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[lil smoke]

It is amazing that you guys keep telling stories about things that I still haven't experienced, places I know nothing about, quests I haven't found. I keep wondering "where the heck are these guys getting these quests from?" ... and I do not really want to know.

There must be a massive amount of quests in game, the majority of the discussion involves stuff I know absolutely nothing about, yet, my own game story is filled with amazing stuff.

The one thing I am very curious about from the discussion is this so called "Blackreach" place. I have no idea how to get to that point, and maybe never will on this character, but it definitely has me already looking forward to my next playthrough.

 

[Syph Medwes]

Just starting a new game for the first time and was wondering if there were any races I shouldn't choose for my first playthrough? Like are they all pretty balanced or are some races more suited for beginners? (i've never played an elder scrolls game)

 

[Osietra]

Just interested, if you were going to RP as a character with aspergers, which skills would you select ? Archery for sure, and I dunno, sneaking, illusion ?

 

[Red Liquorice]

The one thing I am very curious about from the discussion is this so called "Blackreach" place. I have no idea how to get to that point, and maybe never will on this character, but it definitely has me already looking forward to my next playthrough.

You'll find it, it has several entrances. Prepare for a ':-O ' moment!

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

So I complained a lot that I felt there was a lack of unique/interesting dungeons were exploring earlier in this thread. I kinda take that back now, as more often than not I've found something cool in a cave/dungeon when I wander in. I guess had a lot of bad luck by just finding the boring ones at the start.

I will however lodge a new complaint: there's not enough different enemies. I keep fighting the same goddamn people/things all the time.

 

[Deified Data]

I'm pretty sure your experience would not be any different if you were wearing a full suit of armour.

Don't be so sure. My first playthrough I go out into the courtyard in full armor and they attacked on sight. Second playthrough, I wear their robes, walk within 3 feet of them without attracting attention. If I got too close, they had unique dialogue that was something to the effect of "I don't recognize you, get over here". Try it yourself if you're still doubtful.

 

[Hawkian]

Just interested, if you were going to RP as a character with aspergers, which skills would you select ? Archery for sure, and I dunno, sneaking, illusion ?

Eh... you should level one skill to 100 before touching any others

 

[Osietra]

Eh... you should level one skill to 100 before touching any others

Hahaha
Pretty much the answer I was hoping for.

 

[Deified Data]

Hahaha
Pretty much the answer I was hoping for.

Something weird, like pickpocketing.

 

[TTG]

Horrific ending and loot.

It's the best amulet I've found. I don't wear it now that I'm at a high enough level to make the added stats irrelevant(fortify my archery or 1 handed instead) but it was cool to find it when I did. As a matter of fact, it's just about the only great piece of loot I've found that wasn't tied to a deadric quest.

Anyway, I loved that quest as well. Did you notice

Spoiler

After you kick the third brother's ass he steps back and the two step forward for a second before their father puts an end to it. I thought it was time for round 4 with all three of them at once, THAT would of been a battle.

In other news, I finished the main quest! Last dungeon, I was like a kid in a candy store, so many deathlords to soul trap and get sneaky hits with my bow. Now I have Companions' and College's guilds quest lines to do and 5 more levels to gain.

 

[backflip10019]

Something weird, like pickpocketing.

Really anything but Speech.

 

[soldat7]

These textures on 360....I don't even....I've tried HDD, USB, and now disk. I've cleared my cache...I might just have to wipe my save game too. I'm stumped. No matter what I do, my hands, walls, and everything look like this:

And not like this:

Any suggestions?

 

[Deified Data]

Really anything but Speech.

Hah, if only there was an in-game disease that stunted speech.

Just realized Skyrim is lacking in disease variety. Miss being able to get a whole host of different diseases from different enemies, if only to read their funny names.

 

[GhaleonEB]

It's the best amulet I've found. I don't wear it now that I'm at a high enough level to make the added stats irrelevant(fortify my archery or 1 handed instead) but it was cool to find it when I did. As a matter of fact, it's just about the only great piece of loot I've found that wasn't tied to a deadric quest.

Anyway, I loved that quest as well. Did you notice

Spoiler

After you kick the third brother's ass he steps back and the two step forward for a second before their father puts an end to it. I thought it was time for round 4 with all three of them at once, THAT would of been a battle.

In other news, I finished the main quest! Last dungeon, I was like a kid in a candy store, so many deathlords to soul trap and get sneaky hits with my bow. Now I have Companions' and College's guilds quest lines to do and 5 more levels to gain.

