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[Red Liquorice]

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.

This, all this.

Imagine that at some point in the Thieves Guild questline it was made known in one of the cities you were a master thief, making you a wanted criminal on punishment of execution. So the only way to continue with your quest objectives in that town would be to wear a cowl and cloak covering your face, paying off the guards and discreetly asking around for leads to a guild member in town, or to sneak in through dark sewers where you needed to carry a torch to avoid the cities traps and defenses.

 

[The Librarian]

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

Ah. Well that would've been handy to know! This game isn't that great at telling you stuff. :/

 

[PooBone]

Anyone have any early game advice? I'm a level 8 Nord, playing with a focus on archery, pickpocket, and one-handed weapon use. Having a fucking blast, but I kinda feel like I'm just playing wrong. When I see a work bench, alchemy table, or anything like that, I don't have the first idea what I am supposed to do. Tried just throwing random ingredients into the alchemy table and never got anything that worked. Can't find anyone to buy all these little valuable jewels and stuff either, just weapons and apparel. Also, for whatever reason I'm not picking up many quests. I have been playing for what, 5-6 hours, enough to get to level 8. And I have one side quest open, one miscellaneous quest. So I've just been moving along doing the main quest. Right now I'm headed to see the Greybeards. I remember in Oblivion I was picking up shit to do constantly.

Any advice? Game is fucking awesome.

 

[brotkasten]

I guess I was always lucky with the bugs in this game, until now. The fact that Esbern really is that buggy, even though he's part of the main quest, is incredible. Really, I hit my first major game breaking bug with him and had to open the door with the console. His voice acting still gets skipped (looks like I could extract his voice files to make it work, but wtf?) and he doesn't follow me now, so it's impossible to escort him. Can't believe this isn't high on their priority list, instead they break dragon animations and add LAA.

Then again, the main quest sucks anyway and this is Skyrim, so it's not that bad, because I still have a fuck ton to do.

Spoiler

Hey, this is my GOTY, I had to include a weak rebuttal.

 

[CloudWolf]

I finally encountered my first bug. I'm haunted by a dead dragon that sometimes pops out of nowhere.

 

[NBtoaster]

Ah. Well that would've been handy to know! This game isn't that great at telling you stuff. :/

Oblivion had a little crown icon over characters to show they were essential, I guess they consider that something of an immersion breaker now.

I finally encountered my first bug. I'm haunted by a dead dragon that sometimes pops out of nowhere.

I got that for a while too. It would randomly fall out of the sky, gravitate out of the ground, get jammed in buildings..

http://h8.abload.de/img/bloodjw14r.jpg

 

[Blue Ninja]

Anyone have any early game advice? I'm a level 8 Nord, playing with a focus on archery, pickpocket, and one-handed weapon use. Having a fucking blast, but I kinda feel like I'm just playing wrong. When I see a work bench, alchemy table, or anything like that, I don't have the first idea what I am supposed to do. Tried just throwing random ingredients into the alchemy table and never got anything that worked. Can't find anyone to buy all these little valuable jewels and stuff either, just weapons and apparel. Also, for whatever reason I'm not picking up many quests. I have been playing for what, 5-6 hours, enough to get to level 8. And I have one side quest open, one miscellaneous quest. So I've just been moving along doing the main quest. Right now I'm headed to see the Greybeards. I remember in Oblivion I was picking up shit to do constantly.

Any advice? Game is fucking awesome.

For alchemy, pick flowers, hunt insects, fish, just anything you can. You can taste the ingredients to learn their primary effects, and by mixing them together with others you can learn their other effects.

For smithing, just check the kinds of armor you can craft. If one looks interesting, keep an eye out for the items needed, like ingots and leather. If you level up your smithing, you can invest in perks that teach you how to craft more expensive materials, like ebony and Daedric.

Find general store-owners for your jewels and shit, like Belethor in Whiterun or Lucan in Riverwood. They'll buy anything that isn't stolen, including jewels and gems. Or get the Speech perk that allows you to sell anything to anyone.

As for quests, talk to people. Listen to people. I picked up way too many quests in the first few hours of gameplay just by doing that.

