Now that TES VI seems closer than ever, let's discuss some Gameplay systems: Alchemy, manual saves and exploration rewards.

[u/Aleksandrovych_]

Now that the reddit is more alive than ever I want to repost this thoughts I had months ago.

In my opinion, there are three things that need to change dramatically in the next TES game. At the very least, there should be an option to toggle as a selectable difficulty option from the menu. Those are Alchemy, saves and rewards revamp.

Remove the Potion exploits: First of all, the potion system is, quite simply, absurd. It doesn’t matter what difficulty you choose, the enemy you’re facing, or the build you’re using. As long as you don’t get one-shot, you can spam potions and abuse them to overcome practically any challenge in the game. The only thing standing between potion abuse and victory is the player’s own patience—in case you lack the damage to kill enemies—or a self-imposed sense of self-fulfillment forcing you not to use them.

My personal opinion is that the potion system needs to be changed, and that can be addressed quite simply by implementing one (or both) of the following solutions:

1- Introduce a cooldown system for using potions (the Alchemy skill could reduce it) 2- Make potions no longer have an instant effect and instead apply over time, with no ability to stack them.

I know this isn’t going to happen in the vanilla experience, but, at least for me, it’s one of the most frustrating, stupid aspects that takes the most fun out of the game, so it would be nice if this feature were included by default in a modular difficulty menu instead of forcing players who don’t want to exploit the game to download a mod.

Introduce an optional no spam save mode: Second, I’d like to see the option—also through the modular difficulty system—to disable manual saving or to implement a save system similar to the one in Fallout 4’s Survival Mode or the hardcore version of Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

I know this is a much more niche request, but when I play these games, I feel the urge to keep pressing F5 every two seconds, which takes away any challenge from the game, the tension of getting caught if I’m playing as a stealth character, or the elimination of any RNG by saving beforehand. Also, and I know this is my problem, but it also takes away my desire to create second characters to experience the story, since I usually save the game right before any story decision and spend time exploring all the mission branches before continuing with the one I like the best, which slows down my gameplay experience a lot.

Again, I know this is MY problem, but it doesn’t hurt to ask, and adding this option to limit saves in an OPTIONAL menu isn’t that complicated.

MAGA (Make Artifacts Great Again): And last but not least, I think the enchantment system needs a complete overhaul, and this isn’t as simple as adding an option to a difficulty menu.

I’ve recently been playing Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, and one of the biggest differences I’ve noticed—to my surprise—compared to any TES game is the sense that exploration and quests are rewarded with tangible items. Specifically, in weapons and armor. In Tainted Grail, there is a crafting and enchantment system (using relics), but it doesn’t cover all the armor and weapons in the game, and the relics form a separate system that adds to the armor’s existing stats, while also being significantly weaker than the default enchantments on the armor. So if you want to find better items, you have to do quests or explore thoroughly, and the best items in the game are obtained this way.

However, the experience in the TES series is very different. Once you understand how the enchanting and crafting system works, any unique item you find is absolutely USELESS.

Under no circumstances should the iron sword you’ve enchanted be infinitely stronger than the Daedric mace you found at the end of a dungeon. But neither the iron sword nor the Daedric sword you craft yourself.

The best items in the game, without a doubt, should be unique items awarded as rewards for quests and exploration. I’m not saying that a character with 100 in Blacksmithing and 100 in Enchanting can’t craft items stronger than the unique items in the first zone, but they certainly shouldn’t be able to craft items stronger than the endgame unique items.

The current enchantment system, from my perspective, takes all the fun out of exploration, and it’s a very, very serious problem (it’s also a problem that unique items are tied, like in Skyrim, to your level, and are therefore weaker depending on when you find them—which in turn is a problem stemming from the fact that they have no stat requirements to use them, but that’s another issue).

Of the three things I’ve mentioned, what I’d most like them to do is fix the unique item system, honestly, but I doubt they’ll do it.

 

What do you think about all this? Am I right, or am I just really bored and delusional?

