Oh, I can definitely agree to that. My point was simply that, with just a little bit of training or a few wise words and some focus, just about anyone should be able to produce a small spark of magic. But truly becoming a master of it should take hard work.

Not everyone should be able to use magic. It should be limited by some "talent". Not everyone can paint a portrait, let alone paint like Rembrandt. Not everyone can comprehend complex physics, let alone publish the general theory of relativity.

Whether this talent is a hard coded thing (such as intelligence restrictions) or just a game design allowance (all player characters have the talent, chosen NPCs have the talent) is kind of a toss-up. It depends on how you perceive or manifest magic in the game world: as an arcane art, an arcane science or a bit of both. As the system currently stands it is mostly limited by inteligence: high level spells will never be able to be cast by characters limited in the respective school of training and intelligence (to overcome base magicka costs), let alone cast those spells effectively.

As for splitting conjuration, I'm on the fence about it. But I really do find it ridiculous that the undead are conjured rather than raised. How hard is it to make an animation of a skeleton, ghost or zombie crawling (bursting?) from the ground while the actual geometric avatar is activated behind that illusion? It's pretty much what is already done with the conjuration cloud.

I'd like to carry an editable spellbook though. Something that I can customize what spells I carry. It would be nice if this was an actual in-game object with weight and a maximum capacity of spells. This would add to the usefulness of home bases: storage for spells, should the mage not want to carry his complete spell library (due to the weight and his/her - typically - low strength).

While I'm on the topic of books: I'd like to see editable books and editable maps. There's so much to do in this game that I'd like to be able to write a note to myself somehow within the game. Often the reason I abandon characters is because I haven't played in a few weeks and I can't remember what I was doing (due to the complexity of some objectives). For example: to enchant a flame blade with a character (who has minimal magic skills) I need to go get a soul gem, get a suitable blade, find or buy a soul trap scroll, hunt down a suitable creature for its soul (or go create a black soul gem - which means two soul trap scrolls), gain entry to the arcane university and finally enchant the blade (everyone starts with a fire spell). If I save in the middle of this process I may forget that this was something I was doing and sell the soul gem. While this may seem contrived, it isn't (some people don't want to buy spells they'll never use or use spells just because they're there - there are many paths to fulfilling the same goal - that's why we love these games). Because the quest log doesn't track this sort of stuff, it would be nice to use the ability of modern consoles to record text data in the save for these purposes, maybe in the form of an editable book, scroll or parchment that can be carried.

I really miss the ability of editing maps (was it Daggerfall or Morrowind? was it even TES? it's been so long) with a label for a place to check out; or the type of enemy encountered; or that the location has a certain type of weapon, potion, etc. that can't be easily bought elsewhere.

As for all undead being human, I'm finding a lot of undead in Ayleid ruins. Including quest specific elven liches and zombies - think: Miscarcand. And I'm pretty sure there are a lot of elven ghosts (if not most). Dark elves summon ancestor ghosts... I don't know what else to say about that.

this may be a dumb idea, but what about painting? i see easels everywhere in oblivion, as well as paints and brushes, so why not? perhaps you can use alchemy to make your own paints; some strawberries could be used to make red, blueberries indigo, etc. you could store the paints in some kind of container, and when youre ready to paint you put it on the paint palette, activate the easel, a big canvas pops up, you select your paint, and then use the anolog/d-pad/mouse/arrow keys to paint

ima repost this because it was the last post in the last thread and i dont think many peoplle got to see it.

i think some people have talked about physics but i don't think anyone have mentions specifically how all items seem to be made of plastic when they move around the game world. i can put a bunch of items on the ground and shoot a fireball/throw a grenade and they all behave as if they have the same weight. i can put something that would weigh 100s of pounds on a shelf and then my character or an npc bumps into and it falls off the shelf like it was a plastic toy.

i would like to see the weight of items factored into how the items behaves with the games physics.

i dont see why you can only parry attacks in oblivion if you dont have a shield. i would rather like blocking AND parrying. and you shouldnt only be able to do shield slams/bashes involuntarily. shield fighting should be its own attack. perhaps you could do it by holding the block button and pressing attack.

This is one of the reasons I'd really like to see the spell tome DLC from Oblivion basically become the cornerstone of TESV's magic system: it would let you easily tweak which of your spells you keep on you. It also plays up the whole 'mages are scholars' thing if they get their magic out of books. Also, it provides a means of disarming the mage, if they need their spellbook physically on them to cast; there were a few places in Oblivion where they tried to disarm the player, but it always fell a little flat when it came to the mage. Having magic based on spellbooks also mean that they could become more common in dungeon loot, thus giving the pure mage a reason to want to go dungeon-diving, which was again lacking in Oblivion.

Yeah an editable Journal/Map/Spellbook would be great! But a book has alot of pages, you could probably put 20 spells on 1 page, it wouldn't add up.

More advanced A.I not nessarily but would be great they could use tatics agianst the player or NPC oppenets

A few threads ago people were talking about cross-breeding. I know it wouldn't be practical, and I wouldn't care if it wasn't included, but I'm pretty sure a while ago I read a book in the Imperial Library that was called something like "Thoughts on Crossbreeding." I'm pretty sure it stated it was possible, but very rare. Or I could be imagining it. Whatever.

It's possible: it just doesn't matter. The offspring takes on the appearance of the mother and one or two small aspects from the father (to the point that it doesn't matter unless many many generations are produced from cross breeding, such as the Breton race).

Oh, okay. Thanks for clearing that up.

