Skyrim

So just about everybody seems to have this game. And if you don't, well, you're just not one of the cool kids. Get out of this thread.

I was curious how other people's Skyrim experiences are going, here we can discuss strategy, what we think of the game, help each other out, builds, etc.

Overall, I like this better then Oblivion. While I'll miss spamming jump until I'm able to leap tall buildings in a single bound at level 4, I understand they had to fix it. Overall, this game feels like they combined the cool parts of Morrowind with the cool parts of Oblivion, and took out all the cheap, dicky shit you could do in Oblivion. Disappointingly, guards still have the magical ability to appear right behind you right after you've stolen something or killed a guy. But then, if you want to steal shit, just put a bucket on the shopkeepers head.

I was building my character as a spellsword kind of thing, a Nord in light armor focusing on one-handed weapons and restoration magic, but I've changed my mind. I'm going to go for an absolute powerhouse. I'm going to get all heavy armor, enchant it to support spellcasting, and focus on destruction magic, conjuring, and two-handed weapons.

Problems? I also want to become a werewolf. I've joined the companions, I did the quest "Proving Honor", it seems I should be able to get the werewolf quest from Skjor, but Skjor's just given me this side quest where I have to retrieve a family artifact from some big bad that's currently way too powerful for me to take (though in my defense, I haven't really made a concerted effort). Anyone know what I've done wrong? Or do I have to keep doing side quests now until I get more renown with the Companions?

1.) Sneak attack arrow
2.) Sneak-run away
3.) Return when they stop looking for you
4.) Repeat

Penguin wrote:

1.) Sneak attack arrow
2.) Sneak-run away
3.) Return when they stop looking for you
4.) Repeat

1) Put a bucket on everyone's head.
2) KILL. EVERYTHING.

I don't have 60 bucks for a computer game but I sure as hell want that stupid ass game.

Snake Bandage wrote:

I don't have 60 bucks for a computer game but I sure as hell want that stupid ass game.

All my friends have the game, so I get to play for free.

How does it stack up against Fallout 3/ New Vegas? Because I heard they were going to use perks and stuff making the character growth a lot more like Fallout 3 than Oblivion and I was curious as to how similer they were.

On a related note: I started playing the Old World Blues expansion for Fallout: New Vegas this weekend and it is the best thing. THE BEST THING.

For some reason, my friend kept hyping Oblivion as an awesome game, but I could not see the appeal. Wouldn't you know it, I go to play Fallout 3, and holy shit that game is amazing! Fallout 3 feels and plays more like an open-world First-Person Shooter than an RPG, which was what I liked so much about it. I'm still kind of on the fence about New Vegas, honestly, I heard it got mixed reviews.

To the point, Skyrim looks more fun than Oblivion. I couldn't really enjoy Oblivion. It's probably because it's looks more streamlined and not as complicated as Oblivion's leveling system. I could honestly sit down and enjoy Fallout 3 and Skyrim and not complain about it.

Reepicheep-chan wrote:

How does it stack up against Fallout 3/ New Vegas? Because I heard they were going to use perks and stuff making the character growth a lot more like Fallout 3 than Oblivion and I was curious as to how similer they were.

It's still like the older Elder Scrolls games in that... well, let me explain it this way. When your character levels up (overall character level, not a skill level), first you pick what you want to increase by 10 points: Health, Magicka or Stamina.

Then, you improve a skill by selecting a related perk. So, say you want to be an archer and pick the first rank (out of five) of Overdraw. Now your bows do 20% more damage, and each rank of Overdraw adds 20%. There are other Perks under archery too, but you have to gain levels in archery to be able to unlock them. You also have to level Archery up more to gain the additional ranks of Overdraw.

You still level skills up by using them. So at Level 40 Archery you can unlock perks that were previously unavailable, and level 20 Destruction magic, etc.

It basically works the same for all skills.

I don't have this game yet, so don't spoil it for me.

Just tell me one thing: Is it worth it?

Howithurts wrote:

I don't have this game yet, so don't spoil it for me.

Just tell me one thing: Is it worth it?

This is the best non-MMORPG game I have ever played. Not since the early days of FFXI has a game so ruined my life. It's more addictive than crack and gambling combined. I was climbing up some mounting to retrieve something or other. As I was climbing, snow was crunching under my feet, and the blizzard of snow was swirling around me, decreasing my range of vision. It felt like I was back in Alaska, standing knee deep in snow in the woods behind my house as the flakes piled up.

