For those that want to know (which will be pretty much all of us here) christina is wearing a Versace leather jacket which is cropped at the waist over an Alexander McQueen top. She's teamed that look with over the knee lace up Christian Louboutin boots and bag and earring by Lanvin.
More importantly, why is there a star-studded launch party for people who probably don't care about the game. That's wasted marketing money, I'd spend it on a big piss-up for the Dev Team or something. At least the COD launch parties feature celebs who enjoy the odd round of TDM or S&D now and again.
I'm also curious about the loot. While I put in a ton of hours into Oblivion (and similar games like Fallout and you can even put Mass Effect into that umbrella), one thing I've never been a huge fan of is the loot. I don't feel like there's that much "uber" loot that when it drops you're like OMG. A lot of trash, a lot of decent upgrades, but nothing that really has gotten me excited or even made me want to keep searching everything I killed.
Am I doing it wrong or hoping for too much? By comparison and perhaps to give an idea of my expectations, Diablo 2 and Diablo 2: LOD are my favorite games of all time, and I loved the loot systems there.
He did. Got his ass handed to him. I almost did too, but then another hunter appeared and distracted it. Used my last restore health potions, pelted it from afar with my bow, then closed in with a fire spell and with sword equipped (it was a frost dragon). Weakened it with my Fire Breath shout, then burned it to hell.
And right as it died, the aurorae appeared in the night sky. Beautiful.
I like the notion of dragons as singular resource-sapping events. You'll be walking around, king of the world, only to be reduced to shit after every dragon battle.
Am I doing it wrong or hoping for too much? By comparison and perhaps to give an idea of my expectations, Diablo 2 and Diablo 2: LOD are my favorite games of all time, and I loved the loot systems there.
I don't expect it to be as good, of course, but I do wish that there was some loot-based reason to anticipate each kill. After a little while in Oblivion, I'd just stop killing things and go exploring, or when I did kill things, it'd be to have fun with the physics.
Isn't Witcher 2 like... not Open World? How can you possible compare these two games then?
IMO Skyrim looks very good. It's a HUGE step forward from Oblivion. And not just in terms of graphics. I've played it for a couple of hours now and honestly, there is no single aspect that isn't done better than in Oblivion so far. I haven't played Morrorwind, so I can't comment on that.
I have also already encountered a glimpse of the radiant story telling Todd was talking about. Though, well... it wasn't working. Some women came around and told me she was caputured by some bandits and managted to escape and I should go check out the case (or whatever). She wanted to show me on the map but there was nothing added to it.
Well, this was the only "bigger" bug I encounter so far. Aside from that Skyrim totally fullfils my expectations - and those were extremly high.
Its not that i do not like the game i love it. Its just that the Witcher 2 did so many things right, and because
of that the flaws in Skyrim are more visible.
Its like playing Zelda Skyward Sword and then playing OoT and seeing that the game has its flaws.
Question: If using a one-handed weapon and a spell, both equipped in different hands, and you activate both hands, does your weapon power up? For some reason I was thinking going destruction and 1-handed would let me temp enchant with fire/lightning/frost, but now that I think about it I don't really know where I got the idea from.
So for those who have it or those who've been watching streams (I'm avoiding spoilers) is the game more accessible? Ive read multiple previews which say the game will appeal to a wider audience. I tried hard to love Oblivion, but it was so daunting for someone who's never played through this type of RPG that i put it down.
I would say yes. At least the first 10 or so hours that I've played now in its pretty straight forward if you want it to be. Oblivion opened up much sooner if I remember correctly.
They also have a help ingame that you can look things up in and that so far answered every question I had pop up while playing, e.g. how to use Alchemy.
Was afraid of the exact same thing btw, but for me its more the abundance of quests / goals in Morrowind and Oblivion that lead into opposing directions that never had me finish them and I'm enjoying that I have a clearer "red line" through the game (at least so far).
I would say yes. At least the first 10 or so hours that I've played now in its pretty straight forward if you want it to be. Oblivion opened up much sooner if I remember correctly.
They also have a help ingame that you can look things up in and that so far answered every question I had pop up while playing, e.g. how to use Alchemy.
Was afraid of the exact same thing btw, but for me its more the abundance of quests / goals in Morrowind and Oblivion that lead into opposing directions that never had me finish them and I'm enjoying that I have a clearer "red line" through the game (at least so far).
Didn't plan on picking up this game on launch but the hype has fully taken over. Going to try and pick up a copy without a preorder at the GS midnight launch
Anyway, for those playing, does a character focused around archery/one-handed/stealth/light armor seem viable? I figure stealth bow/dagger kills, bow for long range and dual wielding if I'm in tight spaces or an enemy closes too fast. Light armor obviously to stop me from getting killed.
