Just thought it would be interesting to know what difficulty everybody plays on, since the slider changes the game so much.
I play on 3/4 difficulty (1 being the highest)

I haven't changed it, so I play on 1/2

Haven't changed it either

Hmm. I was so busy jumping into the gameplay, that I never thought about it. On the Xbox at least, it doesn't show up if you don't look for it. How does the slider alter difficulty? By lowering enemy hp or giving better "rolls" or something?

The slider alters hp it seems at least, and you won't have as many knockbacks, critical strikes etc against you at lower difficulty.

I've tried the extremes and the median and this is what i discovered trying to kill a "boss" in an oblivion plane:

(was lvl 20 at the moment and a warrior type)

Lowest difficulty: 1 shot, 1 kill with the firespell you get from the start

Medium difficulty: Normal battle lasting a few minutes back and forward

Highest difficulty: 1 shot, 1 kill... just the other way around


However it should be noted that if you start playing the game at the lowest lvl your skills won't increase as quickly as on the higher difficulty due to the fact that you won't have to hit enemies that much to kill them so the fastest way to progress in levels would be to play at the maximum difficulty, providing you can acctually survive that is

I play close to max, it's very hard! I'm a level 4 Redguard knight and stunted scamps own me!

i decided some time ago not to change difficulty levels at all in rpg games. Normal or Medium settings are the best, hard where it has to be hard, and not boring where it's easy. Also... oblivion brings up enemies so they match your character lvl, which is pretty comfortable as well, so no reason for a change.

I totally agree

1/2 for the most part. A few times I didn't want to be bothered running through a cave and dropped the difficulty slider to minimum and it was funny - I think I didn't even swing at them - just ran them over!

I attempted to close my third OB gate at level 15 on max difficulty and it took me forever (I only died 4 times though ) because I rested in every area long enough to charge up my adrenaline rush. Bring LOTS of potions LOL.

Had it on default for years until I got tired of hacking and hacking and hacking and hacking to make a mudcrab not live.
Of course, I have a mod now that make them friendly but I still don´t like to hack and hack and hack and hack. And since the slider doesn´t affect lockpicking, puzzles or anything else but damage giving/receiving, I have lowered it just a bit. Much better now

Default. Always default in Oblivion! ... The only exception to this (the ONLY one) is as my characters level up past 5. Imps. They should be 1 or 2-shot creatures. I mean...come on. I can't buy that a giant arrow piercing through an imp doesn't just kill it (like it would at the start of the game) So I'll adjust the difficulty downwards for that one exception, but otherwise i'm always a default duckie.

Mudcrabs (Horrid creatures): I usually just outrun 'em. Or some of mine will sneak past them, if they're in a dungeon with not much room to run by (and attract attention) Lady Saga uses them for target practice, occasionally.

...horrible creatures.

This post has been edited by Lady Saga: Feb 15 2013, 04:54 PM

Agreed. They´re not big and bad like the Doom 3 ones. And they aren´t that big and bad either with a shotgun blast to their many eyes
(sorry, did not intend to derail)


Lothran uses them as creaking companies

Imps in D&D are pretty much 1-shot creatures summoned by mid-level wizards, they don't just "respawn". While I can't simulate the wizard summoning bit, I can RP this as an errant sorcerer who travels from lair to lair, re-introducing them to the world of Cyrodiil. And I CAN and DO get my pleasing 1-shot kills.

Love doing that with Saga, by the way. Getting those perfect sneak-attacks with a bow & arrow! swish swish swish swish....PLUNK! EEEEP!!!

Did I say I love the sound effects in posts you make!

Default. The difficulty slider does not do what I want it to do. I want weapons to be more deadly on both sides of the fight. Bumping the slider to the right does that for foes but not for your character.

Rather, I play default and render foes more deadly by keeping my character’s endurance at base (tiny red bar) and keeping any armor rating she may have down in the single digit range. Marauders become freight trains of damage this way.

At the same time, I optimize my own character’s damage by capping her level near 20. That allows her to max her bow killing skills and supporting attributes, but limits the health of her foes. I also equip her with a high quality bow repaired to 125%, and powerful arrows.

The result is exactly the glass cannon that I want: My character strikes like a dragon but can crumple like a butterfly.

This post has been edited by Acadian: Feb 15 2013, 05:54 PM

Because I use a mod that makes enemies stronger, less-predictable (like Minotaurs at level 1) and more intelligen, I play on a difficutly somewhere between the easiest possible and default - I find it challenging enough.

Lothran: I think the sound effects thing comes from reading stories to my kid. I always make little sound effects if I'm reading her a bedtime story. So did my dad when he read for us as kids. It's infectious.



I dislike this as well. I did bump RG2's game up a bit one time. I wanted NPC raids to last longer and be more challenging. But the experiment did not last long because bumping the slider right also made her weaker. WTF, man?



This post has been edited by Lady Saga: Feb 15 2013, 08:14 PM

Sounds like you´re a great mom But why do you call me Lothran?

This post has been edited by mirocu: Feb 15 2013, 08:15 PM

DOH!!!

I'm not the only one!