Title says it all. I'm very concerned to say the least. I really don't see it any other way. Hopefully the magic system gets the attention and love it deserves but with the dragon shouts who knows how they will coincide?

*apparently title doesn't say it all haha. It should say bad not bad.

I'm sure it'll have limits to it -- like Greater Powers, or something like it.

Edit: And magic is probably more versatile too --- there's only 20 or so shouts -- there's over 80 spell effects

I don't think beth has overlooked the magic system. Its a staple of the series. BUT it will be interesting to see how they are implemented separate from each other.

i see them more as buffs that prob have longer cool downs then normal spells and a few offence and deffence ones as well.where as spells wont have long cool downs at all.Dragon shouts u have to hold down a button in order for ur char to finish the shout, and i also believe depending on what type of character u play some dragon shouts might not be useful for some character builds.

Your fears are totally unfounded. Hopefully that put them to rest.
Also, you can change the title. Just click "edit" and then next to "save changes" click "Use Full Editor".

I don't think both will use the Magic Bar. Either Dragon Shouts can only be used against Dragons or they'll be limited in use so much that you'll only want to use them against Dragons.

I'm hoping that a character that completes the main quest is not too insanely overpowered compared to a character that skipped it though.

i think dragon shouts will not affect the magic system at all, i dont have a bad feeling

I agree that your fears are truly nothing to be worried about. With 85 spell effects, I don't believe bethesda has overlooked magic.

Magic being rather uber, the shouts might allow for these lowly warrior/thief player types to remain somewhere in the shadow of my great battle mage powers of combat. If those players didn't have shouts, they'd feel rather inadequate to the awesome that is a magic wielder. I say let them have their pseudo magic.

/Breton battlemage

im hoping they make them a once a day thing like greater power. i also hope they put cooldown timers on the normal spells as well this time. oblivion had a very boring and stupid magic system that was too easy to abuse and made picking certain skills self defeating.

Well they said in the magazine they love supporting 'archetype characters', IIRC.

The dragon shouts remind me of the magic system in Arx Fatalis. Coincidence? ^_^

lol, do not fret, I know the guys making it ^_- it will compliment the spell system very well.

Hmmm...I see what you did there...interesting...

Snipit from my http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1159301-dragons/ topics Discussion thread...



For more you can read the thread http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1159301-dragons/.

They are not going to overshadow them. We don't know exactly how they work yet but they won't be going off of mana and will likely have some sort of cooldown so they cannot be spammed or used in every battle scenerio. Magic can. So can using sword and shield. or sword and sword.

On the contrary, I feel they will compliment it. Allowing for abilities that are normally considered too powerful, or not lore accurate, for spells to still be in the game. Summoning a dragon, for instance. They are all very powerful, but the work put into them is probably far more than what it would take to put into magic skills and perks and still be as efficient.

What is more likely to happen is you'll have non-magic users running around using shouts feeling awesome and over powered, and then you'll get magic users running around using shouts and shooting gamma ray bursts from their eyeballs while shooting lightning out of their arses. I can definitely see how some of the shouts (like the short range teleporation one) would be very powerful for a mage (how long have we been asking for a "Blink" style spell? Very). The systems compliment each other, not oppose. Shouts may be able to partially replace magic for some users, but 30 shouts does not compare to 80 something spell effects (and their huge number of combinations. 80^x, where is is the number of spell effects used in the spell, in fact. 6400 just for TWO spell effects used).

If you look at the dragon shouts that have so far been described, it seems like most of them we know about so far do things magic can't do, or at least, things that magic couldn't do in the past, and I do agree that shouts probably won't be as versatile as spells either. It also seems like they work on completely different mechanics, so no, shouts won't replace spells. The only way I could see them doing that is if they're so powerful that you don't need spells at all, and since spells can probably do things shouts can't do, and shouts may have limitations spells don't, this likely won't happen.

Personally, I'd say it's more likely that shouts will compliment magic, and combat as well, since we know of at least one stealth oriented shout, I suspect Bethesda will try to design ones that would be useful for all character archetypes.

I had this concern initially, but then I realized that with there still being 85 magic effects, the Shouts are probably just super powerful effects that don't exist in the normal magic schools, such as slow time, or combat teleportation. So I think magic will still be necessary and useful.

But then again, keep in mind that if the game is well balanced as it should be, we'll be able to play characters who never even touch magic and still be successful.

So does the cooking and more dynamic combat. Twas a good acquisition methinks.

I agree with Orzorn the laughing skeleton pilot man. Except it's 20+ shouts not 30+

I *hope* and believe they will make the shouts feel very epic as they should. They will compliment your characters abilities rather than overshadow them. Then we will have other shouts that are just awesome in their own way.

Well yes and no

Dragon shouts will probably be more popular but magic will probably remain one of the most viable ways to dominate enemies in the game.

How do you explain fire and ice shouts then?

With the way Bethesda seems to be heading with it's combat/magic system I see it as more of a assistance. They seem to be slowing down the leveling system which seems to inhibit the whole spellsword base with illusion being the greatest class combining the best of all three things. They are trying to make it so that straight warriors and thieves get some magical qualities without needing to spend time leveling some or all of the many magic skills to get certain spell traits available. Still a mage would have the ability to slow time and rain fire and lighting on a phased enemy unleashing destruction on a level never before available in a TES game (if they doing it the way I think they are). It doesn't seem to much of a deterrent to magic, but more of an alternative to mastering all kinds if you don't really feel like it. Ultimately it just gives what many TES fans have been begging for, more customization.

I'm not too worried. There are 20 shouts compared to 85 spells. Seems like enough variety to me.

dragon shouts will probably be limited.besides ur thinking about it the wrong way. Dragon shouts ARE magic.