So, Skyrim's out 11/11/11

[LochnarITB]

Sigh... Guys, I was counting on you to throw me a bone. "Sorry, Loch, it does take quite a bit of work with the little details. You won't like it." But, no, only reassurance that I will love it. $60 I don't have spent again. I've come to learn that sometimes a lie is the kindest action of all. Lie to me people!

[kandrathe]

Sigh... Guys, I was counting on you to throw me a bone. "Sorry, Loch, it does take quite a bit of work with the little details. You won't like it." But, no, only reassurance that I will love it. $60 I don't have spent again. I've come to learn that sometimes a lie is the kindest action of all. Lie to me people!

You have $60.

[Kevin]

Lie to me people!

I can do that! You will regret spending that $60!

[Treesh]

I just love hearing all the stories about what people's characters have encountered. It makes the game feel more like a different, real world. We all started out the same, but man, experiences certainly do differ. MOAR STORIES! Although, since quite a few of us on overnights have the game now, work has been done a little slower this week. If I have something that ended up in my area by mistake, I take it to the proper area and frequently there's someone there who has the game so we swap a quick story, and then back to work. Since the folks who do the initial sorting of freight don't stock, there are plenty of opportunities to get the freight to the proper place.

[Drasca]

Sigh... Guys, I was counting on you to throw me a bone. "Sorry, Loch, it does take quite a bit of work with the little details. You won't like it." But, no, only reassurance that I will love it. $60 I don't have spent again. I've come to learn that sometimes a lie is the kindest action of all. Lie to me people!

Well, you don't have to get the game right now... You could wait for a sale 6-12 months down the line. Look at Oblivion... 5 years later, its still an excellent game, just able to be had for 8 bucks =D

[Jester]

Well, you don't have to get the game right now... You could wait for a sale 6-12 months down the line. Look at Oblivion... 5 years later, its still an excellent game, just able to be had for 8 bucks =D

Pfft. I just bought it for 6.

At those prices, I don't have to play it for much more than two hours to pay for itself in entertainment.

-Jester

[Treesh]

Sigh... Guys, I was counting on you to throw me a bone. "Sorry, Loch, it does take quite a bit of work with the little details. You won't like it." But, no, only reassurance that I will love it. $60 I don't have spent again. I've come to learn that sometimes a lie is the kindest action of all. Lie to me people!

Well, you don't have to get the game right now... You could wait for a sale 6-12 months down the line. Look at Oblivion... 5 years later, its still an excellent game, just able to be had for 8 bucks =D

Between Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, Oblivion was by far the worst of the group. With that being said, I still put in enough time in the game to do the expansion, the Knights of the Nine, finished the mage guild questline, arena, thieves guild, dark brotherhood, and almost finished up the fighters guild questline so apparently it was still a decent enough game. I just don't think I'd call it excellent.

[Roland]

I just love hearing all the stories about what people's characters have encountered. It makes the game feel more like a different, real world. We all started out the same, but man, experiences certainly do differ. MOAR STORIES! Although, since quite a few of us on overnights have the game now, work has been done a little slower this week. If I have something that ended up in my area by mistake, I take it to the proper area and frequently there's someone there who has the game so we swap a quick story, and then back to work. Since the folks who do the initial sorting of freight don't stock, there are plenty of opportunities to get the freight to the proper place.

I love being a Thief-type Archer. I love mowing down baddies from afar with a sneak attack arrow through the throat (and it's oftentimes hilarious watching where the arrows land, and the subsequent thrashing about of combat with said arrows flailing about). I also love it when I line up that perfect, long-distance shot that nails the fox running away 100 feet down a mountain road right in the back, and promptly fells him. That tense anticipation watching the arrow soar across the land, hoping you guessed right on the path he was going to take, and that final meaty "thunk" as it lands home almost out of sight. Ah, what a rush. I could spend half my night just hunting animals (and often do). That and flower picking - gotta have those ingredients!

Speaking of which, while I've spent plenty of time raising my Smithing skill to 85, I've barely dug into Alchemy (around 31 or so). I really need to get Alchemy up, but it takes so much longer to raise that, and ingredients aren't exactly falling in my lap - save for a handful of different ones. Buying them at the merchants is very cost prohibitive, too (31 Speechcraft sucks), to say nothing of the limited availability. I'm sure I'm missing out by not actually playing more of the game (i.e. checking out the mage's college or whatever, and likewise for the Thieves Guild), but it's definitely become a point where I want to use poisons on a regular basis. Deathbell and Nightshade and Nirnroot aren't the most common of ingredients, though, and even some of the cheap ones like Imp Stool always elude me. I'm left with crafting Health Potions, but even then they only heal me around 23 Health (which is less than 10% per potion). I think I have to make around 20+ potions just to go up one level, whereas Smithing might take 5 daggers or braces. Not that I'm complaining - I'll get more use out of Alchemy, and the rewards are greater (in terms of utility and coin), but man is it slow going. I should be less stingy with my ingredients, too, but it's tough.

