Poll: Skyrim: The Armour complaint.

[Canadish]

Oh no, I can't look like an idiot who failed to find the other parts of his armour after a drunken night in a dodgy tavern, how shall I ever live?

What if we want to role-play as a drunkard or alcoholic?

I personally had a giant, bearded, drunken Nord planned out for one play through. Was gonna go the whole game drunk off my face and with no pants on. Bare knuckle fighter.

Now I can't take off my pants OR focus on punching people due to streamlining.
I love me a good comedy run-through after the proper go around of any Elder Scrolls

Seriously though, just thought of one other point...
We might find a cool oufit...but it only has a nice looking top half. But with silly pants.
And then we couldn't change it.

Seriously, there was a few like that in Oblivion. The iron armor set and the leather armor set pants just looked daft with the matching torso piece, but the torso did look alright with certain other pants.

Could be offset if Bethesda has gained a sense of style since then... but that's no guarantee.

Again, this ain't game ruining stuff, but it sucks.

 

[AMMO Kid]

I think it's going to be a leap for them, but they obviously knew that people would complain and they made this decision in good faith that it would not take away from the gaming experience. I trust them.

 

[Korolev]

"You took OUR armour"?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That's hilarious. I agree, you can disagree with the way they've gone about it, but don't act like they're "taking" anything away from you. By all means, you have the right to be disappointed with this decision, but the sheer outrage that some of these fans are experiencing is really, really funny.

Okay, first of all it's not real armour. Second of all, it's hardly "yours", given that they are developing the game with their own money. A developer has the right to make their game HOWEVER THEY WISH, and a consumer has the right to refuse to buy it. That's how it works. That's how it's always worked. That's how it always SHOULD work. You are not entitled to games others have made with THEIR own money. You don't have a moral right to demand that they make the game to your exact specifications. You have the right to refuse to purchase the game - that's your only right.

The sheer ANGER from the fans is laughable. What moral right do you have to DEMAND that they make the game the way YOU like?

 

[Terminal Blue]

Really though, Morrowind was totally a RPG. Every thing you did, like in most classic RPGs, had its success rate determined by a dice roll modified by your character's stats.

And it was awful in so many ways.

Do you remember walking for half an hour because you were terrified of getting in a fight with your stamina depleted? Do you remember having to stop and rest every few minutes because you'd wasted your limited mana pool failing to cast a spell because of sheer random chance? Conversely, do you remember never actually doing magic as a mage character because it was so pointless next to lugging around a ton of super-enchanted gear which you'd created by downing a hundred intelligence potions at once? Why, because alchemy/enchantment was the game breaker in that system. It was the only thing which was not subject to random chance and which didn't require you to slow the pace of gameplay to a crawl to actually use it.

I know it's very easy to pretend that Morrowind was perfect and if they just re-released it the world would be a bright and happy place again, but it's not exactly true. Morrowind is well remembered because it was visionary and because it has a great modding community, not because it was in any way a good game.

Simulated dice and deep character customization only work if the system they are part of is balanced and tight, and if the element of chance is never allowed to become intrusive and frustrating to the level that it breaks immersion. Morrowind fails on both counts, and while I understand the affection for it as a historical moment and a genuinely visionary game for its time, I'll never understand people who think it's in any way worth holding up as an example of how to do an RPG.

 

[Flutterguy]

This is a non-issue in my opinion, I just wore whatever piece I found with the best stats in Morrowind and Oblivion. I have less control over my appearance? O well I spend 98% of the time in first-person anyways. The game will be an epic, you will still have all the epic RPG elements, and they are adding more to the game besides "LOOK AT TEH EPIC LEWTS I HAS".

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Simplifying the game for people just getting in who don't want a Morrowind-like experience?
That could be what they're thinking... I know that's what I'm thinking.
But I'm getting this for PC. Therefore: mods. So yeah... it will be a worry for like, what? A week?

 

[Electric_Sunshine]

Now if this was being made for just PC they wouldn't have these shitty restrictions for developing the game.

