Difficult. Or Exaggerating?

[CrescentMouse]

Don't take this as me hating the game, i've been loving my experience so far. Just quite confused with what others are saying.

I kept hearing about how difficult this game is, and how "at the start, you'll die to even rats. and get one shot constantly." but... none of that has happened. the game has actually been quite easy. I was originally a nord but kinda got bored of my appearance and decided to go back to my good ol' oblivion roots and play a Argonian. Currently specced with Spears, Unarmored, Medium Armor, Restoration, and Acrobatics. (kinda going with a FFIX Freya build. Restoration making up for the spell Reis' Wind) the secondaries don't matter to much as i haven't used them at all. My birth sign is the thief cause dragoons are nimble and quick. And i don't know if i'm just being carried by the birth sign or what. But so far i freed all the slaves from the cave outside the first town. Another cave of slaves from another one on the way to what i thought was Balmora (got lost, i went left out of the first town instead of right) and have killed several bandits with steel weaponry with no issues. I checked the difficulty and it's still in the dead center, unmoved. So i assume it's on normal.

Some other rumors i haven't noticed.
"You move so crazy slow." I don't feel very slow, and my speed stat isn't very high.
"The land is gorgeous." I don't think it's all to pretty. Really drab and grey and the area of the weird like... ashy corrupted zone makes it look hideous to me. However i appreciate how unique and dense the world is.

[The Flying Rodent]

I think the ‘difficulty’ that a lot of new players experience, has to do with Fatigue management, the dice roll combat, and the lack of map markers. Once you’ve got the hang of these, the game itself isn’t that difficult, and you’ll be higher level than most opponents you face in no time (they don’t ‘scale with level’ like in later titles).

You won’t feel very slow if you’re playing a semi-unarmoured Argonian. But try playing a High Elf Battle Mage that is borderline encumbered simply by wearing Heavy Armour, and your experience of the game will be very different. Movement speed is determined by Base Speed, Athletics skill and % of total encumberance … and semi unarmoured Argonians have advantages in all three areas.

The Thief sign simply increases your chance of dodging physical attacks (ie the Sanctuary effect). It does not affect movement speed, but it might have kept you from dying in a particular skirmish where you survived on low Health, by saving you from a hit that could’ve finished you off.

As for ‘the land being gorgeous’: most of Vvardenfell (the island of Morrowind where the game is based) is barren Ashlands (the place has an active volcano in the middle, after all). The ‘gorgeous’ unique landscapes that the game is known for can be found on the eastern and northern regions.

Join the Mages Guild and take the guild teleport to Sadrith Mora for a quick trip to the east side. And hey, maybe you like the place enough to join the faction of libertarian megalomaniac wizards who most of the ‘infrastructure’ out that way…

[Lobo de hielo]

I would say most people/ noobies have difficulty at the start because they make a bad build.
It can take time to realise for some, having your main weapon or damage attack at 50 or more at the start, to have a good agility level, makes all the difference.
You also picked 2 races which have more speed than say a Breton or Redguard.
Nords are heavier than most races so are quicker. Argonians start with a decent amount of speed. (do not know if they fixed the glitch, but Argonians used to move faster with the spear drawn).
Imperial females, Bretons and Bosmer move like snails.

Its all down to the start build

[󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡]

Ramp up the difficulty to 100 and the early game will be quite challenging.

[Nebgama]

I say this often the game is hard unless you look stuff up.

Just an example here The Assassin is also tough without knowing the game and damn near invincible to any green horn. If one can beat the first assassin without any knowledge of the game what so ever and without looking up any meta tactics or game/class mechanics then they must be able to walk on water and turn water into wine also.

Assassin is literally a Gear/Build check it is also a ReRoll flex on Noobs because most Noobs cannot pass him without looking up some tactics or information or they cannot pass him by whacking him with a starter sword which is what most true blind players would probably try and do unless they get good rolls every swing and he somehow misses every swing.

Not to mention Mud Crabs and Cliffracers are challenging to any player that goes in truly blind. Any EZ mode npc will punch a green horn to death before they manage to save scum him on the 50th try due to lucky dice rolls mixed with some effective parkour LOS perching.

Argonian. Currently specced with Spears, Unarmored, Medium Armor, Restoration, and Acrobatics.

Sounds like a meta to me or at the very least theory crafted before hand using mechanics information so yeah if you play a build that works straight away its not going to be hard at the start.

Don't come in here trying to flex about how easy you think the game is when knowing information after looking stuff up.

[K§H]

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡:

Ramp up the difficulty to 100 and the early game will be quite challenging.

I usually play any game like that, including Morrowind - maximum difficulty from the very beginning. And since Beth has never been the best in the balancing department, I also use the console in Morrowind to balance the game better by restricting the health or certain skills at particular levels regardless of level-ups or skill increases, guided by roleplaying concerns and making the game feel better balanced.

