Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Acacius Blade]

http://www.bethsoft.com/eng/news/pressrelease_121310.html

Joygasm! I wonder what the new region will be like. I imagine a colour palette more akin to Morrowind than Cyrodil - greys and browns and earthy red rather than the lush green plains of the capital of Tamriel. A new engine as well - I hope it's as big a step forward as the Oblivion engine was when it first came out.

According to the link above, there's be cover stories and previews etc in gaming mags worldwide throughout February. I can't wait! I want screenshots now!!!!

[Dasquian Belargic]

I love these games :eee

[Crusader]

I am so looking forward to this.

[Dasquian Belargic]

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[Peter McCoy]

Some in-game footage! Yay!

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[Crusader]

Hehe I think I know where I will spend my Xmas holidays...Skyrim.

[Dasquian Belargic]

:3 Elder Scrolls I love you

[Nathanial K'cansce]

Want and want now.

[Peter McCoy]

There's some awesome info about the game on my favourite website:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyrim

The fact that it's a snow-covered mountain wilderness gives Skyrim the potential to be my favourite RPG ever created. My absolute favourite area of World of Warcraft is Dun Morogh and my favourite race is the dwarves, so the chance to play in a gloriously-realised HD-realm of frosty crags, blizzards and bearded, coarse-tongued Nords lugging huge hammers and axes around while wearing bearskin cloaks and roaring at the top of their lungs is a dream come true.

The footage in the video is beautiful. That glimpse of the player sneaking through the trees, hunting the deer (it looked like a deer) in the low red light of either morning or evening was just breath-taking; the dim sunlight glinting through the branches, very subdued. I loved it! And the wilderness looks friggin' cold! Even more so than in Oblivion around the snowy areas such as Bruma.

I like that the five main cities will be much larger than those found in Oblivion. Just looking at the overhead maps of some of the cities in Oblivion, it's very apparent at how small the settlements are. Especially when you consider that these small settlements somehow support a big huge castle and cathedral within their immense walls that are themselves a bit on the large side for such a small number of people. It's not something that even occured to me when playing Oblivion but in light of the info about Skyrim it throws such details into perspective.

I love the whole thing going on with the dragons. The trailer narration by Max von Sydow makes you (the Dragonborn or Dovakiin in the dragon language) sound like a real badass! The ability to gain dragonshouts by slaying the beasts makes me think of Bioshock's Big Daddy dynamic - defeating them in order to access the Little Sisters in order to increase your power. Not that I think Skyrim is stealing ideas from Bioshock, it's just a similarity that jumped out at me.

The levelling system in Morrowind and Oblivion can be tricky to master. It's easy to level, but awkward to level up effectively. I hope this is something they have addressed. Wikipedia says:


Eighteen skills are present in Skyrim, and the class system from Oblivion has been removed. Perks are skill-specific abilities, organized in a system of branching groups called "skill trees". Each rise in level allows for another perk to be picked. There are 280 perks, which are balanced between approximately 50 levels; although the theoretical maximum level depends on the character's skill choices.
I like the idea of having to practice a skill in order to develop it. Want to be awesome with a shield? Go out and keep blocking enemy attacks until you get better. Want to run faster? Easy - just run everywhere and it'll happen. But the higher the skill, the more 'uses' were required for that skill to increase to the point where it's so tedious! And there was the levelling problem where you could essentially over-level if you weren't careful, as well as inefficient levelling where you'd waste skill increases that made it annoying for me since I like to design a perfect character in such games.

I'll give you an example - in Oblivion each time you gained a character level, your health increased by 10% of your endurance. The most stamina you could start with is:

50 (Orc, Nord [male only] or Redguard)
+ 10 (Lady or Warrior birthsign)
+ 5 if one of your custom class attributes is Endurance (or you pick Acrobat, Pilgrim, Scout, Sorcerer, Spellsword or Warrior as your class)

= 65. Therefore your maximum starting health is 130. In order to end up with the maximum health, you have to increase your endurance by the full 5-points each level up until your endurance reaches 100. So by Character Level 8 your Endurance is maxed at 100 and your health would be either 184 or 190 depending on whether health gain is 10% of your endurance before or after your 'level' is applied. From then on you gain 10 health per level and you'll be able to level up as long as one of your attributes aren't maxed out and you're able to level up 10 skills. There's a way to level indefinitely by going to jail, which causes you to lose skill levels - allowing you to re-level those skills to work towards another character level.

As you can see, health alone involves a lot of (potential) thinking, particularly for someone as anal as myself when it comes to games; I save every few seconds and reload if even the slightest mishap occurs. A good example is when you go through a door in Doom 3 and an imp jumps down from the pipes and leaps at you. I reloaded numerous times just so I could anticipate the attack and take it out with a single shotgun slug to the face. I felt kick-ass but it took five minutes for it to happen, lol!

I'll be playing through it again starting this weekend so I may just use the console commands to fix anything that happens as a result of levelling that I don't like so I enjoy the experience more. Last time I think I was half way to being able to afford the most expensive house in the game.

[Droo]

Twenty minute demo which, despite my current hang-ups with the fantasy genre, has me utterly sold on this game. It looks incredible!

Part 1:

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Part 2:

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Part 3:

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[Yog]

Just watched those videos posted by Droo. Impressive. Most impressive.

[Sanis Prent]

I really didn't want to like Skyrim. I hated the combat in Morrowind and never got far enough into Oblivion to care, but being a metal-as-fuck Viking who can shout storms into existence to slay my enemies then gets to murder dragons.

Ugh, at least I can take small solace in knowing I'll have plenty of other games I have to beat first so maybe I'll buy it cheap.

[Peter McCoy]

This game will cost me quite a bit since I plan to upgrade in time for it.

Birthday cash will help in this endeavour. I have enough money for my new motherboard and RAM, I just need the CPU money. If I really need to I can use my credit card I suppose.

[Dasquian Belargic]

It's probably good that I'll be out of the country when this is released, that way I can resist the urge to impulse buy it on Steam!

[Peter McCoy]

This ain't no impulse buy for me. For me, this is the game of the year!

[Yog]

Regardless of how good it might be, why would you buy ANY game on release, unless it is highly multiplayer oriented? You know it is going to end up at a steam sale for 50% cut within a year, and 75% a few months after that again.. :)

[Peter McCoy]

Simple.

Because I want to play it there and then.

I could wait and buy it cheaper 6 months later, but I don't want to wait 6 months.

[Droo]

Plus if everyone had that mentality with every new release, I wonder how it would impact the gaming industry, what with all their products selling at only half price or less. And it's also kinda the equivalent of asking "Why go to see a film once in the cinema when you can wait and buy the DVD for more or less the same price of a ticket and watch it as much as you want?"

[Yog]

Simple.

Because I want to play it there and then.

I could wait and buy it cheaper 6 months later, but I don't want to wait 6 months.
Yes, but why is it so important to play it NOW? Are you worried you would not enjoy playing it as much if you waited? You could play some other games you wanted to play during those 6 months. Or would you suggest that you already played through all the games in existence that you'd like to try?

(I have yet to meet a human being to even have the time for that. The other type of human is probably someone who does not like games very much.)

Now maybe your argument is, Elder Scrolls V is going to be so superior to all other games out there, and you want to play it as soon as possible. But how can that be true? There are literally hundreds of AAA 90%+ reviewed games out there in all kinds of genres, probably at a fraction of the price of a newly released title. Surely you cannot have had the time to play them all?

Buying a game is not like buying milk and fruit at the grocery store. While the food will turn sour or rotten in relatively short period of time, a video game is digital and does not deteriorate from the date it was new. It is the opposite in fact, because bugs are fixed, updates released, new DLC and expansions are typically released some time after the release. Granted, new games set higher standards in graphics, and even some evolutionary industry changes in gameplay mechanics happen from time to time, but the difference in 12 months is not really noticeable.

Now if it were a multiplayer game, and you want to play with your friends, it would make more sense to buy a game at release (because that is when most are playing it). It would also make sense if you are rich (because buying games at $5 or $50 does not make a difference in your budget). Or maybe it is bit like a smoker and the cigarette, he must have that cigarette NOW?

Every time I see someone say 1. "oh no, this game has been delayed!" or 2. "This game looks awesome! I am going to buy this on release!", I say to myself:

1. "That is really good news! That means they have quality control and it will end up a better product" and..

2. "Man, I can't wait for it to hit budget. That will be real good value!"




Plus if everyone had that mentality with every new release, I wonder how it would impact the gaming industry, what with all their products selling at only half price or less.
It would probably affect the gaming industry positively, actually. It would raise volumes of sales. I am not the only one who increased their spending on games by several hundred percent after the invention of steam sales. I play more games AND spend more money on games than I did a few years ago with this new business model (but I get more entertainment value for the money at the same time). Everyone wins, the gaming industry, the gamers, the only loser is the pirates. Which brings me to the next point.

When you have $5-$10 digital version, automatically installing updates, easily accessible in one library along with the rest of your collection, a neat UI integrated with your friends list, and installing at the click of a mouse button, suddenly piracy is not as attractive any longer.



And it's also kinda the equivalent of asking "Why go to see a film once in the cinema when you can wait and buy the DVD for more or less the same price of a ticket and watch it as much as you want?"
But watching a new film at the cinema theater is a very different experience than watching it on DVD. There is the experience of watching an anticipated movie with a big crowd, there is the $100,000 surround system, projector and a big silver screen with high resolution image etc.

I am not trying to spawn a debate btw, or derail, I am just fascinated how many people think this way, and why they are even thinking it. It is their money after all, so it is none of my business. :)

[Droo]

Simple.

Because I want to play it there and then.

I could wait and buy it cheaper 6 months later, but I don't want to wait 6 months.

Yes, but why is it so important to play it NOW? Are you worried you would not enjoy playing it as much if you waited? You could play some other games you wanted to play during those 6 months. Or would you suggest that you already played through all the games in existence that you'd like to try?

This all seems rather moot. Are you asking him to justify his decision to immediately buy the game with a well-constructed argument? Shall we apply this frugal line of questioning to our every leisurely expense? I know times are hard and we're in the thick of economic turmoil but surely we can allow ourselves to splash out now and then without restricting ourselves at every turn with a rather grey and miserable accountant's mentality. If he wants to play it right away, he wants to play it right away, because he's clearly enthusiastic about it.

