Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim [post-launch thread]

[Afoxi]

Protip: Some blocking talents affect two-handed/archery playstyle. I've disarmed someone by punching them in the face with a bow.

[Langy]

So apparently i got drunk in whiterun, and woke up in a temple in the WEST end of Skyrim. Sometime later apparently i found out i had a lover (EAST side of Skyrim) and gave this person a wedding ring.

This is me retrieving this ring (spoiler).


What. The fuck.

The Hangover 3 - Hung Over in Skyrim

This happened to me, too - in Ivarstead, which is even further from where you end up. It's like I teleported around the world - or went on one ridiculous month-long drinking binge. Not exactly out of character for a good Nord lad, but still.

I find it silly that you can become the Arch-Mage of the College without having a single spell skill above 50. Should have had a few extra requirements in that aside from just 'finish this quest line'.

By re-usable you mean you only need to fill it once, right? Because every soul gem is "reusable" in Skyrim in the sense that they do not shatter after you enchant from them.

What? Really? That makes no sense. The Azura's Star questline even specifically states that 'lesser' soulgems all shatter after being used. Mind you, I haven't noticed gems disappearing after using them, but that's only because I have so damned many of them.

[Afoxi]

[Rincewind]

Langy: Lesser soul gems don't shatter for me, only Grand and Black soul gems, that's why I was asking.

Pocktio & other 2-h heretics: One of the Block perks gives you +50% resistance to magic, then you enchant a couple of pieces of armour or jewlery with Resist Magicka and you have 100% resistance to magic when blocking. You also can deflect all arrows shot at you, sprint-charge to knock people over, time slows down when they power attack and you can power-bash them to disarm and/or disorient them. With high enough block and a couple of +40% block enchants you take zero damage from anything attacking you from the front. Couple this with some very nice one-handed perks and enchants and I'll quite happily say that sword & board is better than 2h.

[Malachi]

Are there spears in the game? Or crossbows?

[Rincewind]

No.

[Misiok]

"Some people want special bows that take too long to load and need special arrows called bolts. M'aiq thinks they are idiots."

[Shuma]

@Rincewind:

With Heavy armor, i don't need a puny shield. My enemies might as well be sneezing on me, in fact, i only suffer significant damage when being hit by someone wielding a two handed weapon, or those giant fireballs the hagraven witches shoot, and even then, they go down in like 2 hits.

[Rincewind]

Shield + heavy armour is still better because, like I said, you are basically immune to magic and you have so many more tactical options. I've seen no arguments for 2-H weapons beyond "they look cool", which I can agree with. The difference in damage output, assuming equal tier equipment and equal skill, is negligeble. Don't take me wrong, what I'm arguing here is that 2-handed weapons should deal more damage and that there is an unbalance between the two styles.

[Misiok]

Hey, the game can be played for math, with meth, and for fun and cool

I always think that by exploiting (not abusing, mind you) all the various mechanics and numbers takes some fun from it for me, but I understand how fun it can be for others, to maximize stuff. Me, I shoot lightning bolts so I could care less for 2h or 1, as I already look cool in any rag :P

[Afoxi]

Protip: Some blocking talents affect two-handed/archery playstyle. I've disarmed someone by punching them in the face with a bow.

This needs to be repeated i think.

Confirmed I can slow time down with a 2-handed sword.

[Shuma]

I've seen no arguments for 2-H weapons beyond "they look cool"

My argument is "everything dies in one blow".

And yeah, not all blocking perks are exclusive to shields, not that you need blocking perks when you're not getting hit.

[Goobers]

I'm not overly sold on shields myself, although I'm using heavy armour and get the feeling that their more effective with light armour characters.

Blocking is nice when it works, but the arrow bouncing and elemental soak seem quite irrelevent untill you get the 'run while blocking' perk because otherwise you just slowing walk towards them while getting shot at. The anti-arrow perk I've found useless because for every arrow that hits my shield, 3 more miss it and hit my character in the legs or head, and the magic defence? Against dragons your still going to get your ass kicked by the breath and on humanoid enemies you take less damage by dash attacking them to stagger.

