The Nords in Skyrim are very skeptical of magic. The College of Winterhold is hated.
Why do you expect it to have so much magic like in Cyrodill ran by Imperials who love magic.

Skyrim is a different place, a different culture. Magic is not liked due to the Oblivion crisis as many Nords blame magic for that.


The Nords hate the Thalmor.
Do some in game research about magic before ranting on about it, Magic has little place in the province of Skyrim.

different reasons

your argument is not valid since you are contradicting yourself - your claiming yourself magic is dependant on culture- but yo can play more magic afine cultures than nords and so are more cutlure living in skyrim...

besides, some of the most powerful beings in skyrim, they greybeards are also some kind of mages

your argument would only be valid if the "available magical power" was region specific - like athmosphere or something, and this is lorewise not the case

Awww... I want both the PAL and NTSC versions of Fireball!

It's not about the setting, it's about gameplay options. So I guess since they won't let those Khajiit merchants into Whiterun that all Khajiit players should be banned from the city as well? svcks to be Riverwood seeking aid from the Jarl then if you made a Khajiit.

Just because you are in a different geographical area does not mean your magic loses power. Even if it is held in low regard by the citizens. Magic isn't like a cell phone signal. "can you hear me now? Good!" :flamethrower: or "Damn, I only get 1 bar in Skyrim. Better head back to the Cyrodiil"

It is pointless - they will not understand anyway.

You are not well informed i believe.

It is a fact Nords hate magic. There are a few mages here and there but are shunned by the majority of people in Skyrim, except maybe the court wizards. There are many outlaw mages as well.

The Winderhold college though is a place where magic is practiced freely. It has nothing to be jealous of other mage college establishments in other parts of Tamriel- on the contrary. It is a place where people can go to to research magic in more depth. Even schools of magic such as necromancy are freely practiced in this college. It's prominent feature are magic experiments and this fact is supported directly from the in-game npcs and lore. And the character becomes an arch-mage in this college.


So lore cannot be an excuse for the character's lack of magic options, sorry.
Actually it's the most silly and unbased "argument" i have ever heard in an effort to defend the lack of magic options in the game.

The Greybeards are respected yes, but overall magic is hated.
The College has been blamed for destroying Winterhold. The Oblivion Crisis is blamed on Magic.

I disagree with what you argue, magic has a small role in Skyrim. It's unimportant for the region.
If you want magic, go back to the Imperial Cyrodill which is ruled by magic users.

Skyrim isn't all about the Nords. People from all over the Tamrielic Empire live in Skyrim and there're 10 playable races in the game.

What a ridiculous argument. Maybe if the only playable race were Nord you'd have half a point, but there are other races available in the game; you should look those up, particularly the Altmer.

So are you saying magic shouldn't be in the game? Or that it should be limited somehow? Or that there are too many mage NPC's, Bandits, etc... in the game? Or mage characters should be shunned more by the people? How is magic playing a big role in Skyrim when you say it should have a small role?

From your title I first thought you were talking about threads that say magic/destruction is underpowered/broken. Now I'm not quite sure what you are driving at. Restless Draugr and others cast ice spells at me all the time. And they are dead Nords. And you were caught crossing the border into Skyrim so if you were a mage on one side of the border I don't see how that changes on the other side.

Because the local opinions on magic should have no effect on the power of magic. The complains are about magic being underpowered and unbalanced, whether the nords like magic or not has no bearing on that.

Magic is as much part of a culture in Tamriel as iPhones are of RL Human culture. Some people use them, some don't. For instance, In Japan, it's considered rude for anyone to talk on a cellphone on a train, doesn't stop people there from doing it. Much like the use of Magic is more distrusted in Skyrim than it would be anywhere else in Tamriel. Many players who play as Mages say that the Magic mechanics are broken. I've never played as a Mage (Warrior all the way), so I can't comment. But I think that's what they're complaining about. And if that's the case, if it is broken, then they have every right to complain.

