TES V: Skyrim (forget Hunted!!)


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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

Is it weird that with all of this furor about Skyrim, the RPG I'm most looking forward to is Paper Mario 3DS? I love that series so much.

Actually, to be honest; I want to play Skyrim and enjoy it, maybe even fall in love with it... but it's just so daunting. I felt the same way about Morrowind, Oblivion, every single Fallout game, Planescape Torment, and Dragon Age. There's just.... There's just too much in the game. I'll never see the end of it. The main quest will never be accomplished because I'll ramble in the woods, and towns, and dungeons, and hills for days and weeks, like a kender with wanderlust. I'll look for so many random things, I'll talk to people because they're there, and I'll poke my nose in every single hole in the ground to find out what's inside. I can't focus when there's so much to DO and SEE! I'll never touch the edges of any kind of plot, character, or campaign resolution before I eventually tire of playing it or some other game catches my eye; and that bothers me. A lot.

Open World Fantasy/Sci-Fi games fascinate me, but between a weird combination of obsessive compulsive need to look everywhere and see everything and a tendency to lose focus on all but the most utterly engrossing games after a while; I don't know how I can actually play them. I enjoy them while I have the fresh-green dales and windswept apocalyptic plains to comb, but wind up in a rut and a little bit heartbroken in the end.


Mikaze wrote:
Twigs wrote:

Curious about the Thalmor. Where is this embassy?

I'm also very keen to get my hands on some Redguard garbs and a scimitar. Has anyone ran into any Redguards so far? Do they have some kind of settlement?

Thalmor Embassy: ** spoiler omitted **

Redguard garb: ** spoiler omitted ** That's the only way to get it that I know of thus far.

Thanks a lot! I'm very grateful. :)


Drakli wrote:
Actually, to be honest; I want to play Skyrim and enjoy it, maybe even fall in love with it... but it's just so daunting. I felt the same way about Morrowind, Oblivion, every single Fallout game, Planescape Torment, and Dragon Age. There's just.... There's just too much in the game. I'll never see the end of it. The main quest will never be accomplished because I'll ramble in the woods, and towns, and dungeons, and hills for days and weeks, like a kender with wanderlust. I'll look for so many random things, I'll talk to people because they're there, and I'll poke my nose in every single hole in the ground to find out what's inside. I can't focus when there's so much to DO and SEE! I'll never touch the edges of any kind of plot, character, or campaign resolution before I eventually tire of playing it or some other game catches my eye; and that bothers me. A lot.

If you treat the Main Quests like the game is on rails (like Dragon Age really is, or Mass Effect) then you can get closure really quickly. Skyrim actually makes it easier then in the past because their quest system can activate one, many, all, or none of the different quests you have accumulated as markers. Just disable all the side quests and miscellaneous ones until you're done with the "plot".

Same goes for particularly big side quests. Once you have beaten the main quest (folks have already speed run it, it's not super long) the you can pick up a major side quest like joining the Companions (Warriors) or the College (Mages) and treat it like you would an overpriced DLC in another game. Run it to its end, then grab a 3rd.

To help in the this process I suggest you use fast travel... often. While you miss out on the roaming aspect a bit once you "discover" a location, it does help keep you from being side tracked. It does require a bit of "meta" in that any side quests you think are time sensitive can be put on hold indefinitely (again treating it like DLC helps) feels odd, but one you start treating it that way it really does help. Also makes those longer side quests even more engaging and cohesive.

The only time I've really gone haring off in a truly random direction was because I took off chasing a dragon who WOULD NOT come down and fight me. I swear, the thing must have lead me half way across the souther section of the Pale (major city Dawnstar) before it finally landed to munch on a Stormcloaks encampment. Most ADHD dragon I've meet to date. And as I've said up thread, I think some of them are legitimately "brain hurt", but this one takes the prize for picking fights with just about every random mob between its start point and it's eventual new grave. I regret now not quick saving, and pulling up hyper cam to record the case.

I really want to dig into the AI code for these things. I think for my own amusement I'm going to get into the console commands at some point and see about getting a Dragon to fight a Dragon. Or as more likely to watch them spiral off in random directions as they go about KILLING EVERYTHING BUT EACH OTHER. (I plan to try and fiddle with their faction settings to put them on sides that will attack each other).

