Anyone Else Miss Classes?

Post » Sat Dec 10, 2011 8:31 am

Yes, classes are a staple of the RPG genre, which Skyrim was supposed to be the pinnacle of. Classes in TES used to work like a representation of the background story of your character. TES6 will be on level with Dark Messiah in terms of roleplaying possibilities.
User avatar
Samantha Mitchell
 
Posts: 3459
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:33 pm

Post » Sat Dec 10, 2011 7:07 am

Classes svck. Classes have always svcked. Go back to Gygax and original D&D. Game mechanics for the PnP require the class system to retain balance, and whole tomes have been written to created classes for popular meshes of classes as well as mixed/dual classing. The absolute lack of classes is one of TES's greatest strengths. Lockpicking, two-hander who knows healing spells? Sounds like a reformed thief who became a knight to me. Let's face it, class restrictions are completely UNrealistic. Why on earth would a mage not be able to don light leather? Why restrict that mage to robes? Just doesn't make any sense. The D&D "resolution" for this "problem" is traditionally that mages require freedom of movement not allowed by ANY armors. Anyway, those "stupid" explanations for unrealistic restrictions are gone with TES. Real-life... okay, you're a gamer. That's your class. Does that mean you can't have other interests and hobbies? Maybe you're ALSO a gardener or you breed budgies. One does not preclude the other, even if the skill sets for each are vastly different. See my point? Classes svck.
User avatar
Kit Marsden
 
Posts: 3467
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 2:19 pm

Post » Sat Dec 10, 2011 4:04 am

Classes svck. Classes have always svcked. Go back to Gygax and original D&D. Game mechanics for the PnP require the class system to retain balance, and whole tomes have been written to created classes for popular meshes of classes as well as mixed/dual classing. The absolute lack of classes is one of TES's greatest strengths. Lockpicking, two-hander who knows healing spells? Sounds like a reformed thief who became a knight to me. Let's face it, class restrictions are completely UNrealistic. Why on earth would a mage not be able to don light leather? Why restrict that mage to robes? Just doesn't make any sense. The D&D "resolution" for this "problem" is traditionally that mages require freedom of movement not allowed by ANY armors. Anyway, those "stupid" explanations for unrealistic restrictions are gone with TES. Real-life... okay, you're a gamer. That's your class. Does that mean you can't have other interests and hobbies? Maybe you're ALSO a gardener or you breed budgies. One does not preclude the other, even if the skill sets for each are vastly different. See my point? Classes svck.


D&D classes were restricting, that's true. But in TES you could pick any combination of skills for your custom class. Wanna be a heavy armor mage? Go ahead. The thing is a lot of people enjoy creating a back story for their character and, as I said, the initial skill bonus reflected that.
User avatar
kirsty williams
 
Posts: 3509
Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 5:56 am

Post » Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:00 pm

No, I don't miss classes because I've never used them. Ever. I've always made a customized class to fit my standards.

I find that the lack of them actually makes the game less immersive and enjoyable. It's annoying from a gameplay perspective, because it means that I can't really have certain skills lined up from the get-go as areas my character specializes in. I don't like it from a role-playing perspective, either, because it makes it seem like my character has been sitting around pursuing a balanced assortment of tasks his whole life.


I'd like to point out that immersion has to do with how realistic the game feels to you. Bugs in the game like an npc walking into the wall is an example of something that may break immersion.

Pursuing these tasks is what makes your character your character. Just because no longer has titles for you, doesn't mean you can no longer create them yourself. You are what you are. In a way, the game classifies you in three classes now: Warrior, Mage, and Thief. "Sitting down and pursuing a task your whole life" is what makes you a master thief, or the greatest of wizards. It makes perfect sense in a role play perspective even if you just spend a few hours grinding, because that means your character is practicing. If it happens naturally, then it's like your character is getting better over time.
User avatar
Rob
 
Posts: 3448
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 12:26 am

Post » Sat Dec 10, 2011 1:33 am

I miss weapon choices, some attributes, asking guards for directions, spells... but not classes. They didn't really add anything to the game.
User avatar
Alina loves Alexandra
 
Posts: 3456
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2007 7:55 pm

Post » Sat Dec 10, 2011 5:28 am

Not in the slightest, no.
User avatar
XPidgex Jefferson
 
Posts: 3398
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2006 4:39 pm

Post » Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:05 pm

I miss naming my class. I think actual classes would have made Radiant story actually mean something, other than "You can repeat a quest multiple times".
User avatar
Laura Tempel
 
Posts: 3484
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:53 pm

Post » Sat Dec 10, 2011 1:29 am

I miss weapon choices, some attributes, asking guards for directions, spells... but not classes. They didn't really add anything to the game.


Right, except a title to define "what you are" and a lump of skills to choose, some of which you probably should learn realistically, but might never use. For instance, as a thief, if I played to class, I'd kind of be forced to be at least minimally adept at pickpocketing. But, for my character, it's not something he would do unless forced, and would have no extensive knowledge even if he can sneak and lockpick like the best of them. So, what, after I max out the thiefly skills EXCEPT for pickpocketing, I'm not allowed to move on to, say, Destruction magic? Why not? Maybe that's what my character is into. Maybe he had an aptitude for it all along and just didn't know it. And then the class system leads you to... okay, well what's the best armor my class can wear? Why? My guy prefers light armor, leather. No glass or elven stuff. So, I can become proficient enough in arms and armor to not get whacked by a full on burly orc.
User avatar
Jennifer May
 
Posts: 3376
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:51 pm

Post » Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:40 pm

No I like the idea of starting from zero and building as I go. You could self-define your class as a warrior or mage and develop it from there of course. Or obtain a rank in a guild. But I kinda dig not being railroaded into a certain career path, or starting with penalties and benefits that might discourage me from expanding certain skills and force me to focus on others. In so many ways choice can be removed from the player; in this way it's actually been expanded.
User avatar
Rebecca Dosch
 
Posts: 3453
Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:39 pm

Post » Sat Dec 10, 2011 6:50 am

they decided not to put it in because they were to lazy to actually fix the min maxing that everyone seemed to do for some reason

i miss it, it does not take anything away (when done right, which bethesda was to lazy to do) and provides a place to start your character (gameplay and RP wise). i dont understand the nay sayers to classes, we dont start as babys like in fallout, we dont start off with no knowledge of anything in the world, we are at least older than 16 when we start the game, where did all of our life experiances go? where did that magic, which i, as a magic hating assasin, would strive to avoid aganst everything, come from? it makes no sense starting out without anything having happend to us in the life our characters had to have led having any effect what-so-ever on him

it should be done like the daggerfall character creation (just slightly different), you get to distribute a number of points to your skills (which would all start out as 1 without the points) and choose starting advatanges/disadvantages (which would be replaced with picking startign spells, or no spells if you want), and given points to add to your atributes (or take away from them)
User avatar
Rik Douglas
 
Posts: 3385
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2007 1:40 pm

Previous

Return to V - Skyrim