Sammu's perk trees - Q&A 2 : V

» Mon Sep 26, 2011 7:15 pm

Hi there.

First of all, thanks very much to everyone who asked questions on my http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1233644-sammus-eurogamer-qa/ overnight, I'm amazed at how busy the thread was. There were over 160 people reading the thread when I went to bed, and according to later posts there were still over 150 a couple of hours later, I'm wowed by the interest the perk trees generated! I'll be posting my (stealth) gameplay impressions ASAP - apologies it's taken so long to get this thread up and running, the internet is painfully slow in my office today. IT are trying to fix the problem so hopefully it'll be sorted soon.

Right, so first there's a few things I need to clarify from the previous load of information:

I think there's a couple of things that need clearing up regarding the racial abilities. Most importantly, I saw a lot of people questioning whether Nords have a Frost resistance, among other complaints. I must clarify - the information I posted last night was based on the racial abilities shown on the character creator screen only. When you look at each race in turn, the creator screen shows the first preset for the race currently selected, with a quick description of that race underneath. This description does not necessarily cover every aspect of a race's abilities. I would say it's very possible - potentially even very likely - that there are extra abilities not mentioned on the character creator screen, which may in fact still exist. If someone saw the Nord Frost resistance mentioned on a load screen, then I'd tend to believe them - the only reason I wouldn't have mentioned it is because it didn't appear on that screen specifically. There was lots of information shown in load screens (I'll put as many as possible in my impressions thread), including specific percentages for each race's abilities (e.g. 50% disease resist for Argonians).

Next, regarding perks. I did mention in the previous thread that I did not write the perks out in order. I simply didn't have time to list them all in order - I was in a mad rush to get as many as I could and jumped from perk to perk in whatever order was quickest. Here's some answers to a few other questions I saw asked:

- Destruction and Restoration magic DO NOT require a perk to gain the dual wield overcharge effect. Conjuration, Illusion and (I'm fairly sure) Alteration spells DO require this perk.
- This "overcharge" perk is always the first perk in the tree (except for Destruction and Restoration obviously, because they don't have that perk). You must therefore take this perk before you can get any others for that skill.
- Someone asked about the "levels" of spells. There are 5 - Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert and Master. I did not see any indication of the skill level of each, although presumably Novice is for 0-24, Apprentice is for 25-49, Adept for 50-74, Expert 75-99, Master for 100.
- There are 5 perks in each magic skill relating to these levels - the "50% less magicka cost" ones. There is one for Novice spells, one for Apprentice spells, one for Adept spells, one for Expert spells and one for Master spells, for each and every school of magic.
- I cannot comment on the types of creatures that can be summoned. Only Atronachs and zombies were mentioned, but we know ghost wolves are in too. I don't know where they fit in.
- For general skills - if there is a 5-rank skill, as far as I can recall it will ALWAYS be the first skill in the tree, and therefore at least rank 1 will be needed before you can move on to the next perk.
- Regarding requirements to buy perks - someone asked if there was a skill level requirement, or a prior perk requirement. There are both. Certain perks are on the same branch of a tree, and you must unlock perk A before you can get perk B. Perks may also require a certain skill level in addition to a prior perk - for example the perk at the end of one branch of a skill tree will require all the previous perks in the branch, PLUS a skill level of 100.

Finally, regarding swimming:

- The question about the "clear water" effect was correctly answered in the previous thread, but just for clarification, it's the same as in Fallout. If the camera is 100% above the water, then the water looks beautiful. The rapids looked particularly stunning.
- Similarly, if you're 100% submerged, the water is a murky greenish colour and it looks absolutely fine.
- The problem happens when you're half-and-half. If the water level is about midway up the screen, then the sky above it is visible (normally), but the water underneath the water level is crystal clear, as though the water was not there. You have to submerge yourself further before the murky effect kicks in.
- The swimming animation is basically no different to Oblivion. It looks clumsy and unrealistic; the character's arms and legs don't move enough, and they seem to float through the water as if they had a motor rather than because their arms and legs propel them.

Right, that's enough for now. If you have any more questions feel free to ask them, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. I'll put my stealth gameplay impressions in a separate thread because this wall of text is big enough already.

P.S. Sorry IMissLeeches - I did get the Speech tree after all, I genuinely didn't realise I'd got so many!

» Mon Sep 26, 2011 11:40 pm

Thank you Sammu,btw do you have more information about the one-handed perks, like sword effects, or what axe's do stuff like that.

» Mon Sep 26, 2011 4:46 pm

Thanks again, but one question i do have to ask is if u possibly missed a perk in sneak since there seems to be no sneak bonus for 2h weapons.

» Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:11 am

Thank you Sammu,btw do you have more information about the one-handed perks, like sword effects, or what axe's do stuff like that.

No problem.

I was under the impression that a few of the 1h perks had been seen already, so it wasn't top of my agenda. I'm pretty that the extra effect associated with 2h weapons is the same as the extra effect of the equivalent 1h weapon. So swords (both 1h and 2h) have a crit chance, axes (both 1h and 2h) have the extra bleeding damage, maces/hammers (both 1h and 2h) ignore armour.

There's also definitely a 1h decapitation perk (confirmed by Pete Hines I believe), but beyond that I'm not sure. The 15x stealthed dagger damage is definitely in the Sneak tree though. It's also the last perk on that particular branch, requiring all the previous perks AND a Sneak skill of (I think) 100.

EDIT: @Sydrek: No, that's the full Sneak tree. There is no 2-handed Sneak perk. I don't think warhammers, greatswords and battleaxes are designed to be stealthy weapons.

» Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:17 pm

#1.) Oh, good! So, there is still a chance that Orcs get Magicka Resistance in addition to the once a day "Berserk" power?

#2.) That's a bummer about the swimming... oh, well. I suppose that will be limited to first person only for me then. Thanks!

#3.) I read that you said that the female weight (muscle) slider goes from "Skinny" to "Slender" in your original thread? Can you elaborate on that? Is there... any hint of muscularity in the female, or does she just look, well, slender? I ask because, I am considered slender but not skinny. However, I'm also not considered muscular either. I would be really disappointed if I couldn't have any form of apparent muscularity for my character.

An example of what I would like to more or less go for is on the character of this artwork: http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i442/ThePassage-JonaSylvan/61404822_Dezicrah_2-Copy.jpg

Is that muscle tone, and mass, achievable for female characters through the Skyrim weight slider?

Thanks, again, for all your input. It is much appreciated! :thumbsup:

» Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:04 am

#1.) Oh, good! So, there is still a chance that Orcs get Magicka Resistance in addition to the once a day "Berserk" power?

#2.) That's a bummer about the swimming... oh, well. I suppose that will be limited to first person only for me then. Thanks!

#3.) I read that you said that the female weight (muscle) slider goes from "Skinny" to "Slender" in your original thread? Can you elaborate on that? Is there... any hint of muscularity in the female, or does she just look, well, slender? I ask because, I am considered slender but not skinny. However, I'm also not considered muscular either. I would be really disappointed if I couldn't have any form of apparent muscularity for my character.

An example of what I would like to more or less go for is on the character of this artwork: http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i442/ThePassage-JonaSylvan/61404822_Dezicrah_2-Copy.jpg

Is that muscle tone, and mass, achievable for female characters through the Skyrim weight slider?

Thanks, again, for all your input. It is much appreciated! :thumbsup:

1) Yes, it's definitely possible. Sorry I can't confirm it though.
2) Yeah it is a bit disappointing - but it's very possible that the animation will be improved by the release date. It's difficult to believe Bethesda won't be working on it - it really does stand out next to the vastly, incomparably improved walking animations.
3) Yes, that is possible. I suppose I wasn't quite clear enough about the female body sliders - the top end is noticeably larger than the bottom end, but it's not body-builder size like the top end of the male slider. You can definitely have a muscular (or toned, rather) woman - but not like http://bodybuilding.forbestbodybuilding.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/female-bodybuilding-1.jpg. That picture is definitely doable.

» Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:25 pm

Awesome stuff Sammu, you got the info the real fans have been after

Is there a consistent number of perks for each skill then? i.e. 10 or more for each skill? My Issue is that I have 7 skills (One Handed, Destruction, Restoration, Alteration, Enchanting, Light Armor) all of which I obviously want to max, and only 50 available perks.

And do all the characters start with the same level of Magicka? Also, was the Dragon-skin on the Breton's a daily power, or a constant spell absorption? It sounds like their resistance to Magicka has basically disappeared and replaced with shock resistance

Thanks again, awesome work

» Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:36 pm

Awesome stuff Sammu, you got the info the real fans have been after

Is there a consistent number of perks for each skill then? i.e. 10 or more for each skill? My Issue is that I have 7 skills (One Handed, Destruction, Restoration, Alteration, Enchanting, Light Armor) all of which I obviously want to max, and only 50 available perks.

And do all the characters start with the same level of Magicka? Also, was the Dragon-skin on the Breton's a daily power, or a constant spell absorption? It sounds like their resistance to Magicka has basically disappeared and replaced with shock resistance

Thanks again, awesome work

Haha, don't forget, I'm a "real" fan too, so I was after this information too!

1) It's not exactly the same for every skill, as far as I could tell. Some of them have 9 - I definitely got the complete sets for Heavy Amour and Sneak, for example - but some seem to have more. Destruction seemed to have quite a few, and Alteration didn't seem to have quite as many. I wouldn't worry though - I'm planning on having about 8 or 9 "major" skills for each of my characters!

2) Yes, all characters start with 100 in each of Health, Magicka and Stamina. Slightly disappointing, I thought, even if you get to add 10 points to one stat on level-up. The starting skills are different for each race, though.
3) I don't know if it was daily, sorry. I didn't see anyone play as a Breton either so didn't see their loading screen.

» Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:16 pm

1) Yes, it's definitely possible. Sorry I can't confirm it though.
2) Yeah it is a bit disappointing - but it's very possible that the animation will be improved by the release date. It's difficult to believe Bethesda won't be working on it - it really does stand out next to the vastly, incomparably improved walking animations.
3) Yes, that is possible. I suppose I wasn't quite clear enough about the female body sliders - the top end is noticeably larger than the bottom end, but it's not body-builder size like the top end of the male slider. You can definitely have a muscular (or toned, rather) woman - but not like http://bodybuilding.forbestbodybuilding.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/female-bodybuilding-1.jpg. That picture is definitely doable.

Oh, okay. That tremendously helped my resolve there, I was a bit worried about the female weight slider. No, I am definitely not going for that look, lmao. I will no longer lose any sleep from this. Thanks a bundle!

As for the the Orc magicka resistance, I guess I'll just have to wait and see! I really hope it's in, it would make the absence of attributes seem a little more kindly on the poor Orcs -- due to having a hardy endurance of body and will they're able to withstand more magical punishment than your average person.

And for swimming... yes, I honestly don't believe they'll improve in it the span of 45 days either. I suppose it's just one of those things that remain in first person! I usually didn't use 3rd person for swimming anyway.

Again, thanks a ton! You're the best, Sammu! :goodjob: