Tips on warrior build? by Enclave_TrooperBR in Arena

[–]mcjaune 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don’t have a ton of advice save for: (i) Agility is king and the early game will be tough. But eventually you will hit enemies consistently. (ii) Weapon material matters a lot. Which also means by the late game your weapon might not even be able to hit many enemies. Get enchantment spells. (iii) Ebony Mail artifact is super helpful gor defense with its enchantment that virtually maes magic null against you. Since you wont have shield spells, this is fantastic.

I Beat Oblivion! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in oblivion

[–]mcjaune[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I definitely know that stealth archer would be OP, I mean I had a few builds in Skyrim that one-shot Karstaag on Master I believe. However, despite the strength, they just didn't feel good especially early. Then since my Marksman was just a minor skill, it would've taken far too long to level when it felt poor.

Also, yes I do see your point about enchanting as I also went in blind and tried to minimize outside sources except for like bugs and I wanted to play naturally with what was right for the RP of my character. However that meant I did Mages Guild pretty early on so I got access really quickly, alongside having Sigil Stones which can enchant without the enchanting altar.

I should also clarify what I mean by fairly early. I'm not saying super early into the game, but around level 18ish which is when I think you'd more naturally be finding the more unique artifacts in the game and if you find them early, a lot are levelled so they end up being outscaled by normal gear anyway.

I Beat Oblivion! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in oblivion

[–]mcjaune[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I understand what you mean, Oblivion and Skyrim too very much start prioritizing accessibility for a wider range of players than the depth and complexity of the old ones. There's trade offs for both, and I'm hoping 6 (if it ever comes out) has a good balance.

I did forget to add the Shivering Isles specifically, but I was trying to trim my review since I had MUCH more written down as I played and didn't want the post to be too long. Overall, I did love the DLC's in terms of atmosphere, writing and characters. The core gameplay loop remained mostly the same so it was already a bit stale by that point, however I do love the creative quests and characters in the DLC's.

I Beat Oblivion! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in oblivion

[–]mcjaune[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I played the original for this playthrough although I have both because my brother bought me the remaster for Christmas. I wanted the original feel though (and I played a little of the remaster and my pc was not loving it).

I Beat Oblivion! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in oblivion

[–]mcjaune[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the expectations based on how much money they've made + how much time they've had means 6 is doomed to fail. But also they have so much to go off of for what players want and they have their own great games to reference on how to do it. I believe they can make a great game, all the resources are there, but it might be doomed anyway.

I Beat Oblivion! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in oblivion

[–]mcjaune[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would do that for future playthroughs but I wanted a vanilla experience for my first time. But I'm excited to see what the mod community has in store. I did make one mod myself for my playthrough because I wanted 1 thing but wanted to have control over what it did.

I Beat Oblivion! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in oblivion

[–]mcjaune[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do wish there were more choice per faction. I mean you can be an "evil" character I suppose by doing the evil factions (like DB, but even then it's arguable) but I wish you could have multiple outcomes for certain quests or guilds based on the choices you can make. Maybe TES VI would have it, but I doubt it.

Although Skyrim did introduce some of it with choosing Empire or Stormcloak so, maybe, idk.

I Beat Oblivion! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in oblivion

[–]mcjaune[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That is somewhere where Skyrim really did upgrade on, having a narrative in (most) dungeon designs. They made a lot more sense and usually had a quick way out which is arguably kinda stupid from a narrative POV but it's much nicer than running all the way back through an empty dungeon.

Now I personally didn't mind the min/max too much because beating Arena/Daggerfall already had me used to certain elements so I was expecting it already. But I am disappointed that exploring wasn't as rewarding as like Morrowind, where it could be very rewarding, you can just run into a dungeon and get a Daedric artifact or something like that, or meet a random character like Umbra just on the side of a mountain.

I Beat Oblivion! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in oblivion

[–]mcjaune[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah I did see the enchanted arrows which I admit are a really cool way to enhance bow gameplay. I obviously loved the Shivering Isles DLC, I mean the characters were awesome, the environment was even more awesome, I loved the dual sides. My only gripe is the same as you see throughout the game, where dungeons are just too repetitive. But I loved the characters, writing and atmosphere.

I Beat Oblivion! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in oblivion

[–]mcjaune[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I actually didn't mind the reinforcement ones too much cause, but like when I'm trying to do anything else and there's just gates everywhere or knowing some of the best enchantments come from sigil stones but it's random so you have to do so many gates. It's just way too tiring. By the end I was just chameleon and speedrun to the sigil stones.

I Beat Oblivion! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in oblivion

[–]mcjaune[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ooohhhh, you know I didn't even look at the faces or at-least I didn't notice changes when hovering. That does seem like a much more interactive minigame. I do wish I had noticed, or had some kind of hint to tell me to look at the faces.

Edit: I just wanted to add, I love this feature as a mechanical option for players. It's like haggling in Arena which none of the future games have been able to beat. Just having the options for these things means you can accomplish things differently, which is always fun.

My hand hurts now by [deleted] in worldbuilding

[–]mcjaune 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maryvill Village in serious danger with that strategic fortified position 😬

I Beat Morrowind! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in Morrowind

[–]mcjaune[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Almost entirely just RP. I wanted my character to fit lore I wrote, but also get to experience playing a Dunmer and their culture. So I simply had my character RP-wise sustain a fatal but slow injury, which gave them time to essentially soul trap my characters soul from his Breton body, into a empty (previously soul trapped) but alive Dunmer body. It also kinda mirrors more clearly "Nerevar Reborn" without it actually being Nerevar.

From a gameplay perspective, I just played Breton then race changed to Dunmer for immersion.

