Not early on, no. But that sort of thing can be fun to do at times, especially on modern game engines like what we have now. Morrowind's problem was that it was too easy to be able to do that. It should be possible, just not right away. Having ridiculously high magnitude spells (enormous explosive fireballs, jump spells that would make superman jealous, levitation, enchantments to make yourself fast as hell etc...) can be a lot of fun. If it's too game-breaking for you then don't do it, but, again, if it's something that takes a long time to build up to and you can do a lot of cool, powerful stuff with it, that should definitely be possible. It just wasn't balanced properly in Morrowind, and by that I mean, again, that it was too easy to attain.



Great generalization. Obviously you're smart. I don't think anyone had a problem with the difficulty of level-scaling. It was more about the ridiculous tediousness that came with it, and the requirement to level up a certain way and be more careful about your skills. It took away a lot of the freedom of playing the game how you want, which Morrowind had a lot of. It also broke immersion where, instead of having better AI and being better combatants, NPCs just had crazy good armor that was inappropriate (highwaymen with full glass armor, for example), and more health. And more difficult opponents as you got stronger didn't just mean that they were harder, it meant that you'd be playing the same block + attack or evade + attack game over and over and over and that it would take much longer for the enemy to die. That's just stupid. People say Oblivion's combat is better than Morrowind's. It's not. The Combat SYSTEM is way better, but the combat experience is just as bad, if not worse, due to stupid things like that. What's the point of having a big sword if you're just gonna end up slashing the same opponents with it for minutes at a time? Combat can be quicker and still be more difficult. Bethesda just handled it REALLY poorly in Oblivion and that's what our complaint was. I love Morrowind, much more so than Oblivion, but I do prefer the rush of knowing that there are still things that can kill you later on, I just wish that kind of thing was decided in less than an hour. Kind of loses its intensity after that amount of time.

Really? Because I remember only Morrowind allowed you to be. There were so many exploits to make you overpowered. That's why all the people that like Morrowind better didn't like Oblivion because there were only two ways to become a god in Oblivion and they were purposely exploiting things such as 100% chameleon or picking all the skills you didn't use for Major skills so that all the mobs stayed weak while you got stronger. As for precedence, Daggerfall and Arena didn't allow you to become a god either, especially not Arena. Morrowind is the odd duck and that's why I didn't like it as much as Daggerfall or Oblivion, Morrowind had a really amazing main story but overall, it was just had too many exploits.

And I'm entitled to voice mine; after all I only replied to this comments after people criticised my OP.

The fact of the matter is that limiting the game is why people see Morrowind as so much more superior to Oblivion in many ways.

Also if you want your character to be balanced it is no more different for wanting your character to be based in a certain skill, like saying one person wants a mage character and anyone else who can be proficient in all types of combat is too overpowered and should not be allowed..

You are limiting yourself but your opinion limits everyone; not just those who wants it to be limited and thus tis' unfair.

All of which you consciously took advantage of, or..?

You don't seem to accept that I don't see that the limitation of my character as a disadvantage. I regard it as credible realism to not easily become a walking god of sorts, which thus enhances my game. It's pretty unfair to say that your opinion lets everyone else benefit from the game and mine does not.

If the devs can implement becoming godlike in a credible way, I can accept it. But it shouldn't be something which happens from the natural course of the game (like beating the main quest - because the game is usually tailored to making that possible for every hillbilly playing the game). And yes - I am going into powerplaying or metagaming Skyrim here, because that is something that IMO people have to do purposefully and thus doesn't distract from being able to play the game in a natural way.

Yes, Morrowind had many ways to gain godlike powers but as you said, most of them were exploits. They were not intended by the devs. You were not supposed to use them.
There are ofc ways to become very very powerfull without exploiting things but you would have to invest a lot of time and effort to achieve that goal. And really...if you dedicate yourself so much, why shouldn't you be able to gain godlike power?

If people actually stopped powergaming Morrowind, they would see, it is a more challenging game than they think. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it.

Also saying that people preferred Morrowind over Oblivion because they couldn't become god in the latter is just ridiculous...

