I'd like to see a minigame that gets the player into the potion making process rather than just watching it happen on its own. Sounds like that just adds a cutscene onto the current inventory menu method.

The idea of making them in bulk is a good idea. I already had it in my OP, but i think i said around 10 at a time

EDIT: never mind i said "more than 1 potion per batch" i was thinking around 10, but i was trying to remain somewhat vague i guess.

I posed this on the wrong thread , but I will re-post it here. I posted this as a response to the idea that interactive crafting will get old after while.

Doing the same thing over and over without any changes is always boring, so you need to make sure you change up the formula with interactive crafting. Add new tools. Maybe you start with just a grinder and that lets you make a few potions just by grinning down your ingredients, but then you start finding new things: a wash tub, a burner (warning some ingredients explode when heated), a glass that imparts the power of the sun or the moon (depending on the time of day you use it, maybe one potion requires you to do both day and night). The idea is for them to shake up the crafting in the was way new weapons or spells shake up combat, so it's not always just grinding things. Using different tools also comes with the fringe benefit of being able to make a lot of potions from a smaller pool of ingredients. For example: If you grind unicorn horn you get a anti poison potion, but if you hold it under moon light and then burn it, you get a invisibility potion. That gives players more control over what potions they can craft rather then it being completely dictated by the plants they find.

The novelty will wear out eventually though. That is why you include a quick craft menu. Every time you discover a new potion, it has it's picture and name printed in your alchemy book. Then if you want to re-craft it quickly, you just select it from your book and it crafts instantly. The fun of crafting system is in the exploration and not the repeated crafting of things you already know how to do.

I love that idea. I absorbed it into my own opinion and put it in the OP.

I'd keep mortar and pestle as a mobile potion maker for in the field but have potions be more effective if made at an alchemy workbench.
I'd keep the present mixing effects system. I liked the almost infinite possibilities of the MW/Oblivion alchemy system.

I actually really like this idea, in Oblivion I wanted to try my hand at alchemy after a playthrough or two, but soon realised how it was an extremely boring and easy skill. I think with something more hands on, alchemy could be a skill you'd need to practice and it would avoid instances of "I'm going to mix this and this and this and see what happens because I have no idea what's going on... OH look! A catseye potion, how lovely."

Instead of just poisons for offensive alchemy I also want to create bomb/grenade-like vials with area of effect stuff. Like fire, perhaps some kind of gas that silences everyone within the radius, etc. I think there was some mod like this for Oblivion.

I particularly like this idea.

My thoughts on the complexity are as follows, have all of the animations and setting up of the brew be as OP stated. Once successful, you can decide to simply brew from the cookbook without all of the extraneous crap you've already done. And as you brew more, the success rate (or strength) goes up as well. The option to randomly throw other ingredients into the mix is an absolute MUST. Just to see what happens.

Keeping all of your best alchemy equipment at home on a workbench would be perfectly fine with me. I always ended up making my brew in Frostcrag anyway, and always took the M&P with me for quick stuff. I know it was previously mentioned, just reiterating the feasibility of it in Skyrim.

{edit} Requiring that you have bottles is a great idea. I imagine it would work somewhat like FO:NV reloading. You have to have the shells in order to make new ammo. I can see it working the same way.

@Rouge Mage

I understand your on a mobile device and don't have access to the edit button but that doesn't excuse you from the forum rules. You have to stop double and triple posting.

The alchemy system as a whole needs much more depth - oblivion's was too superficial and alchemy was lacking the puissance that we normally associate alchemy with in fantasy. It should be more complex so that it would be more exclusive (e.g. how many people are really interested in botany/chemistry in the real world?) and challenging but once it's powers are harnessed then it can prove to be vital in any given situation. All of this should stimulate the player's satisfaction, therefore, an overly complex system should be avoided at all costs; one needs to find the correct balance.

Perfect :thumbsup: . I love alchemy :drool:

Those are good. I want to be able to make potions "on the road", but seting up a table would be very nice; let's say, retort and so wouldn't improve the quality, but would allow you to do other things, like potions. It's senseless to be able to craft potions with a mortar, so it could be nice if any aparatus were thought to do different things (mortar and pestle for ointments, retort for potions, etc...), and even be "necessary" to craft some items before being able to do another ones.

They should keep the "effect list" on items, but there should be some common and rare books with formulas; the quality of the product could depend on alchemy level and item's quality, for example.

