Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Yiggy]

Tonight I have discovered an incredible money making enchantment.

1 iron dagger. Enchant with the Banish enchantment and a lesser or petty gem. Sells for 750 gold (1500 value). It's like a license to print money.

[Karzee]

Does it just come on uncontrollably? That might be tricky.

No, you choose when to change.

To me the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

[mingmong]

Tonight I have discovered [...] enchantment [...] it's like a license to print money

[BigShimmeryWall]

Hmmm I am a werewolf.

Is this good or bad?

Definitely good. It's worth it for the complete immunity to disease that it gives you, as you can run into caves to kick a bunch of vampires in the gooch and not have to worry about them gothing you up.

[OogyBoogy]

As for dragon encounters, they seem pretty random to me. I had not had one for a while, but after I advanced the main questline

where Delphine takes me to the place where Alduin is raising the next dragon

I had a random encounter right afterwards.

Also, I witnessed

Alduin raise another dragon from a mound somewhere else who then proceeded to attack me.

[MrPogo]

Definitely good. It's worth it for the complete immunity to disease that it gives you, as you can run into caves to kick a bunch of vampires in the gooch and not have to worry about them gothing you up.

I've never actually found it useful to be in beast form though. Admittedly I've only ever tried it as a tactic of desperation when the same enemy has already killed me half a dozen times, but the werewolf version of me then always gets killed much faster than I did in elf form!

[Doc NI]

Tonight I have discovered an incredible money making enchantment.

1 iron dagger. Enchant with the Banish enchantment and a lesser or petty gem. Sells for 750 gold (1500 value). It's like a license to print money.

try that and paralyse when you get 100 enchant skill.

118 k in the bank (not from this exploit though, been robbing skyrim blind with the thieves guild!)

[Guest]

If anyone else wants to complain about Skyrim please do what I did this morning and pop back onto Fable 2 (10/10!!).

Horrible, slow, unresponsive - full of bugs and boring dungeons. A pretty shallow and speedy game to burn through and it takes a long time to get into.

[Shook]

Fuck. Reading through this makes me feel like I'm doing something a bit wrong. Been playing for ages and I'm level 14 and have got about three quid.

Hmmm.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Played more of this yesterday, seems like I'll have to shuffle my GOTY list a bit to make room for this. I've spend ages doing absolutely nothing, just exploring towns, talking to people, picking up quests and reading books. About 7 hours in, and I'm still level 1.

[Guest]

Fuck. Reading through this makes me feel like I'm doing something a bit wrong. Been playing for ages and I'm level 14 and have got about three quid.

Hmmm.

As you level you'll automatically get more loot and monies from chests/baddies. Level 14 is still quite low - by mid 20's I had about 30k I think. Much of that from questing. Be patient!

[Nimmel]

Been playing for ages and I'm level 14 and have got about three quid.

I seemed to take ages to level up at the start as well, I don't think it helped that I was playing a pure mage so I was only really getting skill ups in Destruction and very little else.

God I miss this game, I spent the 23rd getting Smithing and Enchanting to 100 rather than doing Xmas preparation which meant I had a Xmas Eve from hell, but since then I haven't been able to play it as I moved into a flat over the holiday period that has a LCD telly with no HDMI. I did try to play in PAL 60 but the picture was so shoddy when I tried to venture out into the world I couldnt see where I was going and fell off a bridge into a river and promptly gave up.

[drkbfhmmr]

Played more of this yesterday, seems like I'll have to shuffle my GOTY list a bit to make room for this. I've spend ages doing absolutely nothing, just exploring towns, talking to people, picking up quests and reading books. About 7 hours in, and I'm still level 1.

I think I spent the first few hours of my game just running around in the woods, hunting deer, diving into a lake to catch some salmon or just enjoying the scenery. Didn't level much either.

I think they did a wonderful job with the weather and the wildlife in this one. There's a real sense of being in a natural world.

I think what the game might have benefitted from is having less people. It was only after I really started getting annoyed with the repeated use of voice actors that I became less interested in exploring the world. So maybe I would've prefered a world with less really big cities, and with more small towns or camps instead. After I had been to Whiterun, Markarth, Windhelm and Riften, it just seemed a bit boring the first time I stepped into Solitude and everyone was like copies, more or less, of characters I'd already met.

I guess that's just the way it is with Bethesda games. I still enjoy exploring the wild immensely, the cities less so.

[Wiper]

I have to say, much as this is the very first Elder Scrolls game I've actually enjoyed (despite being saddened at a few of the changes - no more acrobatics skill and/or ability to fly? Booo), I agree with the density of humans. But I'm bothered on two counts: that there is so little distance between encampments, and that the biggest cities are still rather small. I'd have preferred a setup with, say, two major towns of significant size (say, twice the size of Whiterun), spaced far apart, a smattering of smaller settlements orbiting the cities, and then a vast expanse of wilderness between them, dotted with the occasional forgotten shrine and a very few number of roads through it. It would give a more impressive sense of scale, without needing to up the geography; make questing seem that much more brave and special for being far from civilisation and requiring you to explore far off the beaten path - literally; and help avert the problem of repeating voice actors and lines outside of the centres of civilisation.

