» Sat Jun 14, 2014 6:18 pm So... Question for you all. Which is your favorite magic system in the TES series? (Out of the games which came out, I mean). Please note that the magic system will count Magic, Powers, Alchemy, and Enchanting. (Will NOT count shouts though since only Skyrim has shouts).
In my honest opinion, I say Skyrim. Skyrim, overall (and with the DLCs), have the most uniqueness in it's magical effects and even had it more balanced out rather than a "one size fits all" deal. The only bad problem is the lack of spellmaking and lack of variety for each spell (FYI: Some spells don't have a high level or low level version of them which does more/less damage and all spells are target/touch/self/etc only). Plus I love how spells are casted in Skyrim the most than in any other game (except for some self-spells which I believe should be castable with both hands already filled, in my opinion).
I know some people will not understand what I mean and will try to say that Skyrim's magic system is a highly cutted of the older verisons. Which is partial true with only a few aspects but not overall. Overall, I feel it had advanced and gotten better. I do hope Bethesda continues their work on this system and hopefully fill in the missing pieces (like spellmaking).
Since I know some people will probably want me to explain what I am talking about, I shall do so in a spoiler.
Overall, Skyrim does have the most amount unique effects for each school within the newest three (Maybe not beating Daggerfall and Arena). However, it still had removed effects which are found in previous games, it's just add quite a handful of new ones. (Unlike in Oblivion which only add one or two new unique effects and removed around 10 from Morrowind, and Morrowind doing a similar thing from Daggerfall).
Note: This is discounting Unique Artifact effects, being effects ONLY used for their respective Artifact, like the Mehrunes Razor.
What I mean by unique effects though? An unique effect is an effect which works differently from any other, though may or may not have some similarities. It just is NOT fully similar.
One area Skyrm did improved on with effects is on Destruction for sure. For example, in previous games we only had maybe 6 or 7 unique Destruction spells (One Shock Effect, One Fire, One Frost, Disnergrate, Drain, Damage, Poison, etc). Skyrim actually has 20 in the Destruction area and improved quite a bit.
For example, instead of one shock effect. We have six in Skyrim. Shock Bolt, Sparks, Chain Bolt, Shock Shield, Shock Wall, and Shock Storm.
Each effect, by default, is different from the others. Shock Bolt being the original Shock Effect we had in previous games. The rest being actually new.
Problem is, like I said before, these spells are Target Only (with the exception of Shock Shield, which is Self Only). In the previous games, the Shock Bolt effect had a Touch+Self version as well thusly adding a bit more variety.
If we had a touch version of the other spells (when possible, as I believe Shock Wall and Shock Storm should be target only. However, I can see Sparks and Chain Bolt having a touch version) then we will have more of a variety in Skyrim. Plus more variety of damage outputs for each effect rather than each one only using one damage output (like having a higher level Sparks spell).
If Bethesda did that for ALL SPELLS in all areas, then Skyrim would've had a rather huge variety, possibly topping Morrowind and Oblivion in spell variety due to the already variety in unique spells that Skyrim has.
Sadly, they didn't did that and thusly Skyrim's variety is low in many areas... But it's uniqueness is rather high.
~Balance~
Like I said earlier, the previous games did a "one size fits all" type of dealing. Especially with Morrowind. If the effect is there, it can be used for poisons/potions, spells, powers, and enchantments.
Skyrim however changed this and balance out the effects to where they make the most sense and thusly balancing out the characters more instead of one character ruling them all.
You see, there are a lot of effects which can only be used for enchanting or can only be used for poisons, potions, spells, etc. Some people didn't notice this at first, it seems, and actually believe that Skyrim removed A LOT of effects when going from Oblivion... Thing is, a lot of these effects weren't removed... Just moved or remade. (Though I do know for sure Skyrim did removed some effects, don't get me wrong there).
For example, Fortify effects are no longer on the spell list it seems but they can be found as enchantments and potions instead. Same thing with the shield effect... It is only found as a spell or scroll... No longer can be found as anything else it seem. (Shield = flesh spells).
And I can go on with more effects... And honestly, I liked it. It does balance things out quite a bit instead of having one character ruling all... FYI: A mage character can have access to all effects and rule everything with said effects. Same thing with a character who may only use enchanting or alchemy as their magic use. With it balanced out like this, it would make characters more in their respective role rather than ruling everything. It also get some characters to properly use the other means, rather than only relying on one (if it fits for their role, that is).
Though please remember, me liking this all is my opinion... But it does seem to be true, the new magic system seems to be more unique, advanced, and balanced than the previous ones... Just need to finish up some areas and I feel this magic system will be extremely successful for everybody.
