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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim |OT2| Team Edward's Revenge

I thought so, but I only saw like only a few other useful spells (Muffle, Clairvoyance), unless the "X enemies won't attack for X time" are actually useful? I figured it'd be easier to use Alchemy to make infinite Invisibility potions.

The master level spells are pretty fun. Harmony lets you kill someone around you and no one else will give a shit. Makes throat slitting every bandit in a fort even easier.
 

Mush

6.0
The master level spells are pretty fun. Harmony lets you kill someone around you and no one else will give a shit. Makes throat slitting every bandit in a fort even easier.
So if I'm in combat with bandits or something, and I cast Harmony, what happens? Do they just ignore me?
 
So if I'm in combat with bandits or something, and I cast Harmony, what happens? Do they just ignore me?

Pretty much. If the first hit doesn't kill, the person you attacked will retaliate but that shouldn't be a problem with sneak attack bonuses. The aoe effect is huge too.

Using Mayhem to make them all attack each other is fun too. You deprive yourself of experience though.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Illusion. You'll find Invisibility to be immensely useful

Is it really?

It's an expert level spell that requires 197 mana that is way above the numbers of magicka capacity for the usual thief/assassin build which makes expert illusion perk pretty much a must. That's 4 skill perks towards it --> Novice, Apprentice, Adept, and Expert Illusion.

Plus, Quiet Casting is also pretty much a must since Invisibility Spell is loud as hell. So that is what... 3 more skill perks (IIRC) must be spent towards it? That's already 7....

More over, with 100 sneak and shadow warrior plus stealth and muffled movement, you can literally perform sneak kills from the front of the enemy during combat. Also, in most combat situations, when things get real hairy all a Thief/Assassin must do if they want to vanish from the enemies is to dash away for a short distance away from the adversaries and activates the sneaking mode and that's it. This even works for Dragons.

Moreover, many of the Illusion spells do not work on high level enemies even with all the strengthening perks and double cast.... making them obsolete end-game.

I'd wager those 7 skill perks are best spent elsewhere... like for example the Armsman perks in the One-Handed tree since it affects damage done by daggers.

...But this is just my opinion though :)
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
*shrug*

Quiet Casting was a must for me either way, I need it for everything I cast. I haven't put any points into the "reduce mana" perks at all, I just upped my mana with a couple enchanted items; nightingale hood helps as well..

Going from merely sneaky and silent to having the ability to go completely invisible has been a pretty full and immediate upgrade, though I don't have 100 sneak yet (haven't done any grinding for it at all). I really love the feeling of sneak-killing someone, then going invisible, moving onto the next, killing, and slinking back into the shadows to recharge; it is pretty damn satisfying.
 
I am partial to Slow Time, Dragon Rend. Hardly used Unrelenting Force. Seemed so pointless to me, other than the lol factor.

TBH, for a game revolving around dragonborns, I find the shouts not as useful as I'd hoped, and pretty disappointing.

I think Ice Form Level 3 is useful.. At least against strong dudes. Just freeze 'em, and walk away.
 
Is it really?

It's an expert level spell that requires 197 mana that is way above the numbers of magicka capacity for the usual thief/assassin build which makes expert illusion perk pretty much a must. That's 4 skill perks towards it --> Novice, Apprentice, Adept, and Expert Illusion.

Plus, Quiet Casting is also pretty much a must since Invisibility Spell is loud as hell. So that is what... 3 more skill perks (IIRC) must be spent towards it? That's already 7....

More over, with 100 sneak and shadow warrior plus stealth and muffled movement, you can literally perform sneak kills from the front of the enemy during combat. Also, in most combat situations, when things get real hairy all a Thief/Assassin must do if they want to vanish from the enemies is to dash away for a short distance away from the adversaries and activates the sneaking mode and that's it. This even works for Dragons.

Moreover, many of the Illusion spells do not work on high level enemies even with all the strengthening perks and double cast.... making them obsolete end-game.

I'd wager those 7 skill perks are best spent elsewhere... like for example the Armsman perks in the One-Handed tree since it affects damage done by daggers.

...But this is just my opinion though :)

I'm up to level 71 now. Master Illusion spells still work on most bandits and mages I run into.
 

