Do you like the RPGs where you get to fly on you're own sword and cast over-powerd AOE spells like in Perfect World or have a traditional RPG with basic weapons and limited spells like fireball and lightning stikes?

Which one do you prefer? I think it would be pretty cool to have big swords without going overboard on it.

Edit: here is a link to a girl flying on PW useing her wings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_hgJoSJav4&feature=related

High Fantasy, Eddings and Tolkein level, not Feist epic though, that's overkill, and Conan is underkill

I like Action RPG mainly, to me battles are not won on dicerolls alone. But my friend wants me to get Neverwinter Nights 2 and play with him and I am definitely tempted. I'll play anything besides Wii and Sports games. And GTA 3 A-spec is not a sports game because the simulation mode is frickin awesome.

Weaponary: low fantasy
Arnoury: mid fantasy
Magic: high fantasy

They all have their place in different games.
For TES it would be similar to what november11 posted.

+1

I love to create a thief and warrior character to perform the mundane, then I like to have a mage character who is completely uber and has a huge assortment of awesome spells.

I was... underwhelmed by the magic in Oblivion, too combat oriented and not very useful. I like the inherit overpowered nature of magic in Morrowind and the large volume of stuff you can do with it. There's no such thing as overpowered magic. If I'm a breton or altmer with a magic related birthsign, then I want the whole nine yards available to me. Likewise if I do a nord/imperial/redgaurd warrior character, magic should be fairly out of reach and impractical to use.

I seem to prefer Conan/ Tolkien, over Dragonlance/Fiest.

*If you think about it... How many spells did Gandalf cast in the books?

I have to say I think Mr. Tolkien had it just about right : the practical effects of magic are limited, magic swords and other items are rare, cool, and come with a backstory, and sometimes slaying Dragons has to take a backseat to being hungry or going to the pub.

It never seemd to be much about spell flinging in the books, the magic seems to take the roll of a backdrop/force in the world.

In the universe depicted in Tolkiens novels you've got characters like Tom Bombadill, Sauron, Morgoth, who are basically gods of nearly unlimited power. The magic in those stories is a lot more abstract and tied to the world than in most but is certainly far more powerful than TES. I don't think such a thing could be implemented in an Elder scrolls game. In simpler terms, the scope of Tolkien style magic is on a much grander scale, not really feasible to do in a game.

FYI Tolkien is considered high fantasy.

I much prefer low fantasy now - nothing too over the top.

Magic took a back seat, the whole saga was a vehicle for Tolkein to convey his awesome world to us imo, I hope you mean that you don't like Feist/Dragonlance in TES not in general

Perfect World?
Ugh, sorry, I have to rant a bit.
Anyway, that game is one huge puke-fest.
I've played it with my ex-girlfriend because she told me it was awesome, but then again, she is my ex for a reason.
Perfect Wold is also filled with gayish anime style graphics where everyone looks like they are from some high fantasy pride parade and is totally unbalanced and filled with lame stuff that ruin the game totally (as if it was not bad enough from the beginning).
Just an another try to copy WoW in a sea of WoW copycats.
Phew, glad I've let that out of my system. ^^
Now, about limited spell casts for weapons.
Well, we already have charges on our enchanted weapons witch is basically the same.
Only difference is that you can recharge that item, witch is fine.
Now, about over sized weapons, well, I have to admit that I kinda like buster sword style weapons, but I'm not sure if that would fit TES.
Even a bit over sized swords since we already got pretty damn big weapons in my opinion.
And flying, yeah, I would like levitation makes a comeback, but if it is made so that I can't just fly around and rain down my wrath from heavens on them.
Anyway, that's that, for now, I guess.

I think I'm more a low-fantasy guy. Magic loses all it's hype and mystery when even a paraplegic mudcrab can use it.

I like it rare and powerful.

About as low fantasy as a daedric gauntlet can get. Please let me fight dragons with my fists!

Depends on the setting.
If it's an austere and rugged setting like TES, I prefer more modest fantasy.
If it's something like out of a JRPG where the world itself is often surealistic, then over the top fantasy is right at home there.
In short, the fantasy must not ruin the atmosphere.

I don't know tbh..
The if the setting suits it crowd are more my thing on the OP question.

I do like very powerful magic, I do like roles that don't use it, trust it, or hate it, then I like roles that dabble with it, and those that specialise in it.

So rather than Low - High fantasy which means little to me.
I'd like it powerful, plentiful and varied uses ( think P&P spell lists / books / spells ) to those that can use it, but for laymen and in the game world in general rarer.

That said in the Infernal city, many characters had various little cantrips that they could call on for their jobs.
So that may be what we'll see in Skyrim.

I've added a link in the post.

I love my fantasy down to earth and dirty, with still some elements of the fantastical

One of the reasons the Warhammer Fantasy setting is one of my favourites.

Good call.. However I'm a skaven player..
A ratman with a minigun powered by magical steam, shooting bullets made from raw condenced magic called warpstone.

Agreed, I prefer a fantasy setting like warhammer.
It manages to incorporate some fairly outrageous concepts while still feeling gritty and realistic.

Low Fantasy. Rare magic, logical world, no larger-than-life heroes without damn good explanation for their larger-than-lifeness.

I have a secret fetish for fantasy that plays with the bonds of reality, and the limits of our minds and ability to fantasize. You don't allways have to explain every logic issue, but can just enjoy the pure imagination and storyline.

That's why I love Final Fantasy VI and VII so dearly.

Agreed. Magic in Tolkien's world is more about the underlying substance of something, rather than an over display of power, and I love that. Which is just one of the reasons that I love Tolkien. (Heh, I remember playing LOTRO in beta and we (the beta players) would have...er...lively discussion on how much magic the Loremaster class should have.) That said, TES has done over displays of magic pretty well, almost scientifically -- and I like that too. Each fantasy world is different, and has its own rules, and I like that TES has a more "fantastical" world, if you will.

Low fantasy is to me by far the most attractive. I was never able to "connect" with Morrowind. Too high fantasy stuff, and when I looked at something I had no idea what to make of it. Is it a huge mushroom, a fantasy tree, or some skooma addictive designers idea of a house? Nothing made sense. High fantasy elements have to be brought in with subtleness. In FONV the subtleness was done in several ways, but rarely everything at the same time:
* Nightstalkers - high fantasy mix of breeds in not an overdone scale.
* Various scorpions - animals with a common shape with increased scale.

I'd call LOTR low fantasy too. Every place (maybe with the exception of Lothlorien) felt like a "real place", something that could have been. Magic, although powerful (too bad Tom Bombadil wasn't in the movie), was never portrayed to be the solution of all things. So just the very nature of TES magic, puts it a bit too much into the high fantasy genre. For me. And probably *only* me

Low fantasy I guess. I`m happy with the Conan brutal hack `n slash and the odd basic sorcery type stuff.