It's a decent amulet, just wildly out of proportion with the quest. It got me about a

Spoiler

15% bump in the three stats. Neat, but I was expecting something more...special is all.

But as with the rest of the game, the journey was well worth it.

That was a great touch with the three at the end, I was terrified we were all going to rumble. :lol

An unrelated annoyance: none of the four(!!) side quests I have on queue for the College can progress, because everyone is stuck in that non-responsive state due to

Spoiler

the death of the Arch Mage, which I did NOT see coming. Everyone just talks about that, so they're all on hold until the main quest line for the College is resolved, I guess. Guessing that's their way of making you focus on it, but it's annoying.

So, I rode to Labyrinthian. I'd been looking forward to this one, and Blackreach, and saved them for this character. I'm level 26 so it feels like the time is right.

The outside of that place is so wonderfully imposing, hopefully the inside lives up to it. I get inside, see the intro area and get this sense of foreboding. Hopefully the dungeon pays it off.

*opens door*

I haven't been that startled by this game since Nimhe landed on my head. 0_o

On a related note, I'm bailing out of the place and smithing and enchanting myself all new armor. :lol

 

[Red Liquorice]

You know what's starting to get tiresome? A dragon showing up almost every time I fast travel. :/

 

[Thagomizer]

Agreed. The Lusty Argonian Maid makes no sense considering there are no spears in Oblivion or Skyrim.

Also, why the hell is there still no horseback combat? Spears would definitely be useful here.

I'm annoyed at having no spears for my Ornstein character :/

 

[ChoklitReign]

Fuck the puzzle room in Ustengrav! I sprint past the 3 stones and use the Whirlwind shout and still can't get past it. Either I bump into something or the Whirlwind takes too long to charge. Where's the best place to shout and do I hold it down?

 

[EmCeeGramr]

This sure is A Bethesda Game™

 

[Deified Data]

Fuck the puzzle room in Ustengrav! I sprint past the 3 stones and use the Whirlwind shout and still can't get past it. Either I bump into something or the Whirlwind takes too long to charge. Where's the best place to shout and do I hold it down?

Are you touching each stone individually, or running straight down the middle? I've never had issues running straight down the middle and using Whirlwind Sprint as soon as the third stone is activated.

 

[Hellsing321]

Just started the game and got Lydia as my first companion. Where can I find her if I've dismissed her?

 

[Jeff Chen]

Fuck the puzzle room in Ustengrav! I sprint past the 3 stones and use the Whirlwind shout and still can't get past it. Either I bump into something or the Whirlwind takes too long to charge. Where's the best place to shout and do I hold it down?

Stand beside the first and 2nd stone, make sure they are both lit, then start sprinting, passing the 3rd one, and then continue to sprint until you are close to the first gate, then do the whirlwind rush.

 

[Jeff Chen]

Just started the game and got Lydia as my first companion. Where can I find her if I've dismissed her?

In Dragonsreach, if you don't have a house in Whiterun yet. Otherwise go to your house and find her on the 2nd floor.

 

[DanielJr82]

145 hours in the Xbox version, loading times are really long now. There's absolutely no way to fix this, right? I'm running the game off the HDD and I'm average upwards to two minutes to load Skyrim world and cities and about a minute to load houses and caves.

 

[The Librarian]

So

Spoiler

I retrieved Esbern and ran with him back to Riverwood. I've died twice on my way to Sky Haven Temple (is that it?). Didn't save both times for a while cause I keep assuming that I'll be able to make it on this save. I keep encountering two dragons on my way there.

 

[soldat7]

145 hours in the Xbox version, loading times are really long now. There's absolutely no way to fix this, right? I'm running the game off the HDD and I'm average upwards to two minutes to load Skyrim world and cities and about a minute to load houses and caves.

It's crap like this (and the texture crap I'm dealing with) that makes me wish I'd have waited a year to get this on PC or to give Bethesduh enough time to fix the bugs. Maybe I'll just shelve it for awhile.

 

[RadAndrew502]

It's crap like this (and the texture crap I'm dealing with) that makes me wish I'd have waited a year to get this on PC or to give Bethesduh enough time to fix the bugs. Maybe I'll just shelve it for awhile.

Yeah. My loads are starting to take a while too. I REALLY noticed it after I started a new character and noticed how quick the loads were. It happened so gradually I guess that its hard to notice.