Drakli wrote:
Open World Fantasy/Sci-Fi games fascinate me, but between a weird combination of obsessive compulsive need to look everywhere and see everything and a tendency to lose focus on all but the most utterly engrossing games after a while; I don't know how I can actually play them. I enjoy them while I have the fresh-green dales and windswept apocalyptic plains to comb, but wind up in a rut and a little bit heartbroken in the end.

Skyrim is a game I will come back to a year from now, two years from now, possibly three. Very few games are well worth their 50/60/70 dollar admission price and will age well. I can't even run it a full power so I know missing out on a big chunk of it's grandeur. As I get more upgrades to my tower over time it will only improve.

Another big help in Skyrim is the dungeon and environments are definitely more diverse then in Oblivion. While I'm seeing reused bits for hallway and room sections, each dungeon so far has had a very different feel to it.

Silver Crusade

Game got really choppy inside Fort Snowhawk. I don't know if it was prop overload or

Spoiler:
skeletons getting knocked apart into tiny ragdolls or necromancers constantly dying and raising each other and dying again.
Whatever the case the framerate and movement got nasty each time I went in there.

Found an orc stronghold. Just walked right on in and they cheerfully welcomed me in. Don't know how that plays for non-orcs.

Punched their chief. We're buds now.

Watch your step while you're in the Reach. Sudden drops EVERYWHERE.


Normally not a gaming comic but the punch line is too good.


I think my High Elf Mage/Sneak Archer is in trouble.

I did the companions quest to take out the Vamp in the cave. For the past few days in game, random people tell me I look pale or sickly. I used a Potion of Cure Disease but some NPC in Whiterun just told me I look sick again.

Did I contract vampirism? No other in game effects so far for the past few days. I still move around in the day, etc.


Sunderstone wrote:

I think my High Elf Mage/Sneak Archer is in trouble.

I did the companions quest to take out the Vamp in the cave. For the past few days in game, random people tell me I look pale or sickly. I used a Potion of Cure Disease but some NPC in Whiterun just told me I look sick again.

Did I contract vampirism? No other in game effects so far for the past few days. I still move around in the day, etc.

Have you slept in a bed? You may have contracted vampirism but it won't take effect i.e. you won't gain any of the benefits or penalties of the disease until you actually sleep in a bed.


Slept in a bed a few times at the Companions Hall and the Inn in Whiterun (never for afull 24 hours though, 12 at the most), nothing happened.

The Exchange

Sunderstone wrote:
For the past few days in game, random people tell me I look pale or sickly.

I had that happen after fighting some Skeevers in a cave. People randomly told me I looked sick. After I hit a temple they stopped saying it. Since there's no Status screen for you character, I don't know how to tell if you're diseased or not.

EDIT: Corrected quote


You can tell if you are sick by looking under the Magic - Effects menu

Myself, I've been playing a Khajiit (Black panther style) werewolf. Whatever. I'll go for the cure, I guess, cause I hardly play the werewolf part anyway.

- Heavy Armor, One handed (axes), Destruction (fire), Restoration (healing fatigue/magika regen), Sneak, Archery build. I'll probably go for a bit of Enchantment/Smithing as well later.

I like to be able to adapt to most situations. Sneak and Arrows first (doing magika damage with my bow to those pesky mages), then burning/axing my way through anything that get close to me, and healing myself if I need to.

Also, sneaking, getting a fire rune in place, sneaking back and trolling someone to my rune with an arrow is fun fun fun.

What I really like about this system, is than you can specialise inside any skill tree, so you can really tailor your character to your play style, and you can still get a very decent character even if you don't put all the perks in just two or three skills but spread them around 5 or 6.

Silver Crusade

Had a dragon attack inside a city for the first time. I absolutely love the people of Whiterun now. Blacksmith lady does not abide dragons on her roof.

But now I have a dragon skeleton flopping around both inside and outside the city gates. The one outside apparently belongs to the first dragon I killed, which apparently just bounced over to the city...

If anyone else was having trouble figuring out how to make a dual-weapon/light armor user work without spreading themselves too thing, the Elemental Fury shout is STUPIDLY good. INSANE even. The first step alone turns you into a dragon blender.

Walked by a few Imperial guards escorting a prisoner on the road. A little past them some wolves attacked me. Prisoner ran up and started punching them while the guards gave him covering fire. Once the wolves were dead the prisoner ran back to the guards to continue on their way to his imprisonment or execution.

wut

Silver Crusade

Fangdelicious wrote:
Sunderstone wrote:
For the past few days in game, random people tell me I look pale or sickly.