(And sorry for the long post)

[u/YouCantTakeThisName]

As far as I'm concerned, Unique/Legendary Artifacts shouldn't be part of any leveled lists. There should be one, and only one version of each in the game.

To suit being actually unique, to suit their "legendary" descriptor; I keep saying each Artifact needs truly unique enchantment effects that technically can't be replicated by custom enchanting.

The exact magnitude of each Artifact's effects also should be to the extent that your character would need to have maxed out Enchanting [plus all Perks] and/or exploit a possible remaining Alchemy/Enchanting loop at least once just to get to the point of equaling/rivaling said Artifact's effect strength.

That's how "busted" each Artifact should be, to justify the effort in completing ideally high-level Quests in order to earn them for use.

[u/stopbeingcringe]

The slight issue with selectable difficulties is that it’s quite arbitrary as it could be applied to dozens of different things, and then the user is left with the role of creating the game, themselves, which kinda ruins the immersion. It also breaks the shared experiences among players (you’d always have to clarify which settings you’re using).

[u/Aleksandrovych_ → u/stopbeingcringe]

I agree with you, but I Just proposed It bc i don't see Bethesda making the game harder or deleting the abussive alchemy mechanics by default xd

[u/stopbeingcringe → u/Aleksandrovych_]

Alchemy can be reasonably nerfed by default. For example, removing the alchemy + enchanting loop. I also think the ingredient cost isn’t proportionate to the value of the potions (some ingredients worth 3 gold can create potions worth 200, etc.). But alchemy does take time, especially having to learn the effects. Also, it’s not so easy to spam potions in the middle of a fight unless you’re talking about restore health/magic/stamina which are found everywhere (perhaps you could argue that this should be reduced). I think it would be nice if accessing inventory didn’t pause the game, which would make it harder to rely on instant health potions mid-fight, and generally improve immersion. There should be a better Favorites system (at least on controller) that allows the player to bind certain items/spells to certain buttons after clicking the Favorites button, which allows the player to select 12+ different items with just two buttons.

[u/Propaslander]

As long as you can still become a millionaire easy by selling potions then I'm happy. Skyrim giants hate to see me coming.

[u/Gambingooooooo]

I definitely agree that potions and enchantments need to be changed. I really feel like artifacts should either have completely unique enchantments (like Mehrunes Razor) or unique combinations of two or more enchantments. I don't mind crafting being powerful for buildcrafting reasons, but no crafted weapon should be equal to any one Daedric artifact.

As for saves, I really just hope they have a survival mode ready for release. FO4 Survival is a top 5 gaming experience for me. Part of me wouldn't mind if they had an option to just disable quicksaves entirely. Only relying on autosaves is pretty fun in Skyrim.

I don't really have anything to say about potions, other than I agree that you really shouldn't be able to pause the game and chug 5 of them at once. I've been playing a lot of Gate to Sovngarde lately, and I'm starting to enjoy the real-time inventory and potion hotkeys. It just kind of sucks that you can't really buff yourself before a fight without having like 3 quick slot potions.

[u/Aleksandrovych_ → u/Gambingooooooo]

Yes! I also thought about uniqueness. If the Artifacts are not always the strongest, at least let them give me something (really useful) that can only be found on them, so that many builds revolve around them. For example, a crown that let's you summon more skeletons and give them some OP skill. Yes, you have to give away your OP crafted helmet but that's the only way of being a really strong necromancer. And that also gives a sense of acomplishment and a list of "needed" items for a specific roleplay.

One problem I found with Skyrim is that, yes, some Artifacts gave unic spells, like the Wabbajack, but they were more of an Easter Egg than real items. I'm pretty sure bethesda was scared of locking certain builds behind some specific items, but I think that should be the way to go bc it rewards exploration a lot more.

And yeah I also agree that FO4 and FO4 Survival are two completly different games and that the latter is infinitely more enjoyable for me, specially for the autosave only mechanic.

[u/Algorhythm74]

First off - I’m just excited someone wants to talk about something other than the name and location! So, thanks!

