So I ask Ravenight: if Oblivion is so perfectly balanced, what’s up with the Wisps?
Thank you, good night.
Personally, I see the level scaling and the skill system as two different problems. But you point is well made about how they are related. It doesn’t matter if your high level alchemist sucks at combat, as long as the game doesn’t force you into it just because of your level.
I still think they could change the non-combat skills into combat skills, like alchemists making grenade style potions, or using speechcraft to talk down enemies where you share a language.
That’s an interesting idea, particularly since I’ve been burned in every single freaking Bioware game I’ve ever finished for putting points in social skills (and then I find out that I can’t really sweet talk the psychotic Sith overlord). It’d be great if games could do this, but my question is, can they? Is there a way to make Speechcraft a combat skill and not make it unbalanced? Or the questions game scene from Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead?
Well, I’m someone who wasn’t turned off by Oblivion’s speech craft system to begin with (which is really a pie chart mini-game). I wouldn’t be opposed to slapping that on some enemies, but I understand the complaints against it. As far as balance, it wouldn’t be much different than a calm spell.
The non-combat skills actually DO have some combat uses. Potions make you more effective in combat – you can heal yourself, boost your stats, poison your blade… and Mercantile can allow you to be better-equipped than a character without the skill would be. But these advantages don’t have the same proportional weight as attack magic/weapons/armor skills. (With the possible exception of Alchemy.) And there’s not much good Speechcraft will do you in battle. (Or anywhere else, really.)
Stealth CAN have combat uses, but often there are situations where it does not. A particular quest I attempted at level 8 with a Stealth-centric character involved a cavern full of zombies and Stealth being basically useless against them. It’s also not so good outdoors, in daylight. I abandoned the character.
JoshV
1566
Actually, its easier then you think. Just tie it to a Taunt skill, which enrages enemies, making them easier to hit and more likely to miss, just like good ol’ earthdawn.
Yeah, there were a few quests that used speechcraft, but maybe it could be useful in submitting. Maybe it already does influence that chance, well it does right now at least so much as you use speechcraft to build up how much they like you. Try attacking someone that likes you, then block and hit space bar a few times. Usually you can get them to stop.
Stealth CAN have combat uses, but often there are situations where it does not. A particular quest I attempted at level 8 with a Stealth-centric character involved a cavern full of zombies and Stealth being basically useless against them. It’s also not so good outdoors, in daylight. I abandoned the character.
Yeah I played a stealth based archer for a while, but many times just ended up playing FPS Oblivion like I did with my mage.
That is painfully obvious. :( I should have seen it. That would work great.
That works for a character who still swings a sword, I guess, but I was thinking about it as The Thief Problem. Dungeons and Dragons computer games (and live action, if the DM isn’t smart enough to see this gargantuan issue coming) have a historical problem with rewarding the behavior that classes like the Thief were built to be good at (combat avoidance). I like to play RPGs (particularly Western stuff, for some reason) for the story rather than the mechanics, so I tend to pimp out my speech/social skills at the expense of my general killing skills, and then I end up in a one-on-one fight with Groknar the Horrible, the main boss, and all the friends I’ve won and people I’ve influenced are magically locked outside the airtight container in which he then proceeds to kill me to death. I was thinking in terms of an Orator type character who wouldn’t deign to join the plebes in their lowly grunting and grappling.
In retrospect, I guess your way makes a hell of a lot more sense.
Spect
1569
No new review today, since they’re off accepting rewards and stuff. Sigh.
Charles
1570
Thanks for bumping the thread and getting my hopes up, asshole!
Spect
1571
Haha! Psych! Go watch the replay of the console wars episode that they put up to appease the angry masses. It’s still entertaining even if you’ve seen it before.
We should make our own review.
Select an old-ass game that only just floated up to Australia in a soggy crate, write long paragraphs without spacing between words (except for the bit where you shift gears and get real), and post pictures of goblins in drag and video game boxes with big black boxes over their enormous phalli. Break down polysyllabics to their homonym equivalents whenever possible.
Wow, that sounds like a lot of work. I have an alternate proposal: let’s wait another week and let Yahtzee do all the work for us.
Alan_Au
1574
Thanks for bumping the thread–I must have missed the “scaled world” discussion last week while I was busy getting actual work done. heh
Anyhow, I “fixed” the scaling issue in Oblivion using Francesco’s mod, which meant that low level monsters (like crabs and wolves) continued to show up even after I had exceeded their level, and bandits continued to use mostly leather/chain and iron/steel armor rather than sporting full suits of military-grade gear. Basically, the mod made Oblivion more like a traditional RPG, with the exception that high level encounters only appeared when the player was sufficiently powerful to deal with them.
Mass Effect was a little funny about scaling. Some drops are scripted, so that you’re guaranteed to get decent equipment early. Other drops are leveled. This is most noticeable when replaying with a high-level character; the first crate you encounter contains level 2 light armor, but the end-of-area crates contain random pieces of level-adjusted equipment.
Lazy. Find and replace does half of that for you.
Anyhow, I was intending more to open a commentary on his commentaries, in roasty tribute.
Quitch
1576
What I don’t understand is why they chose to use his weakest episode as a holder.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess it’s because they don’t think it’s his weakest episode.
Which is even more disconcerting.
Pod
1580
They should have used one of the two that were never put on The Escapist - back before he was “snapped up”.
