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Author Topic: Elder Scrolls V  (Read 143269 times)

snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #300 on: 08 Jan 2012, 01:35 »

Depends on how high a hit your pc budget is going to take, I guess. I bought a brand new pc just after Skyrim, and while it was expensive as fuck, ultra graphics looks really good. But I played for a while on the old pc, and that ran Skyrim on medium, which is still good looking, and that pc was midrange price a bit over a year ago. I'd go to this site to check what to expect - the other specs than graphics cards is at the bottom of the page. If a pc that's within your budget range looks like it will reasonably run stuff at medium-high settings, I'd say go for it.
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LTK

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #301 on: 08 Jan 2012, 04:33 »

You can also look at the PC Gamer rig for some good value components, but only if your budget is roughly similar to theirs. I could use a graphics card upgrade, but there's no way I'm spending €220 on one when the one I have cost €80 back then. A 1GB version is affordable, but since I already have that much VRAM there wouldn't be much point in buying one with just as much.

Wait, I forgot I was going to elaborate on the Imperial-Stormcloak conflict. It's easily summarized though: Ulfric Stormcloak is a giant dick. Took me a while to come to that conclusion, but he is. This is why:

(click to show/hide)

I don't know about you, but I definitely don't want that guy as king. Ulfric Stormcloak can get sucked by a slaughterfish.
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #302 on: 14 Jan 2012, 17:56 »

So uh after about 148 hours into this game I can safely say that there's something missing from this game that doesn't quite give it the same sort of quality that I initially had it staked out to be. I'm finding the NPCs to be pretty boring garbage. Every now and then there's some fun interesting quest here and there, or some random encounter that makes me laugh a bit, but at the same time it's difficult for me to remember any particularly memorable characters in the game.

I never played enough of Oblivion to make a qualitative judgement comparing the two, but what I have played quite extensively are both Gamebryo-era Fallout games, and I can probably count the number of NPCs I remember for each game on more than one hand - which is more than can be said for Skyrim. The biggest disappointment to me are probably the followers/companions; at most there's one quest that requires you to fetch an item or talk to someone about something, or kill something else, and then you have some dude who follows you wherever the hell you want. The most interesting companions I think I've gotten so far is the random woman (I can't even remember her fucking name) in the Whiterun tavern who you have to beat up in a fistfight before you could recruit her, and Mjoll the Lioness - simply because there was backstory, something to attach a personality to the character.
On that note, the first follower you get from the main quest, Lydia, is a goddamn doormat with as much meaning as a two-by-four plank. Not to trivialise her voice actor's efforts, though. At least she tried. But, you know, in the Fallout games there's a sense of companionship where you're travelling and maybe the dude in your 3-man party brings up something and goes "heyy remember when I told you about X, and I really didn't like Y? Well, have a quest Z".

This is something Bioware does much better: character development. I was initially thinking of saying that Bethesda's writers lack the talent, but Fallout 3 sure as hell proves that hypothesis wrong. It just feels missing from Skyrim in particular. It makes me a sadpanda.

Addendum: I guess you could argue that they made this a purposeful design choice, and that the proper mindset to play it in is just to project whatever you want onto the characters. I suppose in that context there's a method to the madness, but at the same time I don't personally think a gargantuan investment into a mahoosive digital sandbox for you to splash around in and smack some wooden dolls together resonates with a large portion of players who do just want a fleshed-out, character-rich world. But now I'm just arguing with myself  :mrgreen:
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Cire27

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #303 on: 14 Jan 2012, 19:39 »

I don't know if I like the fact that the Stormcloaks are a kind of trap for people first getting into the game.  I personally leaned towards them until I did some book reading and now the Imperials seem an outright better choice.  There are no redeeming qualities about the Stormcloaks besides the initial "FUCK YEAH FOR THE NORDS!"
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snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #304 on: 15 Jan 2012, 02:33 »

Depends on how much you come to hate the Dominion. I'm not sure if it's a flaw on Bethesda's side that they've made a civil war where I'm not seeing any redeeming qualities for any of the sides, other than "they don't murder people for the same bigoted reasons that the other group does". I think what made me go with the Stormcloacks in the end was talking to that Dominion guy that's patrolling the throne room in Markarth looking for Talos worshipers (We want to show the world the superiority of Mer over Men), and then seeing the legion bring a dominion representative to the peace talks later in the main quest. If they bring a group that's actively, outspoken racist towards Nords to a meeting about the future of the province of the Nords, they pretty much don't even think themselves that they are doing what's best for the Nords.

