tacit
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Post by tacit on Jan 6, 2012 21:31:20 GMT -5
Sometimes I don't understand the logic of the Skyrim legal system.
Okay, so I saw Severio Pelagia in Whiterun when I was down on my Pickpocketing skill. I thought he might have something to take to boost my skills. So, I took the only thing he was carrying - his housekey. The thievery was successful, and nobody got hurt.
Numerous days later, I stroll into Winterhold to sell some of my entirely legitimate wares to Birna. Upon exiting the shop, three hired thugs start applying maces to my face without so much as a hello. To top it off, I've managed to develop rockjoint on the way over during a Riot Shield-style battle with my Elven shield, the power bash and my restoration spells and approximately two dozen ice wolves and regular wolves between Dawnstar and Winterhold. So I'm down 25% of melee skills, and in spite of that, I manage to survive fairly well with my legendary Ebony Greatsword. I take their stuff, fully intending to sell it. Quaintly, I happen upon a piece of paper entitled "contract". Hm. Apparently Severio Pelagia found out I stole his housekey, and ordered three thugs to maim and potentially kill me on those grounds. Off I trot towards Whiterun. A couple days later, we're rolling into the region, and I can't find Severio in Whiterun at all. I figure if he's not there, he'll be at the farm.
Severio is in his cabbage patch, presumably planting or tending. He's not carrying any goods, and I don't know quite how to antagonise him because the "talk" interaction doesn't let me mention that I found the note where he ordered my maiming and/or death. The only option is to steal from his wife, who's standing fifteen feet away. Obviously, I fail at pickpocketing the very expensive item she's carrying, and she starts knifing me. I've got a 25 gold bounty for attempted thievery, and she's sticking me with an iron dagger and there's no consequence. Sadly, Severio doesn't get angry, but just follows me around. I Riot Shield his wife numerous times, and she dies. He starts calling for help, and I've no option but to smash him in the face several times with my shield to shut him up.
I get a 1000 gold bounty, on top of the 25 I already have, and the only difference between me and him is, I managed to kill the three pricks that this guy hired to kill me, and when I come back and do the job as honorably as possible, by myself... I get a thousand dollar fine for it. I pay the fine and be done with the whole mess, and the Whiterun guards let me get away with murder, whilst Severio, his wife and the three thugs also avoid attempted murder charges.
It's like watching a Hollywood movie.
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Post by saddaminsane on Jan 6, 2012 22:37:07 GMT -5
dont kill the chickens even if no one sees, you might have hired thugs on your ass i stole some soul gems from farengar-fire up in dragonsreach and he sent thugs after me i proceeded to go find his ass and talk to him, at which point he says "take this as a token of our friendship" and gives me 25 gold
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tacit
True Bro
Posts: 10,236
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Post by tacit on Jan 10, 2012 22:12:40 GMT -5
There's a real disparity in the number of casts of particular spells required in order to increase the skill level for that school of magic.
My Breton character has a great deal of trouble leveling up Alteration with any of the spells except for Detect Life and maybe Ironflesh. It takes about nine to twelve complete drains of the magicka bar with Detect Life to increase skill levels in the 50s.
As far as Illusion spells go, if you use Muffle around six to eight times in the 60s, you can increase your level very quickly. I like Muffle because it doesn't require the presence of enemies to be an effective and efficient increase to your skill level. Bear in mind that I don't simply level for level's sake - approx 3 out of 4 times that you increase your skill level in a particular magic school, the magicka cost decreases by 1 point. So your spells cost less to cast, and you can learn better ones fairly quickly.
I don't do Destruction very well - they're good spells, but my skill in it is fairly limited. I like the constant blast of the novice level spells, but am not so keen on the Apprentice level spells. I'm nearly at Adept, so I'm yet to see what spells they hold for me - the projectile kind aren't my favourite due to the shortcomings and lack of precision in the aiming mechanism.
Conjuration is something that you can use in conjunction with the Restoration spells against undead. I like Turn Undead because it takes around 30 casts of it to get from approx 59 Restoration to 60. That doesn't take much to do when you come back to Bleak Falls Barrow the second or third times for the respawn of Draugr. For the Conjuration, if you use Turn Undead in one hand, and the Bound Bow in the other, you can continually cast and sheathe the weapon and increase your skill level quickly that way. I found it took between 9 and 12 Bound Bow casts to go up a level.