It's hard to offer many incentives for it because you are free to change difficulty on the fly. They did something like this in FO3 where harder difficulties rewarded more XP. This was an iffy idea to begin with, but it was also exploitable. Guessing they learned their lesson on that one.
I watched Oblivion for the first time when it came out and some guy wanted the guards armor but couldn't kill him so he just dropped the difficulty to the very lowest, got the guards gear, and set the difficulty back. Same with Umbra.
For those that want to know (which will be pretty much all of us here) christina is wearing a Versace leather jacket which is cropped at the waist over an Alexander McQueen top. She's teamed that look with over the knee lace up Christian Louboutin boots and bag and earring by Lanvin.
I watched Oblivion for the first time when it came out and some guy wanted the guards armor but couldn't kill him so he just dropped the difficulty to the very lowest, got the guards gear, and set the difficulty back. Same with Umbra.
Setting the difficulty to the lowest setting in stuff like Oblivion and Fallout just makes it ridiculous. You are damn near invincible and kill most things in a hit or two no matter the weapon.
They just shouldn't offer such low difficulties, or at least lock the player into whatever they choose.
I got the guide for Oblivion and even for Fallout 3 and really felt like I needed them to enjoy the respective game. Didn't have that feeling so far playing Skyrim. But that might still come further down the road...
I think there is an iBooks version of the Skyrim guide so if I do end up buying it I'll get it on my iPad to save shelfspace
Setting the difficulty to the lowest setting in stuff like Oblivion and Fallout just makes it ridiculous. You are damn near invincible and kill most things in a hit or two no matter the weapon.
They just shouldn't offer such low difficulties, or at least lock the player into whatever they choose.
Man, I had absolutely 0 interest in this, never played an Elder Scrolls game...and yet just by reading I'm starting to get some sort of hype for it. Wait for the Christmas sales I keep telling myself, wait for the Christmas sales. :|
I watched Oblivion for the first time when it came out and some guy wanted the guards armor but couldn't kill him so he just dropped the difficulty to the very lowest, got the guards gear, and set the difficulty back. Same with Umbra.
I was close to doing that. I had to save a guy. The moment I step outside a dungeon GUARDS EVERYWHERE. Sure you can make a run for it, but your companion stays behind and gets killed. Guards couldn't be killed with my low level, so I was basically buggered and had to start a one hour quest anew. In the end I stepped outside, immediately ran away till I could fast travel, travelled back to the dungeon, tracked the guy, talked to him while guards around us were attacking us, had to stop the conversation halfway as I was getting killed, ran away again and quicktravelled again. All the while the Bethesda choppiness was in full force.
I think lowering the difficulty for a bit would have been much better for the immersion.
Setting the difficulty to the lowest setting in stuff like Oblivion and Fallout just makes it ridiculous. You are damn near invincible and kill most things in a hit or two no matter the weapon.
They just shouldn't offer such low difficulties, or at least lock the player into whatever they choose.
Why should they do that? What if someone decides that they can't handle a higher difficulty and want to change it? If you don't want to play a lower difficulty or change it in the middle of your game then don't. There is nothing wrong with having the option there for people who need it.
For those that want to know (which will be pretty much all of us here) christina is wearing a Versace leather jacket which is cropped at the waist over an Alexander McQueen top. She's teamed that look with over the knee lace up Christian Louboutin boots and bag and earring by Lanvin.
Setting the difficulty to the lowest setting in stuff like Oblivion and Fallout just makes it ridiculous. You are damn near invincible and kill most things in a hit or two no matter the weapon.
They just shouldn't offer such low difficulties, or at least lock the player into whatever they choose.
If you exploit it, it's your own fault. I knew about the problems Oblivion had and yet I never exploitet the system. Why? I am ruining my experiance.
btw.: The middle difficulty offered a good amount of challange so far. I'm starting to see the positive sides of the leveling issue. There is no such thing as an easy dungeon. It's either a fair amount of challange or it is too hard (yes, I had those too already). I kinda lika it. Being overpowered sucks.
If you exploit it, it's your own fault. I knew about the problems Oblivion had and yet I never exploitet the system. Why? I am ruining my experiance.
btw.: The middle difficulty offered a good amount of challange so far. I'm starting to see the positive sides of the leveling issue. There is no such thing as an easy dungeon. It's either a fair amount of challange or it is too hard (yes, I had those too already). I kinda lika it. Being overpowered sucks.
