Why I now play on Adept instead of Master

[zyg0tic]

As my Nord friends are so often telling me, "I love a challenge!" And I agree with them...

 

However, I now have grievances with Master difficulty that have resulted in me abandoning it for Adept instead. I've always played on Master, finished the game twice on it. In my second playthrough of the main quest I beat it on Master and only died twice.

 

So why is Master "more difficult" anyway? It accomplishes it in a very simplistic way. All it does is make it so you do less damage, and whatever it attacking you does more, by some multiplier. All is does is nerf you and buff them. That is a really really mundane way of increasing difficulty. It makes it just plain stupid - I mean, you whack them 10 times to remove a small amount of their hp, and they hit you twice and you're dead. Same weapon, same amount of skill, so its an immersion killer if you think about it.

 

I know its a fantasy RPG, but it seems really unrealistic and dare I say it, game-breaking. Your shock spell makes them a little bit angry, their shock spell makes you very much dead, but its exactly the same spell, with exactly the same perks/skill as you. That's. Just. Stupid. If you think about it, its not fair, and is a very unimmersive, unintelligent way of adding difficulty to the game.

 

On Adept there is 1:1 ratio for damage done and damage received. Surely that makes more sense. But then, it certainly is easier... But what if we could make Adept harder. You know, keep the realistic damage ratio, but increase the difficulty in a more immersive, sensible way? Well there is.

 

Many things in Skyrim are the way they are because the game developers knew their major audience and their major limitations. Can a console handle 100 NPCs on screen all at once? Typically not. A PC, maybe.

 

So here's the thing: I have a PC. A quad core. Its got a GTX 680. It can handle lots of NPCs. It can also handle a lot of NPCs all wanting to kill me, all at once.

 

Here's how I'm making Adept more difficult....

 

1. Increase average encounter levels of enemies - The game has 4 settings for the level of NPCs encountered. By increasing all of these values, the average level of all enemies I encounter is increased. So chances are the enemies I bump into are frequently going to be meaner and stronger.

2. Increase the amount of enemies that spawn. I've set ASIS so there is, at the very least, a double spawn of all applicable enemies. There is also a chance of +3 additional spawns. So in conjuction with increasing encounter levels, something like 4 high level bandit chiefs is a possibility (probably best to avoid that when it happens).

3. Reduce the amount that I can improve items with enchanting and smithing. I love enchanting and smithing, but the ability to craft OP gear gets a bit ridiculous. So I have simply made a mod that reduces the levels things can be improved.

4. Increase difficulty of sneaking - make myself more detectable.

5. Make potions heal over time, rather than instant.

6. Use Deadly Dragons so the dragon fighting aspect is still reasonably difficult, as it can be on Master.

7. Improve the AI/reactions of enemies. ASIS does a good job of this with the Customized AI feature, especially with casters healing themselves.

8. Give the NPCs access to the same perks/character development as the player. Again, ASIS provides this. (Yay ASIS!)

9. Increase the amount of random encounters. Am using DFB Random Encounters mod. Random encounters are things like when you're out in the wilderness and you get approached by a thief or assassin.

10. Don't use a follower.

 

I think these are the sorts of changes that make for a better difficulty experience. Keen to know any other ideas and other thoughts.

Edited December 23, 2012 by zyg0tic

[gsmanners]

You want a challenge? Try playing a strict craft merchant with Economics of Skyrim and Merchant Difficulty set to Inconceivable.

[WatchMeGoing]

I also play on Adept, but I didn't really edit anything to make my game more difficult, instead I make it more difficult by setting limitations for my characters. Often when people describe some "epic" skyrim boss battle, they used all kinds of enchanted gear, magic, potions and poisons, archery, melee, scrolls, summons, followers, etc. Basically every tool available in the game.

 

Now I don't REALLY role play, but when I create a character, I do decide on a certain set of skills that I'm going to use and a VERY short backstory about why I use those skills (backstory of 1 or 2 lines), and I stick to that.

For example: I have a Bosmer that only uses archery and light armor in combat. I upgrade my stuff with smithing, but since I don't train smithing, the upgrades are very small and barely add anything, I just see it as equipment maintenance, I don't sneak to get a good first shot in, I don't enchant my gear or use enchanted gear that I find (exception of jewelry), I don't switch to melee when enemies come close, instead I try to keep my distance from enemies, and I only use healing potions that I find.

 

On top of that limited skill set, I usually limit myself to one specifc set of armor aswell, because I feel that that set best fits the current character. This is important to me, since I play in 3rd person 90% of the time, and I generally don't like looking like a scavanger that just uses whatever he finds (unless that is a specific rule for a character of course)

 

So even if I have a character that is willing to use enchanted equipment, he needs to be lucky to find a piece of the armor set that he likes with the enchantment that he likes. I consider enchanting itself a mage's skill and completely out of place on any character that isn't some kind of mage(-hybrid).

 

I think playing with these kind of "rules" makes the game a lot more fun, since it gives my character a bit of personality and it's easier to immerse myself into the game. Basically I'd rather play on Adept, so I can play the way that I like, than to play on Master and be forced to use things like alchemy + enchanting + smithing just to get some decent equipment.

 

I don't use followers, since their simplistic behaviour and dialogue breaks nearly every scenario that I'm playing in my head. I never use scrolls either. Not sure why, just don't like them.

 

I know I can do the same things on Master difficulty, but I'd end up dying too much and constant ressurection breaks the immersion for me, or I'd have to play very careful, but then the slow pace gets kinda boring.

[Sucrilhus]

I also suggest you get the mod "Difficult for everyone"....

 

You and the Enemies will have a 400% damage...

 

It makes combat deadly and fair.

[zyg0tic]

@Watchmegoing - Good point about Master inclining/forcing maxed out enchanting and smithing. Whilst its certainly possible to beat Master without abusing craft skills, there is the need to always have an edge over the opponent that is more to do with rolling bigger numbers than skill per se.

[gabrielrock19]

I have a short modlist that makes playing on Adept wonderful.

It's AAE Ultimate Edition + Populated Forts/Series + Combat Surrender.

AAE for clever enemy AI and encounters. Populated Forts so you have many enemies to fight. And Combat Surrender so fear plays a major factor in combat.

I found the experience to be very immersive. At level 81 with most warrior build perks, this makes the game fun to play. You can fight an army of bandits by yourself, face unique high-level vampires and other special enemies and at the same time have the weaklings run from you in fear.

It's immersive because the Dragonborn at maximum level (81 is the old cap after all) has such a terrifying reputation that enemies below level 50 flee (you can customize that), and it's still balanced because some groups of enemies from AAE can give you a good fight or a lot of trouble. And you can play the badass fantasy of single-handedly wiping an entire battalion.

And legendary difficulty will be always there if you feel things should be harder. I usually switch to legendary when the story/lore demands a challenging situation that the game can't give you otherwise (such as fighting named dragons, dragon priests, dragr deathlords, etc).

With these three I think you don't need anything else to make vanilla skyrim combat more clever and acknowledging of your strength (fear IS a factor during combat, after all). Plus these mods are pretty stable.

[gabrielrock19]

Forgot to mention Mihail's mods for unique creatures + mods that add unique boss encounters.

Edited November 27 by gabrielrock19