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.

I suppose so, yeah. A few people in the New Vegas OT were turned off by that, I guess I can understand it if you're low on time. Just making it a toggleable 'hardcore mode' would be awesome.

 

[Andrew.]

Finally able to get the game...just got a new slim...now im waiting for the work day to be done...so time to do some thinking. What class/attributes should i start off with?? Anyone got any advice/suggestions...i like the idea of the dunmer...i mean i know it only really matters at the beginning. So....??

 

[Blue Ninja]

Finally able to get the game...just got a new slim...now im waiting for the work day to be done...so time to do some thinking. What class/attributes should i start off with?? Anyone got any advice/suggestions...i like the idea of the dunmer...i mean i know it only really matters at the beginning. So....??

Dunmer get a nice bonus in Destruction magic and the Ancestor's Wrath power, which gives you a flame cloak once a day. Can come in pretty handy sometimes.

Dunmer is a great race if you want to mix magic and combat, but don't let that stop you from making a thief or anything else. My thief/assassin character was a Dunmer, and he did fine.

I might also suggest a Nord, their Battle Cry power can be a lifesaver.

 

[Andrew.]

Sweet...that exactly what i wanted...i want like a warrior mage.....what about their archery skills...i want my character to have high bow skill...im a lover of long range battle if possible, so high archery(sniping) would be pretty important.

 

[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).

Does anyone know why I'm getting low res textures?

 

[CousinLump]

Forbidden Legends was a great journey with a horrible destination. I was delighted to see you can trigger it a number of different ways. I hadn't found the book at the time the College quest took me to the first dungeon, so the start was very different and played out in a different order. Neato.

I'm also really digging on the questline. I even randomly stumbled upon the final dungeon, but I'm not prepared to enter yet. Which brings me to my question:

Spoiler

The last dungeon for me to hit requires a key. I'm assuming this is given to you at the College?

Bummer to hear about the loot.

 

[Sec0nd]

Ah man I thought my game was fucked! Every save game I load the game would go in slow motion. Not like low frame rate but actual ingame slow motion. Fixed it by zooming in with a bow thank god...

 

[GhaleonEB]

I'm also really digging on the questline. I even randomly stumbled upon the final dungeon, but I'm not prepared to enter yet. Which brings me to my question:

Spoiler

The last dungeon for me to hit requires a key. I'm assuming this is given to you at the College?

Bummer to hear about the loot.

The first quest at the College takes you there.

As someone else said, the amulet is better than any other amulet in the game. It's proven more useful than I thought, I just was hoping for a bit more. Great quest, regardless.

I just discovered the wooden mask outside of Labyrinthian, and how it connects to the Dragon Priests. I might just make a character exclusively for the Dragon Priest hunt. Holy crap that is cool.

I spent last night just gathering up materials and funds for new armor and a new axe, as well as a house to store gear. Heading back to Labyrinthian, nerves a tingle.

Ah man I thought my game was fucked! Every save game I load the game would go in slow motion. Not like low frame rate but actual ingame slow motion. Fixed it by zooming in with a bow thank god...

My game has done that three times. 360? I had to reboot to fix it. Totally freaked me out.

 

[PooBone]

For alchemy, pick flowers, hunt insects, fish, just anything you can. You can taste the ingredients to learn their primary effects, and by mixing them together with others you can learn their other effects.

For smithing, just check the kinds of armor you can craft. If one looks interesting, keep an eye out for the items needed, like ingots and leather. If you level up your smithing, you can invest in perks that teach you how to craft more expensive materials, like ebony and Daedric.

Find general store-owners for your jewels and shit, like Belethor in Whiterun or Lucan in Riverwood. They'll buy anything that isn't stolen, including jewels and gems. Or get the Speech perk that allows you to sell anything to anyone.

As for quests, talk to people. Listen to people. I picked up way too many quests in the first few hours of gameplay just by doing that.

Thanks Blue, kinda playing as a loner which may explain why I'm not getting many side quests. I'm finding lots of caves though. I didn't know you could taste ingredients to learn about them. How do you do that? Menu option I suppose? Do you then just throw stuff together at an alchemy table? You don't need a recipe book or anything?