 

[Somtaaw]

Agreed. The Lusty Argonian Maid makes no sense considering there are no spears in Oblivion or Skyrim.

Also, why the hell is there still no horseback combat? Spears would definitely be useful here.

killing a dragon with spear while riding damm such wasted potential..

 

[Blue Ninja]

I'm somehow always lucky when it comes to Bethesda games. I don't have long loading times at all, unless I load saves from a while back (more specifically, my previous characters). All of Rolf's saves load up really fast. It's only when I try to load up my final Wulf and Sul saves after having played Rolf for a while that it takes a while, but once it's fully loaded, those playthroughs load everything pretty quickly, too.

Then again, that's largely because of how I play the game. All these people talking about doing everything and maxing everything with one character? They be trippin'. I love starting new characters.

 

[GhaleonEB]

My daughter has just discovered that she can give her companion weapons and armor, and he'll equip it. Poor guy is rocking a very lovely tiara, necklace, and ring. I think ladies clothes are next up.

 

[Deified Data]

I'm somehow always lucky when it comes to Bethesda games. I don't have long loading times at all, unless I load saves from a while back (more specifically, my previous characters). All of Rolf's saves load up really fast. It's only when I try to load up my final Wulf and Sul saves after having played Rolf for a while that it takes a while, but once it's fully loaded, those playthroughs load everything pretty quickly, too.

Then again, that's largely because of how I play the game. All these people talking about doing everything and maxing everything with one character? They be trippin'. I love starting new characters.

Agreed. As much as I love all of the characters I've made, nothing can compare to the fun and excitement of starting anew. After 5 characters, I may do it again tonight, who knows. Need to make at least one Stormcloak character.

 

[CloudWolf]

All these people talking about doing everything and maxing everything with one character? They be trippin'. I love starting new characters.

Usually I try to do as much as possible with my first character, just to test the waters of what's available and then go for more specific characters. I'm now playing a heavy armor Nord tank and after I'm done with him (which is going to take a while, because like I said: I'm going to explore as much of the game with him as possible), I think I'll make a sneaky type who is neutral to the whole war and a battlemage who joins up with the imperials.

That last character is going to be quite a challenge I reckon, since I never played a pure mage character before.

 

[Jeff Chen]

I'm somehow always lucky when it comes to Bethesda games. I don't have long loading times at all, unless I load saves from a while back (more specifically, my previous characters). All of Rolf's saves load up really fast. It's only when I try to load up my final Wulf and Sul saves after having played Rolf for a while that it takes a while, but once it's fully loaded, those playthroughs load everything pretty quickly, too.

Then again, that's largely because of how I play the game. All these people talking about doing everything and maxing everything with one character? They be trippin'. I love starting new characters.

I maxed out my char to Lv80 with a glitch on the console. I just don't wanna do the game over again.

 

[DanielJr82]

I'm not trying to do everything either, my character is a full warrior --one handed, shield, smithing, heavy armor. Some perks in healing because I can't do without a healing spell here or there. Other than that, not much invested in anything else. Now that all my core skills are at 100 I need to branch out if I want to get to level 50, though. So two handed weapons and light armor here I come, at least until level 50 (currently level 47).

Once I clear the main storyline and reach level 50 I'll probably start a thief character, but that's probably some time next year in the summer lull or something. January I'm pretty busy with work and church, February is all about Kingdoms of Amalur, then it's Mass Effect 3 in March.

 

[Stet]

 

[Thagomizer]

It took me a second to get this, but when I did, I chuckled.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

After 20 hours, I just have express how much I'm enjoying this game. I don't even remember Oblivion captivating me this much, and I put 120 hours into that game!

Currently Level 18, and I'm still not done with the majority of side quests in Whiterun. Hell, I only recently turned

Spoiler

into a Werewolf

for the Companions. The only other city I've visited in Riften, and that was only briefly because I needed a place to sell my loot and catch some rest. I am role-playing the ever loving shit out of this game, and it's making the experience better than I could have ever imagined.

What I mean is that I have yet to fast travel. I walk EVERYWHERE (I'd use a horse if there was a first-person perspective, but there isn't one, so fuck that). As you might imagine I've seen a lot of cool sights along the way that people who exclusively use fast travel may have missed. It makes shit like climbing mountains that much more laborious for me in real life because I know I have to climb all the way back down (looking at you, 7000 steps!). But that's how I want to feel! Complete immersion, baby.

