Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Sky]

While the UI is definitely an issue...have you guys ever played Gothic? The UI is better than the first couple of those, and I still loved 'em. I guess I'm getting used to it...but I'm also a warrior, only have four hotkeys (axe, shield, heal, light). The mining animation pulling into third person is very Gothicy.

Ok, Lucas, I maxed the AA and put on FXAA, still runs great and looks a wee bit better. They've done really well making the different regions feel unique; given the icy tundra setting, I'm impressed.

Just unlocked Orcish smithing, could've swore I had some of those orichwhatever ingots around. Dwarven armor improved on the workbench with a potion and bracers to buff improvement 25% makes for some pretty damn good gear. Haven't enchanted the dwarven war axe, last axe I enchanted with fire dmg. Just got a bow with soul stealing, might disenchant that and put it on the axe.

Alchemy...you can discover the effects by brewing? I've taken after my cat and just eat one of everything I find. Haven't really pursued it, though, and as a mostly axe/block/heavy I probably should.

Unlocked the decapitation move....does that ever get old? Love the finishing moves in general.

[Rendakor]

If you try to brew two items and they have a common effect, you'll make a potion of that and discover it. The only other way I've discovered effects is like you, eating one of everything.

[Ruvaldt]

To those having encumbrance problems, you can visit the Steed Stone and get an enlarged weight limit, but you can only have one stone blessing at a time.

And no, the decapitation thing never gets old.  Just got a really awesome finishing move animation on a dragon that made my night.  I tried to take screenshots of it, but they appear to be corrupted, sadly.

[MisterNoisy]

This was a fun fight:



If you look veeeeery closely, you can see the cave bear that helped with the second one.

[Sky]

Some random screenshots.

[koro]

The Mage College questline is really fun.


Anyone who's a pure mage owes it to themselves to try out the Atronach stone. It makes some of those brutal mage fights much more manageable (but far from trivial), and really helps with the glacial pace of magicka regen in combat.

[Ingmar]

Had one CTD already, the UI is as  as advertised and the skill/leveling system is not my favorite (but it is at least improved.)

Still liking it much better than prior entries.

[Ginaz]

Note to self: stay the fuck away from Giants!

[tgr]

I've had 5 or 6 CTDs, but I think most of them come because I keep switching in and out of the game all the time. I'm not sure if it got worse after I moved back to using fullscreen, but it's usually not a problem as I tend to wait till after I've finished a quest or something before I alt-tab out to do other things.

As to what I play, I decided to become some sort of thief/rogue kind of guy, so I'm putting most of my levels in pickpocketing and lockpicking, but I think it's time to put levels into stealth and bows. It's pretty awesome to stand at 50 meters, shoot one guy, have the other look dumbfounded at him as he slumps to the ground, and eat an arrow of his own to the side of the face.

I've discovered, however, that the bow shoots too high at short distance compared to the crosshair, and too low at long distance, so it can be a bit annoying initially. I literally only expected to have to aim higher at long distance, but there you go.

[Kitsune]

On the third dragon I fought I was a fair bit away from any major towns, near a roadside inn.  As the dragon is circling, I see some fire spells shooting up at it from just over a hill and think, "Oh hey, there's a mage out here, that's handy." and go over the hill to join in the fight.  At which point the mage starts trying to fry me instead.  Caught by surprise, I ducked around a boulder to get out of his line of sight and he went back to lobbing spells at the dragon, though more sporadically than before.  While this is going on, I hear yelling from behind me, turn around, and see some bandit banging on his shield and running at me while a house-sized lizard is zooming down from the sky at that exact spot.  Seriously dude?  Huge dragon, everything's on fire, and you're going to pick a fight with a random traveler?  Fortunately for me, I get in a lucky hit on the bandit and shiv him with my conjured sword, run back over and flail at the mage until he dies too, and the dragon was injured enough for me to finish it off.

[Sheepherder]

I'm pretty sure I went through that dungeon too and it was a little too easy, though the atmosphere and layout was really good.  The difficulty steps up pretty quickly, thankfully.  I ended up in a dungeon pursuing a stolen doodad not long after entering the first hamlet and encountered some pretty keen challenges in a spitting giant spider mini-boss and a well-equipped zombie nord draugar boss at the end of a ruin.  Both proved to be a good challenge and I was rewarded for my efforts.