[Peter McCoy]

The long and short of it is that if I want to play a game right away, I will. And while there may very well be a lot more tripple A titles for me to try out, I'm not aware of them because they haven't released 3 orgasmic video's on Youtube to whet my appetite.

Even without those video's, my mentality would likely be the same based on how awesome Oblivion was along with the Fallout 3 in terms of craftmanship. Bethesda make extremely high-quality games. There's triple-A titles andf then there's my personal favourites who I consider to be the cream of the crop - Blizzard, Bioware, Bethesda and 2K. Just the sheer quality of their previous titles are enough to make me want to play their upcoming titles the moment they are out. I can rest assured that I will not be disappointed by their games and I can be safe in the knowledge that while playing their games I am not missing anything better.

Waving a prime fillet steak in my face in the form of gameplay footage as good as what Droo linked only makes me want it more.

You're right, nobody could play every game out there. That's why we all focus on what interests us. And even if Bethesda's Elder Scrolls franchise didn't already have its hooks in me, the setting of Skyrim with it's heavily Norse-inspired characters and locations has me pining for a chance to wander those lonely windsweapt icy crags in search of trolls and dragons. They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but when there's so many books to choose from and not nearly enough time to enjoy them all, you have to filter at face value.

ADDITIONAL

Part of the experience for me is talking about what I am playing. I can't fathom why I still haven't done more Let's Plays or any of my own entries on the blog Jenny started. But I really do love sharing my gaming experiences with my friends. With the internet and voice comms like Teamspeak, I love being online playing the same game as my friends - like Droo and I at the moment are playing Fallout: New Vegas, talking in real-time about what we're doing - that is part of the experience for me. If Droo plays Skyrim on release and I wait 6 months, that part of the experience is lost for me. That's only part of it, but it's a big part. Ultimately if the internet didn't exist and I'd just see Skyrim on the TV, I'd still want it immediately because I think it looks that good and I think I'm going to absolutely adore spending time in that world.

Gaming, for me, is more than a way to spend an evening. It's not just a pasttime for when I'm not hanging out with friends or being with my fiance or working. It is a huge part of my life. I invest a large amount of time into gaming, as well as a lot of money in terms of the games I buy and the hardware I buy to enjoy them. Some people may spend a large amount of cash on alcohol, whether it's dozens of beers on the weekend, a few every night after work or a few very expensive bottles of wine or whisky come payday. Some people might be into motorbikes or cars like Mark. Or into photography, and they pour funds into cameras and lenses and home development kits. But my vice is gaming. The graphics and sound, the gameplay, the stories in particular. Ultimately these kind of things don't come down to what we need and when we need it, but rather what we want and when we want it.

I want Skyrim and I want it now.

But more than that, I want Episode 3!

[Yog]

Peter actually explained it really well. Not everyone is as conscious about their game purchasing habits as he is. I can certainly understand the appeal of playing and talking about the game as your friends play it. And if he looks forward to the game that much, he can hardly be blamed for wanting it on day 1. :)

I'll probably wait for Skyrim to hit budget as everything else. Even waited out on Civilization V even though it is arguably my favorite video game franchise.

[Sanis Prent]

I'm a notorious budget game junkie (haven't paid full price for one yet) but I'm kinda that way for Mass Effect 3, which actually has me thinking about pre-ordering which is something I never thought I'd do. The narrative of it is surprisingly fun, because I love buzz, gossip, and talking about games as much as I like playing them.

Also, mega-sandbox games like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout games really take the edge off the economics. If you think about bang-for-your-buck, a game that you can sling 170 hours at a single play-through has given you a ridiculous amount of value. Let's say you go all-in, pre-order, full DLC, the works. Let's say you're out $100 bucks for that experience (which yeah, is a lot). That's entertainment on the order of cents per hour. Contrast that with a quick in & out title that, say, gets you 20 hours of gameplay where it makes more sense to squeeze it via a discount.

At least it makes sense to me. I'm not going to pay full price for a Call of Duty game. I will for a game that I can lose myself in.

[Vansen Tyree]

Peter and Charley seem to have pretty much covered most of I was going to say. :)

All I would add is that sometimes, developers - be they game developers, movie producers, or whatever - do such a good job that I feel like they deserve my money. There aren't many films that have left me wow'd when I leave the cinema. However, if anything does, I make a point of buying the DVD full price. If it really wow'd me, I may even buy the more expensive version with the silly cardboard sleeve. I don't much care about the special features: I just feel like the team that made it deserves a few of my extra moneys.

Same goes with games. Mass Effect blew me away: it was the first game I "couldn't put down", and I think the first that I completed in under a week. Mass Effect isn't a "mega-sandbox" game, and yet I think I'm approaching triple figures in terms of play time. I'm excited enough about the next game that I would have pre-ordered it regardless: but Bioware deserved some extra money from me for all the enjoyment I got, so I've pre-ordered the collector's version.

I never, ever thought I'd do that.

Bringing things back around to topic, I'd barely even heard of Skyrim before the other day; it was only the lawsuit between Bethesda and Mojang that got "Elder Scrolls" on my radar at all. However, after watching those videos, I've gone from never having heard of it to seriously considering a full-price purchase. I'm with Droo on the "I don't normally go for this kind of game, but" front.

The difficult thing I need to work out now is: "Will I be good enough to enjoy it, or will I suck too badly to progress?" ^_^;

[Peter McCoy]

OMG! 4 days to go!

[Crusader]

Yeah 4 days till Miami... UPS... wrong thread

[Morgan Evanar]

I am also looking forward to this, but I probably won't be able to get a copy until later in the year/next year and then TOR is out etc etc etc.

[Peter McCoy]

The difficult thing I need to work out now is: "Will I be good enough to enjoy it, or will I suck too badly to progress?" ^_^;

Previous installments of the Elder Scrolls have had a very broad difficulty slider - putting it at rock bottom makes the game laughably easy where you can kill enemies in a few hits and take hardly any damage from attacks. The default in the middle can be quite a challenge so I'm sure if this has something similar you can adjust it on the fly.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Plus, the Elder Scrolls games tend to cater for all different types of gamer. You can charge into people head on with a sword, or you can turn invisible and sneak up from them behind, stabbing them in the ear before they knew what's going on :D

[Dasquian Belargic]

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[Captain Untouchable]

That's epic!

[Morgan Evanar]

...or you can turn invisible and sneak up from them behind, stabbing them in the ear before they knew what's going on :D :love hey baby.

[Peter McCoy]

Until I start playing I can't say how I'll play it. While my usual choice is for a heavily-armoured behemoth swinging a sword and shield around, I really like the dual wielding spell system and may opt for a more magic-focused character. In Oblivion I always rely on my heavy armour, blocking and armourer skills to max out Endurance immediately to allow the maximum possible strength (along with my initial charcter creation choices). This game is somewhat different from what I've read so I dunno yet.

Though a nightblade sounds fun, the setting makes me think Viking! So unless I radically change my mind, I'll be a melee-focused Nord clad in the furs of the biggest, baddest beasties in Skyrim.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I want to get it, but probably won't get it until Christmas.

[Morgan Evanar]

I'm probably not going to get it for a while. I still haven't finished New Vegas to my satisfaction among other things.

[Peter McCoy]

My game is pre-loaded. I'm double-clicking every now and then to see if the game's been unlocked early. LOL!

[Dasquian Belargic]

Will it be available at midnight??

[Droo]

My game is pre-loaded. I'm double-clicking every now and then to see if the game's been unlocked early. LOL!

Bastaaaaaaaaaard!! :shakefist

[Nathanial K'cansce]

Amazon is telling me my estimated delivery date is 11/11. It is soon to be 11/11. It best get to shipping soon!

[Peter McCoy]

Well after pre-loading the game on Steam yesterday after work, I played some Minecraft, occasionally trying to load Skyrim in case they unlocked it early. No joy. Then around 9pm my internet goes down! And it's still down this morning! So until I can get online, I can't activate the game, so I can't erven play it offline while the internet is down! Bloody Virgin media. First they make me redundant, then they fuck with my games!

[Peter McCoy]

Current estimated fix time for my broadband is 5:30pm tonight. Come on!

[Nathanial K'cansce]

Current estimated fix time for my broadband is 5:30pm tonight. Come on!

That is extremely lame! Don't they know the gravity of the situation here!?

In other news, the game is en route to my residence! It's so close I can taste it.

[Peter McCoy]

I have played it a little and I already love it. Not gonna start a proper game until tomorrow though as I am off to a party tonight and will be very tired afterwards (I sleepy now, lol!)

[Droo]

This made me laugh so much more than it probably should have done:

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But the idea that there could be a lone guy soaring around Skyrim singing that song just cracks me up. :lol

[Peter McCoy]

Played for just over half an hour properly now. The video should be on Youtube shortly. And I noticed something awesome! The guy in charge at the opening of the game - General Tullius - is voiced by none other than the awesomely badass Colonel Saul Tigh! Michael Hogan owns!

EDIT: And here's the first video from my Let's Play series:

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[d'Art Lefou]

Droo - i don't think I can breathe... xD

About three hours in, I've had two NPCs kill themselves on their own traps. :( They're suicidal.

[Vince]

I spent nearly 12 hours playing it yesterday. I adore this game so much it's almost pathetic.

I haven't finished (I'm on my way to grab Jurgen Windcaller's Horn atm...yeah, I've been very sidetracked), so yeah.

I ended up having to redo the High Hrothgar quest twice because the Frost Troll killed my sweet sweet Lydia, and then, on the way to redo that quest, I got killed once by the troll, once by an interesting mix of Imperial Soldier and Sabre-tooth Cat on the way to Ivarrstead (who killed Lydia once as well). As much as I want to be a mage, I should learn better spells.

-I'm a Thane! With a House!
-The Companions are awesome, though I don't know if I want to become a member of the Inner Circle and get all werewolf-ed.
-Giants suck. One batted me so high into the air that Whiterun looked like a dot.
-I killed a dragon! Aside from the one that made me have to go to High Hrothgar in the first place, that is. I wasn't the bravest dragon slayer, but Whirlwind Sprint saved me from its breath on a couple occasions.
-I learned how to breathe fire! But I can't. :( I don't know why I can't either. I can't train with it in High Hrothgar, I already tried.

[Peter McCoy]

Vince, in your spoiler tags you mention that you learned how to do something but you can't actually do it? Was the "learning" the fact that you learned the Word? If so, once you know the Word I think you have to unlock it by killing a dragon and absorbing its soul. The aquisition of the dragonsoul effectively enables you to speak the word you learned.