You have to realize that the games are also a continuum of the lore. Putting it in the game on purpose to make you more powerful than one of the Tribunal would be ridiculous. Being a god is a novelty. It is fun for a little bit but gets old quick. Why make the end result of every character a god? It is also ironic that people that say don't tell them "If you don't like fast travel, don't use it." say if you don't want to be a god at the end of the game then gimp your character....



It's not a random generalization, it's a fact. Also, Oblivion is more tedious in combat than Morrowind? lol? Here, I'll swing at the same person for a minute until I finally hit them once.... That's how combat for a large part of Morrowind is. It's all roll of the dice and it's tedious to the extreme. Oblivion actually made sense in it's combat. I here people complain that you keep hitting someone over and over again for a minute. I just have to ask one thing, what did you do to your character? I've played Oblivion on highest difficulty and less than half a minute beating on people to kill them, I don't even see how you could spend a minute on one creature on normal difficulty unless you were like extremely low on the weapon skill you were trying to use. If that is the case then, your just fishing for issues with the game. I've already said that Oblivion's level-scaling system was too much but Morrowind's was just as flawed, it made the game too easy.

I never said that you can become easily overpowered; I want the option to be there but you have to walk for it; playing a character for hundreds of hours should allow you to become more powerful than someone who's only played on that character for say 40 hours.

What I am against is taking away the option of become overpowered and it isn't unfair to say more people would be benefitted by keeping the option of allowing their character to become powerful than to limit everyone. That's common sense.

Ahh... those were the days...


Well... yeah... Morrowind got a lil' boring once I could kill anything with a swing with my axe... but I don't think levelscaling is what it needed... it simply needed some higher level dungeons, ain't sure anyone noticed this but: around Balmora and Seyda enemy's were low level (where you'll mostlikely be while your low level) and the further north, east, or vest you went the dungeons where far more deadly...
While Oblivion was a world made where everyone were exactly equal in everything... there were no reason for leveling up... (exept Daedric quests...) and everything was just one big leveled list... also in Morrowind the ecosystem wouldn't get destroyed 'cuss every place there was a different list... with random chances and enamys from (example) level 12 to 18 but just because your level 18 doesn't mean level 12 creatures have all gone extinct...

They were exploits of the abilities that were put in the game. Levitation was in and of itself an exploit in Morrowind, same with spears and over-enchanting multiple layers of armor. They were removed for a reason, because they were overpowered and needed to be fixed. Just because you spend a lot of time doesn't mean they have to be a god. They can be strong and still within the boundaries of realism. Also, I'll just stop you right there before you make some post saying how it's not supposed to be realistic, it's a fantasy world. There has to be a realism in a game from the stand point of the fantasy world. It's unrealistic for someone to become a god just because they got good at their abilities. They can become powerful but not going around annihilating all existence.



Yet, the reason that is given so often why people didn't like Oblivion but and liked Morrowind better was because Oblivion's combat took too long to kill someone. Instead of one shotting or two shotting things, you had to hit them 7+ times.

You may or may not know this but because of the tribunals many years of disconection to the heart (+ keeping up the ghostfence) drained them of nearly all their power...

....what? What does that have to do with anything.... it was an allusion to the tribunal being gods and having incredible power. Of course they have no power now, they are dead.

I definately endorse the idea of rewarding a player which has spent a hundred more hours playing than another player. Killing a thousand ogres for example should make you stronger by a certain amount - but I question that this should go up to the point where you're invincible to damage, throw fireballs that burn cities to the ground or the like.
Skyrim would have to offer credible quests and appropriate challenges to allow for such an extraordinary development, which I simply don't see to be any focus at all. In no way is Skyrim currently hinting that you're destined to be a walking god. If it did, it would trivialize lore and immersion for me. For whatever reason you're a Dragonborn, tasked to kill dragons, for which you receive some tailored abilities - no less, no more.

Ah well, I guess I'm going a bit overboard, so I'll call it quits here.

I'm actually quite a fan of realism... but to an extent. Here are some of my thoughts on...

FAST TRAVEL: I'm totally cool with the fast travel system since game time passes while you do it, and I really don't feel like running back and forth everywhere... even if I do have a horse. I think Oblivion handled it very well, by making you travel to destinations first. The only thing I'd change about the current fast travel system is this: Fast travel should be occasionally interrupted by enemy encounters.

