Support NeoGAF

[Absoludacrous]

There has to be some loot leveling going on. I lost a few hours progress because I decided I wanted to play something out differently, and ended up coming back to a dungeon I had previously cleared, this time about 5 levels higher. Dude dropped a glass sword this time.

Maybe the loot scaling curve just isn't as steep this time.

 

[OG Kush]

I have this hunting bow shock and it says 11 damage but in the description is also says 5 shock damage to the victim hit. Does this mean 5 more hit points on top of the 11? meaning 16 damage in total?

 

[dimb]

I have this hunting bow shock and it says 11 damage but in the description is also says 5 shock damage to the victim hit. Does this mean 5 more hit points on top of the 11?

Yes.

 

[Blizzard]

Gonna have to ignore Evil and Exod posts for a while, having too much fun with the game to get hung up on mechanic flaws.

Yeah, I understand there are flaws and bugs and I understand there could/should be improvements in various areas.

I guess the biggest achievement is how fun, interesting, and immersive the game can be even despite flaws. Imagine in a year or two if people have all sorts of mods available and can tailor it to their tastes even further. I like the idea of the perks system, but I'm only level 6 so I have not seen much effect so far (only mage and archery perks so far). If I play another 10-20 hours I suspect things should get cool perk-wise.

 

[ckohler]

I'm pretty sure the way it works is that different areas have different level ranges. Say an area is lvl 10-20. If you first go in that area when you are level 5, the levels of the enemies are 10 (the closest level to yours in the range). If your level is 16 when you first go there, the level of the enemies is 16. If your level is 25 when you first go there, the level of the enemies is level 20 (again, the closest level to yours in the level range).

I've always wondered: Does this mean that if I go on a trek to visit every area on the map I can at level 5, every enemy in the game will be at most level 10?

 

[scy]

Agreed. It actually succeeds at what it always set out to be: a system where you become the type of character that represents your playstyle over the course of the game. You don't need to plan it out or "game" the system by OCD min/maxing, it just works.

Basically, this. Gaming the system is basically my thing as I like working out mechanics. I haven't felt the need or really desire to do it yet here with Skyrim (short of paying for training and then pickpocketing it back). Merely just playing has more-or-less covered the bases for how I want my character(s) to shape up.

With the exception of Speech just never seeming to go up ever for me, not that I particularly find the tree that useful yet (barring the burning desire for the Fence perk >>), the system has really worked out well for me.

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

She's not appeared in my house yet.

There's a sexist joke to be had here.

Can a companion actually die, or do they just kneel down when damaged too much?

Yep, if they get beaten on for a while when they're down they will die. It's very sad.

 

[TheExodu5]

I've always wondered: Does this mean that if I go on a trek to visit every area on the map I can at level 5, every enemy in the game will be at most level 10?

Possibly. But like I said, I don't think the minimum levels are that high when venturing into the "open" (non main-story) world. I haven't been to any area where I had to say "this is too tough...gotta come back later".

I really should just be treating this like an action adventure.

Basically, this. Gaming the system is basically my thing as I like working out mechanics. I haven't felt the need or really desire to do it yet here with Skyrim (short of paying for training and then pickpocketing it back). Merely just playing has more-or-less covered the bases for how I want my character(s) to shape up.

With the exception of Speech just never seeming to go up ever for me, not that I particularly find the tree that useful yet (barring the burning desire for the Fence perk >>), the system has really worked out well for me.

holy shit

 

[Zeliard]

You know, that's what they said, but I don't think I believe them. I think the "level-range" areas only apply to the main quest or something. Otherwise, pretty much everything has been scaled to my level. The only difference might be that certain areas get locked at whatever level you first entered.

I've definitely entered dungeons and such where the enemies were noticeably hard-hitting.

 

[froliq]

She's not appeared in my house yet.

There's a sexist joke to be had here.

Can a companion actually die, or do they just kneel down when damaged too much?

They will kneel down and enemies will ignore your companion, but they can get caught in crossfire and get a hit while they are kneeling and die.

 

[Volimar]

I've always wondered: Does this mean that if I go on a trek to visit every area on the map I can at level 5, every enemy in the game will be at most level 10?

No, every enemy will be at the lowest level in their level range. This would still mean that if you go to a region with a level range of 40-50, their level would be 40.

 

[Wallach]

I've definitely entered dungeons and such where the enemies were noticeably hard-hitting.

I ran into a cave full of trolls at level 5 traveling east of Whiterun. Well, I assume it was full of trolls, as there were two in the very first room and I couldn't really out damage their regeneration.