I am enjoying the stories behind the quests. They just seem much more fleshed out than most you find in other games. The scripted events that occur when you meet a certain NPC are a nice touch, too. Last night I was clearing out a bandit cave as part of a quest, sneaking along and picking each one of them off one at a time from the shadows. Much fun! I get all the way to my mark, and am just about to maneuver to get him into view when the game stops me and we start up a dialogue - in which I decided to take him at his word that I was being misled, and promptly turned the quest I was doing 100% around. That quest had two possible pathways, and the one I chose was to kill a mark instead of informing him, yet in the end I was presented the choice of killing him or hearing him out. I heard him out, and decided to not only spare his life, but also aid him in capturing the person who sent me. Netted me a nice little profit, and a good deed done. It was refreshing to have a quest that originally appeared to be fairly linear (if open to two separate paths) turn out slightly more varied.

Oh, and beware the Thalmor! I've met them in the wild a couple times, and each time when I approached they drew their weapons and told me to back off! I wouldn't have cared except I'm pretty sure they were dressed in Elven armor and sporting matching level weapons, so I didn't really feel like taking 3 of them on in the open. Nasty little bastards, though. Almost enough to make me join the Stormcloaks, just to spite the Empire for aligning with them (at knifepoint or not). Speaking of which, I haven't chosen a side yet. I'm sure whichever side I do choose will have consequences, but I'm looking forward to the inevitable story to unfold. I remember in Morrowind I was very happy to joint he Imperial Legion. Here and now in Skyrim, though... not so much. Eventually I'll have to decide, but for now I'm content to remain neutral. I should start working my way through my quest log, though. Plenty of places slung far away from where I've explored - enough to keep me busy for many hours just getting to my destinations, let alone completing the quests.

[Zyn]

FWIW I *think* you get skill in Alchemy just by eating different ingredients, assuming you don't know any of the effects. Even still, mine is only at like 35ish too.

-Z

[Roland]

FWIW I *think* you get skill in Alchemy just by eating different ingredients, assuming you don't know any of the effects. Even still, mine is only at like 35ish too.

-Z

Your Alchemy skill goes up by eating ingredients and making potions. More specifically, it goes up depending on the value of the potion created, i.e. potions worth more will level you faster. On the plus side, once I figured this out I've not only raised my skill to 49 (and sunk a few perk points into it - also increases the value of the potions), but made about 10k in gold. Ah, Alchemy. Still as broken as ever. Smithing just hit 90 after I bought a Glass Bow. I can now upgrade any non-magical item to Flawless quality (only higher tiers are Epic and Legendary). Also worth noting is that all this buying and selling has raised my Speechcraft skill a few points, so prices are getting ever-so-slightly better. Oh, and I think I'm around level 27 or 28.

[Roland]

So, uh... has anyone else seen the Headless Horseman?

[kandrathe]

So... I have the shout that freezes things...

A bear was charging down a frozen hill at me. Just as it jumps I shout "Freeze". The ice cubed bear flies over my head, and proceeds to slide down the hill with increasing velocity. I'm running down the hill chasing it, to finish it off and get the pelt reward. Then it hits the rocks at the bottom of the hill, starts bouncing around wildly, and then suddenly hurtles about a mile into the air off in a westerly direction.

My son and I start bellowing out laughter, and he asks, "So, are you going after it?"

[Treesh]

So... I have the shout that freezes things...

A bear was charging down a frozen hill at me. Just as it jumps I shout "Freeze". The ice cubed bear flies over my head, and proceeds to slide down the hill with increasing velocity. I'm running down the hill chasing it, to finish it off and get the pelt reward. Then it hits the rocks at the bottom of the hill, starts bouncing around wildly, and then suddenly hurtles about a mile into the air off in a westerly direction.

My son and I start bellowing out laughter, and he asks, "So, are you going after it?"

That is just hilarious!