On the NPC issue, yeah, there's definitely something lacking on that track. The way characters acted in that game was so horrible that you instantly stopped living in the world every time two NPCs talked to each other, and half the times you talked to them. I can still only remember details about three characters from that game - the adoring fan, because he was so irritating that you wanted to take him to a cliff and push him off, the leader of the thieves guild and the orc that you fight at the end of the arena, both because their back stories were pretty cool (and sad). Compared to that, I've noticed a lot more characters and their stories in Skyrim, but nothing is close to Fallout 3 or NV, where I remember a lot of people. The Skyrim companions were definitely less interesting, but I think that's an active choice - Fallout 3's story was about the people in the wasteland, while Skyrim's story is about, well, Skyrim.
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LTK

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #305 on: 15 Jan 2012, 03:42 »

Yeah, the elves are really racist against men, but that's different from men being racist to men. Elves are a wholly different species, who's to say they can't be superior to men? They won the freakin' war, that kind of makes it hard to ignore their influence. One time I was fighting a dragon and a group of Thalmor joined the fray. The dragon was dead in less than 30 seconds. Say what you want, but they're a hell of a lot more effective than any man I've seen fighting a dragon. (Except me of course.)

Earlier I was wondering if there was actually any proof that Talos had ascended to godhood. We have no reason to believe this is the case apart from the shrines to him having some effect, but that doesn't preclude the citizens of Skyrim being influenced by a MASSIVE placebo-effect. And what about the other gods, then? Do we have reason to believe they exist? I've had about six different Daedra speak to me in the coure of the game, but never any god. I don't know about you, but that makes me strongly doubt whether the gods even care at all.

I'm at level 56 and still enjoying myself. Some of the lower Dwemer ruins you visit towards the end of the game looks amazing, I've just finished exploring every corner of them.
I've gained access to those now as well, with the thing that Septimus Signus gave me. The place is mindboggling! I just can't figure out how that giant and the two frost trolls ever got in there.

Also, I have an Elder Scroll now, woo!
« Last Edit: 15 Jan 2012, 05:08 by LTK »
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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #306 on: 15 Jan 2012, 07:00 »

The inclusion of an actual Elder Scroll as a plot item in Oblivion (final thieves guild quest is to steal one) got me really excited. That one had such a central role in Skyrim was just plain awesome. And they've still been able to keep the lore about them pretty low-key, which is cool - there's still mystery to the world.

As to the divines, they are definitely active - see the end of Oblivion. According to lore, the eight are actually weaker than the other Aedra, their weakened state being because part of their souls went into shaping Nirn, the world. The ability of a human to rise to divinity or near-divinity is also apparent - Sotha Sill, Vivec, Almalexia and Dagoth Ur all did exactly that.

Actually, when reading about Dagoth Ur right now, I notice that his goals are very similar to the Stormcloacks. He wanted to sever his province from the Empire, return to the old religions, and had a clear "Morrowind for the Dunmer" ideal (although he actually wanted to completely eradicate all none-Dunmer population in the province). Looking at some versions of the story told in Morrowind, he wasn't even the bad guy.
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Cire27

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #307 on: 15 Jan 2012, 08:12 »

Also we have Alduin who is the son of a Divine.

While reading about the Aedra I came across this:
Quote
In the Elder Scrolls universe, a "plane" and a "planet" are one and the same; that is, there is nothing in the mortal plane of Nirn except for the planet Nirn. What mortals see as the moons and planets are nothing more than the mortal brain's attempt to interpret the presence of the divine planes surrounding Nirn.
« Last Edit: 15 Jan 2012, 08:18 by Cire27 »
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Melodic

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #308 on: 15 Jan 2012, 09:31 »

So uh after about 148 hours into this game

dude after 148 hours i don't care what you say, you either really like the game or live in antarctica.
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LTK

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #309 on: 15 Jan 2012, 12:53 »

As to the divines, they are definitely active - see the end of Oblivion. According to lore, the eight are actually weaker than the other Aedra, their weakened state being because part of their souls went into shaping Nirn, the world. The ability of a human to rise to divinity or near-divinity is also apparent - Sotha Sill, Vivec, Almalexia and Dagoth Ur all did exactly that.