In fact, I don't even use a map marker for the major cities. Following the road signs is so fun. I had just explored a couple caves near Ivarstead (which is at the foot of the 7000 steps), and even fought off a frost dragon. I really wanted to quit playing for a bit, but I was in the middle of nowhere, and I hate quitting unless I'm at my house or in a city or something. So I know the trek back to Whiterun will be a pain in the ass if all I want to do is catch some rest and sell my loot, so I hit a crossroads and decide to follow the signs toward Riften. You can imagine how enthralled I was by the changing landscape. It really felt like this grand adventure.

Love it!

 

[Hawkian]

Fuck, I want to order some Pizza hut just for that. Amazing.

 

[GhaleonEB]

The initial reference is amusing, but the fact that the Pizza Hut poster landed that follow up makes it awesome. :lol

After 20 hours, I just have express how much I'm enjoying this game. I don't even remember Oblivion captivating me this much, and I put 120 hours into that game!

Currently Level 18, and I'm still not done with the majority of side quests in Whiterun. Hell, I only recently turned

Spoiler

into a Werewolf

for the Companions. The only other city I've visited in Riften, and that was only briefly because I needed a place to sell my loot and catch some rest. I am role-playing the ever loving shit out of this game, and it's making the experience better than I could have ever imagined.

What I mean is that I have yet to fast travel. I walk EVERYWHERE (I'd use a horse if there was a first-person perspective, but there isn't one, so fuck that). As you might imagine I've seen a lot of cool sights along the way that people who exclusively use fast travel may have missed. It makes shit like climbing mountains that much more laborious for me in real life because I know I have to climb all the way back down (looking at you, 7000 steps!). But that's how I want to feel! Complete immersion, baby.

In fact, I don't even use a map marker for the major cities. Following the road signs is so fun. I had just explored a couple caves near Ivarstead (which is at the foot of the 7000 steps), and even fought off a frost dragon. I really wanted to quit playing for a bit, but I was in the middle of nowhere, and I hate quitting unless I'm at my house or in a city or something. So I know the trek back to Whiterun will be a pain in the ass if all I want to do is catch some rest and sell my loot, so I hit a crossroads and decide to follow the signs toward Riften. You can imagine how enthralled I was by the changing landscape. It really felt like this grand adventure.

Love it!

I love reading impressions from folks just getting the game. I had this same reaction. Skyrim is such an abundance of riches, it's overwhelming.

 

[The Librarian]

I started my game over. I was about twenty-five hours in. Back at a level two now.

Question: Why is it that some characters are unable to die? I would shoot the with an arrow, they would run out of health, collapse, then get back up again with all their health regenerated. What's up with that?

 

[Hawkian]

It's an embarrassment of riches, really. Look at my damn quest log...

Then there's the Misc list alone, who knows where these could lead:

oooooh boy

 

[NBtoaster]

I started my game over. I was about twenty-five hours in. Back at a level two now.

Question: Why is it that some characters are unable to die? I would shoot the with an arrow, they would run out of health, collapse, then get back up again with all their health regenerated. What's up with that?

They are involved in main/faction quests. They dont want you accidentally wrecking a questline by killing someone important.

 

[Charmicarmicat]

They are involved in main/faction quests. They dont want you accidentally wrecking a questline by killing someone important.

That's the one thing I wish they had kept from F:NV. Everyone can die in that, except for one person, and even that makes sense as to why you can't kill them.

 

[The Hermit]

IN the older Elder Scrolls game could you turn into a

Spoiler

werewolf

too? That was incredible!

Not very practical though...

 

[rohlfinator]

1. I think the "dumbing down" of Elder Scrolls games gets blown way out of proportion, but this is one area where it shows up. It's not like Bethesda haven't thought of this, it was in Morrowind with the houses(another type of guild). You could join all of them, but at a specific point you had to choose which side to take as the conflict between them grew. The thing is, if you do that and make whole cities inaccessible, people will complain. Getting all the trophies is important to people and so is basically failing to complete certain quests. What if there are quests that are a part of other major quest lines? Are you gonna suspend the main quest for a player because he's joined up in the civil war and Solitude is off limits? In that case there's no way to go back if you decide to drop the civil war bullshit, you have to start a new game or spend hours mowing down random soldiers at forts. So, competing guilds would be fine, locking out areas of the world, not so much.

