If that were to happen, then they need to make leveling alot slower after a certain point.
Make it so, if you're gonna be a god, that you need to put some god-like effort into it.
No just shooting 1-damage fireballs at a dummy for 10 hours.

Maybe your skills level up faster the higher the level of the enemy? Or the bigger the level difference between you and the enemy? Or both?

I had the idea that you HAVE a level cap but it's not a solid one, it can only go beyond it's natural limit if you really put effort in it AND beyond the cap they can also DROP again if you don't use them. The basic cap would be 100 for ALL races and character types, 100 is basically a "humanly optimal" level, going beyond 100 is above normal like being able to qualify for the Olympics. Some races have a natural maximum above 100 but that doesn't mean other can't push to that as well. Also the multipliers how fast they can level something should differ.
My example here is a Orc who all his live didn't train and a wood elf who spent his entire live training and building muscle, the wood elf would be stronger than the Orc. However if the Orc started training he could reach that peak more easily and also hold it easier with less training.

That way somebody else CAN be on par with another but while it's relatively easy for one it will be hard work and effort for the other.


EDIT: Oh yea and an idea on magic was that it levels better the harder to do your spell is, more effort, more payoff.

I like the idea of skills that decrease slowly over time if you never use them.
It would allow you to, in essence, change your character class over time if you simply chose to focus on another area (ie: picking up a sword because you realized you're no good with magic). Of course skills should have a minimum that they never fall under; something like 75% of the highest level you've achieved to date.

For instance, a character with 100 in Destruction could never, nor matter how long, drop below 75.
And a character who had never made it beyond 80 in the same skill could never, no matter how long, drop below 60. This simulates a retention of knowledge but simply a lack of practice (it's like riding a bike). You'll never forget how to do it, you just won't be as proficient as you were.

Well my idea was similar, it never drops below it's natural cap which is 100, but they CAN drop again if they are over 100. So if your destruction skill is, lets say, 120 and you stop using it it can drop back to 100 over time but not lower.
I see skills at 100 as you reached a "humanly optimal" in which you CAN have 100 in pretty much all fields (like the term "Homo universalis", the ideal renaissance man). However you can only have a limited number OVER 100 and TRUE mastery since they take time and effort to keep up, stop using them and they go back to "optimal". This wouldn't punish you really for trying a new field and you wouldn't be a master in all fields, but you can very well be "VERY good" in all skills.

The only problem is, I don't think Bethesda would take up that offer. :shrug:

It's a good one, but they're probably going to set a level cap with no lee-way.

It would get annoying eventually too, if you didn't want to super realistic roleplay and you wanted a god character on one save while the rest are for more realism.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. But fact is, most folks are never gonna reach "optimal". . . ever. Even the adventurer type. I imagine that even a character who did reach optimal, through disuse, would eventually drop to "above-average."

But that's just details, in principle I like the idea. It encourages a consistency of gameplay without forcing it on you if you want to change.

Edit: Actually might not be -that- difficult to mod something like this into what we've already got. . .

Those could still use a godmode that doesn't make skills and attributes drop anymore, or maybe a console command "stop skill recession" or so. On game consoles you couldn't really make a god like character anyway or they could make entries in the console possible, i don't think that would really be hard to do actually. Hell they could actually simply have a dropdown list of the most common console commands, that way people who play on game consoles could get out of bugged situations easier without having to restart the game. Sure now people will say "that allows cheating" but hey, would you like to restart your whole game because a glitch ends you up stuck in a door permanently that could be fixed by warping to another location?


EDIT: Actually thinking of it, emergency console commands on GAME consoles would be a good idea.

As long as the decrease is not based on in-game time it's fine by me, I tend to wait ALOT so well.. xD

lol or a scripted "Help me!" spell.

Well not quite that .

But generally drop down console commands like "unstuck" which could place you on a position where you can freely move. Or have a "give item" list of objects that are crucial to the main storyline. As said it could be considered as having cheating in the game but that is anything you can mod in the game too, all that it would really help is save you from having to completely redo the game because one detail bugged up.

Just think how many times people said "I got stuck because Item X decided to glitch through the floor" or "That thing i needed failed to spawn". THAT kills the game far easier than having potential cheating.

:nod:

I remember getting stuck in doors. Actually, on the PS3 my step-brother went to Crucible, and the door was missing. He could walk right inside and see the low-detail buildings.

But I play on computer, mods and visual quality is better.

I can't wait for The Elder Scrolls V. I don't think I've ever looked forward to a game this much... ever! This post concerns general improvements that I believe would be welcome in TES V.

First of all, Oblivion is my favourite game of all time. I think I know everything about it, bordering on the insane. This, however, is a problem. It depresses me that there's nothing else to discover. Therefore, I believe TES V should have some sort of network option where more content, including quests, maps, weapons armour etc., can be dowloaded for a price, similar to the recently released Dragon Age: Origins.

On the subject of network options, perhaps there could be some sort of an online profile of your character, where a set of 'trophies' (on the console version) specific to TES V can be unlocked. Only the most skilled players could unlock the tremendously difficult trophies. Which leads me to my next point.