I recorded a 2-hour play session, then took a break and recorded another hour and a half. But upon checking, that hour and a half never actually recorded! Grr! Whats annoying was in that session I killed my first dragon. I'll play it again from an earlier save but this time I'll record in 30 minute segments.

[Miranda Tarkin]

I'm a member of the companions!

I am so overloaded with options o_o and quests @_@ I think I am going to get Aela is my traveling companion...

[Vince]

You may be right; but I'm pretty sure I checked it after I killed the dragon, and I still couldn't do it. But hopefully I'll be playing again tonight, so I'll check it out.

I was slightly disappointed you didn't try to wrestle the Bear in the cave while trying to escape. Sneak attack x2 Damage with that Long Bow, gain levels in both sneak and archery.

My character's turning out to be a Breton Scout sort of dude; since I have to make a long trek to Winterhold to join the College there and learn magic more in depth, I've been focussing on bows, axes and maces, and smithing more armour and such to get me through the game so far. I ended last night in the mountains just South of Winterhold; I would have gotten there sooner, but the pace was incredibly slow when I realized that followers tend to lag behind, and more than a few times I had to epically kill some beasties and still had some time to stand around before she would show up, not to mention the trouble they can get into when I'm not around to hold their hand.

[d'Art Lefou]

Riften is my favourite town ever. *_* Thieves' Guild HO!

[Nathanial K'cansce]

I've got an Imperial Spellsword dude who is proficient at archery and sneaking. He's also in the inner circle of the werewolves! Turning into a beast has saved my level 14 butt on a number of occasions. My character may want to marry sweet sweet Lydia. <3

Also I try to run from any dragons I see. Can't seem to kill any of them. Yet. :( They do enjoy dropping in behind me from out of nowhere and circling me all vulture like. o_O

[Peter McCoy]

I've gotten into a rhythm with my recording now and have even planned a recording/encoding schedule that should allow me to pump out two 30-minute episodes a day. I'm just now going over the audio for Episode 2 and 3 before encoding Episode 3 while I watch Rocky II in bed. By the time I finish the movie, the encoding should be almost done, then I can encode Episode 3 while I sleep and upload Episode 2, then upload Episode 3 before I leave for work tomorrow.

Clockwork!

[Vince]

I've got an Imperial Spellsword dude who is proficient at archery and sneaking. He's also in the inner circle of the werewolves! Turning into a beast has saved my level 14 butt on a number of occasions. My character may want to marry sweet sweet Lydia. <3

Also I try to run from any dragons I see. Can't seem to kill any of them. Yet. :( They do enjoy dropping in behind me from out of nowhere and circling me all vulture like. o_O

Lydia is sweet. And she's an amazing tank; just be careful, as she can die. It's usually a good idea grab the dragon's attention for a bit and tag-team them. Most creatures will ignore your followers.

As to dragons, I just stand there and watch them circle. If they fly low to fight, I bring out my bow (it's a good idea to give Lydia a good bow, some good enchanted weaponry and lots of potions - Alchemy is very useful here), and plug them while running to the nearest place where there are guards. Whirlwind helps with dodging some of their breath attacks.

Sparks is a great spell for hitting them with, because it also drains their magicka, though something to drain stamina would also be useful.

One of the most epic things I've seen was a dragon flying low at night, one of the night themes was playing, and Lydia was standing next to me with a torch in one hand. The angle was such that it seemed like both of us were watching it as it circled.

[Katrin Laran]

One of the most epic things I've seen was a dragon flying low at night, one of the night themes was playing, and Lydia was standing next to me with a torch in one hand. The angle was such that it seemed like both of us were watching it as it circled.

Tell me you got a screen shot of that.

[Miranda Tarkin]

I finished the Companion's Quests main story and became the New Harbringer and got a new wife :ohno Good thing it's Aela, she can at least cook >_>

[Vince]

One of the most epic things I've seen was a dragon flying low at night, one of the night themes was playing, and Lydia was standing next to me with a torch in one hand. The angle was such that it seemed like both of us were watching it as it circled.

Tell me you got a screen shot of that.

I don't know how to take screen shots on a PS3, otherwise I would have the above scene as my computer desktop background right this very moment.

[Peter McCoy]

Episode 2 of my Let's Play is up.

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[Vince]

I totally missed those Guardian Stones; when Rolaf (?) said "it's probably better if we split up", I took it to mean "Let's race there!" and I promptly got distracted.

Anywho, I do believe I have the whole mystery of the firebreath cleared up now. The dragon I killed had frost-breath of some kind, so I'm thinking that I have to kill a fire-breathing dragon to unlock the knowledge and ability to use that Word.

[Peter McCoy]

Episode 3!

I never played any last night, just did some sound editing for Episode 3 and encoded it. I want to play tonight so as long as I'm not exhausted I will be doing some more tonight.

The more I use magic, the more I love it. Just the starting Fire spell is awesome. I can't wait to see what else there is. I'm hoping to craft some good armour and enchant it with magicka-regenerating properties since the mage robes I've found so far offer zero armour protection. I know that's the trade-off but if there are high-level enchants that give the best of both worlds then I'm all over it!
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[Peter McCoy]

Had a really good play session last night. I explored the lake west of Riverwood, traveling right around it west then north then east. Came across a lumber camp, a few legion patrols and bandit raiding parties, as well as an awesome sunken fort full of necromancers and skeletons. I then ventured north from there over the central mountain that Bleak Falls Barrow sits atop, then down into the tundra plains of Whiterun Hold. I came across a crumbling keep with bandits residing there. A few of them came out to play but I retreated to return and fight another day. I entered Whiterun and had a chat with the Jarl who has set me the task of retrieving the Dragonstone from Bleak Falls Barrow. As it is, I'm in Riverwood ready to set out when I next play.

I also saw my first mammoth! Glorious beasts! And I also discovered that fire beats water, allowing me to kill a fish underwater by scorching the lake! I guess I boiled it alive! :p

I really need a house, quick! I need a place to store all my ingredients and food so that I can explore with as little encumberance as possible, allowing me to loot more for cash! I know there's a house in Whiterun I can buy after I get this Dragonstone but I'm a bit short of gold right now and then there's the house upgrades on top of it. Any idea if there's cheaper housing anywhere in the game? I might check out UESP.net.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

I think that's the cheapest house in the game - the one in Whiterun. I bought it for 5,000 gold. The upgrades are very cheap as well (250-500 tips mehtinks). Only problem is, I bought the bed room stuff, and now cannot illicit the conversation to buy any other stuff for the house. :/

[Peter McCoy]

Are you playing the PC version?

If so I'm sure there's a way to fix it using console commands.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

Nope. I'm on the PS3 with this one.

[Vince]

I've not had that happen to me. Have you tried reloading an older save?

Alternatively, perhaps you need to either to go the house and head back to Avennici (or however his name is spelled), or leave Whiterun and return to it again; something's keeping the dialogue from refreshing, so perhaps having the cell/area reload will do the trick.

[Tear]

I think that's the cheapest house in the game - the one in Whiterun. I bought it for 5,000 gold. The upgrades are very cheap as well (250-500 tips mehtinks). Only problem is, I bought the bed room stuff, and now cannot illicit the conversation to buy any other stuff for the house. :/

I've heard this could be related to a memory leak issue for ps3 versions. Basically the save file starts growing larger and larger, most notice it when it gets bigger then 5megs. This causes lag, npc's to stop talking to you, unable to buy items, etc.

Temp fix is to restart the ps3 until they patch it. Don't know if this is your exact issue or not but it sounds similar.

[Peter McCoy]

I now have 7 episodes uploaded now. Here's the full playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8D828EC06BC69FF1

[d'Art Lefou]

Ooooh Sheogorath. How I've missed you. I should've known, when the quest was called The Mind of Madness. Now I appear to be in the mind of a dead, homocidal ruler.

[Vince]

If you get the chance to have a drinking contest in Whiterun, DO IT.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I can't wait to watch your Lets Play videos Peter, but as I just installed the game this afternoon... they will have to wait. Skyrim, here I come!

[Peter McCoy]

There's a lot of options regarding character development Jenny. And its much more straightforward to level up compared to Oblivion. When you get into the game (unless you have already done so) have a look at the different skill perks and the required skill levels needed for them and plan ahead. Remember you don't need to spend perk points as soon as you level up - you can save them until you've improved the desired skill enough, I forgot that and ended up wasting a point - well not wasting it but buying something I didn't really want that soon.

There's a perk planner on IGN that works like a WoW Talent calculator - here it is: http://uk.ign.com/builds/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim/create - I find it helps to set a clear progression path to work towards

[Miranda Tarkin]

Thane of two areas now! I've really done nothing too much since being trained in using the shouts early on. I rather like clearing out areas and exploring. I've had several random dragon attacks O_o

[d'Art Lefou]

:D I took my first dragon down on my own! Well, alongside a cabbage farmer and three horses. As soon as it was dead, I scampered over and bought one of the horses because really, it was fucking badass.

[Vince]

Thane of two areas now! I've really done nothing too much since being trained in using the shouts early on. I rather like clearing out areas and exploring. I've had several random dragon attacks O_o

Two areas? Well crap; I've almost finished (I think) the mage storyline (or at least the major quest of that storyline, but now I've put it on hold to take care of a lot of the miscellaneous quests I've had piling up. Which quests in particular get you the thaneship of the other Jarldoms? I'm looking at particularly Markarth: that place is beautiful, and I'm looking forward to fighting the Forsworn 13th Warrior style and cleaning the place up; and maybe Winterhold too, because I can't have too many places to squirrel away all the random junk I manage to convince myself to keep.

I have a dog now! After getting Vigilance, I was down to 77 gold. Now I'm up again, but it was tight going for a while. On my way to Markarth I ran through a couple camps of a group called Forsworn. Awesome group, and makes Markarth remind me of the 13th Warrior; hopefully I can get a Khajiit to be my Antonio Banderas, and we can conduct raids on them.

I'm going to convince my friend to write up a comic loosely based on this part of my playthrough:

Wizards: Maonirn (My character)! Go to the really dark and dangerous cave-place to retrieve the artefact that will save us from this immensely powerful but not well understood and misused other artefact! We will contain the damage as long as we can, but go quickly! Save us!

Me: Okay!

Scene: 1st day: Maonirn trudging through a dilapidated tower beside a priest, slaying orcs and wizards.

Scene: 4th day: Maonirn fighting a dragon on a mountainous road.