I didn't realise what all the fuss was about with the Dremora Lord. Now I know. He takes out Giants in two to three swings, smashes Restless Draugr in one, makes a meal of Cave Bears and doesn't blink with anything else.
I've used most of the spells in-game to see how effective they are at levelling your skills up, and have found that these are probably the most effective. Maybe the only other that is worth mentioning for Conjuration [it's my favourite school of magic] is the reanimation of corpses. That's pretty effective in increasing your level - but it does require there to be an adjacent enemy for the Conjuration skill to receive the benefit.
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Post by aidsaidsaids on Jan 14, 2012 23:38:43 GMT -5
For conjuration you can sit and cast soul trap on a corpse indefinitely. With Mage Stone+Rest bonus you can level up pretty fast. Faster than fighting your own summons, easily.
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Post by saddaminsane on Jan 15, 2012 12:34:21 GMT -5
resting and casting on lydia was very akward, she kept threatening " If you do that one more time" but i just kept casting anyways XP
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tacit
True Bro
Posts: 10,236
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Post by tacit on Jan 18, 2012 6:50:19 GMT -5
Learn Smithing, and you get better weapons and armour
Learn Enchanting, you get better weapons and armour.
Learn Alchemy, and you can:
Smith weapons and armour better Enchant items at a greater magnitude Poison enemies Regenerate health, magicka and stamina with potions Boost every school of magic's effectiveness Boost most skills - sneak, lockpicking, pickpocket, archery damage etc Paralyse or slow enemies for incredible periods of time
As far as my Alchemy Khajiit goes, I've got a hide helmet, a necklace, a gold ring and a pair of steel plate gauntlets that boost my potion strength by [currently] 102%.which tallies the Paralysis duration to about 24 seconds. Complete inability to harm me for 24 seconds - it's like having gadget arms and a taser.
Alchemy rules.
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Post by randomguy987 on Jan 18, 2012 21:08:02 GMT -5
For conjuration you can sit and cast soul trap on a corpse indefinitely. With Mage Stone+Rest bonus you can level up pretty fast. Faster than fighting your own summons, easily. And if you've finished the Dark Brotherhood line of quests, you can quite handily level both Destruction and Restoration using the torture victims in your new hq. Though you will definitely want to turn down the sound volume when doing that if you live in an apt/condo/dorm (the victims are very . . . vocal about events ---> misunderstandings w/ neighbors).
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tacit
True Bro
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Post by tacit on Jan 18, 2012 21:50:34 GMT -5
A smithed Orcish dagger to legendary, with four items of Fortify Smithing apparel and a Fortify Smithing potion at 110% sends the damage to 72. In addition to the Sneak perk of 15x damage for sneak attacks, it's about 1080 damage without even having to resort to fire, frost or shock damage alterations either.
Add on the Invisibility potion that can be crafted with full Alchemy gear that has a duration of over two minutes, it's fun fun fun.
Edit: also intending to try the dual enchantment option for both rings and mage hood - trying to see if you can put both Fortify Magicka and Fortify Magicka Regen on both of these things. Would be very beneficial - both Magicka and the Regen are at values of 66 and 66% atm - this would mean a boost to total Magicka of 132, and, in conjunction with either the Amulet of Akatosh/Fortify Magicka necklace of 66 [total of 198 bonus Magicka] and the Master Robes of [insert favourite school of magic, or simply carry around all of them] you've got:
150% Regen [Master Robes] Either 132 or 198 bonus Magicka Either 132% or 157% bonus Regen
Between this and a Fortify Magicka Regeneration potion [mine usually do about 151% regeneration for 300 seconds] you've got some crazy magicka regen.
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tacit
True Bro
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Post by tacit on Jan 19, 2012 23:03:30 GMT -5
After reading into the Enchanting and Alchemy boosts to Enchanting, I've noticed that boosting magicka is a complete waste of time.
Better to enchant a circlet, necklace, have the master robes and a ring with each school of magic and simply switch them to whichever school of magic you're using at the time. Destruction magic costs zero to cast with four Fortify items of apparel.
Boost health to ridiculous levels, use enchanted schools of magic gear, and run riot.
