this one

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/01/10/video-behind-the-scenes-of-skyrim.aspx

same place we got the first map

So I just snagged a screenshot of that part

http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/j325/J-Money7/Alchemy-1.jpg

According to the whiteboard, it looks like the same old system.... of course this could of changed since then, but it's a little more of a stretch now.

but then the whiteboard shot of crafting....

http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/j325/J-Money7/Craftingf.jpg

says "player playing cool anims"... anims = animations?

Very odd that my two posts in this thread were deleted. Did I touch a nerve? :confused:

To sum up what I said:

1. A casual mention that it is odd that alchemy was not axed because of it's obvious redundancy. While this is cheeky I do believe it is important to light-heartedly point out the fallacies that are being bandied about regarding news over some game changes.

2. A note that alchemy is one of my favorite parts of the game (with another joke, a favorite that has not yet been cut out!)

3. Serious suggestions/hopes for alchemy in SR:

- desire to see requirements for fixed alchemy placements for high level potions while keeping a small travel apparatus for potions on the go that can only do lower level things
- desire to see some kind of sophistication in the potion making process, introducing risk for the potion maker for trying to make potions beyond their skill level rather than just magically having ingredient capabilities appear when leveling, forcing alchemist to test ingredients to find recipes, some kind of mini-game for making potions so that the process is more than just pushing a button, etc.
- desire to see cross-craft impacts, maybe a high level perk: using magicka to enhance potion making, using potions to enhance spells

While I am still hoping on these last two....considering the latest news and what seems to be a penchant for cutting out parts of the game they cannot handle, I am starting to doubt there will be much changing to alchemy beyond introducing new ingredients and maybe some new effects. Not trying to be rude or attacking. Just being bluntly honest about what I am hearing. With so little info released I hope I am way off base.

You are right. While I would hate to see monotonous gunk for the sake of taking up time or some godaweful scripted animations, I do believe that a mini-game type interface is warranted. But if they cannot do something neat and worth doing though a simple press of the button would be best,

Cool workbench? Player playing cool animations?

Far too much micro-management for my liking. I like the idea of potion books though, in Oblivion it was sometimes a pain trying to remember which ingredients I need for a certain recipe.

Yeah, i'm curious too.

Two Worlds 2 has a pretty nice alchemy system. Whenever you conjure a recipe for the first time, it creates a scroll in your inventory. As long as you have the ingredients, all you have to do is click on the scroll to make that recipe instead of digging through your ingredients inventory everytime.

same same and both. i really don't use alchemy all that much. My friend used it too much in front of me while playing morrowind, and I never liked it after that. It is reeeeeaaaaaallly boring. i will just go loot a dungeon, sell the stuff and buy the potion.

so you say it is really bad the way it is, yet you want to keep it the same? Is there no hope for alchemy for you?

I like it as an option. I am not saying it is bad. It is very creative the way they have it. I think though that no matter what they do to alchemy, I won't use it that often. I don't know.. Just doesn't catch my interest. I'm a blood thirsty savage that lets the monks and priests do the alchemy for me. :tongue:

That's certainly a step in the right direction, but I'd rather have all my recipes contained in a single book, with possibly an index listing what's inside. Just click on the name in the index, which takes me to the recipe, then select Brew Potion, or something like that. Your inventory can get pretty cluttered up after awhile if you have a bunch of single scrolls in it. A quantity slider would be nice to have as well, so I could make 10 potions at a time instead of just 1, provided I had enough ingredients.

That would work for me, make it function like the custom weapons in Fallout 3, with recipes instead of schematics.

Some people just want to blaze through and get the Trophies/achievements. Others get the game because they actually want to enjoy the experience at their leisure. It should be up to the player to be able to skip intricacy, but it should still be there as a play option for the players that want a more immersive experience.

A personal stationary alchemy lab would be sweet. The process of creating a potion could involve the player through a minigame in realtime. Minigame fails could end in hilarious effects like having the attempt end in a lab filled with knockout gas putting the pc to sleep for awhile, a small explosion that temporarily alters facial appearance, player hallucinates, etc.

Away from the alchemy lab the mortar & pestle should be able to make pastes and powders, not potions. They could be mixed with water at any campfire to make drinkable teas. Not as effective as potions, greater volumes would need to be carried and consumed for far weaker effects. Potions should be very space efficient, little bottles only a couple inches in size, whereas teas would be in large waterskins.

The alchemy lab should not be portable.

I'm liking what's been said so far, still seems we are missing something to come to a good overall asystem. I wish I had more time to contribute, but sadly my iphone/time are too small to really get involved. I hate typing on iPhones!!! Fat thumbs ftw! However it's night, kids asleep, so let me throw in some more ideas!

