Official Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim thread!

[johnhughthom]

Op magic? You guys do realise the Bethesda forums are filled with threads whining about how weak magic is?

[rajpoot]

Right one little question, about Sheogorath in Skyrim and Oblivion

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

At the end of Shivering Isle Expansion pack, the player becomes the Madgod. So, now in Skyrim, when we see Sheogorath, is it the player character from Oblivion? Because he makes certain references about Martin Septim, and the buttflies to Shivering Isle gate, and the Grey Fox

[thefluffyone93]

Thanks for revealing what I purposefully didn't reveal.

Oh please, there is so much more to reveal about them.

I consider what I said as a warning, is all.

and rajpoot, yes.

[Beskar]

Op magic? You guys do realise the Bethesda forums are filled with threads whining about how weak magic is?

They should try playing as melee then.

Seriously, I rolled as a caster and I was jumping around going "Lulz" just slaughtering everything where as a melee it actually took some time for me to kill things.

[econ21]

Just got to Markath by an unexpected route that most first time players will probably also take: wow! I'd read complaints about the towns being too similar but Markath looked very different from Whiterun. I stumbled on two very interesting quests - Haunted House and some conspiracy thing - that are very well done.

I am finding I am drowning in quests and never seeming to have the time to do them, imbetween constant pack rat runs to shops and levelling smithing (I blame Beskar). But for quest quality, the standouts so far are three around Markath (how I got there plus the other two I mentioned).

[TinCow]

I stumbled on two very interesting quests - Haunted House and some conspiracy thing - that are very well done.

I know the ones you are referring to, and was also impressed with the haunted house one. It just seemed like some quick, random side quest and turned out to be far more interesting than I expected when it was introduced. I find that a lot of the best content seems to be 'local flavor' type stuff.

I picked up one quest in Riften that really made the world feel alive to me, due to both scripted and non-scripted events. It's just a minor side quest related to a horse theft, but I'll spoiler it just in case:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Some random guy in Riften asked me to get a horse from a guy who was locked up in the local prison. Nothing really unusual, I went to the prison, talked to the guy, then went to get the horse. Got the horse, and went to meet the fellow who wanted it. When I gave him the horse, he got on it and road off down the road. That was the direction I needed to go anyway, so I also walked off that way. A crested a hill and looked down on the road before me, and there was the fellow I had just left. He had been attacked by a bear and had dismounted to fight, and the horse was fighting with him. I ran down to help, but the horse died a few seconds before I could reach them. I helped him kill the bear, and he just ran off down the road, now minus the horse that he had paid me so much to go get for him. It seem sadly ironic to me, a fun little incident of the non-scripted world impacting a quest.

A couple game days later, I'm way up north walking the snowy road from Winterhold to Dawnstar, and I see two figures way off in the distance. I prepare to sling a few spells at what I expect to be some bandits or highwaymen of some kind, but when I get closer the two start fighting each other. One of the two is the same guy I stole the horse from (on foot, of course), and the other is a giant Orc. The Orc says something to the guy about paying for crossing (insert name of person the horse was stolen from), and kills the guy. He then tells me to mind my own business and walks off. I just sat there looking at the dead guy thinking how he had the worst luck in the world. A nice little scripted event about an otherwise insignificant side-quest, but it gave a 'living breathing world' feel to the game. I did not expect to see consequences and repercussions from such a minor quest.

It really is little stuff like that that makes the game so much fun. Give me 10 of those over a main quest line any day.

[Kekvit Irae]

After playing Skyrim some more (I'm about level 21-ish right now), I can safely say that without mods, I neither like nor dislike the game. I DO, however, absolutely HATE the stupid console-port UI. That's not how you make a user interface for PC, Bethesda.

I do like the Thieves Guild quests, but the Dark Brotherhood questline is only interesting solely for the lore. Oblivion's Brotherhood quests were FAR more interesting.

Unless some decent mods come out on the Nexus, I'm going to spend my time playing around in in Steelport rather than Tamriel.

[Veho Nex]

After playing Skyrim some more (I'm about level 21-ish right now), I can safely say that without mods, I neither like nor dislike the game. I DO, however, absolutely HATE the stupid console-port UI. That's not how you make a user interface for PC, Bethesda.

