Skyrim

[plaztic.dagger]

There are chapters?

I'm too busy just walking around and raiding random points on the map and working through the first town's quests. The only faction I've found so far are the Companions.

Someone sent the Dark Brotherhood after me though. I want to figure out who so I can go have a "discussion" with them. Probably the same mill worker who hired three thugs to kill me after I stole some things from her house.

It's cool though--I was unobserved while stealing, but she figured out it was me because I had been talking to her.

-Rand

Yup, thats what I love about these games. I stop doing the Champion Quests after realizing that I was going to become.... ummm hairy.

I've also enlisted in the Legion. But still grinding for gold to buy my swanky house. Still need 5k more to buy then another 10k to furnish it.

Havent met any Dark Brotherhood folks, but did have 3 chumps (Thalmor?) come after me in Elven armor and a dark hooded guy casting spells.

[Raven Paradox]

Well, as much as I love Skyrim, I'd have to say Oblivion was better. I put maybe 4 hours in so far, and have completed the Dark Brotherhood questline. It wasn't even NEARLY as cool as the Oblivion DB quests. It's basically sneak up from behind and kill, doing 30x plus if you're good at sneaking (which is ridiculously easy to level up, it's my highest skill at 61, my one hand and light armor are around 50, and the rest are around 20-30 for skills I use commonly, and the others at 15 still.

It also seems a LOT harder to hit your opponent then it was in Oblivion, but I do like that they made it so that leveling up matters, and there's no more of this crap where you only level up for leveling the skills that are your major skills. In Morrowind, I normally picked skills I never use, only because I wanted the extra skill points in them when they become useful.

Horses seem to also suck. I got the Dark Brotherhood horse and it is nothing compared to the original from Oblivion. I also don't like that you have to pick a side to start going with at the start of the game. I don't care for either the rebels nor the Imperials, but I had to pick one inorder to progress. I think you can change your side, but I don't want to bother dealing with it, since I've killed both sides as part of my DB quests.

Overall, a really great game, and very much worth only $60. Just keep in mind that if you can't play BF3, you can't play this game, so don't bother buying the PC version unless you have a great laptop. I can easily play BF3, but have troubles playing Skyrim on low settings. I always get a bunch of lag in side dungeons, making those fights particularly hard.

I also don't see much use to upgrading Stamina or Magicka over health. The perks for the magic classes make it so you can use your magic fairly well without needing to upgrade it much, yet I'm not a mage and the only magic I use is to heal myself.


I really wish that Bethesda would go back and remake Morrowind with Skyrim standards. Morrowind was just a great game, but there were so many things that made it so you had to cheat if you didn't want to grind.

This game has made me do one thing, and that's appreciate Oblivion a whole lot more, at least with their quest lines. I seem to be moving too quickly through the faction quests in this game, and I don't even use the cheat codes, and I haven't even found any decent armor or weapons. That's another thing that made me a bit mad. The best weapon you get in the Dark Brotherhood quests is a dagger that has like 10 strikes until you run out of it's power, and then it's just a minor dagger. I remember in Oblivion, you got some cool looking armor and a lot of rings, amulets, and decent weapons to go along with it, plus it was about 20x longer.

I also miss the arena.

I haven't played much, so maybe I'm missing some things, but the only thing left to do in the DB is listen to the Night Mother telling me to go talk to a disturbed gambler and he wants me to kill a reckless mage in the same spot I killed the last reckless mage. I was fairly disappointed by that.

[Rand{CLR}]

It's the little touches that really make games like this. The Radiant Storytelling quests that are semi-random are interesting, and the locations are sometimes superb. I came across a smuggler cave last night where an unpleasant surprise was waiting in some boxes, and the mini-story of this encounter was hilarious.

That's why this game is great--knowing there are 200+ more encounters like this one that may be waiting for me out there.

-Rand

[The_Needle]

I agree. Its random stuff I run across that makes it great for me. I got jumped by some thugs who had a contract on me for stealing a book. In the process of defending myself I think I chain lightninged every critter in the town. There were dead goats, dogs, rabbits etc everywhere, lol.

I also figured out how to move my save game back and forth between my home PC and my work PC so I am not playing different characters anymore, just one mage that I really like.

[Dead...Again]

I agree. Its random stuff I run across that makes it great for me. I got jumped by some thugs who had a contract on me for stealing a book. In the process of defending myself I think I chain lightninged every critter in the town. There were dead goats, dogs, rabbits etc everywhere, lol.

I also figured out how to move my save game back and forth between my home PC and my work PC so I am not playing different characters anymore, just one mage that I really like.

