Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[entrerix]

i cannot fathom putting perks in the lockpicking tree, the skill gets better as you use it, and lockpicks aren't expensive, though it IS annoying having to remember to constantly be buying more lockpicks.

 

it would have been better balanced to make the lockpick tree only have 3-4 perks, but have them all be really good, so people might be tempted to sprinkle a few perks into that tree, but needing to put tons of perks in it to get to the goodstuff just means no one will ever use the tree at all.

 

im really hoping that adjusting and making perks and spells will be easy in the toolkit, because i can do just a few tweaks and make a BIG help to how i play the game

[LadyCrimson]

The last one (#1) had me ROFL...

 

Got to lvl 8. Ran away from a bear, saw some Elves, let them kill him. One Elf died, I got golden light armor. Pretty.

[Raithe]

And for the sideline introduction..

 

Getting Fit the Skyrim Way...

[Maria Caliban]

I'm 25 and I think I'm starting to feel the effect of bullet-sponges in the level scaling which is kinda annoying and tempting me to lower the difficulty level a bit for some fights which take 20 minutes of running around like an idiot, keeping my health up and bringing the enemy's health down one pixel at a time.

Bullet-Sponges?

 

I'm at 28. Trained up heavy-armor, two-handed, and smithing to 70. I just rush to any enemy and smack at them until they die.

 

There needs to be a mod to ease the difficulty of leveling specific skills after the 60-70 level. Or two-handed leveling needs to be based on amount of damage instead of number of swings. I can go an entire long dungeon and maybe level up once.

[Tigranes]

I've installed the slower levelling mod - I think it's working, I'm still only level 16.

 

Got a little worn down by all the go to dungeon kill X around centre of the map and decided to walk to Riften for the thieves' guild. Riften definitely feels a lot more like a proper RPG town where you can do stuff inside, and I actually like how they've integrated Steal X quests with more properly thought out ones, and how the dynamic between guild, officials and other interests is communicated well through everything that happens in the town. This town at least is definitely a step up from Oblivion's Town A, Town B.

 

The level scaling is also holding up OK so far - i.e. it's hard to notice. I tried to go out of the beaten path in the Riften area and bears / sabre cats mauled my sneak/archer character, and one quest I tried (the

castle infiltration one

) was just way too difficult so I had to pull out. Mainly I'm using Flame Atronach summon and Fury to provide sufficient distraction while I shoot people down, but I'm also hoping to get Sneak up more so I can get the final backstab perk.

[Tale]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

F'ing Markarth...

 

 

I killed a guy in his sleep and before I leave the city, with the body still warm, I get a notice from a courier. An inheritance. For the guy I just killed. Barely a few yards away from the location of JUSTICE.

 

[Tigranes]

It's radiant!

[LadyCrimson]

I'm finding the Expert difficulty about right for me at low levels at least, using Light Armor/magic w/occasional 1h weapon. Especially when you still just have the Dunmer starting Destruction spells. My skills/abilities are not what you'd call good at the moment. My Sneak is good enough it helps me out some but those Bears, they kick my arse.

 

I'm finding the level of explore+things I can kill+things I have to run away from/sneak around, quite satisfactory early on. I've been to a lot of places and seen a lot (not combat) without feeling very restricted about at least being able to travel to/thru an area, even if I can't take on all the baddies there yet.

[HoonDing]

I like how some Daedric quests flow from sidequests, rather than the usual "Gather random junk and find Daedric shrine in wilderness" shtick. So far I did Molag Bal, Hircine, Namira and Clavicus Vile. Namira's quest reward is surprisingly useful for my pure mage, since it gives a hearty bonus to health and stamina.

 

Finally found some lorebooks on Dwemer as well; I have the impression they might turn out as antagonists in future games.

[Maria Caliban]

Ironically enough, I was just posting to say I'm in the middle of Shegorath's quest.

 

I don't remember the Deadra being so easy to interact with in Morrowind. I mean, I keep on tripping over them. They're like toys someone left out.