Scene: 6th day: Maonirn with his new dog!

Scene: 8th day:

Sam: I betcha I can beat ya in a drinking contest!

Me: You're on!

Scene: Eleventh day: Maonirn, Lydia, and Vigilance stand in front of an Hagraven's hut.

Moira the Hagraven: What? If I can't have you, no one can! Especially that slut -- (Maonirn hits her with his axe).

Scene: Seventeenth day since leaving the College: Maonirn exits the portal with Lydia and Vigilance, carrying a rose as tall as he is.

Lydia: That's a really big rose.

Me: You want it?

Lydia: (cutely scrunches her nose) Magic? Ew.

Maonirn: Magic? That reminds me of something...

[Dasquian Belargic]

:love this:

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[Dasquian Belargic]

:D I took my first dragon down on my own! Well, alongside a cabbage farmer and three horses. As soon as it was dead, I scampered over and bought one of the horses because really, it was fucking badass.

My horse just sacrificed herself to my first dragon kill :( Come back, horse!

[d'Art Lefou]

:lol My only issue so far is that I managed to hit the wrong button at the character creation... I shall forever be known as "Prisoner." ;_;

[Dasquian Belargic]

So far I've become a Companion and a member of the Mage College.

I can't wait to find the Thieves Guild and turn my back on those schmucks :ohno

[Miranda Tarkin]

I did a drinking contest with a mysterious Mage character - and woke up well West of Whiterun and defaced the Temple of Dibella in Markarth. I was a crazy drunk and the dude who had the staff that is rightfully mine is gone :mad

However, as I returned to Whiterun, Ysolda was pissed at me for not paying for a wedding ring since I was drunkenly babbling about getting married to some guy. Now I have to go find it >_>

This is rather bad, since Aela is my wife :| I hope she doesn't kick me outta the house when and if she hears this. Or put an arrow in my head :lol

[Dasquian Belargic]

^ :lol Okay. I really need to do this drinking contest.

EDIT: Look at this :o

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[d'Art Lefou]

So, apparently they've built all of Tamriel (http://ppsh-41.tumblr.com/post/13145143504/entire-tamriel-landmass-built-into-skyrim) into the game.

On the PC version, someone found an open archway betweeh Skyrim and Morrowind that the game won't let you go through. Turn no-clipping on, though, and you can wander through low-res textured versions of Morrowind and Cyrodiil.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6217/6385494675_0214121ddd_z.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6046/6385504367_7119fe9b38_z.jpg

[Dasquian Belargic]

Is that.. Garrett from the Thief series providing voices to members of the thieves guild?! :3

EDIT: My girl finally found her kind of people :ghost

http://i39.tinypic.com/5chp55.jpg

[Peter McCoy]

Yes, Stephen Russell does a numbe rof voices in the game. I've loved his vocal talent since he played Captain Diego in System Shock 2.

Holy shit! He even does the voice of the Von Braun's computer, XERXES!?!?!? Awesome!

[Dasquian Belargic]

Cannot stop playing this game. Seriously.

I am loving the Dark Brotherhood storyline.

[Vince]

I'll be playing it tomorrow; I figure that since I have to get a couple unusual gems appraised, I'll go to Riften and dismantle the Dark Brotherhood while I'm there.

[Miranda Tarkin]

Do you have to become a member of the Thieves guild to get those gems appraised? I am trying to keep my character 'good' XD

[Dasquian Belargic]

No idea! You could always try just walking into the Thieves Guild hideout, see how they react? :mneh

[d'Art Lefou]

I believe you do. I'm not sure that their fence will talk to you about them otherwise, as she won't be willing to sell to you.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

Do you have to become a member of the Thieves guild to get those gems appraised? I am trying to keep my character 'good' XD

The unusual gems? You do not! ..Least I didn't.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I don't know if the location of the unusual gems is randomised, but I found my first one in the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary... so you might have to get your hands even more dirty if you want the full collection.

[d'Art Lefou]

I found my first one in the Catacombs in Whiterun. :X From a look at the Wiki, they're not random, just scattered in random or difficult-to-get-to locations like Nirnroot was.

...Speaking of, I still perk up when I hear that damn humming. There's an area after you emerge from the East Empire Company's caves where you can follow the coast and swim from one tiny island to the next, collecting Nirnroot. Go at night and you can follow their glow.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

My first Dwarven ruin! /excited

And I need a key to enter it! :shakesfist

[Dasquian Belargic]

I just got my first Daedric artifact. Got a god on my side now :cool

[Peter McCoy]

Imagine how awesome multiplayer/co-op would be!?

[Dasquian Belargic]

My first Dwarven ruin! /excited

And I need a key to enter it! :shakesfist

Incidentally I also visited my first Dwarven ruin tonight and bid farewell to Lydia. Her dead body is bobbing about in a pool of water inside those Dwarven ruins. I contemplated reloading to save her, but then I realised that there's only one companion I'd really miss if they died: my horse Shadowmere :love

[Peter McCoy]

Now that I have my house in Whiterun, I've got a nice central base of operations for storing weapons, armour, ingredients and raw materials for crafting. I can now craft Elven armour so I need to start building up some Moonstone to make a full set of Elven armour. While I normally enjoy playing a biy metal hulk of a behemoth, I've opted for my warrior to be clad in light armour for the added mobility, instead relying on my shield for damage absorption - plus I can always try to dodge attacks aswell.

Has anybody noticed any dungeons/caves/crypts or other locations respawning yet? In Oblivion and Fallout 3, areas respawned after 3 in-game days as long as you were away from the area. I'm wondering if thats the case with Skyrim. Of course exterior mods will constantly move about and respawn but it'd be nice to be able to farm certain areas for particular loot such as Shriekwind Bastion for the vampire dust.

The only thing I know to respawn is minerals. If you return to a particular mineral vein after 30 in-game days, the vein will be mine-able again.

[Vince]

My first Dwarven ruin! /excited

And I need a key to enter it! :shakesfist

Incidentally I also visited my first Dwarven ruin tonight and bid farewell to Lydia. Her dead body is bobbing about in a pool of water inside those Dwarven ruins. I contemplated reloading to save her, but then I realised that there's only one companion I'd really miss if they died: my horse Shadowmere :love

Lydia has a glass jaw for sure. Be careful though to keep a save or two handy though I'd recommend: if you want to get married later, Lydia's dead body has a chance of appearing in the Temple and ruining the ceremony. Simply moving her out of the room will fix it, but then again I do like Lydia a great deal.

I'm on my second Dwarven ruin, a labour of love for my future wife: Mjoll the Lioness. She lost her sword in one and I'm to get it for her; her love doesn't come cheap.

I'm Thane of Riften, the Pale (Dawnstar), and Whiterun now as well as... Arch-mage! Going to the Labyrinthian for the mage line was awesome: I killed four frost trolls with extreme prejudice and lots of fire, and got a hooded mask that is completely bad-ass. The Arch-Mage's robes look good with Elven Gauntlets. I have houses in Riften and Whiterun, and the Arch-Mage's quarters in Winterhold (I'm pretty much a really young Dumbledore!). I needed the extra space for all the books I was picking up.

And I finally figured out the Shouts! apparently, you have to unlock Shouts; they aren't automatically unlocked. You have to go to the Shouts list in the Magic menu, go to a darkened Shout and look for the option to unlock it with a Dragon soul.

You can fast-travel while over-encumbered: just ride your horse!

My sneak is now level 70! The dark side of sneak however I learned in the ruins I'm in now: I thought I was finished with a set of rooms, so I grab everything I can and run out to drop it by my horse. I run faster out of sneak, so I stood up, and every single trap I bypassed goes off, prompting a frantic dash and fight through a series of corridors and rooms. I almost had a heart attack the first time I heard the dwarven traps working and spitting out their Spheres.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

Now that I have my house in Whiterun, I've got a nice central base of operations for storing weapons, armour, ingredients and raw materials for crafting. I can now craft Elven armour so I need to start building up some Moonstone to make a full set of Elven armour. While I normally enjoy playing a biy metal hulk of a behemoth, I've opted for my warrior to be clad in light armour for the added mobility, instead relying on my shield for damage absorption - plus I can always try to dodge attacks aswell.

Has anybody noticed any dungeons/caves/crypts or other locations respawning yet? In Oblivion and Fallout 3, areas respawned after 3 in-game days as long as you were away from the area. I'm wondering if thats the case with Skyrim. Of course exterior mods will constantly move about and respawn but it'd be nice to be able to farm certain areas for particular loot such as Shriekwind Bastion for the vampire dust.

The only thing I know to respawn is minerals. If you return to a particular mineral vein after 30 in-game days, the vein will be mine-able again.


Yes, they do respawn. I'm not entirely sure if there is a rhyme or reason to how they respawn, but there have been a couple of places I've cleared out and then went back to for some quests... and there were bandits aplenty once more!

[Dasquian Belargic]

I've heard that certain areas will respawn, whilst others will become occupied by in-game factions (i.e. Empire, Stormcloaks)

Well folks, I just completed the Dark Brotherhood story-line and assassinated the Emperor himself! Now I have a sweet set of Emperor's Robes to wear :hat This makes me the leader of two factions now. Soon, the Dragonborn shall rule all Skyrim!

[Peter McCoy]

As a test, I use dhte in-gme console and sped up time. Despite being on the bring of an epileptic fit thanks to the light show I was given, it was quite efficient and after jumping ahead 30 days I can confirm that the mine near Riverwood does indeed repopulate (even the guard outside the entrance in the overworld respawns). Nice to know farming/grinding is possible.

[Peter McCoy]

Apparently any location marked as "Cleared" will respawn in 30 in-game days. Other locations respawn in 10 days. But some quest-related areas apparently never respawn.

In Oblivion it was 3 days and I liked that. But HAYO!

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=89

3 files that set respawn of cells to 1 day, 2 days or 3 days. Use just one of them! Thank you, Modding Community!

[Miranda Tarkin]

Yesterday I log in, fast traveled to some random town and got attacked by two dragons.

And lived :cool:

[Peter McCoy]

After blood, sweat and tears, my character is finally adourned in glorious Elven armour! http://www.plmccoy.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/elven.jpg

[Vince]

Nice! Gilded, or standard?

And I can't take photos of the armour I'm wearing, but I have the Mask of Morokei (http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Morokei_%28Mask%29) and either the Archmage's Robes, or some self-enchanted/self-smithed Elven Gilded Armour. Both make me look evil, but also hella awesome.