This way, we could be able to craft, i.e., some "healing ointment" on the road, and some "healing potions" (better and more potent than ointments) in alchemy tables.

Hopefully we'll hear about Alchemy soon. Interested to see how it differs from past games. It seems like they have something big to reveal regarding it.

Exactly. I want to know about this. I can't wait :ahhh: ...I hope more ingredients !!

I think that including three ingredients with the same effect should increase the power of the effect. You also ought to be able to choose whether or not you make a potion or a poison, regardless of effects. And it'd be nice if ingredients' effects weren't so random like they were in oblivion. Flour and wheat shouldn't be so different.

Also, all effects should have at least two corresponding ingredients. Of course, effects like Vampirism should be really rare. But being able to make a potion of Vampirism should be possible and would be very cool. IDK if vampires will be included in Skyrim, this was just an example.

While I don't mind carrying the apparatus around and being able to use it in the field, I would very much like the ability to use it FROM a table, rather than having to put it in my inventory, use it, take it out, carefully put it back in its aesthetically pleasing place.

I don't feel any particular desire to see it made into a minigame.

I rather liked the effects lists in Oblivion, the ability to make use of deeper effects as skill went up, and the ability to combine effects into a single potion (particularly the "four damages" poisons that became all but necessary at the higher levels to kill a single enemy without taking two minutes and one weapon per enemy). But a potion book would streamline the process and allow you to give potions permanent names, rather than having to rename them every time you made them.

Actually, that wouldn't be half bad. Make a minigame out of it, be required to do the minigame the first time you make a potion. If you get a result you like, click "inscribe in book". From then on, all you have to do is have the ingredients on hand (maybe even just anywhere in the room under your ownership, in a barrel or something), click the name in the book, and poof. Potion made without all that rigmarole.

To have a laboratory of alchemy as a job? Do you like? And supply stores with potions...




P.s Sorry for my english :blush2:

Do you think some alchemical products could take the form of powders or medicinal pastes? My character's uncanny ability to pulverize cheese and bread into liquid potions is kind of unsettling. :mellow:

I would like the traditional system where you choose the ingredients you want to use based on the properties they have but I would like a book of a kind to store the combinations you find most useful. So when you click your favourite recipe the ingredients are automatically chosen (if availible) and then you could brew as many potions as you like/can.

I imagine I'd be sick of minigames if they were the only way to increase 2 skills (although maybe lockpicking will be part of sneak). I want to spend my time using potions, not making them.

I would love for Bethesda to incorporate some kind of book or guide (in game), or even maybe a map. The purpose of one of these items, would be to point out certain AREAS that MIGHT contain said ingredients. As you learned more about the ingredient you would see more about it in your map/book. This would sort of point you in the right direction as to where ingredients might be. But I don't want it to actually tell you where it is.

Alchemy is one of those skills within the Elder Scrolls games that I get periodically obsessed with, and then just drop for the next several times that I play. It's especially useful if a Will o' the Wisp decides to eat your stats, and you don't have a Restore spell for that particular attribute (minotaur horns, glow dust, and primrose leaves have saved this girl on many an occassion), so I disagree completely with the people who say that it's just a superflous or useless skill. I think there should be recipes/potion books and stuff like that. It's too up in the air as of now. When I combine stuff I get a general idea of what I'm getting back, but I feel like there should be an option to create epic potions if you're able to procure rare ingrideients. Feels way more rewarding.

about chemistry , sometimes the mixture of two different compounds becames in a completly new sustance with diferent properties.
For example when we have this combiantion:
NaOH (sodium hidroxide; basic soap-like caustic molecule) + HCl (clohidric acid;acid corrosive molecule) =NaCl (salt, crystiline sustance used as food)

In the game;
Ectoplasm (shock damage) + Harrada(damage health) = potion of Restore fatigue (stamina) 7 pts for 12 secs

Two differents substrates could make a new one with otheres properties.

Obviously you can still buy them :tongue:

I would like a more complex system that doesn't penalize you. Basically, if you really want to put a lot of effort into it then you can make really unique and powerful poisons and potions. If you don't feel like putting a lot of work into it then you can simply make poisons and potions that are respectable enough be used. Kind of the difference between a master alchemist and everyone else; everyone else can get buy with the status quo, but a master can do amazing things.

As for portable versus stationary alchemy sets, I think both should be in. A portable one will make inferior potions but can obviously be made on the go. A stationary one will have better results and more types of potions and poisons but must be in a house, guild hall, or alchemist's shop.