Elder Scrolls V: "Soon"

[Skullheadhq]

I liked Oblivion and Morrowind.

[Togakure]

I enjoyed both, but Morrowind a lot more. The number of hours playing each is the tell-tale for me: I easily spent double to triple the number of hours playing Morrowind over Oblivion.

I am curious to see what they come up with next, and will likely try it when I can. I tend to run behind the current level of tech and so play games a year or so after their release. Tends to work out well in the $ department, and I get plenty of mileage out of the games I do buy this way.

[ReluctantSamurai]

But completely useless as weapons in Morrowind.

That depends on how you use them. Spears and halberds have a longer reach than any other weapon and so you will get a "first strike" capability. By the time my character heads for Dagoth Ur, and all the way through Tribunal and Bloodmoon (Nord female, usually) I carry only four weapons in inventory: Spear of Bitter Mercy, Daedric Crescent, Sunder, and the Auriel Bow. With a spear skill of 100, and strength enhanced well over 150, I get a knockdown effect with Bitter Mercy at least 50% of the time and long before those wussy short-sword maniacs can lay so much as a finger on me. A quick switch to Sunder or the D. Crescent, and it's all over.

I agree with others......hopefully V will be a return to III in terms of immersiveness, complexity, and beauty.

[Vladimir]

That depends on how you use them. Spears and halberds have a longer reach than any other weapon and so you will get a "first strike" capability. By the time my character heads for Dagoth Ur, and all the way through Tribunal and Bloodmoon (Nord female, usually) I carry only four weapons in inventory: Spear of Bitter Mercy, Daedric Crescent, Sunder, and the Auriel Bow. With a spear skill of 100, and strength enhanced well over 150, I get a knockdown effect with Bitter Mercy at least 50% of the time and long before those wussy short-sword maniacs can lay so much as a finger on me. A quick switch to Sunder or the D. Crescent, and it's all over.

I agree with others......hopefully V will be a return to III in terms of immersiveness, complexity, and beauty.

Exactly. I built a fast, light character that used the greater reach to good effect. In fact, the entire character was built around that weapon since there was no mounted warfare.

[ReluctantSamurai]

I also forgot to mention that I play with the Giants and Dragons plug-in and you simply cannot hit the top two levels of dragons with anything but a bow from a distance, and a spear up close and personal. Getting up close and personal with an Elder or Mega Dragon is not recommended, as they can chunk you for 100 hit-points at a time even at level 30-40, but is unavoidable if you want to wander around the Molag Amur.

[Furunculus]

i loved morrowind, but got bored by oblivion very quickly.

by contrast, my mum played it, and the expansions, non-stop for a period of nine months, and when i gave her my old quad-core/9800GX2 pc a few months back the first thing she wanted me to do was install oblivion again for her!

[lars573]

That depends on how you use them. Spears and halberds have a longer reach than any other weapon and so you will get a "first strike" capability. By the time my character heads for Dagoth Ur, and all the way through Tribunal and Bloodmoon (Nord female, usually) I carry only four weapons in inventory: Spear of Bitter Mercy, Daedric Crescent, Sunder, and the Auriel Bow. With a spear skill of 100, and strength enhanced well over 150, I get a knockdown effect with Bitter Mercy at least 50% of the time and long before those wussy short-sword maniacs can lay so much as a finger on me. A quick switch to Sunder or the D. Crescent, and it's all over.

I agree with others......hopefully V will be a return to III in terms of immersiveness, complexity, and beauty.

Spears are only good on the thrust. Which you have to be walking forward or back to do. So beyond that first strike they are useless. Because the gap has been closed by then. And switching weapons in combat being such a pain in Morrowind, best to have the weapon you intend on using the whole slugfest equipped from the start. And great swords also have the range bonus. Hence polearms in an ES game are useless. Too dificult to use and completely redundant.

[ReluctantSamurai]

And great swords also have the range bonus.

I don't believe they do. According to the weapon stats I've seen, all swords, short or long, have a reach of 1.0. Spears and staffs have a reach of 1.8 which means either get the first strike if you are not surprised. For a short list (I had a complete list somewhere but cannot find it at the moment), look here:

http://www.uesp.net/morrow/hints/mwartifacts.shtml

In addition, spears can reach over obstacles like rocks, so I can hit something that in all likelihood, cannot hit back (a tactic I use quite frequently early in the game when my character is not fully developed), and can reach up and "touch" those PITA cliff racers before they can hit me, if they mange to close in past my archery.

And switching weapons in combat being such a pain in Morrowind, best to have the weapon you intend on using the whole slugfest equipped from the start.

I agree, but I have a six-button mouse...and it's a simple thing to assign a button to weapon-switch. I've learned to do all my looting after I've killed all the baddies, so I'm not carrying excess weapons.

So beyond that first strike they are useless.

As I stated earlier, with a Spear skill at 100, and a Strength rating around 175, that first strike is often all I need. At least 50% of the time my opponent is lying helpless on the ground;-)

Hence polearms in an ES game are useless. Too dificult to use and completely redundant.

Obviously, I disagree, but hey, to each their own. I love them, make them one of my mainstays, and make it a point to get to Ghostgate as early as I can survive the journey to get my first Glass Halberd.

[lars573]

I don't believe they do. According to the weapon stats I've seen, all swords, short or long, have a reach of 1.0. Spears and staffs have a reach of 1.8 which means either get the first strike if you are not surprised. For a short list (I had a complete list somewhere but cannot find it at the moment), look here:

http://www.uesp.net/morrow/hints/mwartifacts.shtml

That's wrong. I've hit things with great weapons that would miss with a long sword or short sword.

In addition, spears can reach over obstacles like rocks, so I can hit something that in all likelihood, cannot hit back (a tactic I use quite frequently early in the game when my character is not fully developed), and can reach up and "touch" those PITA cliff racers before they can hit me, if they mange to close in past my archery.

That's not just unique to a spear.

I agree, but I have a six-button mouse...and it's a simple thing to assign a button to weapon-switch. I've learned to do all my looting after I've killed all the baddies, so I'm not carrying excess weapons.

Can't use a mouse with an xbox.

As I stated earlier, with a Spear skill at 100, and a Strength rating around 175, that first strike is often all I need. At least 50% of the time my opponent is lying helpless on the ground;-)

With sufficient skill with a great weapon, that's also the case.

Obviously, I disagree, but hey, to each their own. I love them, make them one of my mainstays, and make it a point to get to Ghostgate as early as I can survive the journey to get my first Glass Halberd.

Ghostgate is far too irritating to go near until your immune to corpus.