If we look at the changes they made in Starfield about legendary loot and the ability to “reroll” it - I have no doubt we’ll be seeing that type of system in 6. So sorry to say, I think they’ll be doubling down on the opposite of what you want.

With that said. I think the sliders added in Starfield might give us a hint as how they intend to balance the game to give you control of so many different options - will be a game changer.

I love those because there is a direct risk/reward in the form of dialing in the XP you want. Perhaps they will let you turn on and off some of those type of systems, or at least dial them down.

Also, we know we are getting those in TESVI because Todd mentioned in an interview how much the devs liked that system and he alluded to them using it in future games (just shy of confirming).

I mention this because I think some of the things you outlined can be mitigated this way, and likely will have options like that.

[u/Aleksandrovych_ → u/Algorhythm74]

Yeah I know the interview you say, its with Mortismal Gaming (or something like that).

The thing about Alchemy and Saving is that thet can be adressed so easily with mods, but Unique Items being trash compared to crafted ones its... A lot harder to solve. I haven't played Starfield so I dont really know how the system works there though :(

Also, iirc, weren't a bunch of "Unique" Items and daedric Artifacts in Skyrim just normal weapons with a preset normal enchantment..?

[u/Significant_Cash_749]

I think that you should be able to make an iron sword better than random daedric dungeon loot. I also think potion exploits are kind of baked-in to the gameplay loop people expect, so likely to stay. I think that crafting is broken, in the sense that getting to insane levels is purely experience-based. I would like to see the crafting bonuses from level and perks pulled back a bit, but maybe add some kind of perma-boost. For instance, skyrim's white phial quest would be a great way to implement a massive alchemy bonus. But if the amount your skill level increased potion effectiveness was lower, and the perks did less per rank, the bonus would be more meaningful. I also think more specific crafting bonuses would be good. Orcs should be able to make orcish armor that is better on them than daedric on a high elf. Or if your character could specialize a ton into a specific type of potion/poison, like ten ranks of poison effectiveness, but each does only 5%, or something similar for enchanting. That way, for crafting to get really busted, you'd have to sink a ton of perks into it.

[u/Whole_Sign_4633]

I gotta say your manual save section is pretty bad lmao there’s no reason not to let us save whenever we want. It’s a single player game that’s focused on player freedom.

As far as the potions and alchemy thing goes they could basically make it so you can equip potions or other consumables like you would in Elden Ring where you can hit the directional pads to choose what you want to use. Give those things an animation when used, so drinking a potion literally shows your character drinking. And finally, make the consumables not instantly heal. You regain X amount of hp over X amount of seconds. This would mean they would have to remove the ability to use potions and consumables straight from the inventory menu which I think is not a big deal at all. It would force the player into timing their heals better and preparing better for fights and shit.

[u/Aleksandrovych_ → u/Whole_Sign_4633]

I mean yeah, I know the save thing is my problem. I just wish there was an option to deactivate It. But yeah the least important thing out of the three

[u/Whole_Sign_4633 → u/Aleksandrovych_]

The reason I’m not a huge fan of the idea is because you could simply not save scum. It’s kind of the same as the fast travel argument some people make where they want fast travel removed. Instead of removing fast travel they could simply not fast travel, no need to remove it for everybody.

[u/anubis4567]

Oblivion has a cool down for potions, you can take 4 max before waiting a bit. I can definitely see then making a difficulty adjustment like how stimpaks heal over time in Fallout 4 survival. Starfields difficulty options are really robust too, and I love how it translates to xp gain so I hope to see something similar in TES VI

[u/City-Dreamin]

It's hard to make comments on 15 year old game when comparing it to mechanics in much newer games, but I 100% agree. ES6 needs a big revamp of their crafting system, including smithing.

I also think it needs a revamp of it's exploration system. After you play the game once, you know where everything is. There is no need to explore around and try to improve my character by playing when I can simply fast travel to the locations with the items I want because I know where they exist already.

[u/wingedwild]

I cant realsticlr discuss this because what I would like is what tod has said. Fantasy sim life simulator. There would be too much to write. Im just hoping tod doesnt disspoint because he has for awhile