Ok, Lucas, I maxed the AA and put on FXAA, still runs great and looks a wee bit better. They've done really well making the different regions feel unique; given the icy tundra boreal forest setting, I'm impressed.

I broke and tried to buy this off Steam but got an error.  Motherfucker.

[lac]

Is pickpocketing bugged? Sometimes it seems like most my xp comes from it. It's not uncommon for me to level up, continue pickpocking people and level up again. I think my pickpocket is at something like 80 while my highest other skills, sneaking and archery, are hardly at 40.

[Quinton]

The place was a dwarven ruin, so naturally the second half is filled with crazy traps and robots.

Wait, hold on, there are dwarven ruins with robots?! 

I need to visit (even) more dungeons!

Also, are there daedric ruins around somewhere?

[tmp]

It pains me the NPCs are such idiots. Taking a stroll through the woods, a random necromancer guy runs at me yelling obscenities and shooting what looks like ice. I cut him with my 2hander and, staggered and with a sliver of health left, he starts begging to spare him. So i take pity on him and sheath my weapon to show him i'm willing to listen... what does he do? "I'll kill you!!!!1one" he screams, springs up from his knees and starts attacking again ignoring out of us two only he has little health left. So he dies, of course.

Idiots.

(same for orcs in a fort. Well, they didn't beg for their lives but they did start shooting first )

[Lucas]

Whoa, loving that screenshot of an interior, Sky: feels cozy  

[Quinton]

Been chasing a questline that lead me through a series of ruins.  The latest one is littered with already-dispatched druagr and some dead adventurers.  Found the party leader dead in front of some apparatus, carrying his notebook, ivory dragon claw (to manipulate the apparatus), etc.  The staging is just fantastic.

...
And so it was done.  But a little survived the ages. Enough.

Four thousand years have passed, and the tombs remain sealed.  The fragments of the XXXXXXXX lie within.  Since the day I first heard the rumor, I have felt its power, calling to me, pulling at me.  I will be the one to reclaim it, restore it, bear it out into the world once more. I must have it.  I must!

[tgr]

That was an actual questline? I just stumbled upon something which sounds very familiar, the 3 fingered hand thingy which is used as a key. I saw nothing other than one dead guy to a trap, and tons of bouncing glowing tribbles. This was mostly in ice, though.

Also, I haven't eaten much weird stuff, like oh I dunno, vampire dust? ... but people keep saying I look ill; I don't suppose it's because I'm in either Windhelm or Winterhold.

[Quinton]

The dragon-claw-as-key is used in a number of Nord ruins.  The particular quest I'm chasing is kinda interesting because I stumbled on it from a sidequest on the town at the foot of the 7000 steps but a quest from the mage college *also* crosses over with it as well.  I'm liking the overlap and interweave of stuff.

[Quinton]

Spoiler for the main quest line...

Read after doing:

Really, I mean it, don't ruin the fun for yourself:

[NiX]

Is pickpocketing bugged? Sometimes it seems like most my xp comes from it. It's not uncommon for me to level up, continue pickpocking people and level up again. I think my pickpocket is at something like 80 while my highest other skills, sneaking and archery, are hardly at 40.

Sneaking is situational. A hostile mob must be in your vicinity for it to level up, not just anyone. I've found the best way to level it up is in a Barrow or Tomb. Find a sleeping/standing Draugr and sneak around in circles. This is how I've gotten my sneak up to 60.

Been chasing a questline that lead me through a series of ruins.  The latest one is littered with already-dispatched druagr and some dead adventurers.  Found the party leader dead in front of some apparatus, carrying his notebook, ivory dragon claw (to manipulate the apparatus), etc.  The staging is just fantastic.

Yeah, I was running to one of the Northern cities, Winterhold I think, and was passing a lighthouse. Decided to check in, see what was inside and 45 minutes later I'm leaving. That quest is one of two that have genuinely made me feel a little sad after finding out the whole story.

The Dark Brotherhood line satisfied my taste for vengeance.