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Post by aidsaidsaids on Jan 22, 2012 1:13:44 GMT -5
After reading into the Enchanting and Alchemy boosts to Enchanting, I've noticed that boosting magicka is a complete waste of time. Better to enchant a circlet, necklace, have the master robes and a ring with each school of magic and simply switch them to whichever school of magic you're using at the time. Destruction magic costs zero to cast with four Fortify items of apparel. Boost health to ridiculous levels, use enchanted schools of magic gear, and run riot. If you're boosting Enchanting with Alchemy, you can straight up put two "fortify (school of magic)>100%" enchantments on two pieces of gear. Suddenly, Destruction, Conjuration, Alteration, Restoration (I didn't use Illusion on that character) all free! And you still have room on your armor for one handed+200%, maxed resistances, and 1000+ armor rating. Crafting skills can get VERY out of hand VERY fast when used in conjunction with one another.
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tacit
True Bro
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Post by tacit on Jan 26, 2012 8:32:54 GMT -5
Bard's College, Solitude:
I walk in, sneak over to the Song of the Alchemists book and realise I've got a new present for Lami. Miscellaneous quest completed; alchemy skill increased by one.
~~~
The entire Companions questline goes by - I'm slightly noobish, and on the Expert difficulty. Several veins in forehead push to the surface in trying to finish Glory of the Dead. So-called Shield Brothers ditch me 'cause they're afraid of magic and ghosts. It's slightly easier with only Aela, 'cause that means only one follower can strafe in front of you every time you try to line up a ghost with your bow and arrow.
~~~
More hours pass, and Mehrunes Dagon almost has his Razor back. Tolfdir teaches me how to block a fireball, and J'zargo all of a sudden doesn't want to talk about the race to Expert Destruction magic now that I'm already there. Wuss. I've only killed around 5 dragons since the Western Watchtower.
~~~
I decide it's time to do some smithing - but I don't like carrying a pickaxe. So, it's off to the plains to hunt deer. I stroll westward - Bleakwind Basin, Redoran's Retreat, Swindler's Den. I've gone so far west that I'm nearly in Rorikstead, and I've got nearly a dozen deer hide to show for it.
Nearly twelve in-game hours have passed since the Lami miscellaneous quest. I see a figure in the distance, that makes a bee line for me. I strafe left, and as expected, he adjusts.
Figure is wearing armor, stops ten feet from me and says "I've been hired to teach you a lesson". Poor fool doesn't see Lydia sneaking over the rise behind me, and we both use him for target practice until he bears an uncanny resemblance to a pincushion. Searching the body, contract says
"Dear Hired Thug,
Bob stole my book. Kick his ass, and maybe kill the prick.
Love, Illdi."
Twelve in-game hours, three prior trips through Solitude's hold, and all that for "Song of the Alchemists".
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Post by saddaminsane on Jan 26, 2012 18:48:00 GMT -5
Fighting dragon random fugitive says "Hi, hold this for me?" "oh nice some enchanted brac- oh wait, i already know this enchantment...thanks anyways" "Don't tell anyone!" Finish killing dragon, random hunter strolls by and asks if i ve seen anyone
"yeah he went that way" (I didnt even see which direction he went, so im curious, might as well follow the hunter)
Fugitive was hiding behind a rock 5 feet from where i was fighting the dragon, gets insta killed by hunter, hunter says thanks and doesn't aggro when i hit him. ITS TRAINING TIME!
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tacit
True Bro
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Post by tacit on Jan 26, 2012 20:21:20 GMT -5
Similar-sounding scene - I think Fort Greymoor from memory.
I had one Bandit Marauder and one Bandit Plunderer on my tail - health is falling, staggering arrows aren't working as frequently as I'd like.them to. I'm running away, turning, shooting arrows, repeating.
It's getting pretty close to death and I'm running out of both stamina and health potions. I line up the Bandit Marauder for a [hopefully] fatal blow, or at least another stagger. I aim down the bow and we're at 50% speed, tension is high and the music reaches a dramatic climax.
I'm about to loose the bow, and suddenly I turn completely around without using my controller.
"Here, take this. I'll be back for it later. I'll pay ya good..."
Bandit Marauder's Steel Greatsword flies high in the air...
