10k fists

Ok... bandits are those guys that are all over the map when not in town... You don't really "go looking" for them, they sorta just run at you and either attack outright, or demand gold. It's not really something that you can "define", other than it appears to me as though you ran around, willy nilly, attacking stuff, and then decided to go to Kvatch. You had 11 levels to get used to the level scaling, and the fact that you claim level 20 was a "cake walk" simply shows that you really didn't know what you were doing at level 12. Whether that was being ignorant to equipment and how to obtain it, or fighting enemies during the "low middle level" period. I didn't build a "slow level" character, nor did I ever maximize by attribute distribution to +5 only. Yet, I never found my character to be "almost useless". There's an abundance of cover/tactics to use in Kvatch to give you the time you need to heal or do what you need to do. You don't need the guards, and the fact they don't level scale to your exact same level is moot.

Nope. Quest rewards also scale to your level half the time, and half of them are gold. Try going into with a level 14 character, 50-60marksman/sneak but 20 blade and 12 blunt, 35 endurance, 45 strength. Or are you going to tell me that I made the wrong decision to make such a character? Cause I thought the point of TES was to let you make any character you want. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Please note, that I clearly stated that the system wasn't perfect. With that level of marksman, I'd think you'd have an even easier time in Kvatch. There are plenty of areas that you can jump to where enemies without a ranged attack can't hit you. Just look at all the knocked over pillars, crumbled walls, etc... That's how I went through with a mage, get off the ground, and start throwing magic. Again, it's not perfect, I never said it was. Don't confuse my discussion with blind defense for the game. :D

You're confusing time with quantity. During the process of gaining two levels, you'll be presented with dozens of combat situations, unless you train. All these combat situations give you chances of finding equipment. All of the combat situations with "bandits" always give you equipment for your level. If you found it a "cake walk" at level 20, yet found your level 12 character "almost useless" because of the difficulty, then my first assumption stands true, you really didn't know what you were doing at level 12.

Having non-combative skills as your major skills make the game increasingly difficult. Of course, this can easily be offset by going out and fighting more, and using the non-combative skills a little less. As I said before, the system isn't perfect, but it is easily managable.

What a lot of people don't realize is that there is a "ceiling/basement" concept to Oblivions creature level scaling. While I don't know what Gromnir's suggestion was, in Oblivion it works as follows: At level 10, for instance: You might get --- A lvl 10 enemy 2 lvl 5's a lvl 8 and another enemy (below your characters level) Or maybe several level 2's etc...

I find it comical that you simply state "wrong". To answer your last question first, yes, I'm speaking from a great deal of experience with Oblivion. A great deal of experience. The axe did "4" damage because your blunt skill was low, a dwarven long sword/claymore would have delt a significant amount of damage in comparison. It's not a matter of what you "happen" to come across, as all equipment is based off your character level. At level 10, you start finding dwarven/mithril equipment, period, end of story. For two entire levels (given you actually made the levels, and didn't sit in town training), you've been fighting bandits and other such enemies. Or perhaps, you've been doing quests, which generally yield even better results than random dungeon searching. If you'd closed Oblivion gates, then you'd have Sigil Stones, which enchant armor/jewlery with constant effect enchantments, or weapons with charged enchantments. These would make your standard equipment even better, had you opted not to use the magical equipment you'd found (at level 10, ontop of finding mithril/dwarven - you also start finding magical chain and steel). Also, at that level, silver weapons are in abundance with smiths, and they do damage close to (but not equal to) dwarven level. Like I said in my first response, it sounds like you, or the person your quoting (regarding the two character builds) just don't know what you're doing in combat. I went through Kvatch at level 14 with little resistance. It's really funny, if you think the clanfears at level 12 are tough, I pity your game when you reach level 20+.

No, it's not that bad, because at level 12, you've fought enough battles, killed enough enemies, and explored enough terrain to have obtained the proper equipment needed to keep pushing through at that level. At level 12, you're finding dwarven/mithril equipment, and also finding powerful magic chain/steel equipment. While the guards don't level with you as much, they aren't needed once you reach higher levels, because you should be hitting enemies with a greater deal of damage, and have equipment that can handle the damage they dish back. At that level, you should have a higher blade/blunt skill, as well as block so that various power attacks/counters will be increasingly effective while in combat. On the other hand, if you're level 12 and a mage, then you've gotten access to much more powerful spells. With that, comes the added bonus that many daedra have elemental weaknesses of some kind, it'll allow you to dispatch them easier.

It appears as though the person playing that game doesn't understand the fundamentals of combat. Enemy scaling only maintains a similar difficulty level, given you know how to fight at higher levels, and have intested the time required to get equipment on par with your current level. Is it perfect? No. But it's not nearly as bad as you (or whoever you got that information from) make it out to be.

The prices won't be the same, the PS3 will be undercut by the 360, most likely, throughout the entire lifespan of the consoles.

