Posts from Expedition: general discussions. Auto-translated

What kind of battlemages do I expect to see in the games?



But instead, I get ordinary Wizards in heavy armor...

Revan's Enchanters were quite good. In my own builds, I also try to give abilities that are suitable for playing with a similar archetype. But overall, I agree that warriors-mages are not very well represented in the expansions. Due to the underlying mechanics, it usually boils down to either armored wizards or warriors who have picked up a couple of spells that are not tied to their stats.

yes, I mean computer games as well, although it might be worth leveling up melee combat (if it's available) and learning magic in something like Skyrim.

Skyrim isn't great in this regard either, actually.

Yes, I mean computer games as well, although maybe it would be worth leveling up melee combat (if it's available) and learning magic in some game like Skyrim...

If I remember correctly, both melee combat and magic are poorly implemented in Skyrim, and it's actually easier to effectively damage enemies with camping, sniper-style attacks. But in general, the leveling system is flawed there.

I never used a bow with stealth in Skyrim, even though I played as a pure combat mage (in plate armor, no less) and a melee warrior. In fact, despite the ineffectiveness of the one-handed weapon + one-handed spell combination (as well as the clunkiness of the game with this combo), Skyrim is one of those games where you can play as such an archetype without any particular concerns – the game isn't particularly difficult, after all. As for a decent implementation of combat mages in computer games, Dragon's Dogma isn't so bad in this regard – the Mystic Knight not only has unique spells that no one else has access to, but some of them are directly tied to using weapons and shields. Although most of them are based on successfully blocking with a shield and counterattacking with different elemental effects. Magicka also allows you to play as a combat mage, albeit in a somewhat clumsy way, thanks to the ability to charge spells into a sword. Kingdoms of Amalur allows you to play as a hybrid character, as spells and weapon skills work equally well. However, the game itself is monotonous and quickly becomes boring. The Magus from Pathfinder is one of the most successful examples of this archetype, although the balance in the computer version encourages you to spend slots on buffs, rather than using the class's gimmick (which in the tabletop version allows you to do amazing things). Tales of Maj'Eyal also has several classes that combine swordplay and various forms of magic, although the game itself is very niche. You can find more examples, but I think these are enough for now. Although some of them are more successful than others.

But in the scrolls, mages are considered the strongest class, at least in Morrowind. And in Skyrim, there are dual-wielding options. Although, what difference does it make if you end up using almost all types of combat anyway? I think there was an old game where you could charge your fists with magic and hit enemies...

But in the scrolls, mages are considered the strongest class, at least in Morike...

Alchemists are considered the strongest class...

I don't remember mages being considered particularly strong. They are, in fact, quite the opposite – considered a very awkward and inconvenient archetype to play, spending a significant portion of their career either as a warrior/archer or relying on items enchanted with spells. At least, that was my personal experience, and I don't remember ever hearing opposing opinions, while I have seen many complaints.

If I remember correctly, in Skyrim, both melee combat and magic are weak, and it's easier to effectively damage enemies with camping-style sniper attacks. But in general, the skill progression system is flawed.

In Skyrim, the easiest way to create a powerful character is to combine melee combat, alchemy, smithing, and enchanting, preferably with two one-handed weapons. You can choose either light or heavy armor (in the endgame, the difference in stamina consumption isn't that noticeable). But, of course, this is a rather boring approach; you simply go around and eliminate everything that moves.
The last time I tried, I played with a crossbow, which was more interesting, and I had to use stealth (although I didn't invest points in stealth skills). In general, a crossbow + light armor + smithing + stealth is also a decent build.
But magic is useless. In magic builds, it's impossible to combine high damage output with even a reasonable level of defense, as you either have protective spells or dual-wield fireballs. And without enchanted robes, your mana runs out too quickly, and these robes offer little to no protection.