 

[zlatko]

Nope, annoyingly. The best way to get arrows is basically to buy them off a blacksmith, wait for 48 hours, and repeat.

Is it 48 hours for all merchants to replenish wares then?

I need to level smithing and am unsure when merchants refill on Iron Ingots.

 

[TheExodu5]

I ran into a cave full of trolls at level 5 traveling east of Whiterun. Well, I assume it was full of trolls, as there were two in the very first room and I couldn't really out damage their regeneration.

Actually, yeah...I did enter that cave. Forgot about that.

Is it 48 hours for all merchants to replenish wares then?

I need to level smithing and am unsure when merchants refill on Iron Ingots.

Yes. And I think leather bracers are better to level than iron daggers. Test it out for yourself.

 

[krameriffic]

It's disappointing to read that level-scaling still exists in Skyrim, that's why I ultimately disliked Fallout 3 and Oblivion. It just takes time invested to see the true impact/effect of such a design choice. I didn't trust Bethesda with the enemy level scaling so I fought my natural tendency to make a stealthy/ranged character and just rolled as a heavy armor melee tank. Did Bethesda at least get enemy scaling right in this game? Have people who rolled with something other than a melee/tank found their character build viable?

If you're asking whether the game ever gets insanely difficult, I've found that it hasn't. Most of my deaths come from the surprisingly dangerous and well-hidden traps in dungeons. After that, it's from bullshit caster enemies that 1-shot me. The final boss of the mage's college missions and the dremora guys in the Azura's Star mission were particularly guilty of this.

 

[Hyunkel6]

I got totally destroyed by the boss on the first companions' quest in Shimmermist cave. I'm talking two hits and I'm dead. Is it supposed to be this hard or am I doing something wrong? I'm only level 8. but this is one of the beginner quests, right?

 

[Drewsky]

Is there a button to pick stuff up and move it around in this game? I thought I remembered being able to do it in Oblivion. I wanna drag a body is why I ask.

 

[zethren]

Holy crap. Entered Shimmermist Cave as a pit stop on my way to another quest, and since I heard someone rumor that they saw a small odd creature chillin' around there. Smooth sailing for a bit, but eventually I stumbled onto something...

It was the first time in Skyrim where I ran like a little bitch out of a cave for my dear Nord life. I felt like the Fellowship trying to escape the mines of Moria in LoTR...haha.

Will not be going back in there for a bit.

Also, found a skeleton hand poking out of the ground around Whiterun. In it's hand was a simple steel sword. It was interesting, but does this sword have any tangible importance? My girlfriend is preventing me from dropping/selling it because of the nature of how I found it. Haha.

 

[Salaadin]

I've definitely entered dungeons and such where the enemies were noticeably hard-hitting.

Same here. There have been a few moments where I would give up and decide to try again later...especially when mages are involved since I dont have too many ranged options.

 

[Mikeside]

Is there a button to pick stuff up and move it around in this game? I thought I remembered being able to do it in Oblivion. I wanna drag a body is why I ask.

On PC hold E until you pick it up

 

[Woorloog]

I've definitely entered dungeons and such where the enemies were noticeably hard-hitting.

Me too. There was this cave which was filled with bandits who gave me no trouble. Then i found a giant frostbite spider... who one-shotted me. I was around level... 7? Under 10 anyway. Going back when i'm level 15 to see if it is now killable.

 

[scy]

holy shit

I like to think of it as working as intended since what the hell else would the Cutpurse perk be useful for. It takes like 1000 Gold for 1/5 Pickpocket + Cutpurse to dip below the 90% mark. I think the most gold I've found on a random person was still in the sub-100s (barring one 500 Gold exception).

 

[Wallach]

Actually, yeah...I did enter that cave. Forgot about that.

Did you run into a guy in a sarcophagus at the top of a mountain? I ran into him at level 9 and that fight took over 40 minutes. Pretty sure the level scaling on enemies works like they say.

 

[Gorgon]

Today, I enchanted an Orcish sword with Ice damage. After careful consideration, I named it after my ex GF.

lol.

Oh boy, I miss the smiles.

On another note, I've been having a blast with this game. Started by having a swordfighter, since I rarely play with spellcaster characters, then into sword and spell combo, and then I ditched that for total magic with some archery sniping and using blades only when magicka goes down.

Magic is just too good in this game and sword fighting gets old really fast.

Also, the game world is very well built, with some really cool vistas. This is way far ahead of Oblivion or Fallout 3. Plus, the shear amount of quests is staggering. I'm at the Mage College doing their quest line, I've been in only about 15 dungeons or so and I've been playing for the last 3 days. I've only been completing the quests from Riverwood, then the first big city you go to if you follow the storyline (forgot the name), and then I went to the College. The game is massive. I won't have a life for the next two months!

