The Skills:, 18 in total, these are the lot. Options

[Thomas Kaira]

COMBAT:
-Archery
-Block
-Heavy Armor
-One-Handed
-Two-Handed
-Smithing

MAGIC:
-Alteration
-Conjuration
-Destruction
-Illusion
-Restoration
-Enchanting

STEALTH:
-Alchemy
-Light Armor
-Lockpicking
-Pickpocketing
-Sneak
-Speechcraft

So what is of note here (along with my thoughts, of course)?

1. Alchemy has been moved to Stealth specialization, with Enchanting and Smithing in Magic and Combat, respectively. This gives each specialization its own "crafting" skill. Warriors make weapons, mages enchant weapons, and rogues make potions and poisons. Makes sense to me.

2. Archery has been moved to Combat. I'm not too sure of why this was done, as now Stealth is the only specialization without a native means of defense, but I've never done pure characters, myself, so I see no harm from this.

3. Mysticism is indeed gone. I never used it all that much anyways.

4. Pickpocketing has been separated from Sneak. Well, I'm always a fan of new skills, so I'm interested to see how this will work out.

5. Athletics is gone (wasn't really much of a skill anyways), as is Acrobatics (likely integrated into Light Armor, as rogues really do need that ability to dodge).

6. Mercantile is gone (good riddance), likely integrated into Speechcraft. Makes sense, after all, Mercantile is a form of Speechcraft, is it not? Anything to make that skill more useful, because in Oblivion, Speechcraft was a joke.

7. Blade and Blunt are now redefined as one-handed and two-handed. This is really the only change I see up there I disagree with, as fighting styles are very different between hilts and hafts and neither weapon type can be interchanged smoothly. You just don't fight the same way with a sword as you do with an axe, and being proficient in one does not automatically make you proficient in the other. Still, at least the player will be permitted to make that differentiation.

8. Hand-to-Hand is gone, as well. Likely merged into Two-Handed combat. Again, doesn't make much sense, as again martial arts is a very different combat medium from fighting with weapons, but the player can still make the choice, or choose not to if he wants.

This post has been edited by Thomas Kaira: Aug 8 2011, 05:35 PM

[Destri Melarg]

It's been heavily implied that everyone will have the same run speed and jump height, with modifications on those being solely based on whether or not you are wearing heavy armor.

However, I see this as more of a problem with the removal of attributes. I really do think Bethesda is missing a huge opportunity with attributes, as you can do so much with those to help flesh out characters and make them unique. I really do not think Bethesda's approach to making every single Elder Scrolls game simpler and simpler with every release is going to hold up for much longer. Skyrim is about as simple as you can get for an RPG; any further, and we're in Action-Adventure territory.

I'll reserve judgment on that until I see the perks. In Fallout 3 we learned that perks can go a long way toward character customization. With the reported number of perks in Skyrim being well over a hundred (what, triple the number you get in Fallout 3?), I can see there being perks that will enable certain characters to jump higher or run faster. I can see perks that will augment those stealth skills to make your character a true shadow and/or acrobat if he/she chooses to be . . . or a true tank if he/she chooses to be that.

The only thing I see missing from this new direction with Skyrim is the need to mindlessly grind skills that you never use in order to get a modifier to an attribute that doesn't really matter. Could they have changed attributes to make them more important to gameplay? Sure. Absolutely. But the fact that they didn't doesn't necessarily mean that they've gimped your customization options. Sorry if it seems like I'm always busting your b@ll$ on this point, TK. Truth told you are far more open-minded than a lot of people who lament Bethesda's choices. I just don't understand why there are so many who can find nothing exciting about the continuation of a series we've all come to know and love.