 

[Arjen]

I just had the most amazing fight ever at an outside nordic ruin, the place was huge.
I ran away from a blood dragon because i din't felt like another dragon fight, that's when i walked into that place, little did i know that running away wasn't the smartest move this time, because an ancient dragon was waiting there for me, the fight with the two dragons must have been a loud one, because it awakend every single skeleton and draugr death overlord in the place..Half an hour and many many potions later i stand in the giant battefield cluttered with dead draugrs and dragons. So fuckin awesome.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Thanks Blue, kinda playing as a loner which may explain why I'm not getting many side quests. I'm finding lots of caves though. I didn't know you could taste ingredients to learn about them. How do you do that? Menu option I suppose? Do you then just throw stuff together at an alchemy table? You don't need a recipe book or anything?

You go to your inventory and to the Ingredients tab. There you can eat ingredients to taste them.

And if you use an alchemy table, the items will be sorted by effects, and you'll be able to select the effects that two or more ingredients in your inventory share. You can select those to craft potions.

In doing so, you'll occasionally have ingredients that have more than one effect in common. When you mix these together, the game will inform you that you've discovered a new potion effect. Pretty simple.

There are recipes you can buy, but they're definitely not neccesary if you learn enough effects.

I just had the most amazing fight ever at an outside nordic ruin, the place was huge.
I ran away from a blood dragon because i din't felt like another dragon fight, that's when i walked into that place, little did i know that running away wasn't the smartest move this time, because an ancient dragon was waiting there for me, the fight with the two dragons must have been a loud one, because it awakend every single skeleton and draugr death overlord in the place..Half an hour and many many potions later i stand in the giant battefield cluttered with dead draugrs and dragons. So fuckin awesome.

Sounds like Arcwind Point, am I right? Man, that's my favorite place in the game.

That is awesome. Last night I saw a giant and decided to try to pickpocket him. Sneak up and right when I try to steal he detects me, turn around and screams in my face. So I take off and the motherfucker CHASES ME! I'm running through thick brush and woods and come out on the edge of a cliff, look down and there's a waterfall right beneath me. I turn around and see the giant running at me with it's club in hand. I've heard all about people being one-hit killed by Giants, and I've not saved in a while, so in a panic I just jump off the cliff, into the water, down the waterfall, and survive. I wash up on the edge of this river and there's three people called "hunter" sitting around a campfire, one of them is bathing in the water. They look at me and say "You don't look so good, are you okay?" Next thing I know there's a fuckin dragon swooping over me. They all take up arms with bow and arrows and we take down this fire-breathing dragon together, but I was the only survivor.

Amazing.

Fantastic. I was near that Nordic ruin behind the College of Winterhold yesterday when a polar bear attacked. I summoned an Atronarch to distract it, but the bear took it down in two hits. It explodes, damages him, and pisses off a herd of Horkers that I hadn't even noticed up to that point. They all start charging the bear at two miles an hour and the bear, confused about who he should hit, decides to take them on first. He jumps into the middle of the pile of angry Horkers, who start aggro'ing him like crazy. All the while I'm pelting the little group from afar with Fireballs. The bear dies and the remaining Horkers now turn to me. I spend all my magicka hurling flames at them and finally summon a bound sword and just stab the last one in the face.

SKYRIM.

 

[PooBone]

I just had the most amazing fight ever at an outside nordic ruin, the place was huge.
I ran away from a blood dragon because i din't felt like another dragon fight, that's when i walked into that place, little did i know that running away wasn't the smartest move this time, because an ancient dragon was waiting there for me, the fight with the two dragons must have been a loud one, because it awakend every single skeleton and draugr death overlord in the place..Half an hour and many many potions later i stand in the giant battefield cluttered with dead draugrs and dragons. So fuckin awesome.

