self-imposed restrictions for a more balanced experience

[born2beagator]

Heres a different Challenge Mode

Easy
No Allies, No Summons, No Followers, Not even a Horse

Medium
No Enchanting
No Alchemy, Healing Potions that you find are allowed, Cooking is allowed
No Smithing

Hard
No Armor, You must wear basic Clothing, No Alteration Armor either!
No Consumables
No Enchantments, You are not allowed to use any item that is enchanted
No Orc or Breton race

Daedric Mode
No Skill Perks

I have naturally been playing this way. I am an Argonian mage that wares robes that I found (no armor) and concentrates on Destruction and alteration.

[adamly]

Wait what about fast travel should that be banned in this play style?

[born2beagator]

Wait what about fast travel should that be banned in this play style?

Banning fast travel wouldn't make the game harder, just more tedious IMO.

You still have to discover the places first.

[Oasis23]

I tried no fast travel and carriages, but after and hour and a half walk from Ivarstead to Solitude only to join the Bard's College and find out I can't actually play the instruments I rage-quit that rule.

[Talamare]

Wait what about fast travel should that be banned in this play style?

No Fast Travel in my "Daedric" Mode sounds fairly sinister!

Ill do it!

[galzohar]

Wait what about fast travel should that be banned in this play style?

Banning fast travel wouldn't make the game harder, just more tedious IMO.

You still have to discover the places first.

Exactly. The point is making the game harder, not making the game more annoying. I mean, you could also have a restriction to only ever use 1/2 your inventory space, but that wouldn't make the game any harder either.

The point is not using stuff that aren't properly balanced in the game to make it harder, and so far those restrictions seem to be achieving it (even too easy, actually), as long as you don't jump too high and try kill something way higher level than you.

[adamly]

Wait what about fast travel should that be banned in this play style?

Banning fast travel wouldn't make the game harder, just more tedious IMO.

You still have to discover the places first.

Exactly. The point is making the game harder, not making the game more annoying. I mean, you could also have a restriction to only ever use 1/2 your inventory space, but that wouldn't make the game any harder either.

The point is not using stuff that aren't properly balanced in the game to make it harder, and so far those restrictions seem to be achieving it (even too easy, actually), as long as you don't jump too high and try kill something way higher level than you.

Fast travel makes the game easier. Carriages are better because you will have less money. With fast travel you wont have to face enemies inbetween the places your going to therefore its easier.

[galzohar]

Having to face more enemies does not necessarily make the game more challenging. Besides, there are plenty of random enemies to face, you'll have to deal with them sooner or later. If you already visited a location it means you are already capable of dealing with the stuff on the way, so again, you're just adding annoyance.

Of course, feel free to play with whatever you want, but I don't find fast travel to be something that breaks the difficulty of the game, like the stuff that the other restrictions are preventing (aka using totally overpowered gear or companions that trivialize any fight).

[galzohar]

Quick update: It seems that the scaling system is totally messed up. When I started checking out the wiki pages for enemies that were kicking my butt, I noticed they were generally at least 10 levels above me, and the enemies I was killing easily were ones my level and under. And this is on master difficulty with all the restrictions.

Basically it seems that if they didn't f-up the scaling system and give you enemies you're not supposed to be able to deal with. Seems like the complaints about the system from Oblivion made them go on and make something that is much much worse. And it's not like I went for dungeons not meant for my level. While I was level 17 or so, all monsters in the dungeon were the level 1/6/13 versions, with a few level 21s. Then at the end of the dungeon I was getting some level 45 death overlord (with ebony weapon), and after a long struggle for killing it, I reach the end where I fight Volsung, a level 50 dragon priest (which, btw, drops crap loot)...

[galzohar]

Updated: Changed % reduction limitations from 75% to 50%. Should be more than enough to complete the game on master.

[galzohar]

I don't have much time to try this anymore, but since at level 25 I can kill just about anything pretty easily with enough moving around and healing, I was wondering whether or not it was possible to get through the game with the same restrictions except also with no healing whatsoever. So far I played a character (archer) to level 6 that way, but I don't really have to time to go through with it just to check if it's possible or not.