Actually, when reading about Dagoth Ur right now, I notice that his goals are very similar to the Stormcloacks. He wanted to sever his province from the Empire, return to the old religions, and had a clear "Morrowind for the Dunmer" ideal (although he actually wanted to completely eradicate all none-Dunmer population in the province). Looking at some versions of the story told in Morrowind, he wasn't even the bad guy.

Okay, so given that Talos did rise to godhood, why is he connected to the Eight Divines? Because that seems what the Thalmor are miffed about; that 'our' gods are inferior to 'their' gods and shouldn't be considered of the same stature.

Quote
In the Elder Scrolls universe, a "plane" and a "planet" are one and the same; that is, there is nothing in the mortal plane of Nirn except for the planet Nirn. What mortals see as the moons and planets are nothing more than the mortal brain's attempt to interpret the presence of the divine planes surrounding Nirn.

That's interesting. We'd better hope neither plane ever develops spacefaring technology!
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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #310 on: 15 Jan 2012, 16:00 »

About the eight - earlier in lore, the mer prayed to other Aedra than men. There's also the different views on Lorkhan, the creator God, as he is seen as evil by mer and good by men. All in all, to me it seems like this is just another tool the Dominion i using to break the empire apart.

This whole conflict has me thinking - maybe there could be a RTS or some other kind of strategy game set in the Elder Scrolls universe, where the different provinces fight? That could be cool.
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LTK

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #311 on: 16 Jan 2012, 16:33 »

Huh. Apparently there's a Dark Brotherhood quest...

(click to show/hide)

And I finally visited the peak of the Throat of the World. Found a really cool pickaxe there!
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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #312 on: 17 Jan 2012, 02:03 »

I forgot to look for that one up there. Gotta go do that.

Also, this Extra Credits on the opening of Skyrim is pretty spot on.
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LTK

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #313 on: 18 Jan 2012, 00:01 »

Seen that, yeah. It's strange how they managed to mess up a game's intro so badly. Fortunately it gets better.

I've gathered six of eight dragon priest masks. Can't wait to see what happens when I have all eight...
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snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #314 on: 18 Jan 2012, 03:25 »

*coughLabyrinthiancough*
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #315 on: 18 Jan 2012, 03:37 »

I'm actually more irritated by the fact they didn't place the character creation in a more convenient spot, like they have with Morrowind and every RPG with their name on it since.
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #316 on: 18 Jan 2012, 07:33 »

dude after 148 hours i don't care what you say, you either really like the game or live in antarctica.

It's more of the fact that once I explored the majority of nooks and crannies to go "ooh, aah" at I just realised that Skyrim itself is a beautiful thing but the people inhabiting it are just like those movable cardboard fixtures in those pop-up picture books

See I like the game but that doesn't mean I can't think there are shitty things about it. And there are definitely shitty things about it, imo.  :mrgreen:

My favorite quest so far was the infiltration into the Thalmor embassy, simply because I was all James-Bond-ing up in dat shit and leaving an untraceable trail of Altmer corpses with the Thalmor disguise
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LTK

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #317 on: 18 Jan 2012, 07:37 »

*coughLabyrinthiancough*
Yeah, how else did you think I knew that there were eight? ;)
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snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #318 on: 18 Jan 2012, 14:40 »

Good point. I'm impressed with my own ability to not go on the wiki and find where the rest are - I have five or six myself. I'm guessing that you'll get a really good mask, but since that can't be equipped together with a helmet, I won't be using it, as removing any piece of my daedric armor cuts the armor class from above one thousand to under five hundred. I'm going to have to increase the difficulty, as there's nothing in the game that's remotely dangerous anymore. I haven't drunk a health potion for twenty levels.
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LTK

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #319 on: 18 Jan 2012, 15:40 »

A full suit of daedric armor? Daaaaaaang. I've just passed level 50 and only found my second piece of daedric forging: a mace. The first thing I found was a pair of gauntlets, but I stored them away since I specialize in light armor. I was thrilled to finally find a higher-tier weapon - ebony weapons have become ubiquitous now that every Draugr is a Deathlord - but when I went to refine it I noticed it's exactly the same as the ebony mace. Then what's the point of using daedric weapons at all?