I had that happen after fighting some Skeevers in a cave. People randomly told me I looked sick. After I hit a temple they stopped saying it. Since there's no Status screen for you character, I don't know how to tell if you're diseased or not.

EDIT: Corrected quote

I don't think you are alerted when you catch a disease(or if you are it's easy to miss), but you can check by going to your Magic menu and checking Active Effects. Negative effects should be lit up in red.

I've just been visiting Divine shrines to cure my diseases, been reliable so far. Even if that one alchemist keeps telling me I look like I have Ataxia.


It does alert you, just like it alerts you to inventory changes and quick save attempts. It's really, really easy to miss though, as it's just a little tiny line in the top right hand corner of the screen.


I just found the best shout ever for a sneak character :D

Totally putting this in spoilers cause it's that fun. You have been warned

Spoiler:
Throw Voice let's you shot to really far points and fools just about enemy who you can normally hide from into checking out the spot.

It's so awesome they give you all three levels of it at once. Granted you need 3 dragon souls to unlock it full but it's totally worth it for a dedicated sneak.

I'm toying with a named dwuarge guy right now. Every time I shoot him with my bow I "Voice Fool Far" him to opposite side of the chamber. It's freaking hilarious. I'm going to totally recorded this if I can.

If you don't want the location spoiled don't open the next one.

Secondary spoiler because if you really don't want this ruined you really want to stop reading now.

Spoiler:
All three are located at Shearpoint. Which on the small mountain between Winterun and Windhelm.

From Whiterun go north east following the river, but stay high. You should see one cave (Shimmermist Cave) along the way and a keep (Fellglow Keep). Going East from Fellglow head up the first snowy pass and you should get a dragon roost head marker thing on radar.

Now this is where shit gets crazy so if you don't want it spoiled anymore seriously last chance because typing all this on my iPad is annoying.

Last chance, this will totally wreak the whole thing.

Spoiler:
There is a double fight if you aren't careful. Both the Blood Dragon and a Dragon Priest are hanging out at Shearpoint. If you approach slowly you can get the dragon to come at you first before the Dragon Priest breaks out of his coffin. Don't get close to the Words wall as you fight the dragon your going to get fireballs up the butt.

Once you deal with the dragon in a manner you see fit good luck with the dragon priest.

With victory eventually go enjoy your new "Voice Fool Far" 'f*** with the AIs brain' shout.


CunningMongoose wrote:

You can tell if you are sick by looking under the Magic - Effects menu

Thanks :)

I appear to have nothing but buffs, so no Vampirism. :)

Sovereign Court

Funny thing happened outside White Run.

I headed to the Giant camp with the mamoths. Stopped on top of the hill and saw a skeletal hand holding a sword out of the water. I thought OK easy treasure and bailed off my horse.

I walked into the steaming pool and took the "Orcish Sword" and watched the bones tumble into the water and little fish swim by.

Turned to mount my horse and he was floating away as if he where a Helium filled Horse Balloon. I was like WTH... My horse is a balloon now as he got further and further away from me. I thought odd and opened up my equipment list and closed out and my horse fell from easily 5000 feet and splattered into the ground dead as can be.

I had to reload just so my horse did not die from breathing in the steam from the pool with the orc sword.


IceniQueen wrote:
Turned to mount my horse and he was floating away as if he where a Helium filled Horse Balloon. I was like WTH...

You know what I'd pay for as DLC? An in-game recording function to be able to go back like 10 or 15 minutes of footage. Even 5 minutes would be sweet. Doesn't need to be high resolution. 480i or 480p would do.

As a suggestion tip, if that happens again try using Fast Travel to a nearby location. Your horse should reappear with you if it hasn't splatted yet.

Sovereign Court

What I want in a patch or DLC is the ability to fight from horseback like in Mount and Blade

Not sure the fast travel would have worked as I was not on my horse. BUT I think IF it happens again i will open up the save or the equipment menu before he gets to high to splat.


IceniQueen wrote:
What I want in a patch or DLC is the ability to fight from horseback like in Mount and Blade

+1

The Exchange

Mikaze wrote:
If anyone else was having trouble figuring out how to make a dual-weapon/light armor user work without spreading themselves too thing, the Elemental Fury shout is STUPIDLY good. INSANE even. The first step alone turns you into a dragon blender.