[neverstatic]

@galzohar: Love the thread. I have a couple of cents to add.

Bretons should clearly be banned as well

Their still the strongest race by far

I've heard some of the suggestions for banning Bretons, but I think that's kind of a non-sequitur here. The purpose of this thread seems to be eliminating things that are broken (so overpowered they make the game unfun). Bretons are clearly the most powerful race, but not to the point where choosing Breton just makes you win. If the most powerful race (Breton) is banned, then some other race becomes most powerful.

Since almost every character will want as much Resist Magic as possible, Breton basically frees up one enchantment slot on your equipment. Anyone making a Breton with the Lord Stone blessing has the 50% Resist Magic and can focus their equipment on other effects.

2. No buying any items you would equip or use to make items you would equip. Buying stuff like a mining pick or spell books is fine though, since it doesn't really make the game much easier, just less annoying, and isn't really abusive.

I'm curious about this one. If consumables, crafting materials, weapons, and apparel can't be purchased, what do you do with the money? I could only think of Houses, Spellbooks, Training, and Soul Gems (for recharging). Number 1 restricts how much money you can have and numbers 2 and 3 prevent you from spending it on anything. Is there something I've missed?

5. No % reduction above 50%. This means you must keep yourself vulnerable to at least 50% of enemy damage (via armor/resists), and cannot reduce cost of spells to lower than 50% by stacking cost reductions. Keep in mind that magic resist and racials stack strangely with elemental resists, so make sure you understand how they work (I still need to test some of it), and the restriction means that after you factor all the different stacking mechanics, you must take at least 50% damage compared to a naked character of a race with no resistances.

I'm not sure why it's necessary to cap combined damage reduction at 50%. Someone that gears for 50% Resist Magic and 50% Resist Fire seems like they're still playing within the spirit of the challenge. Either they're gearing for specific enemies (wearing a Fire Resist amulet to take on a nest of pyromancers) or they're paranoid (they have 50% Resist Magic, Fire, Frost and Shock). In the former case, this is a useful choice which doesn't seem like it should be limited. In the latter case, they're sacrificing 3 enchantment slots on elemental resist because they really hate magic users and dragon breath. It's still a choice (though not one that I would make; too defensive), and removing it doesn't seem to fix anything. More importantly, capping combined damage reduction at 50% requires figuring out what your comined damage reduction is. Also, I'm not sure whether you intend this to interact with Blocking. If your armor gives you 50% damage reduction and you block, is that against the rules? Do you have to lower your armor more if you intend to block?

[tharg]

I tend to make restrictions to enhance immersion rather than make it difficult, however they are related.

For instance I think instant travel is a real immersion killer. I liked the public travel system in Morrowind, distressed to loose it in Oblivion and glad to see it back in Skyrim. So as a general rule I only use foot, horse or carriage.

Also people don't in general walk miles carrying ten suits of armourer twenty assorted swords and daggers plus lots of other junk. So no selling things in shops, unless part of a quest. I find this really helps. So only loot stuff that is personally useful or interesting in some way such as an enchantment you have not met yet.

And no abusing the smiting enchanting system to make super items stronger than anything else in the game. Maybe sharpening your blade or making a few healing potions for personal use but not much more.

As a general principle if I find my character behaving in a way no one actually would or could if they were there. Then that is is a sign that I need to change something.

[Iaius Amaius Heron]

[galzohar]

The game is easy enough with max 50% damage reduction combined, and without any enchanting/blacksmithing/alchemy or buying anything at all (except maybe books/arrows. Even soul gems for recharging aren't needed, as you find plenty which you won't need since you aren't leveling enchanting).

The only thing you need to easily do anything in the game is gear you find, restoration spells, and some skills of moving around avoiding damage while healing yourself. If you cut everything I cut AND try to cut restoration spells or running away to heal, the game might become impossible (at least on some parts, as the earlier parts of the game are definitely doable without any healing either, at least as an archer).


