Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[MrPogo]

As brilliant and believable as Skyrim is I don't think the AI's quite there yet to give you proper organic reactions like that though, is it? It's like when slay a dragon just as it's about to burn a town to the ground, only for a guard to wander up to you with a dismissive "Don't tell me. Someone stole your sweetroll". Improved AI needs to be the next great step in gaming for this reason.

I figured they just weren't on speaking terms*. It's about five minutes run between the two places, and the whole thing started off with the daughter asking me to deliver a package because she's "too busy" to make the journey.

*similar to the frosty atmosphere between Lydia and the new Mrs, where they both talk over each trying to gain my attention ("It's a pleasure to see"WELCOME HOME MY LOVE"you my Jarl") whilst completely blanking their rival. I'm just waiting for the day when I return home to find one of them dead. It could be Lydia with a pick axe buried in her skull (the wife is clearly making a statement by carrying it on her belt at all times), but as she never seems to sleep - and owns a full suit of Ebony armour - it's far more likely to be the pleasingly busty newcomer.

[alxbly]

So, I'm at the point in the main quest where I need to choose a side. Not sure whether to side with Imperial or Stormcloaks, any advantages/disadvantages to either? I'm thinking Imperial at this stage because I'm nicely set up in Whiterun which seems to be Imperial anyway. But am slightly torn as the rumours about the stormcloak leader (specifically, how he has killed someone) suggest we have something in common...

Hopefully that's vague enough to be spoiler free.

[marcus]

Im disappointed if you are forced to choose a side, it was always the thing I disliked about Fallout as I wanted to play all of the quests which ended up being locked out because of my choice. Its not likely Ill ever replay this game, so I guess Ill be missing out on some of the quests.

[poppa_f]

I went to the rebel stronghold to join up with them, but the first rebels I met were such dicks that I made a snap decision to join the imperials instead

[p1nseeker]

Companions storyline question:

Any downsides to becoming a werewolf?

[Broker]

Any tips for raising money quick?

Find a Dwemer Ruin/Dungeon (there's a Dwemer storehouse to the left off the road between Windhelm and Riften which will get you started and give you an idea of what you're looking for architecturally). They're always crammed with loot.

[George Clooney]

So, I'm at the point in the main quest where I need to choose a side. Not sure whether to side with Imperial or Stormcloaks, any advantages/disadvantages to either? I'm thinking Imperial at this stage because I'm nicely set up in Whiterun which seems to be Imperial anyway. But am slightly torn as the rumours about the stormcloak leader (specifically, how he has killed someone) suggest we have something in common...

Hopefully that's vague enough to be spoiler free.

Spoilered in case, but if you want to know if you do have something in common with Ulfric Stormcloak....

you dont. Anyone can learn dragon shouts, though they find it a lot more difficult than dragonborn who can learn them very quickly. It can take normal people months or years of training and if I remember right still arent as powerful as dragonborn shouts. Plus they cant absorb dragon souls. There are some things you HAVE to be a Dragonborn to do as far as the story goes, but I'll leave you to find that out!

I did think the same as you about it, but there is is in case you wanted to know to make a decision.

[Kyouma]

Some questions

Is it worth buying a house in Whiterun?

Where is the best place to sell magical staffs to get most profit?

What should I do with Mammoth Tusks? Can they be used for anything other than Fear potions or should I just sell them?

[alxbly]

Is it worth buying a house in Whiterun?

Where is the best place to sell magical staffs to get most profit?

What should I do with Mammoth Tusks? Can they be used for anything other than Fear potions or should I just sell them?

The house in whiterun is the cheapest in the game and very useful for storage; I'd say it's definitely worth buying because you don't have to worry about lugging stuff around and can take your time selling stuff to whatever town/village/salesperson you choose. 5000g isn't much, you'll can make that back quite easily from clearing out some dungeons.

You can increase the profit on any items by finding a necklace/amulet that gives you a haggling boost, use a haggling potion before you sell and offer a beggar a piece of gold (for a 10% speech boost). Preferrably, use all at once! There's also an item you can get from a daedric quest that helps boost the sales of your items... If you're interested go to Falkreath and speak with the guard/blacksmith.

I never found anything useful to do with mammoth tusks other than sell them. There is one person who asks you to find some for her, so it's worthwhile to store five (I think, can't quite remember) away. Other than that, sell, sell, sell!

[Kyouma]

Cheers

I'm still very early on in the game and only have 2000 gold!