Couldn't fugitives seriously pick a more appropriate time to request my aiding and abetting in thievery?
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tacit
True Bro
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Post by tacit on Jan 31, 2012 2:14:16 GMT -5
Alchemy is almost an entire game within itself in this.
If you're not simply strolling around each city or town, buying up ingredients to make potions and level up, it's fascinating to walk around and find which areas harbour which ingredients. I'm genuinely enjoying figuring out which ingredients go together, and creative ways of killing your enemies.
I'm currently using Muffle, Invisibility and the Poisoner perk [in Pickpocket skill tree] to try and take out an entire [insert fort/cave/den/enemy hideout here]. It's incredibly enjoyable to try.
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tacit
True Bro
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Post by tacit on Feb 7, 2012 10:56:05 GMT -5
Illusion...absolute garbage. The effects do not scale. Alteration. 300 Armor is plenty. Conjuration. Dem Dead Thralls. Restoration. The rest of the tree is complete crap. Destruction. Wait, I can't instakill everything like I could in Morrowind and Oblivion! The Expert Level Fear/Fury/Calm spells with the Level boosting Perks will successfully affect everything that doesn't have an inherit resistance (Dragons and some bosses). Anything is rendered non-threatening or will fight in your favor with a single spell. No enemy scales up past Level 50, Illusion magic scales up to 62. Illusion is the BEST school of magic. Dual Casting EbonyFlesh with Mage Armor 3 gives the mage 567+ Armor, the maximum possible damage reduction that only a full suit of Daedric or Dragon armor can reach at 100-ish Smithing and Heavy Armor 5/5. A single Skill at Level 70 requiring Six Perk Points doing what two Skills at Level 100, a minimum of Ten Perk Points and the highest levels of armor are needed to do. I'm not entirely sure that this is true. Having taken Alteration to 75, getting Mage Armor 3/3, Expert Alteration for half magicka, not wearing any armor at all [Fine Boots, Novice Robes of Alteration, Novice Hood and the Amulet of Julianos] the armor rating was 300. I saved the game and spent a perk on Alteration Dual Casting and tried it again. Still 300. I thought perhaps that being in an actual battle might change things, but it doesn't - I let myself get attacked by a mudcrab, and casted it again. Still 300. Upon going to the "Active Effects" page, it stated that the duration was 132 seconds instead of the normal 60. So, I'm to conclude that any magical protection spells from the school of Alteration - Oakflesh, Stoneflesh, Ironflesh and Ebonyflesh, have their duration affected by Dual Casting, instead of the armor value or intensity of the spell. I think perhaps the Dragonhide spell blocks 80% of incoming damage, but it only lasts for 30 seconds on the base amount. With the Stability perk and Dual Casting, it'd be probably in excess of a minute, but unless you're wearing Peerless Alteration everything, you're going to be spending a bucketload of magicka. On another note, apparently the magicka is regenerated at a rate of around 3% of the total magicka that you have. This means at 100 magicka, you'll recover about 3 magicka per second, which makes the regeneration from zero magicka to full about 33 seconds. I'd been trying to figure out whether Fortify Magicka was a better option, or the increased regeneration rate of things like the Ring of Resurgence. From this info, I've noticed that if your magicka is >100, in all instances, the Fortify Magicka Regen is always a better option. Of course, if you've got the capacity to do two enchantments on the one item, then clearly Fortify Magicka AND Regen is the best way to go. To illustrate: 100 Magicka + Fortify Regen 60% = 3% + (3%*0.6) ... 4.8 Magicka per second 100 Magicka + Fortify Magicka of 60 = 160 @ 3% or 4.8 Magicka per second however 110 Magicka + Fortify Regen 60% = 3% @ 110 or 3.3 Magicka per second + (3.3*0.6) ... 5.28 Magicka per second 110 Magicka + Fortify Magicka of 60 = 170. 