Noticed you were typing as I was logging off, so I stayed around to respond, but now I wish I hadn't. I've added a great deal of information to this discussion, sorry if you feel otherwise. It's a shame that you had to come off as such a jerk with your response, but it'll save me the trouble of having to bother responding to future comments of yours. First impressions mean a lot, and from the "tone" of your response, you seem like a prick. Silver offers access to the marketplace, which houses all the movie trailers, game trailers, demos, content downloads for games, and Xbox Live Arcade games. On top of that, you still have your friends list, text messaging and voice messaging/chat. Silver still gives you access to MMO games, as well as the ability to game on the free weekends. That, is significantly more than just "profile creation".

HD-DVD players are fully backwards compatible to the current DVD format. Heck, they even share the same manufacturing plants. Yes, DVD prices held, because of lack of competition. Since HD-DVD is outclassed through technology, they are going to instill a price war, that quite frankly, I don't think Sony can afford to support. Which is why I believe Sony is forcing all developers to use Blu Ray discs for PS3 games, whether they need the space or not, this will drive manufacturing costs down a little quicker due to a higher volume being created. They're preparing themselves for a huge price war. No, the official Xbox 360 specs never had a HD-DVD player. The plan was to always use DVD-9. I'm done for the night, take care.

Are you trying to say that HD-DVD won't be backwards compatible? You're kind of running in a circle that I'm not following. It's becoming increasingly difficult to even respond to your posts as you seem to be rambling, or going off in a direction that is different than mine. By the time the PS3 releases, both standard HD-DVD players and standard Blu-Ray players will have fallen in price. On top of that, you'll still have increased costs for media, and the lack of the "DVD" name for Blu Ray, which outside of the hardcore internet users, means a lot to people. The Xbox 360 was never meant to have a HD-DVD drive, please don't try and claim otherwise. It was simply a silly internet rumor spun wild by fans.

No content was cut from Enchant Arm from what I've read from Japanese gamers. I also don't recall Itagaki commenting that the intro was cut, he was just upset because he was worried that all the CG he wanted to use would fill the entire disc. I don't really follow your last two comments though. Could you clarify?

While silver doesn't give you access to gaming against other people (except in MMO's and free weekends) it does do a lot more than just allow you to create a profile. You kind of spun it a little too much.

It's really hard to respond to your first comment, since it's so baseless, but I'll give it a shot. No, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey have not shown how "obsolete" DVD's are, since they aren't. I find your comment rather foolish, as if you assume all PS3 games will occupy more space than could be found on a standard DVD-9. The developer behind Enchant Arm commented about the lack of space DVD-9 had, and that their game would require two discs at minimum. Yet, after using the newer compression methods offered with the 360, all the content fit on the DVD-9 with room to spare. As for your final comment, it's more up in the air. We don't yet know the price point for the console, and we also don't know whether or not Blu Ray will succeed in the industry. Blu Ray is still significantly higher in price than HD-DVD, the players as well as the media itself. With the PS3 not due until November, Sony won't get the jump start they initially wanted with the console being a cheaper player. That means they will instantly have to contend with cheaper HD media, that will offer (to the average consumer) identical content. Early tech adopters will obviously push for Blu Ray, since it's a superior product, but they don't drive the industry. So with the better part of a year of HD-DVD having a more recongnizable name with "DVD", and a cheaper price point, along with the same HD quality output, the normal consumer should, by logic, go with the cheaper product that has the name they've been using for many years, "DVD". I'm sure Sony's initial plan was to get the PS3 out by Spring '06, and saturate the market with the name "Blu Ray", but it's not going to work out that well. Their only hope is to not lose too much of the market to HD-DVD by the end of the year.

The 360 has two exclusive JRPG's from Mistwalker (founder is the creater of the Final Fantasy series).

They're about to price themselves right out of next generation. They think too highly of the Playstation brand, while Nintendo is out to undercut everyone on price, and Microsoft offers the best "bang for your buck" experience possible.

Fight Night Round 3 - Xbox 360

You said "So?" when he said the GeForce line doesn't support AA in SM3.0 It seemed as though you were dismissing it like it wasn't important...

So? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Why would dismiss the fact as if it was unimportant?

It would be much wiser to at least try and buy PC hardware that's remotely comparable to hardware found in the Xbox 360 and PS3. Getting "previous 'state of the art' tech" may prove to be counter productive, if you're trying to get more of out the immersive aspect that higher quality graphics provide. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> OOOOOOOOOOO SNAP! NO YOU DIDN'T! I SAID NO YO DIDN'T! edit: nVidia's 7600 GT sounds like a good value <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yeah, I did.

Oblivion Mass Effect (Trilogy) Too Human (Trilogy)

Congrats on the console - the Live interface is very impressive this time around. I'd recommend checking out Kameo if you have the means, it's a great game, all be it rather short, but it's a solid rental experience regardless. Thumbs up on the Oblivion choice!

It would be much wiser to at least try and buy PC hardware that's remotely comparable to hardware found in the Xbox 360 and PS3. Getting "previous 'state of the art' tech" may prove to be counter productive, if you're trying to get more of out the immersive aspect that higher quality graphics provide.

Perhaps a certain maturity level is required to appreciate various consumer electronics. Oh well, someone on another forum told me to register here and discuss the console with some of the naysayers, but it appears as though the entire forum is bias beyond logical comprehension. Take care.