[Khaldun]

Got everything working right again. UI is indeed a pain. But fuck does this game scratch just about all my itches. Just when you think you're the king of shit mountain you'll come across something that can fuck you up if you're not crafty--those snow sabertooth cats, for example, I was thinking were not a big deal and then one disemboweled me almost instantly. After killing three dragons I figured I'd go rip a giant a new asshole and ended up flying up into the air at about escape velocity.

So far every single underground I've gone in is atmospherically different, has its own little mini-story, and most importantly they all make sense as places.

[tgr]

I've now killed at least two dark brotherhood assassins that had been sent to kill me, specifically. I've no idea who I pissed off to the extent, the only thing I can think of was the guy who sent 3 goons after me initially, sabjorn or something. But I have no idea what I've actually done...

[Quinton]

Oooh.  Ran into some Dwarven Ruins.  Niiice.

This game is made of so much fantastic dungeon crawling.

Ohoho my packratism pays off.  I've melted down all kinds of bits and pieces of dwarven automation into 63 Dwarven Metal Ingots (so far!)

[NiX]

I've now killed at least two dark brotherhood assassins that had been sent to kill me, specifically. I've no idea who I pissed off to the extent, the only thing I can think of was the guy who sent 3 goons after me initially, sabjorn or something. But I have no idea what I've actually done...

I'm not sure what you can do about that. I joined them, so it stopped, but otherwise I'm not sure. Maybe you can pay them a visit in the sanctuary.

Oooh.  Ran into some Dwarven Ruins.  Niiice.

This game is made of so much fantastic dungeon crawling.

Ohoho my packratism pays off.  I've melted down all kinds of bits and pieces of dwarven automation into 63 Dwarven Metal Ingots (so far!)

Wait, you can melt shit down? Can this be done with armor too?

Also, Dwarven dungeons scare the shit out of me. I found one with some bandits and figured "No big deal!" Clear them out, find a closed door and open it. I see a mechanical spider so I sneak shot it with my bow only to have one of those sphere guardians come out of the fucking wall beside me. Sprint and dragon sprint the fuck out of there.

[bhodi]

Dumped pretty much my whole weekend into this. Same annoyances as everyone else, a good game marred by small annoyances and especially UI issues.

I have a zillion quests to do and still haven't explored half the map. In the middle of the Dark brotherhood, Mage Guild, Companions, Thief guild quest lines.

My character is pretty schizophrenic; I wanted to build him as a dark elf spellsword, but unfortunately I really failed to specialize and decide what I want to do, partly because what I was doing didn't seem that effective so I switched horses, and also the UI issues, so I've got ~50-60 in 1 hand, destruction, stealth, and also am leveling alchemy, smithing, enchanting. Yes, I'm basically playing Drizzt in-game. Suck it.

The combat is not exaaactly what I expected, and I made a mistake trying to go 1h+shield+buff spells because I was too weak and unable to kill dragons easily so I switched to destruction magic, and now I have all these talents in stuff like armor which I'm not using. I'm also like level 25 because I leveled up smithing/enchanting/alchemy a ton. So now dragons are only really, really hard to kill instead of impossible and I leveled myself in a corner and I can't really kill bosses without cheezing them. I can't even decide whether to go light or heavy armor! :(

The UI makes things much difficult, I had thought I'd be able to do sword and board sneak around stabby with buff magic; unfortunately you can't swap out spells like that using the number because it replaces the shield, and there aren't any buff spells I found except for +armor. Plus, when you sneak, you only get one backstab on the first damage, So, I try magic. And magic regen sucks unless you're in robes, so suddenly I'm a lousy caster, focusing on desctruction. Boo.

I'm too far in to restart the game, I'll just have to make the most of it until a respec mod comes along.

[Khaldun]

Do any of the companions have interesting storylines after they agree to hang with you? I've got my housekarl Lydia following me around, who is sturdy enough but about as interesting as a potato. I didn't bother with the elfish guy at the lumber mill in that first town who offers to follow you. I had a good adventure with a repentent priest of Mara up north who offers to be a companion, wasn't sure what he'd be like to hang with, particularly since I prefer companions who can be meatshields against a difficult enemy. But by the time he offers to join up, I think you've already seen his whole story.

[Draegan]

The Mage College questline is really fun.


Anyone who's a pure mage owes it to themselves to try out the Atronach stone. It makes some of those brutal mage fights much more manageable (but far from trivial), and really helps with the glacial pace of magicka regen in combat.

