The Elder Scrolls V

[I. Kant]

True that, it is disappointing that I'm never short on souls (and if I am, why not just go to a dragon lair and hunt the bastard down like a wet rat). I actually lack the power words to use up my spare souls (which I initially thought I'd have to hoard, in order to make the tough choice on which shouts to unlock).

 

[Nenjin]

I actually lack the power words to use up my spare souls (which I initially thought I'd have to hoard, in order to make the tough choice on which shouts to unlock).

Same here. I think I'm sitting on 16 souls on my 1.0 character.

But I think Beth may have stealth tweaked the dragon spawn rate. Watching my brother play a good few hours after the Whiterun sequence, he didn't encounter another Dragon. Meanwhile, I think I saw my second dragon literally 30 minutes after my first, and killed several more before I went to the Graybeards. And I haven't played since the 2nd patch.

 

[Fedorov]

And if you guys want to talk about "artificial difficulty" Demons and Dark Souls replace potion chugging with pattern memorization. You can finish those games without taking a single hit.

You can't compare.

True, the games allows that theoretically, but good luck trying to do it successfully, my hats off to whoever have the discipline required to pull that off.... can't say the same about a potion spammer in Skyrim. Not to mention that constant pausing and potion spamming makes the combat feel incredibly tedious.

The fact that the souls rely purely on skill is what makes it so good.

 

[smokeythebear]

So I decided I would rerole with only one life, no fast travel aside from wagons and no saves aside from when I've stopped playing.

Rather then go through the helgen run through my starting point is the gaurdian stones with a level 2 kajhik.

So far;

Blindsided by Giant outside of Rorikstead. I was level 3.

Foolishly tried to rob Nevals cabin, He was awake, I had made it outside and before I could duck behind some rocks he fried me in one lightning burst. I was level 4 and already had found some sweet conjure spell loot.

 

[DraKon2k]

Ahh, but would it be worth the hit my dignity would take when I see the reflection of myself, on the couch with a gamepad, in the sliding glass door? Hm? I think not.

There are so many epic console/specific console exclusives, I definitely don't regret buying a PS3 for 250

 

[Reise]

You can't compare.

True, the games allows that theoretically, but good luck trying to do it successfully, my hats off to whoever have the discipline required to pull that off.... can't say the same about a potion spammer in Skyrim. Not to mention that constant pausing and potion spamming makes the combat feel incredibly tedious.

The fact that the souls rely purely on skill is what makes it so good.

It's way easier to do it in Demons Souls since the areas are all fairly linear. How many times did you get roasted by the dragon before you got its pattern down and made it through without taking a hit? Repeat for every other enemy encounter.

As for the pausing and everything in Skyrim yeah it's clunky as hell but there are hotkeys. Personally I avoid using them during combat just because it doesn't make sense (who stops and drinks something while his face is being smashed in?) and because it stops the flow of the fight.

Unless I get overwhelmed by something unexpected like that guy did in the video posted earlier with the Thalmor agents, I just save the potions for directly after the fighting.

 

[Nenjin]

Health regen and immediate access to totally adequate healing spells pretty much limits potions to fights, only, to me. They took out pretty much all the downtime that used to result from Spellcasting and long fights. On the one hand it keeps things moving. On the other, it kills immersion and removes some challenge or tactical choices.

 

[Fedorov]

It's way easier to do it in Demons Souls since the areas are all fairly linear. How many times did you get roasted by the dragon before you got its pattern down and made it through without taking a hit? Repeat for every other enemy encounter.

As for the pausing and everything in Skyrim yeah it's clunky as hell but there are hotkeys. Personally I avoid using them during combat just because it doesn't make sense (who stops and drinks something while his face is being smashed in?) and because it stops the flow of the fight.

Unless I get overwhelmed by something unexpected like that guy did in the video posted earlier with the Thalmor agents, I just save the potions for directly after the fighting.

So you say is easy to complete Demon's Souls in one sitting without getting hit even once?

I'm done talking.

 

[Reise]

So you say is easy to complete Demon's Souls in one sitting without getting hit even once?

I'm done talking.

When did I say that?

 

[Fedorov]

When did I say that?

You can finish those games without taking a single hit.

Then I said yes, it is possible, but extremely unlikely and it takes a lot of discipline... then you answered:

It's way easier to do it in Demons Souls since the areas are all fairly linear. How many times did you get roasted by the dragon before you got its pattern down and made it through without taking a hit? Repeat for every other enemy encounter.

As if it barely take any effort. Try applying that theory to the Flamelurker.

Even the bridge dragon area which is one of the easiest examples, at least you have to time it yourself, which is already a more active approach than what you are doing in Skyrim's combat, and that doesn't even count as combat in DS, since its running in a hallway, that would be the equivalent of the corridors with traps instead.

 

[Bluehawk]

Using the block-bash at the right time to disrupt an enemy's attack and then get in one of your own takes some skill in Skyrim... not a lot, just some.

