halflingbarbarian said:
1) Puzzles with answer right in front of you on walls: It's not just you, I've seen another post mention it. If you have went to more than 1 dungeon with the murals on the walls before the door with the keyhole for a claw, you will notice that the order of the murals are the same, it's just a design of that cell. If you managed to solve the puzzle using the murals on the wall, it means that the solution for that particular puzzle happened to coincide with the order of the default murals. The real and only method of finding the answer for the keyhole animal symbol puzzle consistently, for all those types of doors, is to rotate the claw key in your inventory and look at its 'palm'. The repetition of the same model for a puzzle etc. is another discussion.
I was talking about the "you have 3 rotating stones with 3 different pictures on them, and you need to set the right combination to unlock the door, and you have the right pictures up on the wall in this very chamber, so all you have to look up and reproduce them" design.
As for the claws, the idea (to require a key with a solution on it) is ok, but the implementation is shit, since the key is either already there and you just need to kill the guy who has it, or it will be given to you shortly.
Some tavern owner asked me to look into the restless dead problem in a crypt nearby. I "fixed" the problem, found the door that needs a claw, without the claw in sight. I thanked Bethesda for being thoughtful enough not to give me the key right away. Then I talked to the tavern owner and he thanked me for my trouble by giving me the claw.
Highest level-scaled casters on Master difficulty can bring down a two-hander easily (assuming the lack of other outstanding abilities, which should be the case since you are talking about two-handed damage in particular).
They are the only ones that are hard to kill. The undead priests guarding the dragons are much, much tougher than dragons. Unfortunately, hard to kill means having to drink potions. I daresay that as long as you have enough potions you can kill just about anything at any level.
Since money isn't an issue, and potions are easy to find (and you don't need them most of the time), it's not an issue at all. Cooking food works just as well, btw, but takes more space.
And your math on two-handed damage disproportionately outstripping one-handed MAY be right...
I don't think I gave you any math on two handed vs one handed. You're probably confusing me with someone else.
Therefore, again, I am asking what your level is, and what difficulty you play on, for you to feel that two-handers are OP. Because my suggestion is that if you really feel it is OP, but want to play a 2-hand wielder without that feeling of cheating, get on Master, because that OPness fades away real quick as HP bloat piles on.
Level 31, on Expert, crafted elven 2-hander (84 damage) with 15 health points drain enchantment, 80 points in two-handed.
Get on Master? Why? Expert (i.e. Hard) isn't good enough? I don't think that HP bloat and damage reduction can make combat harder. They can only make it tedious. It simply takes longer to kill things, which means that you have to carry more potions or cooked food. Simple as that.
True challenge requires design depth and options. Moar! HP isn't a substitute for depth.
Good combat design always revolved around having to hit things and gaining temporary to hit advantage and/ore lowering your opponent's to hit chance via spells and abilities. This - not the extra damage and more HP - made these systems successful.
Without the to-hit chance the Oblivion/Skyrim combat system is nothing but cheap popamole. The only thing that could have made it work is the Die by the Sword combat system:
"Another innovation that added significant complexity and possibility to the game was the ability to target, and eliminate specific body parts. A well-placed swing to the head can in some cases decapitate an opponent. Strong blows to the arms and legs can sever limbs, leaving the opponent with reduced mobility, or in the case of the sword arm, no way to inflict damage.
This system adds an element of tactics to melee combat. It encourages multiple hits to a specific region on the body, thereby slowly dismembering the opponent, and reducing his effectiveness. Delicate locations such as the head and neck, while difficult to strike, offer a quick conclusion to those with the appropriate finesse."
For the record, I didn't say that I feel like cheating playing with a two-hander. At first, the difficulty felt right, but as my weapon skill and perks bumped up the damage (crafting didn't help either), the game became very easy. Maybe I'll have no choice but to follow your advice and play on Master simply because killing things in 1-2 hits isn't much fun. Still, good game design it's not and that's my point.