I would be all for "locking players out" of certain areas as long as it was done intelligently.

Player joined up with the opposing faction? Turn the whole city guard hostile against them and make them sneak to their objectives. For non-stealth characters, there could be a few shady NPCs that could sneak you into the city and escort you around -- for a price. Most of the large cities could easily have supported a secret entrance through the sewers or something similar. Maybe add a simple disguise mechanic so players have a little more versatility with stealth that doesn't rely on the Sneak ability. Incorporate Speech so some players can talk their way out of getting seen by civilians.

Maybe I'm underestimating the amount of work involved with this kind of stuff, but I think a few minor changes like those could have noticeably improved the AI interaction in this game and provided some non-combat uses for a lot of the skills.

 

[MarkusRJR]

I bought Skyrim with my 4gb Xbox 360 yesterday. It was good looking for the first time I played it. I played today and after going to the menu and exiting the textures went to shit. I've restarted to game, console, etc and it always turns to shit the moment after I exit the menu. I thought this was only a problem for people who installed the game. I also thought that texture issue (for people with it installed) was fixed via patch. Is this a common problem and will there be a fix in the future?

Other than that, I'm loving the game (it's my first Elder Scrolls game).

 

[Blue Ninja]

IN the older Elder Scrolls game could you turn into a

Spoiler

werewolf

too? That was incredible!

Not very practical though...

You could in Bloodmoon, but that's it, I think. It was related to the main quest, there. Hircine's quest in Skyrim is basically the sequel to Bloodmoon, too. :lol

I would be all for "locking players out" of certain areas as long as it was done intelligently.

Player joined up with the opposing faction? Turn the whole city guard hostile against them and make them sneak to their objectives. For non-stealth characters, there could be a few shady NPCs that could sneak you into the city and escort you around -- for a price. Most of the large cities could easily have supported a secret entrance through the sewers or something similar. Maybe add a simple disguise mechanic so players have a little more versatility with stealth that doesn't rely on the Sneak ability. Incorporate Speech so some players can talk their way out of getting seen by civilians.

Maybe I'm underestimating the amount of work involved with this kind of stuff, but I think a few minor changes like those could have noticeably improved the AI interaction in this game and provided some non-combat uses for a lot of the skills.

Yeah, disguises and the like would be awesome. These games sell like hotcakes anyway, having your actions actually have some consequence really wouldn't hurt sales.

Heck, make it an optional mode, if it's really neccesary to give the players no challenge what-so-ever. No fast travel except carriages (and reintroduce something akin to guild guides, please), no essential NPC's except those who are absolutely neccesary, guilds that interact with eachother and the world, getting locked out of cities unless you use disguises, there's so much possibilities to make a TES world feel even more real than what they did now. Skyrim really has that spark of life, but certain design decisions can make it break down right in front of your eyes. They introduced the Radiant Story system because I thought they were cutting back on essential NPC's, but then they hardly ever used the mechanic.

 

[Morokh]

Is there a quest, or objective that, leads you towards Riften ?

I'm actually only creating a lot of new characters (just for fun ), but my next playthrough will be a sneaky oriented character, and I just want to find something that would give him/her an actual reason to go there.

From what I remember from my first playthrough the only thing that made me visit the town was after finding my first Barenziah stone, and because it was the only one left I did not go.
That put aside, I can't remember a quest or even an NPC ever talking about the town.

 

[CloudWolf]

Then there's the Misc list alone, who knows where these could lead

Yeah, my misc quest log is huge. Maybe I should try to do something about it, but I always end up being distracted by dungeons (that sometimes open yet another misc quest :lol).

 

[NBtoaster]

Is there a quest, or objective that, leads you towards Riften ?

I'm actually only creating a lot of new characters (just for fun ), but my next playthrough will be a sneaky oriented character, and I just want to find something that would give him/her an actual reason to go there.

From what I remember from my first playthrough the only thing that made me visit the town was after finding my first Barenziah stone, and because it was the only one left I did not go.
That put aside, I can't remember a quest or even an NPC ever talking about the town.

The main quest (

Spoiler

Esbern is there in the ratway

).

 

[Seanspeed]

These games sell like hotcakes anyway, having your actions actually have some consequence really wouldn't hurt sales.

It might. Some people like to just play once and do everything they can do in that one go. They dont want to replay the game because a quarter of the game's content was locked out due to choices the player made. Many wont mind, but some definitely will.