Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Mr. Gerbik]

As for the compass, I only have active one quest at a time, which I choose depending on what seems fun to do. If I stumble at something else on the way, it's all good.

Even with all the quests inactive the huge compass at the top of the screen still shows you everything nearby. So far I'm enjoying it more with the whole thing gone from my screen and using the map and my eyes instead to navigate

[robdood]

Destruction magic:

Something seems a bit messed up with it to me. For a long time I've been happily killing things with Firebolt (or Frost/Lightning equivalent). Even when I got Fireball I continued to use it because the mana cost was close to prohibitive and the damage was often overkill. Recently Firebolt has started to feel long in the tooth but I just hit 75 skill so I now could get 50% mana cost Incinerate so I thought it would be ok. Then I realised I could cast a grand total 2 dualcasted Incinerates (with 90+% of my skill ups going to Magicka and wearing mostly +Magicka or -Destruction mana % items). So I looked at mana cost and damage of the spells and this is what I found:

Flames (Novice): 12 damage for 3 mana

Firebolt (Apprentice): 37 damage for 10 mana

Fireball (Adept): 60 damage for 35 mana

Incinerate (Expert): 90 damage for 79 mana

The damage per mana difference between Flames and Firebolt is minimal but Fireball is less than half as good and Incinerate is even worse. Fireball is understandable given that it causes an explosion that can damage whole groups, but as far as I'm aware Incinerate is just a powered up Firebolt. While Incinerate might be ok for single big bad bosses you want to take down quick, they often cast shields or wards and the cost of it being resisted or missing would be disastrous. Does anyone know why Incinerate might cost so much mana? I'm not particularly looking forward to spending the rest of the game still casting Firebolt!

Its always worked like that in these games, its fair enough I reckon. You have to think of it in damage per second, not damage per mana, so to speak. If you want to kill stuff faster, you need to spend more mana.

In other news, I have been and gone from the greybeards.

A bit miffed the final part of the trial is the other side of the effing map :|

Anyway, next im off to Riften. As I walked down the 7000 steps, I took a detour down a hillside and found a stormcloak camp (who didn't mind me helping myslef to all their stuff) and then a cave full of vampires on my way back east.

Have finally started using the 'wait here' command with Lydia. Man its so much easier to sneak off, then run back to her if I get into trouble. is there a way of telling her to follow again without running all the way back to her?

I'm slightly worried though. I've just contracted vamp disease a second time in this cave, after foolishly using my only cure disease the first time. I hope I can last a few days before turning... eep!

[robdood]

Even with all the quests inactive the huge compass at the top of the screen still shows you everything nearby. So far I'm enjoying it more with the whole thing gone from screen and using the map and my eyes instead to navigate

Which is fair, but the map is soooooo massive you'll miss a lot of locations!! Are you goingto put it back on at some point?

I'm going to turn off the compass after reading your posts, though

[user removed]

So I told Lydia to chill out and sit in a chair at what I think was the Companion HQ. Left her there for a bit. It have now completely forgotten where it and she is. And Dragon bones are bloody heavy!

[kiroquai]

Has anyone been to Falkreath yet? If so, are you stuck on the 'Help The People of Falkreath' questline too? I only have done two out of three that I need to do, and having walked around town and talked to everyone I just can't initiate another quest at all

[Mr. Gerbik]

Which is fair, but the map is soooooo massive you'll miss a lot of locations!! Are you goingto put it back on at some point?

I'm going to turn off the compass after reading your posts, though

Maybe I'll put it back, who knows. Once it gets frustrating or infeasible to play without I will put it back on no prob.But if it takes me three or four times as long to find everything playing this way then that is only a good thing imho

[Dimahoo]

Theres not much variation in pricing between merchants and towns and villages is there?

I was hoping to trade a bit but its very hard to compare prices, although i've not learnt bartering yet.

[csuzw]

Its always worked like that in these games, its fair enough I reckon. You have to think of it in damage per second, not damage per mana, so to speak. If you want to kill stuff faster, you need to spend more mana.

Except it doesn't make the smallest bit of sense because even someone who is entirely focussed on magery can't actually afford to cast the better spells (without using enchantments to break the game which I was hoping not to).

[Bojangle]

Oh man, has anyone noticed the thieves guild markings outside certain buildings and other places to notify you of the place being empty, or filled with stuff to steal or being a 'protected' building etc. Well impressive.

[SharkyOB]

Except it doesn't make the smallest bit of sense because even someone who is entirely focussed on magery can't actually afford to cast the better spells (without using enchantments to break the game which I was hoping not to).

Isn't it just to do with taking the right perks so you halve the cost of each level of destruction spells?

[JoeK]

[csuzw]

Isn't it just to do with taking the right perks so you halve the cost of each level of destruction spells?

As I said in my original post I have all the right perks. I have nearly the maximum magicka I could have at this point (level 30). I have tons of regen. I have various -Destruction magicka items. It still doesn't make it a viable spell.