3% @ 170 = 5.1 Magicka per second The regeneration rate of Magicka is somewhere between about 1/3 and 1/2 during combat, but I haven't done the exact sums. It can make all the difference to have higher regen instead of Fortify Magicka, unless of course you don't have enough Magicka to cast the spell that you need to in the first place. Once you get to the double enchantment level of Enchanting, putting >70 Fortify Magicka and >70% Magicka Regen is actually more beneficial [for the practical level of magicka that most players have in-game] than having the +100% Magicka Regen ring on its own. To illustrate: 100 Magicka + 100% extra regen = 6 Magicka regen/second 100 Magicka + 70 Fortify, 70% regen = 170 @ 8.67 Magicka regen/second. This is achieved by taking 3% of 170 [5.1] at a regen rate of 170% [100 + 70]. The 70% regen bonus on 5.1 is approximately 3.57. A 2.67 Magicka bonus increase per second is equivalent to a 44.5% improvement in the rate of recovery. Considering that both a circlet and a ring can be double enchanted with both Fortify and Fortify Regen, you can get a pretty hefty rate of recovery. Coupled with Master Robes of [insert magic school here], you've got 150% extra regen and a minimum 20% reduction in the magicka cost of the chosen school. If you don't want to bother carrying around [and more to the point, buying] five sets of Master Robes, you can typically get away with one school, the double enchant circlet and ring, and use the robes and a necklace for your preferred school of magicka and function pretty well in all situations. Just for basics, even if you didn't alter your magicka attribute from square one, and used the double enchant of Fortify and Fortify Regen, you could conceivably still have 240 magicka at a regen rate of about 28 Magicka per second. Of course, for every 100 Magicka you increase your attribute by in this instance, you're increasing the regen rate by approximately 11.7 magicka per second just by having double enchanted circlet, ring, and Master Robes of [school of magic here].
In addition, the minimum 20% reduction cost in magicka for your chosen school, plus 28 - 29% reduction from an enchanted necklace, gives you a ~50% reduction in magicka cost for your preferred school. Of course, this simply doesn't compare to the Master Robes, Peerless or greater Ring, Peerless or greater Circlet, and a necklace of the chosen school. Dragonhide for 0 magicka, an endless supply of Dremora Lords for 0 magicka, coupled with Twin Souls and Impact Fireballs essentially make for invincible mode.
As an aside, in doing the quest The Black Star, when it came time to go after Malyn, I found that Quiet Casting, Invisibility, the Shrouded Gloves and a Legendary smithed Glass Dagger took out the Daedric bodyguards in one hit - a right side easier than the first time I took them on with an Elven Bow of Shocks.
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tacit
True Bro
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Post by tacit on Feb 14, 2012 8:19:49 GMT -5
The mage guys in this game are epically boring, when it boils down to it.
I've found so many more entertaining ways to play this game. There's maybe about six to eight concurrent characters that I'm playing as, and they all like to do something a little different.
I picked an Orc, since they're typically bandits and not heroes - but that wasn't the sole reason. Orcs are especially good with Beserker, but I thought an alternate approach would be fun, so I decided to use Block to create a Riot Shield guy, basically. With Power Bashing, and the 5x perk, you can [on Adept skill levels] take out Bandit Highwaymen, Marauders and Pillagers in a mere three to five shots if you know what you're doing. Also, with the Elemental Protection and resisting magic, you can largely function without any stamina sapping. However, if you decide that you like a backup plan anyways, your right hand can use restoration spells, and the Respite perk suddenly becomes your best friend.
Sabre Cats, Cave Bears, Frost Trolls and basically anything in your path become ineffectual against the damage-denying and damage-inflicting heavy armor shield. If you choose to go with the Heavy Armor Conditioning perk, speed is maximised, the shields and armor don't slow you down, and I can typically smith even Orcish armor to values of >500, rendering any damage that even manages to get past the shield to be almost completely obsolete.
Of course, the Reguard might have been a smarter option, given the Stamina regeneration power, but since it's only once a day, it's pretty meh at the best of times - Respite is a bigger friend. Also Fast Healing - it only costs 4 perk points to restore around 75 health for about 25 magicka at Restoration 70. Even a character with no additional magicka attributes from the outset will be able to cast four Fast Healings without regeneration before they run out. The mixture of Block, Heavy Armor and Restoration is incredibly effective, and fun.
