u/olafdlopez

There, I said it. I know I need to git gud, or whatever. But I’m old and have the reflexes of a turtle, so cut me some slack.

For context, I started playing Skyrim for the first time last summer. It got me through some dark life events. I grew to adore that game, it became an incredible comfort. I don’t remember it ever really kicking my ass, even early in the game. I chose the sneaky archer approach (of course), and quickly felt nearly invincible. It felt amazing to be a silent unstoppable agent of death. I saw my enemies driven before me and heard the lamentations of their women. I finished the main quest at around level 40 and immediately wanted to either start over as a new class (maybe a battle mage!), or try Oblivion.

I’m currently a level 8 mage in OG Oblivion and I am a joke. All my spells absolutely suck, I can barely carry anything, my weapons are pathetic and I’m struggling to just survive. I thought maybe I’d try to work my way up through the Mage’s Guild and am currently on the Vahtacen’s Secret quest. I find myself falling back to the old bow and arrow because I can’t seem to make a dent to enemies with my weak sauce magic. Which means I’m not leveling up magic very quickly. I just fought a few godamned skeletons and repeatedly got my ass handed to me. I feel like I’m just doing this wrong.

I know it’s unfair to compare the two games, they are just different. But in my experience, Skyrim was very quickly an enjoyable “empowering” experience, while Oblivion feels like an impossible grind and I don’t know if or when that feeling of helplessness will start to shift. In short, it feels great to be a badass, and it feels shitty to be loser. How can I make my foes fear me?

I can plainly see from this sub that many, many people cherish this game. I want to feel that way too!

First time playthrough, level 42, completed the main quest, but still exploring. Every chest and burial urn now contains gems. Not just one gem, but lots of regular and flawless gems. I have thousands of them now. I’m richer than god. What changed?