I went dual axe wielding with heavy armor. Seems to be working well, still able to sneak pretty well maybe moving a little slower, but not too bad.


Wolfthulhu wrote:
Mikaze wrote:
If anyone else was having trouble figuring out how to make a dual-weapon/light armor user work without spreading themselves too thing, the Elemental Fury shout is STUPIDLY good. INSANE even. The first step alone turns you into a dragon blender.
I went dual axe wielding with heavy armor. Seems to be working well, still able to sneak pretty well maybe moving a little slower, but not too bad.

Find a copy of the Muffle Spell and the Steed Stone. Where did this woman in full Ebony Armor hacking me to death with an Axe come from? Where!

@IceniQueen,

Unless my game is glitched your horse will fast travel with you regardless of where it is. I've gotten off my horse in the middle of the wilderness and chased dragons on foot across large stretches of the world, then fast traveled to the nearest site to my current (not yet found) quest location... and my horse is there.

It actually irks me a bit as it has nearly gotten my horse killed a few times when I've fast traveled to an area that I haven't cleared. Right out in front of bandit forts are the worst.

And +2 for Fighting from Horseback, although archery could be an issue.


Anyone else running w/ a Conjurer specialist? I'm now summoning Darth Maul (aka a Dremora Lord) for HTH fights, and a Storm Atronach for ranged fights. Dragon fights inevitably begin w/ the latter and move to the former.

So far my Dremora Lords are my favorite NPCs. Their taunts and boasts as they go running around hacking things to bits are hilarious.

Favorite and arguably most important skill in the game: Smithing. Even though I'm a full mage w/ essentially no armor, I do my best to keep Lydia (Whiterun) in the best heavy metal gear, and now I can even improve the magical stuff. Awesome.

She started out w/ 1-handed weapons & shield, but if I equip her w/ a 2-hander that does more base damage, she swaps that out. Sometimes I leave it alone, but sometimes I fiddle w/ what she should be bearing.

No problems (a la Fallout: New Vegas) of a companion disappearing, and she carries a fair amount of loot for me during dungeon crawls. Another benefit to being a mage w/ little armor is that I can devote time to carrying loot as well.

Some of my favorite non-conjuration spells: Water Breathing & Transmute! Get iron ore and boost it to silver > gold ore, smelt into ingots, forge jewelry...hello profit + boost your Alteration skill as well.

I love the Dragon Shouts, though I often forget to use them in the heat of battle.


Lol, had to reload. Saber Cat killed my spiffy new horse. No matter how much dual-wield shocks I hit him with, he just wanted to eat my horse.


Don't Storm Call near towns. Lighting is indiscriminate and likes metal clad guards. Unless of course you're and evil a******. Totally forgot I had that bound to Z instead of Unrelenting Force while taking on a dragon attacking that little town at the base of the High Hurathgur (Grey Beard's mountain). Oops.

I need to go get better conjuration spells. I'm almost to 70 and still goofing around with an Ice Atronach.


Playing a Redguard shield & spell combo, with some sneaky archery and warhammer as well. Still early on, remembering how Elder Scrolls games suck me in with their "Harvest/Make/Cook All the Things!" mentality. I'm also finding I prefer to run everywhere in the countryside, rather than use a horse. (See "Harvest All the Things".)

Learned that giants hit really, really hard.
Draugr don't respond to well to fire.
Wolves are bastards.


Lilith wrote:

Playing a Redguard shield & spell combo, with some sneaky archery and warhammer as well. Still early on, remembering how Elder Scrolls games suck me in with their "Harvest/Make/Cook All the Things!" mentality. I'm also finding I prefer to run everywhere in the countryside, rather than use a horse. (See "Harvest All the Things".)

Learned that giants hit really, really hard.
Draugr don't respond to well to fire.
Wolves are bastards.

Hey!!!


The Wolfiest™ wrote:
Hey!!!

stab-stab-stab-stab

: searches body :

"hey! a wolf-pelt! Sweet!"

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Eben TheQuiet wrote:
"hey! a wolf-pelt! Sweet!"

Which, inconveniently, weighs more once its leather than it does as an untanned hide. :-/ I think my chests in Breezehome and Honeyside are full of several hundred pieces of leather and twice as many leather strips. I should really hunker down and make some armor with that to raise my smithing and get some gold.

