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[nenjin]

I don't necessarily crave wiki-levels of hidden information. But staring at the enchanting screen making ONE decision about how to balance the item is just so transparent. It's gotten out of the way to the point of barely even asking you to think, to me.

Also your spoiler is showing dearie. 

[Kivish Zokun]

*Reads Janet and Cthulhus post* Wow I need to do the Daedric prince quests they sound pretty fun.

Also anyone seen sheogorath yet? and if so is he the hero from oblivion?

[Cthulhu]

I haven't, but apparently he is.

I can't do it.  I'm putting the SPOILER back where I found it.  It's not worth it.

Also, Shrine Dragon + Random Frost Dragon + Ohdaviing + Companion + Random Stormcloak Patrol = Holy fuck 

There was fire and ice and dragons eating people and arrows flying and daaaaamn son

[nenjin]

How do you mean? I thought he was.....a little less funny and interesting than in Oblivion.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

His quest is very, very short and compared to other quests, not really all that interesting. The Wabbajack can be fun....but it's just random. It doesn't make people grow or shrink like it did during the quest, which made me really sad. I was hoping I could go make Snow Bears 10x as big then go run them into villages. Alas, the most interesting random effect I've seen it do is drop runes where ever you point it. Which is fun. Just not as fun as....what Cthulhu was talking about. Now _that_ is a daedric gift.

[Kivish Zokun]

On Sheogorath and the hero of Oblivion:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You become sheogorath at the end of shivering isles, as the previous sheogorath permanently becomes Jyggalag

Right I need to do these quest, they sound completely awesome!

[ukulele]

Just a spoiler.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Anyone reached the daedra quest involving a talking dog, it was hilarious.
But i refused to kill the dog (got a mask) but i dont know what the axe was like, anyone care to share?

[nenjin]

On Sheogorath and the hero of Oblivion:

Somehow I kind of doubt that's going to be the outcome for the Dovahkin. Your involvement with him is (mostly) over after the quest.

[Greiger]

Spoiler: Azura quest spoilers (click to show/hide)

I particularly like that I got to take the star from Azura and change it's fate. Something that's pretty much unheard of to do in lore. Not to mention going INTO the star was awesome and I got some Daedra hearts out of it. Not sure what they do in this game yet but I'm sure it's useful. Seriously though I was starstruck when I saw the innards of the star. They got the otherworldlyness and dreaminess of the place just right in my opinion.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I hear daedra hearts are required to make daedric armor.  Which I'm guessing is why dragon armor is higher on the smithing than daedric is even though daedric is slightly better.  Those hearts seem rare as all hell now, especially when compared to the mountains of the things you could obtain in oblivion.

I am level 35.  I have found a grand total of 3 throughout my entire game.  In hindsight I probably should NOT have smited that guy the moment I saw him in there.  I never saw the whole place and only killed 2 daedra before Azura warped me out.  I'm guessing I missed loot.

[Microcline]

I have to say that removing stats is one of the few cuts I actually supported.  They always seemed like a vestigial feature, and having to plan out levels around getting +5s was asinine.

I also don't mind that the smithing/enchanting/alchemy combo is broken.  What I don't like is that it isn't broken in interesting ways.  It's broken in a very mundane way; you take no damage and your swords deal 500 damage per swing.

While it's a good thing that spells have a few more area types (cone, point, aoe, nova), I find the effects quite lacking.  Previous games gave mages many more spell effects to work with, making them feel like actual mages rather than another type of dps.  Furthermore, because there's no spellmaking, spells won't scale with you.  Firebolt will always have the highest dps (with fireball against multiple enemies), so there's no reason to ever use flames or the higher level spells.


But I digress, the gameplay isn't nearly as important for a TES game as the worldbuilding, lore, and quests.  I got the feeling that whoever designed the faction quests for Skyrim has no idea why people join certain guilds. 

The mage faction should be about solving mysteries by acquiring knowledge and magical power.  Morrowind's mage's guild really got this right, as it had you steadily uncovering the mystery of the Dwemer while advancing in rank.  What it shouldn't be about is fighting your way through corridors of draugr, getting no clues as to the nature of the mystery, and receiving an unfitting moral about how the superstitious peasantry was right and magic is too dangerous for you to know about.

Similarly, the theives' guild should be about stealing loot while thumbing your nose at the local authorities.  Oblivion's thieves' guild was pretty good in this respect.  Ideally, it would be something like Thief 2: sprawling non-linear complexes filled with dark corners and valuable loot.  I thought Skyrim was going in the right direction with its sewer mafia shakedowns and the Goldenglow burglary.  I figured it was leading up to some kind of high-profile, high-stakes heist that would completely reverse the fortunes of the guild and put us back on the map.  Instead

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I had to crawl through another hallway full of undead to meet with a daedra about reversing the fortune of the guild.

The improved gameplay and scenery probably makes it a better game than Oblivion, but they repeated the same exact mistakes that they made there (gimping magic, no skill checks for factions, none of the factions relate to each other or the main quest...)

We were really limited in Morrowind because the player could recall or levitate out of many situations and break them. There was a lot of good gameplay and level design work that we just couldn’t do and now we can

I think about this every time the game locks me in a room to fight some draugr.  They cut out some great, unique, and interesting spells just so they could make their enemy encounters like those in every other dungeon crawl.