The whole heavy armour with a shield thing doesn't float my boat, but it does look rather cool. The light armour perks, specifically stamina regen would give a lot more benefit to the sword and board style for maximum shield bash and having a good block on hand to shrug off the heavier hits, but with heavy armour I get a better effect by just standing there and powerattacking, using the shield as nothing more than a flat number boost.

[Rincewind]

I disagree with you Shuma - I think the difference in damage output is negligble between a fully leveled 2-h tree and a fully leveled 1-h tree with equal tier weaponry. Sure, stuff dies in one hit, but in the mean time I've hit 3 times with my 1-hander. I'll post screenies once I get home.

And yeah, not all blocking perks are exclusive to shields, not that you need blocking perks when you're not getting hit.

This is nonsense. There are dungeons where you get swarmed by 6-10 mobs at the same time in a very small space, you cannot avoid being hit.

@Goobers: You're doing it wrong then. You actually have to turn your character in a way that the shield takes the arrows, and I don't know why a dragon's breath weapon would "kick your ass anyway" - are you saying that the perk doesn't work against breath weapons? Because it does for me.

As for the Heavy Armour vs Light Armour thing - once you get the perk that Heavy Armour weighs nothing and you slap a few +stamina regen enchants on it you will basically never run out of stamina anyway. Blocking reduces damage, but it is also cumulative with your armour rating, so with high enough block & heavy armour skill and perks you can even shrug off hits from giants.

[Shuma]

This is nonsense. There are dungeons where you get swarmed by 6-10 mobs at the same time in a very small space, you cannot avoid being hit.

Except in such a case you can kill them all in one hit since there's a perk that lets you do just that with a two handed weapon. I stand by my point, best defense is a good offense.

Against dragons your still going to get your ass kicked by the breath

Uh, what? Even with no shield a dragon breath does negligible damage to heavy armor, dragons are kind of a joke.

[Rincewind]

Let's just agree to disagree then because I'm obviously right but can't convince you.

[Malachi]

Finally got it. Unpacking right now at work. Did everyone with a retail copy get a soundtrack CD and a Tamriel Skyrim map in a standard edition, or is it just us Poles again?

[Akranadas]

Lydia died tonight, we were following a fable about a super sword and well, its owner was there and cut her down... MY PACK MULE!

[Brenil]

Funny, here I thought companions only died when you damaged them while they were taking a knee.

Gives Akranadas a knowing look.

[Rincewind]

@Malachi: I got the map, but no soundtrack.

@Arkandras, Brenil: That's how it is supposed to work but it's bugged. Open the console, click the corpse with the mouse and type "resurrect".

[Misiok]

From what I read, they were suppossed to die when you finish them off, because when they're in the downed state they're no longer targetable by the AI. There's still area damage and lack of proper aiming for the AI though.

Lydia died for me early during my imperial quest-line. She dissapeared for like an ingame week and then appeared when I was leaving town, dead. Now she lies dead AND naked. Teehee.

[Argonaut]

I killed Lydia in a Henry I style hunting accident. I saw movement.... shot arrows like a maniac.... went to loot lovely corpse, only to find lydia stuck in a rock cleft stuck full of arrows like Boromir. I felt quite bad for a while. Still. I did ressurect her with a Staff of Zombies but it doesn't last long, plus her silly groaning hurt my ears.

Loving the whitehold college stuff - but I have to agree, Mages Robes are a bit rubbish looking.

[Pocktio]

I lost Chlamydia to that first frost troll. Loaded a save, dont want to lose my precious huscarl.

As for 2h how can you have fully specced both trees?!? I say2h does greater damage. Pyou save an entire trees worth of perks. Which imo is worth if you want a more interesting character quicker.

[Exsus]

That or the ultimate perk chooser, the console. Can't go wrong there.

Today I had the fun of fighting a blood and a frost dragon at the same time. Granted there was a bunch of Stormcloak soldiers to act as snacks for me. Still, two dragon, and it was on my thief character who is not so good in combat like that. I'm stuppose to stand back and kill everything in one or two arrow shots, not fight two dragon with my low health pool. Warrior character would have had no problem though.