I also need to spend some time alchemying instead of just hoarding all the ingredients in my alchemist's satchel.


ive enjoyed skyrim so far, but there is one major problem i have. the horrible GUI of HUD whatever you wanna call it. you cant see your life until you take damage, theres no breath meter when swimming and no status effect bar. if i want to find out if im under the effects of something i ahve to open the menu? wth. maybe its different on the console version.

Scarab Sages

I agree about the breath meter and about the status effects (although you did nieed to open a character screen in every one of skyrims predecessors to see it, so I don't really have a problem with it), but healt and magic? - as long as they aren't on screen, they are full, so I really cannot see a problem there.


I am the biggest, baddest stealth archer in all of Skyrim. I took down a dragon that landed on top of me with 5 shots. When it landed it I started to sneak and it couldn't see me under it's own feet. Every time I shot it I stunned long enough for me to get my next shot in, I did that 5 times in a row and it died a humiliating death. All I need to do now is get my armorer skill up to 100 so I can wear its skin.
Admittedly I am 35th level with stealth of 97, archery of 91 and using the Nightingale Bow boosted to Exquisite.

Scarab Sages

I had to restart and I am only level 10 now (I use to take my time exploring, doing every tiny mission I encounter), because I somehow triggered a very strange bug that had me killed with a finishing move animation every time I was attacked (level 20, wolf attacks befor I hit it, I am dead through finishing move).


That sucks? The only glitch I had/have is I occasionally fall through the floor in my bedroom at the Dawnstar sanctuary and land in the labyrinth below.
In my game all the horses stay on the ground/ mammoths don't go flying around and the dragons don't swim. I haven’t had a single game freeze either. All of those will probably happen in my next play through.


Eben TheQuiet wrote:
The Wolfiest™ wrote:
Hey!!!

stab-stab-stab-stab

: searches body :

"hey! a wolf-pelt! Sweet!"

pounce-bite-maul

Mmm, brains. *lipsmack*

Sucker.

Scarab Sages

Xabulba wrote:

That sucks? The only glitch I had/have is I occasionally fall through the floor in my bedroom at the Dawnstar sanctuary and land in the labyrinth below.

In my game all the horses stay on the ground/ mammoths don't go flying around and the dragons don't swim. I haven’t had a single game freeze either. All of those will probably happen in my next play through.

Sounds likely. I didn't experience any of those glitches, aside fro one ever spinning corpse, but now my game randomly crashes to desktop (I quicksave alot...), a bug I didn't encounter during my first game at all.

None of those bugs seems particularly bad to me (partly because I've played every Elder Scrolls game before and man were the worse...)


There should be a console patch next week, fyi, and a PC patch to follow.

My only real glitches are spazzing dragon skeletons that flop around, or appear halfway in a building. But they disappear as well.

30th level, and only had 2 restart (Xbox) freezes. Everything else is minor stuff.

Kicking myself for waiting so long to use my Dragon Shouts, of which there are plenty left to find.

An addendum to my smithing comments earlier; not only do you get more $ for selling off improved gear you don't need, and improve your Smithing skill along the way, you'll also improve your Speech skill from the constant selling...

Alternately, you could buy/mine all the Iron ore that's ever available, get that Transmute (Alteration) special spell, transmute iron>silver>gold ore, smelt into gold ingots, forge gold necklaces (or better w/ the right gems), and have a never-ending profit stream. Thereby improving Speech at the same time.


I use the old fashioned way of earning cash ingame, killing people and selling their stuff.


There was some kind of update yesterday that Steam downloaded. No patch notes or anything, but it did reset all my graphics settings.

I'll have to try the Smithing approach on my next character. Maybe go the whole hog there with alchemy and enchanting as well.

Oh, did anyone see on the that someone had gone off the Map so to speak and run into terrain assets for the rest for both Morrowind and Cyrodiil.

Unless he's done a good job of faking, it seems like the DLC won't be piddly little costume packs like EA or Activision make. As if Skyrim wasn't enough.

Silver Crusade

Markarth is best quest chain. Also, lol hypocrisy.

Spoiler:
Kind of pokes some holes in the Stormcloak rhetoric of taking back their homeland from outsiders when they did the same thing to the Breton-types of the Reach. Still put Madanach down like the mad dog he was, but not exactly on friendly terms with the Silver-Bloods either. Certainly not the guy that was pulling the strings at least. Need a way to out him for his crimes, badly.