[Miranda Tarkin]

Eventually I am going to craft more but exploring the territories and finding locations is all I am doing now. That whole main quest line can just wait :)

Right now Riften is HQ for me and I have a lot of side quests available. Just not sure what holding I want to explore next.

[Peter McCoy]

Got the gilded armour. Next thing I want to do is enchant it! But my enchanting is crap and needs work. I have plenty of armour and weapons (or the resources to make them) so having things to enchant isn't a problem. The problem is hauling it to the nearest enchanting altar thingy.

What kind of things has everyone else enchanted? Can you get health or magicka regen?

I'm already looking forward to my next character who will be a Berzerker. Two-handed weapons and heavy armour. Powah!

[Vince]

I've not gotten the spells for health and magicka regen yet, but my gilded elven armour is enchanted with a magicka regen spell, my gauntlets allow me to do 19% more damage with bows, and the mask gives 100% magicka regen.

[Crusader]

<div style='width:650px;font-size: 12px;'><embed src="http://cdn2.themis-media.com/media/global/movies/player/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.7.swf" flashvars="config=http://www.themis-media.com/videos/config/5020-0bb5df9877950a9479a31ee7e0a38bc4.js%3Fplayer_versi on%3D2.5%26embed%3D1" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" quality="high" bgcolor="#000000" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" width="650" height="391" wmode="opaque"></embed><div><a href='http://www.escapistmagazine.com'>The Escapist</a> : <a href='http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation'>Zero Punctuation</a> : <a href='http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/5020-The-Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim'>The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim</a></div></div>

[Dasquian Belargic]

What kind of things has everyone else enchanted? Can you get health or magicka regen?

I've found regen potion recipes, but I haven't seen any armor yet which has a regen enchantment on it. Having checked out a Skyrim wiki article on enchantment, there's defintiely a Fortify Magicka Regen enchantment at least - it'll just be a matter of finding it in a dungeon somewhere...

[Peter McCoy]

From what I've read, no matter how good an enchanted item is, you always unlock the base enchant when you disenchant it. From that point on, is the only way to improve that enchantment to improve your enchant skill and buy perks? or can you "learn" more powerful versions of a given enchant?

[Dasquian Belargic]

I think as you increase your enchant skill, the outcome of your enchant gets better. For example if you have a low enchantment skill level and enchant something to Fortify Health, the number of additional health points you'll get will be small - but if you have a higher overall enchantment skill, you'll get a higher number of additional health points.

I haven't really explored the enchanting perks yet, but it looks like they're all also based around making specific kinds of enchantments a lot stronger.

[Vince]

Dasq has it in a nutshell right there. I'm trying to find out how to make Enchanter's Potions and stuff, as that's what I beefed up my gauntlets with.

Dwarven ruins have a lot of soul gems to pick up, so try some of those. If you can, put a 1 second soul trap spell on a bow or something, and you can get a plethora of souls to spam out cruddy enchanted items and beef up enchanting.

Alternatively, you can beef up your enchanting skills via recharging your enchanted weapons when their charges run low. Again, the soul trap spell or enchantment on a weapon is really useful here to gain lots of soul gems for recharging or enchantment.

Trolls and giants have given the best "white souls" (either greater or grand, I think), and bandits will always give grand souls, but those will always be black. The difference is that I think you need a dedicated type of gem to get black souls (humanoid or sentient) and most of the stuff can't hold them.

[Dasquian Belargic]

If you're on the look out for soul gems, I'd recommend visiting the Shrine of Azura. There's a quest reward available there which is essentially an infinitely reusable soul gem.

[Sanis Prent]

Damn it, Mass Effect 3 can wait I guess.

Santa, Skyrim me! I officially want this in 25 days :D

[Vince]

If you're on the look out for soul gems, I'd recommend visiting the Shrine of Azura. There's a quest reward available there which is essentially an infinitely reusable soul gem.

I already started the quest, and then my friends saw all the quests I hadn't done, so now I'm on a quest to clear out my quest-list of all the quests I want to quest before I continue the main quest line.

[Peter McCoy]

Finally made the trek up the 7000 steps to High Hrothgar! Ice trolls and saber cats along the way! Bloody hell!

[Dasquian Belargic]

^ That was a really genuinely epic experience, wasn't it? I felt like a serious undertaking when you set foot on those steps!

[Peter McCoy]

Yeah. I really wanna re-do it in 3rd person, record it and put it to "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky.

[Peter McCoy]

Ooh, another awesome idea!. 3rd-person footage of my character climbing up the mountainside as opposed to the steps, to the tune of "Hearts on Fire" from Rocky IV, and when I reach the top, do a shout and overlay Rocky shouting "DRAGO!!!". LOL! :)

[Emelie Shadowstar]

I just did that last night! :D

Stupid ice troll killed my level 9 self real quick... Second time around I hopped up on a rock so he couldn't reach me and arrowed him in the face to death. It was strangely satisfying.

[Vince]

I just did that last night! :D

Stupid ice troll killed my level 9 self real quick... Second time around I hopped up on a rock so he couldn't reach me and arrowed him in the face to death. It was strangely satisfying.

I really wish I had thought of that.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Exploiting the scenery has won me so many battles, its kind of ridiculous.

[Vince]

I did that for the mission to the bear cave; the first two times Lydia and I got our faces eaten. And then I saw a tiny little ledge behind a waterfall in the back, so I jumped onto it and began pelting the bears with arrows. It was very nerve wracking, as I would slowly slide off the ledge if I wasn't careful.

And rewatching the Zero Punctation on Skyrim reminded me of the bug I saw in which the earth shat out a dragon skeleton.

[Dasquian Belargic]

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[Lilaena De'Ville]

I keep reading the thread title as "Elder Scrolls VS Skyrim"

:)

[Peter McCoy]

Exploiting the scenery has won me so many battles, its kind of ridiculous.

Not really. Terrain plays a big part in real-life combat. It's cliché but having the high ground counts for a hell of a lot in ranged combat. It's something that annoyed me about WoW. Being an MMO, targetting and hit detection was handled differently, so standing on top of a hill that a player could not walk up meant you could kite them around unless they ran out of range, whereas mobs would be able to make abeeline up a sheer surface to you.

I suppose for a troll it might spoil the illusion since you'd expect them to be able to jump up.

Are people using the carriage travel for far-flung capitals or are you making the journey yourself on foot? I admit I took a taxi to Winterhold the first time so I could make use of the free room you get at the College. But other than that I plan on trekking everywhere the first time so I get to see whats along the way.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I don't just mean climbing onto high ground. I've been running away from an enemy, sprinted up a hill, only to turn around and see that the enemy AI seems to be stuck trying to get over a twig or some-such. There isn't any proper obstacle for them to overcome, they just seem to have glitched themselves into a corner.

I've used the carriage a couple of times, but I do plenty of riding about between cities anyway so I'm still stumbling across landmarks that aren't part of active quests I have.

[Vince]

I've not used the carriages once, those filthy scoundrels. 25 gold?! I'm trying to buy houses fool! I'll walk, or even better, ride my own horse.

Unfortunately, most of the time I'm already doing something, and want to get that done, so I fast travel to the closest location and sprint to the destination so I can outrun the dragons, bandits, thugs, and other such ruffians along the way.

[Miranda Tarkin]

nice!

Level 30 now and .... >_> still haven't done much in the way of the main arc! Trying to become Thane of Falkreath. Man they are rude there and the Jarl is a drunkard. Wanting me to get him Black-Briar Mead as his first request of me :lol

[d'Art Lefou]

The first time I went to Winterhold College, I was attacked by a dragon.. all on my own, because I hadn't gained entrance yet. I got it to about half health and then it glitched and stayed in place on the college roof. o_o

[Dasquian Belargic]

^ Is it still there? That would look bad ass, perched up on the roof like that. Even if it was just the skeleton.. I wish the skeleton's didn't vanish. I'd love to have one draped over my roof :D

[Vince]

At the moment there's a dragon skeleton on College's... erm... balcony? Whatever. I had an epic duel with a dragon up on the College because I was trying to see where I could go from the Arch-Mage's quarters.

The battle ran down to the courtyard, down the bridge-way to Winterhold, and then back onto the balcony, where I arrowed it in the eye for the kill.

[Dasquian Belargic]

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[Miranda Tarkin]

The Dark Brotherhood is no more :cool:

[Dasquian Belargic]

What did you do?! :o

[Miranda Tarkin]

I made a statement with my mighty mace that such acts will not be tolerated in Skyrim ;)

aka - killed them all!

[Vince]

I made a statement with my mighty mace that such acts will not be tolerated in Skyrim ;)

aka - killed them all!

Damn, you beat me to it! Did the guard(s) survive the foray? I may be mistaken, but I believe that (a) guard(s) accompany you on that rampage.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I guess that's one quest I won't be doing since I'm in charge of the Dark Brotherhood now :smokin

[Karl Valten]

http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/i-9HNNHvS/0/L/i-9HNNHvS-XL.jpg

[Miranda Tarkin]

I made a statement with my mighty mace that such acts will not be tolerated in Skyrim ;)

aka - killed them all!

Damn, you beat me to it! Did the guard(s) survive the foray? I may be mistaken, but I believe that (a) guard(s) accompany you on that rampage.

Nope did it all by my lonesome. Even Lydia didn't enter the sanctuary.

hahaha...well, I am playing my character 'good' so the beginning of the quest could at least be justified With killing the old lady at the orphanage What was Riften thinking?! But after I read through the Dark Brotherhood plotline I could not justify my character doing that XD Besides, she's a mace and shield gal! Hence why I went with her leading the Companions. It suited her.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Here's an awesome cover of the main theme / The Dragonborn Comes:

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[Dasquian Belargic]

But after I read through the Dark Brotherhood plotline I could not justify my character doing that XD Besides, she's a mace and shield gal! Hence why I went with her leading the Companions. It suited her.

I use a mace too, sometimes. It just happens to be a soul-sucking mace given to me by the Daedric prince of domination >D

[Sanis Prent]

I really don't know how I want to play this game. Whether I want to do the default good guy first playthrough, playthrough as Sanis, or play through as Nathan Fucking Explosion.

[d'Art Lefou]

But after I read through the Dark Brotherhood plotline I could not justify my character doing that XD Besides, she's a mace and shield gal! Hence why I went with her leading the Companions. It suited her.

