The Elder Scrolls Megathread XV: A Song of Ice and Draugr - Games

No it isn't. Some unpredictability is just what Skyrim needs. Any at all. It makes things exciting. Best if your level decreases the chances of it happening because then you have a lasting motivation to improve-- as opposed to food pellet perks. Even a mini-game where you just roll dice for no reason whatsoever would be more exciting than vanilla Skyrim's combat after the exploration curve has plateaued. People use the retarded Legendary mode and absurdly curved difficulty as a crutch for just that.

[QUOTE=Kommodore;41657650]No it isn't. Some unpredictability is just what Skyrim needs. Any at all. It makes things exciting. Best if your level decreases the chances of it happening because then you have a lasting motivation to improve-- as opposed to food pellet perks. Even a mini-game where you just roll dice for no reason whatsoever would be more exciting than vanilla Skyrim's combat after the exploration curve has plateaued. People use the retarded Legendary mode and absurdly curved difficulty as a crutch for just that.[/QUOTE] The only unpredictability should be in the AI. RNG is not player controllable and is completely unlinked with skill and is therefore a bad combat mechanic.

But it [I]can[/I] be linked with skill by diminishing the likelihood of its occurrence.

[QUOTE=Kommodore;41657775]But it [I]can[/I] be linked with skill by diminishing the likelihood of its occurence.[/QUOTE] When I say skill I mean player skill, not the numbers on the skill screen.

-snip- You're half right. There's a middle ground of course, and by default Skyrim provides plenty of that. So mixing in the occasional dice roll, sensibly, conservatively, can't hurt.

[QUOTE=Kommodore;41657806]When you shoot a gun in most FPS games the bullet spread is essentially a random placement. Games with a progression system reduce that as experience is accrued. XCOM:EU is constructed entirely around the premise of random number generation based on an inverse relationship to skill. RPGs, by definition, use the system so the actual game experience isn't reduced to a repetitious grind. Without it you're just playing a spreadsheet.[/QUOTE] Turn based RPGs maybe Skyrim is real time and doesn't need traditional RPG mechanics in its combat

But it's still using extremely traditional RPG mechanics-- only somewhat simplified. I don't even know what a non-traditional RPG mechanic would be. It's self-limiting and self-defining. You can't have an RPG that excludes discreet calculations of skill in the background or it's just an open world arcade game. If the world levels to the player, skills increase commensurately to compensate for it and vice-versa, and all of the combat hinges on human reflexes and so forth then there's no measurable character progression. It's hollow... it's just what items you have and much coffee you've had before you play. It's like running on a treadmill.

[QUOTE=Kommodore;41657856]But it's still using extremely traditional RPG mechanics-- only somewhat simplified. I don't even know what a non-traditional RPG mechanic would be. It's self-limiting and self-defining. You can't have an RPG that excludes discreet calculations of skill in the background or it's just an open world arcade game.[/QUOTE] There are no turns, targeting or hit chances in Skyrim and I'm pretty sure character skills aren't considered in combat at all. Higher skills allow you to have more perks and higher levels allow you to have better health/stam/magicka, but there are no char skill based dice rolls. The combat is much more like an action game than a traditional RPG with skill rolls and I prefer that.

I added a few extra lines to the post you responded to, but at this point it's really just a "too each his own" situation. All I'll say is that old RPG mechanics feed a narrative, contextualize your character in the world, give actual substance to progression and generally add a deeper aspect to gameplay that I'm starting to miss in games. Particularly TES games.

[QUOTE=Pastaspace;41656004]Was commissioned to do quests for Brhuce Hammar. Am doing those. Shit's gonna be weird. [URL=http://imgur.com/Le75kDY.jpg][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Le75kDYl.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://imgur.com/hSc1H0n.jpg][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/hSc1H0nl.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/QUOTE] Do optimize that, the CK does not handle its memory management well and having models larger than like, 3x their size could lead to complications.

