an illusionist.
A Battlemage is a perfectly good idea. If you're going for a Destruction-oriented one, then like any Destruction character you will eventually want reduced spell cost gear, and Enchanting is the most reliable way to make that happen (although you can find randomly-generated items of that type from time to time in dungeons and on merchants.)
I agree that it's annoying to have to sheath a 2h weapon, and that's the reason I picked 1h for my hybrid character. 2h would be workable, though, you'd just need to anticipate the sheathing delay and avoid a lot of mid-combat switches. The advantages of the higher powered 2h strikes might justify their use. You could open up by blowing most of your mana pool, then cracking some skulls.
Blacksmithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy are all really powerful, but not necessary to get through the game. Blacksmithing can be a very easy skill to raise, because you can just buy the materials you need from a smith right next to the forge and shit out a bunch of daggers. You don't even necessarily need to do the mining yourself. Enchanting isn't too bad either; you could then proceed to enchant all those daggers you just produced, so long as you've been harvesting some souls as you play, and then you're rich and skillful. Alchemy is kind of a dick, by contrast; progress is slow and it takes a ton of ingredients to level up, although you could just fast-travel around, buy up a truckload of herbs, and use a spoiler guide to combine them.
You can pay someone to train you in an armor skill, or any other skill. Trainers have a limit on how high they can raise your skill.
Regarding race, it's not a huge deal, pick the one you like. Breton is pretty powerful; magic resist is a great stat and Dragonskin will save your ass in a lot of hard fights. High elf would give you more mana to play with. Dark Elves and Nords get a substantial elemental resistance, and Dark Elves get a head start on the slow-to-rise Destruction skill (although their racial power isn't great.) Orcs can Berserk, which could be a lot of fun.
Morthal:
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
I know where you are.
It's okay to pick fights with people in public but not to kill them. That's just bad form.
And brawling is a stupid minigame where you can't block and you just mash buttons. No idea who thought it was a good thing to include it.
Jeez, leveling gets you really fun perks... I guess you could cheat the scaling by refusing to level, but that's basically an exploit. You're missing out on fun content.
If you're referring to scaling enemy levels, that mechanic does not operate like it did in Oblivion.
Oblivion had the exact same problem. Mainly due to scaling in general.
Oh. My. Gods.
That may be the most entertaining quest I've done so far.
7:15 AM Turdas, 17th Frostfall 4E 201
I emerge from the Temple of Meridia with a blade that she called "The Dawnbreaker." I pass the corpse of a dragon I slew not moments before entering the Temple, and I think to myself "it is a rather remarkable weapon; perhaps I can sell it for some mead."
As I head to Fort Hraggstad to claim it for my own, I come upon an Orc, standing over two slain sabercats. There is a stillness in the air; the snow hangs as if hesitant to land.
I hail him and ask him to tell of this great battle that must surely have occurred, and why he is out here in the cold with nothing but a kilt and a mace. He tells me that he is out here awaiting a good death, as he is too old to be Chieftain of his tribe or to claim for himself an Orc woman and start a family; that is why he is standing here over two great beasts with a hopeless gaze. I see few wrinkles on his face, and his hair is still full and dark.
When he asks from whence I came, I mention that I had just slain a dragon not 100 paces south on the very road on which we were standing. with this, his eyes flash in anger, and he curses my very existence for most likely depriving him of his "good death" in a mighty battle. As the honorable Nord that I am, I offer to give him his good death. He accepts my generous offer.
Not 5 swings of my axes later, and he is pleading for mercy. I stay my blades, for this is not his good death.
And that was when he claimed that the Nords are fools for wanting a long life full of greatness, that the Orc way of a short life punctuated by a glorious death is best. This. Will. Not. Stand. I use my voice to explain to him the error of his ways.
The skies clear, and he understands.
I find him 100 paces down the mountain, in the jaws of the wyrm. As I sheath my blade, I smile.
This was a good death.
The exact same problem that Skyrim doesn't have.
I was having trouble with them on my glass cannon mage, until I realized I could have heal equipped in one hand and punch with the other. Sure, its cheating, but lets me skip possible the worst mechanic in the game.
It's nowhere near the disaster that Oblivion was. For the most part, Skyrim's scaling is pretty good - you can find areas that are higher or lower level than you, which makes exploration fun, but there's still some scaling on some NPCs within a range, so the challenge doesn't disappear entirely and it's not too frustrating.
