Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[sir stiff_one]

I'm not sure actually whether you get a higher boost for using stronger gems. It was pretty easy to level in the end, just bought up all of the empty (and later on all filled too) soul gems on my travels and went soul farming a few times - that involved going giant and mammoth hunting and killing anything else along they way with my soul trap enchanted bow. I had disenchanted an item with Banish quite early on I suppose, so I just created a supply of iron daggers like Yiggy found out on his own, which in turn funded my soul gem purchases.

[lampkin]

I'm not sure actually whether you get a higher boost for using stronger gems. It was pretty easy to level in the end, just bought up all of the empty (and later on all filled too) soul gems on my travels and went soul farming a few times - that involved going giant and mammoth hunting and killing anything else along they way with my soul trap enchanted bow. I had disenchanted an item with Banish quite early on I suppose, so I just created a supply of iron daggers like Yiggy found out on his own, which in turn funded my soul gem purchases.

Just got my enchanting skill over 50. I used a black soul gem early on which gave me a 18% fortify in one handed. Kinda wish I hadn't because I'm thinking the grand / black soul gems are fairly rare. As of now I'm just using small soul gems to level up enchanting.

Can anyone recommend the best place to sell enchanted items?

All I've done so far is create iron daggers (lvl 70 smithing now) then enchant them with petty soul gems and absorb magic which values them at 600 gold. I'm not actually sure where the best vendors are and in practise I only get ~100 gold per dagger.

[SpagMasterSwift]

Had a weird experience with the main quest...

Went down into a dwarven dungeon to decode a cube and apart from a few metal spiders and a handful of other enemies it was pretty much empty. The chamber with the floating jellyfish especially so...I walked right through the middle without meeting a soul. Only action was when I pulled a lever to wake up a big metal guy who I could have left sleeping. Hate to say it but it I was a little bored by the time I had to push some buttons at the end, maybe my sneak skills are too high? Wasn't impressed with the challenge that followed either, harvesting blood from loads of different enemies? May as well go back to the side quests and let that happen naturally.

70-odd hours in and this is the first time I've felt a little down on the game.

[Joyrex-J9]

Both the enchanting and alchemy side of this make we want to get the official guide, but I know that'll spoil everything else in the game, like it did for me with Oblivion.

I'll have a look on gamefaqs and see if there's an enchanting FAQ

[Frosty]

Had a weird experience with the main quest...

Went down into a dwarven dungeon to decode a cube and apart from a few metal spiders and a handful of other enemies it was pretty much empty. The chamber with the floating jellyfish especially so...I walked right through the middle without meeting a soul. Only action was when I pulled a lever to wake up a big metal guy who I could have left sleeping. Hate to say it but it I was a little bored by the time I had to push some buttons at the end, maybe my sneak skills are too high? Wasn't impressed with the challenge that followed either, harvesting blood from loads of different enemies? May as well go back to the side quests and let that happen naturally.

70-odd hours in and this is the first time I've felt a little down on the game.

The blood bit isn't actually part of the main quest. It's a Daedric quest that gets triggered during the main quest.

And pro-tip for enchanting. Make a weapon with Soul Trap but don't bother making the effect longer than 1 second. You'll get a hell of a lot more charges and as long as you make the killing blow you'll still get the soul.

[Cosmic_Guru]

So I've levelled alchemy to the 90s now. If anyone wants any tips levelling, then the simplest way seems to just get hold of:

Giant's Toes and Wheat

With alchemy, unlike smithing, you have to create better/more valuable stuff to level up quicker. .

Add creep cluster to those two ingredients and you have the single highest value potion I have come across. There are one or two other good combinations - everything else can be ignored. Enchant or acquire a ring, necklace, tiara/helmet and gloves with fortify alchemy before you mix anything for the best results.

[Cosmic_Guru]

So, I've got to the point where I'm just travelling around with my faithful dark steed searching out undiscovered dungeons and other points of interest. It should be a real relaxing few sessions - no quest markers to intrude, no overriding objetives, switching gear and magic around as the mood and circumstances dictate...BUT for some reason the engine has decided it's put enough miles on the clock thankyou very much and is stuttering like a bastard. A real shame.

[neoELITE]

I have no idea what's going on

Everywhere I visit, the locals go mental and attack me. Is it because I've been infected by a vampire? It's got so bad, I cannot do 90% of the side quests as wherever I go, I'm under constant attack. I hope there's some way of reversing this as I'll have to start again from the beginning. Help Rllmuk

[p1nseeker]

Have you checked "active effects" in the magic menu?

[redbloodcell]

Sounds very much like late-stage Vampirism from how other people have described it in the thread.