Not sure if it's a spoiler, but just in case:

Right before the last trial for the Greybeards I decided to take a sidetrip to the Mage College.  That was a long long derail.  Now I'm back to the story and I think I might be a little over powered for the content.   Wheeee should be fun.

Anyone else playing a spell-sword like build?  

Edit to clarify:

My char is going a bit 1H'd, Conjuration with the summons and the blades.  Alternation for the armor buff.  Then playing with Restoration for the Regen and Enchanting.  I really don't know how to build my char.  I keep thinking about different routes.  Now I'm thinking about stealth abilities because Backstab looks awesome.  Ultimately I want dual summoning mage with swords and I will destroy everything.

[Bunk]

My highlight so far would be agreeing to a game of hide and seek with a little girl in one of the northern towns, only to have it interrupted by a Dragon attacking town. Best part, was able to kill the Dragon then finish playing hide and seek.

[Nija]

This game seems to be a step above the last few. I haven't got into an elder scrolls game as much as this one since Daggerfall.


My kids love watching it in action too. I thought I was done playing for the weekend as of yesterday afternoon, but after bath time they wanted to go "find more dragons". (we found two)

I'm playing it using a HD projector on an 8 ft x 4 ft screen. HDMI out from the PC and a wireless xbox controller.

It's dreamy.

[koro]

My char is going a bit 1H'd, Conjuration with the summons and the blades.  Alternation for the armor buff.  Then playing with Restoration for the Regen and Enchanting.  I really don't know how to build my char.  I keep thinking about different routes.  Now I'm thinking about stealth abilities because Backstab looks awesome.  Ultimately I want dual summoning mage with swords and I will destroy everything.

Honestly, if I went Spellsword, I'd go full-out armored, probably with light armor. If you want to use that headpiece you got, it alone will kill the perk-granted bonus to armor from the stoneskin line of buff spells. You'll still get the base benefit, but it's not nearly as nice as it would be with the perk powering it up, and shit hurts bad enough as it is.

My pure mage right now is kind of a mess. I spent some time working on Enchanting and Smithing (the latter of which to give my meatshield companion some better armor, since it's a pain to find anything above Steel in stores), and doing that got me like 4 levels, and shit starts getting real once you pass level 20. I want to get my Destruction filled out with focus on Shock spells, Alteration filled out nearly completely, Enchant boosted a good bit, and at least some of the atronach line in Conjuration, but I'm at the point where I've got more stuff to choose from than I have points to go around.

[Draegan]

As soon as I got that mask I started thinking light armor and stopped putting points into alteration.  It just depends on what kind of stuff I find I guess.  I think I need to start buffing up my 1H perks a bit more now.

[Khaldun]

I'm doing kind of jack-of-all-trades--been putting stuff into 1H, dual-wielding axes sometimes, sometimes using a shield if it's that kind of fight, sometimes going 1 axe + a spell, sort of depends. Been sneaking some too but my housekarl Lydia is clumsy as an ox when it comes to that.

[bhodi]

My char is going a bit 1H'd, Conjuration with the summons and the blades.  Alternation for the armor buff.  Then playing with Restoration for the Regen and Enchanting.  I really don't know how to build my char.  I keep thinking about different routes.  Now I'm thinking about stealth abilities because Backstab looks awesome.  Ultimately I want dual summoning mage with swords and I will destroy everything.

Honestly, if I went Spellsword, I'd go full-out armored, probably with light armor. If you want to use that headpiece you got, it alone will kill the perk-granted bonus to armor from the stoneskin line of buff spells. You'll still get the base benefit, but it's not nearly as nice as it would be with the perk powering it up, and shit hurts bad enough as it is.

My pure mage right now is kind of a mess. I spent some time working on Enchanting and Smithing (the latter of which to give my meatshield companion some better armor, since it's a pain to find anything above Steel in stores), and doing that got me like 4 levels, and shit starts getting real once you pass level 20. I want to get my Destruction filled out with focus on Shock spells, Alteration filled out nearly completely, Enchant boosted a good bit, and at least some of the atronach line in Conjuration, but I'm at the point where I've got more stuff to choose from than I have points to go around.

So, I tried all this. Here's the deal.

