Elder Scrolls : Skyrim

[Banshee16]

It never bothered me. I took a career path that didn't run into trouble. My wife had to restart her first PC, because she maxed out her magic skills which hyper-leveled her (but only having newbie spells/gear), so everything was lethal.

I think this is what is gradually happening to me...I hit lvl 13 last night, and I've got main skills that are in the 45-52 range (Blade, Destruction, Restoration, etc.)....but my minor skills (light armor, armorer, lockpick etc.) are in the 9-15 range, and I'm finding some opponents hard.

It's a little off. Against humans (like bandits etc.) I can get in a fight with 4 or 5 at once, and kill all of them. Spellcasters, like cultists etc. summoning daedra are more difficult. Then, like last night, I went into a new cave, and within steps of the door, got attacked by 4 trolls all at once, and was dismembered and eaten. Tried several times, and couldn't get past them.

Getting swarmed by enemies is one of the things I have difficulties with. I understand there are followers, but I'm not sure how to get them.

I know I can beef up my speed. Every few levels I do that. But my understanding is that horses help you get over steep mountains etc. that you can't normally walk up.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

You think the horse is expensive, wait until you se the cost of the barding. *rimshot*

I had a funky encounter in Skyrim recently. I'm heading to a new hold and just outside it, a dragon attacks. Thing is he starts with me and a couple NPCs out side the city, but then flies away and starts attacking people on the other side of the wall in the city. Does that a couple times and then comes back to me and I kill him.

But taking care of their problem didn't seem to go well with the guards as I was attacked upon trying to enter the hold. I took down the one guard that attacked, got at 1000 gp bounty on my head, decided to head in the other direction. Sheesh, that's gratitude for ya.

That's the kind of thing I don't understand....why would you get a bounty on your head? The dragon was attacking the people, and you helped stop it....you'd think they'd be grateful.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Which is a good idea: if you don't have the GoTY edition, you can buy the add-on CD for Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine. On the 360, then get the other DLC packs for the theives den, fighter stronghold, wizard's tower and Vile Lair. They have a lockpick training chest, sparring partner, magic-making lab, and vamprie feeder respectively.

On PC I've got the collector's edition original release plus Knights of the Nine. On XBox, I've got the GotY edition. I tried and tried on PC, and for whatever reason couldn't get into it....of course, at that time, there were several other games I was into...Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, World of Warcraft, The Witcher, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Oblivion just kept getting superceeded by other games.....now The Witcher 2, Drakensang and others have taken more time, and just make Oblivion look dated by comparison.

Given I've paid for the game twice, I made the decision I have to at least *try* to play it before moving to the sequel....I'm fairly confident once I try Skyrim, I won't try Oblivion again.

I was very surprised to find that the GotY edition *didn't* include the Wizard's Towe, Spell Tomes etc.....given they came in the Knights of the Nine expansion pack.

Admittedly, now that I'm trying it on XBox 360, I'm getting more interested in it. Maybe I just need to try it on PC with a controller....I just find the whole mouse and keyboard thing not as fun as it used to be.....at least with respect to Oblivion. The other thing is that on PC you really have to know which mods to use...I modded mine up with several things, and just found some of the mods a little glitchy...weird graphical artifacts and such. And overall, walking around is *sloowwww* on my PC. Not as in low FPS....but just that it seems like walking around outside takes forever..to the point it's annoying. On the XBox, it just seems like I get places quicker.

I'm not sure if Skyrim will run on my machine. I'm hesitant to buy it and then find out it runs like crap. I have The Witcher 2 running at pretty much high settings, and it runs fine. But I put my video card into a Google search and saw someone say it would let me play at low settings.

Phenom II X4 955 Processor, 3.2 GHz
16 GB RAM
Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium
ATI Radeon HD 5770 w/1 GB ram

Banshee

 

[Felon]

I'm not looking for major spoilers, just general confirmation or denial, but I gotta ask: is there any way to sell stolen items without joining the thieves guild? I've traveled to differend holds across the countryside and still can't seem to find vendors that will buy purloined goods. Still toting around that imperial bow I lifted off some mook tend levels ago.

 

[Agamon]

That's the kind of thing I don't understand....why would you get a bounty on your head? The dragon was attacking the people, and you helped stop it....you'd think they'd be grateful.

Well, I did kill the guard. That would do it. She started it though.

