Gameplay Difficulty, Options

[Lady Saga]

I used to play on Adept myself, but I've dumbed this down to Apprentice after losing a few characters whom I was gaming with; characters with stories, that is. Some of you may be facepalming, "wow...Apprentice sounds like a cakewalk!" but the game still offers plenty of challenge. I basically walk over regular bandits and bandit outlaws, for instance, but pillagers, highwaymen (etc.) are still difficult, especially if more than two show up at a time. I'm much more interested in seeing my character survive and thrive (I am a DiD player) than I am in having a super-challenging game, where every battle lasts a half-hour or whatever.

But if I ever have a character whose game is not being written up as a story, I will switch back to Adept. Just for the extra all-around challenge. Anyways, for now I am Apprentice. How about you?



This post has been edited by Lady Saga: Feb 14 2013, 07:37 PM

[Grits]

I voted It Varies. Usually I start on Adept, the exception being Illusionist/Conjurers like Achille who start on Expert. Achille wore robes and did no direct damage at all, so the difficulty only increased the damage done to him. It doesn’t make the fights any slower because the offensive damage by follower/summons is still being done on the default level, but one or two hits should kill the character. Achille had to seriously run for his life while listening to hear when his summons got killed so that he could turn and re-summon. I noticed things with him like all of the places in dungeons where you can retreat and close a gate behind you, then summon on the other side of the gate. He wouldn’t have needed that sort of thing if he could get hit and then heal.

I also sometimes move to Expert with characters whose skills are tightly focused, allowing a high skill+perk level for them compared to the world. Sometimes I go too far with the damage/defense increase perks. Jensa got to the point where she was wading through everything with ease. In her case I just put her back in unimproved Hide with unimproved weapons and quit adding points to Health until she was really getting hit again (after some more levels). That’s also when I learned how much more fun it is to fight with a character who has a lot of Stamina.

I have a vague idea for an Altmer Conjurer/Destruction mage that I will probably start on Apprentice. Darnand has been doing well on Adept, but he still runs out of magicka before he can burn everyone up in some fights. He really needs a follower since he relies on Destruction for all of his damage. (Also I miss a lot. That’s totally MY fault.) So if I want a mage to come bursting out of Helgen in a blaze of wrath and no armor at Level 1 (per my idea), I think a lower difficulty is the way to go. UNLESS I can get him a staff early on. Hmm…




(Edited for clarity. )

This post has been edited by Grits: Feb 14 2013, 10:12 PM