+1

With just over 50 hours under my belt since its release I have to say the game is good. The UI is a pain in the butt and it was only yesterday that I figured out how to recharge enchanted items. Many people I talk to ask me questions about how they cant figure such and such out and we spend upwards of an hour searching to find out how to do something that isn't out in the open.

[naut]

I really love the different and unique dungeons in Skyrim.

Likewise. Geirmund's Hall. Lost Echo Cave. Etc all spring to mind.

Other thoughts. I'd have to agree that magic is OP. I'm probably going to re-roll as a Mage for my second play through. Although that may be a very long time, I've just got dragonbone armour for my melee char and I'm enjoying slaughtering things with him. =)

Can't wait for some UI mods!

[Drunk Clown]

Haha, Geirmund's Hall... good times.

Enjoyed that one. Although I did expect something else :)

[thefluffyone93]

People, your days of sneaky stealing are over.



Bethesda said they won't fix this as well as the rocket death you get from giants
because of the entertainment value.

[TinCow]

People, your days of sneaky stealing are over.

OMG... that is the funniest bug/feature that I have ever seen.

[Kekvit Irae]

Since it's a single-player game, that kind of exploit is pretty harmless.

Not to mention that there isn't a whole lot in a shop just laying around that's worth stealing, unless you're an alchemist and you absolutely need those void salts or whatever. I used that exploit only once to see if it worked; on a bandit that was sitting down in a dungeon; and it does work.
Since I have 70+ Sneak, there isn't really any need for the Holy Bucket exploit for me. If I do get caught, I just bribe my way out thanks to my allegiance to the Thieves Guild. There isn't any need to do it on enemies either, since I have x30 Sneak Attack damage with my daggers.

[Drunk Clown]

Jeez, I'm gonna have to buy this. Not on the PC though.. sounds like a nightmare with the controls.

You'll get used to it.

[Hamata]

delete

[rajpoot]

OMG I have to try that!

[Beskar]

on a simmilar note

Why post an identical video from a different author?

[Hamata]

realy? that was the same video? but by a diffrent author. man i realy need to watch them both next time XD

[Riedquat]

Does anyone know what the red Xs on the game map are? One of them looks to be at bout the right spot for the guy I killed, but I can see at least 16 of them which is too many for just these dungeons.

Those red Xs are for the guardian stones you've found.

[frogbeastegg]

Turns out that Skyrim was intended to be my Christmas present. Now an early Christmas present due to sad froggy eyes

I hate the in-game map. It's useless. When I reference a map I expect to be able to work out how to get to my destination. This one? It had me walking around the foot of a mountain for 2 hours because it doesn't show roads or give any indication whatsoever of where I might be able to start scaling the heights. It's similarly useless for general getting around on flatter terrain.

The interface is not great. Some parts are ok, a very few work well. Others are clumsy, or slow, or put information I consider important in a lesser position than stuff I don't care about. It swaps buttons around too and that's led to some irritating accidents, particularly with equip/eat/store all swapping around between A and X depending on whether you are in the inventory screen, a shop screen, or a looting screen.

That perk screen is awful. Very hard to navigate: it keeps warping me to random stars. It's a terrible way to present information too.

It seems the same woman voiced all of the female Dark Elves. Every single one I meet sounds the same as the 'important' one in the storyline. Horribly distracting.

That's it for stuff I don't like. Everything else, woo! I am absolutely loving this game. I've done around 13 hours in 2 days, including a 2AM finish on the first day. My eyes were dying and I still didn't want to stop. It has been ages since I have enjoyed a game so much.

I'm rolling with an archer plus sword/shield Nord. He's intended to be more cunning warrior than sneaky sniper, and it's working decently. It took a few levels and perks before the archery became useful. Now it's a good way to put down a couple of enemies before I draw my sword, or to plink away at dragons. I'm doing a lot of smithing, and have sneaking (for hunting animals and scouting, not thievery), block, and light armour as secondary skills. The new character system works really, really well. I use the skills I want and as they rank up I get passive bonuses at the task, I eventually level up, I spend a perk on stuff I want to buff heavily, I increase my health/stamina/magiacka as I want, and all without needing a massive spreadsheet plan and/or staying at level 1 forever. It's natural, it's sane, and it works. Glory be!