[Jamin]

Re: being a werewolf, had an amazing time in a dungeon yesterday. It was a rather neat situation where very soon into the dungeon, I came to an oval-shaped room with a big treasure chest prominently on display right in the middle. Striding up to it I hear noises from either side - two secret passageways had opened and about 6 Falmer burst through.

Thinking I had a Slow time shout enabled, I activated the RB button, but alas it was my Beast Form! The brilliant thing was the reaction of the Falmer - all 6 of them immediately did a 180 and began pegging it back through the secret doorways they'd appeared from - they clearly must be shit scared of dogs! Enjoyed a melee-heavy 3 minutes chasing after each of them and batting them across their fear-riddled faces with my enormous werewolf paw.

[OogyBoogy]

Everyone has their own opinion wether or not Ulfric Stormcloak killed the king in fair combat, or that the Imperials shouldn't have banned the worship of Talos in the first place. But at least everyone agrees that the Thalmor are a bad sort and should be thwarted at every opportunity.

Which is why I've taken it upon myself to kill as many of them as I can.

I see them walking the roads, and I give them a nod in their direction as they pass me by.

Then I draw my fine elven dagger and sneak upon the last one to pass me.

Alot of times he does not even know what is happening until my blade is already opening his throat. The other two usualy catch on after a second or so, but it's enough time for me to draw both my swords and deal some real justice. The magician prefers to deal damage from a distance, but I try to keep his friend between him and me while I dice and slice, so he hardly ever gets a clear shot until he is the last one standing. And he's not much of a threat by himself.

[davejm]

Ooops, I negged Nimmel by mistake. Can some re-balance?

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Sure, just negged your post to compensate

I got on the questline a bit, played the first real dungeon and killed my first dragon. Absolutely awesome. The depth in the world is just insane, the amount of books and dialogue is staggering. This really feels like a world I could get lost in for days on end. Will it beat Fallout 3?

[SqueakyG]

I have to say, much as this is the very first Elder Scrolls game I've actually enjoyed (despite being saddened at a few of the changes - no more acrobatics skill and/or ability to fly? Booo), I agree with the density of humans. But I'm bothered on two counts: that there is so little distance between encampments, and that the biggest cities are still rather small.

It was the same with Oblivion, and I always thought of it as requiring some imagination. I think in real life each one of the cities would be much larger, and in the game you're getting a kind of cartoon representation of it. Rather like the size of Liberty City compared to the real New York City, or Los Santos compared to the real Los Angeles.

So I guess you should imagine that it takes all day to walk through miles of streets, even though the game only actually shows 20 houses, and imagine there are 50 miles of land between each settlement.

I may have personally preferred it if quick travel only let you travel between towns and villages. A lot of people would grumble... but after a while I just wasn't bothering to walk anywhere. I always quick travel to the nearest cave/ruins/shrine/etc to the new place I need to go to.

[Wiper]

The thing is, the Elder Scrolls games are set in a pseudo-past, a time when you wouldn't actually expect cities to be that big (aside from the occasional anomalous super-city like Rome), or that prevalent. As such they don't need to craft urban sprawls filled with miles of streets, but their towns could still do with being a little larger - at least the major ones. The thing is, they don't need to be much larger - my 'double the size, halve the number' is something I stick by.

(and yes, it was the same in Oblivion, and in Morrowind, but I'm not sure that pointing to the fact that it's been the case in previous Elder Scrolls titles makes it better that they're still doing it now)

[MrPogo]

My marriage is less than a week old, but I think it's already on the rocks. Admittedly I was in sneak mode at the time, but it's not a good sign when you come home from a hard day's adventuring and your new bride greets you with "Keep your hands to yourself!".

[boxoctosis]

Kill her with fire.

[SpagMasterSwift]

SPAGGLEHORN has finally begun the main quest and just spent half an hour talking to

a dragon!!!!!

Some nice detail been saved for this by the looks of it.

[Laine]

Wah! Terrible bug at the end of Thieves Guild quest Darkness Returns.

I fall down the well, talk to Nocturnal, and then my quest marker gets stuck to the floor. I then spotted Karliah, try and talk to her and kept getting 'This person is busy messages'. Waited a few hours, I could speak to her but it was just for a second, she then walks off and disappears, my quest updates to 'Talk to Karliah' and an exit marker appears I can't get to, and I can't talk to Karliah!' I have repeatedly reloaded but no luck. Typically, I'd relied on a few autosaves before I entered so I'm hoping I don't have to redo a couple of hours and then all of this again. Sad face.

Any suggestions?

Edit: As I was typing that I just uninstalled it from my Xbox and tried again and it worked, up to a point. Gallus has just turned up but Karliah has disappeared again. Bah! It has completed the quest though, I just would have liked to see there little chat.