There's so many other ways to play the game. Thieves with Illusion for Invisibility and Quiet Casting can assassinate an enemy, become detected by several enemies and simply disappear again with another Invisibility spell. With Muffle boots and only robes instead of armor, you make practically no noise, and the melee sneak attacks with Shrouded gloves and the Sneak perk for 15x daggers turns with a legendary Ebony, Daedric or Glass dagger [actually, any dagger smithed to legendary is going to do plenty of damage at 30x] and I've managed to embarrass plenty of enemies with little more than these tactics. Also, when it comes to getting stopped by guards for crimes committed, simply casting Invisibility and walking away is a sure bet to keep your bounty, and your health, intact.
Lots of people have suggested that Stamina is the least effective attribute, but I'm not so sure. If you can enchant anything to ensure that spells cost basically zero, then by rights, magicka is the least effective attribute. Health and stamina have direct and obvious benefits to the player in all situations. If you're choosing Two-Handed, then either a Nord or having frost resistance [or both] is extremely beneficial, especially in the absence of something similar to the Shield of Solitude.
If there is one... not regret, but more lament for the inclusion of, would have been either co-op mode [much like Ghost Recon might have done] or an online multiplayer involving huge battles between Imperial and Stormcloak armies, of which you are either randomly assigned or is assigned on the basis of which side you tended to favour in-game for that character you're playing as. Personally, I would have probably never slept if that element of the game were to be included.
Man I still love this game.
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Post by kirbyderby on Feb 14, 2012 10:59:50 GMT -5
Well, hopefully Bethesda is planning something, with the parent company ZeniMax Media creating ZeniMax Online etc. etc. stuff. On the other hand, Bethesda's also claimed the rights to a Fallout MMO from Interplay, so it's anyone's guess at this point.
Shields are super overpowered with Deflect Arrows (max damage reduction on everything when using a shield, unless it got patched) and power bashing. Eat a vegetable soup and get infinite power bashing so you can stun lock everything. Only problem is that I can never find enough leeks to fuel my soup-induced godmode.
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mannon
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Post by mannon on Feb 15, 2012 2:17:18 GMT -5
Bethesda has always focused TES on single player only and pretty steadfastly refused to do anything online or even just mere co-op with it despite the fans begging for ages. Though, I think that's changing. Still... One thing about the TES games is they are always horribly balanced and usually contain hundreds of bugs not to mention some less than stellar design here and there. Granted, it's kind of understandable given the extremely ambitious scope of the games. Although I think technically Daggerfall encompassed the most actual land area with the largest number of towns it was mostly procedurally generated and pretty boring. The towns weren't very distinct. Now that they are more distinct the games are perhaps a bit smaller, but still pretty damn huge in scale. The point I was getting to, however, was that from Morrowind onward... basically the modern era of TES games have all not really reached their full potential until the modding community basically fixed Bethesda's games. In fact you can see a real progression where things the community did to Morrowind wound up put into Oblivion, and then some of the things modded into Oblivion wound up added to Skyrim. Bethesda is obviously learning from the community. Which is wonderful! The modding community is literally teaching the developer what we want to play in a TES game.
What scares me is TES Online would have to curb the modding. In fact they would pretty much have to cut out all the modding aside from just UI mods like WoW has. And while imbalance isn't that big a problem for a single player game it's a HUGE problem for a MMORPG. I don't know if Bethesda is up to balancing their game for online play... But I sure hope they try, because I really really REALLY would love to play TES Online AND Fallout Online!
I don't think there are any franchises I want to see as big MMO's more than TES and Fallout. hmm... Nope I can't think of any.
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Post by beavernator on Mar 28, 2012 16:05:05 GMT -5
-Member of the legion -Heading over to legion camp for mission briefing -Camp in sight, then RANDOM DRAGON OUTTA NOWHERE -Members of the nearby camp run over and start helping me kill the dragon -One guy gets in front of me, and I accidentally hit him with my 2-handed axe -He dies, and moments later the dragon dies too -Now everyone from the legion camp is after me -Wittled down the legion forces, fighting that one NPC that JUST. WON'T. DIE. -Second dragon comes in, starts fighting the other NPC -Forget the loot, RUN AWAY
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tacit
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Post by tacit on Aug 16, 2012 1:05:59 GMT -5
I read a few negative reviews of this game and initially wondered why people didn't like Skyrim.
When I first got the game, I didn't even bother going to see Gerdur in Riverwood - I spent most of the first 30 hours of gameplay simply exploring the landscape, which most people would agree on first glance is fascinating and original.
