Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Leganoth]

42% downloaded, but can't play til next week. Doh!

Well, I got as far as entering the first little town last night. But that's all I get to do til next week. Nice start though. The environments are beautiful. I didn't get to toy with it too much, but I didn't see in the UI how you cast spells? Hitting things with my sword, I have that covered.

You have to buy/find spell books to get new spells, then equip the spell to a hand just like a sword

[Ian]

Hey guys, I was fooling around with some Skyrim mods and came across one that I think you would appreciate.  Here's an armor mod that uses armor models from The Witcher 2, but as you can see, they're pretty awesome historically accurate 15th century gothic pieces.  Not exactly the perfect fit for Skyrim, but awesome nonetheless.  First one is with a sallet, the second with a barbute.  The shield is also from Witcher 2, and the sword is from a different mod called JaySuS Swords or something to that effect.  I'm just standing next to the Skyforge is Whiterun.  There's a bunch of different heraldic versions of that armor and shield as well, all craftable and improvable if you got the blacksmithing perks.

I'm not a fan of the 'good' armor in Skyrim, it looks too silly imho, so I like the idea that I can use armor from mods to get the look I want and then just use that as I progress through the story.  The last screenshot is from a mod called 'Lore Friendly Armor'  It allows me to use good heavy armor, that still fits the character and the world of Skyrim without going all crazy fantasy.

[Sir Edward]

Interesting. So if you can only "equip" spells into the hands, I take it you don't have quick access to the rest during a fight. That's a little different than what I'm used to with MMORPGs and the like.

How do the spells stack up later in the game? Worth it? Some older RPGs used to make it really hard to solo through as a mage class, so I've typically gone for a hybrid blend. But if swords are the way to go, I can stick with that too.

[Ian]

Interesting. So if you can only "equip" spells into the hands, I take it you don't have quick access to the rest during a fight. That's a little different than what I'm used to with MMORPGs and the like.

How do the spells stack up later in the game? Worth it? Some older RPGs used to make it really hard to solo through as a mage class, so I've typically gone for a hybrid blend. But if swords are the way to go, I can stick with that too.

If you favorite your spells, you can switch quickly in the middle of a fight.  Depending on which mouse button you use to select your favorite, it will assign that spell to your appropriate hand.  On the PC left mouse button = right hand, and right mouse button = left hand.  Sounds backwards at first, but it makes sense since the left mouse button is the primary button and the right hand the primary hand (to us normal folk!, ha!).

If you have the same spell in both hands, and cast both at once, you typically get a larger combined effect, which makes playing a pure caster a lot of fun.  You can definitely go pure mage in Skyrim if you want.  You can go pure anything or any hybrid you want and still play without ruining the experience.  You improve the skills of what you use.  So if you cast destruction magic all the time, you will steadily get better at it, if you use one-handed weapons all the time, your skill with them will improve.  This is true of almost everything in the game, use it, get better at it.

The opposite is true as well, if you don't pick up a bow until you're level 40, don't expect to be awesome at archery.

[Sir Edward]

OK cool, I'll play around with the favorites and see if I like the mechanic. I may go full mage if it's easy to work with.

[Sir James A]

Those are some really cool screen shots. I may have to look into the Witcher, just based on those armor models.

[Sir William]

Nice armor mods, Ian...wish I could have something like that in-game, I'd totally rock that out.

Sir Edward, it would seem this time around that the pure mage would actually be quite fun to play...I'm playing more like a spell sword so my spells aren't as powerful as they could be (but my one-hand and block abilities are) but even so, they pack a punch that I can only imagine would be even more deadly if that were my focus.  I've never really been one for magic, only using what I needed to get me by.  Nothing wrong with a handy fireball tho!  It is fun to wield a sword and fire off spells at the same time tho...I cannot recall if you were able to do it in Oblivion, I only know I didn't.

[spoiler alert]
So I was meandering about in the mountains, just started walking down Mt. Anthor from the Throat of the World (I have to say, this is probably the most beautiful game I've played in a long time set in this type of era...taking nothing away from Assassin's Creed which is always at the top of the heap in terms of visuals, this is a huge open world and none of it is ugly unintentionally...hate the odd, intermittent crash/freeze tho) and ended up discovering a few hidden caves and such that I left for later discovery (by this point, I was re-acquiring the pieces of Wuthrad, the mighty axe of Ysgramor) since I had to get back to the Skyforge so that Wuthrad could be reforged and given back into Ysgramor's keeping- in order to open up his crypt and all that.