TTG

Member
*walk up to Bard's cliff to admire the view, turn around only to have Lidya push me off*

Anyway, feels like I got my first really good item tonight. The Gauldur Amulet, quest took me long enough considering I don't like going to an area for one thing only or fast traveling to any new location... but it was worth it. Has to be one of the most valuable items in the game, especially considering I'm still well below level 30.
 
Endgame question:

Can someone explain to me why it was possible to kill Alduin in sovngarde but not in the real world? All seemed a bit messy to me. I think the story would have been much better if the dragonborn had just pushed Alduin forward in time using the elder scroll. Was interesting enough though.

Alduin realized the Dragonborn was too much for him to handle, so he retreated to Sovngarde, where he could feed on the souls of the dead to restore his strength and become strong enough to devour the world.

Alduin's character was a bit disappointing to me, imo. For a dragon that's supposed to devour the world, he felt awfully tiny. You also never really get an explanation as to why he does this or what makes him different from the other dragons: Paarthurnax describes him as the Firstborn of Akatosh, but why is he 'divine' while the other dragons are not?

Also, he didn't do nearly enough. During the game, you see him destroy a tiny settlement, resurrect a few dragons, and then he attacks you on High Hrothgar. Ultimately, you have to kill him in Sovngarde, which was a bit anticlimactic imo.

They should've just had Alduin and his cronies attack a few cities and utterly destroy them, so you could feel the threat. The cities would of course be rebuilt after a while: heck, the player could aid in rebuilding by gathering wood and ore. Then when Alduin attacks on the Throat of the World, it should've been the start of things turning around. Some dragons would stop attacking and would actually come to the player's aid if he happened to be around. It would be a race against time: kick Alduin back out of Sovngarde before he becomes strong enough to fulfill his destiny. Once you did that, Alduin would emerge back into Tamriel, fully powered-up, ready to devour everything. You'd have to finish him off Shadow of the Colossus-style. When you defeat him and he explodes, you'd be cast into Aetherius with him. Maybe have Akatosh speak to you at the end of the questline, before he sends you back into the mortal world to the top of High Hrothgar.

I am partial to Slow Time, Dragon Rend. Hardly used Unrelenting Force. Seemed so pointless to me, other than the lol factor.

TBH, for a game revolving around dragonborns, I find the shouts not as useful as I'd hoped, and pretty disappointing.
I haven't unlocked a single shout nor absorbed a single soul with my thief/assassin character, and I'm doing fine.

Also, Become Ethereal is the shit. "You want me to walk down this mountain again? FUCK YOU, I'LL JUMP."
 

ShinAmano

Member
So End Game question:
I killed Alduin...is that it? There was a little scene with a bunch of dragons hanging out with Parthanox and they all went away. Was that it?
I was just expecting ... more?
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
I wouldn't mind seeing mods/expansions which increase the difficulty of the game or make levelling much slower since I can easily foresee a hurdle somewhere down the line which, once overcome, renders everything easy, although I haven't reached that point yet.


Skyrim is hell for someone like myself who likes to explore every nook and crevice, is a save/reload whore, and generally takes a lot mroe in-game time than other people.... usually around the developer estimates whereas everyone else is 1/2 that. Plus I'm playing a stealthy type character so that mkes the reloads and time spent all the worse lol, especially with the snipe and sneak tactic against giants and mammoths.

I'm at like level 32, still haven't ventured out of the whiterun region much outside of a few quests, haven't visited high hrothgar, at like 70 hours, and currently finishing up the companions questline (on my way to Ysgramor's Tomb). It's insane.


What do people mean by "rerolling" characters btw? Do people really have multiple saves with multiple characters that they play through concurrently?
 

Aurora

Member
Overall, I have to say I actually prefer Oblivion's level up system. At least there you were free to experiment with any skill or school of magic you liked with no penalty. I just don't like the perk system as it stands in Skyrim. I feel Fallout did it much better as there was very little chance of investing in a perk that would later be useless. In Skyrim, there are just far too many options and it is very easy to invest in a field that you will later decide never to use again, thereby gimping your character.

As things stand, I have 13 perks available for unlock just because I don't want to fuck up my character by making a choice I'll regret later.

They should have included a quest that nets you an item that allows for perk resets, that way we are free to experiment without fear of messing up our character permanently.
 
What do people mean by "rerolling" characters btw? Do people really have multiple saves with multiple characters that they play through concurrently?

