LegitHyperbole said:
Damn, I can't remember either. 😕 You got on it early, how exactly does the skill progression work? Does it look as mediocre on PC as PS5? |
I think it looks pretty good, it still feels like Oblivion but it also looks modern.
Skill progression follows the system of previous titles in the series; you use skills to level them up, with a selection counting as "major" skills and the rest as "minor". Only major skills contribute to increasing your level, and upon level-up you are prompted to increase your attributes - which in turn govern the various skills. There's a perk system where perks are unlocked upon reaching level milestones in each individual skill. Skills like Athletics and Acrobatics have an actual, in-game impact on your character, to the point where you can physically explore different areas by holding your breath longer, jumping higher/farther etc. There's much more dynamics and organic growth to it all compared to Skyrim, which diluted the RPG aspects in favor of action-oriented gameplay and power fantasies.
I haven't really explored much of the map at all, so I can't say I know if they kept the old level-scaling system of the original, it was one of its worst features. After level 30-35, you would encounter highwaymen and other rabble wearing ebony or daedric armor simply due to enemies leveling along with the player. It also lead to certain encounters within Oblivion gates spawning an insane number of enemies to compensate for player level.
If they kept all the items of the Shivering Isles expansion, I think there might be a way to build what I did many years ago: a character with 105% damage reflection and 80% magic absorption (in essence immortal). You can also do some pretty wacky stuff with enchantments, which is of course a staple of the Elder Scrolls series (my favorite was the placing "Fortify Strength by 1-47" in Morrowind, on several pieces, and then donning them on and off until you scored the highest on all, giving you 500+ strength and god-ending damage along with a weapon that utilized all damage types at once). Balance was never Bethesda's strong suit, it seems.
