What load times? 5s-15s for me.
Alchemy: Can still make as many potions as you'd like. That's time consuming, and potions weigh as much as their summed component ingredients now 2lb boar meat + .5 lb bread = 2.5 lb restore fatigue 'potion' (sandwich in a bottle really). There's another sensible addition, you only gain properties you have the skill to detect and use. No more using 4th tier properties with alchemy lists. If you want though, you can play the alchemy merchandise game in Oblivion too, and you'll rightly (and slowly) earn additional alchemy skill and profit off of restore fatigue potions by traveling from town to town making and selling your wares.
Skills have been restructured and reclassified a bit. There's no more unarmored skill, and some skills have been truncated. Some weapon skills merged. No more spears. Other skills' linked attributes have been reassigned.
Indoor/Outdoor--> Too much of both to establish a ratio. Fought & Quested indoors, outdoors, everywhere.
Combat's a lot more interactive now. Not overly complicated, but enough to add complexity.
Clicking attack does fast swipes. Holding down attack charges big attacks, and with higher attack skills, power attacks with chance of special effects like paralyze, knockback and disarm.
Block is a seperate action (cannot attack while blocking), and blocked attacks lead to attacker recoil, opening time for your attacks. You'll find that the enemy AI strings attacks, power attacks, and blocks intelligently, so if you're not watching out you'll be recoiling from blocked attacks. Oh, you move a lot slower while blocking, so the enemy will try to outflank you.
These are simple and effective 'gladiator' style combat improvements that add some needed interactive complexity to combat, and puts the player in control. Your skill factor can overcome a lot of numerical difficulty, or die from lack of player attention.
Oh, magicka regens on its own now depending on your willpower, so magic users aren't completely borked when they've tapped out on reserves.
Alchemy: Can still make as many potions as you'd like. That's time consuming, and potions weigh as much as their summed component ingredients now 2lb boar meat + .5 lb bread = 2.5 lb restore fatigue 'potion' (sandwich in a bottle really). There's another sensible addition, you only gain properties you have the skill to detect and use. No more using 4th tier properties with alchemy lists. If you want though, you can play the alchemy merchandise game in Oblivion too, and you'll rightly (and slowly) earn additional alchemy skill and profit off of restore fatigue potions by traveling from town to town making and selling your wares.
Skills have been restructured and reclassified a bit. There's no more unarmored skill, and some skills have been truncated. Some weapon skills merged. No more spears. Other skills' linked attributes have been reassigned.
Indoor/Outdoor--> Too much of both to establish a ratio. Fought & Quested indoors, outdoors, everywhere.
Combat's a lot more interactive now. Not overly complicated, but enough to add complexity.
Clicking attack does fast swipes. Holding down attack charges big attacks, and with higher attack skills, power attacks with chance of special effects like paralyze, knockback and disarm.
Block is a seperate action (cannot attack while blocking), and blocked attacks lead to attacker recoil, opening time for your attacks. You'll find that the enemy AI strings attacks, power attacks, and blocks intelligently, so if you're not watching out you'll be recoiling from blocked attacks. Oh, you move a lot slower while blocking, so the enemy will try to outflank you.
These are simple and effective 'gladiator' style combat improvements that add some needed interactive complexity to combat, and puts the player in control. Your skill factor can overcome a lot of numerical difficulty, or die from lack of player attention.
Oh, magicka regens on its own now depending on your willpower, so magic users aren't completely borked when they've tapped out on reserves.