?_?

Yes, it's been mentioned before. Yes, this is Nirn and not earth. Yes, magic makes a lot of things illogical. And yes.... it is just a game; a good game at that.

But! After playing a character who crafts his own armor and weapons for the first time it is just grating on my nerves. I am often just left looking up at the ceiling after a stint of crafting and asking "Why?!" aloud in an effort to understand the decisions of Bethesda to flip-flop so abruptly on elements that tie into reality.

I'm not expecting or asking the game to be super-ultra-to-the-max realistic. I just want it to be consistent. If the game is going to use terms from reality, place them in nearly identical situations as reality, then it seems like a good idea to me for them to run through with it to the end instead of pulling a 90 degree turn in the middle of the process that does not logically follow.

You forgot Ebony.

you mean i cant grind a butterfly's wings and a blueflower together to make a drink to cure my wounds? oh wait its a game

You don't mind a million aspects of the game, but you cringe over malachite.

I don't mind a million + one.

TOTALLY RUINS IMMERSION BRO

BRO. MY IMMERSION...SHE HAS BEEN RUINED...

Hey don't forget that Ancient Nord boots require iron and steel to make, yet you look at them and they're basically leather boots...

http://pix.playground.ru/download/gallery/276634/3e15752ed756f0486243d9b98eed63d3.jpg.

You're the one assigning "real life" attributes to these words.

- There are elves in the game, but not the ones from Lord of the Rings.
- There are vampires in the game, but they don't act like Dracula.
- Lavender is now apparently 'magical'.
-Glass can be crafted into armor and weapons that don't break against steel.

They are using words and terms that you are familiar with in order to make it easier to grasp certain things in the game. Just because they use the word "glass" doesn't mean they're comparing it to REAL WORLD glass.

Actually, ebony is a wood. What they call in game is a metal. I can't comment on what its properties are in any way shape or form. Now, if they made it a wood in the game and made it... white, perhaps. Then I might have something to say about it as well.


Mainly an aesthetic issue, but I could probably agree with it.


They are using words and terms I'm familiar with in one context and not in others. What melts a wall of ice? Oh, fire! Who'd a thunk it? Maces deal more damage to armored creatures than swords? Again, it amazingly follows reality! Heavy armor is heavier than light armor? Three for three on what follows common sense. Corundum + Iron = steel? Why?!

Vampires and elves don't exist, so that's a moot point. I can say "elf" and have it mean whatever I damn well please. The alchemy aspect of lavender ropes in magic, so again, I can't say anything against it. Glass has been defined across the series as an unusual material defying what normal glass is (see glass mines in morrowind).

The point I'm trying to make here, again if people don't care to read my original post, is not simply about reality but consistency. Iron is used in almost every way shape and form in the game as it is in reality, even up to the point of it becoming steel and making up the large portion of weapons and armor in the game for the time period they are mimicking. So, why take another element from reality, name it something real, add to a almost perfectly real mixture that makes another very real product, and have it be a completely unrelated material?

And yes, there are lots of elements to the game not making sense. Like leather strips you made from one leather piece weighing more than the whole leather piece.... BUT, I can't put everything in one post, so the topic isn't only about the smithing in the game, but why terms based in reality are used correctly in some areas and not in others with no lore, description, or magic to explain otherwise.

It's just a game dude!

T'is not real.

Those elements are apart of the TES universe.

You also forgot Ebony which is a wood in real but in this it's Volcanic Glass or something.

Didn't care to read any posts did ya?

I actualy stopped reading the posts after Morgueanna's post.

But my opinion still stands.

You saying glass is weak! Glass bweak you!

Corundum is actually implemented realistically in Skyrim - It's used extensively in manufacturing and augmenting steels.

What the game calls "Quicksilver" isn't Mercury - Just as most games refer to what we know as "titanium" as "Mithril", this game's probably gone the same way, giving it a different name entirely.

"Malachite" is derived from a word that essentially means "Green Rock" - which is what Raw Glass in Tamriel is. A green Rock.

they're just names, and a rose by any other name is just...you guessed it a rose. Different cultures name things differently, ex malchite = glass, and glass is some kind of...valcanic/mined rock that has nothing to do with glass

Also none of the fake metals make any sense, ebony is wood, it just sounds cool.

Fair enough, I apologize then.

In any case, I already addressed it just being a game. That is a point for certain arguments, but cannot be used as an all encompassing excuse for everything. Kind of like responding to characters clipping through the map with "It's just a game!" Yeah, it's part of the game, but I also call that bad world object interaction.

As for ebony, I find that to slip past the conventions of logic only because it is extremely different. In reality it's a wood, in the game it's a metal. The first thing someone who knew nothing about the game would be "Hmm, that may not be the ebony I'm thinking of and could apply critical thinking to." While corundum, on the other hand, is a real mineral, can be mined in the game, is orange/red in color (as one of the types of corundum) and is then used to make steel with no further explanation.

I want quicksilver armor.

You mean, other than the fact that Corundum is used in the manufacture of steel in the real world as an alloy, purification catalyst, and tool?

Incorrect. Corundum is only used as a coating for steal, cannot be smelted, and can certainly not be in ingot form. It is a mineral.

Quicksilver is the old name for mercury, so, yes it is. Not used as often anymore due to the periodic table, but a very real thing none the less.

I'll give it to you that it is just a name, yes, but also a very real substance in modern time with its own set of properties.


Then why is iron portrayed correctly? Why is leather exactly as it appears in real life? Why does fire melt ice?

Consistency, that's my point here. If the game is going to have us logically assume one thing that pertains to real life, then why not logically let all elements with real counterparts follow logically?

I bet a lot of people would be up in arms and generally peeved if fire froze things, ice melted things, but the game still relied on elemental interaction for puzzles, enemies, etc.

"If you havin' craftin' problems I feel bad for ya son. I got 99 problems and my crafting ain't one"

It can still be "smelted" to get rid of the impurities - Why it forms an ingot's beyond me, but whatever.

And Steel is just another name for Iron. In fact, Steel is a purer form of Iron than Iron is. "Quicksilver" was the name for mercury because it looked like Silver, but ran all over the place. Perhaps what the game calls Quicksilver is a mercury-based alloy of a metal that doesn't melt so quickly.

I prefer this one better

http://www.gearfuse.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/99problems.jpg

Basically what Lima said. Corundum is a crystalline form of aluminum oxide. It has it's uses but the production of steel isn't one of them. Steel in its most basic form is simply iron with carbon added. I was quite surprised when I found out at the smelter that steel was not crafted from iron ore and carbon. Especially when carbon is in the game.