What I am loving about this game is how much there is to find...I found a book in a corner of a cave that led to another mission that involves finding the enchanted weapon of some long-dead hero...don't know why yet, I'm just geeking over how much there is to do!  So much so, that I've not yet been able to get in bed before 1:30am, weeknight, weekend, doesn't matter...I'm like a little kid at Christmas!

I'm already strategizing the next run-thru; right now I'm a Nord and I'm debating on whether or not to support the Imperial Army or the Stormcloaks.  You see, I'm not really in love with the rebels, because they're all about the Nord people to the detriment of everyone else, so by my very nature I'd go for the Imperials, but I want to see what happens on the other end of the structure so as I'm a Nord (light armor, singlehand weapon and shield), I'll go with the rebels.

I'm coming back as a Redguard tho, heavy armor, dual weapon style.  Now that I've gotten a pretty good understanding of what works and what might not, my approach to the game is going to be different as I now know where I want to go and how I want the secondary and tertiary missions to play out.  I've already got 75 hours in the game...I think what I'll do is get to the main story ending, then start a new game w/out acquiring all of the interesting little bits there are to have.

Oh, one thing I should mention...horses by and large seem to be more trouble than they're worth.  They aren't much faster than you on foot, and you cannot fight from horseback- which sort of kills the point of having them in the game as usable transpo.  Taking the horse drawn cart is only good and worthwhile if you're travelling to a Hold you've never been to before...beyond that, fast travel on foot is the easiest and cheapest way to go. 

[Sir Edward]

Oh, one thing I should mention...horses by and large seem to be more trouble than they're worth.  They aren't much faster than you on foot, and you cannot fight from horseback- which sort of kills the point of having them in the game as usable transpo.  Taking the horse drawn cart is only good and worthwhile if you're travelling to a Hold you've never been to before...beyond that, fast travel on foot is the easiest and cheapest way to go.

I noticed this too. I had just enough coin to buy one, and then ended up restoring from my save-game from before the purchase to undo it. I could see very quickly that it's just better to use quick-travel, and get to new places on foot.

Yeah, I think the pure mage could be a lot of fun. I've often gone for more hybrid classes, when pure magery hasn't been well balanced, but this looks like it'll work well. I got the talent that boosts the ability if you use both hands, and you can burn things down pretty quickly.

[Sir William]

Oh man...dual casting.  Yea...I'm thinking you'll notice after a while that you'll be able to burn through just about anyone or anything w/out too much hassle.  Was reading about how pure mages finally have a game where they can let go...which is very cool, I think.  I disliked being a mage in the past because it never seemed like you could go on w/out having some form of hand weapon and armor.

D&D's Baldur's Gate (console) was the first time I'd ever messed around with mages and between the pink and blue-hued armor and the necessity of using blunt weapons to bolster offensive capabilities- and more of the same in the sequel, Dark Alliance...then Champions of Norrath I and II...I got soured on being a mage.

I know one thing...with the amount of spell casting and potion-making, you probably would never have need of a melee weapon.  I'd keep a bow handy for the earlier parts (a bow is the great equalizer if you can sneak up on your enemies) and a dagger, if you like sneaking around, there's an upgrade you can get where using a dagger to backstab and your dagger's output is multiplied by 6 times!!!  Enough to take almost anyone down with a single stab to the back.

I've never really been able to sneak up on them, but last night, I came across a set of dwarven boots that were enhanced with a 'Muffle' enchantment; what I did was destroy those boots at an Arcane enchanter table so I could discover the enchantment.  I think there's at least one such table in every Hold; first one I found was in Dragonreach, the governing center for Whiterun Hold.  It is in the court mage's room.  Anyhow, cool thing is, now I can use that enchantment on any piece of armor I want (that isn't already augmented w/another enchantment); I found a necklace that carried a Sneak enchantment; between that and Muffle, they'll never hear me coming!

If you're doing a warrior type, I highly suggest investing in your Smithing ability.  I'm a Level 25 Warrior, but I'm wearing high-end enchanted Glass armor (remember, I'm going for the light armor type this go-round), with enchanted Glass weapons (sword and recurve bow); the sword is augmented by Fire and the bow by Frost enchantments, adding additional damage to their already high output.

You know you're bad ass when you can take down two Giants and a Mammoth and only need one health potion during the fight.  You can't really outrun them once you've got their attention...I mean you can, but really, who runs from a fight in a video game?    But they're not slow pokes...once they get up to speed they're like buses...they just keep coming.

