LE Molding Skyrim

[eecer]

I have loved Elder Scrolls for quite a while now, and Skyrim has been absolutely amazing. There are a few things that have always bugged me though, and I thought that I would post the idea here and see what's probable, whats dumb, and what people might be willing to make.

 

To start with is the combat system. Yes, there have been improvements, but the general swing/block method gets very boring after a while and I no longer play to fight. Now, I think Assassins Creed did an excellent job at building a combat system that can be fun to watch, play, and works well with the game. Don't worry, I don't think that it should be the exact same for Skyrim, but I do think that using a little bit more of an animated and martial art way of combat would be extremely fun in Skyrim. Imagine allowing your character to have a martial art of your choice, each with a different look and feel to how you play with it. The player would then start combat and have different moves that they choose like Assassins Creed (attack, counter, block, dodge) except instead they would have a defensive list and an offensive list, molding in a bit of the Mortal Kombat world. I would then be able to learn different moves and apply the eight moves that I would want available in combat, so now when I get in a fight I can choose to attack with a wide slash to hit the two in front of me, then leap backwards and turn around to the one behind me, block his swing and then do a low swing to the legs. the combination of how you fight would be endless and I think it would be so much fun that I would end up standing in the middle of the city at times just to partake in some interesting battles. I understand that this would involve generating a massive amount of animation, AI scripting, and controls, but it would really add some spice to the game. I also think that this would only be great from a third person view which would involve some delicate tinkering to make it look right. The other thing to think about is building this would also allow mages to use the staff as a weapon in combat, having the spells be assigned to some of their attack controls and then using the staff as a counter weapon to stun the enemy would make the staffs extremely useful and versatile, who wouldn't want to truly be a monk?

 

Next is smithing. Smithing is something I think we all do just to make the best weapons and armor, but sometimes I love the design and hate the stats or vise-verse. I think to add both more balance and a wider variety of weapons we should be able to choose the design of the blade and handle, and the material used to create it. This would allow that awesome design that we love to have the stats that we need. Now the material you choose would change how the weapon works by having it's weight change the speed and damage of the weapon. So I could build an Elven design blade with glass with the Imperial design handle with steel, the sword being light up top and heavier at the handle would allow me to swing quickly and move fast but at the same time not be able to block as well. This would help generate a look that we love with the fight style we want. To go even deeper, we can say that the design itself has stat adjustments as well, for example: two sided sharpness allows back swings while single side generates a higher damage. This smithing can also be applied to armor, allowing the player to choose the material and design for that as well. I could build Imperial armor with the outer plates being made of ebony, and the inner material connecting it out of dragon scales, heavy for light armor but much better in an armor rating. The armor would also affect your attack speed more as well, so wearing all heavy might make arrows barely touch you but not only are you moving slowly but your sword is swing is slow as well.

 

Lastly is magic. I will warn all of you, I do love Fullmetal. Fullmetal has an awesome way of mixing magic and science with the idea that there is math behind it. I think that an awesome way to build a spell/enchantment creator in the game would be to take the idea of Fullmetal and apply it to Skyrim. This would mean when players read spell tomes it would affect them light alchemy and they would learn a piece of the "circle" or formula to the spell. Now, would still be able to know the spell, but when you would go to create your own spell or enchantment there would be more pieces of the formula that you could arrange and put together to form the full equation that builds it. This would allow those to look into the science of the magic and generate spells that use less magic by harvesting energy from the environment, or maybe find a way to use your health or stamina to generate more power, or a different type of power. I would love to sit there and try to build a new type of spell, maybe one that would compress air and blast the enemy, or upon touching them slowly freeze parts of their body while absorbing some magic back, even developing the spell to use my magic and stamina all in one to make a god awful amount of pure energy blast in all directions around me. This can also be used environmentally to have nature strike the enemy as well, trees shooting vines at the enemy, or the ground suddenly shooting spikes up at them. when it comes to enchantments, you might be able to find a way to transfer energy back to the weapon. There are hundreds of ideas that you can put into this and how the player can truly learn the ways of magic.

 

With all of these mods combined, I imagine my character standing in the forest dressed in robes with a wooden staff in my hands. As the enemy charges to gain the land of my monks I start shooting spikes out of the ground at them. They continue to sprint for me and as the first herd arrives I blast them back with an air push. Then two more come at me from my left and right. I quickly jump back and swing my staff at the one on my right. He blocks while the one on my left lifts his Greatsword into the air. I spin my body forward, moving the staff from blocking one to suddenly striking the other in the chest as he swings the sword down. I then use the staffs spell of freezing to stop the one that I just blocked from being able to strike again, the other three are beginning to move up on me. Another one suddenly swings at me from behind and gives me a firm slice in the back and as I stumble forward from the shock the other two begin to approach my front and finish me off. I roll right between them, spin around, and do a swift swing of the staff along the ground. They fall straight to the ground and while they're down I swing the staff to their heads knocking them unconscious. The other two now run at me, ready to strike me down. One swings for the head and I duck to dodge the attack and hit the opponent in the back making him stumble forward while the other swings and clips the back of my leg. Knowing that I can't take much more I spin around and grab his right arm to stop him from being able to swing at me, and before he can struggle out of it I place my hand on his chest turning the water in his system to gasses. BOOM. Tired and injured, the battle is over and I begin to walk back home and let my villagers know that we won today when the the frozen one rises and strikes me down from behind. Time to reload, and see if I can win with a different approach.

 

Let me know what you guys think. I have a feeling that these mods would either involve way too much work or aren't even possible, but we all have our hopes and dreams and this is my dream Elder Scroll.

Edited January 15, 2013 by eecer