For example, my current character is not allowed to go above 50 in Sneak, so if the skill increases above that, then I take it back down through the console, in this case because there is no way it makes sense for my character to ever be a master in sneaking or stealth. Likewise, the strength is limited to 65, as my character simply will not be able to be stronger than that. And so on,

[theo]

Originally posted by Nebgama:

Sounds like a meta to me or at the very least theory crafted before hand using mechanics information so yeah if you play a build that works straight away its not going to be hard at the start.

Don't come in here trying to flex about how easy you think the game is when knowing information after looking stuff up.

True, but theorycrafting right from the start is kinda expected when playing a proper RPG. If some lazy people ignore this essential part of RPG gameplay it's their fault.
Using meta knowledge is too much though, I agree.

[CrescentMouse]

Originally posted by Nebgama:

I say this often the game is hard unless you look stuff up.

Just an example here The Assassin is also tough without knowing the game and damn near invincible to any green horn. If one can beat the first assassin without any knowledge of the game what so ever and without looking up any meta tactics or game/class mechanics then they must be able to walk on water and turn water into wine also.

Assassin is literally a Gear/Build check it is also a ReRoll flex on Noobs because most Noobs cannot pass him without looking up some tactics or information or they cannot pass him by whacking him with a starter sword which is what most true blind players would probably try and do unless they get good rolls every swing and he somehow misses every swing.

Not to mention Mud Crabs and Cliffracers are challenging to any player that goes in truly blind. Any EZ mode npc will punch a green horn to death before they manage to save scum him on the 50th try due to lucky dice rolls mixed with some effective parkour LOS perching.

Argonian. Currently specced with Spears, Unarmored, Medium Armor, Restoration, and Acrobatics.

Sounds like a meta to me or at the very least theory crafted before hand using mechanics information so yeah if you play a build that works straight away its not going to be hard at the start.

Don't come in here trying to flex about how easy you think the game is when knowing information after looking stuff up.

I wasn't trying to flex how easy the game is, nor have i looked anything up. I went in blind and I don't really consider looking at argonians and seeing they give a bonus to spears, and unarmored. then making my character with those as my major. It'd be like picking a magic focused race, and selecting magic as major skills cause that kinda makes sense. I didn't struggle with mud crabs nor cliff racers cause well, i could whack em easily. And is the assassin the dude wearing the Dark Brotherhood armor. Cause i killed him as well although he was a lil tough. He gave some really good armor. I have no clue what a greenhorn is now though, and sounds worrisome. As for why i chose acrobatics, and restoration is because dragoons can jump crazy high, and acrobatics raises jump height in Morrowind and Oblivion. and Restoration cause healing myself = good. Medium armor cause reading through the skill it said chain mail was boosted by medium armor skill and i wanna wear chains my dude

Although I now understand why people seem to think it's tough at the start. The ignore the message you get when you leave the Concise and Excise office, which says maybe you should visit the tradehouse and buy some better things. I walked in there and got a spear, and a chest armor which did make the early game a lot easier! I keep hearing about people swinging around starter swords and such.

[CrescentMouse]

Originally posted by The Flying Rodent:

I think the ‘difficulty’ that a lot of new players experience, has to do with Fatigue management, the dice roll combat, and the lack of map markers. Once you’ve got the hang of these, the game itself isn’t that difficult, and you’ll be higher level than most opponents you face in no time (they don’t ‘scale with level’ like in later titles).

You won’t feel very slow if you’re playing a semi-unarmoured Argonian. But try playing a High Elf Battle Mage that is borderline encumbered simply by wearing Heavy Armour, and your experience of the game will be very different. Movement speed is determined by Base Speed, Athletics skill and % of total encumberance … and semi unarmoured Argonians have advantages in all three areas.

The Thief sign simply increases your chance of dodging physical attacks (ie the Sanctuary effect). It does not affect movement speed, but it might have kept you from dying in a particular skirmish where you survived on low Health, by saving you from a hit that could’ve finished you off.

As for ‘the land being gorgeous’: most of Vvardenfell (the island of Morrowind where the game is based) is barren Ashlands (the place has an active volcano in the middle, after all). The ‘gorgeous’ unique landscapes that the game is known for can be found on the eastern and northern regions.

Join the Mages Guild and take the guild teleport to Sadrith Mora for a quick trip to the east side. And hey, maybe you like the place enough to join the faction of libertarian megalomaniac wizards who most of the ‘infrastructure’ out that way…

Okay that does explain why i'm quick and i'm excited to start moving east now. Though i'll probably walk to find any side quests along the way, or listen to the nice music! Also i've been sure to munch any random food i find for the Restore Fatigue effect. so that i don't fall on my butt during encounters after the first time it happened.