[nenjin]

I figured it was leading up to some kind of high-profile, high-stakes heist that would completely reverse the fortunes of the guild and put us back on the map.

I agree. The further along I got in the TG quests, the more I was like...."Huh?" "What? "Who?" "Why.....?"

And then it suffers from, again, an excessive need to throw twists at the player.

Honestly, I was wanting the TG quests to be EITHER

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You help Maven extend her control over Riften through the TG

OR

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You help re-establish the TG as an independent body by breaking away from Maven and taking apart her control over Riften.

Instead, it's.....yeah, some sort of non-sensical quest about why these badass thieves can't pull themselves up by their bootstraps without help. I guess maybe they figured since the jobs for the TG covered the standard thieving activities, they had room to...send us to more crypts full of Draugr.

[Tellemurius]

Wuuthrad, especially deadly to elves.......

[Frumple]

I have to say that removing stats is one of the few cuts I actually supported.  They always seemed like a vestigial feature, and having to plan out levels around getting +5s was asinine.

Th'only thing I could offer up to this point is they could have not cut them and still removed that asininity -- there's at least one mod for Morrowind (It was mentioned in one of the morrowind mod threads, though I forget what it was called) that completely removes the level up screen and has stats gain as a direct result of skill training, no need for finicky attention to what you were doing.

Just that one mod (and th'regen-magicka one) made playing morrowind again earlier this year a considerably more pleasant and mechanically unintrusive experience, without actually removing the mechanical depth of complexity that stats represent. Mechanical bonus/choice example one: Cross skill buffs: Pop out a strength spell to boost several skills -- and some misc. other features -- to a lesser degree, or slam down a single skill buff for a more focused, more powerful effect. Stuff like that, yanno'?

This isn't a 'zomg morrowind better aiee' thing, just noting that including stats in the TES system could have been done a lot more organically without removing them.

Mostly, though, it's just that seeing features removed, especially ones that add mechanical depth to a system, always makes me a little sad. I'd always rather see it (the feature) made to fit, rather than removed. With something as simple as a stat system, that's really, really, easy.

But I couldn't really say anything major about it re: games after morrowind, until I actually play them and see how the systems work Maybe a new computer by the end of next year~

[Astral]

I can already feel out some of the mods I will attempt whenever they come out with the Construction Set. Or, at least, will look for by other modders, but I have an almost extreme need to mod for a game that's this good to start. Most of these are ideas of Oblivion mods that I've played years ago, but still.

1) Customized house mod. I have loads of junk that I want to show off to myself, and having some castle or fort in the middle of nowhere would be nice. Either with a necromancer or assassin theme, perhaps. I'm not a fan of Breezehome and having looked at other similar housing, nothing really calls out to me. The Dark Brotherhood sanctuary is probably the closest to what I would like. Lots of mannequins and weapon racks, perhaps a smithing and enchanting area. Just an all in one kinda deal, maybe with a quest associated with obtaining it.

2) Bow rebalance. Early on, bows seem to be somewhat... meh. Later, they're the two shot wonders for sneaky types, as they give you the ability to pick off practically anything at range with little to no effort. Mostly concerning the bound bow, mind you. If possible, adding effects for different body parts shot (or at least the ability for it to detect where it landed and giving critical hits or different effects accordingly. Leg shots would temporarily slow you, arms give a chance to drop your weapon, head gives extra damage, etc)

3) Poison changes. As of now, I have lots of poisons and I don't use them because of the clunky menu system; something that gives a single application for a small amount of damage (for most of the game) isn't worth taking the extra ten seconds to go through a menu, or cluttering my fairly small "favorites" list for them. Perhaps delegating favorite poisons to a hotkey, or making poisons last for multiple hits (if possible) but stacking as you slice them for more damage. If not, making default instant damage poisons turn into damage over time, as it tends to be more "realistic" in a way. Obviously geared toward dual wielding or fast weapons.

4) Possible general health rebalance. Make battle more deadly for everyone; no getting two shot by something with 400 health and armor that you can barely damage in melee. Might make dual wielding more viable in boss fights. If not, combat mods like Oblivion's Unnecessary Violence, where you have more options for dodging (a la the sneak roll) in multiple directions for a more agile playstyle.

5) Necromancy mod. More in depth than just "I summoned a corpse" perhaps with quests associated with them. Gather bones from dead animals to make a semi permanent companion, or a skeletal mount.

[nenjin]

I like how display cases are good enough to put in every Jarl's palace.....but not good enough to give to the players. At least you get a few weapon racks and wall mounts. I can't wait for the Display Cases mod to make its glorious arrival on the scene.

Because man, I have a stack of about 100 gems that I want to dump in there, like a trough of wealth.

[Cthulhu]

I've always wanted to make a world-spanning quest for some kind of kickass artifact.  The kind of quest that doesn't have a compass marker pointing the way, without obvious, silly puzzles.

The dragon claws are a good step in that direction.  I have one I got as a quest reward that has no door associated with it, as far as I know.  If there were some kind of hint hidden in a book somewhere that put me on the right track...

It's going to happen.  Skyrim is the game for it.

I have probably a hundred gems too.  I really want to liquidate a lot of my excess bullshit but nobody has enough gold to buy it all and by the time their inventories have reset I've accumulated another dozen flawless fucking garnets.