Sneaking; doesn't take a TON of points to be able to sneak inside a room and position yourself, maybe 40-50 with 2 points in the talent. There is a huge bonus if you are only standing still. There's a threshold where you go from being spotted instantly to being able to be 3 feet from them standing still. Unfortunately, once you attack, there is no way to do it quietly - every monster will instantly 'spot' you and all run up. Stealth is only useful for that first hit or if you've got a bow. And 6x damage, (with the talent) while nice, is not going to instakilll any boss (the only people you'd really need to use it on). Kind of a waste, IMO. Better to just spend those points in more damage or destruction since you're almost never going to find a boss or creature that's 'alone'. Honestly the thing I've used stealth for the most is killing the undead before they get out of their crypts. If I was using a bow, things would be different. I hear sneaking is awesome with bows. Shame I can't get critical hits with spells. Nobody expects a fireball from the shadows!

Light armor; There doesn't seem to be any reason at all to use light armor; At higher levels you're probably going to want heavy dragon armor, and as far as crafting goes, there's no reason to go up the left side of the tree into elven/glass because daedric/dragon/ebony stuff is way better. (though elven weapons are better than dwarven). If you're a caster, you need to wear NO armor, so the ONLY reason to use light would be to get a stamina regen boost. Oh, and you can run a bit farther. Not worth it.

You NEED to have a ranged attack if you're a spellsword; random dragon encounters are a huge part of the game and you're gonna need ranged attacks to fight them.

Restoration is decent, but you only need to put 3 points in it to get the magicka regen. Double fisted novice healing with the one talent point is all you REALLY need to get by. No need to focus in it.

Summons seem to be fairly good but I've only got a flame atriarch, I haven't played with any of the other summons.

The impact perk in Destruction is ridiculously good. Stagger = win. Right now I'm using double-cast firebolts which mow through most little guys. It's the bosses or stronger creatures that I'm really having issues with.

If you're trying to level smithing, make iron daggers and leather bracers until the cows come home. Smithing seems to be more useful for enhancing weapons/armor than actually forging them, you don't even break even on materials cost. Note that the forge in the first hamlet where you learned to smith has a stack of steel and iron bars outside that regenerate periodically, so make sure to pick those up.

[NiX]

Sneaking; doesn't take a TON of points to be able to sneak inside a room and position yourself, maybe 40-50 with 2 points in the talent. There is a huge bonus if you are only standing still. There's a threshold where you go from being spotted instantly to being able to be 3 feet from them standing still. Unfortunately, once you attack, there is no way to do it quietly - every monster will instantly 'spot' you and all run up. Stealth is only useful for that first hit or if you've got a bow. And 6x damage, (with the talent) while nice, is not going to instakilll any boss (the only people you'd really need to use it on). Kind of a waste, IMO. Better to just spend those points in more damage or destruction since you're almost never going to find a boss or creature that's 'alone'. Honestly the thing I've used stealth for the most is killing the undead before they get out of their crypts. If I was using a bow, things would be different. I hear sneaking is awesome with bows. Shame I can't get critical hits with spells. Nobody expects a fireball from the shadows!

Sneaking with bows IS awesome. Incredibly awesome. I cleared an entire area without being detected once and with such surprise that half the bodies left behind were still in their normal position. Scared myself on my way out because I thought I missed people.

The problem with stealth spells is that the lighting gives you away. I've made a few mistakes pulling out my dagger with a spell in the off hand only to find myself being rushed down right after because of the light coming from the spell. It really is a skill for thieves and assassins meant to even the balance of being paper thin. Sometimes it does feel like it's overpowered, but quite often I find myself running to find cover and hopefully regain stealth. Still waiting on the perk that lets sneak reset aggro and force them to find me again.

[NowhereMan]

This game is awesome, the UI is a bit a of a barrier though. I like to rebind from WASD to ESDF but discovered if you rebind sheath to T it will no longer work in your inventory and you can't actually drop anything. Now rebound to Y but it's a little annoying, also the fact that movement keys go back to WASD when I'm looking at the map. Right now my main is going Paladin style, 2H, Heavy armour and Restoration and Alteration spell lines. Only worry now is that I haven't levelled archery and I'm worried a dragon is going to mess me up. I can't wait.