 

[deleted_by_strongbad]

Good news everyone, we're all aware of the sand that has been disappearing from beaches all over the world, just now scientists have noticed pearls dropping from the skirts of gamers all around the globe.

 

[Buccura]

On one hand, I am upset at the removed amount of customization. On the other hand, how often did you mix and match armor in Oblivion? And, often times when you did, it looked just plain weird.

 

[Signa]

Really though, Morrowind was totally a RPG. Every thing you did, like in most classic RPGs, had its success rate determined by a dice roll modified by your character's stats.

And it was awful in so many ways.

Do you remember walking for half an hour because you were terrified of getting in a fight with your stamina depleted? Do you remember having to stop and rest every few minutes because you'd wasted your limited mana pool failing to cast a spell because of sheer random chance? Conversely, do you remember never actually doing magic as a mage character because it was so pointless next to lugging around a ton of super-enchanted gear which you'd created by downing a hundred intelligence potions at once? Why, because alchemy/enchantment was the game breaker in that system. It was the only thing which was not subject to random chance and which didn't require you to slow the pace of gameplay to a crawl to actually use it.

I know it's very easy to pretend that Morrowind was perfect and if they just re-released it the world would be a bright and happy place again, but it's not exactly true. Morrowind is well remembered because it was visionary and because it has a great modding community, not because it was in any way a good game.

Simulated dice and deep character customization only work if the system they are part of is balanced and tight, and if the element of chance is never allowed to become intrusive and frustrating to the level that it breaks immersion. Morrowind fails on both counts, and while I understand the affection for it as a historical moment and a genuinely visionary game for its time, I'll never understand people who think it's in any way a good RPG in its own right.

Yup, I remember all that, and after what Oblivion gave me as a "fix" for those issues I certainly learned to appreciate it all, both good and bad.

No, Morrowind was FAR FAR from the perfect gem you seem to think I think it was. That said, the pure awesome in the game made up for all those tiny flaws. And I don't have memories about mods clouding my judgment, because I never bothered. The few times I did I felt it just didn't mesh with the experience I was looking for, and so I removed them. To this day, the only mods I ever added were graphical and UI enhancements.

Go ahead and keep hating the game. There is nothing wrong with that, because there is a lot of hurdles to overcome. *I* love the game because no other game has allowed me to dive in and enjoy it on the same level that Morrowind has. Bad mechanics or not, I'd take that over any "accessible" game made today.

 

[The Lunatic]

It does strike me as a bit strange.

The game seems to lose items types each time a new game in the series is added to.

 

[Canadish]

The sheer ANGER from the fans is laughable. What moral right do you have to DEMAND that they make the game the way YOU like?

Not a "moral" right. The right of someone's who's paying 40 quid for a disc of plastic and who's probably done so at least once or twice before.
Giving you the money and prestige to pay for your next big title.

Fans may not be shareholders, but they do have a stake in the matter.

Not that this seems enough to warrent much rage....
Then again, you know what they say about the frog in the boiling water....

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

To be honest once i completed the entire gladiator arena quest very early in the game i stopped playing. Im okay with being lost in a game for a bit but it just wasn't for me but fallout 3 is easily one of my most favrotest games buuuut since i do play MMO's and other RPGs the more peices of armour you can have to enchant the better. Enchanted pants and enchanted shirt? win!

 

[ninja51]

You would not believe the people at the Skyrim forums. My favorite trend was the uproar about hand to hand being removed as its own skill.

Most of the serious rants people give over there are actually some of the funniest stuff on the web taken in context

 

[lomylithruldor]

I don't think DnD would have more depth if you could change the pants of your armor. It would only make the armor drop less (each "armor drop" is 1/2 armor instead of a whole armor) and less useful because you now have to find the matching pants to optimize your build.

 

[FateOrFatality]

Sure, I'm annoyed that they're combining the two, but in the end I think it's worth better looking armour and more NPC's. Perhaps we can get some bigger battles due to this.

Do you honestly think Bethesda would do this unless there was a large benefit? They're not looking to screw you over, ad with the level of detail they've put into every one of their games, I sincerely doubt they were just too lazy to make one additional piece of armour.