That is awesome. Last night I saw a giant and decided to try to pickpocket him. Sneak up and right when I try to steal he detects me, turn around and screams in my face. So I take off and the motherfucker CHASES ME! I'm running through thick brush and woods and come out on the edge of a cliff, look down and there's a waterfall right beneath me. I turn around and see the giant running at me with it's club in hand. I've heard all about people being one-hit killed by Giants, and I've not saved in a while, so in a panic I just jump off the cliff, into the water, down the waterfall, and survive. I wash up on the edge of this river and there's three people called "hunter" sitting around a campfire, one of them is bathing in the water. They look at me and say "You don't look so good, are you okay?" Next thing I know there's a fuckin dragon swooping over me. They all take up arms with bow and arrows and we take down this fire-breathing dragon together, but I was the only survivor.

Amazing.

 

[soldat7]

Does anyone know why I'm getting low res textures?

Many of the textures are just not very high-res/good looking to begin with, but over time, when running on disk, the texture quality does seem to improve. Focus on your hands. They should look like the better pic on the previous page. I'm going to do a bunch more testing later today because I REALLY want this game installed.

 

[Arjen]

Sounds like Arcwind Point, am I right? Man, that's my favorite place in the game.

Yep that was it! So amazing that after 140 hours this game can still suprise with such great places

 

[MarkusRJR]

Many of the textures are just not very high-res/good looking to begin with, but over time, when running on disk, the texture quality does seem to improve. Focus on your hands. They should look like the better pic on the previous page. I'm going to do a bunch more testing later today because I REALLY want this game installed.

My hands look like the worse screenshot, and it's running via disc. D:

 

[Blue Ninja]

Yep that was it! So amazing that after 140 hours this game can still suprise with such great places

I found that one relatively early on, while I was exploring the Cyrodiil border. It was during a snowstorm as I reached the top of the hill, and the first thing I saw were these Nordic towers looming at me through the snow. Then the skeletons showed up and I got to make the most of my Fire Breath shout. And then a dragon attacked. I noticed a Dragon Lair nearby, and thinking I'd killed the dragon already I travelled there... Only to be greeted by another dragon. Burdened by their bones and scales I then made my way back to Arcwind Point, now bathed in twilight.

And then the Draugr Death Overlord decided it had slept long enough. I spent over an hour fighting that bastard, playing cat and mouse with him around that tower. I finally managed to push him over the edge... And he survived. When I finally killed him, I felt like a badass. The spankin' brand-new Ebony sword I looted off his corpse probably helped, too.

Yeah, I think I'll be restarting Wulf today. I still need to finish some of Rolf's quests, but then I'm done with him. Hmm, but I still need a character to do the Companions, too...

 

[Esch]

Playing as a pure mage iss sooo fun. I'm rollin as a Breton with Enchanting, Alteration, Destruction, Conjuration, Restoration.... Really really legit. I kinda wish i had dumped conjuration(makes the game too easy) and worked with 1H instead for some 'Gandalfing'. It's also cool to use clothes instead of armor, i know this sounds strange but i feel like a weirdass running through towns in full plate mail.

To be honest i think mages are somewhat underpowered apart from the conjuration tree. As far as armor you can make up the difference with alteration perks, the lord stone and enchanting, but that is a lot of perks, far more than those needed for smithing not to mention the magicka cost associated... Destruction seems a bit underpowered to be honest. None of the spells seem that destructive. In fact it's more like Archery to be honest, everything just feels like a generic bullet or AoE spell. Definitely needs more variety and power in the next installment. the whole lightning/fire/ice thing is boring by itself. There was a lot of potential for this one. Imagine being able to combine different spells on the fly with dualcast(granted that would take a lot of effects designers).

Yeah, I think I'll be restarting Wulf today. I still need to finish some of Rolf's quests, but then I'm done with him. Hmm, but I still need a character to do the Companions, too...

An orc 2H tank is nice, but honestly i think that a sword and board type character with a redguard would be much more fun. Block adds a nice element to the melee combat, and while yes you do have blocking ability with a 2h sword, a lot of those block perks just don't apply.

 

[Barrett2]

I wonder how many hours i've spent looking at load screens; 360 version.

 

[CloudWolf]

I got that for a while too. It would randomly fall out of the sky, gravitate out of the ground, get jammed in buildings..

http://h8.abload.de/img/bloodjw14r.jpg

Mine popped up in Whiterun and slowly sunk into the ground. It was actually pretty creepy to watch.