I did manage to find two dragonscale shields; the first was 70% resistant to shock and the second unenchanted. Just when I found the first, my smithing skill became high enough for the Arcane Blacksmith perk, which is immensely useful for me because I specialized more in enchanting than smithing. Everything that I wear is enchanted, and now that my smithing skill is steadily increasing, I don't have to discard my entire loadout because I can refine things to Epic level now. Which I can do because I enchanted a whole bunch of apparel with smithing bonuses. Did you know you can give custom names to items when you enchant them? It's really useful, I'm using a lot of jewelry with different bonuses, and you can't really tell them apart otherwise.

Difficulty-wise, I seem to be hitting a cap as well, but today I decided to revisit Arcwind Point, where there was an Ancient Dragon who gave me a bit more trouble than the usual dragons. Fortunately there were also deathlords emerging from crypts everywhere who practically did all the work for me. To keep it a bit more challenging, I switched from using my main battleaxe when I hit 100 on the two-handed skill, and started using a war axe and shield instead. You get to have some variety in combat, and your neglected skills will skyrocket as well.

Also, mask number seven. But not from Arcwind Point.  :mrgreen:
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #320 on: 18 Jan 2012, 19:48 »

Good point. I'm impressed with my own ability to not go on the wiki and find where the rest are - I have five or six myself. I'm guessing that you'll get a really good mask, but since that can't be equipped together with a helmet, I won't be using it, as removing any piece of my daedric armor cuts the armor class from above one thousand to under five hundred. I'm going to have to increase the difficulty, as there's nothing in the game that's remotely dangerous anymore. I haven't drunk a health potion for twenty levels.
you can improve them quite well with enough smithing skill
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snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #321 on: 19 Jan 2012, 01:02 »

Oh, the drop is because of the loss of 50% bonus for heavy armor and 50% bonus for set.

The daedric mace does the same damage as the ebony one, but the armor is far better - better even than the heavy dragon armor. I made all of my pieces at the forge, I'm not sure if I have found a full set when playing. The cool thing about daedric is that you forge it from the same stuff as ebony, but you need one daedric heart for every piece you forge. A bit of extra flavor.

I think part of the reason that nothing is hard is that I combine 100 in smithing with 100 in enchanting. The mace does 183 raw damage plus 25 fire damage and 20 health drain (I should be able to get higher fire damage now), with the additional +25% standing power attack perk, I probably top 300 damage per power hit (ignoring 75% armor). I figured out that with the mace, a quick strike followed by a power strike is about as fast as two normal hits. Combining those things, I think the elder dragon can take six hits, the draugr deathlords takes about the same.
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #322 on: 19 Jan 2012, 02:27 »

I've cheated the armor and everything once, just to see whats the best and stuff!

Well... What Snalin said is true, Deadric is just better armor wize but the enchantments could be the same.
If you wanna test all the goodies... don't. It makes it a boring game. Dont cheat.
Anyway, in the end I had full deadric armor, weapons, bows... the lot ^_^ and with a bow of paralyzing you are undeafetable! Except maybe by some dragon that doesnt get paralyzed...
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #323 on: 19 Jan 2012, 03:06 »

And I finally visited the peak of the Throat of the World. Found a really cool pickaxe there!

Apparently a reference to Minecraft, if the wiki is to be believed
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #324 on: 19 Jan 2012, 08:37 »

Oh, the drop is because of the loss of 50% bonus for heavy armor and 50% bonus for set.

The daedric mace does the same damage as the ebony one, but the armor is far better - better even than the heavy dragon armor. I made all of my pieces at the forge, I'm not sure if I have found a full set when playing. The cool thing about daedric is that you forge it from the same stuff as ebony, but you need one daedric heart for every piece you forge. A bit of extra flavor.

I think part of the reason that nothing is hard is that I combine 100 in smithing with 100 in enchanting. The mace does 183 raw damage plus 25 fire damage and 20 health drain (I should be able to get higher fire damage now), with the additional +25% standing power attack perk, I probably top 300 damage per power hit (ignoring 75% armor). I figured out that with the mace, a quick strike followed by a power strike is about as fast as two normal hits. Combining those things, I think the elder dragon can take six hits, the draugr deathlords takes about the same.
You don't lose one of the 50% bonuses if you equip a dragon priest mask that's labeled as Heavy Armor. I think half of them are Heavy, and the other half Light.