Once I got to the top, some bandit got all pissy over my existence and attacked me. I don't know what possesses a man in fur "armor" wielding a dagger to attack a man named Derek Boogaard who is clad in steel armor and wielding a great axe, but I guarantee you he won't do it again. I struck him a couple times, and as I went to deal the finishing blow, some mini cutscene played out where I took out his legs and then obliterated him with an overhead, downward cleave that could have split the mountain in twain.

The cinematics, the blood on my axe, the dark red splatter against the white snow with black rock protruding. I came.

It's better than Oblivion because the leveling is less tedious, and health and mana regenerate faster (health actually regenerates, now that I think about it). In Oblivion, if you wanted to beat something to death, you pretty much HAD to take a hit or two to do it. This allowed a long series of weaksauce mobs to nickle and dime health out of you. In Skryim, this doesn't happen. However, it doesn't make the game stupidly easy. You can still get overwhelmed or horribly outclassed if you're not careful (level 2 Nord with a Fine Iron Sword vs Tree Trunk Wielding Giant With a Poor Disposition), but you don't have to hobble back to town to sleep after every encounter with a mud crab.

Also, the dungeons are no longer a narrow tunnel with uninspired gray walls that all look alike. They're still fairly linear (there are a couple side rooms and such, if you snoop around just a bit), but the detail they used to make them is MUCH more inspired than Oblivion. They're not awe inspiring works of art (though there are one or two moments when I went "OMG BONER" over the look of a point in a dungeon), but they're better than Oblivion.

Plus the game is a wee bit less morbid than Oblivion. In Oblivion, everyone was either some twisted, puppy raping cannibal, or a victim of the twisted puppy raping cannibal. Every dungeon was a series of mutilated corpses to show just how sick the people you were killing are. And NOTHING ever had a happy ending. Granted, it's kind of expected in a game that features the equivalent of Hell attacking IRL, but it was still over the top.

In Skyrim, there's plenty of Very Bad People for you to slay indiscriminately, but it's not to the point where you question why you're sticking your neck out to save such a shit hole like in Oblivion.

Spoiler:

Best
Game
Evar

So... why is this not an antidote, then?

Jay/Cris wrote:

So... why is this not an antidote, then?

My guess is that it's still glitchtastic because Bethesda cannot beta test to save their lives.

I have a dilemma. Perhaps you can help me, WGW.

PC or PS3?

My sibling heavily favours the PS3, but I'm leaning more toward the PC because first-person combat seems to be a pretty huge part of it, and I loathe first-person gaming on consoles. I'm not sure whether it'd run better on the PC or PS3, though.

So, WGW, what say you? Does one version trump the other?

Somath Cegem wrote:

Jay/Cris wrote:

So... why is this not an antidote, then?

My guess is that it's still glitchtastic because Bethesda cannot beta test to save their lives.

I've heard of people having problems with on particular quest. I got through it cleanly. There is also the odd goofy moment, like when a giant spikes you into the ground with his club and your corpse goes flying 100 feet into the air.

More funny than annoying, mostly.

Also, your "immersion" won't be ruined by some expressionless NPC begging you to feed them a slice of conversation pie.

Somath Cegem wrote:

Jay/Cris wrote:

So... why is this not an antidote, then?

My guess is that it's still glitchtastic because Bethesda cannot beta test to save their lives.

Don't tell me...they still have that glitch with the chickens?

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The one where the chickens can rat you out to the guards if you do something illegal?

TheIan wrote:

I'm still kind of on the fence about New Vegas, honestly, I heard it got mixed reviews.

Mixed reviews as compaired to Fallout 3? Huh, everyone I know who has played both as said New Vegas is better. The only complaint I have heard is that it is basically the same game just way bigger, more open-ended, and with a different plot. So like a mod except better than the original.

Is Skyrim pretty glitchy? One of the reasons I want to wait to play, to wait for the patch.

GamemasterAnthony wrote:

Somath Cegem wrote:

Jay/Cris wrote:

So... why is this not an antidote, then?

My guess is that it's still glitchtastic because Bethesda cannot beta test to save their lives.

Don't tell me...they still have that glitch with the chickens?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The one where the chickens can rat you out to the guards if you do something illegal?

That chicken right there? That's Link's worst nightmare.

Knorg,
Madgod,
Gonna wait for the patched up edition with extra bits at half the price in about a year. Like with Morrowind and Oblivion.

^ I sorta wished I had waited for the full edition of New Vegas with all the dlc, it would have saved me a good 40 bucks probably. But I haaaaaaaaaad to play Old World Blues. Haaaaaaaaad to.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Somath Cegem wrote:

Jay/Cris wrote:

So... why is this not an antidote, then?

