So, Skyrim's out 11/11/11

[Treesh]

That is hilarious (at least by Bethesda standards). I had no idea that spouses and housecarls reacted to one another under any circumstances. I may have to see if Aela and Lydia will fight over something. If Bethesda can script that sort of encounter, I wonder why it will not inject a little more depth in the dialogue between the PC and companions or spouses. Of course, I know nothing about how this sort of thing is done, but Bioware manages to create games where the PC can develop some sort of relationship with followers.

Well, apparently it wasn't supposed to happen and they've never done it again. I think it somewhat has something to do with the bug where if you drop an item and move it, it'll show back up where you had dropped it initially rather than staying where you moved it because the behavior wasn't repeated when the statue actually stayed put. I have a save in the house that I can load up and see if dropping things in the bedroom prompts a fight again or not.

[kandrathe]

I have a save in the house that I can load up and see if dropping things in the bedroom prompts a fight again or not.

Wow. Glad they weren't fireball spammers. Mine! No, Mine! Hey, why is the house destroyed?

[Crusader]

[kandrathe]

...

I can't tell you how many times I've unsealed a lost tomb, and wondered why the place was lit up better than my house at the holidays.

[Treesh]

I can't tell you how many times I've unsealed a lost tomb, and wondered why the place was lit up better than my house at the holidays.

It's not well known, but the draugr are actually scared of the dark. That's why they're so violent when they break out of the sarcophagi in the lost tombs.

[Crusader]

"YOU NO TAKE CANDLE!"

[kandrathe]

I can't tell you how many times I've unsealed a lost tomb, and wondered why the place was lit up better than my house at the holidays.

It's not well known, but the draugr are actually scared of the dark. That's why they're so violent when they break out of the sarcophagi in the lost tombs.

I imagine the burial people, pumping some sleeping gas into the tomb to quell the draugr before entering, then bringing in the newly dead wearing gas masks. Logic? What is this logic? This is FRPG!

[Treesh]

Two things of note: First, on Tuesday, according to the latest from Bethesda, the CK will be ready for download. Woot! Although this means I'll have to push a bit to finish up the big girl. She's still missing a few words of power (like a handful of them), is still just 49 because I haven't "cheated" and pushed up some skills that she doesn't actually use just to level, but she has brought the Thieves Guild back to their former glory, taken over the Dark Brotherhood, is thane everywhere, would probably have all the alchemy ingredients learned by now, but I haven't made potions with her in a while , is head of both the mages guild and the companions. Shadowmere miraculously came back from the dead after he died to something while I was piddling away in a dungeon. She hasn't gotten the achievement for having over 1k bounty in all 9 holds yet or broken out of jail (can't break out if you've never been arrested ) so she's almost finished, but isn't going to make it before the CK. =)

Secondly, apparently my housecarl and husband have stopped getting along again. This time it was a battle for the remaining severed witch heads that I was placing on a shelf. This time it was "Hmm. What's this?" "I saw it first!" "You're too slow." Decided to see if it would fix itself just by me going out the door and coming back in. Nope. Hubby was right at the door when I came back in, ran off with bow equipped and shot the housecarl IN THE FACE while he was sitting down and eating. I can see the fighting over the homecooked meal. I can even see the fighting over the statue of the naked woman. But fighting over severed heads?! What is wrong with you two?!

[NiteFox]

I wanted to fill this post with mutterings of how Skyrim feels like just a cut-down rehashed Oblivion to me, especially when I've ran through a bunch of guild quests that were almost exactly the same as their counterparts in the previous game but only half as memorable as they were. Also, Sheoggorath's Daedric quest was a massive let-down compared to the sheer insanity of summoning a plague of dogs on fire raining down on a peaceful khajiit village.

But Goddamnit, Valve has saved the day once again.

[RTM]

The Steamworks mod repository is brilliant. My adventures in Skyrim kind of trailed off, as they are wont to do in sandbox games like this when I get distracted by other things (in this case a rash of games that showed up over Christmas... for my kids, of course, but I have to help them play), but I am going to have to fire it up again. Maybe roleplay an absent-minded "whoops did I blow that up? My bad!" mage-type guy this time. The high-res texture pack helps too.

[kandrathe]

I wanted to fill this post with mutterings of how Skyrim feels like just a cut-down rehashed Oblivion to me, especially when I've ran through a bunch of guild quests that were almost exactly the same as their counterparts in the previous game but only half as memorable as they were. Also, Sheoggorath's Daedric quest was a massive let-down compared to the sheer insanity of summoning a plague of dogs on fire raining down on a peaceful khajiit village.

Well, yes. At the same time it was slightly comforting to know that the ages old daedric artifacts are still bouncing around from owner to owner over the past 200 years. But, it makes me wonder how they were wrested from my Oblivion heroes control. The biggest innovation (and headache sometimes) was the radiant AI quest giving. As mentioned before, a drop quest function would be awesome. What if I don't want to betray and murder a close friend?

And, as far as quests, they stayed true to the lore. The problem is that other than refining and filling in a bit of Skyrim lore, they added very little new to the Elder Scrolls Codex. Most of the strength of quests and storytelling revolved around the main quest, and a bit around the companions. I found the quest lines and storytelling around the towns, the guilds, the bards college, and the Blades were fragmented, short, and/or incomplete.

[Treesh]

Maybe roleplay an absent-minded "whoops did I blow that up? My bad!" mage-type guy this time. The high-res texture pack helps too.

Once my big sniper girl finished all the major questlines and got all the achievements, I did some decorating of her houses, retired her and rolled a baby mage named Taiza. She accidentally got a horse killed because it was running around a fort that she was trying to take from the Stormcloaks (the sniper girl Etheramwen was a Stormcloak so I took Taiza Imperial). I hit it with a fury spell. It killed two men before succumbing to being a pincushion. Taiza has blown up Lydia countless times, but only once did she actually turn on me for it. The other times she was dead. It's been great fun doing things recklessly to offset Eth's tendency to sneak everywhere and not take risks. Plus, I'm doing more of the side quests for townsfolks and having all sorts of interesting things happen to the girl that never happened with Eth. OH! And Taiza's weapon racks, plaques, and bookshelves work properly unlike ALL of Eth's houses. Well, Taiza just has Breezehome right now. Going to go through the Imperial questline and see if the Windhelm home actually works properly too so I can show off her shinies.