[neoELITE]

Sounds very much like late-stage Vampirism from how other people have described it in the thread.

Just looked on Skyrim wiki - it says to go and speak a bloke called Falion. I would do if he'd stop attacking me. Looks like I'm going to have to start again... I'm pretty pissed off as I've put about 35 hours in, got to level 18 and have done a mass of side quests.

[SpagMasterSwift]

Bloody vampires.

[IR354Lifeqhybot]

Well I'm about 7 hours in and I like it, but it's hugely overwhelming. There are so many characters and story branches already. I've still not got to grips with the story yet. I do side quests, but most of the time I'm not sure why I'm doing it until I return to the quest giver who give me "coin". Even then the dialogue is not explicit enough sometimes to verify what the quest was for originally.

Combat, not entirely sure I've got it right yet. I seem to be wildly swinging majoring on two handed weaponry and seem to be getting through OK. I did go to one cave to find the source of something or other (one of the earlier sidequests) and got pwned by magic fire wielding necromancers, so I back peddled out of there quickly.

But it looks beautiful and it drips with atmosphere, although it's not going to beat Fallout 3 in that department. That gripped me from the start, with the whole feeling of desolation and being alone. But this has got depth to die for and I'm sure this has got 100+ hours in it for me.

[Frosty]

If it is vampirism then you just need to feed and people will stop attacking.

High level vampirism makes you pretty stealthy anyway so see if you can sneak into a house and feed on someone sleeping. If you aren't sneaky enough to pull it off in a town then look around for a camp or something in the wilderness, or go to one of the many Inns or settlements that are outside the main towns, like an Orc stronghold or Rorikstead. Less guards there.

[Jamin]

How easy is it to cure Vampirism in this? I'm thinking of going that route in playthrough #2 but I remember it was a total bitch in Oblivion to reverse.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Jesus this is really fucking brilliant. Did some of the miscellaneous stuff in Whiterun some of which seem to result in more interesting questlines and then went for a trek to Ivarstead through the woods to find the monastery on the summit. On the way I got ambushed by some bandits, so I slaughtered them and took their horse. Making my way through a great pineforest I saw mammoths and various creatures but I didn't stop to fight them.

Then passing over a crest I see the aurora-like lighting in the sky while the snow is falling around me and it was a total "WOW" moment even though nothing was really happening. Finding my way through the wilderness and amazing landscapes for quite some time (I just can't stop taking in the sights) I finally arrived in Ivarstead where I check in the local inn (resulting in another quest to investigate some haunted barrow) and decide to make my way up the mountain.

More epicness and beauty, I really like how they casually put the lore there for you to discover - like the plaques - but you can just as easily skip it if you want. On the way I got warned to watch out for wolves, but the biggest problem turned out to be a Frost Troll which could wipe me out in two or three hits. I decided to sneak around it rather than confront it, and finally arrive safely at the monastery to learn more new skills and tricks. And then I realised most of the afternoon had passed and I had to save and quit because I had to make dinner. Can't wait to get stuck back in tonight.

[Frosty]

How easy is it to cure Vampirism in this? I'm thinking of going that route in playthrough #2 but I remember it was a total bitch in Oblivion to reverse.

Easy Mode:

Do the companions quest line till they offer you the chance to become a werewolf. Doing so will cure your vampirism as well as making you immune to it in the future (as long as you stay a werewolf anyway).

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Just looked on Skyrim wiki - it says to go and speak a bloke called Falion. I would do if he'd stop attacking me. Looks like I'm going to have to start again... I'm pretty pissed off as I've put about 35 hours in, got to level 18 and have done a mass of side quests.

Yeah like Frosty says you just need to feed a bit to tone down how vampiric you are.

[gone now bye]

If you become a werewolf via the Companions, do you have to transform every day?

[Dandy_Sephy]

Nope! You get free choice

[Guest]

Looking at all this vampirism talk, people keep telling me I look terrible when I approach them. Could I have something similar then, and how do I got about sorting it?

[Nate Dogg III]

Probably a disease, check magic -> active effects. Potion Of Cure Disease will sort you out.

[FlowerOfInfinity]

Looking at all this vampirism talk, people keep telling me I look terrible when I approach them. Could I have something similar then, and how do I got about sorting it?

You might just have a disease; check your active effects in the Magic menu.

If it is just a disease, take a potion of cure disease, or activate an artifact in any of the numerous temples.

[sir stiff_one]

Just got my enchanting skill over 50. I used a black soul gem early on which gave me a 18% fortify in one handed. Kinda wish I hadn't because I'm thinking the grand / black soul gems are fairly rare. As of now I'm just using small soul gems to level up enchanting.

Can anyone recommend the best place to sell enchanted items?