Oblivion is an extremely hard game at first if its difficulty is set to maximum. I believe TES V should be on a whole new level. Whereas Oblivion bases difficulty on your character's ability to damage enemies and their ability to damage you, although this could be incorporated into TES V, I believe it should be difficult in a sense that it takes months, even years to complete. And even then, more quests could be downloaded via the network. Also, certain creatures or NPCs could reside in the wilderness that are so difficult to defeat that entire storylines are dedicated to finding ways to defeat them. An example off the top of my head is that your character finds a dragon wreaking havoc on a town, and finds its lair. Unable to defeat it, the character must quest to find a way, and consequently finds out that certain materials must be gathered in order to make a shield that can successfully block against the dragon's fire (I'm sure I'd think of something better if I had more time, but this is just general suggestions, remember).

In TES V, I'd also like to see a bit more variation. That is to say, caves should have different layouts, each NPC should be unique, forts should have traps where you won't expect them to be, etc.

Moreover, the ability to ignore certain quests indefinitely in Oblivion was a good sense of freedom. But how about going to the next step and giving your character the ability to change the storyline altogether. There could be about five different outcomes, or even more, on a scale of how heroic or villainous you decide to be. Although it was cool to be evil in Oblivion, there wasn't the ability to be evil enough in my opinion. If there were, say, five possible outcomes, consider the possibilities. The most heroic option could result in the character saving the world and being hailed as a hero, with statues of him/her placed in the capital city. On the other side of the scale, the most villanous option could result in the character siding with the antagonists and usurping the throne, enslaving all of the once free people and tyrannically ruling them with an iron fist. But then again, the scale could shift in the middle. Your heroic character who is hailed as a God make get a little bit too irritated when another needy member of the public asks them for help recovering their potato bread, and you might just decide to take that two-hander on your back and cleave their head off. Or perhaps, the character who has been newly named archmage for services to the guild may abuse their position to gain political power, and overthrow the emperor. The possibilites are vast! In other words, if you want to be truly good, then you can be a true saviour. If you want to be truly evil, you can become one powerful greedy megalomaniac who has abused magic to make himself invinsible and supreme ruler of the world. Is it wrong that being evil is sounding more appealing to me?

Some of the ideas I've read so far pleased me greatly. I'm relieved that you gamers can come up with truly amazing ideas. Some that really stood out for me were improved AI (for example, if you murdered someone out in the Wilderness, guard would not find out straight away). Also, I read something about witch covens in the wilderness. What a fantastic suggestion! It would break the monotony of just bandits, marauders, necromancers etc. Another of my personal favourites was the inclusion of other mythical monsters, such as werewolves. If you're bitten by a werewolf, you become one - the same way as vampirisim works (a note on that, too: once you've become one, and cured yourself, should you be immune to the vampiric effects of porphyric haemophilia? NO!). Seriously, fellow gamers, nice work with the suggestions. They own! And they most definately have my support.

I know I've rambled on, but I could literally talk about the possibilities for TES V forever... or at least until it comes out.

What I would like to see in TES:V are... basically 5 main things.

-Each NPC is unique, and reflects this in the AI in some way. A crazy NPC who has a break-down every now based on a random percentage, or an elderly woman who raises piglets. A troop of children that goes out in the wood looking for small animals to capture, and people who travel town-to-town by caravan. Fighters who will actually go through some low-level dungeons, or fishermen who will sell you whatever they catch, and maybe fishing supplies.

-Social Skills so you could feel like you're actually interacting with NPCs and not just clicking "Admire" "Joke" "Coerce" and "Boast". A higher speech craft skill might be able to give you more skills.

-More unique items. They don't have to be super-powerful, I just found it dumb that everybody had the same clothes, with the same shoes, and the same weapons, with very few exceptions. I wish there were more kinds of lanterns, more kinds of weapons, more kinds of misc items. Etc. Why not have an enchanted crystal ball that lets you spy on another character, or a cooking station to let you make food have better benefits without turning it into a potion? I also think it'd be awesome if we had more items to horde.

-Acrobatic Skills, so you can climb over things, maybe having a "marker" for edges where you could grab on, and things you could swing on. I hated the feeling of acrobatics in Oblivion because the dodges rarely worked, and you couldn't jump over something if your feet were 1 inch off of the point where you could stand.

-Children. I didn't like feeling like everybody spawned from nothing. If it's too big of a debate, Bethesda could just do what was done in Fallout 3 and make them Essential.

I don't like how spellcasting mechanics were handled in OB and/or TESIII... Anyway, what I do want to see is:

- chance of casting failure from TESIII, where the chance decreases the higher your rank in the skill

- magicka cost slightly decreases as skill rank increases (like how the cast cost on enchanted items in TESIII decreased the higher your rank in the Enchant skill).

