OXM: Why is Skyrim's magic so boring? An amateur wizard ponders

"Games do magic a lot. But they don't always do it well."

[VanillaBear]

There isn't a lot of variety with the magic, take the Destruction magic from example you only have Shock, Frost and Fire....where's Wind, Earth, Water, Poison, Holy magic for example.

Lets not forget that in the other schools of magic like Illusion and Alteration there isn't anything that would make you go "Wow" and want to work towards that type of magic, hell even when you reach Master in them theres nothing amazing which would make you feel like all your hard work has payed off.

[Snookies12]

Well said, hopefully with DLC will come new magics!

[BiggCMan]

@VanillaBear:

On the PC version actually. Not trolling so don't tag me. But it's true. There are mods out there that VASTLY improve the magic. I have one called Midas Magic, it adds nearly a hundred new spells. There is so much that I haven't even used them all yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

I'll be honest, I couldn't picture myself playing this game on anything but PC. And I've only had my gaming computer since September last year. This specific game just belongs on PC with all the mods you can add to it. Amazing graphics mods, free content mods etc..

[SilentNegotiator]

Why can't they have someone at Bethesda with half the creativity as the creator of that mod?

Instead of having a million samey locations and fetch quests, how about adding more variety? Seriously, I don't need "100 hours" of gameplay...I never play ANY single game THAT much. Make your games a quarter as big and have twice the quality and gameplay variety, and I'm beyond happy.

[soundslike]

The thing about magic is you have to diversify, though they could have optimized the game for this, or at least buffed up certain spells.

Manipulating aggro with Illusion is definitely not boring, imo.

[from the beach]

Clicked to find out what an 'amateur wizard' is.. disappointed.

[_LarZen_]

Skyrim's gameplay in general is boring, its like being a sumo wrestler on stilts.

[tarbis]

magics in western rpgs are generally boring. nuff said.

[Xof]

No. Just... no.

Contemporary WRPGs? Yes. I've been asking myself, "why is magic so boring?" at every single WRPG since Icewind Dale II. The move to 3D RPGs has not been kind to magic, nor has this (frankly moronic) notion that all classes in a game should be "equal"--balance is fine, equality is downright stupid.

Entry-level spells in Shadows of Amn could fling a half-dozen glowing projectiles the size of watermelons at your enemies. Toss a fireball with a 25-foot radius that could 1HK a dozen foes in an instant. High level spells could summon Tempests, disintegrate your foes in an instant, freeze time, conjure devils and angels to fight with you, transform you into a (literal) demigod, and summon enormous ethereal dragons to rain fire upon the world.

So, no. Magic in western RPGs are not generally boring. It has become boring, yes, BUT IT WAS NOT ALWAYS SO.