Oblivion pretty much set every monster identical to your strength all the time no matter what. Skyrim doesn't work that way at all.
I enjoyed that
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
It's the FO3 method. It works pretty well. Unless a character's gotten 20 levels solely from pickpocketing and lockpicking, combat shouldn't be a problem.
What, the enemies scaling off your level instead of your skill levels? The entire reason why sitting at level 1 the entire game turns you into a pocket god?
No, the enemies having a minimum and maximum level range relative to your own. E.g., a dungeon might be 10-20, or 30-40, etc. If you go to the first dungeon at level 1, everything is going to be scaled at minimum to level 10, and if you go in the second, a minimum level 30.
Have you played through the entire game without leveling? I find it hard to believe it makes you more of a "pocket god" than hitting level 50 and having a bunch of 100-skill perks.
Check the original quote, then my response.
Not leveling in Oblivion allowed you to raise your skills to insane amounts, such that it didn't matter what your stats were, since your skills were simply that awesome.
Skyrim allows the exact same thing.
Same problem.
EDIT: Smithing 100 at level 1. Likewise with Alchemy. If you stay at level 1, the game thinks "Oh, level 1 dude with level 1 skills and equipment"
But with the crafting skills that line gets really blurry, really fast.
Some enemies scale with your level within a range of 5-10 levels or so, but lots of places will put an end to your level 1 fun very quickly.
You need to take perks to get the really good uses out of Smithing and Alchemy and Enchanting. You'll never upgrade anything above flawless, never craft glass or ebony or daedric weapons, never double enchant anything. And these things are far less likely to drop for you, seeing as gear is level based as well. You might have 100 in these skills, which will do things like improve damage, damage reduction, etc., but that is pretty minimal. The perks represent the real benefits of leveling up skills, not the skill levels themselves.
Not to mention that your health, magicka, and stamina will only be 100--your carry weight never changes, you are severely limited in the spells you can cast, and will be pretty consistently 1 and 2-shot by 2-handed wielders and spellcasters.
Skyrim and Oblivion are pretty demonstrably different games. Have you played a level 1 character in Skyrim to confirm what you're saying? Saying it worked in Oblivion is not the same thing.
Not if you're decked in full flawless equipment, have some fuckawesome enchants, and are hopped up on some really awesome drugs.
High risk, yeah, but if you decide to grind out... well... any skills at all, a level 1 run is absolutely possible, and would probably be noticeably easier, besides some points. Not nearly as easy as Oblivion's level 1 run, but still.
This is like comparing going over a chest high wall to having to make an arduous climb over a barrier an inch tall, though.
But to answer your original question, rayofash, once we get the Construction Set changing the leveled list minimum/maximum level should be a breeze. Such that you're always getting your rear end handed to you early on, forcing you to level, but have the ceiling be much lower.
Think Morrowind style scaling, basically. IE: there isn't any, or very very little.
EDIT: GoodKingJayIII, check the original quote. Apparently it is possible! Otherwise rayofash wouldn't have said it!
The game might be easier? Big whoop...game is already easy and like GoodJay said by staying out level one you're missing out on half the fun of playing a TES game.
It doesn't.
Nor did I say that. Merely that it had been a previous issue.
Right, I wasn't saying it's impossible, just that it doesn't seem to be the kind of thing that would make the game easier. You seemed to be suggesting that running through at level 1 would ensure your character is an unkillable powerhouse. I was just refuting that.
If you weren't saying that, then I misunderstood. Carry on.
For most things it probably would (rayofash's post would tell me that, for instance), but unlike Oblivion there are encounters that aren't scaled. Krosis, for one! It'd lock you out of content unless you cheesed the hell out of it. If you're doing a level 1 run, you're probably going to be doing that anyway, so moot point. :P
Personally, I just make my numbers go up when it's time for them to go up.
Oblivion was the same way. If you just did the main quest and nothing else, you'd be done in a matter of hours. It's been awhile since I played Oblivion, but I seem to remember the mages guild whole questline seeming longer than the main plot. They just seem to assume you're going to do something other than go straight forward, and make no effort to force you to do otherwise. It's both a strength and weakness of the game.
I have enjoyed every second of this game. And I have left the difficulty at the "normal" setting.
I can easily see myself playing well past lvl 50.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Though now I think about it, you could probably do some interesting stuff with Elemental Fury, Marked For Death and Slow Time on that build.