And, holy crap, 100 in smithing and enchanting? How do you have skill points left for anything else?
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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #325 on: 19 Jan 2012, 14:59 »

50% for having boots, gloves, helmet and curiass from the same set (iron, steel, dwarven, ebony and so on), in addition to the 50% for heavy armor only. Or does the dragon priest masks actually work with those? I can't check, as I've put all of the ones I had in their slots.

I tried to make my perks here, but I'm at level 60, so I must have picked one too much, not sure which. I've been avoiding stuff that I wouldn't use - light armor smithing, better prices (lifetime gold found - 650k, curent gold - 50k, most gold at once - 110k), and so on.

I cranked the difficulty up and went over to wielding Wuuthrad, it's made things a bit more difficult, but health drain still keeps me alive easily.

EDIT: the next patch is coming up! Check it out here

One line on the list was pretty funny: "Fixed issue where transforming back to human from werewolf would occasionally not fail"
« Last Edit: 19 Jan 2012, 15:09 by snalin »
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LTK

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #326 on: 19 Jan 2012, 15:40 »

50% for having boots, gloves, helmet and curiass from the same set (iron, steel, dwarven, ebony and so on), in addition to the 50% for heavy armor only. Or does the dragon priest masks actually work with those? I can't check, as I've put all of the ones I had in their slots.

I tried to make my perks here, but I'm at level 60, so I must have picked one too much, not sure which. I've been avoiding stuff that I wouldn't use - light armor smithing, better prices (lifetime gold found - 650k, curent gold - 50k, most gold at once - 110k), and so on.

I cranked the difficulty up and went over to wielding Wuuthrad, it's made things a bit more difficult, but health drain still keeps me alive easily.
Oh? When I exited the mask chamber, all the masks that I placed in their slots were returned to my inventory. Did they get left behind for you? The masks give you the bonus for +25% when wearing all heavy armor, but not the +25% for a matched set.

That skill calculator is pretty useful. I'd say the quantitive difference between us is that I put some points into Archery, and you put those in Speech and Restoration. My Block skill also has 4 points less. See here. I assumed that skills that increase money weren't going to be very useful because there always comes a point where you have enough capital, in coin as well as items, that any money you lose can be immediately replenished by selling what you already own. I reached this point when I owned about 20000 gold. By now I've probably got about five hundred gems of different kinds, and I've resorted to buying filled grand soul gems from any merchant I come across just so they can give me enough money to take the rest of my stuff. I even own every player house in Skyrim, fully decorated, (except the one in Windhelm, forgot about that) and I'm still left with about 40000 gold.

Wait... if you say you don't need better prices, then why did you put those five points into the merchant tree of the Speech skill?
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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #327 on: 20 Jan 2012, 09:44 »

Those are all towards giving the merchants more gold, so I don't have to visit ten of them to sell all of my loot. It's a convenience thing. The initial +10% perk is just needed to get access to all of the ones giving them more moneys.
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #328 on: 20 Jan 2012, 14:55 »

Can't imagine you'd be hard pressed for money either way. The only time I resorted to bribing someone in order to complete a quest, I received almost triple the amount I paid as a bribe, as the reward. That just don't make no sense.

I just discovered that the Dwarven sun is actually a giant bell. I'll let you figure out how to ring it.
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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #329 on: 21 Jan 2012, 14:53 »

I play on expert and every fucking spider, ice wraith or ice wolf :X Fuckem.

Anyway, I'm going up the stairs, I come across a spider, fuck that, im passing and moving on! Then comes an ice wrait directly followed by an Ice wolf! Argh, fuck em both.

Also, Killed a thief whilst a guard was just standing by and doing NOTHING! I killed him by playing the bad AI trick with some rocks in the neighbourhood :D
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LTK

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #330 on: 21 Jan 2012, 16:30 »

Three words: Kan Drem-Ov!*
*Kyne's Peace shout

I really wish we could shout from horseback. I used to dismount every time I encountered a wild animal, shout at them, then continue, but now I just keep riding and outrun the bear/wolf/troll for long enough that they give up. It helps to mod your horse's stamina so it won't seem like it has heart problems. 18 seconds of galloping and it's tired out, seriously? To do this, open the console, click the horse, and type 'setav stamina 1000'. Makes it a lot less annoying to get around without fast travel.
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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #331 on: 22 Jan 2012, 03:20 »

The idea is supposed to be that they have a lot of stamina, not speed, but since that stamina isn't implemented in any specific way (except that they can run up cliffs much easier than you, which is probably a bug), it doesn't make much sense. I haven't checked, but I suspect that you sprint faster on foot than you ride normally. Combine that with high stamina and the restore stamina when you heal yourself perk, you can sprint across the world, which renders horses completely obsolete.