Every character that I started, I did about half a dozen main quests [up to trying to find Esbern, occasionally beyond] and just became so incredibly bored with the game. Yeah, I finished the main story, but it was embarrassing to even witness the dialogue in the last fifteen minutes of gameplay, right?
The skill trees were initially great, and the idea of the perks and different strengths to have was good, but on the whole, every mission was effectively the same.
As a player that enters Helgen, you don't feel emotionally invested in the happenings of the game to start with - there's no atmosphere to become accustomed to. Ralof says:
"Hey, let's get the fuck out of Helgen!"
*watching Alduin incinerate numerous people* "Good idea."
But what do you do next?
"Go see my sister in Riverwood."
"Umm, okay?"
After two minutes of conversing with Gerdur:
"Say, even though I saw the dragon before you even got to Riverwood, I couldn't be bothered getting off my ass and informing the Jarl personally. Say, you could do it for me!"
"Fine, whatever."
"That's a good lad."
You tell the guards you're here about the dragon. Hesitantly, they let you in - even if you're a Nord. After five seconds of conversing with the Jarl:
"There is another thing you could do for me..."
"What? I just told you about the dragon - and NOW you want me to do you another favour?"
"Let's go find Farengar..."
"You know, you fuckers are all alike. Too many chiefs, and not enough indians in Skyrim."
Farengar won't talk to you until the Jarl gets there, further wasting your time.
"Go to Bleak Falls Barrow, find this tablet - no doubt interred in the main chamber - and bring it to me."
"Why?"
"Because you're holding the controller, asshole."
"Fine, whatever."
"Off to Bleak Falls Barrow with you - the Jarl is not a man... and neither am I, come to think of it."
So you haul ass to BFB, get the tablet, come back and you're thinking... "maybe the punchline's coming now, right? It'd have to be!" Does any light get shed at this point? No. Are you even privy to any discussion about what's happening? No.
Okay, so a dragon attacks the Western Watchtower - you feel obligated to help, but not out of self-preservation. You find out you're dragonborn, and the Greybeards want to talk to you. Why? Buggered if I know, but apparently it's got something to do with "honing your gift" or "it's your destiny".
You'll notice the Alik'r at this stage at the gate to Whiterun, and the only thing you ask them is "Who are you looking for?", which incidentally is the only option you have - you can't say "Why do I suddenly give a shit about your problems?". So, you trek all the way to Ivarstead, and do Klimmek's job for him - never mind the fact that he's about to shell out 750 septims to drop off a bag of supplies - and you wonder how the hell he can manage to part with that much gold to any Tom, Dick or Harry that comes by.
Anyway, never mind that. You've gone to High Hrothgar, and you're coasting along. Boy, that Frost Troll was a real kick in the balls, wasn't he? Have to remember to pack more healing potions, next time - and Lydia didn't do shit, apart from hit the ground instantly and say "I cannot best you!" Yada yada yada, you're gifted in the voice, and let's teach you a few words of power. Orrite.
Arngeir says "umm, say... mind going to Ustengrav and fetching the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller?" to which you can't reply "what's in it for me?" Seriously, you're heading to a tomb in Hjaalmarch to haul a small instrument away from a series of Draugr and Frostbite Spiders, for what exactly? THERE IS NO STATED PURPOSE FOR DOING THIS TASK - it neither contributes to the story, nor provides any clues as to the dragons return, or anything else.
Ah, Delphine - this oughta spice things up a bit, amirite? What's that, dear? You want me to kill a dragon to prove to you that I'm Dragonborn...
...
Huh? Alright, let's kill ourselves a dragon. No, wait - let's kill a dragon for Delphine. *five minutes of clanging, potion drinking and stop-drop-and-rolling and Salokhnir is getting soul-cremated. Right... that took care of that - I guess now Delphine's gonna give us the big punchline... right?
1 trek to Riverwood from Kynesgrove later...
"So, Dragonborn... good job killing that dragon - anyway, I was wondering if you could sneak into the Thalmor Embassy for me..."
"Oh for fuck's sake..."
"What? You know... I did a favour for you, now you do a favour for me - right? That's only fair..."
"Huh? I killed a dragon for you, 'cause you asked me to!"