Roland> I haven't yet! PM me. Where did you find him? Details man! Give me details! But I don't want to spoil it for folks so PM me. =)

[kandrathe]

Another interesting story... Saving Lydia... During the search for the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, there is a spider infested place where wherever you step, gouts of flame spew up out of the floor. I had no trouble, sprinting across unscathed, but Lydia just can't seem to stay our of the fire. So, I tell her, you hang back here, I'll take care of it. But, as soon as I get into combat, she comes running in anyway and burns up on the flames. After reloading 3 times due to her death I get exasperated, and tell her to go home. She walks off about 50 feet, and pouts. Then I go forth, and once again lure the spiders to bake themselves on the floor. I finish, then I wonder if she's still just standing off in the corner pouting. She is, so I re-invite her to tag along, and she gleefully obeys. This time, with all the spiders dead, it was an easy thing to direct her steps to avoid the flaming floor.

[TheDragoon]

I picked up Skyrim last week and I've been having fun with it so far. I enjoy that it's pretty open-ended though it is rough for a completionist, like me, who can get bogged down doing all of the same stuff with every character. I've been splitting my time in Skyrim between a mage character and a two-handed weapon melee character.

Initially, the mage felt godly, mowing down the hordes in dungeons with impunity. However, as time continued, her power began to wane. When she hit about level 10, I found that her spells just weren't cutting it anymore. I think it really drove the point home when I ended up in a fight with a mage boss that was flinging fireballs at me from a distance when I could only engage at medium-to-short range with the entry-level fire and lightning spells. When I entered a dungeon and was having to save and re-play every fight several times in order to make things work I finally got frustrated and switched over to the melee character. In the process, I noted that my hireling was actually doing more damage than the mage, could take hits better than the mage, and was generally out-classing her in every aspect!

The melee approach seems significantly more effective than my experience playing a mage. What used to be a difficult fight for the mage (that involved spamming the attack spell until I ran out of magicka and then running off to regenerate it) ends up being ended in two swings of the sword. Plus, when you've got two melee characters in the same area (including the hireling), both take hits which helps to keep them both alive.

So my overall take, so far, is the following:
- The world is huge with lots of fun things to discover!
- The different paths for character development don't seem to be particularly balanced.
- There seem to be some weird things in the game (Why can't my hireling ride on the horse with me?)

[Kevin]

Initially, the mage felt godly, mowing down the hordes in dungeons with impunity. However, as time continued, her power began to wane. When she hit about level 10, I found that her spells just weren't cutting it anymore.

Mages gain power in "steps" other characters gain power more linearly. Picking up firebolt (or the lightning or frost equiv) changes things because you can go at range. Then you get the perk where people get staggered by a dual wield cast and things get easier, but you run into enemies with the AoE spells and fall behind again. Then you get the AoE spells (though don't have the magicka to use them effectively). It's frustrating at times for sure, but I've slogged my way up to 20 with mine and I finally have destruction as my most advanced skill (it wasn't for the longest time even though I used it constantly). A mage can't always be a one trick pony either. I have to use my summons, I have to use my destruction spells, I have to heal, I probably should be using some of the mage armors but I don't. Even then things don't die as quickly because magicka is so limited even with enchants to boost it and perks and chants to lower costs of spells or boost regen. Regen in combat seems to be a little odd too. I'm not sure the chants or the perks work in combat.

I've got a feeling a stealth archer is going to be the most powerful damage dealer in in the game. I'll be making one at some point along with a melee toon of some sort.

They ran into the issue that many games have with spell casters. Scaling just isn't really there, which is why the D3 solution to tie it to weapon damage is a very good idea (and is easy enough to think of as magic requiring something for you to channel it through and the damage is really the limit on what that conduit allows). But the spells have base damages and those don't really seem to ever get modified.

I'm not annoyed by the challenges because the concept that formed in my mind for my girl fits. She is just a regular Breton, probably would have been a shop keep after she got done checking out a bit more of the world. Then things got strange in her life and she is just picking things up as she goes along. Being a Breton she has the natural affinity to magic so that is what she turned to first. But she is learning other things, light armor, shields and maces, she likes maces.

I have plans to make more focused characters later. But I'm not playing multiple toons on my first go through.

But yeah mage is not the easy path.

[Treesh]

I've got a feeling a stealth archer is going to be the most powerful damage dealer in in the game. I'll be making one at some point along with a melee toon of some sort.

I've rolled another wood elf and she's going the sniper route, which means Lydia is keeping her butt home. She runs right into the line of sight too often so she is guarding all the goodies at home. It's extremely helpful to be able to get hidden again while in combat. She's got her one-handed skill as back up and, when she gets the perks, she'll do the stealthy dagger attacks in close quarters. Despite the fact that both the big girls are wood elves right now and have done basically the same things, they really do feel completely different. This one is apparently hetero though since the first one to trip her fancy was a male Nord who, unfortunately is not available for marriage. Poor girl, although that does help to keep her feeling more like the loner that she seems to be.

