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 Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:42 pm
First off, this is hardly a subject most relevant to Skyrim or Elder Scrolls in general; if anything, the issue is far more prevalent in MMOs. However, considering a part of Skyrim's and the Elder Scrolls' appeal is making and living as a unique character, both in your own world and across the worlds of all the other players, I can't help but bring it up here.
As a guy who probably pays too much attention to tiny, generally unimportant details, and perhaps as a man who's in touch with his aesthetically-concerned feminine side, it always bugged me that as I went forward in games like Oblivion and any other RPGs with customizable playable characters, I would have to swap out some cool-looking or matching armor for equipment that, although better, either isn't as stylish or simply clashes with the rest of my armor set. The problem grows worse in games where you can see lots of other player characters, especially all at once, as in MMORPGs,: not only do many of the players have boring armor sets, but they're made all the worse by the fact that 90% of all players are wearing the same thing.
In Oblivion, you were pretty much given the choice between Light Armor or Heavy Armor, which would inevitably decide whether your character would end up wearing Glass or Daedric Armor. If you look across characters from anyone's game, they will almost certainly be wearing either one or the other in the heat of combat.
Similarly, although they are much more diversified because of there being many more types, weapons will effectively run into the same problem. If you want to use a one-handed sword and shield, you'll probably end up using the same sword and shield set that 90% of other users end up using as well.
So, fellow Elder Scrolls fans, how do you think the best way to keep various players' characters looking unique towards the higher levels? I've always liked the idea of there being several different styles of armor across all armor types that are equally effective but look very different from each other. Dye or any other sort of color edit is also nice to add personal flavor to your character. But, of course, I'm sure there are many of you who don't see this as a problem at all. I'd like to hear your thoughts.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 7:10 pm
I can see how that's a problem because everyone wants the best items they can find so in the end most people will end up wearing those items like everyone else. Since your using MMORPG's as an example people want those epic armor and weapons because one they among the best items, two they think those items make them seem better than others because they are hard to acquire. So every quests to gain those items.
I'm part of that 10% that doesn't go straight for the best armor and weapons. I actually dislike both glass and dadedric armor. It may be the best in the game, but if I'm going to play for 200+ hours I'm going to wear items that I like to look at. Eleven curiass and gauntlets, mixed with Dwarven boots and greaves. I tend to wear what I like to look at and not what has the best defense rating or attack power.
Having the option to customize different aspects of your characters armor and weapons would be a nice addition. Now I do like the idea of having several different styles of say elven armor depending on what your level is, but that would add a lot more work to the artiest and dev's already tight time line for the games release.
It seems that with each game there are less and less items to chose from, at least going from Morrowind to Oblivion. Morrowind just had a ton of different types of armor and weapons. Even then I still wore what looked pleasing to my eye and not based on what stats they had.
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 1:19 am
Here's to hoping they add weapon and armor mods, similar to what they had in New Vegas. I loved that feature, and though I know Bethesda didn't produce the game, they still helped here and there... I hope that if they do add it into the mechanics, that they have more than just 3 or 4 mods per weapon type. Maybe a weapon/armor construction area, where you take ore, or leathers and skins, and form them into the appropriate areas...
And I agree that the armors shouldn't be so static in appearance. I mean, sure. Take for example the Steel Armor. I mean, sure. It's composed primarily from Steel, with a bit of leather strapping and a little bit of Iron here and there... But that name, is basically just saying that it's an armor forged from Steel.
I'd like to see different forms of armor, perhaps certain areas have a specific way they forge their armors. Each city sells Iron Armor. But how about if each of the Forge Masters put a bit of a tweak into their works? As though to say "THIS armor came from Windhelm!" know what I mean?
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 1:28 am
Nerevar Telvanni
It seems that with each game there are less and less items to chose from, at least going from Morrowind to Oblivion. Morrowind just had a ton of different types of armor and weapons. Even then I still wore what looked pleasing to my eye and not based on what stats they had.
Oh my GOD... That reminded me of the first time I created a character in Oblivion. There I was, on my original X-Box, playing Morrowind, battling a few were-wolves with my trusty Iron Spear, when my brother burst down my door saying "Drew~! I got it! I got Oblivion, man!" Needless to say, I saved my game, and we popped the game into the Xbox 360 that we had bought JUST to play Oblivion. After having an orgasmic time watching the opening cinematic, and staring post-coitously at the screen for about 5 minutes, my brother lets me create my character. I chose a Breton, just as I usually do. Dunno why, but I just prefer Bretons. I saw katanas, and I got giddy. Then, I saw a bow and arrow set. Then, I saw the broad axe. Here it comes, I thought! Here comes the part where I get to skewer some poor b*****d on my Spear! ... Nothing. Nope. Now, I chalked it up to this being an intro event, and waited till I got to finish my character up. "I'll just add Polearms to my favored skills" I said. Then my brother said "Dude, they trimmed alot of things down, to make it a bit easier." As I got toward the end where you get to fine tune the skills you use, I didn't see a Polearms section... I saw Blunt, and I saw Blade. No Short Blade. No Polearms... WTF? What IS this s**t? ... Needless to say, I was QUITE pissed off when I finally figured out there wasn't even ONE Halberd in the game.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 7:07 am
Yes, I like to look good, but I tend to be very practical and often that side wins out. If a piece of armor has a better armor rating on it or whatnot (I tend to usually wear light armor for reference) then I'm going to switch them out no matter how ugly they are. Staying alive power means more to me than looking pretty power ;p
Nonetheless throughout most RPG games with the exception of MMORPGS ( most of the time I'm trying to find more coverage period for my female characters >.> ) I have a piece or two of armor that's unique to my characters, as in I never take it off/never part with it. It or they become a part of my character if you will.
In Morrowind it was the wakizashi class. I carried that thing EVERYWHERE. If you didn't need those very specific weapons at the end I would have beaten the game with one equipped.
In Oblivion it's a pair of Marksman gloves, since hey, I'm an archer and they 5% boost marksman if I remember correctly. They also don't look half bad either.
And very recently, in DAII it's the Serebas pendant. That Qunari's quest in particular struck me so deeply this time around playing it (as a mage so the Qunari simply attacked me for existing) that when I was gifted the pendant I simply kept hold of it. My Hawke has no use for it, he has better amulets, but every now and then he'll equip it just to remember the Serebas who had no name. I might chose to make my Hawke wear it in the Arishok fight for symbolic reasons. It will always remain in the inventory.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that when the game didn't make collecting things unique enough for me, I invented my own traditions.
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 12:12 pm
Yeah I no what your talking about. In Morrowind, I always liked the Iron Armor set... Especially the gauntlets but they were first tier... One of the reasons I got the PC version was I wanted to put a unique enchanted suit of it with improved stats somewhere... (I still have no idea how to do that...)
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Byakko Yasutsuki Vice Captain
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