 

[HawksWinStanley]

Why the hell didn't I do the Azura's Star quest sooner?

I always held off on enchanting my weapons because I didn't want to waste my soul gems. Now that I have the Star I'm wrecking fools without worry.

Can I actually just sell all of my filled soul gems now? Might as well make a profit since I don't need them for recharging or enchanting anymore.

 

[GhaleonEB]

An orc 2H tank is nice, but honestly i think that a sword and board type character with a redguard would be much more fun. Block adds a nice element to the melee combat, and while yes you do have blocking ability with a 2h sword, a lot of those block perks just don't apply.

Yeah, blocking with a shield adds a lot to the combat. Melee didn't really click with me until I got how the sheild bash worked. Now with some perks (such as slow time), I juggle fools in CQC while bathing them in flaming axe blows. I'm very close to getting the 5x damage perk for shield bashes, which will have me knocking dudes over left and right.

The big bad just inside of Labyrinthian is dead, and what a fight it was. While I roll as a solo player, I on occasion use a summoned Fire Atronoch as a distraction, such are the demands of Master difficulty. I was able to use it to distract him while I wittled down the skeletal guards, then again while I charged his flank for the finishing skirmish. Delighted to see that shield bashes worked on something of that bulk - I smacked his face around for a good 30 seconds straight before landing the final blow.

It occurs to me that my Alteration specialty would go well with an archer. Frenzy guys, then toss in arrows from afar. Calm them when they get close, then pull back and resume. I might have to rethink my next character. It's been so fun toying with guys; last night I turned a Foresworn Briarheart into my plaything, I was sitting on a bench chatting him up before I hopped up and crushed his skull.

 

[Blue Ninja]

I've been thinking of fooling around with a warrior character that doesn't carry any weapons except the ones he conjures up himself.

 

[HawksWinStanley]

Has anyone ever killed a dragon and then never absorbed the soul? This happened to me yesterday. He just lays there dead with his skin still on. I could loot the body but his skin never burns away.

Is this a glitch or does this happen if you've already killed a dragon like it before or something?

 

[Arjen]

Has anyone ever killed a dragon and then never absorbed the soul? This happened to me yesterday. He just lays there dead with his skin still on. I could loot the body but his skin never burns away.

Is this a glitch or does this happen if you've already killed a dragon like it before or something?

Yeah i had that before, i think it happens to dragons that respawn or something, and i believe if someone else gives the killing blow you also don't get the soul.

 

[Double D]

I'm a Nord. I guess I have some ability that lets me withstand the cold. What is it like with other races when you go up in the mountains?

Also, now that I've beat the main quest, I've been encountering a lot of

Spoiler

named

dragons. Is this a thing, or did I just happen to never encounter any before I beat the main quest?

Oh yeah, and I went with the Stormcloaks. After that

Spoiler

roundtable meeting at in High Hrothgar

during the main quest, my decision became quite clear. I hate Thalmor scum, and really just wanted to pick the side that hated them as much as I do. As things progressed, though, I started to rethink my decision. I really thought

Spoiler

Balgruuf

would have swung in favor of Ulfric. I like

Spoiler

Balgruuf

and was bummed to have to everything go down in

Spoiler

Whiterun

the way it did. So far that's been my only regret, though. I'm not finished with the Civil War, but I've been ok with crushing the Imperials on the quests that have followed.

 

[Andrew.]

I've been thinking of fooling around with a warrior character that doesn't carry any weapons except the ones he conjures up himself.

you can conjure weapons?

 

[Unicorn]

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.

Sounds like money got in the way of vision. This game clearly should not be marketed to this crowd... but since it brings in the money, why the hell not.

So now, hopefully mods can change that. The more replay, the better. I'd like each playthrough with different races to feel like different playthroughs. Trying to find different ways around social complications, race-specific problems, etc.

Forcing myself to play that way can get straining when I'm trying to keep straight the inner character of all my different dovahkiins.

 

[GhaleonEB]

you can conjure weapons?

Bound weapons using the Conjuration school.