You would not believe the people at the Skyrim forums. My favorite trend was the uproar about hand to hand being removed as its own skill.

Most of the serious rants people give over there are actually some of the funniest stuff on the web taken in context

I spend a lot of of time on the Beth forums, and I've learned to avoid that place like the plague. Too much rampant speculation and ridiculous ideas, or just out right declaring their hate for Bethesda for the stupidest reasons.

Besides, all the cool kids hang out on the Community Discussion forum

 

[WorldFree55]

HAH. This made me laugh a little.

I am incredibly into RPGs; it's just that I understand that RPGs are about ROLE PLAYING, and not STATISTICAL CUSTOMIZATION. If this removal of ONE armor slot is really important to you, then you do not love RPGs, you love mathematics. It's about putting you into the shoes of your character; when your character is aware of the numerical attack value of their sword or the chameleon value of their pants, it's a disconnect. I'm not saying that you should totally ignore stats, but its secondary to enjoying the experience of chasing down a pickpocket in a crowded market and braining him with your orcish hammer of braining.

TL;DR? Roleplaying is more important in an RPG than stats. It's right there in the title.

Anyways, I've always seen the stats part just as being synonymous with the roleplaying part.

Then go play World of Warcraft if you don't already. That game is probably your favorite of all time since everything is about stats, gearscore, and has a pants armor slot! Have fun .

 

[6_Qubed]

Personally, I'm more worried about what changes (read: nerfs) they're going to make to the magic system.

You know what I missed in Oblivion that I really liked in Morrowind? Jumping. Jumping crazy ridiculous heights and distances. And alchemy. Mind, I still used Alchemy in Oblivion to fill a variety of roles, from offense, defense, disruption, healing, and turning middling food items into CASH. (SUCK IT KING MIDAS I RUN THIS TOWN) But I missed how that one time, I turned my Morrowind-ian Breton into a physical god by using/abusing an infinite Fortify Intelligence Potion trick I found. Even though it officially ended the game as I had known it, it completely changed how I played the game, which in turn made a game that was slowly becoming boring fun again. Another thing I missed was putting activated abilities onto wearable items. I had Jump Pants. They made me really good at jumping, and they were blue. A moment of silence for the Jump Pants.

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Also, I heard from a Gamestop minion that Skyrim will have dual-wielding, so you can theoretically have two spells ready at the same time (or two weapons, or a weapon and a spell, whatever). This strongly suggests that in order to maintain "balance", they will make the spells even less effective than they were in Oblivion.

One change I would like to see, however, is the removal of that god-awful "level-matching" nonsense from Oblivion. Because maybe I want to have an area of weaker creatures to work out on and to pull alchemical ingredients from their corpses.

Ooh, but one thing I want to see carried over from Oblivion: Deer. Because I hate deer, so I both laud and thank Bethesda for giving me the opportunity to paralyze a group of deer at range, and then run up and punch them to death. And then turn the venison into health potions.

(Just watch now, the whole magical school of Illusion won't be in Skyrim. I ruined everything by saying something and jinxing it.)

 

[Thaius]

"In most of the Nordic designs we created, the upper armor would completely cover the lower armor, making it unnecessary."

This is what I have a problem with. They're talking about armor like people only use it for how it looks and not for, you know, the stats.

Actually, that was the part I liked. Because it's not just about looks, it's about cultures. They're actually doing this partially because nordic armor is designed differently than armor from the other regions in the series. That attention to cultural detail is one of my favorite things about this series.

OT: That's fine. I don't think it'll severely impact the ability to customize armor stats. I honestly don't think this is something worth making such a big deal about. And really, it seems like a good tradeoff. A tiny bit less armor customization for better visual style, an interesting cultural tidbit, and the ability to render more people onscreen at once? That's definitely worth it.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I'm in two minds about this.

On the one hand, reducing options is something I don't really like... On the other hand, it does do a lot to get rid of the problem that many modern RPGs have where you spend half the game dressed as a complete bellend (and not by choice).