[kandrathe]

Initially, the mage felt godly, mowing down the hordes in dungeons with impunity. However, as time continued, her power began to wane. When she hit about level 10, I found that her spells just weren't cutting it anymore.

Some of that might also be a function of the games mechanics. One of the things about TES games, at least from Morrowind on, are that the Leveled NPC's gain power at defined character levels. If you are 1-5 you get X, when you are 5-10, you get Y, 10-15, you get Z. The staggering can make 10 feel too hard, when 15 seems somehow easier. Then, 16 gets hard again as you face a new level of NPC competencies. I felt the same way at around level 10-15, having charged in and cleared a bridge of bandits easily early in the game, but when I came back and found a new batch of bandits had taken over, the same tactic had me reloading the encounter. I'm still pretty fearful of bandit bosses wielding two handed hammers.

My first character is now a level 30, Battle Mage. Like Roland, I've invested the most in smithing as a primary skill, along with with heavy armor, block, conjuration, and one handed weapons. But, I've given a perk to lock picking, and some in enchanting, alchemy, restoration, and destruction as needed. I've enchanted my exquisite plate armor to increase Magicka restoration by 40%. Dual healing is my main toggle, combined with the ethereal shout allows me to go from low health to full health, draining only about 20% of my Magicka pool. The bigger worry then is whether Lydia will survive, while I step out for a breather. I've begun more and more having her stay back while I engage, or drag some mobs back to her to help with. But, I've got hardly any skills in sneaking or using a bow. I've given Lydia the best enchanted elven bow, and the deadliest arrows. I use my bow and iron arrows just to get someone attention.

I find facing multiple ranged casters difficult as they are utilizing staves, and spells. The shouts help immensely, giving me special abilities every 30 seconds to a minute. I chose Nord for my first race, just to fit in better, but the 50% immunity to cold is invaluable. I had no resistances to shock or fire until into level 20, but I've come upon a 40% resist fire helm, some limited shock resistance. I keep a few resist potions around too as a last resort for boss battles. I'm not a great alchemist (low 30's), but every little bit helps. I've got my eye on a perk in the block tree that imparts some spell blocking to shields.

Then, I use kiting with Lydia, or a summoned familiar to draw off one or a few and the freeze shout quite a bit to immobilize one or more opponents and gain numerical superiority. My tactic of last resort has been a beast form blitz krieg. But, I feel the game really rewards me for being diverse in tactics, and challenges me to have multiple strategies to deal with the different immunities/specialties of my opponents. I haven't acquired many summoning spells, although my summoning skill has climbed to the 80's just by running around with dual summoned swords almost continually (unless there are civilians present). Summoned atronachs, might provide another punch to my arsenal.

In my last encounter, fighting a very high level necromancer boss with a fire ball stave turned out hilarious, as I was able to disarm him and Lydia deftly picked up the staff and used it to obliterated him and the three other casters in the room.

[Treesh]

In my last encounter, fighting a very high level necromancer boss with a fire ball stave turned out hilarious, as I was able to disarm him and Lydia deftly picked up the staff and used it to obliterated him and the three other casters in the room.

That is just awesome right there. =)

The baby Bosmer is great in dungeons and oddly survivable outside, but lately all she's been doing is fighting groups of 5 and above outside. There's much manuevering to stay out of range and out of their line of sight while trying to line up her own shots. However, fighting the ice troll AND a dragon took the poor girl out and I had to reload. =(

By the way, I LOVE getting headshots. It's even better when you go to loot the corpse and see your one arrow that you shot sitting directly between his eyes, when I was aiming from all the way down the hall. =)

I know eventually I'll play a magic girl, but the sniper is just too much fun right now.

Edit: And now the little Bosmer has successfully picked her first expert lock (not on the way to the Thieves Guild either) which took her from 24 skill to 26 skill and then a master lock which took her from 26 to 28. And I didn't break that many picks to do it. LOVE how lockpicking works in this one. Well, with a controller giving feedback with its shaking, it makes it easier for player skill to be involved. =)

[kandrathe]

However, fighting the ice troll AND a dragon took the poor girl out and I had to reload. =(

You might want to think about some illusion. My former snipers in Tes3&4 found solace in both chameleon, and/or brief invisibility to sneak away and find new cover. I guess in Tes5 that would be using muffle, until you can get to the expert level spell invisibility. The ingredients for invisibility potions are on the higher level side, so not really an option for daily consumption.

For tough critters, I'd snipe, then cast invisibility and sneak until they settled back down.