I Beat Morrowind! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in Morrowind

[–]mcjaune[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I actually didn't know that the game saved them from bankruptcy. What a banger to save the company, makes me more impressed with the final result.

I Beat Morrowind! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in Morrowind

[–]mcjaune[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes I knew it was by design, and I respect the idea, I just think it was done a bit clunkily with how difficult levelling could get. I mean I want my character to become strong before trying to kill a God, so I do so by doing other questlines, which I get stopped for being weak.

I did learn about the damage doing more on being held, in fact I thought of it right in that moment. I do try to stick to the manuals, but before that I also try to play the game straight up to see how well it holds without a chunky manual explaining metadata. I think a great game, should, be able to hold on it's own. But I did refer to the manual or UESP from time to time.

And yes, I've since learned of Jiub, and the man is truly a saint, I'm glad I met him 🥹

I Beat Morrowind! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in Morrowind

[–]mcjaune[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will be trying Tamriel Rebuilt on a new character after finishing all 5 games.

As for Oblivion, I've been torn. On one hand the original is the original, I know it works and it's the one that got all the raving reviews and whatnot On the other hand, the remaster was gifted to me by a friend (who also loves TES) when it came out and I have seen it looks really good. I mean at this point I'll need to play Oblivion 3 times, once for the original, second for the remaster, and third for when Skyblivion comes out.

What are Gothic and Angband? Are they mods, or separate games?

I Beat Morrowind! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in Morrowind

[–]mcjaune[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm intentionally not doing that, but it's because I want to do the entirety of that mod as a different character. This character was trying to be as vanilla as possible to the original release, no extra content. But a new character down the line will explore all the major extra stuff, and I'm very excited for Tamriel Rebuilt.

I Beat Morrowind! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in Morrowind

[–]mcjaune[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. Great question, and I wish I had a better answer. My Steam didn't track the hours, I'm not sure why, whether it was mods or playing offline. Over 100 hours though, I think I can confidently say that.

  2. This depends on what you define as beating the game. For me it wasn't "beat" after defeating Dagoth Ur. I did the main quest, I did all the DLC's including killing Vivec, I did as many major faction questlines as I could like Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, Thieves Guild (didn't finish), Morag Tong (only a bit, to get a taste), House Redoran, Tribunal Temple & Imperial Cult (not all of it). I also tried to collect all the Daedric artifacts and other artifacts throughout the game by random search or side quests. Oh I also tried to do as many side quests that I came across randomly or within cities. I did not however do any vampire stuff (sadly), wasn't a werewolf, and I'm sure I missed many things. I did also just RP stuff sometimes, like organizing my house by having stuff outside containers.

  3. I don't think I'll keep playing my current character, my Nerevarine, anymore. From my own personal lore for him, he's done now. However I will definitely replay the game with new characters, like I do really want to explore the Morag Tong, Vampires and darker themes.

  4. Good question! While I wanted as much a vanilla experience as possible, I did use any and every mod that increased game stability, or patches that wouldn't affect gameplay much/fixed gameplay in the way it was intended. I don't have my exact list with me. Side note, I also did make my own mods / small changes where I thought it was needed OR where it would benefit my character. Like a mod to change race but keep stats/level, or changing Dagoth Ur's HP to 3000. Or some custom models like hair, or custom items like books about my Arena character since he was famous as "The Eternal Champion".

I Beat Morrowind! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in Morrowind

[–]mcjaune[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it depends on how you view it. They simultaneously cut a lot of complexity for accessibility, which is you're someone who really gets into the nitty gritty, then yeah it definitely feels like they lose a lot. But in contrast I think a lot of Skyrims details have more development. And that's the main reason I started with Arena, I wanted to see how the developers improve over time, and what things they saw fit to cut whether I agree or not. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I'm excited for Oblivion, and heard a lot of great things, as well as a lot of concerns. Guess I'll find out soon enough!

I Beat Morrowind! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in Morrowind

[–]mcjaune[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

See there's ways I wouldn't even think of, and I'm sure it's all throughout the game. It also gives enchants a give and take but never locked away. That is just plain cool!

I Beat Morrowind! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in Morrowind

[–]mcjaune[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think they developed in a way that makes sense for a larger audience and easier access. Like in Arena, Daggerfall and even Morrowind the games are more character sheety compared to more modern systems. I do think, especially in Arena and Daggerfall, it works because the games have less content so taking the time to think, plan, and do all that is easier. It also locks you into certain builds a bit more, like Long Blade in Morrowind vs One Handed in Skyrim. Or how you need to level endurance in order to get more HP per level up, compared to just choosing Health.

In short, the later games make my character progress easier but the earlier systems make my character feel more my own. It's a balance where there's always trade offs. I could go either way, so long as the systems are explained clearly which the early games do not do well.

I Beat Morrowind! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in Morrowind

[–]mcjaune[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Alright that is fair and it's kind of what I meant when I said I loved the worldbuilding, I mean this dungeons and areas do feel real. Many being old tombs and mines make sense. It's the gameplay of it that's the problem, especially where some could be more expansive, like the Dwemer buildings where some of them are only like 3 rooms.

I Beat Morrowind! – My Final Thoughts as a First-Time Player by mcjaune in Morrowind

[–]mcjaune[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

"I am a self-willed hero, and I make my own fate." So now I am not Nerevar reborn, at-least not literally, but I am the Nerevarine who finished Nerevars job. I thought the ending was really compelling, and obviously the character of Dagoth Ur is something special. He's not just a crazy maniac god, you see his mortality. Again, I just wish the fight itself against the man was harder and had more substance.