Magic is useless. It's impossible to combine high damage and decent defense in magic builds, as you either have protective spells or dual-wielded fireballs. And without enchanted robes, mana runs out too quickly, and these robes offer no protection either.

Enchanting + blacksmithing = dragonplate armor with free magic. Mana never runs out, and it only makes sense to increase it in the early levels. The main problem here lies in leveling up enchanting, as a warrior with a sword, Soul Trap, and Azura's Star levels up their skill much faster in bandit caves.

In Skyrim, the easiest way is to create a cumulative build with melee combat + alchemy + smithing + enchanting, preferably with two one-handed weapons, and you can choose either light or heavy armor (in the endgame, you won't really feel that heavy armor consumes a lot of stamina). But this is, of course, a boring approach; you just go around and mow down everything that's alive.

You can mow down everything with a similar build, but with a two-handed weapon. Even an enchantment for paralysis isn't necessary.

But magic is just nonsense.

That's why I wrote about Morik... I don't know how Ples played or what he read, but I read the opposite, although it clearly wasn't about the beginning of the game. I understand that the point is that you can create spells yourself and use them. I didn't delve into this myself, as I played as the Imperian although I tried to create something, but the prices there are insane.

Enchanting + blacksmithing = dragonplate with free magic.

Yes, enchanting isn't magic at all from a gameplay perspective; I already wrote about it. The problem is with castable magic (although at early levels, it might be useful to use summoned weapons, as they have stats comparable to Daedric items, and the same goes for various atronachs, but this is the only usable school of magic among a bunch of barely usable ones).

I understand the main idea is that you can create your own spells and use them.

Haven't you played Morrowind? You can definitely create your own spells there. The main problem is that most of the magic functionality is overlapped by enchantments, which serve as the same customizable magic, but are built into items (you need to equip them and they consume enchantment charges instead of mana). Moreover, enchantments, unlike classic magic, work in any situation and have no chance of miscasting. Healing can also be easily compensated for by alchemical potions of your own making, which also have no chance of miscasting and are much more effective in themselves. You can also add an enchantment for permanent health regeneration to this.

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And the main overpowered build in Morrowind isn't a mage, by the way, but an enchanter with a permanent 100% chameleon effect.

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Yes, enchanting isn't magic at all from a gameplay perspective; I already wrote about it. The problem is with castable magic (although at early levels, it's probably useful to use summoned weapons, as they have stats comparable to Daedric weapons, and various atronachs, but this is one usable school of magic among many that are not very useful).

While I agree that warriors scale better, thanks to the base weapon damage from smithing and damage buffs from enchanting, I wouldn't call mages weak. I easily completed the game as a pure mage, who actively used only destruction magic, and didn't notice any problems in battles with enemies – various Alduins went down in a couple of seconds. The only problem might be elemental resistance, if you decide to specialize in only one element. But even so, using mostly electricity, I had to switch to another type of damage only once – during the battle with Morokei.

Discuss who will lead the next expansion...

>That's why I wrote about Morrowind... I don't know how Ples played or what he read, but I read the opposite, although it clearly wasn't about the beginning of the game. As I understand it, the main point is that you can create your own spells and use them. I didn't delve into this myself, as I played as an Imperial.
I don't remember any particularly interesting magic in Morrowind, but the spell customization was good. I created a spell to summon all parts of the Daedric armor at once – it saved a lot of space in my inventory.
While I agree that warriors scale better, thanks to the base weapon damage from blacksmithing and damage buffs from enchanting, I wouldn't call mages weak. I easily completed the game as a pure mage, who actively used only Destruction magic, and I didn't notice any problems in battles with enemies – all sorts of Alduins went down in a couple of seconds. The only problem might be elemental resistance, if you decide to specialize in only one element. But even so, using mostly electricity, I had to switch to another type of damage only once – during the battle with Morokei.
Well, yes, the game is generally easy, and if you don't come up with special role-playing restrictions for yourself, it's hard to mess up your build.