I use a mace too, sometimes. It just happens to be a soul-sucking mace given to me by the Daedric prince of domination >D

You followed that guy into the Abandoned House too, huh? :lol

[Dasquian Belargic]

Of course! I am making a point of following up on any rumors I hear that could be even vaguely related to Daedra :D

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Here's an awesome cover of the main theme / The Dragonborn Comes:

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<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4z9TdDCWN7g?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="315" width="560"></object>
Very Lorenna McKennitt :love

[Vince]

Go to White River Watch. Clear it, and in the second to last room there should be a dead bandit suspended in a cage; try and loot that bitch. My friend and I did it, I wanna see you guys get it too.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Here's some screenshots!

First, a picture from a dungeon I cleared yesterday showing my two minions. On the left is Marcurio, an Imperial wizard who I've managed to pick up in spite of allying myself with the Stormcloaks. I've given him just about every high-powered piece of wizard gear that I have so consequently his lightning bolt is awesome. Disturbingly though, the Arch-Mage's robes make his face disappear! On the right is a dwarven spider robot which I am controlling with that rod in my hand :D

<img src="http://i42.tinypic.com/33vdf0j.jpg" width="1000">

I won't spoil the context of this one, but suffice to say my character now has a badass set of armour.

<img src="http://i44.tinypic.com/206zyua.jpg" width="1000">

[d'Art Lefou]

Heee! I loved that little spider! :( Mine exploded within 5 minutes.

Hi Karliah!

So... Somewhat by accident, I seem to have sent Markarth into a Forsworn revolution. Oops? I guess it's not too bad, since I'm on my way to joining the Stormcloaks. :lol

I also took Lydia out with me for the first time in ages, got her all kitted up and everything... and then she stood and watched while I killed a dragon. o_o It wouldn't have been so bad, except that apparently there was a giant also fighting the dragon. One second I was minding my own business, absorbing the dragon's soul. The next I was knocked fifty feet into the air.

[Vince]

I've married Mjoll the Lioness, who promptly set up a shop and then while spelunking with me gave me the day's proceeds. I don't want to know how she got the money all the way from Riften that quickly, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth.

She's bedecked in Ebony Armour at the moment, but not the boots and gauntlets. I have to get my smithing up so's I can fix her up nice. No wife of mine's going to have anything less than the best.

I've gotten nothing of the other quests done for the moment, but I will be doing some of them soon. On the top of my list are the Quests for Markarth and Windhelm; I love them both the best so far look-wise (My friend hates Windhelm, and said it looked like medieval Moscow, which made me like it even more).

I don't like Ulfric. He treats immigrants badly, and I'm an immigrant.

[d'Art Lefou]

I don't like Ulfric. He treats immigrants badly, and I'm an immigrant.

That's actually been one problem I've been having since yesterday... I've been running along, completely on-side with the Stormcloaks and everything... and then I get to Windhelm and find out that all of the Nords there are racist shitheads, Ulfric included. Dammit.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I'm interesting to play through the game again as a non-Nord to see how well the Stormcloaks take to me.

[Vince]

Well there's the whole racism thing going on, but most of that I can understand: they've been warring with the elves ever since they arrived in Tamriel, the Aldmeri Dominion forces the Empire to outlaw Talos worship, and the Justicars going around randomly raping (I was minding my own business, you assholes!) and arresting people to enforce the Talos ban; that's a lot of straws. Their treatment of the Dark elves however seems to be complete douchery.

However, I happen to agree that the Empire needs Skyrim, and Skyrim needs the Empire. It's very tantrum like to blame the Empire for fighting a superior foe to a standstill and then accepting a bad treaty to bide time and regain resources.

From what I've seen and heard of Ulfric, I think he's just using all this to get the High Kingship of Skyrim: "Ulfric looking out for Ulfric."

[d'Art Lefou]

Strangely, it was the Forsworn around Markarth who really set me against the Empire, more than the Stormcloaks. I felt for Braig. :(

[Vince]

It sounds cruel, but I can't see the Forsworn as anything but the nameless and almost faceless bad-guys of the Thirteenth Warrior. I'm going to get Argis and wipe them out.

[Miranda Tarkin]

Whelp, at this point level 33 and now the Thane of four holds. Markath was ... interesting. I did not ally myself with the Forsworn since my character is the ... I don't want to side on anything until I really have to. Plus, I figured she was just angry at that point since she is always being thrown into situations that have nothing to do with her >:

I also have a nice new mace that was once 'rusty' XD Daedric quests are crazy

[Dasquian Belargic]

^ That mace is bad ass. Draw it nearby a guard and they freak out :D


I'm not decided on the Forsworn yet, although I do like the look of the armor they wear.

[Miranda Tarkin]

Oh I will have to try that XD I like freaking the Guards out. the funny thing is since I sided with Markath - now the citizens love me because I was wrongly accused and pardoned when I fled the mine that NO ONE returns from ;)

[Dasquian Belargic]

I actually just broke out of the mine last night and fast-travelled straight away out of the city to finish some other quests, so I didn't stick around to see the consequences of me unleashing the Forsworn :lol

[Miranda Tarkin]

oh good lordy. You missed the chaos then. I know you can join in the rebellion and cause a lot of trouble. You are playing your Rogue so selflish. I unleashed hell and I'm getting the hell outta here!!! :lol

[Dasquian Belargic]

Pretty much :cool the guards in Markath have been trying to throw me in jail for ages now. Every time I walked past one of them I hear "Wait.. I know you!" and they try to arrest me for.. murdering someone or other. I'm the Master of the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood, bitches. You try to arrest me and I'll reign down hell on you >D

[Crusader]

http://v.cdn.cad-comic.com/comics/cad-20111209-d88fa.png

[Peter McCoy]

The Bethesda blog is full of haters. I can't understand the venom people are coming out with, citing game-breaking bugs and glitches all over the place. I'm fortunate enough to not have experienced anything of the sort. The most I saw was a hunter standing on a sloped rock but her vertical alignment was to the slope rather than the actual ground so she looked like she was doing a backwards-Smooth Criminal lean. Hardly game-breaking. But the Bethesda blog is full of people who want to burn them at the stake for releasing a broken, completely unplayable game. I'm sure they're playing something different to me.

And you'd think PC gamers would realise that testing is limited for single-player games. It's not like TOR where they can have thousands of people beta-test before release. So they have to test what they can with what they've got. They can't test for every conceivable system configuration so come release, there's going to be people with problems.

And then there's the people who are suggesting specific people in Bethesda be sacked because of Skyrim. These people need to go get fucked and realise their place. I've had it in work on the phone where a customer comes through moaning - which I can understand - but then say something stupid like "I've already got three people from your place sacked over this". I think to myself "Who the fuck do you think you are?" as well as wonder what possible reason I now have for helping this person if my job is at risk for simply speaking to him, the prick! The arrogance of people astounds me sometimes.

For the record, I've never had so much as a launch error with Fallout 3 and that was down to Games for Windows Live - a Microsoft issue. I adore Bethesda's games. People thrown the term "Fanboy" around too easily in a negative light and they need to grow up. Just because you like something a lot does not make you blind, narrow-minded or naive. It just means you're very enthusiastic about something and are perhaps more forgiving to it's creators when things aren't perfect.

[Emelie Shadowstar]

I've had a few issues with some quests but usually after a brief "the he'll is going on...?" moment, a reload of my last save fixes the issue. At least the game hasn't overly crashed on me and corrupted my save files! *eyes Fallout*

But every game has its bugs, especially one as massive as this! People just generally like to complain, especially if fixes are going out that don't address something they experienced personally. Whiners. lol

[Captain Untouchable]

Unfortunately this isn't something unique to Skyrim, or Bethesda. It always winds me up when people assume that the only way to critique something is to slag it off. It's one of the things that gets me into aguments so often - I can't help stepping in and playing devil's advocate if I come across someone's irrational bitching; especially since it inevitably turns into some sort of personal rant-attack against the developers.

Even on free to play games like BSG Online - or hell, even stuff on Facebook - you get ungreatful rage-filled assholes who complain the house down over even the tiniest little grievance. Sure, it's annoying when things go wrong... but these are computer games. They're meant to be fun. From the warpath some people wind up on, you'd think the developers had slapped on swastikas and started exterminating the Jews.

I've actually chosen to avoid the forums for any computer game entirely, unless I absolutely have to find something out. I much prefer places like this where I can talk about games with people capable of rational and intelligent thought.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I love the bugs in Skyrim, as long as they don't wreck quests. Flying Mammoths and breakdancing bears are hilarious!

Also:

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[Miranda Tarkin]

I grow tired of the PS3 freezing honestly. >_< Alas... :lol

[Dasquian Belargic]

Just got my new house in Markath and became Thane there. Now I just need to work out how to transport my gear from Whiterun to Markath @_@

Also, I'm now a (Companions quest spoiler) werewolf which is kind of cool.

[Emelie Shadowstar]

I just finished up the Companion storyline yesterday :D
I chose to give up being a werewolf. Not getting my "well-rested" bonus was annoying me. And I want to go to Sovngarde when I die, dammit!

Also... I found/joined the Thieves' Guild :3

[Miranda Tarkin]

I suck at stealing so gave up on anything that required me to do it so there is that quest line and one other stealing quest that I just ignore XD

[Peter McCoy]

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[Charley]

I now own this game :D

[Dashiel Starborn]

It's basically like Fallout with dragons.

Enjoy!

[Peter McCoy]

It's more accurate to say Fallout was Oblivion with radiation.

[Sanis Prent]

Oblivion with VATS :3:

And while I do kinda miss VATS, I don't miss it as much being a melee character, because I'm enjoying the hell out of block/parry/dodge/strike, especially with my character using only 2 handed weapons so I get to do that long, telegraphed overhanded charge that just punishes any attempt to block it.

[Peter McCoy]

What race did you pick? Orc's are awesome as 2-handed fighters with heavy armour - the Berzerk skill is killer!

[Sanis Prent]

I went Nord with my first playthrough, although Orc would've been cool too.

Also I've killed me first dragon and now have a horse, yay

[d'Art Lefou]

So... I had a dragon stalking me through much of my playing today. It showed up near Dawnstar, got to about half health and flew away. I tried to chase after it, but it had disappeared.

While I was casually exploring afterwards, I heard it a couple of times in the distance but it never came into view.

Then in Solitude, I was about to go off to a party at the Thalmor Embassy when it showed up again, I killed it... but a stray arrow had clipped a guard, so everyone in sight was trying to kill me and I had to reload.