 

[TheCongressman1]

Also, found a skeleton hand poking out of the ground around Whiterun. In it's hand was a simple steel sword. It was interesting, but does this sword have any tangible importance? My girlfriend is preventing me from dropping/selling it because of the nature of how I found it. Haha.

Clever girl. I agree with her. You can never be too careful.

 

[Tambini]

Nope, annoyingly. The best way to get arrows is basically to buy them off a blacksmith, wait for 48 hours, and repeat.

Huh, is it 48 hours? This whole time I've been waiting 3 days.

 

[HTuran]

Yeah, I've spent a ton on purchasing training and then pickpocketing it back. Ah, the life of a thief!

Just had an assassin sent after me. Turned invisible, ran behind him and slit his throat.

 

[NullPointer]

Maybe the loot scaling curve just isn't as steep this time.

I think so. I just haven't noticed it at all yet.

And enemy variety and difficulty seems just about perfect at the moment. I can take out most bandits with one sneak-critical bow shot. Stronger types take two to four, depending. That said, some casters eat my breakfast and stuff like Sabretooth tigers and bears are true killers unless I get as solid drop on them beforehand. All of this feels as it should be.

That and I had an epic 45 minute on-and-off again running battle with my third dragon. It got the drop on me completely out in the open and I ended up darting from tree to tree before eventually jumping off a cliff into the river below for cover (Argonian FTW). I followed the river downstream until I reached a bridge where I popped out and threw a few arrows the dragon's way under the bridge's stone protection. Then back into water as I saw a tower up ahead along the edge of a waterfall. But Skyrim rivers have an actual current this time so I missed my mark and flew over the waterfall into the frothy depths below, dragon still on my tail. I ended up washing up a small woodsmen shed where I finally had it out with the beast, and a few minutes later, battered, bruised and drunk on potions I collected my just reward.

I've never had a battle anywhere near as epic as that in any other game to date. This fucking game

 

[AlimNassor]

Man, i really enjoy all the lore. Anyone else reading the books? I found a book that really gives us a good picture as to what happened over the past century. Made me hate the High Elves even more. Prediction: next game is Summerset isles.

 

[Leunam]

Nope, annoyingly. The best way to get arrows is basically to buy them off a blacksmith, wait for 48 hours, and repeat.

I'd say the best way to get arrows is to explore dungeons and kill bandits. I have over 400 iron arrows and I didn't buy a single one. I've given Lydia around 200 steel arrows since she gets better use out of them than I do.

 

[thetrin]

I haven't bothered with smithing at all, and I'm heavy armor. For the most part, I've been concentrating on Alchemy for health potions, and my combat schools so that I can get some better spells.

Btw, who sells destruction spells? I need some new fire/frost spells.

 

[webrunner]

Just posted by a giant bomb intern: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2U_kWbXbJo

oh, bethesda, never change.

 

[Gareth Bale]

I'm stuck on (Cidhna Mine quest in Markarth spoilers).

Spoiler

So I've escaped the mine with the Forsworn and they run around killing all the guards. I stay out of this fight, and it says I've completed the quest, but the Escape Cidhna Mine part of that quest is still unchecked... does that matter? Is the quest over now anyway? It kind of feels like I'm supposed to escape with the Forsworn but they just run around attacking the guards and a guy that can't be killed. So I hang around waiting for them to be done to see where they go next, but as I said before one of the guys can't die and the just keep attacking him and not going anywhere. Should I just leave the town?

 

[Drewsky]

On PC hold E until you pick it up

Yeah that's the thing I'm on PS3. Maybe that's not in the console versions.

 

[scy]

I'd say the best way to get arrows is to explore dungeons and kill bandits. I have over 400 iron arrows and I didn't buy a single one. I've given Lydia around 200 steel arrows since she gets better use out of them than I do.

For Thieves, pickpocketing Guards works as well. They seem to have 10-15 Steel Arrows on each one so I tend to make out with 100+ arrows per random guard robbery days.

 

[Pop On Arrival]

I just lost my sword on a quest! Looked like the guy just grabbed it and crushed it into oblivion. Now I don't have a good one handed sword anymore! I was using the sky forge sword, the one you got from the companion quest line.

Anyone know where I can get a decent one-handed sword?

 

[Borgnine]

Driving down the road irl, saw cluster of purple flowers, pressed mental A button. Game definitely has me.

Before I waste my time dying, can a ward block dragon's fire? It says it blocks spells and other effects, but I don't know if that counts? As a short sword/magic guy how am I supposed to protect myself?

