As per the title, I have some suggestions to make about game control.

I know I am making one of the most annoying kind of posts to the developers, I need to strees that I am sure most of what I write is probably already in their minds, but there are some recurring features in all elder scrolls games that I feel are a relic and hinder the feel of the game.

I am talking about keybindings and spell activation.

Simply put, I believe that every single keybind should be able to be remapped by the player and nothing (especially the "quick slots") should be set in stone. Everyone has a comfort zone and there are a ton of people out there that find the numerals quite obstrusive to use while also moving the character.

Which brings me to my other suggestion. No more "cast" button please, when someone pushes the button for a particular spell/ability, the corresponding spell/ability should be cast, not just selected and then require another keybind to actually cast. As I am sure everyone is well aware, the response of your controls is a deciding factor on the feel of a game, and adding more steps between the player and his character can not only dispell the illusion of immersion, but also make a game feel sluggish.

To give an example for what I am trying to say, Suppose I play a mage and someone is chasing me around a dungeon. I would like to press (an example) the button Q and my first spell fires, as I turn a corner I see some kind of opportunity that I can exploit with another spell of mine (which is bound on button 'T') so I press T for it, some seconds later I get hit so I push Shift-Z to quaff a potion, and the chase continues.

Also, more quick slots please.



Next, I would like to comment a bit on spellcasting. First of all, the vanilla projectile speed in Oblivion is about 5 times slower than it should be, which, apart from easily dodgeable arrows, resulted in very slow spells hurtling through the air making it frustrating to hit a moving target, now couple this with the fact that the spells would usually fire after a short casting sequence and what you get is an awkward magic flinging experience.

My suggestions here are to greatly increase the projectile speed (perhaps even making some types of spells "hitscan"), and either greatly increase the casting speed and add some kind of delay before you can cast a spell again, or (my personal favorite) enable the "holding" of spells, i.e. if I continue to push the corresponding button, the spell will not fire after being cast, instead my character will "hold" the spell until I release the button, at which time he in turn instantly releases the spell.


Well, that's it, I hope I made the post as contructive as possible, would love to hear some thoughts.

I think you should read a bit about the new dual wielding system where you now equip spells directly into the left or right hand as you would a weapon or shield. It's one of the few game mechanics that we actually know a fair amount about. http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1176851-skyrim-information/page__hl__information

What about the consoles? I agree about the spell speeds.

A selectable wheel should be used for spellcasting options

I'm not sure about that. How do you suggest it should work?

Like in Dragon Age?

Many thanks for the pointer, tons of information I was not aware of. Digging in as I type.

@Dragonborn1: I am not sure about consoles, gimping the PC version (not using it at it's full extent) because there is a need for console portability is realistically what is going to happen, and I guess my suggestions are for control schemes with more than 8 action buttons.

Then no thank you.

If you PC player its all can be fixed with mods
Hotkey Casting updated
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12244

And chose one from
Ranokoas Faster Spells
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=23398
Ranokoas Ridiculously Faster Spells
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=24610
Ranokoas Extremely Faster Spells
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=24600

Imho, Mages have it easy enough in most games as it is, and slow spell projectiles is fine by me, these aren't medieval laser beams, you are using your mind to manipulate arcane energies, the speed does not have to be anything in particular.
And you now have a tactical choice, two spells prepared, or spell and weapon. Not having to choose a spellcasting stance makes spells easier to perform anyway.

Well, the "prepare" system sounds like what is already in place. Select ("Prepare") the spell, then push a button to cast. While the concept of the equipping the spells is intriguing, I am afraid that gameplay-wise it will be the exact same. As it must be an ironed out system by now, the chance of seeing the equivalent of Hotkey Casting is practically none. But the rest of my suggestions still apply, very slow moving spells and the awkward casting animation are a detriment to the experience. Being able to "hold" the spells as mentioned above will be a great addition in my point of view. The example of the flamethrower would suggest that already there is thought in that direction, which is very good news.




Thanks for the input, I am aware of the various mods that tinker exactly what I am proposing, but I would like to see that in the vanilla game since it is pretty standard practice in general and it would undoubtedly make the game even more enjoyable from day one instead of having to wait for script extenders and mods to do the job.



This doesn't have to do with "easy", if the game is imbalanced enough that the only way it can compensate is through making the player uncomfortable then something is wrong.