[Comrade]

I like the fact that the beginning of the game clearly sets up that the Empire are the bad guys (they're trying to execute you for basically no reason, after all), but then as you actually play the game everything you hear about the Stormcloaks just make them sound worse and worse. They're basically just seperatist white supremacists.

[sir stiff_one]

I like the way that neither are the good or bad guys, they're just people. Everyone has different reasons to be in either, whether they believe in the cause, or just love bashing shit up or whatever. But yeah, I like the way you start by default thinking the Stormcloak rebels must be good guys because you know, they're rebels though. Handled well.

[alxbly]

Spoilered in case, but if you want to know if you do have something in common with Ulfric Stormcloak....

Thanks!

I like the fact that the beginning of the game clearly sets up that the Empire are the bad guys (they're trying to execute you for basically no reason, after all), but then as you actually play the game everything you hear about the Stormcloaks just make them sound worse and worse. They're basically just seperatist white supremacists.

Yup, hence why I'm now torn as to which bunch to side with; both seem like dicks.

Can someone tellme if villages and towns get trashed depending on which side you're on? I only ask because I noticed that towns and their Jarls seem to favour one side or the other (but the guards seem to wear roughly the same armour so I'm guessing they're all Imperial)?

[scottcr]

Oh joy... Sitting playing this quite the thing, my wee boy was watching it and as it was dark and thundery, he asked me to wait until morning... I did that, brought up the wait menu, waiting for 8 hours and the bugger crashed on me. Grrr.

[alxbly]

Oh joy... Sitting playing this quite the thing, my wee boy was watching it and as it was dark and thundery, he asked me to wait until morning... I did that, brought up the wait menu, waiting for 8 hours and the bugger crashed on me. Grrr.

It should autosave before you wait, though, so you won't have lost anything.

[scottcr]

It should autosave before you wait, though, so you won't have lost anything.

Phew - hope so. Switched it off to go play something else, so will check later.

[gospvg]

Started the game on Christmas Eve & wow, simply amazing. Going for a Diary post on the game.

"Dear Diary

Sorry I have not posted in a while the last few days have been very eventful.

The imperials mistook me for a stormcloak rebel & carted me off to Helgen. They also captured the leader of the rebels Ulfric Stormcloak. I thought they would end up just putting us in jail but they wanted to make an example out of us & sentenced us all to death by be-heading.

With my head on the chopping block, I was starting to think my life of adventure would end before it even started but luckily I was saved because a Dragon attacked the town & in all the commotion that followed I managed to escape with Ralof (Stormcloak Rebel) to the town of Riverwood."

Have not done much of the main quest but lots & lots of side quests. Still unsure if Light Armor is better than Heavy? Is thee any way to ask your folloer to use a certain weapon type? long rage or melee?

[drkbfhmmr]

Have not done much of the main quest but lots & lots of side quests. Still unsure if Light Armor is better than Heavy? Is thee any way to ask your folloer to use a certain weapon type? long rage or melee?

Light armor has the obvious advantage of being lighter so you can carry more, I would go for it if you're the sneaky and/or long-range type of adventurer. There's so much loot in this game, and I believe light armor is less noisy when doing sneak attempts. If you're very up-close and personal, maybe it'd be an issue using light over heavy, but it's really up to you, I mean you will improve either the light or heavy armor skill, whichever one you choose to focus on. Also check which perks you can get for each, maybe you'll find one to have more advantages that suit your playstyle. You could also combine light and heavy, I guess, but you would level each skill slower then.

I don't think you can ask followers to equip specific weapon types, it seems like they just equip the best melee weapon or bow that you give them, depending on the situation.

[gospvg]

I don't think you can ask followers to equip specific weapon types, it seems like they just equip the best melee weapon or bow that you give them, depending on the situation.

I've not played any of the previous elder scrolls games but have played new Fallout games and in those you could choose how you wanted your follower to act by either being defensive or attacking & with what type of weapon.

I find I give my follower a good sword/shield combo & she then starts using a bow?

[alxbly]

I find I give my follower a good sword/shield combo & she then starts using a bow?

This depends on two things; the followers preference and the situation. You can't change a followers preference; some will always prefer magika to weapons, light armour to heavy, one handed to two handed weapons, or archery to swords/axes/maces, etc. You can usually guess their default preference by their default weapons and armour/clothes.

Sometimes though it is situation specific though; i.e. a swordsman can't use a sword against a flying dragon so will equip a bow instead.

[gospvg]

This depends on two things; the followers preference and the situation. You can't change a followers preference; some will always prefer magika to weapons, light armour to heavy, one handed to two handed weapons, or archery to swords/axes/maces, etc. You can usually guess their default preference by their default weapons and armour/clothes.