Basically, I stopped playing once I reached the point where I have to either impose restrictions that aren't enough to make the game challenging, or impose restrictions that make the game impossible. We'll have to wait for the construction kit and just make a mod to fix everything...

[StinkyJozef]

Evenly distributed magicka health and stamina when leveling up on a Nord character. Makes it challenging on any difficulty.

[Gideon Dragontongue]

As far as restrictions, my only requirement is that I eat and sleep at least once a day.

EDIT: Also, I prefer to limit myself to 150 pounds of gear, whenever possible. Only in Elder Scrolls does an adventurer go into a Falmer hive with half a dragon skeleton strapped to his back, six suits of armor, five or six weapons, and half a dozen robes with various enchantments?

[Kerr]

No fast travel apart from Carriages is something i've been doing since day one, makes the game better in my opinion.

[galzohar]

Remember this is "for a more balanced experience", not "for a more realistic/RP/painful/whatever" experience. Sure balance might be painful for some people, but it's still about balance, not about other things. That is, making the game more challenging by not using things that break it.

Using fast travel and not forcing yourself to sleep and eat don't really make the game any easier. Just less annoying and faster to complete.

[Kerr]

Actually I do it for immersion and I like to explore.

[NLN]

Remember this is "for a more balanced experience", not "for a more realistic/RP/painful/whatever" experience. Sure balance might be painful for some people, but it's still about balance, not about other things. That is, making the game more challenging by not using things that break it.

Using fast travel and not forcing yourself to sleep and eat don't really make the game any easier. Just less annoying and faster to complete.

Using fast travel makes it a LOT easier. Try running into/out of a challenging cave while you have to plan on the way there/back too! It happened (at the beginning, I'm a little too OP now, going to change character soon) that I used up my last health potion in a challenging dungeon and a dragon decided to camp just a little off to the side. Took me five tries to go home from there, but I did not fast travel... I just went down the other side of the mountain, and used the last invisibility potion to get away.

[Blackadder]

I adhere to quite a few of these restrictions with my current character, after discovering just how easy the game becomes using all of the tools available.

No smithing though, I don't abide. My current character, a paladin archetype, smiths his own weapons and armor using only materials he's acquired with his own hands. No vendor bought ore, ingots or leather. He mines his own ore and kills his own bears.

I don't see that being too powerful or destroying my game play considering he'll never have a magic weapon, unless he earns one.

[djack]

I definitely agree with the no buying weapons. And smiting only what you find or mine. I always want to play with no fast travel but find it too hard sometime if I only have a hour to do some dungeon crawling I don't always want to spend half of the time walking there

[ThePurpleNinja]

My current character, a Female Altmer, is a master in conjuration and expert in illusion.

she uses illusion to keep herself in the shadows while her dremora does all the work. if that doesn't work, I bound bows from afar and use an ebony dagger and sword if I want to end things quickly. She focuses on making money, which is why she is working on Smithing and skills like Sneak and Pickpocket. Enchanting is for when a Dragon pops out of nowhere.

While she is a deadly mage thief/assassin, she prefers not to fight her own fights in dungeons and against dragons.

I do not focus my perks on Destruction, Alteration, Alchemy, Two-Handed, or Speech.

I do not fast travel generally unless I'm stuck or I a bug occurred and I have to do a quest again.

On my third characters I may not use HUD, give or take. I will lower the difficulty if that is the case. I play Skyrim because it's relaxing to me in a way, and if I wanted a die a lot challenge I would play Dark Souls.

[Tor Eden]

I do use fast travel, but as I've only a couple of hours after work to play Skyrim I don't want to spend most of it walking to my destination.

I like to carry only what I need ie: 1 sword or Axe (preferred weapon), 1 bow + arrows and the only potions I use are restore health and magica.

I prefer to only do 1 guild per character as being the top dog in all guilds is a bit daft to me

Finaly I like to try to get all my skills to at least apprentice level with a select few, the ones I use most to higher levels