So we have workbenches scattered about, maybe in thieves guilds, mages guilds, who knows. Once we buy a house we can more then likely buy a set up. I'd like to see different level benches, novice, journeyman etc, and this along with your skill determines the relative strength of potions. I'd also like to see them priced in such a way that you won't be able to buy the expert set right off the ba. They are higher leveled for a reason, maybe even costing as much as the cheapest house. The lower level you are the less effective your ability. I'd like to see potions costing maybe triple, to double the ingredients they normally would cost, to represent the pc's inexperience/inherent mistakes and waste while making their potions. So moving up in skill will not only reward you with the ability of stronger potions, but in effect double quantities. Also another idea I had is to make potions worth next to nothing, unless they are very high quality. Perhaps even having the option of "supplying" the local shop, through a quest. This would be for two reasons, the first is it would be fun!! The second, if people are going to spam potions might as well make them work for the opportunity to sell them at a profit. If you just try selling them through barter, shop owners will offer you ridiculously low prices. Once your mid level skilled maybe a npc confronts you, something about civil war, high demand, low supply, "please help me fill the quota". After you do whatever the silly/fun quest is you can sell potions for a great profit, maybe have specific requested potions for a bonus.

Geeze, loosing track of what I'm doing! K so..... Potions right! So you buy/discover a potion it gets put into a potion book/journal. Like others said, I thought of this because I have zero memory! With 100 ingredients it gets to be too much sometimes. Others have said having bottles, I'm in the mindset that ya bottles are a given, and I don't need to have to go out and buy them all the time. If there is special bottles, that do something specifically special, then I'm for having regular bottles, then higher grade ones, maybe they determine the amount, and therefore the strength or length of the potion, at the same cost of ingredients of a normal potion. That would be worth considering.

My favorite part was mixing and matching, I'd like to order of mixing playing a role. This could help expand the # of potions. But I dunno, might become too much. I can't even scroll up to read what I wrote! I hate iPhones!!! Keep the ideas coming!! I'll write when I can!

What makes a potion then? special pastes and powders mixed with water is what i always imagined "potions" as being. and we wouldn't need a campfire if we have an alchemy station. the purpose of a retort or a alembic is to be heated from the bottom. Alchemy stations should definitely include something to boil liquids.

I think of potions as being a powerful, highly refined liquid extract concocted from several ingredients. This could only be done properly with a full stationary alchemy set.
Grinding/mashing one or two things up with a mortar & pestle alone to get a potion always seemed odd to me & way too convenient to yield something so powerful.

Potions in Morrowwind & Oblivion were in fairly large bottles. I think vials of liquid when I hear the word potion. Much less than a cupfull.

Basically, teas don't require a lab, potions do.

You gave me an idea, that kinda melds our two takes on it.:

Mortar & pestle + water = tea (very weak potion). you should be able to take a mortar and pestle anywhere, and use campfires to brew it. This would be great for ranger type characters.
Mortar and pestle + water + Retort/Alembic and/or other apparatuses (apparati?) help refine, and concentrate the qualities of the "tea" into a potion. Making a potion requires a stationary lab.

Essentially the same as your idea, but the "tea" is kind of a stepping stone to get to "potions".And yeah the potions should be much more powerful (obviously), and weigh less (because they are concentrates).

Tea in the game would give the health benefits of water with some small added bonus such as a slight boost to Perception. Examples of tea could be like mint & honey, or ginseng & blackberry, stuff like that.

You summed it up perfectly :thumbsup:

Man, i wish the devs saw this thread, liked it, and still had time to implement it, they are still in alpha phase after all right? This is actually one of my favorite idea's that have come up on these threads so far, and that screenshot of the whiteboard i posted earlier on this thread, make it look like alchemy is going to be nothing like this....

For those wondering about how animation during potion making might take too long...

I have an idea.

I play a game called the "Atelier" series. The game is essentially all about an Alchemist and crafting, with some RPG gaming on the side. And some of their system ideas can be transferred to TES Alchemy.

You can have animation that display potions being made. But to prevent it from being tedious, simply make it possible to make potions in bulk. As in, if you have ingredients available to make 30 healing potions, you can make all 30 at the same time. So you don't have to watch the potion-making animation 30 times.

It makes sense once you think about it; if you are brewing up a large quantity of identical potions, why not throw all the herbs in a cauldron and boil them together all at once? It's like cooking for a feast; you are not going to prepare each meal individually, you would mix things in large batches.