If you got the game in Steam then it should do that automatically.

[goldenfooler]

Is it better to buy on steam now or wait until they have a price break somewhere?
I can wait to play it for 10 bucks as BF3 is taking most of my time.

[Raven Paradox]

I ran into a guy searching for his dog. I found the dog, and all of a sudden was in the middle of a Daedric quest. One thing I really like about this game (that I wish BF3 would do) is that it has the achievements (thanks to Steam) that Xbox has.

But still, it seems they're going for graphic quality over storyline. I kinda don't like that. The Dark Brotherhood, simply, was too short, and way too easy.

BTW do you have to progress in the storyline to make Dragons spawn? I'm about level 18 now, and haven't seen a single one. Only things I find in the wilderness are trolls, horkers, wolves, saber cats, and spiders.

Also, how difficult are the dragons? Do you absolutely need a shield?

[Rand{CLR}]

Yes, you have to move the main quest along to get dragons to appear for sure. Given the circumstances of the encounter, I'm almost positive you won't see them until that point. It's not really very far into the main quest line.

They're not easy, but then again I don't know your build. I carry a shield but don't use it much, relying instead on a one-handed sword and magic. Some named giant I came across in a Daedric quest (which was fun) did FAR more damage to me than the dragon (1 club hit vs. dragon melee or breath attack)--have you fought giants yet and can you beat them?

The first encounter is easier than the second one I had (only 2 so far), because you get help.

Golden, if you can wait to pay $10 (which will probably be next year's Christmas sale price), why pay the $60 it costs now? For me, an Elder Scrolls game is an absolute day of release buy, but I also like RPGs quite a bit.

-Rand

[goldenfooler]

I just don't know the steam prices. I like RPG's as my 3rd best type of game. I was just wondering prices and holding off. I only want so many time sinks in my life right now.

[FieryDragon]

Dragons are harder than Giants by far. As for when Dragons appear, they are randomly generated "after" your first encounter with one. Mind you that there are ones that are set to be in certain places, such as certain shout locations and nests. Mostly in open areas where they can land since once they hit a certain amount of hp, they stay on the ground. Killing a Troll was the hardest thing for me since I am 2h Hammer kind of guy. Got easier once I learned from a book in-game that fire nullifies their OP hp rgn.

[goldenfooler]

. Got easier once I learned from a book in-game that fire nullifies their OP hp rgn.

Ok i am sorry but who plays RPG games and doesn't know to hit a troll with fire?

You are not a nerd sir

[harpy]

I just don't know the steam prices. I like RPG's as my 3rd best type of game. I was just wondering prices and holding off. I only want so many time sinks in my life right now.

Definitely wait. The ui is bad, horrible bad. It's worse than oblivion.
Hopefully, by the time you get a price drop, mods will be available that will clean up the ui.

[Rand{CLR}]

Ok i am sorry but who plays RPG games and doesn't know to hit a troll with fire?

You are not a nerd sir

Yeah, seriously. Troll-fire, troll-fire. It's one of the basics.

I did find a neat thievery book that actually provided some helpful stuff on the pickpocket system though. Time of day and observation do make a difference--even if you look hidden, if the mark noticed you hanging around you're much more likely to be caught, and night-time offers better innate odds than day-time regardless of indoor/outdoor status.

What I don't get is why anyone uses 2-handed weapons. I've never been a big fan in any RPG, but here you miss out on any one of dual-wield, magic, or shield by using 2-handed weapons. Since they aren't limited by class, it just seems like you are seriously limiting your options with that extra hand (que Phantom for inappropriate joke here).

I haven't tried to fight a giant. This one just happened to hit me as part of the quest; since he was named, I assumed he may be tougher than a regular one.

-Rand

[Duke{CLR}]

I bought this last night after repeated freezes in BF3 and I have dabbled a bit in it. I usually go for some sort of melee character but I have decided to go with a High Elf and use a Bow for my weapon and concentrate on magic for everything else.

[goldenfooler]

classicly in RPG/DND worlds 2hd weapons have a higher multiplier for critical hits. So less hits with more damage and higher X. Usually a crit is 2x for normal weapon. 2 HD weapons should be 3-4X for the crit hits.

I still would take the magic over anything else. But the weight ratio should also come into effect as if you have shield/sword the 2 hd should be less weight.
Weight limits are the worst and best things in this game as I am a horder and will max out every slot selling the most meaningless items.

I always thought you could follow where I was in an RPG by what i have to throw out of my bags because I got something better.