Hi there,

I recently ran into http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=164087%20alt= article, that says Skyrim will have a total number of 18 skills - for me this is a very bad news , to be honest. From Daggerfall, theres a variety of skills that You can develop for Your character. There's a opinions that Daggerfall had too much useless skills, but in general no one forces You to use it . Same for Morrowind, theres multiple ways to master some skills and You have in mind that Your character isn't good in all skills. Then Oblivion came out, tossing away some of the skills that are supposed to be "useless". This was a bad step for me, becouse I always seeing the Elder Scrolls series as very immersive, open-ended games with many ways that You can archieve some goals (in quest or character development). An now, rumors says that Skyrim reduce the skills even more - and this is a VERY bad sign in my opinion.

What do You think?

Let's face it TES IX will have Combat, Magic, and Stealth as skills and TES X won't have any

I'll wait for more info before coming to an ultimate decision.

im fine with it as long as the skills that got removed were either mixed together with another skill, such as acrobats and athletics, or they got rid of the useless ones, such as heavy/light armor

Same here.

It's not a bad sign, you should read around to understand why, and what do you mean going console?

I have to say that is a good number of skills but that is up to your thoughts on what you will think in the end.

Thats what I'm saying...We don't need to get this topic locked by starting a console war. Change that answer selection please.

And this is probably the right number. After hearing why they trashed some other skills like mysticism, I understand.

The key is balancing and immersion, 18 skills are enough for both.

Depends on implementation (18 skills is plenty if done well), but the premise of cutting down is a worrying sign.

I couldnt care less, as far as im concerned they're only trimming out useless skills like mysticism and such.

Plus guns, multiplayer and a voiced player character...

I think you are a good week late, this has already had multiple topics on it as well as a general consensus. We for the most part have agreed that it is ok that Mysticism is gone as long as none of the effects are gone, which they aren't. We also know that Enchanting is a skill again so we actually lose an additional skill from Oblivion. We also get Farming, Mining, Smithing, and Woodcutting. The major guesses for what is gone/merged is Speechcraft and Mercantile (merged), Athletics and Acrobatics (merged), Sneak and Security (merged).

18 skills in the same leveling system as MW or OB wouldn't be good, but with no major skills, and the addition of perks I think it'll work quite well, it'll be much simpler to craft a character based on what you do, rather than numbers

Going console? Excuse me? :huh:

As for skills, I guess this is where I'm supposed to reply "Yes, more skills are automatically better, ignoring how they're actually implemented.", right?

yeh but they added perks that is huge for immersion, and they probably did get rid of the useless ones, like acrobatics and athletics? who needed 2 skills for running and jumping how about just 1

yeah dude this is totally unacceptable. i personally believe they should add individual skills for EVERY LIMB ON YOUR BODY, and you should be able to increase the performance of your individual limbs. also, they should bring back medium armor and add a fourth armor class to bridge the gap between medium armor and heavy armor.

also thaumaturgy. i want to play a thaumaturgist.

i'm sorry but when i come home from a hard day of doing simple math problems in junior high the LAST THING i want to do is sit down and play a game where i can't apply my budding mathematical skills. i mean god if i wanted less numbers to keep track of i'd go play i dunno CALL OF DUTY or some other casual console game.

sounds jus lik mass effect 3

all of those are debatable, I know people will chop my head of for suggesting guns are good, but if you made them slow to reload hard to find ammo have terrible accuracy, but do a big amount of ammo then yeh it could be good, and people are saying crossbows are good, they are pretty darn close to guns
multiplayer could be awesome, look at AC:B the multiplayer for that is awesome and it didn't affect gameplay at all, also the gambryo engine was actually meant to be used for online play
voiced player character wouldn't be that bad either, a lot of people want this

People see "And the skill list has been reduced from 21 to 18" and go into panic mode "OMFG HOW CAN THEY DO THIS TO ME!? I AM THE ONLY REAL TES FAN EVAR LOLz0R, BUT SRSLY BRING BACK MAI SKILLZ KAYE?!"

If you watched the Todd Howard Interview, you would understand it a bit better. Some CAN EFFECTIVELY be combined, where they are a bit useless on their own eg Acrobatics + Athleticism = almost the same thing. The same goes for Speechcraft and mercantile.

This isn't a bad thing.

It depends how the skills are implemented. But I've long found the process of simplifying game mechanics as annoying. Personally I enjoy a measure of complexity in the game. Makes my brain work now and then.

Thinking is overrated. You're supposed to be having fun, not thinking.

:spotted owl:

Well I think its fine, I mean they have added a staggering amount of perks so that would add and an addtional amount of depth and complexity to the skill system anyway I think as of right now thats its good we will just have to wait and see if its implmented well or not...

A few separated, useless skills add complexity and mental exertion how, exactly?

Why not combine two skills that are so remarkably similar, like Speechcraft and Mercantile or Athletics and Acrobatics. Since, logically if you are good at bartering, why the hell shouldn't you be good at convincing people?


As for the going console comment, its typical PC elitism thinking that the game being on consoles is the reason for it being "dumbed down".