gunsmoke on 19/1/2010 at 19:32
I didn't find the stealth in Morrowind to be overpowered. Especially in the earlier (under 50-60) stealth skill levels. I struggled for quite a while before I was able to steal with confidence and not have to quick save before every single stealthy act I tried.
I'll give you Oblivion though, the skill levels incredibly fast, and you can practically become a ghost in a few hours time.
I just recently bought Fallout 3, and only played a couple hours out of the Vault so I can't comment on that one.
Though I have an on-topic question for all of you Fallout 3 veterans...
How is the difficulty in that game? Like your experiences and thoughts on the quirks of levelling and the progressive(?) difficulty curve/spike. Did your particular character build contribute to your waltzing through the game or did it make it a real struggle?
june gloom on 19/1/2010 at 19:50
It can be challenging, especially once you start getting into the upper levels. It's not a lot of fun being chased by multiple radscorpions...
Renault on 19/1/2010 at 19:57
Quote Posted by dethtoll
It can be challenging, especially once you start getting into the upper levels. It's not a lot of fun being chased by multiple radscorpions...
Yes, and Deathclaws will flat out kick your ass. It's a good idea to stay away from
Old Olney until your level is very high.
june gloom on 19/1/2010 at 20:13
Oh man that place is grade A nightmare fuel.
I made a dartgun and it quickly became my best friend when dealing with Deathclaws, like you wouldn't believe.
CCCHoad, wtf is with the global warming tag?
steo on 19/1/2010 at 20:14
What Wormrat said.
It can be difficult at first, the hardest part of the game that I played was running into my first super-mutants, which I still managed to kill at some stupidly low level. By the time you've run around and levelled a bit though, the game becomes a complete cakewalk, because you can easily end up with stupid amounts of supplies and can instantly heal in combat with one of 100+ stimpacks. Intelligence is also way overpowered - if you have it high, pick your perks right, and read books, you can easily become a jack of all trades. Low values in other stats don't have the same negative impact on your character as they did in earlier fallout games either, so you can more or less nerf them to your hearts content. Also, since I explored quite a bit, as opposed to sticking purely to the main quest, I ended up getting very close to the level cap, while only having done the first two or three bits of the main quest. I gave up around that point.
I might get around to going back to Fallout 3, but need to spend a fair bit of time finding the right mods for it. Having said all that, an awful lot of people loved the game, so I guess I must've been playing it 'wrong'.
june gloom on 19/1/2010 at 20:20
I played it almost completely raw and I fucking loved it to bits. I would go so far to say that it was my game of the year 2008 (though I didn't actually play it 'til 2009 due to crashing+waiting for a patch.)
Definitely going to go through it with mods next time though.
Pyrian on 19/1/2010 at 20:42
One of the weird things about Fallout 3 is that the most obvious build - intelligence, agility, small arms, and repair, other odds and ends to taste - is very effective all the way through the game. Playing it with other builds (or rather without any of those) is significantly more challenging. I tried out a melee/heavy weapons character, and it's a lot harder.
june gloom on 19/1/2010 at 20:52
The same was basically true for the other games too though. Diplosnipers are known for being ridiculously overpowered.
Phatose on 19/1/2010 at 21:16
Quote Posted by Wormrat
This bothers me. I feel that this attitude basically shows a desire to be tricked into thinking you are better than you actually are, as well as a willingness to turn a blind eye to it.
Why does this bother you?
Here's the thing. From my perspective, even if the difficulty is real, the victory is ultimately hollow - the skill to winning a video game is about as fundamentally useless a skill as you'll find. Especially when talking about games played against a machine, as we are here.
We've already accepted that a pointless victory is worth celebrating, and turned a blind eye to it for the sake of enjoyment. When you're already mired in self deception for the sake of amusement, is making the pointless victory seem harder then it actually was to feed your ego not just keeping in line with the priorities you've already set?
Thirith on 19/1/2010 at 21:51
Quote Posted by Wormrat
This bothers me. I feel that this attitude basically shows a desire to be tricked into thinking you are better than you actually are, as well as a willingness to turn a blind eye to it.
I'd agree with Phatose - we're talking about something that is trivial in either case, whether it's a genuine challenge or not. I didn't particularly enjoy the most recent
Prince of Persia because it was so easy it destroyed the game's believability for me. The way I almost had to force myself to die in effect broke the fourth wall, shattering my suspension of disbelief. However, I've played other games that weren't all that much more difficult, yet they were better at maintaining the illusion. As I've mentioned before, I don't usually play games for the challenge - I play them for the story, characters, world and atmosphere. If a game's difficulty (or lack thereof) plays to these strengths, all the better; if not, then I don't get much enjoyment out of the difficulty in itself. If this bothers you, then I'm afraid you have to live with that.
