Official Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim thread!

[lars573]

Gotta stand right on top of the word. All words work like that--you just get close enough, and it'll happen. I've done that part twice with no problems.

It's the not knowing whether or not each loading screen is going to crash the game that's killing me. Shoulda spent the extra money on an Xbox 360 with a harddrive, so I could install it and see if that fixes it a bit.

The HDD ability to install games makes it well worth the cash outlay. I bought it separately for my 360 2.0 and have not regrets. My Skyrim game does hang a bit on loading, but has yet to lock-up.

[Gelatinous Cube]

It turns out most of them weren't freezes, I was just impatient. I refused to believe that loading times could be over two minutes, but apparently they are. Guess I need a Hard Drive!

That said, this game is amazing. After trying a few characters just to get the hang of it, I finally settled on a Redgaurd Fighter-Mage guy. I'm now level 13, and I've got a badass suit of enchanted Elven Armor. Also, the Mage College quest line is fantastic--absolutely worth checking out, even if you don't like the Magic aspect. In fact, the whole story feels very Wheel of Time-ish, and I like it.

Also, Bound Blades are awesome if you get the Perks.. especially if mixed with some magic, dual wielding, and one-handed perks.

[Drunk Clown]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

You become a werewolf?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Yup, never use it though. Only plus is that you can move very quickly and the immunity for deceases.

[thefluffyone93]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Yup, never use it though. Only plus is that you can move very quickly and the immunity for deceases.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Being a werewolf removes the ability to gain the Well Rested bonus and contract diseases.
I dunno about not getting poisoned though. You an argonian?
Or did you get an item that increases resistance to poison?

[lars573]

It turns out most of them weren't freezes, I was just impatient. I refused to believe that loading times could be over two minutes, but apparently they are. Guess I need a Hard Drive!

That said, this game is amazing. After trying a few characters just to get the hang of it, I finally settled on a Redgaurd Fighter-Mage guy. I'm now level 13, and I've got a badass suit of enchanted Elven Armor. Also, the Mage College quest line is fantastic--absolutely worth checking out, even if you don't like the Magic aspect. In fact, the whole story feels very Wheel of Time-ish, and I like it.

Also, Bound Blades are awesome if you get the Perks.. especially if mixed with some magic, dual wielding, and one-handed perks.

I haven't done anything but the main quest (and 1 side quest) yet. I'm gonna break off when I get the Dragonrend shout. Then I can deal with random dragon encounters better.

[Drunk Clown]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Being a werewolf removes the ability to gain the Well Rested bonus and contract diseases.
I dunno about not getting poisoned though. You an argonian?
Or did you get an item that increases resistance to poison?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Nope I'm a Dark Elf. Don't know about poison; though do not recall being poisoned. You can get poisoned by those spiders, can't you?

[thefluffyone93]

yep

[Greyblades]

steel plate. sexy as hell. it is going to be a struggle updating anytihng over. absolutely gorgeous

Oh yes, I love it, though I dont really like the fur pelt they stuck on the groin area.

Fortunately if you can upgrade it to legendary the whole max armour rating thing makes it as strong as daedric.

[Lemur]

new favorite armor for all of elder scrolls?

steel plate. sexy as hell. it is going to be a struggle updating anytihng over. absolutely gorgeous

Ebony is sexy as well, but Daedric is too much for my aesthetics. My Nord looks like something from a hair metal band or a Gwar concert.

From what I've heard, though, you hit some sort of max armor level or something like that, so you can take your steel plate all the way to level 50. Can somebody explain that to me?

[rajpoot]

Ebony is sexy as well, but Daedric is too much for my aesthetics. My Nord looks like something from a hair metal band or a Gwar concert.

From what I've heard, though, you hit some sort of max armor level or something like that, so you can take your steel plate all the way to level 50. Can somebody explain that to me?

This should explain it better than I can.

Damage reduction is capped at 80%. If you are wearing all four pieces of armor, this occurs at 567 displayed armor rating. If you have 100 skill and all relevant armor perks, this requires a smithed armor rating of about 135. You can increase your smithed armor rating by 1 roughly every 2 points of Smithing with the appropriate perk, or every 4 without. Therefore, at 100 Smithing you will need 85 base armor with the appropriate perk, which is not achievable without a shield with Light Armor (though Dragonscale comes close at 82 for the set) and requires at least a Steel Plate set for Heavy Armor. With Fortify Smithing enchanted apparel and Smithing potions you can boost Smithing even further, which can potentially allow any material for which a Smithing perk exists to reach the cap. At the extreme end, you will need about 126 Smithing to make Steel Armor hit the cap, and about 154 Smithing for an Elven set. Unfortunately, Fur, Hide, Studded, Leather, and Iron armors are not affected by any Smithing perks and so cannot be improved as much.
With the aid of enchanting (fortify smithing) and pre-made enchanting and smithing potions, and of course the appropriate armor perks, you can reach the armor cap with any style or type of armor in the game, even hide and iron armor. All without even using a shield.
Shields, spells, and the Lord Stone can reduce the base armor required to hit the cap even further, but these require more management.