It didn't show up the next time and I went off to the party. I'd also failed to give Morthal any armor to take with me to the Embassy, so proceeded through the whole infiltration in the party dress Delphine gives you.

Once I'd finished and emerged from the Reeking Cave (after a surprise Frost Troll that killed poor Morthal and my new buddy, tortured prisoner guy), I took two steps outside and heard that familiar screech, and there was my stalker dragon, still heavily wounded. Then I heard the screech again: another dragon. Somewhat against the odds, I managed to get both of them.

...Let me rephrase that, although I think only Vegz will get the humour in this:

I started my game over as a one-eyed female called d'Art. d'Art killed two dragons. In a fucking party dress.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Being a werewolf is great. So is improving then enchanting Skjorr's wolf armor, renaming it armor of the lupine lord. This game is fun as hell!

[Dasquian Belargic]

...Let me rephrase that, although I think only Vegz will get the humour in this:

I started my game over as a one-eyed female called d'Art. d'Art killed two dragons. In a fucking party dress.

Course she did. She's d'Art fuckin Lefou!

[Sanis Prent]

Luring attacking dragons in to be killed by nearby giants is the best thing ever. I am Wulthgar, the laziest dragonslayer!

[d'Art Lefou]

:lol I accidentally did that once!

...Then the giant decided I'd looked at him funny and knocked me fifty feet into the air.

[Sanis Prent]

I didn't stick around and ask for a bro fist pump, I ran like a girl just in case!

Also, I've been focusing on dragon roosts a lot lately and wiping them out. Went to one and crushed the dragon via FUS ROH DAH & 4 power strikes from my improved and fire enchanted sky forge greatsword. While I smote his ruin upon the mountain, I felt pretty smug until I went to get my word of power, and a fucking lich king pops out of a coffin nearby and proceeds to turn me into jam.

[Miranda Tarkin]

Well, I am close to 46 now and leader of the Thieves Guild. Yeah I went there... XD

I took down a dragon attempting to destroy Solitude and killed it. I don't think the Stormcloaks will like hearing that news.

[d'Art Lefou]

...What do yo mean there's crimson nirnroot?! :|

Also, I admit it, I squealed like a little girl when Paarthurnax swooped down. Then we bonded by breathing fire at each other and it was all good.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Well, I am close to 46 now and leader of the Thieves Guild. Yeah I went there... XD.

What happened to your morals?! :p

[Miranda Tarkin]

Mercer was an ass! He needed to die. I can't stand murderers! :P

[Dasquian Belargic]

Did you notice the name of the guy he murdered!?

[d'Art Lefou]

Speaking of the Thieves Guild... did anyone else expect Rune to have a side quest to find out about his name?

[Sanis Prent]

I finally have a house! I finally managed to keep enough gold in my purse to do it, instead of blowing it on smithing materials and soul gems.

I can't wait until I can upgrade arcane armors. Then I'll be in the game for real.

[d'Art Lefou]

OK, Delphine. I thought we were getting along. You had this whole sort of badass Blade in hiding thing going on, and you guys were easier to like than the Greybeards.

Then you go and tell me to kill Paarthurnax?! :( We're not friends anymore.

[Sanis Prent]

So, lots of good stuff happening.

I'm now the Harbinger, and I now wield the legendary Wuuthrad, which I have added a strong fire enchantment onto in order to smite the ruin of every Thalmor I see down the side of every mountain in Skyrim until they infest our realm no more. I've kept my gift from Hircine, to further me along in my quest to kill things as awesomely as possible.

Also I have a full set of flawless plate armor, all of it decked out with enchantments, boosting my health, two handed weapon damage, carry capacity, and archery damage. Also, I can now fully upgrade arcane armor.

Oh and I just now finally travelled to my second major city, Solitude.

[Peter McCoy]

I got quite a lot done before I ventured beyond Whiterun Hold. Apparently it's very easy to reach Level 50 and only get around half the quests done. But I suppose that depends on how much wandering you do since the experience system isn't based on "earn 50,000 XP to level up".

I love how people react to your physical presence. Wearing Elven armour in Whiterun got quite a number of snide remarks.

[d'Art Lefou]

:lol I love how random people say you're looking unwell when you have a disease. It's how I was saved from vampirism!

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Ok so I'm in love with this game.

Even made a 'Skyrim dinner' last night of hearty horker stew with bread and a tankard of porter. It was delicious :D

[Sanis Prent]

And we have Skyrim stew for days too! I love it!

Also the game is improved 200% when you're drinking a milk-thick ale out of a metal tankard. Fortunately our IRL resident forum's Nord, Yog, made sure we fly in style.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I broke a dragon tonight :(

[Sanis Prent]

He just knew you were gonna kick his ass so he took his ball and went home

[Sanis Prent]

I'm one trip to Whiterun away from maxing out my smithing at 100 and crafting an entire wardrobe of dragon armor. Can't wait!

[Peter McCoy]

For Heavy Armoured characters, Daedra armour is better than Dragon armour. Just a heads up to avoid disappointment.

[Sanis Prent]

Well then how/where do I get Daedra hearts? I want Daedra armor a lot because its awesome looking, but no idea how to find Daedra hearts

[Peter McCoy]

Well then how/where do I get Daedra hearts? I want Daedra armor a lot because its awesome looking, but no idea how to find Daedra hearts

5 guaranteed samples can be found in 4 different locations:
2 in Nightcaller Temple (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Nightcaller_Temple) (The Pale (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Pale)), on the west side
1 in Sinderion's Field Laboratory (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Sinderion%27s_Field_Laboratory) (Winterhold (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Winterhold_%28region%29)), on a shelf
1 in Hall of the Vigilant (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Hall_of_the_Vigilant) (The Pale (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Pale)), on a table
1 in Jorrvaskr Living Quarters (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Jorrvaskr_Living_Quarters) (Whiterun (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Whiterun)), on a plate in Kodlak (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Kodlak_Whitemane)'s roomIt is categorized as a rare ingredient, meaning that most apothecary merchants have a 21% chance of carrying 1-4 samples. In addition, it may be randomly found only in rare-type Apothecary's Satchels. Other possible locations for already-harvested samples include:
2 guaranteed samples are sold by Enthir (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Enthir) at the College of Winterhold (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:College_of_Winterhold_%28place%29) (as with all standard merchandise, they respawn every two days).
38% chance of 1-6 samples being sold by Babette (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Babette).
9% chance of 1-2 samples being sold by the Sleeping Giant Inn (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Sleeping_Giant_Inn).
1 can be obtained from Balbus (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Balbus) (either as a gift, or by pickpocketing him).
They can be created at the Atronach Forge (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Atronach_Forge) from: 1 Black Soul Gem (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Black_Soul_Gem) + 1 Human Heart (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Human_Heart) (requires the Sigil Stone (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Sigil_Stone)).Info courtesy of www.uesp.net

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Okay that works! Got a full complement of Daedric two handed weapons. Will build armor soon, then do it all again when I max out my enchanting

[Vince]

So my buddy got angry at how buggy the game was getting, and erased everything from his PS3 and reinstalled it. Now, I'm playing a shifty but good-hearted Khajiit named Razhin of the Sands, who is pretty much William Wallace because of his armour and claymore.

I'm finding it enjoyable. I just did the Dustman's Cairn quest for the Companions again, and standing in the middle of the last room with a silver claymore while the draugr made a circle of corpses at my feet was epic as all hell.

[Peter McCoy]

Just acquired The Black Star! Time for some serious enchanting!

[Dasquian Belargic]

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[Nathanial K'cansce]

"Oh a bucket!" :lol

[d'Art Lefou]

There's now a Twitter account (https://twitter.com/SkyrimMom) of a man tweeting everything his 65 year old mother says about her Skyrim experiences. It's strangely adorable.


"I like the way I can walk around and pick up thistles. All I'm doing is picking locks and thistles."

[Peter McCoy]

Smithing is now at Level 100. Full set of Dragonscale armour!!!

http://www.plmccoy.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/dragonscale.jpg

[Dasquian Belargic]

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[Sanis Prent]

Christin plays this game like The Sims: Now With Dragons, rather than actually playing Skyrim. Quests? Dragons? Naaah gotta hunt deer and spend hours homemaking!

Me? I'm busy fetching locations of every word of power from Arngeir. I fast travel to murder dragons on purpose. Blood Blood Blood Blood

[Peter McCoy]

Currently working towards getting the Shout that forces dragons to land. All the better to hack them to pieces with! Plus my Alchemya nd Enchanting are now mxed out so I just need to find the last few enchantments by finding and disenchanting items with them on, and I can enchant my Dragonscale armour with awesome bonuses.

I've really enjoyed this shield/sword/light armour combo. It'll be interesting to play the game as a different class - and with it a different pace.

My next character will be a thief/assassin so big focus on Sneak, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, Archery, One-handed and Illusion, as well as the three crafting skills which every character should develop. Combat will be more controlled and planned and methodical. But I'll be able to afford all houses very quickly by looting and selling anything that isn't bolted down.

[Sanis Prent]

Yeah I'm loving how this game gets you to really embrace a style (whatever style you want) of fighting. Keeping things strictly in two handed heavy armor tank barbarian mode for me has made things simple. No need to sneak into dungeons, no I'm running through and screaming as hard as I can to make enemies come to me and get their murdering!

[Sanis Prent]

so here's a question for y'all:

Imperial or Stormcloak, and why? (Justify it for your character)

My Nord is a Stormcloak, not really so much for "Skyrim for the Nords" shit, but because he's taking his oaths to Hircine seriously, and longs for eternal war and strife, and this is probably the best way to keep his axe wet as long as he has strength to swing it.

[Sanis Prent]

So, I have at last finished my full set of Legendary Daedric armor (improved with the blacksmith's philter no less). The only reason I haven't enchanted the armor yet is because I'm waiting for my enchanting skill to go to maximum so I can slap two effects on each.

By the way, the Azura's Star quest is awesome for finding Daedra Hearts, as long as you don't mind funneling the most potent healing potions you have while doing it.

[Sanis Prent]

This game manages to get me pumped in new and amazing ways. The battle animations are just ridiculous.

I've been killing dragons with greatswords so often that I was kinda jaded to how that looked. Decided to break in my frosty daedric battle axe on one, holeee shit, because I run down that fucker's neck, do a somersault, and drive a few pounds of enchanted ebony half a foot into dragon skull in the most metal demonstration of violence I've seen in a while.