It's the same argument as fast travel. I don't use it - I seldom do. But I'm glad it's there, nonetheless, if it makes other people's experiences better.
horses are slow ? this is great news.
i HATE IT when riding a horse means zipping through the environment like in a fps' spectator mode, like you're not part of it, like you're flying over it.
it kills immersion, rapes the game world and makes it look much smaller than it really is
Speaking of fast travel, are most of the quests (and their payouts) designed assuming the player will fast travel the shit out of them like in Oblivion? As someone who avoids fast traveling, that pissed me off.
Nice.
There was nothing worse in Oblivion than dismounting your horse, investigating something, and returning to a dead horse. Glad they're putting up a fight now.
Speaking of fast travel, are most of the quests (and their payouts) designed assuming the player will fast travel the shit out of them like in Oblivion? As someone who avoids fast traveling, that pissed me off.
On that note, if I'm going to be a Dunmer with a heavy focus in Destruction magic and one-handed weapons, does anyone know whether I should focus more on light or heavy armor? What's the benefit of light armor other than not using as much weight?
Nice.
There was nothing worse in Oblivion than dismounting your horse, investigating something, and returning to a dead horse. Glad they're putting up a fight now.
Okay, done with playing for the day. Some more things I noted:
About the loot. So far, I've found pretty basic stuff. Occasionally, a bandit leader will have an enchanted weapon with him, or a weapon of a higher tier quality (like Orcish). I dunno if it's levelled: I discovered an echanted Orcish warhammer when I was around level 5-ish. I haven't run into anything of a higher tier yet, and I'm level 12 now. Maybe it's tied to the locations, I pretty much only explored mid-south Skyrim.
About the aurorae: I only got a ten-second look at them, but they looked amazing.
On the dungeons: There's a lot of variety. A lot. This is a whole different level than Oblivion, and I haven't even discovered any Dwemer ruins yet. I suppose those'll be more towards the north of the province.
On difficulty: I'm on Adept, and I can still get my ass kicked if I'm not careful. Spellcasters and bandit leaders are especially dangerous. I also
fought a Werewolf with a ridiculously high amount of hit points
and also spent over five minutes shooting arrows at a Mammoth that nearly killed me more times than I want to admit. Dragons are incredibly tough when you're fighting 'em solo, as I've experienced tonight. Thankfully, on all three dragons I've faced so far, I either got backup from the start or got help later on. Dragons are also forcing me to use more long-range weaponry, which is a good thing for my Archery skill. I've started keeping a bow and a lot of arrows with me at all times, just in case.
On magic: It's a lot easier to use than in Oblivion. Even my character will occasionally equip a flame or ice spell when the need arises. It also feels a lot more rewarding.
On quests: I spent an entire day avoiding the main quest, just doing stuff that I came across. There's an insane amount of things to do. I just went out and collected money, because I needed a house to store all the shit I didn't want to sell. Tomorrow I'm continuing my Dovahkiin's story and
visiting the Greybeards
.
On bugs: All in all, I haven't run across that many of 'em. A few at the start of the game, occasionally I'll run across some things clipping in an odd way, but nothing really noteworthy... Well, not until now, at least. While exploring the dungeon filled with necromancers and destruction mages I mentioned earlier, one of the mages kited me with the "Frost Spike"-spell. I repaid him in kind by sticking a frost spike straight through his face, but the spikes that he hit me with haven't disappeared from my character model yet. Wulf still had a thick, blue spike sticking out of his shoulder (and his ass) when I saved and quit the game today. I hope it'll be solved when I reload the game tomorrow.
Letters said:
Speaking of fast travel, are most of the quests (and their payouts) designed assuming the player will fast travel the shit out of them like in Oblivion? As someone who avoids fast traveling, that pissed me off.
For the large part, they aren't. All the quests I've received today were within reasonable walking distance from one another. You'll occasionally have to travel a bit longer, but the world is so pretty that you won't mind. I managed to get around not fast travelling until I reached level 12. When I exited a dungeon already loaded with loot and then got engaged by a dragon, I just needed to offload my shit somewhere so I quickly fast-travelled back to Whiterun to sell it and buy a house with the earnings.
@Blue Ninja - Can you see if wearing light or heavy armor impacts spell effectiveness in some way? I'm curious to see if they actually kept this mechanic or not; someone has put it on the wiki and I can't tell if it's just an assumed carryover because there's no details.
Also, is it possible to place runes on any surface or only on floors?
@Blue Ninja - Can you see if wearing light or heavy armor impacts spell effectiveness in some way? I'm curious to see if they actually kept this mechanic or not; someone has put it on the wiki and I can't tell if it's just an assumed carryover because there's no details.
Also, is it possible to place runes on any surface or only on floors?
There's a perk for Alteration that increases the effectiveness of armor spells when you're unarmored, so I imagine there are other benefits to not wearing armor. Doesn't speak to differences between light and heavy though.