Some people just keep playing the same character until they literally run out of things to do. I create a new character when I've reached my 'goal' with the character I'm playing as. For Wulf, I intended to do the Companions, Imperial and Main questlines. The whole
Werewolf
-thing ultimately made me leave the Companions for a later play-through with a different character. I then rolled a new character, Sul the Dark Elf, to handle the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood, and with the Thieves Guild now finished I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't just create a new one for the DB, too.

It adds a bit of challenge, gives a lot more memorable moments (starting fresh really is the way to go sometimes), and is great for roleplaying purposes. I'm playing Sul as though he arrived in Skyrim a bit before Wulf. Sure, there's some tiny continuity issues if you do it like that, but overall it works pretty well. :lol

I read it...just was not sure that there were any followup missions...I have 'talk to the jarl of whiterun' but he says nothing about the events...also there were no credits...
I never even got that objective, so maybe it's a bug? And yeah, TES games never have credits in-game. Or at least Morrowind and Oblivion didn't, either.
 

Arjen

Member
They should have included a quest that nets you an item that allows for perk resets, that way we are free to experiment without fear of messing up our character permanently.

Yeah, i wish every RPG had a respec option. Say what you want about Dragon Age 2, but the fact that you could repec yourself and al the party members was great.
 

ShinAmano

Member
I never even got that objective, so maybe it's a bug? And yeah, TES games never have credits in-game. Or at least Morrowind and Oblivion didn't, either.

Oh...couldn't remember. Anyhow I think I will wiki the stuff I am missing (daedric stuff/shouts) and try and finish up achievements and then put it on the shelf until DLC hits...
 

thefil

Member
Pretty much. If the first hit doesn't kill, the person you attacked will retaliate but that shouldn't be a problem with sneak attack bonuses. The aoe effect is huge too.

Using Mayhem to make them all attack each other is fun too. You deprive yourself of experience though.

I love the Illusion tree. I like nothing more than letting every enemy in a room kill eachother, then casually sauntering up to the last (calmed) baddy to slit his throat with a free sneak attack.

0 combat skill perks forever!
 

Haunted

Member
I'm at like level 32, still haven't ventured out of the whiterun region much outside of a few quests, haven't visited high hrothgar, at like 70 hours, and currently finishing up the companions questline (on my way to Ysgramor's Tomb). It's insane.
Yeah, you are insane.
 

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
First post in this thread, currently at about 30 hours in and I'm having so much fun. One question though - where do i find recipes for potions? I used to be all about them in Oblivion, haven't made a single one so far.

Another question - am I fucking myself by levelling too high in enchantment and smithing? I had a mammoth session of making armours and things for sale and raised myself two levels. And then I realised they're two levels without any combat, am I now going to be significantly weaker for that?

Really enjoying my Battlemage character so much. Destruction and an axe, a little obvious perhaps but it does the trick. And I love enchanting so much. There is something much more satisfying about making some dwarven armour and then enchanting it all (I use magic regen enchantments, very useful in combat), than finding great armour in loot. The depth to those systems is really satisfying and makes the game feel to much more personalised as a result. I know that my character is almost entirely unique to my play style.
 
Another question - am I fucking myself by levelling too high in enchantment and smithing? I had a mammoth session of making armours and things for sale and raised myself two levels. And then I realised they're two levels without any combat, am I now going to be significantly weaker for that?

Not really, I think. Only a few enemies tend to scale to your level, others will kick your ass anyway.
 

Sharp

Member
I think Ice Form Level 3 is useful.. At least against strong dudes. Just freeze 'em, and walk away.
Paralyze dude.

Also double Dremora Lords pretty much break combat in this game... I think I'm going to have to just stop using them if I ever want to level any of my other skills again. I don't know how the hell you guys get to 100 Destruction.
 
First post in this thread, currently at about 30 hours in and I'm having so much fun. One question though - where do i find recipes for potions? I used to be all about them in Oblivion, haven't made a single one so far.

Another question - am I fucking myself by levelling too high in enchantment and smithing? I had a mammoth session of making armours and things for sale and raised myself two levels. And then I realised they're two levels without any combat, am I now going to be significantly weaker for that?