Why she attacked me in the first place is the puzzling part. I've heard rumors in game that not everyone is happy about the return of a dragonborn, but outright hostility against someone that saved the city from attack is odd.

 

[Agamon]

I'm not looking for major spoilers, just general confirmation or denial, but I gotta ask: is there any way to sell stolen items without joining the thieves guild? I've traveled to differend holds across the countryside and still can't seem to find vendors that will buy purloined goods. Still toting around that imperial bow I lifted off some mook tend levels ago.

Doubtful. If they are known to be stolen items, looks like you'll need to fence them. If no one catches you stealing it though, anyone will buy it.

 

[Janx]

I think this is what is gradually happening to me...I hit lvl 13 last night, and I've got main skills that are in the 45-52 range (Blade, Destruction, Restoration, etc.)....but my minor skills (light armor, armorer, lockpick etc.) are in the 9-15 range, and I'm finding some opponents hard.

It's a little off. Against humans (like bandits etc.) I can get in a fight with 4 or 5 at once, and kill all of them. Spellcasters, like cultists etc. summoning daedra are more difficult. Then, like last night, I went into a new cave, and within steps of the door, got attacked by 4 trolls all at once, and was dismembered and eaten. Tried several times, and couldn't get past them.

Getting swarmed by enemies is one of the things I have difficulties with. I understand there are followers, but I'm not sure how to get them.

I know I can beef up my speed. Every few levels I do that. But my understanding is that horses help you get over steep mountains etc. that you can't normally walk up.

Banshee

I don't think a horse can go where I can't. maybe I never pushed Shadowmere hard enough.... He's fun, but I zoom around the map well enough...

The real danger of the skill systems is your major skills level you up, and if they go up, the danger level goes up. if those skills don't help you fight, you're hosed.

So, for a pure fighter, Blade + Light Armor + Armorer would be great skills because when they go up, u level, and they help fight fight the leveled bad guys.

Whereas, maxing out Persuasion as a major skill will get your butt creamed because you've leveled, but you have no practical ability to resist dying...

If you want to get control, make a custom class, and put the major skills into what you will NOT be using. In this way, you will advance more slowly, and effectively be able to control the difficulty level.

Persuasion and Light or Heavy Armor (the one you are not going to wear) are good candidates. Persuasion will go up when you sell, but that's OK, as it will get you better prices over the life of the PC.

With this in place, if you game the system to train your real skills, it won't pump your level up artificially. Thus, you can practice healing, sneaking, etc without finding the monsters are nigh unbeatable.

PS. Craft the BurnHeal and HealBurn spell which does +/1 1 HP respectively. This will train your destruction or healing skill respectively (if I recall, last spell effect wins). Also, when walking, use your illusions or summons, to work up points in those skills.

I don't exit the dungeon without 50 Sneak, when I start Oblivion.

Obilivion has a lot of fun quests and neat things to see, if you're not struggling with the engine.

Lastlty, when in doubt, crank down the difficulty level. The point is to have fun and see what there is to see and do.

 

[enrious]

Doubtful. If they are known to be stolen items, looks like you'll need to fence them. If no one catches you stealing it though, anyone will buy it.

There's a way by using two skills in the Speech skillset.



Also, would you guys mind splitting off the Oblivion talk into its own thread? I didn't play Oblivion and I'm totally confused by roughly 90% of the posts in this Skyrim thread because I don't know what game you're discussing in a given post. I can't be the only one.

 

[Alan Shutko]

Why she attacked me in the first place is the puzzling part. I've heard rumors in game that not everyone is happy about the return of a dragonborn, but outright hostility against someone that saved the city from attack is odd.

I'd guess that you accidentally hit her while taking out the dragon.

 

[Felon]

Doubtful. If they are known to be stolen items, looks like you'll need to fence them. If no one catches you stealing it though, anyone will buy it.

The use of "doubtful" and "looks like" gives me the impression that this is supposition. Am I mistaken?

I'm never caught stealing, but the loot is apparently unsellable anywhere I've been. Which is disappointing, because the Thieves Guild in Skyrim seems like no more than a bunch of lowlife thugs and assortd losers (as opposed to the likes of the Gray Fox in Oblivion). So, if I'm the classic, romantic thief with a heart of gold, I still have to go out and bully shopkepers for protection money just so I can eventually fence goods.

Kind of feel a similar way about having to trap souls in order to power up any magical gear. Trapping someone's eternal essence and using it as fuel is about as evil as it gets, but everyone's supposed to be doing it.