Basically, as I see it, if you can get a rating of 567 with an armour (possible, like the article says by using fortify smithing potions/enchantments.....remember you can keep improving armour even after legendary...even though it stays legendary, its rating increases), then you can use it happily.

[Centurion1]

started a new playthrough (was 20 on my nord two hander but i have restartitis and also am not a fan of melee builds) decided to mix it up and went with a breton mage. lol weight all they way to right so hes jacked as well.

magic was powerful until i upped the difficulty to master..... everything is so much more difficult now its insane.

[Gelatinous Cube]

This game promotes multiclassing. If you're trying to play through on anything higher than Adept, you'll need to work some skills and perks that fall outside of your "Class."

Thus, after you hit the armor cap, there's still all kinds of work to do when it comes to finding the PERFECT Armor. Even an Orc Warrior guy should invest in an enchanting perk or two, once he can afford it. Also, unless you wear heavy armor, you should sneak! My Level 14 Redguard Fighter-Mage dude has a sneak of 43, and he's under the sign of the Mage.

[Centurion1]

i know lol im using light armor and one handed.

obv smithing is a go as always.

its just more difficult but i relish the actual difficulty now just killed whiterun dragon

[Gelatinous Cube]

Oh totally. I'm playing on the next-highest after Adept, and it is far more rewarding than before. Most of the dungeons in this game are huge, and full of various tactical opportunities that you don't even have to worry about on lower difficulties.

*Another thing, I love the addition of the favorites menu, and the quick buttons, but isn't it time for a real radial menu? One button to bring up a quick and efficient list of all your magic and powers and shouts? As it is I put a ton of things in my favorites menu, and it becomes clunkier and clunkier with time. This is especially true for a mage. Game needs a radial menu!

[Gelatinous Cube]

Yar! I finally got a game-breaking glitch. Well, not game-breaking, but certainly irritating enough for me to rage-quit.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Immediately after the quest where you drink the were-wolf blood with the companions, my third-person view was permanently zoomed way, way in. This affected the zoom for weapons drawn and weapons sheathed, but didn't affect the zoom distance while on a horse, or in were-wolf form. Despite saving/reloading, restarting the Xbox, and perusing the interwebz for solutions, I have yet to find a fix. This ticks me off, since i play in 3rd Person mode. Game feels too much like Doom-with-Swords in first person.

[Centurion1]

this game takes up a heinous amount of space on the xbox.

i just lost my decade old profile (no recovery available) along with my current save. i had 12000 gamer score which is meaningless i know but it is of value to me.

look i like to pretend im a hardcore gamer and know alot about games and play for hours a day but i do not have the kind of money or willingness to spend said money on some things. i just have a cheap little memory unit that the xbox comes with and only have an arcade to begin with.

that being said I shouldnt NEED anymore than that to play this game.

very very angry and disappointed right now.

also i cant ever start new games because there is a ******* game breaking glitch where no one talks at all and so the ******* game never progresses and i never get out of the **********88 wagon to start and i have to try over and over again until it finally ******* works.

i freaking love this game but it just literally resulted in the loss of my beloved profile, lost my 48 hour save, and now i cannot even start a new game. Im so angry right now i cannot even think

/rant

[Gelatinous Cube]

Yeah, needs some serious patch love. I find it entertaining enough to struggle on, for now, but I've already lost one character myself to a persistant glitch. I hope they've got something quick planned for after the holidays.

[HopAlongBunny]

Ouch! Sorry to hear that Centurion1 You would think features like a profile would be stored in a separate cache or something.

I have read a lot about the game and I'm dieing to play it. Wait until the Construction Set and a player made "patch" or just dive in? Over at UESP they have documented a lot of the gamebreakers... would it be sufficient to just avoid the known bugs and hope I don't "discover something new?

[Centurion1]

yet another game breaking glitch and it may through all of my saves.......


once again because the ******* npcs wont talk and therefore the quest will not continue. i swear to god this will be the third lost character and ive already reverted to an earlier dave sacrificing five levels so ar but it appears to not be enough. DOES BETHESDA EVEN TEST THEIR ********* PRODUCTS

finally got it i lost five levels and two hours thanks to it. and immeadiately froze

edit2: nope i lied now iorleth wont talk. so i reload. and it freezes.