[Nebgama]

Originally posted by theo:

Sounds like a meta to me or at the very least theory crafted before hand using mechanics information so yeah if you play a build that works straight away its not going to be hard at the start.

True, but theorycrafting right from the start is kinda expected when playing a proper RPG. If some lazy people ignore this essential part of RPG gameplay it's their fault.
Using meta knowledge is too much though, I agree.

Yeah of course we are supposed to synergize a character that we want to play so that it works as we intend on playing it and how we envision playing it.

What i was getting at mainly though is that character building even theory crafting is not easy to do in Morrowind without prior knowledge of the game. Many of the birth signs are hard to tell what they actually do on a surface level in their rawest form.

On a basic level anyone that has played the genre through any game not just TES would have a rough understanding of each sign but would miss its actual inherent or non inherent characteristics. I cannot talk for the later installments because i do not play them but i guess any that come from the later games would have an easier time.

Imo though the perception of the game to somebody who has never played this game or any of the other ones would not know how to build a very effective character because many of the skills and how they work are not apparent on the surface of it all combines with the size of scope on knowledge would also hamper any truly "new player" or greenhorn.

[CrescentMouse]

Originally posted by Nebgama:

Originally posted by theo:

Sounds like a meta to me or at the very least theory crafted before hand using mechanics information so yeah if you play a build that works straight away its not going to be hard at the start.

True, but theorycrafting right from the start is kinda expected when playing a proper RPG. If some lazy people ignore this essential part of RPG gameplay it's their fault.
Using meta knowledge is too much though, I agree.

Yeah of course we are supposed to synergize a character that we want to play so that it works as we intend on playing it and how we envision playing it.

What i was getting at mainly though is that character building even theory crafting is not easy to do in Morrowind without prior knowledge of the game. Many of the birth signs are hard to tell what they actually do on a surface level in their rawest form.

On a basic level anyone that has played the genre through any game not just TES would have a rough understanding of each sign but would miss its actual inherent or non inherent characteristics. I cannot talk for the later installments because i do not play them but i guess any that come from the later games would have an easier time.

Imo though the perception of the game to somebody who has never played this game or any of the other ones would not know how to build a very effective character because many of the skills and how they work are not apparent on the surface of it all.

Anybody who does a argo with spear and jump mixed with heavy sounds far to common imo opinion and almost like a meta i see nothing but this on tes3mp when i come across most argos.

I don't use heavy armor, and i don't see my sign talked about ever. I went with the thief, instead of steed which was my original idea. and i'm sorry for wanting to make a well, Dragoon. with the two notable things of a Dragoon being spears, and jumping. I absolutely love games with spears and will always use em! As for my sign, i think i know what it does. I assumed it made me faster, and harder to hit. Sorta simulating the whole jumping out of combat thing. Argonian just happened to give a bonus to spears and look kinda cute. So i went with argonian. Sorry for accidentally following the meta lol.

[hastatus]

This game is... takes time to learn it. Once you figure things out, it's that much easier. It takes time, patience and god knows what else. Playing on max difficulty helps too.

What I'm saying is that the game lets you decide how challenging you want it to be, it doesn't shove itself up your throat, if that makes sense.

[Nebgama]

^ yes i was about to say the same thing the game is extremely hard if you want it to be whether intentionally or unintentionally. On the flipside it is a game that you can hold all keys to all doors a true sandbox.

Any opponent can be as hard as they come or very easily one shot.

[Nebgama]

Typo on my part because i am used to seeing argos in multiplayer wearing ebony with spears.

[Lobo de hielo]

This game is not that hard to theory craft or build a good character from the start.
In fact if you take your time its easy. Just read the damn manual that used to come with the game and go from there.

[󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡]

Originally posted by K§H:

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡:

Ramp up the difficulty to 100 and the early game will be quite challenging.

I usually play any game like that, including Morrowind - maximum difficulty from the very beginning. And since Beth has never been the best in the balancing department, I also use the console in Morrowind to balance the game better by restricting the health or certain skills at particular levels regardless of level-ups or skill increases, guided by roleplaying concerns and making the game feel better balanced.

For example, my current character is not allowed to go above 50 in Sneak, so if the skill increases above that, then I take it back down through the console, in this case because there is no way it makes sense for my character to ever be a master in sneaking or stealth. Likewise, the strength is limited to 65, as my character simply will not be able to be stronger than that. And so on,

Usually i don't, but in Morrowind it's worth it. As well as not abusing paid training (getting max at 2-3 chosen stats every level up) from the start. Makes you see the game in different light. Gaenor fight in Mournhold was a hilarious nightmare last time.

I also use a mod that lets cliffracers drag you into the air and drop you on the ground killing you instantly at lower levels :D