I agree with everything you say. I think the whole we-Nord-we-don't-like-magic-we-do-melee vibe is what Bethesda got in it's mindset when is piled on exploits for melee and weeded out any real viability [or fun] in magic with a fine toothed comb.

Spellmaking is just the same as enchanting, just with a spell instead of an item. There was no reason to remove spellmaking other than it would make magic useful and fun enough to ignore melee.


I'd say that everyone who took part in deciding to remove spellmaking deserves a lump of coal in their stockings.

Following that logic of game design, they could set the next game in the Summerset Isles and give players only a single set of weapons and armor. After all, the Altmer are all about the arcane arts, so there's no need to cater to all these warrior cultures, no?

you are contradicting yourself... Nords hate magic... Oblivion Crisis..... blah blah blah... but whats the underlying reason for all those things? Exactly! cuz magic is too powerfull and a way of cheating strenght in a battle.

So the fact that magic is underpowered is actually worse since it should be overpowered if you look at the lore correctly. But you probably couldn't see the connection.

I play an Altmer and I dont even come from Skyrim.

Those Nord can do as they wish, Im a mage.
And, no. I will not stop complaining about Skyrim magic.

My point is, magic is fine how it is.

Magic is not under powered. The game should reflect the region where its in, magic shouldn't be over powered like it was in Oblivion.
You amateurs could just spam a fire ball spell and kill anything. Oblivion had bad spell management.

Skyrim has a much better balance. You shouldn't be able to spam sparks and expect to 1HK a guard, while it takes us pros effort with a sword.
You can stand back and kill a troll without any fear of it attacking you, unlike a sword which requires proper skill.

Guys the college itself is a valid reason about how every aspect of magic - and even more, since research is done more freely in it than in other provinces - should already be in the game.

Balanced? Heh that's funny. You care so much about balance and don't mind smithing enchanting etc?
Anyway it's not a matter of balance - you play how you want - plus it was well balanced in Oblivion too, you may not remember it correctly. You could not just create a "win" spell because it had the respective magicka cost.

It's more of a matter of choices, gameplay styles, immersion, variety.
If you defend the lack of these, then i don't know why you play TES in the first place.

I disagree.
For a TES game, a series of games that traditionally sports a varied, interesting, customisable magic system with a plethora of options, Skyrim magic is abyssmal.
There are too many effects inexplicably missing, there is a too wide of a gap between spells that do exist, the lowest 2 tiers of spells become obsolete too fast and the master spells are almost always useless due to too high charge time, too low control.

If this was the first game in the series, I would have counted the magic as slightly below average, for a game.
But its not.

Oblivion made magic so easy, I could win the Arena quests by sitting up on the wall and spamming fire ball spell.
You amateurs all cry about how magic is under powered, it is, compared to the insane Oblivion magic. Skyrim magic is how it should be. It should be at the same level as range and melee, not so much better.

If you want to jump on a rock and spam sparks at a troll, I hope it takes a long long time, because that is so much easier than melee. Heck, even bow and arrow is more courageous than that as magic is infinite and easier to hit with.

You are approaching this from a powergamer point of view, while I am a roleplayer.
I really do not care about 'overpowered' this or that, wrong series of games.

Oblivion magic was bad, but not as bad as Skyrim magic.
Daggerfall had awesome magic. Great choices, great customisability.

I'm coming from a point where I want proper hardcoe, not "wimpy hardcoe".
I've played many role play games and Oblivion had an absolutely OP spell structure to melee and the very weak range.

So what you're saying is Magic was broken in Oblivion because you could win fights using magic, while in Skyrim magic is great because well over 50% of fights started with magic end with a weapon in your hand.

If you need end fights with weapons more than magic, you are not role playing as a mage.

Magic is broken is Skyrim, because it is not powerful enough to permit a mage to win fights with it's primary weapon set.

And who forced you to make that spell?
This isnt halo.
Again, this is a roleplaying game.
While min-maxing and powergaming may be fun for some people, its simply not what the game was designed to be played as.

Meanwhile http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Arena:Magic had the best magic system of them all.
Read it, and mourn the loss.