Speaking of horses, I saw a horse armor mod the other day. Bethesda fan-base: still rubbin' it in.
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #332 on: 23 Jan 2012, 02:40 »

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Skaltura

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #333 on: 23 Jan 2012, 15:08 »

Still working on max level (I'm 78 now), but all that's left are the stealth skills and archery, and somehow I'm having a really hard time leveling these, I don't know why.

http://skyrimcalculator.com/#66433

Don't really know what else to spend points on, so I've got the rest saved up now. You guys got any suggestions?
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snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #334 on: 23 Jan 2012, 15:36 »

I'd either do some sneak, or max up the heavy armor bonuses - you have 20%+, the maximum is +100%+25%+25%. I'm not sure if that adds up to +150% or + 215,5%, but it still makes the difference between, well, ever needing to use health potions or not. I'd also look into boosting the weapon type you use the most, axe, mace or sword. They are pretty useful.

If you use as much destruction as it looks like you are doing, investing in the masteries would let you pause less for mana potions, unless you've got so much mana that it doesn't really matter.


I'm thinking of redistributing some of my perks (got a nice little third party thing to do just that). While Soul Squeezer and Siphon was nice to have when I got them, Azura's Star has rendered them pretty meaningless. Not sure where to put them, probably into sneak, possibly master trader.
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Skaltura

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #335 on: 23 Jan 2012, 15:46 »

I have 4 +29 destruction enchantments, destruction spells are free to cast for me, I'm also well over at the armor cap (567, I have 700+), so no need for more armor perks. The thing about the weapon perks is that, because I use axes, that bleeding damage is useless, everything is dead in one hit even on master level difficulty (Ebony War Axe dual wield power attacks do around 4000 damage).

I'm more looking into things that are fun, I might troll around with Conjuration, you know, drown them in Dremora Lords or such nonsense. :P
« Last Edit: 23 Jan 2012, 15:59 by Skaltura »
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #336 on: 23 Jan 2012, 16:07 »

Find Angi's camp south of Falkreath, she'll give you some archery training. Actual training, not that buy-to-win crap that passes for it most of the time.

I'm spoilering this bit about Angi because encountering her at level 53 was rather surprising. I think you're actually supposed to find her early in the game.
(click to show/hide)

You have an interesting build, Skaltura. What is your playstyle and equipment? To gain skill levels more quickly, you should keep Well Rested at all times, but there's not much else you can do for Archery and Sneak, save for putting a crapload of money in trainers. The two skills can be combined very well by making sneak attacks with a bow. Maybe you can practice on wildlife, or bandits patrolling the walls of a fort. And muffle your boots, Shor damn it.

As for the perks, I've found that Quick Draw makes the largest difference in combat efficiency. For Sneak I couldn't say, I haven't put any points in that.

But are you really raising every skill to 100? I can't imagine how that's anything but excruciatingly tedious. I'm level 55, with three skills at 100, two above 90, and 3 above 80. Alduin is dead, Ulfric Stormcloak is dead, and I've done all the quests that don't require you to be a massive jerkwad. (Those being the Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Boethia's and Molag Bal's quest.) I can't think of much else left to do.

Also, have you ever found one of those insects in a jar? If you completed the game, you might be interested in knowing that...

(click to show/hide)
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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

Skaltura

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #337 on: 23 Jan 2012, 17:05 »

Phew, okay, I'll answer in bullet points if that's ok with you. :-D

Playstyle: It's alternating between dual wield One-Handed (which, as mentioned, kills everything in one hit, even Ancient Dragons on master level difficulty) and is thus pretty boring and dual-cast Destruction, which is a LOT of fun, but deals pathetic damage in comparison, though you're equally as untouchable because of the Impact perk (enabling you to stunlock everything). I don't sneak, unless it's quest related, and then I use Muffle & Invisibility from the Illusion school. The points in Restoration are for enhanced magicka regen, increased spell damage against Undead and obviously healing, but that's no longer necessary since about level 60. Alteration is for the 30% magic resist and 30% magic absorb, making me practically immune to spell damage.