Also, I've gotten some perks with 2 handed weapons that give x percentage chance of me lopping somebody's head off. So basically I drive an axe into some poor motherfucker's forehead, pry it out, and as they drop to their knees, whirl around and send their head flying across the floor.

Let's see what else? Get ambushed by a sabretooth cat out of nowhere. Turn and impluse strike, and as the cat jumps forward for a bite, I hit it's gag reflex...with a motherfucking axe down its mouth!!!

I think I need to just retire all of my other weapons and swing an axe forever.

[Peter McCoy]

think I need to just retire all of my other weapons and swing an axe forever.

Is that a personal statement? LOL!

I've been levelling up my Blocking skill with ease. Found a bandit that just keeps wailing on my shield with their sword. Once my stamina is at zero I just let them hit me, which in turn levels my Light Armour skill. Before my health is even in danger of dropping below 25% my stamina has regenerated to 100% so it's back to blocking. And by the time my stamina empties again, my health has regenerated to full. Simples!

[Kurth Halx]

It helps to use Companions as followers, because I buy skill upgrades from them, then get my gold back from them. It owns.

[d'Art Lefou]

Finally going through the Dark Brotherhood questline. I confess, I squeaked and clapped when Astrid gave me the power to summon Lucien Lachance.

Except that now he won't stop following me around. Snarky commentary is not good for stealth.

[Sanis Prent]

I am now the master of Dragonrend. It is a Good Shout.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Finally going through the Dark Brotherhood questline. I confess, I squeaked and clapped when Astrid gave me the power to summon Lucien Lachance.

Except that now he won't stop following me around. Snarky commentary is not good for stealth.

I don't think anyone else can hear what he's saying, you know.

[d'Art Lefou]

OK, probably true, but I've been spotted a lot more often and easily since I started running around with him... and that's with sneak at over 50... o_o

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

If I'm phoning it in on some dudes, the staff of the Sanguine Rose owns so damn hard. Summon minor daedra at will? Sure thing!

Also the slow time shout rules if you're a barbarian and you hate mages

[d'Art Lefou]

Mehrunes Dagon is my friend. :D Or I'm his minion... either way, I'm having a massive Oblivion reunion right now.

[Vince]

so here's a question for y'all:

Imperial or Stormcloak, and why? (Justify it for your character)

My Nord is a Stormcloak, not really so much for "Skyrim for the Nords" shit, but because he's taking his oaths to Hircine seriously, and longs for eternal war and strife, and this is probably the best way to keep his axe wet as long as he has strength to swing it.

Maonirn, Breton Battle-Mage was neutral, though he leant towards sympathising with the Imperials more often. He was an immigrant, and when he met Ulfric, was completely impressed with the amount of douche-baggery that he exhibited. Maonirn took stock in the opinion that Ulfric was out for Ulfric and no one else.

Razhin of the Sands is staunchly Imperial, and he hasn't yet even spoken to Ulfric. He was going to 'visit' the caravans of Skyrim when he was caught in the middle of the battle between the Stormcloaks and Empire. Most of the Nords he has met treat him badly, calling him 'cat', and his enemies speak of the rugs his skin will make. However, he empathises with Ralof and others' decision to fight for their ability to worship Talos as they wish, even if he is sceptical of their claims of his godhood.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Ashira doesn't really care about either side, and she finds fighting dragons to be tedious. Being Dragonborn isn't what she thought it would be. She did get married though, but it's a marriage of convenience as Ainethach has two mines and a store, and gives her money every day. Her true soulmate though is Kharjo, who carries anything and everything she gives him. He is also a willing accomplice in her Dark Brotherhood contracts, and the two would be a common sight if it wasn't for the fact that they're so damn sneaky ;)

[Vince]

Kharjo is awesomeness defined. Sadly though everything I've read shows that Razhin cannot marry another Khajiit; and there will be no Khajiit-on-Non Khajiit lovin' in this playthrough. He'll just have to devote himself to the Blades or something.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Yeah, it does suck that you can't marry Khajiit.

Also, is it bad that I want to get a stronger graphics card for my computer and the PC version of Skyrim so that I can spend my days taking an obscene amout of screenshots?

[Sanis Prent]

Still haven't committed Wulthgar to the eternal bonds of matrimony. Not sure if it fits his character to marry. If I do, I'll have to go with some real hard-ass like Mjoll the Lioness or someone that he'd respect.

I can't imagine him taking a woman that isn't the war spoils of some freshly-murdered husband. Lamentations of the women are an aphrodisiac.

Similarly, haven't decided how he's gonna go when deciding between the Blades and Paarthurnax.

[d'Art Lefou]

Similarly, haven't decided how he's gonna go when deciding between the Blades and Paarthurnax.

Paarthurnax! Paarthurnax all the way!

...d'Art sort of bonded with that big, ancient lizard.

[Captain Untouchable]

Someone in Skyrim needs to invent these (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poleyn).

[Dasquian Belargic]

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[Sanis Prent]

So, Storm Call.

Pros: Best way to kill people in a video game since the old days of Turok, Hexxen, or that one playstation game where you set traps in a house and let people run into them.

Cons: Kills your friends too. How's that feel, friendless guy?

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

That MLP mod is great :lol



Today I was walking down a road, away from Windhelm, and passed by a Stormcloak patrol. No biggie. We shared pleasantries, and parted ways. About ten paces behind them was an Imperial patrol with a prisoner in tow. What's this now? Imperial business, eh? Sure sure, I'll get out of your way. So they pass by, and I turn to watch the fun begin as the Imperials walk right up into the asses of the Stormcloak patrol. It was nice to take a break, have a mead and apple, and watch this little battle. The Imperials won, and once the action died down Kharjo and I went to go loot Stormcloak bodies for arrows, gold, and any other useful items. That done, I turn around and proceed to watch the Imperials get in a fight with a group of mages. So I wait that one out as well, and before long I get to loot the bodies of two mages and an Imperial.

All in a hard day's work.

[Peter McCoy]

That's what I love about these kinda games. The idea that even if you weren't there, this living, breathing world goes on about its business.

I used to tag along with the merchants in Fallout 3 as they travelled between settlements. Got into a few scraps which, in my opinion, they'd have lost had I not been there.

[Sanis Prent]

I remember when giants were terrible destroyers of worlds that could send me into orbit with a single club swipe. Now? They barely damage me, and I kill them in two shots.

Dragons take four shots. Death Lords are about the same.

General Tullius and Ulfric Stormcloak both need to step aside and recognize who truly rules Skyrim.

[Vince]

Have you fought Alduin yet? Because I'm pretty sure he'd take time to lovingly bake you some humble pie. If you've owned him hardcore-uncensored-snuff film style though, I do humbly also acknowledge your bad-ass-ness.

[Sanis Prent]

I've fought him at the Throat of the World after reading from the Elder Scroll, using Dragonrend to snare him. That went pretty easy, but I acknowledge that it probably won't be that easy later on.

Then again, I'm also gonna be eating my Wheaties. I've seen tutorials on how to fully milk the system, and use alchemy + enchanting + smithing + effect mods to fully get the most out of your weapons. Somebody juiced a Daedric warhammer to deal 650 damage. I intend on doing this as well.

[Sanis Prent]

So my combined armor class is a few points shy of 900 now, and my three daedric 2 handed weapons each hit for just shy of 300 points. Mind you this is before I actually make a concerted effort at maxing them out, I'm just playing around with a few minor augments.

Giants are now a one-strike kill for me.

[Vince]

That does sounds epic. I was thinking of doing the same thing, but I don't think Daedric weapons fit Razhin: the bargains the Daedric Princes require are anything but fair, and though not all require bargains, Razhin steers clear of them on principle (he might go for Azura's Star and such, and uses the Talos and Kynareth Amulets). It seems he a 'good old reliable steel' sort of warrior.

Razhin has met Kharjo. Soon they will be the Khajiit duo of Skyrim legends. Faendal has a glass jaw, but doesn't get in my way nearly as often as Lydia. Also, free* archery training.

I can never seem to get the weapon plaques and the weapon rack in Breezehome to work at all. They're pretty much always bare decoration. I've had to stash some of the stuff I don't want to sell in a chest.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Breezehome and Honeyside are weird about that, but so far I've had no trouble out of the ones in Vlindrel, the Markarth house.

[Vince]

The only problems I've had so far in Honeyside is the mannequins disappearing when I put armour and shite on them. I put them on and people can still see me, but the mannequins get some crazy racial ability to disappear when clothed. I cried foul.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I had something like that happen. I'd had a set of ebony armor on one of my mannequins, then decided to take that off, put it away in a wardrobe, and instead put some robes on it. I leave, then come back a few days later, and the ebony armor is back on it. BUT, it wasn't the set that I'd put away, it was a whole new set. Score free ebony armor!

Kharjo does this also, though with him it's steel plate armor. I'll give him about 7 sets of steel plate, and on the way to the blacksmith to sell it he somehow manages to more than double the amount of armor he has. It's not a bug I particularly mind ^_^;

[Sanis Prent]

I'm officially okay with removing Talos from the Nine Divines as the avatar God of Men, as long as I'm allowed to take his place. Let me show you my resume and explain why I think I'm qualified for this job opening:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/LoungieMu/hardraadaskorr.jpg

[Captain Untouchable]

*sigh* Men, eh? Always boasting about how hard their raadaskør is. :rolleyes

[Glen Fiddich]

I just rolled a 20 on a "resist urge to purchase" check.

Alas, my brain is now wired for Dark Banana, so Skyrim is currently downloadin on my machine.

^_^;

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Yay!! Congratulations on your upcoming addiction :p

[Captain Untouchable]

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Stumbled across this on the guy who did the awesome Dovakin rap's youtube channel. :lol

[Dasquian Belargic]

bahaha yes, first Game of Thrones and now Skyrim. the brainwashing continues!

[Captain Untouchable]

It's worse... I totally made Glen as my first character. ^_^;

He's a fucking badass though. I went through the entire Black Falls dungeon thing lugging about 700 lbs of gear... just calmly strolling through and ownaging. I'm getting pretty good at the whole parry with shield / strike with axe routine too, and seem to be fairly regularly killing stuff in one blow. I have a feeling that Glen may be acquiring some shield skillz as soon as an opportunity arises...

I need to pay more attention to the text in the top left corner though. I'd forgotten to level up, so I went from L2 to L5 after I left the barrow. :uhoh