 

Edit: After I finished quest for Azura, I met a pilgrim on the road who gave me a quest to go to the Shrine of Azura. It's a bug, but as soon as I travel, a cultist of Beothea appears to make trouble. You might remember that I found her shrine earlier, lead one of my followers there, killed him on the shrine and nothing happened.

 

The Cultist has a book. I read it. My map is updated with the location I already have. The priestess tells me that to gain the favor of the goddess I have to... lead a follower there and kill them on the shrine.

Edited November 15, 2011 by Maria Caliban

[WDeranged]

I just stumbled on two Daedric quests as well, did Sheogorath's and I was a bit let down after the interesting set up, his character was fine but I wanted to ask him more questions, the actual quest was also lame

 

On the bright side Wabbajack is always fun to piss around with, Sanguine's quest was good fun too, I really liked the introduction.

 

*edit*

 

Oh, I also experienced a few crashes tonight, around five or six, most of them were in the Ratways under Riften, as soon as I left the The Ragged Flagon, I should be used to it by now though, Bethesda games always get more unstable the deeper you get.

Edited November 15, 2011 by WDeranged

[Maria Caliban]

Beothiah's quest isn't half bad. Though the end is more suited to Nocturnal.

[Tale]

Azura's was boring, but has a really pretty set at the end. Just finished Sanguine's, which was superb. Started Molag Mal's, which I am unsure I will do, since it would be out of character for my Dunmer to offend Boethiah.

[Monte Carlo]

Yet nobody seems to recognize the symptoms of. If a change makes a game easier, it's because console players can't handle difficulty. If a change makes a game harder, it's because console players need action all the time. If it's too simple, it's because console players are stupid. If it's more complex, then I'll break down each stage into a simpler form, then criticize them individually. If it looks good, console players only care about graphics. If it looks bad, consoles can't handle graphics.

 

Basically, if you can think of a way to frame a change as an insult to someone (which is possible for everything), it's for console players.

 

The active effects screen isn't even a big change from Oblivion. It's still listed under the magic panel. It just doesn't have a big icon next to each status. Apparently that was for console players. Somehow. I'm not sure. But I'd love to know the reasoning.

It would have been if it had been missing. It's not missing, so in a sense we are both arguing on an old assumption. Let's not forget that the inventory, shortcuts and UI, which are only just barely usable, ARE without a doubt the fault of console design though.

 

I have a more nuanced view: for example the skills GUI is beautiful, the way the skill trees resemble constellations. It's also about as much use as a chocolate teapot from a user-friendly POV, I'd much rather have a more traditional skills / character screen (I'm sure the current set up looks great on a widescreen TV). The port to PC's controls are hideous.

 

This isn't because console gamers are dumb or less sophisticated (although I guess some might be, what else explains the popularity of Zumba party etc) it's because the platforms are different and PC is way more marginal.

 

PCs days ain't numbered, but we are niche and we are less important than the console version. Just the way it is.

[Gorgon]

All that kinda goes without saying. Still, how hard can it be to remap the keyboard properly, taking conflicts into account and giving the user as big a chance as possible to make it work for him. We are talking a miniscule portion of develpment time, PC gamers still deserve that much. They must have known it stunk as they never allowed any reviewers near the PC port.

Edited November 15, 2011 by Gorgon

[Niten_Ryu]

PCs days ain't numbered, but we are niche and we are less important than the console version. Just the way it is.

 

I'd say PCs days are numbered because not even AAA developers bother to do anything except crappy port (even when Steam would suggest over 1 million units sold). Thus we're playing console games on PC that might have bit improved graphical options (but certainly not take full advantage from DirectX10 or 11) but with sub-optimal UI. Heck, people start to buy console controllers for the PC (even for FPS) because games are that badly designed or optimized for the PC. That's like nightmare scenario for me because my main problems with consoles are not consoles per se, but lack of mouse + keyboard support (from game mechanics to difficulty settings) and too long hardware generation cycles.