[robdood]

As I said in my original post I have all the right perks. I have nearly the maximum magicka I could have at this point (level 30). I have tons of regen. I have various -Destruction magicka items. It still doesn't make it a viable spell.

So at every level up you've chosen magicka increase too? Seems harsh if so. Perhaps once you level further it'll be viable.

The games have always been like this though. Put me off being a mage in oblivion once I realised I couldn't cast any of my custom spells

[robdood]

Oh man, has anyone noticed the thieves guild markings outside certain buildings and other places to notify you of the place being empty, or filled with stuff to steal or being a 'protected' building etc. Well impressive.

Aaaaah I've seen markings and wondered what they were (not been to thieves guild yet)

[kiroquai]

Seems like I, amongst many PS3 users, are suffering the classic 'Bethesda Lag' issue. Somewhere between 5mb - 7mb file size the game starts running very poorly after play sessions lasting longer than a few hours, which is a tad annoying. Don't think it's something they can really fix either seeing as they couldn't for Fallout 3 or New Vegas!

Still, reason for mentioning this is that I happened across a reasonably sensible guide to helping the situation as much as you can on the GameFAQs board of all places. Copied and pasted below in case anyone else here is suffering the same issue...

I notice alot of topics concerning the game's freezing and frame rate drops related to the size of your game save. While it is indeed unfortunate that Bethesda let this slip by into yet another of their products (those hoping for a patch take note: it was never fixed in oblivion, F3 or NV) but Skyrim is much too good of a game to pass on because of it. So here is a list of things that worked in previous games that you can do to hopefully prevent this from happening to you:

1- occasionally delete the skyrim file under your game data folder, NOT your saved game: The file that is listed underneath the game data that just says skyrim. This will "clear the game's cache" causing it to write a fresh one next time you boot up the game. This helped alot in fallout3 so I see no reason why it wouldn't help here.

2- always create new manual saves rather than overwriting existing ones. this will decrease the chances of ever having corrupted data and "might" help reduce the file size by a slight amount. Also be sure to keep at LEAST 5 saves so that you have something to revert to incase something goes wrong.

3- try to take a 10 minute break every 3 hours or so to cut your system off and allow it to cool down abit. Notice how the little yellow light on the front of your console is nearly always flashing while playing? Skyrim is a very intensive game with textures/npcs/whatever constantly loading in. Especially if you have an older system model like a phat: it will get pretty hot pretty fast. Apparantly standing your system upright will help the airflow abit as well.

4- some say turning off auto save will help avoid freezes/stuttering/etc. It definitly couldn't hurt as long as you remember to save often on your own. This will remove alot of writing to the disk everytime you enter a building/rest or whatever.

5- And most importantly: STOP STRESSING ABOUT IT! Stop reading dooms day topics on it about a guy that had it freeze during a certain part and then constantly stress that your game will freeze at the same part. Alot of people play through these games and never have any issues: They just don't decide to post on the forums about it so you never hear from them. If it happens it happens, stressing about it before hand will help nothing.

Hopefully these tips will help you. I'm sure most of it is common knowledge to vets but I know alot people are playing the elderscrolls for the first time with this game so may not be aware of them. If anyone has any other tips feel free to share.

Enjoy the game and happy dragon hunting =)

[Cosmic_Guru]

Probably the first Skyrim session which went entirely to plan, rather than being constantly sidetracked or bogged down in combat.

I decided the hunter on the steps who underplays the danger ahead would have to pay for his mendacity. Then I had a brainwave, turned to my alternative nature and bounded up those stairs as if they were nothing - wolves love me now, snow troll no chance!

It looks as if Shouts are another thing which the pregame hype didn't really do justice to given the variety which seems available.

There used to be a village at Riverwood.... (looks like this is a very common spawn point for a random dragon but even so it's pretty dramatic with charred debris and assorted dead villagers scattered about the remains).

Went back to Helgen and ....let's say it's not pretty at all. Every time I am in Riften I can see myself as an Imperial lackey and vice versa in Imperial territory it seems.

Time to plan another epic journey I think.

[scottcr]

I want to know why I can't complete the "Necromancer who killed the blokes Aunty" quest without it crashing as I attempt to leave the cave after killing him. It's a most unfortunate happenstance.

Also, I've been struggling to find my way to places. I don't mind too much as I quite like wandering about and seeing what happens... but it can get annoying when Clairvoyance can't even point me in the right direction.

[Cosmic_Guru]

Does anyone else spend ages agonising over which perks to take? so many good ones!

Yes, absolutely - I'm a real horder. I could have made slogging through Faldan's tooth a hell of lot easier for myself by slapping the unused ones into increased one handed damage and bow damage but the perks on the non combat skill lines seem much more enticing - speech, sneak, pickpocket,smithing, alchemy, enchantment. Of course by the time I have those skills levelled up to access the desirable perks I will have more points to spend, so probably need to map it out roughly at least.