 

[Fedorov]

Using the block-bash at the right time to disrupt an enemy's attack and then get in one of your own takes some skill in Skyrim... not a lot, just some.

Yes, probably the best thing in Skyrim's combat is the block-bash, a pity is bugged and only works sometimes, the combat would be much better if it was more reliable. It also needs a roll ability to evade those nasty spells from necromancers/priests/dragon breath, and a less perfect targeting system for the dragons, I mean they can laser breath you and keep tracking you no matter how you move, I'm pretty sure that once they have a fireball in front of their faces it would be much harder to keep track of enemies (at least its like that in almost every game that features a flamethrowers).

 

[Zennousha]

Yes, probably the best thing in Skyrim's combat is the block-bash, a pity is bugged and only works sometimes, the combat would be much better if it was more reliable. It also needs a roll ability to evade those nasty spells from necromancers/priests/dragon breath, and a less perfect targeting system for the dragons, I mean they can laser breath you and keep tracking you no matter how you move, I'm pretty sure that once they have a fireball in front of their faces it would be much harder to keep track of enemies (at least its like that in almost every game that features a flamethrowers).

Except you can avoid their breath by going outside of the range their head and neck can bend. Sure, Elder Scrolls doesn't have fancy little button implemented features, but you can certainly be proactive in determining your opponent's movement and discerning the best location for you to be in before you need to be there.

So really it's not that much different. The only difference between the two are their different systems of artificial difficulty. Skyrim reduces your damage and boosts the enemies damage, while Dark Souls just makes it so you take massive penalties for not doing something you weren't aware you needed to do initially. Since when was a penalized, glorified QTE suddenly "great combat mechanics and difficulty" that everyone seems to spout?

 

[hockeywarrior]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cAf8-3HjN6Q#!

 

[Grimreapo]

@Raise
Unless Darks Souls became some evil Nethack type game where you have only one save, guess what, memorization will have will have a huge impact impact like in ALL single player games, for example that "Hard" PoW mission in Operation Flashpoint could be over in moments if you run into a nearby Hind. However you statement is bull**** on several levels:
1) No matter how well armoured you are many of the monsters can ****ing killing you if you **** up, so its always skill in involved
2) Do a game+ and the real pain train
3) What? The predictable AI not good enough? Then do some PvP like a real man...

As for people who have never heard of 2011 GOTY:
Dark Souls: Bosses Destroy Trailer - YouTube

 

[Fedorov]

Except you can avoid their breath by going outside of the range their head and neck can bend.

Not if they are in the air... or if it lands in a position you can't reach before it spits fire.

 

[Zennousha]

Not if they are in the air... or if it lands in a position you can't reach before it spits fire.

Uh... yes. You can. If it's in the air, go directly below in the opposite direction it's flying. You'll get at best half a second of exposure.

As for where it's landing, that's where the landscape, predicting its movement, and other factors come in.

 

[Murphy]

I'm not one to let an opportunity to split hairs pass, but are we really arguing if Dark Souls has tighter combat mechanics and depends more on your personal skill than the combat in Skyrim? Because, you can kinda sorta evade some attacks in Skyrim too?

If so, I'm loving it, and I'd like to throw in "garden gnome", "strawberry shake" and "foreskin pimples" as additional points that support whichever side claims them first! GO!

 

[Reise]

I honestly like both games. They really shouldn't be compared to each other either, but I'm not the one who brought it up here in the first place. I just couldn't let people talk like the Souls games are pure skill-based when most of it is just trial and error until you've got it down to a point of perfection. And even that gets diluted once your soul level is high enough.

It's a great pair of games, just don't pretend getting killed 50 times then making it through once after the same sequence of events happened is skillful.

Then I said yes, it is possible, but extremely unlikely and it takes a lot of discipline... then you answered:

I was talking in comparison to Demons and Dark Souls, I probably should have clarified that.

 

[Fedorov]

It's a great pair of games, just don't pretend getting killed 50 times then making it through once after the same sequence of events happened is skillful.

Thats where you are wrong. There are several parts and boss fights in Souls that I've completed in my first time without dying just by being extremely careful and paying a lot of attention. Skyrim does not allow that. Boss fights are about quicksaving before (and during) the combat, and try 200 times until you luck out and he doesn't one shoot you with an unavoidable lighting strike.

The feeling of accomplishment is completely different, as one of them depends on what you do and the other in your luck. Stop talking about trial and error in Souls, cause its FAR worse in skyrim and you cant even learn from the errors cause of the randomness.

But the way the one who brought up the "artificial" difficulty was you. I talked about "fair" difficulty and "unfair" difficulty. Souls games don't have nowhere near the amount of unwarned instakills as in Skyrim, you can avoid most of those things by being very careful instead of retrying 50 times like you just said. Can't say the same thing about Skyrim.