Skyrim Weight Inaccuracies

[Blind Sight]

Wait, in the realm of magic that has lizard men and sentient kitties, it's weight inaccuracies that throw you off?

Skyrim's about a sandbox RPG experience based in medieval fantasy, it's not trying to accurately portray anything. You want accurate weight and realistic carrying abilities, I suggest STALKER. Or mod the game. Regardless of your statement, it largely is just a balancing factor and the actual ratios are fairly arbitrary.

 

[Pandabearparade]

..eh, who cares?

Though I do find it a little amusing that I can take three one pound (or one 'stone') ingots and create a fourteen pound bow out of them.

 

[Xangba]

Because it's a fantasy game, not a historical game. I don't remember that time when dragons invaded, though maybe I just missed that lesson. But anyway, seriously? How does this annoy you? If it were supposed to be in medieval Europe maybe, but in a fantasy world that let's you melt your armor into your skin to become a werewolf and carry ten different greatswords? How about instead complain about why hitting someone in the foot with a knife in MW kills someone since it at least has the guise of being realistic.

 

[Itsthefuzz]

Who the hell cares?

It's a game, it's not about history and shouldn't be HISTORICALLY ACCURATE. If it bothers you that much then get a mod to change it.

 

[spartan231490]

Because it's not based on history, it's based on dnd and other fantasy games. Also balance.

have you ever sat down and read the PHB? 3.5 or 4E?
4E tosses a simple formula for how much you can carry. STR * 10. up to that there's no difference between 1lb. and 150lbs. (assuming a STR of at least 15). source: 4E Players Hand Book, page 222, under "Carrying, Lifting and Dragging".

and here's a link to the 3.5 rules on carrying shitte http://www.d20srd.org/srd/carryingCapacity.htm

and weapons http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/weapons.htm#weaponDescriptions

armor! http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/armor.htm#armorDescriptions

WotC does a fair job of keeping the mundane bits of the game fairly well grounded in reality

...and yes, i looked up the 4E bit in a book that i own and i would have done the same for the 3.5 bits but i can't find those books :'-(

captcha: Novidi Waterman


Edit: back on topic, Dude has a freaking Bag of Holding.

Yes I have, and weapons are way heavier than in reality. I don't see what you are trying to say, I said it was based on dnd and other fantasy. Also, I wasn't talking about overall carrying capacity, I was talking about weight.

side note: Wow, 4E carrying capacity is depressingly high. If light load for a 10 strength that is just way too high.

 

[GraveeKing]

Most likely just balancing issues. I mean, why is 4753 arrows weigh 0? Especially considering you get a free weightless quiver to go with it! It's just balancing issues so people can't loot entire dungeons and get instant rich by the end of it.
Besides, it's not like the game is hard to mod, I'm sure someone could add in a realism weight mod if they put the effort in to re-do EVERY SINGLE DAMN ITEM EVER.

 

[Blobpie]

A wizard did it

 

[Deef]

If you're going to nitpick that hard, I suggest we take it to the logical next step. 'm guessing you can carry a maximum of around 75-100 kg on you at any time. Probably only around 50 kg if you want to actually get anywhere without becoming exhausted fairly quickly.
So lets assign all our weapons and armor their proper weights, and set the max carrying capacity at 50 kg. Assuming you're wearing some plate armor, iron or steel maybe. It is now impossible for you to carry anything else. Lets go have some fun not looting anything!

 

[TastySurvivor]

who cares? Im killing dragons!

 

[J-Alfred]

I thought all of this too...

Oh wait. No I didn't.

I dunno why Bethesda screwed up the weapon weights. And I'm drunk, so I don't even care if I'm trolling. I think Bethesda just assigned weights based on what you were likely to carry.

 

[Neverhoodian]

The Elder Scrolls series has always done this. I think it's for game balancing purposes. Weapons typically sell for more than armor, so it would be extremely easy to simply stockpile swords and sell them for massive profit (though to be fair it's still pretty easy to amass wealth if you're like me and make multiple "loot runs" until a dungeon is picked clean).

I think the bigger question is how septims don't weigh anything, no matter how many you're carrying. If they truly are gold coins, then they should start weighing the player down something awful after a while. Again though, gameplay trumps realism.

 

[Agow95]

It's a game about magic and goddamned dragons, and your complaining about realism, Where did Bethesda state that they would try to be 100% accurate with every statistic, and plus it's a completely different world, maybe they make swords heavier and leather lighter, you don't know.

 

[Astiahl]

*Holds shield up and absorbs the full brunt of a dragon's fire breath while my horse owns it's face*

"HEY! Wait a minute, why is my sword not accurately weighted?! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE, LET US POST IT ON A FORUM!"

As I'm sure the last few pages have said, different planet, a wizard did it, and MST3K Mantra.

 

[Vindestructable]

See me next time on HOW TO SWING A SWORD. How all the weapons in skyrim are being swong in mollases.

Yeah this annoys the absolute fuck out of me, seems that noone ever realizes that you can usually swing a two handed sword faster than a one handed sword once you get it going.

 

[getoffmycloud]

Because Skyrim isn't a historically accurate game

 

[ImmortalDrifter]

Holy Shit... Using this completely fictional setting Bethesda is trying to alter not only the annuls of history but the very laws of physics!! How blind I was to this Orwellian nightmare which Bethesda is trying to call a "game"!

...

I used to be someone who took down evil conspiracies, but then I took and arrow in the knee

 

[Ramare]

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.

Well...pretty much this. I was going to say more on that subject, but I don't really have to. Also, who said that a "weight point" is actually a pound? In my experience, no where does it actually say that weight points are pounds, or that X item weight X pounds, which happens to coincide with it's weight point value. Also, yes. It's likely that they take both encumbrance and weight into consideration when deciding it's weight point value. Which is probably why Steel swords are heavier than Iron swords. Why? Well, hey, guess what? Unless I am not remembering properly (Also referencing Oblivion, not Skyrim), Steel longswords are wider and longer and thicker(cue dick jokes) than Iron longswords. Something weighing less doesn't mean anything when it's 2-3 times the mass, any damn way. Unless it's hollow. Which would be either the stupidest thing ever, or pure genius. I'm not sure which...

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

...The fuck?

...Did you really go to the trouble to cross reference the weights of real life medieval equipment with Skyrim's weight system?

Do you really not have anything better to do? And why the hell does it matter that leather armor is heavier than a sword? Actually, I can answer that. It doesn't. At all. In any way.

EDIT: And I don't mean any offense, this just confuses me very much.

Don't discourage him. I love when people do this kind of stuff. It is a learning experience and shows that there are hardcore fans of something.