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Majir-Dar

Confused Khajiit
Does anyone else feel like magic in the Elder Scrolls is getting worse and worse? Morrowind even had spells that let you levitate and you could make your own spells. Oblivion had a spell maker and a more toned down magic selection (no levitation mainly). And yet Skyrim, the latest game, has less magic options than any other Elder Scrolls game, they even took out Mysticism. So what's your opinion on this? Do you agree or disagree? Please explain why.
 

Thorn

In the Hist we trust
Mysticism was my favorite of all the schools of magic....I find that in Skyrim the magic is "streamlined" and simplified to an extent. I also miss being able to levitate...I would save lots of time out among the mountains and in Dwemer ruins
 

original_funk

Iron is coming
I think (well hope) that it was a choice made to reflect the culture of Skyrim. Unlike the Dark elves and the Imperials the Nords generally do not have much respect for magic and prefer to use swords and axes. However the exception is the Thu'um, which all Nords respect and fear. But Magicka, meh.
I do hope that they put Elder Scrolls VI in some place like the Summerset Isles and chuck a ton of awesome and fun spells
 

Thorn

In the Hist we trust
I mean the Nords can ignore magic all they want, but there is the only real magical institution in all of Tamriel in Skyrim.
 

DrunkenMage

Intoxicated Arch-Mage
I miss being able to unlock doors and chests with alteration spells. I think it goes better with being a powerful mage who can unlock things with his/her magic. But alas I must crouch into the dirt and fiddle with a lock. Shame you can't kick it open or break it with a weapon.
 

AS88

Well-Known Member
Staff member

WhiteCaneKiller

New Member
I miss being able to unlock doors and chests with alteration spells. I think it goes better with being a powerful mage who can unlock things with his/her magic. But alas I must crouch into the dirt and fiddle with a lock. Shame you can't kick it open or break it with a weapon.

I agree 100%, nothing more immersion breaking than a hot headed Orc taking a break from slaughtering fools in order to carefully pick a lock.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
I haven't played Oblivion or the other TES games, but, having played any number of sword and sorcery RP's I honestly am not a fan of the magic dynamics in SR. They're way too complicated, don't really serve purposes that we need them for, take far too long to implement, are non-customizable and, quite honestly, just a pain in the butt most of the time.

I realize there are people who just luv the whole magic thing, but, I guess I'm not one of them. While I enjoy some conjuration, alteration and restoration spells throughout the game (antornachs-dremora et al., transmute, healing) and even some illusion (frenzy/fury/calm/muffle), I don't use them very often.

I have desperately been trying to create a mage character, even going so far as to make her an Altmer (sorry, they just all look like Thalmor's to me and I hate the Thalmor), but am about to give up. I'll have her keep using magic, but I just can't deal with no combat. Dagmar has been giving me excellent information and tips that I will try to implement, but she was right when she said, that Magic is not everybody's cup of tea and, if your not enjoying being a mage, don't struggle to do it just for the sake of doing it.

I have a feeling that my mage is going to end up much more along the line of a spell sword. :sadface:
 

Naginata

Huntress of the Shadows
I completely agree, I liked how Oblivion had the spell maker and it also had a wide variety of spells available for all schools of magic, at different levels and all were useful in their own way. In Skyrim, I hate how they have barely any Conjuration spells to choose from... I love to conjure up Atronachs to aid me in battle, but in Oblivion there were so many other choices aside from Atronachs as well. I loved the diversity. Also, almost all of the Schools are severely lacking in variety of spells, aside from the School of Destruction which I think is decent enough in Skyrim. However, Bethesda really disappointed me with Skyrim's magic... that's why I've never made a pure mage.
 

Dawn

Member
I love playing magic characters in games, usually more so than melee / physical types.

But I've found playing magic in Skyrim to be tiresome. A big part of that has to do with the way spells are cast and the highly limited and dysfunctional console based UI / keybinding system (I play on a PC with a full keyboard and a Naga gaming mouse).

I just cannot get past the hoops I have to go through to cast a spell.

In most games I can keybind a spell to a specific key, then cast the spell by pressing the bound key.

In Skyrim, I have to select a spell (sometimes by quick key, though with only 8 quick keys - sometimes selecting a spell requires doing the tab > magic > find spell > select > tab dance), then ready the spell, then cast the spell.

And if I want to cycle two specific spells into the ready position, I have to dual equip one first, then equip the next, or the second will simply equip over the first (I have the same issue with trying to equip specific weapons when dual wielding - very annoying).

And this is all before the other nitpicks like constantly having to cast defensive / armor type spells (very short timers), the lack of scaling with spell damage compared to physical damage, and the high costs of spells in the early game (I spend more time waiting on magica to regen or chugging potions than actual combat).

I did make it to arch mage by level 15 or so once, having made a dash for the College from the start. But it just felt so clunky and non-immersive as I spent lots of time pausing the game to find a spell or running around in circles while hiding from a boss while waiting for my magica to regen.

I guess I just don't find the pace and combat for magic in Skyrim to be engaging or fun, thus I just don't play pure magic users (and most of my characters have thus far ended up using very little magic).
 

LotusEater

I brake for blue butterflies
I find the magic in this game to be more fun to plan and think about than to actually use. With the exception of Runes, which I happen to enjoy quite a bit, the rest of the spell pool is mostly underwhelming.
 

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