My guess is that it's still glitchtastic because Bethesda cannot beta test to save their lives.

I've heard of people having problems with on particular quest. I got through it cleanly. There is also the odd goofy moment, like when a giant spikes you into the ground with his club and your corpse goes flying 100 feet into the air.

More funny than annoying, mostly.

Also, your "immersion" won't be ruined by some expressionless NPC begging you to feed them a slice of conversation pie.

Much to my own, and probably Mikey's, horror, I have to say I agree. It is pretty glitchy, but most of the glitches I've come across are more hilarious than game-breaking (Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, I'm looking at you).

But the world is so beautiful and vast and your options are so numerous, I can forgive the way an NPC was slowly floating down the stairs as I tried to have a conversation with him.

Though I feel like I have to mention this one incredibly creepy glitch that happened to me. I was in the planning room of the keep at Whiterun, and I started hearing the Jarl's son's voice, but the kid wasn't in the room. He wasn't in the next room either. Or the next. Until I left the keep, I just kept hearing a little kid saying to me "you need to get out of here" over and over and over again.

@ Gamemaster: I don't think so, but my first playthrough I had to restart the game because one of my first actions was to kill a chicken. The owner of said chicken brought his wrath down upon my head, and after I killed him, I had an entire village coming after me with torches and pitchforks.

This has got to be the first RPG game I've played where killing random chickens is highly frowned upon.

Also, I have now become a werewolf, and the rumors are true. Being a werewolf is badass. Fuck, I bit a paladin's face off. Once Aela and I are done eating every no-fun, goody-two-shoes with a silver blade in the world, I'm going to use my Amulet of Mara and marry her. We will be a red-headed, lesbian, werewolf couple and we shall raise many puppies.

Adagio wrote:

I have a dilemma. Perhaps you can help me, WGW.

PC or PS3?

My sibling heavily favours the PS3, but I'm leaning more toward the PC because first-person combat seems to be a pretty huge part of it, and I loathe first-person gaming on consoles. I'm not sure whether it'd run better on the PC or PS3, though.

So, WGW, what say you? Does one version trump the other?

PC trumps consoles in every way except usability. PC versions will have fan-made mods, patches, texture packs, sound packs, quests, etc. The only problem is that there is no telling what the hell any of those things will do to your game.

Also there's the matter of having a good enough PC to run it.

Mr.Doobie wrote:

This has got to be the first RPG game I've played where killing random chickens is highly frowned upon.

Oh Really?

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I'm doing fantastic. After the love triangle thing, I started again. I've become a sneaky archer, mostly because my lack of spacial awareness in this game leads to me getting mauled by wolves and bears quite often after I stop to look around.

There's so much in the way of shenanigans though: buckets on heads, FUS RO DA, the Giant Skyride Express... talking dogs...

Also, companions/followers suck so bad. I've gone through three so far because they either don't listen to my commands or run in the way of my attacks. =\

I have hit upon a theory:

I would enjoy this game far, far more if every sentient being (excluding giants) was entirely removed from the world. I hate the NPCs. All of them. They never shut up and they ruin the parts of the game I genuinely like (exploring and finding out background info and such). The plot's dull and uninspired (so far). If you replaced the main quest with like a mission from the Emperor to find out what happened in Skyrim and the clues you found led you across the world, this game would be amazing. As it is, it's a fun exploration experience marred by NPCs with boring dialogue and no personality. If I could explore the ruins of these cool cities, this would be my perfect game. It would also remove any packratting incentive - no one to sell to. You'd live like an actual explorer (add Hardcore mode from New Vegas and we're golden).

Anyway, those are my thoughts on Skyrim thus far. If the plot turns eventually convince me that Bethesda's horrible animation and dialogue systems are worth the story they tell, I'll change it.

Mr.Doobie wrote:

Though I feel like I have to mention this one incredibly creepy glitch that happened to me. I was in the planning room of the keep at Whiterun, and I started hearing the Jarl's son's voice, but the kid wasn't in the room. He wasn't in the next room either. Or the next. Until I left the keep, I just kept hearing a little kid saying to me "you need to get out of here" over and over and over again.

Most likely he was either in a room below you or above you. I've come across this problem with NPCs talking to me through floors and ceilings.

Raine wrote:

I'm doing fantastic. After the love triangle thing, I started again. I've become a sneaky archer, mostly because my lack of spacial awareness in this game leads to me getting mauled by wolves and bears quite often after I stop to look around.

I married that chick