A question about Skyrim Difficulty (enemies, rather than the actual setting).

[Nalano]

It's a TES game - it's almost a badge of honour to go the wrong way!! If you enter a TES game hoping to complete EVERY quest line, you'll never leave (there are still people in Morrowind who's not seen daylight since launch and Skyrim is way bigger!!)

For the record, I just chose to take that route when heading to High Hrothgar, fast travelling to the original Hold and then walking through the mountains seemed a perfectly reasonable choice of direction (it's signposted!!).

That cave contains one of the easier Enchanting doodahs to find early on too??

Was there a buy-one-get-one-free sale on punctuation?

[trjp]

There was - it came with a free "go fuck yourself" automated reply too :)

[field_studies]

The game picks the level when you first enter the area, based on your current level.
If you return later at a higher level, the cave will still have the level that was set when you first entered.
...
I consider this system kinda neat - its how Oblivion should have done it IMO - it ensures that you won't outlevel the world so easy on the higher levels, and still get a sense of progression and immersion.

Wow, ok, yeah. I think on balance I'd still prefer no scaling at all, but that's actually a pretty elegant system. Thanks for the info -- I'm even more excited to get back in the game and start really exploring now.

Also, just to argue against my early comments a little -- I do sort of like the idea that a bear will always be somewhat dangerous, and that any kind of travelling should be done somewhat cautiously. If I'm claiming to want a 'realistic'-feeling wilderness exploration experience, then big fauna being able to bowl me over no matter my armor or strength as to be acceptable I suppose. I'm relieved to hear they've found a smarter way to accomplish that this time around.

[trjp]

If you're going to make a game which is truly 'open world' you have to have dynamic levelling of course - but Oblivions system was just silly. You could encounter a spider 10 mins into the game which was hard to beat and encounter it again 60 hours later and find it's magically able to resist all your amazing new skills and equipment just as much!!

Obviously the 'locking to the level you first found it' system can be gamed, but in a single-player game who cares about people cheating, really?? I like the idea a lot - it makes enormous sense to me (tho I'd still like really tough-nut enemies to LOOK tough - not just be NAMED tough!!) :)

I do miss the idea that 'that place over there is full of deadly things' tho - one of the most amazing things about games like WoW is the knowledge that you could walk into somewhere you'd get wiped-out in a moment (2 mins walk from the Undercity or RedRidge for example) - hell I spent more than a little time just running around seeing how long I could last!! :)

[Nalano]

There was - it came with a free "go fuck yourself" automated reply too :)

Musta been shopping in Brooklyn. :P

I do miss the idea that 'that place over there is full of deadly things' tho - one of the most amazing things about games like WoW is the knowledge that you could walk into somewhere you'd get wiped-out in a moment (2 mins walk from the Undercity or RedRidge for example) - hell I spent more than a little time just running around seeing how long I could last!! :)

I much prefer that but I think the issue is that of the idea that we need to go from "useless dirt farmer" to "slayer of gods" and actually have an internally consistent world that runs the gamut between the two. It's impossible at the heart of it. If the door guard of High Level Zone could wipe out the entire army of Low Level Zone, there would be no Low Level Zone. It'd have been conquered long ago, and yet you're often told that there was a centuries-long (!) political stasis until you showed up.

That's why I prefer more "action-y" RPGs with their discrete machinations because stat-based godhood makes the world ridiculous, not just you.

[Similar]

I'm level 43 now and haven't had many problems with vampires so far, except one I met yesterday in the middle of nowhere who put up one of the hardest fights I've had in the game so far, spamming lightning, drain life and cold (also raised a dead Stendarr fanatic she must have killed just before I arrived). Granted, I was standing awkwardly on the side of a mountain; I'd just spent the last ten minutes climbing up there by doing the weird sideways jumps, so I didn't want to back down and I couldn't move up to where she was while I was fighting, but still, I did use up a lot of poisons and healing potions before I finally got her.

She was a Volikhar(?) vampire. Never met one of those before.

[Grizzly]

Wow, ok, yeah. I think on balance I'd still prefer no scaling at all, but that's actually a pretty elegant system. Thanks for the info -- I'm even more excited to get back in the game and start really exploring now.

Also, just to argue against my early comments a little -- I do sort of like the idea that a bear will always be somewhat dangerous, and that any kind of travelling should be done somewhat cautiously. If I'm claiming to want a 'realistic'-feeling wilderness exploration experience, then big fauna being able to bowl me over no matter my armor or strength as to be acceptable I suppose. I'm relieved to hear they've found a smarter way to accomplish that this time around.

Note that this system was in Fallout 3, but it makes no sense for it not to be in Skyrim, as it was neat. I am rolling on a bit of an assumption here, but I think it is an accurate one (I have not played Skyrim).

I forgot to mention that. Sorry.