[QUOTE=G-Strogg;41658267]Do optimize that, the CK does not handle its memory management well and having models larger than like, 3x their size could lead to complications.[/QUOTE] I fail to see how that could lead to memory management issues.

[QUOTE=Altimor;41657891]There are no turns, targeting or hit chances in Skyrim and I'm pretty sure character skills aren't considered in combat at all. Higher skills allow you to have more perks and higher levels allow you to have better health/stam/magicka, but there are no char skill based dice rolls. The combat is much more like an action game than a traditional RPG with skill rolls and I prefer that.[/QUOTE] more skill means faster attack speed and more damage. also skyrim combat is bad for an action game.

[QUOTE=Falchion;41658744]more skill means faster attack speed and more damage. also skyrim combat is bad for an action game.[/QUOTE] Melee in Skyrim is shit I'm talking about magicks/archery

Anyone know of any decent necromancy/summoner/conjuration mods about anywhere? I cant to find any good ones on the nexus.

Magic should be more character skill based. Magic is supposed to be dangerous and unpredictable, so why should a warrior with low destruction be able to cast fire balls like its nothing? You'd think that you would accidentally set yourself on fire or perhaps not even cast at all.

[QUOTE=cdr248;41661233]Magic should be more character skill based. Magic is supposed to be dangerous and unpredictable, so why should a warrior with low destruction be able to cast fire balls like its nothing? You'd think that you would accidentally set yourself on fire or perhaps not even cast at all.[/QUOTE] I wish that instead of Novice Destruction halving magicka cost it'd unlock the novice spells for you. Adept Destruction would unlock Adept spells and so forth, so you'd need very high Destruction to cast Fire Storm. Kinda like how dragonsouls unlock shouts.

[QUOTE=Altimor;41657335]Random number generator is bad[/QUOTE] Its not really completely random, and the only bad thing about RNG is when key mechanics are tied into it (like determining when attacks hit), when I'm only using them for small fumbles or status effects. You can influence the "numbers" greatly in your favor by wearing lighter light armor, having good health levels, or by whittling down the enemy's health and avoiding getting hit in the first place. Another example how I used random number is you have a chance of getting staggered upon landing a powerattack with two handed, depending on your skill. High skill will almost never have trouble, lower skill you might find yourself doing it one out of three powerattack hits (it also depends on the enemy's armor level, last I checked?). I think this is perfectly fair, especially since it doesn't do anything critical to you (its just a light full-body stagger), it makes you less effective with the weapon at lower skills but hits you make will always connect and you can avoid this fumble by having good skill or by avoiding the use of power-attacks. The whole point is to make it so if you are low-skilled in anything, you actually use that poorly as a character. If I was living in a modding world where I could edit anything I'd ideally love to have it work pretty close to dark souls, where poorly-skilled characters will litterally fumble when making swings with weapons they can't use properly yet. But that's not possible, the only thing I have access to modify slowly as your skill increases is stuff like weapon attack speed, damage, and movement speed. All of which I am using but its not really enough to make the combat feel tactical and that you actually get better as a character when you level up a skill. Adding in the chance for misc non-critical but still damaging status effects to happen against you (such as fumbling the attack, or getting stunned when you are hit) really makes you feel low level when you are like you might in Dark Souls, except without needing to have fancy animations to do it but yet not just doing what morrowind did ("you missed!" sound) - it actually noticeably affects the player or enemy in some way. And the way it works most importantly isn't 100% random in certain situations against certain enemies you will almost -always- get "stunned" when fighting a high level high health enemy like a dragon if it hits you, but as the dragon gets weaker you'll noticably get stunned less and less. Your health and your skill increases your odds against this, as well as the armor you wear. The same thing happens for weaker enemies, they almost never will cause a stun certain attacks and under the right conditions you'll likely get stunned. [editline]31st July 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Altimor;41657785]When I say skill I mean player skill, not the numbers on the skill screen.[/QUOTE] But that's the problem, Skyrim is an RPG and my mod aims to make it work more like one by putting in a higher importance of the skill system on how you play the game versus what it is now where it might as well just be an action game with flat damage modifiers the higher your skill gets.