EATING & SLEEPING: A lot of people think eating and sleeping should be required. I don't, because in the back of my mind I just pretend my character snacked on something the last time I fast traveled or waited. Additionally, I always choose to sleep eight hours at each level up, and occasionally eat ingredients just for the hell of it. I do, however, think that taking the time to eat a meal and sleep a full eight hours should be rewarded with certain attribute bonuses.

TIME: Ok, I was pretty lax about eating, sleeping, and travel. However, I really think the sped-up time harms the suspension of disbelief. I would really really like the option to have time pass as normal.

WEATHER: No one really talks about this very much... I think weather should have an effect on your character. For example: If you run around in the snow with only light clothing, you should suffer a small attribute penalty. However, if you put on a warm coat, the penalty would go away. If the weather is extremely severe, like a blizzard, you should even suffer health damage for being too under-dressed.

Amen.



Time should definitely slow down a bit but not be normal time. It should be about 50% or slow slower than that of Oblivion.

Just for the record, MW, OB and FO3 level was all broken. Any game that allows you to be god like after completing less than half of the game's leveling is broken.

MW = lvl 20 god
OB = lv 15 god
FO3 = lvl 10 god

God = no fear of death.

For a game to remain engaging for as long as TES intends, it is important to maintain the fear of death. That means there should be enemies present that you can never surpass and kill easily.

I don't consider the removal of challenge from the game an adequate reward for having played it for a long time.

Demi god = easy mod
Challenged = hard mod

Uhm...I was never complaining about realism. Actually I do like my games believable. And while Morrowind's godlike powers wasn't the most believable thing, Oblivion's level scaling was just much worse.
I am not saying I want to become god. I am just saying you should be able to annihilate a whole village with a firestorm while levitating if you actually spend hours of hours practicing firestorms and levitation. And of course you shouldn't be the only insanely powerful being around, which was the problem with Morrowind (as well as the crap AI).

Saying spears were overpowered makes me question if you actually played the game...




Thats a reason I haven't encountered very often. The reason I see most of the time is because: Oblivion cut some freedom.
Choosing to finish the game as a insanely powerful being is part of that freedom. As well as finishing the game as a weak stick-wielding pilgrim.

I like my enemys to die swiftly but I also like to take appropriate damage so the scalings never right for me lol I want realistic damage difficulty modifier.

Realism(within proper context of the game universe) and balance are good. They are merits of good game design, re-playability, and proper difficulty.


I'm glad each new BSG game has less and less exploits and cheese. The amount of god-mode abilities + exploits in FO3 was drastically less than TES3/4. I hope they continue this.

You could run backwards and stay just out of your opponent's range while hitting them the whole time with your spear.





That's the problem though because the game only ends when you quit. If they didn't let you keep playing after the main quest then it wouldn't matter but since you can carry on afterwards it makes it quite mundane and boring that the only activity available at that point is owning everyone and everything in the game.

I prefer realism, but with lots of power to be gained by people who really work for it. By default, your character should be equal to most enemies.

annihilating a whole village while hovering over it and destroying it with a firestorm is being a god. Destroying a village while on the ground by setting the buildings on fire with spells and killing any villagers that attack you or try to flee is acceptable in the range of powerful, but doing it while hovering over the village with one spell is god-like and doesn't belong.



Worm already answered it. Also, you could poke people to death with spears while levitating above them also.



The only freedom Oblivion cut was the freedom of becoming a god when it doesn't belong in the game. There is a reason that games that allow you to become a god usually score average to low, because they are a NOVELTY and novelties get old quick while a real game lasts for a long time.

That worked with most weapons if your weaponskill and speed were high enough.



Well, let me replace my "finish" with "play" then. As long as you are not forced to have godlike powers I really see no problems with having the freedom to achieve those with enough work.

Actually, OB was god mode if you didn't level up. Once you got to a high enough level it got more difficult past the point of maxing out your skills. But it's the same principle. This time around it shouldn't be god-modeable, we can only hope.



Because it is forcing you to, because either you have to stop leveling your character before you get to level 50 or you have to be a god with your version of TES. The reason you shouldn't be allowed to get godlike powers is because it doesn't make sense to the lore. Just because you want to have an hour or two of running around killing everyone shouldn't compromise the series or the integrity of the game developer.