Really enjoying my Battlemage character so much. Destruction and an axe, a little obvious perhaps but it does the trick. And I love enchanting so much. There is something much more satisfying about making some dwarven armour and then enchanting it all (I use magic regen enchantments, very useful in combat), than finding great armour in loot. The depth to those systems is really satisfying and makes the game feel to much more personalised as a result. I know that my character is almost entirely unique to my play style.

Spellsword/Battlemage is the way to go. Wait til you have 4 pieces of armor that reduce 25% destruction magic usage, your destruction magic will no longer use magika and enchanted weapons no longer use souls :D
 

thefil

Member
Spellsword/Battlemage is the way to go. Wait til you have 4 pieces of armor that reduce 25% destruction magic usage, your destruction magic will no longer use magika and enchanted weapons no longer use souls :D

Woah. I didn't know that spell cost reduction affected weapons.
 

Midou

Member
So End Game question:
I killed Alduin...is that it? There was a little scene with a bunch of dragons hanging out with Parthanox and they all went away. Was that it?
I was just expecting ... more?

I thought where it took place, who fought with you, etc was epic enough.
 
My review of Skyrim:
HjzUZ.png

I had a ton of fun with it, but left a bit disapointed. It is on the verge of genius and in some ways is genius. The environment is essentially perfect, and traversing it, particularly in the early stages of the game, makes you feel like you're on a grand adventure. Filling the environment with caves, camps, and wild animals is also great. I cannot think of any qualms with the world itself. As far as I know, it is without peer in this respect. Your ability to customize your charater and playstyle is also excellent. I played as a pure mage, relying on conjuration, destruction, restoration, and illusion to get me through the game. There are many, many ways to play the game successfully, and that is a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, the gameplay, quests, NPCs, and plasticity of the world all need a lot of work. My biggest complaint is with the plasticity of the world. Your choices mean next to nothing, which becomes more and more apparent as the game progresses until you arrive at the point where there is little motivation to run errands for other characters, kill bandits, or save the lives of others. Most of the time, your choices only effect what loot you will get. Decide to save an innocent man's life instead of eating him alive? You get gold instead of an artifiact. Murder an entire city? You will have to go to jail or pay off a bounty. After that, no one really cares. I started the game as a pragmatic mage wanting to become powerful yet not unnecessarily hurt anything along the way. that is, unless they tried to harm me, in which case I would gladly destroy them. but as it becomes more and more obvious that my decisions had zero effect on the world I was playing in, I stopped caring and stopped playing.

In the future, I would like Bethesda to somehow make a game whose world properly bends to the actions of the player. I do not know if such a thing is possible given the time and budgetary restrictions. If it isn't, I don't think I will bother playing another one of these games. I had a great time with Skyrim, but once is enough. The gameplay, puzzles, quests, etc. simply aren't compelling enough to keep me playing long after it has become apparent that my choices in the game have meant nothing.

That is a valid criticism. For anyone starting out I would also recommend staying away from exploits to improve you character. You first start out thinking, "hey, the game will be better once I have a super-powered character", but then the grind to get to that point really takes the fun out of the game. I guess the game loses it's luster once the "mystery" is taken out of it after finding 'tips and tricks for Skyrim' or perusing the Skyrim wiki for every exploit and tip under the sun.

The best fun to be had is on the way to a specific destination, clearing every area that you discover along the way.

BTW, I'm trying to complete a Mage quest and cannot seem to properly align the mirrors. They seems to always be slightly off. I've looked at youtube videos showing that using frost or fire multiple times can make the mirror move each time they are used. For instance, using frost once will move the mirror but any subsequent attempts will do nothing. So I'm stuck.
 

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
So where do I get destruction spells above the base ones? The mage in Whiterun always seems to have the same ones, even though I have unlocked a higher ability for spells...
 

ShinNL

Member
Paralyze dude.

Also double Dremora Lords pretty much break combat in this game... I think I'm going to have to just stop using them if I ever want to level any of my other skills again. I don't know how the hell you guys get to 100 Destruction.
My sword dual wielder has 85 destruction...

Shooting firebolts at the Grey beards while they're meditating, muhahaha
 

thefil

Member
That is a valid criticism. For anyone starting out I would also recommend staying away from exploits to improve you character. You first start out thinking, "hey, the game will be better once I have a super-powered character", but then the grind to get to that point really takes the fun out of the game. I guess the game loses it's luster once the "mystery" is taken out of it after finding 'tips and tricks for Skyrim' or perusing the Skyrim wiki for every exploit and tip under the sun.

