An Overview of the Nuances of Skyrim. Difficulty System: From Novice to Master.

To date, many players of Skyrim express dissatisfaction with the difficulty system created in the game. And there is a rational note to this. What primarily causes the discontented buzzing is that it is too easy to play on normal difficulty and too hard on high difficulty.

Let me say right away, nearly everything I say about Master difficulty applies to Expert as well.

Unashamedly, it can be noted that the game on hard mode, that is Master mode, can only be completed by a player who is quite professional in their favorite activity, no matter what anyone says. I will explain why I am so confident in this.

Let’s take one fan out of a thousand, in this case, the author of the post, to analyze the gameplay on different difficulty levels.

First of all, I should say that currently I have progressed much less in the game than most of you readers of this post, precisely because after years of having completed Oblivion and Morrowind inside out and leveling my character to celestial heights, I decided to try the new "leveling" system in Skyrim. And I started simply by changing the difficulty level.

I first had this thought when I came out of the first dungeon, and one weak punch from my character was enough to send a wild enraged wolf flying a few meters away.

Right after that, I decided to complete the main quest twice, and only then move on to everything else, as there is never too much Skyrim.

Don’t forget that the subsequent information is subjective, and what I experienced in the game may be completely different from what you will experience.

Playing as a Master vs. Playing as an Adept

Leveling a character on Master, regardless of everything, is slower – that’s the first point. When gamer friends of mine wrote about how quickly they were advancing through the levels and how fast they completed the game, I could only sigh in irritation and proudly respond with my one standard phrase: "I play on Master."

Why is it slower? Because at a hard difficulty level, it is impossible to use all abilities. For example, this applies to melee combat.

How does melee combat on normal difficulty differ from that on high difficulty?

As we know, with an increase in the level of difficulty, any damage dealt to an opponent decreases while the damage taken by the main character increases. In melee combat, whether fighting with one sword or two, it is possible to deal minor damage to the enemy, but it is very hard to protect yourself with armor or liters of healing potions. This is a disadvantage of the difficulty system. Ideally, to kill a powerful enemy by game standards, you need to secure yourself with distance.

Let’s take several monsters: from a wolf to a dragon. On master difficulty, "taking down" a wolf is not comically easy; rather, it is a light warm-up during which several skills can even level up. But if the hero encounters an ice troll, which can be realistically killed on Adept difficulty, on Master it is hardly possible.

Let’s take a draugr overlord – melee combat is difficult; each magical attack takes a significant amount of health even at a distance, but one or two hits from the draugr overlord at close range are enough to completely "take out" all health, even if you are focusing solely on leveling that character.

Again, on Adept I did not use bows and arrows and barely used spells to kill it – the sword in melee combat allowed me to realistically defeat the enemy.

Of course, it should be added that it all depends on the character's specialization – mage, thief, or warrior. After all, this plays a significant role in fighting enemies. For me, as a player, it was easier also because I used stealth and archery; for a player using a sword, killing a troll or sabre-tooth becomes a true test, not to mention a dragon.

What is the plus of Master – in true leveling. Honestly, at the hardest level, the same "Stealth" will only be real stealth if it is sufficiently leveled up; that is, when the skill is leveled above 45, characters stop noticing you, while on Adept characters stop noticing you after just the first six added units to initial stealth.

On Adept, the game at the very beginning seems extraordinarily easy, but as the character levels up, it becomes increasingly challenging. As your character’s strength increases, so do the enemies – the same system was in Oblivion.

On Master – it’s the opposite. From the very start of the game, when the character is not leveled up, it is very hard to pull through. The enemies are strong – you are weak, the weapons are weak, and the skills are not yet developed; however, with your growth, the increase in enemy strength doesn’t seem as rapid, as you acquire not only leveled skills but also good weapons and armor, and with each level, it becomes easier to apply your abilities.

Let the gameplay go much slower, and the character will not level up too quickly due to the lack of options to develop melee combat at a low level.

In any case, by playing through the game on master difficulty, you can boast about it, as not every player is willing to put themselves through such challenges.