"Yea, sucked in. Anyway, go speak to Malborn, and we'll get you into the Thalmor Embassy, 'cause there's info in there that I need."
"This seems unnervingly like the Dragonstone mission... and the horn mission."
"Buck up, soldier - and don't dally!"
Every single quest in this game is centred around the premise of doing a series of meaningless tasks for people with only disproportionate values of money as a reward, or weapons/armor that are outshone by user-created weapons and armor [minor exception for Spellbreaker, might I add].
Sure, the game was a 10/10 for the first fifteen in-game hours, but then it progressively slid towards repetition and mediocrity.
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tiesieman
True Bro
mental lagger
Posts: 1,401
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Post by tiesieman on Aug 16, 2012 5:07:42 GMT -5
That and how little variety of assets there were. It was better than in Oblivion but there's like 4 dungeon "themes" if you will and they don't vary much
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Post by jackaltornmoons on Aug 31, 2012 18:29:54 GMT -5
Is Dawnguard worth getting?
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danoski666
True Bro
"He ran off the wall like a ninja!"
Posts: 2,484
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Post by danoski666 on Sept 1, 2012 8:56:05 GMT -5
Hmm. I'm one of the people that played it for 30 hours, got bored and never touched it again. And the fact that a dragon refused to give me his soul didn't make it any better either.
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danoski666
True Bro
"He ran off the wall like a ninja!"
Posts: 2,484
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Post by danoski666 on Sept 1, 2012 9:20:10 GMT -5
Yeah i noticed. I guess 70€ is a good deal for about 35h of gameplay.
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Post by jackaltornmoons on Sept 1, 2012 12:43:33 GMT -5
Hmm. I'm one of the people that played it for 30 hours, got bored and never touched it again. And the fact that a dragon refused to give me his soul didn't make it any better either. I hit 100 hours and loved every minute.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2017 6:25:46 GMT -5
I tried the sneaky archer combo. Every time I shot someone in the butt I had to pause from giggling so hard. Late-game archers are hilarious because even if you somehow get caught out you have a 50/50 chance to stumble an enemy. It takes forever to navigate a dungeon and evade bigger enemies but it's fine.
2-handed heavy armor beatdown is insane because end-game you can blow out entire armies with ease. Put everything into health, lads. It doesn't matter if you have one stamina or 50 you can still make a full power attack. Man... I want to roll these two archetypes together now. Heavy sneaky beaky beatdown.
Destruction magic is fun... until you run out of mana. Every spell is expensive, so I hope you like not having mana. Destruction magic is not fun. Use Alteration. Turn that iron into gold. Throw your gold nuggets at the bandits. Turn the bandits into gold ore.
Basically: -Steed Stone is the best for any heavy armor build. Running in heavy armor is pain, but more importantly it makes your armor weigh nothing... you can SNEAK IN HEAVY ARMOR. -This means you have access to both sneaky archer and aggressive 2H melee guy, and you can wreck everything in this build. -Magic is limited, so Restoration is the only kind of magic you really need. Health is only really worth investing in, but for every 30 units of health you'll want 8-10 units of Stam/Magic. -Breton is a superior race because Magic Resistance is harder to get. I'm serious, almost all the other passive/active powers pale in comparison because magic resist and armor are two completely different things. -Past Level 50 you'll pretty much have every perk you need. Standing 2H power attack bonus is the only perk worth getting, Archer perks (mostly stumble, draw speed, move speed when drawn) make you untouchable, 3x sneak attacks with bows. Adding the ability to prestige skills is lazy and adds very little to the game -Alch can be made legendary again and again for free levels. Enchanting/Smithing should be at 100 amped to 125 with other effects for Daedric gear because all the dragon stuff is poop. Enchanting is a friggin pain in the ass to level and the game is not fun when you have to power level that -Upping the difficulty only really serves to up your restoration skill because enemies don't gain extra health, rather extra damage resistance. This is because Todd hates you and no longer knows how to make a game consistently difficult -This game tightly revolves around the Explore-Combat-Craft-Repeat cycle so closely I added a mod that upped vendor inventory numbers, and populated dungeons with at least 8 times the baddies to not go insane. Yes, I know the Witcher 3 is superior, but do you ever get in a 1v10+ and think to yourself "holy shit how the heck did I win that?"
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