I'm role playing a character who only uses weapons she makes herself right now, using mostly materials I've gathered myself (clearing out a mine that had moonstone was lovely). I've spent entire evenings working on nothing but preparing new gear, for the following day's questing.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Luring Draugr into traps never gets old. I was chased by a few Deathlords through half a dungeon before I managed to take 'em all down by one of those ancient Nordic grate-squash-machine-thingies.

Oh, and Hevnoraak is one tough motherfucker.

 

[Arjen]

Luring Draugr into traps never gets old. I was chased by a few Deathlords through half a dungeon before I managed to take 'em all down by one of those ancient Nordic grate-squash-machine-thingies.

That's my favorite thing to do, so funny

 

[EmCeeGramr]

If I meet another fucking invincible person I'm going to quit this piece of crap.

 

[Double D]

If I meet another fucking invincible person I'm going to quit this piece of crap.

Invincible people? Are you a mass murderer just running through town killing random NPCs?

 

[Karl2177]

Invincible people? Are you a mass murderer just running through town killing random NPCs?

Nah, I've run into my fair share of people that won't take any damage on missions where I'm supposed to kill certain people. I don't do any damage to Silver Hand Leaders. It's really shitty because one of the Companion missions is to kill the Leader.

EDIT: I'll also add that since I changed my difficulty, my arrows go about a foot and then drop.

 

[lil smoke]

Has anyone ever killed a dragon and then never absorbed the soul? This happened to me yesterday. He just lays there dead with his skin still on. I could loot the body but his skin never burns away.

Is this a glitch or does this happen if you've already killed a dragon like it before or something?

One time, my companion got the last shot that killed a frost dragon. I ran up to it was waited for my dragon love, and nothing came. I took out a sword, and hit it once, it caught on fire and the sweet soul came out!

On invincible NPCs, I ran into Cicero early during my adventures, I had read that his clothing was... special, and since I had already framed him for a mini quest, I wanted to kill him for it. Couldn't. It was much later that I realized dude is a slightly important character hehe

 

[Esch]

Yeah, the Gauldur Amulet is pretty weak compared to necklaces you can enchant yourself, but isn't everything?

For a jack-of-all-trades its pretty useful. Although I think it should have been 40 or 50 points of each trait.

 

[Double D]

Nah, I've run into my fair share of people that won't take any damage on missions where I'm supposed to kill certain people. I don't do any damage to Silver Hand Leaders. It's really shitty because one of the Companion missions is to kill the Leader.

EDIT: I'll also add that since I changed my difficulty, my arrows go about a foot and then drop.

Huh, never encountered anyone invincible. That really sucks. Like you can't take any health away from them at all or they just don't die after you've depleted their health?

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Huh, never encountered anyone invincible. That really sucks. Like you can't take any health away from them at all or they just don't die after you've depleted their health?

You deplete all their health, they go into the crouching position, and then they get back up again with full health.

I'm venting here, but it's really aggravating. It's not like it's just super-important people like Jarls, it's extended to some random-ass people like thieves, family members of one important family in a town who might only tangentially be related to certain non-main-quest quests, even some random people inside a meadery. Like, unless these people are all secretly super important to the process of killing Alduin, I'm not seeing why they need to be invincible highlanders.

It's especially frustrating not only because it runs so opposed to the rest of the game's intent of letting you do whatever you want, but the last GameBryo/Bethesda-style open-world game I played was New Vegas, where one of the design goals was to allow the player to kill literally anybody in the Mojave Wasteland. There's only one "invincible" NPC there, and there's a good story reason for why that is (and you can actually destroy their body and temporarily "kill" them).

 

[Blue Ninja]

Uh, what the shit. I was attacked by a Blood Dragon outside of Anga's Mill (near Windhelm), but something was definitely off with it... It's animation was very wonky, it didn't move right. It looked like it was swimming in the air instead of actually flying. It burned down pretty much everyone in the village, but I ultimately brought it down... And as my ice shard takes its final sliver of health away, it disappears. I go to investigate, and find a puddle of Ghostly Remains... Including dragon bones, dragon scales, and gold.

Creepy.