Oh, and don't discount the Shout ability.  Unrelenting Force, once you learn all three Words, is just plain awesome.  A three stage type of power...tap the left lower trigger (at least on a PS3 it works this way) and you see a wall of force erupt from your mouth to your opponents; hold it down for just a sec and you get the second stage of that power.  I've never used the third stage yet...have not needed it.  The first stage is enough to stop a mammoth in its tracks!!!  Just enough for you to give it to him good from the flank!

I don't know if you've noticed it yet, but it has some pretty cool final kill animations, not unlike Assassins Creed.  First few times it happened, I wasn't sure what was going on...look at all this crap I typed; guess it is safe to say I like the game.

[Ian]

Oh, one thing I should mention...horses by and large seem to be more trouble than they're worth.  They aren't much faster than you on foot, and you cannot fight from horseback- which sort of kills the point of having them in the game as usable transpo.  Taking the horse drawn cart is only good and worthwhile if you're travelling to a Hold you've never been to before...beyond that, fast travel on foot is the easiest and cheapest way to go.

I noticed this too. I had just enough coin to buy one, and then ended aup restoring from my save-game from before the purchase to undo it. I could see very quickly that it's just better to use quick-travel, and get to new places on foot.

Yeah, I think the pure mage could be a lot of fun. I've often gone for more hybrid classes, when pure magery hasn't been well balanced, but this looks like it'll work well. I got the talent that boosts the ability if you use both hands, and you can burn things down pretty quickly.

Ed, assuming you're on PC, go to the steam workshop and subscribe to the faster vanilla horses mod.  It makes the horses worwhile and you'll want to ride them around instead of fast traveling. just to check out tthe scenery.

[Sir Edward]

Cool, I subscribed to that mod. I also picked up a mod for conjurable ethereal horses. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but it looks excellent. They're also slightly faster than normal horses, and you can summon them as a spell-cast (5k gold as a tome from a vendor). They de-spawn as soon as you dismount, and also will not run off into combat without you. I'll probably save up the gold and use that.

According to Steam, I've put in about 5 hours, but it doesn't feel like I've done much yet. I've only done two mission excursions outside of the towns, and otherwise have been doing in-town quests and talking everyone up. I'm around level 4 or 5.

I'm mostly going pure mage, but I'm drawing my sword as soon as the magicka runs out, so I'm keeping some skill going with that. I'm also using lockpicks to get into boxes and the like, but otherwise am avoiding the thief skills. It's beneath my honor.

Excellent game, but I can see how it can become a huge time-sink, like an MMO.

[Sir William]

HUGE time sink.  I was wrong, I'm not quite at 70 hours yet...but there's still so much left to do.  As I said, I like wrapping up the main story after I've cleared out a lot of the secondary and tertiary quests...that's just me.  Once the big story's done, I have a hard time staying focused in-world...so I usually just start a new one.  Well, after countless hours of having done that, I'm going to do it right this time.

Its just...I keep finding myself getting side tracked and having an absolute BLAST doing it.  Forgot about the Magicka drain (as I'm primarily melee and bow-oriented, I use magic as a back up to my main weapons)...that will be less of a bother as you go.  Bone up on your armor spells; then you won't need to wear armor- you can either augment clothing or conjure up armor before battle...one word of caution- there is a LOT of loot out there.  I have to remember to go back and revisit some of the dungeons I've been to before...and they will have a status of 'cleared' once you've beaten them once, but I know there's a great deal of loot that I couldn't take with me because I could only carry so much.

Sir Edward, ordinarily we would agree, but I entreat you to begin thieving...some really nice stuff to be had that can't be had unless you can get past the lock. 

Hey, if you feel really bad about it, start donating gold to any of the Holds' destitute residents, that's what I do!  Not often, but only because I haven't found them all yet...but I don't shirk the largesse part, that would be beneath my honor. 

[Sir William]

Every time you start the game, this is the song you hear at the title screen; I love it.  This one actually has the lyrics to the song.

[Sir William]

This an excellent cover of the Bard's song (you'll hear this at some point in every tavern you enter in-world), by Malufenix.  She does this cool splitscreen thing where she's singing the other harmonics as well...pretty cool.

[Leganoth]

Just a warning here, dont put any skill points on stuff your not going to use. Like speech. Putting points into speech is USELESS in my opinion. every level you get 1 skill point, the max level is 83. so thats 83 skill points. Dont waste any cause you cant revert your skills!