[WDeranged]

Death Cam Duration Options

 

I'm looking forward to trying this one, I enjoy finding really high places and throwing myself off but the default death cam is only 5 seconds.

[Nepenthe]

PCs days ain't numbered, but we are niche and we are less important than the console version. Just the way it is.

 

I'd say PCs days are numbered because not even AAA developers bother to do anything except crappy port (even when Steam would suggest over 1 million units sold). Thus we're playing console games on PC that might have bit improved graphical options (but certainly not take full advantage from DirectX10 or 11) but with sub-optimal UI. Heck, people start to buy console controllers for the PC (even for FPS) because games are that badly designed or optimized for the PC. That's like nightmare scenario for me because my main problems with consoles are not consoles per se, but lack of mouse + keyboard support (from game mechanics to difficulty settings) and too long hardware generation cycles.

I hear, say, DXHR and BF3 are quite a bit better on the PC...

 

Sure, I guess in both cases you could put it down to already building an engine for the next console generation (less so in DXHR's part), but let's scale back to apocalyptic mentality just a bit.

[Tigranes]

I fought my first giant at level 17, not really by choice, and in one swing I was up high as the mountains ragdollin' it up.

 

...had to play merry-go-round round some rocks.

[Gorgon]

First CTD, lost the quicksave, the rest are fine.

 

 

Do I get a prize ?

[Gorgon]

uM.. i guess the other saves weren't all rigth. A potion must have gone awry or something because now I have unlimited manna. The bar doesn't show up at all. I didn't do anything to the console and it goes back through all saves except the first few...There is an active effect with the timer frozen, don't know how long it's been there.

[Tale]

Others have reported unlimited mana. Seems to go away if your mana pool ever changes size again.

 

My experience with the active effects is that there is no timer. What looks like a timer just tells the total duration, not remaining. I haven't experimented with this, so could easily be wrong.

[Rosbjerg]

uM.. i guess the other saves weren't all rigth. A potion must have gone awry or something because now I have unlimited manna. The bar doesn't show up at all. I didn't do anything to the console and it goes back through all saves except the first few...There is an active effect with the timer frozen, don't know how long it's been there.

 

It's time to buy the transmute ore spell and become a millionaire!

[Maria Caliban]

Azura's was boring, but has a really pretty set at the end. Just finished Sanguine's, which was superb. Started Molag Mal's, which I am unsure I will do, since it would be out of character for my Dunmer to offend Boethiah.

I got the Molag Mal one as well last night. I was walking down the street when a dude jumped out of the shadows and dragged me into a quest chain.

 

It seems like half the quest I've done in the last two days have ended up being Deadra sidequests. They're starting to come off as a bit desperate. I'v started doing quests for the Divines. Just finished the one for Mara and picked up the one for Diebella and Kyrothan (the one with the temple in Whiterun). The quests aren't as interesting and the reward seems to just be a permanent buff.

 

Also, the Ebon Mail Boethiah gave me has a great visual when it's activated. I agreed to a friendly fistfight with a guy named Horse-Crusher, forgetting that I had it on. The next thing I know, he was screaming, covered in liquid darkness, and I got a death scene of my PC slamming his head against the floor until his skull broke.

 

Oops.

Edited November 15, 2011 by Maria Caliban

[entrerix]

i have to say, skyrim seems to be the most stable release from bethesda in .... forever? morrowind, oblivion, and fallout 3 all crashed about once every 3-4 hours, while skyrim so far has only crashed once in about 40 hours. thats pretty cool.

 

by the time i did the quests for the companions i was on level 24 (and decked in glass armor), and now i feel too important to start doing quests for lowly thieves or anything, even though my character is a stealth character. maybe its time to say this archer spent the rest of her days as leader of the companions and start a new character who won't feel too important to help regular folks kill bandits again.

Edited November 15, 2011 by entrerix