[sir stiff_one]

Tonight I have discovered an incredible money making enchantment.

1 iron dagger. Enchant with the Banish enchantment and a lesser or petty gem. Sells for 750 gold (1500 value). It's like a license to print money.

I said that ages ago.

[sir stiff_one]

Is there any way to see how much damage bound weapons do? Archery has been my secondary means of fighting throughout, and I am about 70 in Archery now. I have 4/5 overdraw and the conjuration perk Mystic Binding which means bound weapons do "more damage" though it doesnt say how much more. The only thing I have found online is a suggestion that bound weapons have the same base damage as their Daedric equivalents, which is obviously a good thing. I also have 100 in Enchanting and have some ridiculous + Archery enchants, testing out in the wild my guy can one shot a giant or two shot a mammoth with the sneak attack bonus (3 X damage) and in a fight against a "normal" dragon four arrows took it down while my companion tanked. I guess that is all I really need to know, but this is a Role Playing Game and I want a number!

Just a thought Nayson, but could you compare a different bow and check the damage difference? Or wouldn't that help?

I think I have figured this out. If you conjure a bound weapon, then go into your inventory and mouse over another weapon then the game will show you how much damage your currently equipped item will do and how much better/worse the item you are mousing over is. FWIW, my character will do 153 damage with the bound bow with his current gear and perks. The best I can do with an actual weapon is 115 damage with an Ebony bow and Daedric arrows, which is 38 less. However, I can add 112 damage to my Ebony bow with a double enchant. I suspect that bound weapons are based on their Daedric equivalents. Now I have actually seen a couple of Daedric items in game it seems they are reskins of the Daedric weapon model.

TLDR: Bound weapons are on a par with/better than the best "real" stuff in the game, with the possible exception of to a guy with 100 in enchanting and a grand soul gem. I would imagine they are extremely powerful at low levels compared to other items, both in terms of damage and the fact that they weigh nothing.

:S

[Klaark]

Edit: As I was typing that I just uninstalled it from my Xbox and tried again and it worked, up to a point. Gallus has just turned up but Karliah has disappeared again. Bah! It has completed the quest though, I just would have liked to see there little chat.

They stop short of saying that they love each other, Gallus says that he'll see her again one day when her debt to Nocturnal has been paid, and he trundles off into the afterlife. It's a fairly brief segment so you didn't miss too much.

Killed my first Dragon Priest last night,

that Krosis fella near Whiterun. Took Lydia with me but she didn't last long (couldn't find her corpse either) but was chuffed to find that his mask boosts archery, lockpicking and alchemy by 20% - all of the things I use regularly!

Quick question: in order to use the shouts I've learned, must I go back to the Greaybeards with my absorbed dragon souls?

[Guest]

I wonder what is wrong with some people when it comes to this game. I've witnessed one guy play it near constantly, updating twitter often to say how awful it is. And he still plays it, must be well into level 20 now.

Why would you continue to play it and cry about it on twitter unless you're an idiot?

Those who can't see the wonder in this game are not only shortsighted they're immensely ungrateful. What Bethesda have achieved here is unique in the choices it gives the player and the situations it presents.

It's a far more tactile, believable world this time time around and for me it feels a million miles away from Oblivion.

I'd quite happily follow a man with a cow again on an impromptu escort mission. What more do people want from a game, really? If you don't like it stop crying about it and don't waste your time and everyone else's. When twitter turns to Twatter, sad times.

[sir stiff_one]

Is there somewhere you can display all of the Dragon Priest masks?

You learn shouts by just selecting them in the menu and pressing X or whatever unlock is. It will tell you how many souls you have spare too.

[Wiper]

I wonder what is wrong with some people when it comes to this game. I've witnessed one guy play it near constantly, updating twitter often to say how awful it is. And he still plays it, must be well into level 20 now.

Why would you continue to play it and cry about it on twitter unless you're an idiot?

As somebody who really didn't enjoy Fallout 3/Oblivion/Morrowind, I'll second this. I thought they were shit, so what did I do? Posted that they were shit, and stopped playing them. Problem solved!

That said...

Those who can't see the wonder in this game are not only shortsighted they're immensely ungrateful.

Oh fuck off. As stated, I like Skyrim. Enough to be one of my games of the year. I think it's a brilliant game, for all its flaws, thanks primarily to the gorgeous landscapes it gives you to explore. It gets a lot right.

But it also gets a lot wrong. Mostly problems carried over from earlier TES games, but it also suffers from further simplification (removal of advanced potion effects, degrading items, many of the skillsets, the weirdly console-centric UI). And it's buggy as all hell, of course. It's not a perfect game by any means, and I can completely understand why for some people the problems outweigh the strengths. That someone dislikes a game that you love isn't a sign of them being 'immensely ungrateful', it's a sign that they have a different taste to you. Which, you know, is entirely reasonable.