- more creative spells! It felt like restoration had EVERYTHING in TESIV, especially with the "Absorb" effects, which in TESIII were under the mysticism school of magic. With any luck, we might actually see new 'schools' of magic, since the Mages Guild and it Psjjj - however you pronounce it - has collapsed. Perhaps Thaumaturgy will make a come back. At any rate, it always feels like some schools have a few good spells, or many many good spells. I shouldn't want to take a whole school for just a single spell - and that's what Alteration felt like in TESIV. Water breathing, water walking, and shield. Mostly shield. Burden, as always, fails to be useful in any meaningful way. Three spells, versus the plethora of goodies I could get from Restoration: resist [element], restore [skill/attribute], fortify [skill/attribute], restore [health/magicka/fatigue], fortify [health/magicka/fatigue], cure disease, cure poison, absorb [attribute/skill/health/magicka/fatigue]... Restoration was the single most useful magic skill next to destruction. The others just had a few very good spells, and not much else. That's not how it should work.

I'd like to see special perks like in Fallout 3, to really put a personalized feeling on your character. To either excel farther at your strengths or lessen your weaknesses. This type of thing could realistically and easily be imported into the world of Tamriel.

to add in some attributes too: high willpower increases casting chance and high intelligence decreases cost.

Summer in Skyrim would be hard time for vampires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdTduSstXVM <- shot somewhere north of the Arctic Circle.
Goes through 7 days of midsummer I believe. In mountaineus region you can avoid sun easier of course, if the sunlight that hurts you need to be direct and powerful. (Moonlight doesnt hurt you even if it's actually reflected sunlight)

How about multiplayer? Not co-op, but online competitions (post based heavily on Cod:6)

There could be like killing field, free for all and pro.
Find the object: race to steal soething without killing any guards.
Assasination: kill somebody withot being seen by anyone.
Protect the tower: kind of like headquarters, exept the place would be built to resist seige, and wouldn't move around.

after playing Fallout 3 and going back to Oblivion i have to say, it does feel like they're missing. especially since Tamriel is filled with so many colorful races...

i just want to see little Khajiit 'cubs' sneaking around and juvenile orcs playing with toy warhammers... i couldn't care less about killing them...

*Inserts hand in screen, and slaps Don't forget this across the face.*

I know, right? I'd never hurt the little kids even if they were attacking me.

It's just when you've played Fallout 3 and gone back to Oblivion, you're like "Dude... where's the kids?" and you realize how much potential children had in that game.

And the fact that FO3 kids weren't even very good adds to this. There was one kid I never figured out for he or she. So, even badly done kids is better than nothing. Or, sprite-kids you can't even interact/talk with and never do anything (TES2)

In Dragon Age kids are done extremely well. Voice acted, animated, scripted, and they have realistic dialogue. And they can't be touched, just as any non hostile civilian.

I really don't see the point in not being able to harm kids. I mean, if anything, they're saying it's ok to kill people as long as you don't kill kids? Stupid idea. I wouldn't kill people simply because I can kill people in a game. (There's no law about killing kids in games, right?)

Also, blocking, a pretty big thing around here. I had an appiphony: I would like to see the abilty to block when you like, but it needs to be timed - I can't keep the block button down, I have to press it when the enemy attacks - most of us don't hate the fact that the block skill is pointless, just the fact that it's far far far far far far far too easy.

If you choose to add fast travel (I hope not), could you please never automatically give us places to travel to - force us to travel there ourselves first, or pay for some form of transport, also, make it very hard to find places, very hard to travel, and make the terrain huge, with hundreds of small pointless caves, shacks, settlements etc. this would make me feel good about getting somewhere, give me plenty of travelling time, fill everything out, and make me not feel like I'm cheating or missing out when I use it. Fast travel actually worked fine in Fallout for me, this is what I think made it ok.

Could you bring out the console games to thier limitations first, then carry on some more for a while to add extra stuff us PC-ers use? It svcks how we have to be limited to console capabilities. I was looking back at previous posts before, and I saw someone asking for destroyable terrain, this is a prime example of what it would be good for.

Lastly, can you let us customise the game down to the basics? I've always hated the gameplay of TES games, it just too... unimmersive (Personally, I don't like the similarities to FPS's), I know it'll never be changed, due to the majority, but I'm sure there would be projects on changing it by those of us who prefer the gameplay of the non FPS-ish games, but love everything else about TES, I'm not sure if it's possible, but if it is, I know there would be positive feedback. (This goes down to more than the gameplay, you could perhaps tweak the ragdollness of the physics, what happens when you kill an essential etc)

Rumours have tesv being in Skyrim or at least they've trade marked the name? If this is true i just saw a Russian movie called Wolfhound and the cinematography looked and felt like it could be an elder scrolls game done in Skyrim. The main town is full of people the all walking in mud because of the damp conditions, the housing very similar to Bruma but congested and roughly built even the main keep is large but rustically made the interiors with weapons on the walls, fires, everything made from wood and hay. If tesv is indeed in Skyrim i'd really hope the developers would take the time to watch this movie. I think if they took the feeling in this movie and were able to re-create the landscapes, even the lakes and mountains and trees they could make a great immersiful game. Something i think morrowind had but not so much oblivion.