How do you feal about greaves and cuirass being merged? : V - Skyrim

» Fri Jul 08, 2011 3:22 am

This isn't a defense of multiple slots (I have no opinion.), but I fail to see how merging them together allows the game to render faster and allow more NPCs to be on the screen or that other thing you mentioned. That second one is actually just impossible. The limit on armor types in a game is called disk/hard drive space and merging greaves and cuirasses really won't do anything to help with that (plus more variety in items have absolutely no correlation to game/rendering speed). As for the first one, it still makes too little sense unless Bethesda is that terrible at optimizing game engines. There would be something seriously wrong with the engine if an extra armor slot had such a drastic impact, if any, on performance. What I do believe a possible reason may be are more unique and aesthetically-pleasing armor sets. They could do that, anyway, but if you were still able to mix and match armor sets as unique as I'm implying, you end up with clipping... and critics really hate clipping so apparently an option needs to be taken out to annoy those who don't care about the clipping simply because having the option to do something flawed is, apparently, worse than just not having the option but otherwise having the same results.

So, I think this is more for aesthetic differences. For example, they can now make more creative midsections on armor, but the merging has no relation to armor variety (just not possible) and the performance thing just seems unlikely and more of an excuse, to be honest.

Remember, this game is running on the Xbox 360. It's not having one fewer armor slot, it's having one fewer armor slot for all 30 characters on the screen. Fewer models to render, faster performance that adds up.

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:30 pm

Remember, this game is running on the Xbox 360. It's not having one fewer armor slot, it's having one fewer armor slot for all 30 characters on the screen. Fewer models to render, faster performance that adds up.

First, I doubt there will be 30 characters on screen at any given time, second, I doubt they will all be clad in full armor sets, and third, the 360 isn't that weak. The faster rendering still doesn't make much sense, really. It's an extra model per armor-toting NPC on the screen at any given time. I shudder to think what would happen if we dared to drop a few items (note: models... physics-controlled models, at that, unlike equipped armor) or go into a library if that extra armor slot is that debilitating.

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:45 pm

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» Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:33 pm

im disappointed by the merger, for reasons as has been mentioned already. i feel the 'excuses' are weak.

1. increase performance - doubt it has significant impact on rendering by having one less slot, i certainly didnt notice any increase in performance when i put on the arena armour on in oblivion. more npcs on screen? maybe one or two extra guards, highly doubt its anything noticeable. if anything, trading this off for increased performance makes me suspect its due to the limiations of consoles, which makes me resent this decision even more.

2. more armour? yes but more slots equals more combiinations which means more customisable looks than just more armour in a single slot.

also, i liked the treasure hunting aspect of finding all the pieces of a set.

i didnt like merged armour in dragon age, and i wont like it in this.

» Fri Jul 08, 2011 12:11 am

one thing nobody seems to remember is that they are -REMAKING- the engine so maybe they just couldn't put in all the old things because they didn't have time or money to rewrite it for the new engine or maybe the new engine just doesn't want to accept it, for example maybe because of the new 3rd person animation system it stopped the armor from rendering as seperates,but maybe they found the work around by merging the armor pieces. (this is just an example) I don't know why it would work like that,but maybe if were lucky bethesda finishes a couple things early leaving more time to programme the seperate armor slots for the new engine

P.S. sorry for any spelling errors,but my first language isn't english

» Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:17 pm

The only bad thing is that I won't be able to make that overpowered player character I could in Oblivion.
More slots where better because you could wear more enhanced things,and thus overpower your character with enchanted stuff.
I don't find it bad for usuall gameplay,but I can understand that after some playthroughs,you would like to add more things to your character by using some mods.
I just wish it will be easier to add extra slots with the editor this time.