Equipment: Legendary Dragonplate Armor (because Daedric looks just silly) and two Ebony War Axes (same base damage as Daedric War Axes, 15, but nicer looking in my opinion), smithed to Legendary with 4 +29% Fortify Smithing enchantments and +130% Fortify Smithing potions and enchanted with a +32% Fortifiy Enchanting potion.

My enchantments are:

+29% Destruction & +72% Magicka Regen on helmet
+29% Destruction & +72% Magicka Regen on chest
+47% One-handed damage & +72 Magicka on gloves
+47% One-handed damage & +72 Stamina on boots
+23% Magic Resist & +29% Destruction on ring and necklace
+81 Fire Damage & +81 Shock damage on both weapons (interesting tid bit: because these are executed by the game as regular Destruction spells and I have >100% Fortfiy Destruction, they don't consume charges, and never have to be recharged with soul gems, they also profit from all spell damage perks and potions)


Skills: Yes, I've leveled everything but Sneak, Pickpocket and Archery to 100, things like Speech, Lockpicking and such came naturally while playing, the only thing I've had to consciously spend time on was Block (requiring me to stand in front of 2 giants for about 20 minutes) and magic skills like Illusion (done by repeatedly casting Rally on a Jarl for about 30 minutes) and Alteration (casting Detect Life and Telekinesis in each hand and taping down both mouse buttons for 15 minutes while getting a shower :P).

The points in Illusion are for Aspect of Terror (+10 Fire dmg, +15 with perks) because fire spells have a fear component and Quiet Casting to let me cast anywhere without being detected.

Insects in a Jar: Four so far (two moths, a butterfly and .. a bee I think? not sure)


As for having finished the game, not quite yet, I'm still doing the Dark Brotherhood Quests and the Thieves Guild Quests, and still haven't even started with the Civil War.
« Last Edit: 23 Jan 2012, 17:30 by Skaltura »
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Sorflakne

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #338 on: 23 Jan 2012, 19:02 »

Quote
One time I was fighting a dragon and a group of Thalmor joined the fray. The dragon was dead in less than 30 seconds. Say what you want, but they're a hell of a lot more effective than any man I've seen fighting a dragon. (Except me of course.)
You know that dark elf chick at Azura's Shrine?  I watched her wtfbbq (literally) a dragon in less than 10 seconds.  

Why are mages so overpowered?  :?

Quote
The inclusion of an actual Elder Scroll as a plot item in Oblivion (final thieves guild quest is to steal one) got me really excited. That one had such a central role in Skyrim was just plain awesome. And they've still been able to keep the lore about them pretty low-key, which is cool - there's still mystery to the world.
And if you try reading it, your eyeballs explode.  I honestly thought my character died when I tried reading it out of curiosity before getting to the quest you have to use it in.

Quote
A full suit of daedric armor? Daaaaaaang.
I had a full set and weapon before lvl 30 because
(click to show/hide)
for me to level Enchanting, which went from ~28 all the way to 50 using just soulstones I'd found in my adventuring up to that point, and none of them were self-filled.

Build if anyone's interested.

Quote
To keep it a bit more challenging, I switched from using my main battleaxe when I hit 100 on the two-handed skill, and started using a war axe and shield instead. You get to have some variety in combat, and your neglected skills will skyrocket as well.
I'm doing that too, with 2-hand and archery, since I've maxed heavy armor, 1-hand, block and smithing.  I've realized it's rather hard to keep leveling as a straight melee character, so I'm branching out.  Currently working on light armor, pickpocket, enchanting and sneak.  Resto I'd be using too, but like others have said, it's been levels since I last drank a health potion.

Quote
You don't lose one of the 50% bonuses if you equip a dragon priest mask that's labeled as Heavy Armor. I think half of them are Heavy, and the other half Light.
There's a perk that gives an armor bonus if wearing a matched armor set, so yeah, a mask would reduce your armor if you broke a set.