[Starblade]

Uh, what? Even with no shield a dragon breath does negligible damage to heavy armor, dragons are kind of a joke.

Armor rating doesn't affect magical damage at all.

[Rincewind]

The top sneak perk (forces distant enemies to re-aquire targets if you go crouched) sounds like it would be great against dragons. Aggro it, run to a group of npcs, next time the dragon takes wing just crouch and watch it go after your friends.

[Nalkor]

Is it just me, or does anyone else have to quit to desktop because the game will suffer very choppy slowdown that occurs randomly?

[Misiok]

The game does that for me. In ever increasing efficiency.

[Jonny]

Try running it in fullscreen windowed mode, it's smooth as butter for me and I've not had a single crash: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4

For the ring spoilers above,

Spoiler

where did you get that bit from? I got ratarsed in Whiterun, woke up in Makarth and told to head over to Rorikstead(?) but I ended up back in Whiterun at first accidentally talking to the trader woman who nagged me about a ring. 2000g later she told me I'd been waffling about meeting the love of my life somewhere and marked it on the map, so I went there. It was a castle, I killed some bandits and fell into an Oblivion portal, where Sanguine himself was hanging around sounding half cut. He waffled a bit and gave me the Sanguine Rose, which ended the quest. So where did all that in the vid come from?

[Nalkor]

Turns out there are a few areas that cause a CTD with no warning, one being called Bonechill Passage if the google search results are anything to go by, lovely area names by the way.
So if those CTDs happen, the 'solution' is to just go into windowed mode for the duration of the area.

[Grabnutz]

So I walked up to High Hrothgar AGAIN and back down, and this time managed to FUS RO DAH that bastard frost troll away from danger. I also did it to a bear, and a bandit that was shooting at me from the top of a tower about 40ft away, after slaughtering his friends on the ground. I just looked up, waved.. and... FUSRODAH off he goes! Now to find a dragon to yell at, well, as soon as I've cured my rockjoint, and shifted my 320 weight of loot...

What I'm needing is a mod that makes horses not suck. The black one at least has less stamina than me for running, plus it takes ages to dismount when something's ambushed you, and it gets in the way attacking things and runs off after them. Needs saddle bags for storage too. I'm on foot now anyway since some bastard finally lopped it's head off with something suitably sharp leaving me trudging through the marshes over above Marthal.

[Rincewind]

Something that annoyed me to no end - the Amulet of Talos (and also the Dark Brotherhood armour) can't be disenchanted. I'd love to have the Shout cooldown modifier as an enchant I can put on my armour so I can FUS RO DAH once every 10 seconds. :P

[Misiok]

Horses suck? Maybe the basic ones. I have one from

Spoiler

The Dark Brotherhood questline

and he helps me conquer forts and murder dragons. Seriously, take a look at this badass

Spoiler

[Malachi]

To all backstabby assassin types out there: Does Backstab (6x normal damage from all one handed weapon sneak attacks, according to the perk list) and Assassin's Blade (15x sneak attack damage with daggers) stack? Does it mean I get 90xdamage then (lol)?

If it doesn't then I guess it would be wiser to not take Backstab and just take Assassin's Blade (since it only requires sneak... Right?).

[n0z3k1ll3r]

Malachi: They don't stack, but backstab's a prerequisite for Assassin's Blade.

[Malachi]

Ah, you're right, I overlooked it somehow, even while actually specifically checking for that.

[Rincewind]

Assassin's Blade does however stack with the Double Backstab Damage from Shrouded Armour (the Dark Brotherhood kit), so you get 30x damage, enough to insta-kill just about everything, especially if you've improved the weapon.

[Busby]

So is there any disadvantage to being a warewolf beyond the mean, hurtful comments the guards make? The actual beast form seems to be rather, well, shit, because the 3rd person camera makes hitting things difficult and my Sky Steel 2H Axe kills things faster then the claws seem to.