Some of the incidental stuff is neat. I came back from a gruelling trip into the wilderness and decided to chat to some of the children (there's children! Amazing how that one little change makes the world feel more natural), see what they had to say. I found myself playing hide and seek around the village. Very amusing; I could practically see my battered warrior doing an indulgent, wry smile as a pig-tailed girl ordered him around. NPCs make quite a range of comments on my status, appearance and skills. Skulking in bandit areas has led to a lot of overheard tidbits. That's another thing - there are loads of little quests to discover simply by talking to people, or overhearing them. I know the previous Bethesda games did this, but it always felt kind of stilted and the quests weren't that interesting. This time, much better and there's a far wider range of them.

The world is glorious. Combat isn't rubbish. The music is fantastic; normally I don't like this particular composer's work so this was a real surprise. The writing is better, more natural and less stilted. The graphics are excellent, even on the xbox 360. The voice acting is far better and I enjoy the range of accents on display, they add so much in terms of atmosphere and differentiation from the rest of the market. The quest design is much less tedious and dreary, and the ones I've done so far have been quite fun. The dungeons aren't boring, they have more personality and more going on than the old tunnel clearance slogs. Smithing is more satisfying than it has any right to be.

This game produces some proper Norse saga boasting material. Yup. When Leif the Dragonborn introduces himself in the mead hall he can boast, "I have fought a dragon with the aid of 4 burning horses! I have been thrown from a mountain top by a frost troll and lived to tell the tale! I have been launched into space by a giant! I have caught salmon with my bare hands in a waterfall at the spine of the world! I have stood at the highest point in the world and shouted with such force all nearby were thrown back! I have stood alone at the gateway of a castle town, bow in hand, and defied a dragon's attempts to burn it! I have forged armour which makes steel look weak! I have out-run a hare, out-wrestled a bear, out-smarted a wolf, and out-clawed a sabre cat!"

[Tuuvi]

I feel your pain with the map, it looks cool, but I hate the fact that it doesn't show where the roads are. In the beginning of the game I spent like an hour trying to find Whiterun, it turns out it's just a few minutes walk from Riverwood by the road, which I didn't take because I couldn't tell if it was going the right way or not.

[johnhughthom]

It's a real hassle in the north, around Solitude. I spent ages running about, looking for a pass through the mountains.

[Drunk Clown]

It's a real hassle in the north, around Solitude. I spent ages running about, looking for a pass through the mountains.

There's a road around the mountain :)

[Gregoshi]

This sounds so good. It is gonna be a long wait for Christmas.

[lars573]

35 days.

[Hamata]

has anyone had the guards come up to you in the game and say "psst i know who you are hail sithis" i'm a dark brotherhood charector. and i've goten that

[naut]

Jeez, I'm gonna have to buy this. Not on the PC though.. sounds like a nightmare with the controls.

Only get on the PC. Graphics = better. Mods can be made and applied. Plus if you want Xbox controls, get an Xbox attachment for your PC.

[frogbeastegg]

I've got a GT520 in my rig (also 8gigs RAm, and an i5 3.3 Quad), which is good but not top of the line as I understand it. Surely the difference in graphics quality doesn't make up for the bad controls?

As Psychonaut said, get one of those PC compatible xbox 360 controllers. They're easy to set up and use. Most games where you're likely to use one have control pre-sets built in and will default to the controller provided it's turned on when you launch the game, and default back to keyboard and mouse as soon as you turn the controller off. The game will control identically to the xbox version.

[johnhughthom]

50 hours in I'm finding the PC controls and UI aren't such a hassle any more, I've turned off mouse acceleration and gotten used to using the keyboard only in the menus. Sure, it could be better, but I barely notice the problems any more.

[econ21]

So how do you guys stay alive when faced with magic casting opponents? I'm playing as a heavy armor axe and shield orc and whenever I try to fight enemies that deal frost damage I die in just a couple of hits.

I encountered that problem at the end of a memorable, if memory loss involving, quest. The electromancer caused me fits, requiring many saves and reloads. I ended up spending three unused perks in archery and stealth to increase the initial sneak bow attack on him but it was very hard. Only afterwards, did I read about heavy armour slowing you down: I guess that explains how he kept kiting me,but his damage output was incredible. Maybe I need to invest more in archery; the block resistance perk would be nice too. People mentioned stunning mages - how do you do that as melee? Does it require an enchantment or perk?