Quote
And, holy crap, 100 in smithing and enchanting? How do you have skill points left for anything else?
I'm doing it (and currently have 6 unspent points).  I simply took only one point in the initial perk of each of my primary (and secondary) trees.  Sure, I'm missing out on a ton of damage and armor, but seriously, even at lvl 49 there really isn't a lot that can hope to goosh me or that I can't overcome, so why waste the points?  And it allows further specialization so you can have a "back-up spec".

Besides, a Nord with The Lord sign, maxed heavy armor, carrying Shield of Solitude (I LOVE that shield) and resist magicka-enchanted armor isn't going to be taking much damage, period :lol:

Man, now I miss Morrowind Nords, the ones that were immune to frost and 50% base resistance to shock :-(


Quote
Also, this Extra Credits on the opening of Skyrim is pretty spot on.
I dunno.  He sounded a little whiny and I couldn't see what was wrong with the problems he listed.  Me, personally, I thought it was a great opening, the perfect start to an epic saga.  My only complaint would be that character creation isn't right at the start and you don't get a 'second chance' to modify your character before setting out into the world.
« Last Edit: 23 Jan 2012, 19:46 by Sorflakne »
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snalin

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #339 on: 24 Jan 2012, 01:50 »

I had not noticed the extra pockets perk. Holy moly.
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Sorflakne

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #340 on: 24 Jan 2012, 16:47 »

I know, right?  I buffed out Pickpocketing to 50 just for that perk.  Gotta love being a compulsive dungeon diver and collector of loose armor and weapons :-P
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #341 on: 25 Jan 2012, 15:53 »

I got the Steed Stone for that. Also gives you +100 carry weight, for free! The perk that makes light armor weightless is pretty useful too, it allows me to carry around two entire sets of armor with different enchantments. If I ever need to carry more than 500 units, I can equip a necklace, ring, boots, and/or gloves of fortify carry weight, without sacrificing the set bonus. Even though I leave all the loot behind that isn't immediately (or in the near future) useful to me, it still has a way to accumulate. Usually, when I get home to Whiterun I unload the entire Ingredients tab into the satchel on the alchemy table. You'd be surprised how much lighter that makes you.

What Guardian Stone do you rely the most on?
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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #342 on: 25 Jan 2012, 17:38 »

The Lord stone.  Not that I actually need the resists at this point, though.

I dunno if I've even found The Steed stone yet :?  But then again I've only been to about half the locations in game so far.
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Skaltura

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #343 on: 25 Jan 2012, 18:10 »

Started with the Warrior Stone (+20% combat exp), after becoming a werewolf I switched to the Lover Stone (+15% all exp), now I'm using to the Thief Stone (+20% stealth exp).
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DrPhibes

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #344 on: 25 Jan 2012, 22:35 »

I just installed a 4x EXP mod just so I don't have to bother and do some serious questing  :angel:
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #345 on: 26 Jan 2012, 09:54 »

I got the Steed Stone for that. Also gives you +100 carry weight, for free! The perk that makes light armor weightless is pretty useful too, it allows me to carry around two entire sets of armor with different enchantments. If I ever need to carry more than 500 units, I can equip a necklace, ring, boots, and/or gloves of fortify carry weight, without sacrificing the set bonus. Even though I leave all the loot behind that isn't immediately (or in the near future) useful to me, it still has a way to accumulate. Usually, when I get home to Whiterun I unload the entire Ingredients tab into the satchel on the alchemy table. You'd be surprised how much lighter that makes you.

Oh my. I need this, I have a follower and I still get overencumbered (mainly because I can't help but lift all the dwemer metal I can get my hands on). That and the fact I exclusively wear heavy armour. To the north!
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Sorflakne

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #346 on: 26 Jan 2012, 15:27 »

Get the perk that makes worn heavy armor weigh nothing :-P
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #347 on: 28 Jan 2012, 13:21 »

Oh right, I just wanted to share this about Mjoll the Lioness as a follower.

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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #348 on: 28 Jan 2012, 15:06 »

I don't use followers, since they keep getting in the way of my crosshairs right as I hit Attack.
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Re: Elder Scrolls V
« Reply #349 on: 28 Jan 2012, 15:50 »

Then get Derkeethus. He's a crack shot with a bow, and he almost never got in my way. I think I first ditched Lydia in favor of Derkeethus, and I stuck with him a long time.
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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.
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