[Rincewind]

[Dark_Avenger]

Anyone know if there's a weapon perk or spell that knocks the enemy off their feet (And possibly go flying, that would be a bonus )?

Also busby, being a werewolf prevents you from getting the rested bonus from sleeping. Not to mention I don't think you train any skills while in that form.

[Nalkor]

Provided you can backstab the enemy, I don't see dragons going down so easily unless you distract them when they're on the ground.

[Kien]

Do all you people use blades? I have the feeling that no one here uses axe or mace. o.o I tried some warhammer use but too slow for fun. I assume the big axe/sword/hammer balance each other out with speed and damage.

Where can I find someone to enchant my weapon?

And how does armor work``?

[Shaitan]

Pock, I was about to strongly disagree with you, using the stats used in the wikia as evidence, but apparently they've changed them, so yeah, it looks about right. If that is indeed the case I guess I will be going two hands, sorry Rincewind .

I wasn't basing this on gameplay I was basing it on the stats which up until yesterday, stated something that looked roughly like this. One handed steel sword 10 damage, two handed steel greatsword 11 damage. Until it reached daedric level at which point it would say that the one handed version did 55 damage while the two handed did like 26 or something. They fixed it, but if that was indeed the case you'd have to have been a fool to go for 2 handed over one handed.

[Nalkor]

So even in windowed mode, it entered super-slowdown mode in a matter of minutes, and I'm also chopping firewood for 30/60 gold each inn visit to pay for my dwemer ingots and such, except at this rate I'll be able to forge plate mail as I'm close to level 9 or 10, and smithing is only 35, meaning I've got a perk point saved up. Warhammers and maces are ideal for heavily armored opponents, especially with the ignore 25/50/75% armor perks, whereas swords are great for lightly armored/unarmored enemies and much less useful against armored types. Likewise, maces and warhammers are less than ideal against beasts with little armor, but the sync kill animation of a warhammer against a troll is just gravy (thank god for backpeddling with flames).

edit: Just read on the official boards that betheda apparently has shadows rendered from the CPU and not the GPU. If that's the case, it's a colossal fuck-up that's screwing with my enjoyment.

[darkelf]

Kien, when I'm not busy dual casting Fireballs or Ice Storms at the enemy I use a Daedric Mace I got from the Abandoned House questline in Markarth. It's a beast against magic users as you drain 31 magicka per swing, and you steal souls

[FriendlyFire]

I've had a few crashes, a few odd slowdowns, Eyefinity doesn't work (UI gets blown out of proportions) and FOV changes don't stick, but I still love the game. It ate up so many hours of my weekend it's not even funny.

So far I'm a heavy destruction mage, though I'm somewhat branching into conjuration now too. I seriously need to get some points in Enchanting and Smithing though, because I want cash. Didn't run in that Azura's Star quest line yet, still doing the College one then I'm off to see the Greybeards.

My only concern is how weak my destruction magic feels. My Atronach does more damage from further away than I do while consuming less mana...

[SquidDNA]

I think I've screwed up my build by dabbling in smithing and enchantment when I should be focusing on light armor, 1h, alchemy and destruction. I really like my shiny new elven armor but I'm getting murdered in the face.

[Nalkor]

Smithing and enchantment might not look like much, but for light armor builds, it's actually vital to increasing survivability by having increased elemental resistances and such. Light armor in general has always lead to being murdered using the direct approach.

[DeafMute]

Currently lvl 36 I think.
Went back to one of the very early kill bandit quests. killed about 4 enemies total and popped open the reward chest.
I lawled.



Am also keen to hear what you people think will be coming our way DLC wise?
I dont know much at all about eldar scrolls. But one thing I have noticed. All this dwavern gear without a single dwarf?
Least I havnt seen any.

[Kien]

Let's hope the construction set will not be DLC with price!

I'm level 18. I spend great effort killing powerful bandits and find that they didn't hide any big treasure at all. -.-

I never have any slow downs in the game. I run windowed. I had 1 crash so far. Instantly back to desktop.