Does leveling a particular trait increase your skill with that or does it simply unlock the ability to unlock the associated perks?

No, there is no increase in skill just by increasing it from say 30 to 31. Does wearing enchanted gear which temporarily raises your skill allow you to unlock perks which remain unlocked when you unequip that gear?

This is rubbish - there will be an increase, albeit very small for a single level.

Pickpocketing might be a bit costly to raise though. I keep getting caught How quickly do you get access to a fence when you start the thieves guild quests?

After you pass the initiation tests you have immediate access to a fence and to gear which considerably boosts pickpocket.

Edited November 16, 2011 by Cosmic_Guru

[Majora]

The merchants are a bit disappointing in this. They seem

to be scaled, so even though there's a bit of variation, they're all selling broadly the same stuff. I hoped shops miles away would sell different stuff. For example I went to the Mages College thinking I would learn spells I couldn't get elsewhere, but all the merchants just sell the exact same spells that Whiterun does. And it's easier to buy them in Whiterun because they're all with one merchant rather than spread across several wandering around the college.

[SharkyOB]

No, there is no increase in skill just by increasing it from say 30 to 31.

I don't think that can be right! I'm sure that as your skills improve they do get better, regardless of perks. For example, you will do slightly more damage for each level of a combat skill such as archery and you will have a slightly better sneak modifier for each level of that skill.

[Mallet]

On the topic of magic and spell damage, does it work the same way as archery or one handed does so when your destruction rank is higher your spells do more damage? I mean will a mage with 50 destruction do more damage with a firebolt than a mage with 25 in the skill?

Or is the base damage of the spell the base damage regardless, I'm head says it should increase but sometimes devs get funny with magic systems in their game.

[csuzw]

The merchants are a bit disappointing in this. They seem

to be scaled, so even though there's a bit of variation, they're all selling broadly the same stuff. I hoped shops miles away would sell different stuff. For example I went to the Mages College thinking I would learn spells I couldn't get elsewhere, but all the merchants just sell the exact same spells that Whiterun does. And it's easier to buy them in Whiterun because they're all with one merchant rather than spread across several wandering around the college.

Most of the mages in the College sell items that are unique to them but it depends on which 1 you speak to and how high your skill level is. The good items and spells only become available around the time your skill is high enough that could you buy the appropriate 50% perk. I've not seen anything other than basic mage gear and spells on other vendors in the world.

[SharkyOB]

On the topic of magic and spell damage, does it work the same way as archery or one handed does so when your destruction rank is higher your spells do more damage? I mean will a mage with 50 destruction do more damage with a firebolt than a mage with 25 in the skill?

Or is the base damage of the spell the base damage regardless, I'm head says it should increase but sometimes devs get funny with magic systems in their game.

I'm pretty sure that's the way it works. A spell has base damage/effectiveness/length which has a multiplier applied depending on your skill in that magic class.

[Kiwi Cake]

Seems I've been fortunate enough to have had none of those issues on PS3 after nearly 30hrs played, save a couple of lock ups. Will keep those steps in mind just in case they crop up later.

[Cosmic_Guru]

I don't think that can be right! I'm sure that as your skills improve they do get better, regardless of perks. For example, you will do slightly more damage for each level of a combat skill such as archery and you will have a slightly better sneak modifier for each level of that skill.

But if that were the case, lockpicking for example would be significantly easier for me now at level 55 than it was at the start of the game. But it isn't, it's exactly the same level of difficulty for any class of lock because I haven't invested any levelling up points into the perks which do make it easier.

[Dandy_Sephy]

Awesome! I'll have a go at all of those. I definitely noticed a drop in performance; my game has turned into a fucking slideshow at times. If I'd have known about this beforehand, I'd have bought the 360 version.

I had a massive problem with this on the 360 version of New Vegas. Plus people have had their own problems with the 360 version of Skyrim. You wouldn't have necessarily been better off on 360.

[XBOKS]

Don't know if anyone has asked this yet but...

Can you carry on playing after completing the main quests? Like in Fallout 3?

Ta

PS haven't had enough time to play this at all - only just completed the golden claw quest :-0

[csuzw]

On the topic of magic and spell damage, does it work the same way as archery or one handed does so when your destruction rank is higher your spells do more damage? I mean will a mage with 50 destruction do more damage with a firebolt than a mage with 25 in the skill?

Or is the base damage of the spell the base damage regardless, I'm head says it should increase but sometimes devs get funny with magic systems in their game.

If it does, it doesn't show in the description of the spell. The only thing that effect the description are perks and gear. There are 2 perks for increasing damage for each damage type and you can also use potions. I don't think there are any enchants that increase damage.

[Ferine]

Can you carry on playing after completing the main quests? Like in Fallout 3?

Yes. Apparently it doesn't even ask you to sit through the credits, just dumps you back in the world as if you'd completed any other quest line.

[Dandy_Sephy]

Yes you can, Bethesda have said they designed it that way