Also turns out I had brain rot and it was sapping my magika, I would have no way of knowing unless I stumbled across it deep in the menu system. Also RIP Lydia.

 

[Blizzard]

Did you run into a guy in a sarcophagus at the top of a mountain? I ran into him at level 9 and that fight took over 40 minutes. Pretty sure the level scaling on enemies works like they say.

Hahaha, if you mean Khronis I happened on him trying to go to the mage college at level 3 or so. I got cooked in a couple of fireballs, I think it was my first death of the game (after wraiths nearly killed me). Then the stupid mage fort killed me once or twice before I finally was able to run past it to my destination.

Man, i really enjoy all the lore. Anyone else reading the books? I found a book that really gives us a good picture as to what happened over the past century. Made me hate the High Elves even more. Prediction: next game is Summerset isles.

I started out reading them all, but then I realized there were SO MANY it would literally take me hours and I wanted to do gameplay as well. I might go back and read more some day. =P

 

[Wallach]

Yeah that's the thing I'm on PS3. Maybe that's not in the console versions.

You hold the activate/pick up button down instead of tap it. It works on console.

 

[TheExodu5]

I'd say the best way to get arrows is to explore dungeons and kill bandits. I have over 400 iron arrows and I didn't buy a single one. I've given Lydia around 200 steel arrows since she gets better use out of them than I do.

Yeah, but at some point you're going to want glass arrows.

 

[Haly]

I don't bother waiting, just cycle through all of the major capitals and by the time you wind up back where you started the shop's already restocked.

 

[Ferrio]

Just posted by a giant bomb intern: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2U_kWbXbJo

oh, bethesda, never change.

That dragon knows how to shake it.

 

[Hyunkel6]

Btw, who sells destruction spells? I need some new fire/frost spells.

I'm early in the game, but the mage in the Jarl's castle in Whiterun has a nice arsenal.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I'm definitely going to try playing as a magic user or stealthy thief type during my next game. My only question is, are such paths actually viable? It seems like most enemies just charge you or try to snipe you with arrows. I don't imagine I'd last very long as a thief or mage if I got charged, but I haven't leveled up any skills in those paths. I'm currently playing a dual-wielding heavy armor-using character and at level 21, I just beat the hell out of everything even on the highest difficulty. Even giants are nothing as long as I take them on one at a time.

If the pure mage/pure thief paths are viable, I think they would be a lot more interesting/challenging.

 

[Dresden]

I don't like the loot. Or maybe I just don't like random loot. Finding a decent robe in a chest one run and finding a Iron Sword in the chest on your next character isn't cool.

It's weird because I don't think it would have taken that much more effort to hand-place the items here, as they did with all the potions.

 

[Drewsky]

You hold the activate/pick up button down instead of tap it. It works on console.

Oh ok, thanks.

 

[nicoga3000]

Just curious, but wouldn't ramping the difficulty up to Master help? I noticed after I toned it down a bit, I still do roughly the same damage, but the enemies don't hit nearly as hard. So on Master, they're hitting harder with greater accuracy. Maybe you guys are playing on Master, and loot scaling IS in fact miserably broken late game.

If this is the case, I'm going to just wait for the modders to do their work and continue enjoying the game as I am. Besides, by the time there's a huge overhaul on the loot/crafting/shop system, there will probably be some nice new dungeon mods or DLC to help out.

 

[Leunam]

Also turns out I had brain rot and it was sapping my magika, I would have no way of knowing unless I stumbled across it deep in the menu system. Also RIP Lydia.

If you're sick most NPCs will comment on how sickly you look.

 

[Omegasquash]

So here's a question...anyone having issues with the Stormcloaks? I found my way into one of their camps, so I figured "Hey, these guys can't be bad! Ralof was pretty cool!" I then made my way to their commander at the camp, and he started a rant.

Spoiler

This was where I started to doubt my want to join either side, because if you were to replace the word "Elf" with the word "Jew" it would have been near textbook Nazi propaganda, which is frightening. The ONLY thing that's stopping me from going back and killing the commander in his sleep is the fact that I don't know if I'll need him for a quest later on. If it's not a necessary quest though, I think Imma just kill him.

Edit: spoiler'd, just in case.

 

[thetrin]

I'm sorry but I hope Bethesda goes right into the DLC and then into TES VI. I'm not really a fan of the Fallout world. Elder Scrolls is so much more immersive IMO. I guess I don't like the guns and stuff in fallout. Much rather have the swords and magic of TES.

Agree 110%. Elder Scrolls is a far more enjoyable world than Fallout.