Stealth Problem Fixes in Skyrim?

[reveffect]

Since I mostly tend to play as rouge and stealth characters who have little health and wear light armor stealth is a big deal. There were plenty of problems with being stealthy in oblivion with the most notable one being the "psychic guards". How do you think bethesda will fix and improve the stealth system in skyrim?

 

Personally I would like to be able to go into a room full of enemies and be able to stealthly take them out one by one without all of the other remaining enemies nearby automaticly knowing where I am after I make the first shot. What should happen is that they should go into "alert mode" and start searching the area or be on their guard.

 

Plus if I do manage to kill someone with out alerting anyone else, if they happen to see the dead body of one of their comrades lying on the ground they should be alert, on gaurd, and calling for back up and shouldn't continue walking around like nothing happened.

 

So what do you guys think should be added or fixed to make stealth in skyrim more enjoyable than in oblivion?

[MizerD]

I think you pretty much hit it on the head!

[hector530]

Fo3 didn't have psychic guards so I we won't see them again. Always play an argonian rogue and all I really wanted was stealth kills and we got that so I'm happy.

[weed33]

well i think it should be more complicated than nearby enemies simply going on alert. say if one guys walking right behind another guy and you fire a stealthy arrow into the guy behind, there is a chance (dependant on your sneak skill) the guy in front won't notice but if you hit the guy in front then the other guy would see where the arrow came from and would know where you are. they would still go on alert at the sight of dead bodies though

[Alcrin]

What I didn't like most about Oblivion's stealth system was the total lack of feedback. Just a simple "someone detects you"/"no one detects you" indication. The only time this was useful was when you wanted to steal something; For actually using combat-based stealth it was worthless.

 

What I need to know (without using the console) is who detects me and what gave me away. Nothing is more annoying than getting "You cannot wait/fast travel while in combat" when there are no apparent enemies in the area.

[ita]

Guards should be able to react to the amount of noise the player is making, with different levels of alertness based on the sound. A soft scraping of a leather boot against stone might be dismissed as a couple of rats running around, while someone trying to sneak in heavy armor and thus causing a lot of noise should raise the alertness level of guards within earshot and make them actively go and investigate the source of the sound. Of course, this requires the game to accurately distinguish what kind of surface the player is walking on and how loud the sound of his/her footsteps are and also if the player is bumping into any objects that might shift around and cause noises. This could possibly allow for distractions; throw an object and wait for guards to go and investigate, then sneak by them while they are busy.

 

Something similar should apply for lighting conditions as well, staying in deep shadows should make the player nearly undetectable while trying to move around in reasonably well-lit areas within a guard's line of sight should immediately draw their attention. Light sources (torches, campfires et.c.) should be extinguishable to create new dark areas to move around in.

 

Guards should react to certain objects suddenly disappearing, if the player has a mission to steal a priceless artifact or somesuch, the guards should immediately go into high alert if the artifact is stolen. No one would expect the museum security at the Musée du Louvre to continue their usual routines if the Mona Lisa suddenly disappeared, would they?

 

Silent, nonlethal takedowns should be possible and the player should be able to drag the body, dead or not, and hide it somewhere appropriate. Removing too many guards should raise the suspicion level in the remaining ones though.

[draconix]

It would be cool if "sneaking" while clearly out in public would draw some negative attention to yourself, like putting guards on a sort of "vigilant" mode, where they're not alert or violent, but extra cautious since they saw some suspicious activity.

[AaronKo]

Another thing to note is what happens after the event.

 

To be specific, after you commit a crime, get caught, get out of jail, escape but with a witness who survives, you should have more consequences than a drop in personality points or trust. This should require more than bribing but a higher speech skill than before or distraction to fix.

 

So when you go back, you either have to look different, or come back at a higher sneak skill in order to make the mission a success because you messed up the first time and now it's harder. That means if the lock on the door was Hard, it's now Very Hard or if the Guards that were there the first time are back, they are more alert this time to possible thieves/assassins.

 

I guess what is meant is adaptive AI, where if you mess up the first time, it'll be harder the next time. Although if you don't want to do that you could just simply load up the previous save. But I think it'd be more fun!

 

I feel like it's a lot of extra scripting for each individual guard but if there is a certain amount of them taken into adaptive-ness then it would go a long way for the player's experience.

 

Also to add to reveffect's post: Even if they don't see the body if you succeeded, there should be a certain amount of days where suspicion arises at the absence of the victim to the point where they either find his/her body or repo his/her stuff. What I gathered from Todd Howard in an E3 video is that the economy side isn't a big focus but surely it would be nice if you could buy the vic's house after you kill them! :devil:

 

Here is the link to video where I think Todd Howard seems to vaguely mention the economy to answer a question. It's an E3 Gameplay Demo of the game.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic6dKnv3WdU&feature=player_embedded

 

Another thing to add is that I don't mainly play the rouge. I prefer to be a spellsword and when I dabbled in the sneaky side I found myself to favor the former style better. So correct me if I said anything that was in Oblivion, I'd appreciate it! Gracias.

Edited July 28, 2011 by AaronKo

[billyro]

When he shoots the bandit, the other one simply draws his weapon and just stands there waiting to be shot!

[draconix]

it would also be a good idea if one's ability to detect you were dependent upon a factor of their perception & sneak skills

I agree, the other guard should have immediately taken cover/ran away/hid in a corner or something. I think that Self-preservation should be heavily weighted when it comes to an invisible or unseen enemy. If the guard isn't scared by that for some reason, then he should at least jump for cover, then he should maybe start sneaking and walking around to look for you.