Sorry for the greyish ENB setting, but I like auroras once in a while. [IMG]http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/595883498979480394/9482535CA163D1939E18ABE4C0E31BFC3383DEBC/1024x575.resizedimage[/IMG]

[QUOTE='[Green];41661589']Sorry for the greyish ENB setting, but I like auroras once in a while. [IMG]http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/595883498979480394/9482535CA163D1939E18ABE4C0E31BFC3383DEBC/1024x575.resizedimage[/IMG][/QUOTE] you made skyrim, a game which is grey, even more grey? (also- skills should be both character and player based. Both fun and deep)

Update on my glitch of not being able to learn new dragon words. I used the console to add a few that I know I missed because of the glitch, and while roaming around Solstheim, came across a keep with a dragon wall and when I approached it, the appropriate actions played and I learned the word. I'm not exactly sure what fixed the problem, but it works now.

[QUOTE=The Jack;41662082]you made skyrim, a game which is grey, even more grey? (also- skills should be both character and player based. Both fun and deep)[/QUOTE] It's depending on the environment. Overall lighting is desaturated, but campfires, torches, the sky and magic remain well lit. It's personal taste, but it works for me.

does anyone remember how in morrowind each cave had wonderful lighting? One cave would have green, another would have blue. Candles with red light and lava with orange. there might have been some purple too... Oblivion's aylied ruins were pretty nice too... Skyrim doesn't realy do that. Either yellow flames or those rare blue/white lights. maybe a little green in some of the dwemer ruins. Either way it's bland and uncreative.

[QUOTE=The Jack;41662200]does anyone remember how in morrowind each cave had wonderful lighting? One cave would have green, another would have blue. Candles with red light and lava with orange. there might have been some purple too... Oblivion's aylied ruins were pretty nice too... Skyrim doesn't realy do that. Either yellow flames or those rare blue/white lights. maybe a little green in some of the dwemer ruins. Either way it's bland and uncreative.[/QUOTE] What I would've preferred instead of lighting is using other things that have become available in due time. I mean look at it this way. Back in the NES days, people had to use the color palette creatively because that's ALL THEY HAD in terms of graphics. There had to be really good decisions in design to make shit look appealing. In Morrowind, lighting was still in it's infancy and everything was ripped from it to make Morrowind look as good as possible, since it's what they had to work with. Oblivion has a TON of different lighting, it's not just easily noticeable. Skyrim would've had much of newer generation graphcis technology that it just didn't employ. I'm not annoyed by the lighting, to be honest I don't play most MMOs because of how overly saturated their shit is. What I am more annoyed about is that they didn't use the tools they had now in comparison to the past to make things look fresher. It's Bethesda so I can't really expect much else and bitching about it on Facepunch isn't going to make my dreams come true, but I feel like you're barking at the wrong tree. There are bigger issues than lighting and the colour palette.

I want dungeons that aren't shit.

[QUOTE=Altimor;41658300]I fail to see how that could lead to memory management issues.[/QUOTE] So do I, but remember what engine you're working with here

[QUOTE=lavacano;41662719]So do I, but remember what [B]developer[/B] you're working with here[/QUOTE] [I]fixed[/I]

[QUOTE=cdr248;41662647]I want dungeons that aren't shit.[/QUOTE] I would have been completely satisfied with draugr ruins if bleak falls barrow had been the only one in the game they should lay off most of their level artists and hire a decent writer instead

So no one in whiterun will talk to me, besides saying "hmm" and the generic lines like that. It hasn't been doing this too long, I guess I'll just run down the list of the mods I installed recently and deactivate them until it either fixes or or something. Just when I was missing the gamebryo experience! :v:

Better writers More coders more playtesters fewer,better modelers less mappers less voice actors No tod

[QUOTE=The Jack;41664052] [B]No tod[/B][/QUOTE] Elder Scrolls won't be the same without Todd's false promises.