The best fun to be had is on the way to a specific destination, clearing every area that you discover along the way.

BTW, I'm trying to complete a Mage quest and cannot seem to properly align the mirrors. They seems to always be slightly off. I've looked at youtube videos showing that using frost or fire multiple times can make the mirror move each time they are used. For instance, using frost once will move the mirror but any subsequent attempts will do nothing. So I'm stuck.

I had the same problem with that Mage quest. I just kept alternating spells and basically using a random choice of fire/ice until something pushed it further.
 

ShinAmano

Member
I thought where it took place, who fought with you, etc was epic enough.

Dont get me wrong I loved it...also I think it helped that i got a big LunAr vibe from the whole main quest. I just thought there would be some sort of reward or celebration after that. Not that my girl needs anything else...the last few fights were a joke.
 

Rengoku

Member
BTW, I'm trying to complete a Mage quest and cannot seem to properly align the mirrors. They seems to always be slightly off. I've looked at youtube videos showing that using frost or fire multiple times can make the mirror move each time they are used. For instance, using frost once will move the mirror but any subsequent attempts will do nothing. So I'm stuck.

Use one of those beginner spells (frost or flames), but hold down on it while blasting the mirrors, you will see the mirrors adjust, and just let go once they're close to the right spot.
 

AgentP

Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
Holy shit at level 3 Unrelenting Force, I'm ragdolling bears off cliffs coming down from high Rothguard. This is great, why would I ever use any other combat related shout?

It is kind of AE and will piss off NPCs I think.
 
5 times per level. Level up, then train again. The prices keep going up though, the more you train and the higher your skill.

How far do you need to level up before that option becomes available again. I'm a level 47 and every trainer I've gone to won't level me level up any further and I know for sure that I haven't maxxed out with most of them.
 

bengraven

Member
Holy shit at level 3 Unrelenting Force, I'm ragdolling bears off cliffs coming down from high Rothguard. This is great, why would I ever use any other combat related shout?

I can never kill anything with it. It seems no matter where I use it they always find a slope or balcony to fall on that softens their fall, then they slide harmlessly to the ground where Lydia arrives before me and then gets one-shotted.
 

bengraven

Member
This game is such a huge step up from Oblivion, though I have a strange feeling I'm going to put the same amount of hours in. I figured with all the countless quests that I would be able to surpass the 150 hours I put into vanilla Oblivion. But I'm at 95, only have College, civil war, and half the main story left as well as about 20 side quests and 20 misc quests. Hm, maybe. Maybe.

That said, my only three issues I've had with the game were:

1) misc guild quests are painfully simple - if I have to rob three items from a house then put a 24 hour guard in that house that I must navigate around. If a creature got loose in a house, give it a stat boost or make it a unique - I can one shot a snow cat, don't make me travel all the way to Solitude to do so unless it's going to be a fun fight - also, put the owner outside the house telling you to get your ass in there instead of sitting down eating at the table while the creature stands in place 2 feet away.

2) city size. Some cities are a decent size, such as Solitude and Windhelm, but put more things there. Why is there only 2-3, sometimes 4 shops in the biggest of cities? Give me a bit more variety. Also, very few NPC houses. The fun of Oblivion and Morrowind was sneaking into random houses and frankly, the KNOWLEDGE that there were tons of houses that I could enter, even if I didn't want to, added to the immersion. I can't wait for "better cities". Also, I love the random thief getting attacked in Riften: add those in other places. Example: random werewolves in Whiterun (similar to the random monster attacks in Witcher 1) or Dark Brotherhood assassins in Solitude.

3) some dungeons are really long and well put together, but really really linear. Sometimes you'll get a locked door and think "awesome, finally an optional area to explore" and then find out the huge door swings open to reveal...a closet.
 
So where do I get destruction spells above the base ones? The mage in Whiterun always seems to have the same ones, even though I have unlocked a higher ability for spells...

College of Winterhold.

If you can't get there on foot just take a carriage.

Edit:
Beat the game with my 2H warrior. Took 100 hours.

I went smithing/enchanting at the end because I was tired of running around in steel plate at level 46.

Thanks to improved gear I went with Ebony Armor due to the looks and was still well over the armor cap.
 
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