**** you bethesda.

[lars573]

yet another game breaking glitch and it may through all of my saves.......


once again because the ******* npcs wont talk and therefore the quest will not continue. i swear to god this will be the third lost character and ive already reverted to an earlier dave sacrificing five levels so ar but it appears to not be enough. DOES BETHESDA EVEN TEST THEIR ********* PRODUCTS

finally got it i lost five levels and two hours thanks to it. and immeadiately froze

edit2: nope i lied now iorleth wont talk. so i reload. and it freezes.

**** you bethesda.

This is what you call typical Bethesda game experience.

[Centurion1]

ive been appeased momentarily by two things

a. no more bugs today

b. i now have scimitars to dual wield and look like a complete bamf

[Gelatinous Cube]

Ouch! Sorry to hear that Centurion1 You would think features like a profile would be stored in a separate cache or something.

I have read a lot about the game and I'm dieing to play it. Wait until the Construction Set and a player made "patch" or just dive in? Over at UESP they have documented a lot of the gamebreakers... would it be sufficient to just avoid the known bugs and hope I don't "discover something new?

I bought the Xbox version and dove right in, and there were no apparent bugs until much, much later in the game (when they hurt ever so much more, but you're more likely to have alternate saves). Early game's pretty stable, except for a few bugs that I haven't personally seen yet.

Don't know if the PC version is too different.

[Drunk Clown]

yet another game breaking glitch and it may through all of my saves.......


once again because the ******* npcs wont talk and therefore the quest will not continue. i swear to god this will be the third lost character and ive already reverted to an earlier dave sacrificing five levels so ar but it appears to not be enough. DOES BETHESDA EVEN TEST THEIR ********* PRODUCTS

finally got it i lost five levels and two hours thanks to it. and immeadiately froze

edit2: nope i lied now iorleth wont talk. so i reload. and it freezes.

**** you bethesda.

And that's why you want to get it for the PC. With the console you can solve such annoyances.

[Gelatinous Cube]

Such action shouldn't be required in the first place.

I love that Bethesda has decided to create this ambitious, beautiful game. I hate that it's full of show-stoppers. Some of the worst bugs would be enough to justify a refund in an "All-things-being-equal" kind of world, and perhaps even enough to earn a public shaming too. If you're gonna sell a game that has, quite literally, game-breaking bugs then for the love of god DON'T SELL IT ON A CONSOLE. That's just theft. Of my money.

Rant aside, I'm sure it'll get fixed up eventually. The complete Oblivion set for Xbox 360 is quite nice.

[frogbeastegg]

It's the poor souls trying to play the game on a PS3 I feel for. Once your save game reaches a certain size the frame rate is forever reduced to unplayable levels. Speculation has it that it's a combination of how the PS3 shares its RAM, how the game keeps saved world data in RAM, and the fact the game saves the status of every single object you move forever instead of implementing some sort of reset that moves it back after X game days. "Sorry, you moved a few too many baskets and it's eating up the GPU's RAM. Start a new character." If that speculation is correct then a fix may not be possible as it would require some hefty engine re-writing. This in addition to the longest load times of any platform, and all the problems experienced by the other platforms.

[HopAlongBunny]

Early game's pretty stable, except for a few bugs that I haven't personally seen yet.

Sounds good!

I guess I'll just do what worked for Oblivion; save early, save often, and don't play too long w/o jumping out of the game for a bit. Even at it's most stable that game had some quirky surprises.

The Official Forum was informative; the most common complaint seemed to be that there is no way to be "good"/"heroic" in carrying out most of the quests. Certainly not game-breaking for me (if true) but a surprising oversight by Beth.

[Gelatinous Cube]

Its a very morally ambiguous game. There's no "good" side in the Civil War, for example. So I think that may have been intentional.

But there is certainly a lack of consequential role-playing choices in the conversation trees. Aside from the occasional (persuade) or (intimidate) option, it really doesn't matter what you pick. And even for them persuades and intimidates, all it does is give you a speach boost if you succeed, and no consequences at all for failure.

[Centurion1]

yeah instead of white or black there is quite a bit of grey in this which i tend to play. even when i try to be evil on a playthrough i just cant. i always console myself that this reflects well on my character.

[Gelatinous Cube]

Quick question for other Skyrim players:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

How many of you have done the Companions questline? Did anyone else get a messed up camera, permanently, after the ceremony where you drink the were-wolf blood? I can't find anywhere on the 'net where this bug has been reproduced, but it permanently corrupted the character--even on early saves, the camera is permanently zoomed way the heck in. I was playing a Breton Sword/Shield guy. So if you bring a Breton to the companions, watch out.. and please post here if you have the same problem. Wanna make sure its not just me.

[rajpoot]

I play on the PC, but have you tried simply uninstalling and reinstalling the game? Because if even the earlier saves are messed up it must be some problem that might've occurred with the installed files itself, and not just a bug.