Apparently, they developed Mysticism long before there was a name for it.. yet Mysticism was removed for Skyrim, which is oddly the only game with NPCs from the Psijic Order in it.

Does anyone else feel Bethesda is simply ignoring lore whenever it suits them? Kind of defeats the purpose, in my opinion.

It's the Mages Guild that created arbitrary categories to magic, mainly for beginners to ease its understanding. In reality, all magic is related, and a master of magic knows this and are able to break the barriers and such petty categories.

The Mysticism spells were just placed in other schools of magicka. It's not like they just wiped Mysticism from the lore. There's constantly debate amongst the mortals about how legit each school of magic is. Take, for example, the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Response_to_Bero%27s_Speech, or Colette Marence's comments about the criticisms on the school of Restoration.

I feel less like Bethesda ignores lore and more that a lot of players don't know lore well enough or are not willing to accept how versatile it is.

If anything, narrowing the classifications of magic brings one closer to it's real meaning.

How would you explain being able to "level up" arbitrary categories, potentially mastering one while still being a novice in another?

In Morrowind, Soul Trap, Demoralize, and Telekinesis were all part of the Mysticism category, as you put it. Becoming more proficient in that category meant you were able to use more powerful versions of each of those spells. However, all three spells are now part of three different schools of magic in Skyrim (Soul Trap in Conjuration, Demoralize in Illusion, and Telekinesis in Alteration) -- becoming better with one doesn't affect the others at all.

The schools obviously play a larger role than you're giving them credit for (in a single game, at least), and yet Bethesda seems to value them differently with each new game. That, to me, shows a lack of both understanding and willpower to conform to the lore they created for the sake of making things easier on their part.

Gameplay. Character and skill levels are vague representations of your character's proficiency, knowledge, and experience. They're game mechanics, not world mechanics.

If that's the case, why create lore when your game mechanics are going to contradict it or require it to be altered in some way? Why create game mechanics that don't allow you to reflect the lore you've created or require it to be altered in some way?

Either way, Bethesda is simply ignoring lore whenever it suits them.

I was so disappointed to lose yet another school of magic =[


When I did the college quest the first time I was ridiculously excited to see a member of the Psijic order. I thought FOR SURE they would be an actual long term part of this game.... I seriously felt like crying when they faded out of my pathetic little mages life forever....

Of course they are. They're trying to create a fun video game. Less than a percent of their player base cares about the lore, so they're not going to base gameplay mechanics around it, for Christ's sake. There's this little thing called gameplay and story segregation. Developers do it a lot.

The game mechanics don't so much contradict it as much as they are watered-down versions of the concepts. The lore is what creates the world, which the games are merely representations of.

Dude... no. I want my video game to be fun.

You... you get it. These other people are too busy thinkin about lore to realise it's a damn video game.