Still waiting for Flopsy McSkeledragon to despawn out of Whiterun. He keeps bouncing around at the entrance and I'm actually starting to get worried for those Alik'r guys that are still loitering there.

Found out that Skyrim has a gamebreaker just like the previous entries. Do not read if you want to avoid temptation:

Spoiler:
You can make Enchantments that make you better at Alchemy. You can make potions that make you better at Enchantments. Bounce back and forth long enough, then start making enchantments or potions that make you better at other skills like Smithing. OH GOD.

Avoiding it on my straight-"classed" characters, but I think I might actually dabble in that for my high-Speech, high-Alchemy non-action hero character to cover the handicap when high levels happen. Because I don't have time to train in armor when I'm busy picking flowers dammit.

Ever since watching a certain YouTube video on the game, I haven't been able to listen to Whiterun's preacher of Talos without hearing him scream "BUTT ASS MAN!" The public park of my favorite city has been ruined for me.

Dorje Sylas wrote:


Oh, did anyone see on the that someone had gone off the Map so to speak and run into terrain assets for the rest for both Morrowind and Cyrodiil.

Not sure which one excites me more. Punching genocidal Black Marsh Argonians in post-apocalyptic Morrowind or likely punching genocidal Thalmor in semi-occupied Cyrodil.

Can has both?


Mikaze wrote:

Markarth is best quest chain. Also, lol hypocrisy. ** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:
If you kill Silver-Blood after you kill Madanach and finish the quest a courier will show and give you a "gift of Frendship" from the Yarl.
Liberty's Edge

I am having trouble with a frost troll. Any tips?


CapeCodRPGer wrote:
I am having trouble with a frost troll. Any tips?

Fire. Lots of it.


Bit of a spoiler request: Is the civil war thing considered part of the main quest... Like, does finishing any the two possible chains trigger some form of ending?

I have played Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion before, and never "finished" the main story... So I just want to say I have "finished" Skyrim, in a way. My chosen way of playing rpgs (some kind of barbarian character), is insanely boring in skyrim (it's no different than from Arena, really... That's what, 17 years of the same melee gameplay?) so I just want to go back to Dark Souls :p

I finished the whole dragon line and companion line...

Silver Crusade

Jarl Balgruuf and Irileth are my OTP now.

I don't know much of the lorg behind Meridia but after her quest I'm kind of interested in this Light-But-Probably-Not-Really-All-That-Good,-Certainly-Not-Too-Nice,-Kinda- Domineering-Actually god/demon/daedra thing.

Light Riverwood spoiler

Spoiler:
Anyone else disappointed that there's no third option to that letter delivery quest? They're both being jackasses.

Xabulba wrote:
Mikaze wrote:

Markarth is best quest chain. Also, lol hypocrisy. ** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

Too bad I can't do it through legal means thou- oh wait I'm playing an orc barbarian-type who doesn't give a damn. RELOADIN! :D

Lilith wrote:
CapeCodRPGer wrote:
I am having trouble with a frost troll. Any tips?
Fire. Lots of it.

That, but if you don't have enough of that, running right past it will do just fine if it's the one I'm thinking of.

Here and there you will run into creatures that are way above you in terms of levels, and in the early levels avoidance is probably your best bet.(giants for example...and that damn w[REDACTED]). That said, dragon shouts and other abilities will eventually make you capable of taking on some of these enemies even while your level is well below theirs without having to blow through your stock of potions.

Silver Crusade

Oguleth wrote:

Bit of a spoiler request: Is the civil war thing considered part of the main quest... Like, does finishing any the two possible chains trigger some form of ending?

From what I've seen so far, you can ignore the war entirely if you just want to do the main quest. Don't know about any special endings for those chains yet, haven't even started them.


I'll be doing the War first on my next play through, but as far as I can tell it doesn't really change the Main story (i.e. the "Deal with the Dragons" story). It may change some details.

Spoiler:
There is some stuff I found in the Thalmor embassy that may change if you take out Ulfric and the Stormcloaks. Actually it's given my current character a reason to join the Imperial side.... If you get your hands on a copy of the Thalmor report regrading Ulfric Stormcloak it lays it out kinda clearly.

Silver Crusade

"You know what's wrong with Skyrim these days?"

So mad. Finally found that awesome looking black robe set shown off in one of the loading screens and it turns out to be freaking Thalmor clothing. Now I can't ever wear it on my mage character on principle alone.*

The Necromancer robes are pretty infuriating in their own way too. They seem to have a very nice bonus, but they're just so tacky.

They look like something a 12 year old necromancer would think is cool. Like someone bought an iron-on design from Hot Topic. Or like some wizard was a big Punisher fan or something.

Helped a jester with some roadside assistance today. Kind of an awkward moment.

Recently had my longest dragon fight yet, except the dragon decided to stay just out of my reach and instead fly all over the tundra and pick a fight with every wolf, deer, sabre-tooth cat, bandit, mudcrab, Stormcloak, Imperial, fox, mammoth, skeleton, necromancer, giant, and rabbit he could reach. I spent most of the "fight" trying to catch my breath, and I've been boosting Stamina.

*Finally read some in-game books about the Thalmor.

Spoiler:
The earlier claim about them having a Gestapo vibe doesn't even cut it. They are literally High Elf Nazis. There's been a sharp increase in roadside Thalmor axings since I found those books.


ooh, do you by any chance know the name of this book? I personally love the Thalmor. I'm playing one right now. A would-be conjurer if I could get my hands on any decent spells. Where does an aspiring mage start out?


Anyone maxed out a Skill yet? I've maxed out Smithing & Conjuration (nothing else is even close). A few observations for those contemplating these.

Smithing: a Master can finally craft Dragon armor, either in Light or Heavy variations. The Light version is clearly the pinnacle of Light Armor, but not so the Heavy variation, where Daedric armor still offers better protection (and looks cooler, let's face it), which you can get at Smithing 90. Though if that matters to you, Daedric armor is slightly heavier.

Since I'm playing a full mage, I won't be wearing any Dragon armor, and I'm keeping Lydia in Daedric armor. So I don't think I needed to Master Smithing (or at least pick the perk when I got there). Should I play again, it will be a Magus-type, and I will get the perks for both Light & Heavy Armor, so I can keep myself (Light) and my companion (Heavy) fully geared up. While my mage gear is great for lots of Magicka and its regeneration, getting 1-shotted by an arrow from a Draugr Deathlord was not fun :/

There's an alternate route to Daedric armor, by the way, that doesn't involve traditional smithing. A more mage-friendly route is all I'll say for now.

Conjuration: awesome sauce and more of it when I got the Master perk of Twin Souls. Which means I can run around w/ 2 separate (augmented) Dremora Lords, plus my companion. Oh. My. Goodness. For those of you not comfortable w/ getting up close & personal in your fights, this is a great way to go.

Random scenes I've enjoyed recently, or that moved me:

Playfully chasing after a fox, only to have a snowy sabre-tooth lion appear and crush it w/ 1 vicious swipe. Needless to say, I avenged the cute fox.

The varied environments, both indoors and outdoors, in this game are quite breathtaking. Weather effects, changing as they do, only add to this.

I think I had the same drawn-out Dragon fight as Mikaze did above. I was willing to let it go, but when it picked a fight w/ a Mudcrab, the kid-gloves came off! Speaking of mudcrabs, how awesome would it be to have a full suit of Mudcrab Chitin armor! Ok, not really, but it would be funny. Like maybe a Daedric quest reward.

Some glitches I would like to go away: my Companion using clearly inferior weapons (bows!) when I've already given her better versions of the same weapon; dragons dying but not burning up and giving me their souls (yes, this could sound strange to someone unfamiliar w/ this game...); the floppy dragon skeletons that won't go away.


Glitch/warning: if you upgrade your home, don't use the weapon racks! I put Keening there, and luckily I don't want to use it for this character. When I came back to the home, it was lying at the bottom of the weapon rack, but you can't retrieve it at all.

Doesn't Skyrim feel like a nice blend of Golarion's Irrisen, Lands of the Linnorm Kings, and Realms of the Mammoth Lords?

I love how the Draugr Scourges use Dragon Shouts (Unrelenting Force I believe) on you, which sound great echoing through the crypts you're invariably in when you fight them.

The Forsworn: poor Celt-analogues just don't realize yet...Skyrim is for the Nords!

I'll probably save the Civil War quests for last, and do this character as a Stormcloak. If I play again, I'll be an Imperial sympathizer. But there's still a million and one things to do before I worry about that.

Kudos to Bethesda for providing shortcuts to escape large dungeon complexes w/out incessant and interminable backtracking from the endpoint.

I seem to be rambling. Sorry.

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