Well that is questionable. Yes stat boosts = stronger but your exchanging abilities for stats. You have no unique special power, but just plain old statistics. And in the end, everyone will end up with high stats. But its the one with the unique powers that will triumph over the ones without unique powers. I'd say its good early on, but looses its usefullness late game.

I was always fond of the Ritual. That heal was such a lifesaver.

Well that is questionable. Yes stat boosts = stronger but your exchanging abilities for stats. You have no unique special power, but just plain old statistics. And in the end, everyone will end up with high stats. But its the one with the unique powers that will triumph over the ones without unique powers. I'd say its good early on, but looses its usefullness late game.

I was always fond of the Ritual. That heal was such a lifesaver. </font>[/QUOTE]Yeah, I totally forgot about the stats. Now I remembered when I first played Morrowind I choose the lady sign. 10 to personality and something else. By the time I was in a high level. I actually asked myself " Why did I choose this sign? "

The Ritual's Restore Health spell can only be use once a day. I think it's better to use a normal heal spell or create one such spell yourself ( will they still have this in oblivion? ) and you can use it over and over again as long as you have enough magicka.

Since you mention it. I see The Atronach sign to be very tasty now. 150 bonus to magicka. Plus instant refilling when something bombard me with spells.

Well that is questionable. Yes stat boosts = stronger but your exchanging abilities for stats. You have no unique special power, but just plain old statistics. And in the end, everyone will end up with high stats. But its the one with the unique powers that will triumph over the ones without unique powers. I'd say its good early on, but looses its usefullness late game.

I was always fond of the Ritual. That heal was such a lifesaver. </font>[/QUOTE]Yeah, I totally forgot about the stats. Now I remembered when I first played Morrowind I choose the lady sign. 10 to personality and something else. By the time I was in a high level. I actually asked myself " Why did I choose this sign? "

The Ritual's Restore Health spell can only be use once a day. I think it's better to use a normal heal spell or create one such spell yourself ( will they still have this in oblivion? ) and you can use it over and over again as long as you have enough magicka.

Since you mention it. I see The Atronach sign to be very tasty now. 150 bonus to magicka. Plus instant refilling when something bombard me with spells. </font>[/QUOTE]My Crusader wasn't very adept at magicka. Thus, the Ritual as you can imagine was useful when I ran out of me potions or early one when I couldn't afford them. But they definately have spellcreating in the game still. Its another trademark of the ES series that will never disappear.

Gah, have they really scrapped Mark and Recall? That's completely ridiculous. It will of course be made up for by the inclusion of Fast Travel, but why change? Mark and Recall were great, they worked for any character as enchanted jewellery was easy to obtain, and they were more true to the role-playing genre. Haha, it's quite funny how annoyed I am about this. I'm in an extremely irritable mood today :D .

Yeah... Instant Transit vs Mark and Recall

Who would win the age old battle? :D

<font color = mediumspringgreen> Here's a nugget that I learned recently about real life blocking: The Roman soldiers, in the days of the legions, carried javelins. These iron throwing weapons, IIRC, weighed about 8 pounds. The purpose of the Roman javelin was not to slay the enemy (although, if they got in a kill, I guess they'd take it). Instead, the object was to embed the javelin solidly into the enemy's wooden shield. Two javelin sticks added 16 pounds to the shield, making it very tiresome to hold up in the correct position for blocking missiles, and awkward for blocking swords after the enemy closed to melee. Therefore, endurance did become a factor in effective blocking (although I think strength would also play a big part).

I agree with your analysis, though: It was likely a gameplay thing, not a reality or roleplay consideration.</font>

Wow...I never knew that. It makes sense. Odds are it wasn't intended that way ;)

Y'know, I bet that wouldn't be awfully hard to implement into gameplay. Very interesting anyway, NobleNick! Where did you learn that snippet?

One word. Internet.

<font color = mediumspringgreen>Could have been the internet, as Kyrvias suggests; but slightly more likely that it was TV. I watch a lot of the History Channel, military analysis shows, and those neat Engineering/Science programs that you get when you have 174 cable channels, but only 5 that you actually watch. I honestly don't remember where I picked it up; but I know it was in the last 6 months.</font>

[ 12-13-2005, 03:04 PM: Message edited by: NobleNick ]