I'd like to see an encumbrance system that's at least somewhat realistic, and takes more into account than just the total weight of items you're carrying. I mean, if you're toting around two full sets of armor, I don't care how light they are or how strong you are, you can't move and fight effectively--they're just too cumbersome. And there's no way you should be able to carry around a hundred or more different potions, amulets, rings, etc. and be able to grab the one you want to use instantly in the middle of a fight. There should be slots for the things a person could reasonably carry, and when those slots are full you can't add more stuff. Certain items could be available which would allow more stuff to be carried, like a special vest with pockets for potion vials.

So that this doesn't completely do away with loot-gathering, pack animals should be available which will run and hide at the first sign of trouble; Morrowind and Oblivion pack animals are just too death-prone to be useful. There could also be a spell which allows items to be teleported back to one's home base.

That'd make theiving easy. Just sneak into some ones house and teleport all thier goods into your stash at home.

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?s=&showtopic=1025326&view=findpost&p=14849802, I should overowrk it a little though.

A small thought on clothing too, you should be able to wear some clothes different styles, like a jacket buttoned up or unbuttoned, a hooded robe with the hood on or down, a scarf worn loosely around your neck, tightly or over your mouth to cover your face.

Hehe, you mean like in Daggerfall? If you had a cloak with a good on it, you could change whether the hood was up or down. Other clothes had different settings as well.

Also, I would very much like to see clothing physics in TES V. There's a billion different programs that can achieve it. I just want my freaking cloaks man, and my wizard robe to actually BE a robe and not cardboard surrounded by cloth.

just something quick about the use of magic. in our world not everyone can make medecine even if they have the tools and ingredient things, or do the math behind building a rocket ship. so even though science is all around us, noit everyone can fully utilise it. Even toddlers can use basic science like figuring out how to piss their siblings off, but tht doesnt mean they can make medecine(alchemy) or understand exactly how the human body works. Also, even rocket scientists can mess up with their work, so ppl in TES should def. have a chance to fail at casting a spell. I hope tht made sense cause i wrote it all really quick.
i just read through someone elses post and realised this had basically already been written.
Another thing, somebody mentioned being able to choose between hood up or down as an ex. :thumbsup:

On the topic of Factions, I really think the ability to join most (if not all) guilds and factions should be continued. For it to be taken out for the sake of immersion or role playing is a little weak, because joining a faction is largely optional and non-mandatory. If a player has a problem with joining multiple factions, don't. On the other hand, faction/guild interactions need to be developed and believable, but should not take precedent over the fun factor or gameplay.

And I'm apathetic when it comes to becoming the master of a guild or faction, but the quests and interaction shouldn't end when you get to the top or finish the quest-line.

Some people may disagree, but there are a few things that Fable 2 did, that I would like to see in TES:V -
1) Mundane day jobs as a source of income instead of looting dungeons (tie in with the guilds? blacksmithing for fighters, scribing for mages, etc)
2) The economy of a city depends on the characters involvement with that town (trading with merchants, buying real-estate, etc)
---this could also make a characters mercantile skill more useful
3) Things to do with all that money you have in the later game (buying buildings/businesses)
4) NPC social interactions (people run away when your weapon is drawn, more than the simple 1-100 disposition [love/hate, ugly/attractive, gross/funny], marraige, expressions, etc)


I think fast travel is alright, its completely optional. But transportation services and horses should also be made available.

i dont want anyone running away when my weapon is drawn. if i have it unsheathed and to my side no one would start running away screaming. but if i had my blade drawn in an agressive stance, then maybe

EDIT: and also, if i run into a town and start killing guards, nobody should pick up the dead guard's blades and fight me (say i kill a guard, a beggar picks up his sword, and starts slashing at me. no beggar would even think of picking up a weapon and trying to kill someone who is a master of fighting) EDIT 2: (actually, someone who is good with a weapon might pick up a blade and fight me)

I agree with this idea. It would be amazing if Bethesda added new dimensions to the magic system, or modified the original to make it more interactive.

For instance, "Mark/Recall" could be made to function more like the portal gun from "Portal." However, maybe you could also use the spell to trap things in places (for instance, what if a single portal sent an object to some sort of "astral plane" and the other portal sent it back?), or to do other crazy things.

For instance, what if you trapped a very powerful spell of some sort, and then used the teleportation spell to shoot the spell at someone else?

Moreover, a good improvement to TES magic system would be if you could pre-program spell effects to do things in specific sequences. What if you preprogrammed a spell to trap an incoming projectile and send it in the direction the caster was "looking"?


I think it would also be really cool if there were new ways of manipulating how magic could be used in combat. For instance "smart" mages might be able to dictate how magic could be used: the rules would apply equally to both spellcasters, but might favor one side over another.

i dont get why there is a magicka bar but no rage bar (like in WoW)

a RPing warrior has no use for magicka, so the most they can do is a "power attack"
but if the warrior had a rage bar, he could use some melee (or ranged, possibly shield-throwing) special attack that could match a magic spell. of course, magic would still be more effective, seeing you can cast a simple spell faster than you can build up a lot of rage and release it.


now that i think about it, a "rage bar" sounds like what someone would call a chocolate bar that makes you angry

Tell you the truth, I would like nothing more than cities that actually seem like cities. Unlike the IC with its 25 citizens.

In days of yore, this little thing called Fatigue was a major deciding factor in how much damage you dealt and how accurate your attacks were. In Morrowind, if said attribute was completely depleted, you were in a lot of trouble. In Oblivion the significance of Fatigue has been, well, significantly toned down.

wtf lol

yeah, a little far fetched, but who doesnt get mad when your taking on 5 trolls at a time?

we already have fatigue for that. its just that in oblivion the effects of low fatigue were toned down so much from previous games.