 

[NBtoaster]

I just saw a goat attack a dragon. The first time I've seen one hostile to anything in the game and it chooses a dragon to fight.

 

[GhaleonEB]

You deplete all their health, they go into the crouching position, and then they get back up again with full health.

I'm venting here, but it's really aggravating. It's not like it's just super-important people like Jarls, it's extended to some random-ass people like thieves, family members of one important family in a town who might only tangentially be related to certain non-main-quest quests, even some random people inside a meadery. Like, unless these people are all secretly super important to the process of killing Alduin, I'm not seeing why they need to be invincible highlanders.

It's especially frustrating not only because it runs so opposed to the rest of the game's intent of letting you do whatever you want, but the last GameBryo/Bethesda-style open-world game I played was New Vegas, where one of the design goals was to allow the player to kill literally anybody in the Mojave Wasteland. There's only one "invincible" NPC there, and there's a good story reason for why that is (and you can actually destroy their body and temporarily "kill" them).

It seems to apply to anyone that can be a key part of a quest line; problem is, that's a lot of people. What aggrivates me is we have no way of knowing who they are, and they often appear in places that seem to contradict with the goals we are given given.

For instance, when I was playing the Stormcloak side of the Civil War, I asked what else I could do to help liberate Skyrim. I was told to be on the lookout for any Imperial camps and clear them out if I spot them. Not a formal quest, but a clear signal that I could (and should, as a good Stormcloak) work on purging them from the land.

Yet, every single Imperial camp I found has an invincible Legate. I'll mop up the troops, the Legate would charge out of his tent, and fall to his knees after what should have been a killing arrow. I couldn't even loot the place in peace (though I did kill their wounded).

I assume these are important folks from the Imperial side of the story, but why can't I kill them when I'm a Stormcloak? And in particular, why is the game telling me to clear out Imperial camps when it's impossible?

I just saw a goat attack a dragon. The first time I've seen one hostile to anything in the game and it chooses a dragon to fight.

That goat is braver than my horse. Last night I hopped off my horse to kill two regular wolves for their pelts - I one-hit them now - and find my horse scattered to the wind after. I swear it would run in terror from a rabbit.

 

[Karl2177]

Huh, never encountered anyone invincible. That really sucks. Like you can't take any health away from them at all or they just don't die after you've depleted their health?

Mine just don't do any damage, and it's to those specific characters. I try magic, 1 foot arrows, 1 handed, 2 handed, everything, and they drop nothing on their health. I'm thinking of starting a new character to see if it remedies any problems I'm having with it.

 

[Deified Data]

Uh, what the shit. I was attacked by a Blood Dragon outside of Anga's Mill (near Windhelm), but something was definitely off with it... It's animation was very wonky, it didn't move right. It looked like it was swimming in the air instead of actually flying. It burned down pretty much everyone in the village, but I ultimately brought it down... And as my ice shard takes its final sliver of health away, it disappears. I go to investigate, and find a puddle of Ghostly Remains... Including dragon bones, dragon scales, and gold.

Creepy.

Hah, you've encountered another ghost dragon! At least your's didn't turn into a skeleton and start flying around.

 

[cory021]

The difficulty in this game is odd sometimes. I've been playing Master difficulty since about level 20. Being a Heavy Armor Nord with a slight background in Alteration, it's been relatively easy.

I just hit level 35 the other day, and all of a sudden the game's difficulty seemed to spike up quite a bit. Bandits, Falmer, mages, and Dragons that I once could kill with ease are now pushing me to near-death. It's fun, but the swift increase in difficulty kind of caught me off guard.

I've been wearing Exquisite Steel-Plate Armor for the majority of the game, and it's been pretty helpful for the most part. However, I might have do start using the Ebony Armor I've been collecting to accommodate for the increase in difficulty. My Armorer skill is 77, so in a few levels I'll be able to upgrade the Ebony to be more effective than my Steel-Plate Armor. Hopefully that should cut the difficulty down a little.

 

[lil smoke]

Yep, I just hit L35 and shit is definitely getting real all of a sudden.

My technique of running and hiding and healing my companion so she and her Mr. Frosty can back me up is no longer effective at this level!