Sometimes though it is situation specific though; i.e. a swordsman can't use a sword against a flying dragon so will equip a bow instead.

It tends to occur when visitng dungeons, the only way around it at the moment is I will not give her any bows or dual hand weapons. Thus leaving her to the sword & shield comnbo.

[drkbfhmmr]

I find I give my follower a good sword/shield combo & she then starts using a bow?

I'm guessing she would in situations where the AI decides it will use that weapon. It's also worth considering what kind of character your follower is, maybe she is more proficient with one kind of weapon than another, so she will prefer a bow over whatever you give her.

Edit: what alxbly said.

[Frosty]

I like the fact that the beginning of the game clearly sets up that the Empire are the bad guys (they're trying to execute you for basically no reason, after all), but then as you actually play the game everything you hear about the Stormcloaks just make them sound worse and worse. They're basically just seperatist white supremacists.

I like the way that neither are the good or bad guys, they're just people. Everyone has different reasons to be in either, whether they believe in the cause, or just love bashing shit up or whatever. But yeah, I like the way you start by default thinking the Stormcloak rebels must be good guys because you know, they're rebels though. Handled well.

Yeah, its a shame the quest line isn't as compelling as the political situation they've conjured up.

Really neither the Empire or the Stormcloaks are 'bad guys'. The only real baddies are the Thalmor, who are basically Nazis. The two sides are at a disagreement on how best to deal with them though.

The Empire are appeasers. They know they can't defeat the Thalmor (at the moment anyway) so they toe the line and do what they have to to survive as a nation. Unfortunately this means oppressing their own people.

The Stormcloaks are liberators. They want Skyrim to be free of oppression and to be able to practice their religion freely. But like many Nationalist movements they've got issues with Race. And would a divided Empire be able to resist the Elves more effectively in the future?

This combines with the fact that there are heroes and villains on both sides. Ulfric comes across as a bit of an opportunist, and some of his followers in Windhelm are clearly racist. Whereas the Queen is really quite nice. However as soon as you think you've got it worked out you find out about Imperial atrocities or something (and that they were going to execute you for no reason).

I like it a lot and it seems that even though Black Isle handled New Vegas Bethesda didn't mind pinching a few ideas on how to make factions interesting and not the simple binary choice of Good and Evil.

I've not actually chosen a side yet, but I hear the actual quest line is a bit weak. I hope they explore the ideas more in some DLC though.

[alxbly]

It tends to occur when visitng dungeons, the only way around it at the moment is I will not give her any bows or dual hand weapons. Thus leaving her to the sword & shield comnbo.

I found the best thing was to work with their preferences rather than against; i.e. if they're more proficient with a bow or two handed weapon, give them what they need. You can't train a follower to be good with certain weapon/magic types (they don't get better with use; for example some will always be better with archery/two hand than sword/sheild, regardless of what weapon you give them to use) so if the follower prefers bow and two hand weapons, give them the best bow/two hand weapon you can. Otherwise you're putting them (and therefore yourself) at a disadvantage in combat because you're not playing to their strengths.

[Aardvark]

I've not actually chosen a side yet, but I hear the actual quest line is a bit weak. I hope they explore the ideas more in some DLC though.

I almost hope they don't. While they seem to have good ideas and can build a good (albeit cliched) world, story telling always seems like one of the weakest parts of Elder Scrolls games.

[Sng]

Visited my second ever Guardian Stone today. Have been under Ritual all this time, just realised I could have been under Warrior and getting 20% levelling bonus. Bit late now, bit annoying!

Out of interest, what was the Ritual perk doing to me?

[Naysonymous]

It enables you to raise an army of the dead once a day.

I used The Lover Stone for the longest time, I am now using The Steed Stone.

[cale]

Anyone had a glitch on one of the sidequests? It's in the task where you're asked to

find the Amulet of Arkay for the priest, Andurs in the Catacombs in Whiterun. I've cleared the catacomb - which is tiny - but there's no amulet.

[sir stiff_one]

Checked it on one of the Skyrim wikis? There's usually a list of bugs for every quest and sometimes a solution.

You should be able to find the thing you want from elsewhere soon enough if not.

[Sledge]

Anyone had a glitch on one of the sidequests? It's in the task where you're asked to

find the Amulet of Arkay for the priest, Andurs in the Catacombs in Whiterun. I've cleared the catacomb - which is tiny - but there's no amulet.

If memory serves it's just difficult to spot but if you set the quest as the active one I think the marker leads you right there.