All I've done so far is create iron daggers (lvl 70 smithing now) then enchant them with petty soul gems and absorb magic which values them at 600 gold. I'm not actually sure where the best vendors are and in practise I only get ~100 gold per dagger.

You get better prices depending on Speechcraft perks and you can wear enchanted stuff that gives better prices, so long as you can be bothered to put it on when you get to the towns. You can also use a few perks in speechcraft to enable selling item to any vendor - I found this essential really, considering the vendors all have such limited gold anyway.

Don't worry about wasting gems, you'll find bazillions of them as you go, and they're always for sale somewhere.

[lampkin]

You get better prices depending on Speechcraft perks and you can wear enchanted stuff that gives better prices, so long as you can be bothered to put it on when you get to the towns. You can also use a few perks in speechcraft to enable selling item to any vendor - I found this essential really, considering the vendors all have such limited gold anyway.

Don't worry about wasting gems, you'll find bazillions of them as you go, and they're always for sale somewhere.

Thanks.

I've got a ton of jewels do you find it's worth crafting jewellery with them? (I've got a few ingots of gold and silver as well).

Where are the best places to sell things? Most vendors only have a thousand or so.

[sir stiff_one]

Go round each vendor and suck up all their money in every city. There is a perk in speechcraft that you can invest in traders and they have more money available permanently. I haven't got that though, it only increases the speed at which you can make money.

If you were determined to offload a lot of high value stuff you could do a tour of the major cities using fast travel and run straight into each shop. For example, I'd be buying all of an alchemist's ingredients and then using enchanted daggers to 'buy back' my money. Eventually just doing regular trading I ended up with enough to buy whatever house. Once you have tens of thousands there doesn't seem to be much to spend it on. Same buying all of the gems from the enchanting wizard man in the Whiterun palace. I'd spend 4-5k buying them all from him, then sell him back 3 daggers. You can even use this technique to level up certain skills if the trainer is also a vendor.

Level up and do dungeons, the gold you get and the loot levels with you. So does the level of the enemies though.

Jewellery is fine for the bling. I tend to just collect all jewels out of habit. Quite funny enchanting diamond gold necklaces and wearing them around in dungeons just because that's how you roll. I intend on properly pimping out a house for my 'retirement' in game eventually, epic weapons on every wall, bowls on the table full of diamonds and stuff.

[Monkeyboy]

I intend on properly pimping out a house for my 'retirement' in game eventually, epic weapons on every wall, bowls on the table full of diamonds and stuff.

It's a pity there aren't more options to customize your house. Like some sort of big game hunter, I'd like to have mammoth, falmer, and giant's heads mounted on the wall. I'm so doing that jewels in a bowl thing.

[MrPogo]

It's a pity there aren't more options to customize your house. Like some sort of big game hunter, I'd like to have mammoth, falmer, and giant's heads mounted on the wall. I'm so doing that jewels in a bowl thing.

Star Wars Galaxies remains unmatched for that (based on games I've played at least!). Any object you could pick up (which included furniture, if I remember rightly) could be precisely positioned anywhere in the 3D space, so you could have outfits on display like suits of armour, lightsabers and weapons mounted on the walls, you could even buy paintings and sculptures and have creatures standing around.... I think I even had a display of Tusken Raider heads in one of my houses.

[Cosmic_Guru]

It's a pity there aren't more options to customize your house. Like some sort of big game hunter, I'd like to have mammoth, falmer, and giant's heads mounted on the wall. I'm so doing that jewels in a bowl thing.

Feels like a real missed opportunity this. All the houses have pros and cons in terms of storeage and display options but none are ideal and the lack of ways to make stuff stick to surfaces is annoying.

Dar'Zhavani has retired to live quietly off her ill gotten gains. A rich and wise old Kahjiit, exhausted by her service to the Empire (for which she feels insufficiently rewarded), tired of shouting down scaly flying things and frying bags of bones in poky old holes. Troubled by the ghosts of those she has slaughtered along the way, she is a weary old thing and the slog to find some two bit archer called Angi just about finished her off. And the trival things she is now being asked to do by one and all - kill some guardian skeever, find a drum - they can fuck right off frankly.

She awaits a reason to get out of bed again.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

I want to buy a house, but so far I haven't found anything for sale. During the opening the Jarl of Whiterun said I could buy property in his city, but there don't seem to be any for sale. Is this something which unlocks during the game (like in Fallout 3), or do I have to look in other places? I could do with a home to store some stuff, as I'm constantly fighting my inventory space and I don't want to sell everything because some of the stuff may prove useful later in the game or I don't know what it's for yet.

I'm a bit OCD with hoarding stuff in Bethesda games, I literally check every single barrel and urn I come across