The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

I've been primarily playing as a warrior type, but I've been...I guess the word would be 'multiclassing.'

That's as good a description of my Da-Ryl as any.

Mostly one-handed sword for combat but all distant first shots are with a bow and he's getting rather handy with destruction magic.

My highest levels though, same as they were in Oblivion, are smithing and alchemy. Those are what have pushed me up to level 20 overall, most likely leveling further than I should have because I finally ran into a dungeon that I had to abandon since I found absolutely no solution for a very well-armed bandit bitch that was taking me out without any problem.

It's embarrassing, that's like being killed by a raider in Fallout, but after going 0-5 I decided that discretion was indeed the better part of valor.

[JPhillips]

My sneaky bowman build is working well so far. I've got +60% bow damage, boots with +25% bow damage and 3X damage for hidden bow damage.

[BYU 14]

Had a cool moment in Saarthal yesterday, that had me cussing until I discovered why it happened.

Near the end I was rejoined by Tolfdir and

Spoiler

So after I do all the dirty work and get past the puzzles, he shows up again and joins my for the last area where you discover the Orb. I get one stealth shot off on Jyrik Ghouldurson and he saw me and attacked. Suddenly I see Tolfdir take off and run behind the Orb, not even helping me fight. I barely beat Jyrik and then Tolfdir pops back out like "we" did something great. I am pissed as I make my way back to the College that he wussed out. I then read the guide later, which I often do after I finish a quest, and discover he was actually draining the Orb. It further states that if he had not I never would have defeated Jyrik and I thought he was hiding the whole time

[thesloppy]

Yesterday I sucked the soul off a dragon while it's health bar was still half-full, and had to fight it's skeleton for the second half of the fight. I have no idea if that was a glitch or a feature.

[JPhillips]

Best moments so far that I witnessed:

A long and epic duel between a horse and two wolves. The horse killed a wolf and then the other wolf ran away after taking a beating. The fight ran all over the side of a mountain while I watched from a valley.

A fight between a dragon and a giant. It was violent and quick with the giant winning, but damaged enough that one shot from my bow brought him down.

[Peregrine]

I love the animations of the dragons, especially if you get a chance to watch them attack from a distance, as I did near Whiterun - this one dragon flew around, swooped and dove, attacking people near a bridge, a farm, and the meadery several times before I got involved and killed it - it killed at least three named NPCs as well. Only thing I don't like is there should be some kind of permanent burn marks or something when a dragon breathes flame on your house three or four times.

[DougW]

Originally Posted by Izulde

A buddy of mine who built an unarmed specialist said he was doing great until he got to level 30 and then he had to start over. Not sure what type of build he's constructing now.

Why ? Was it impossible/to difficult to continue ? (Am considering doing it myself).

[Izulde]

I'll have to ask him again but I think he said those enemies that leveled along with you just got too powerful for him at that point.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

My highest levels though, same as they were in Oblivion, are smithing and alchemy. Those are what have pushed me up to level 20 overall, most likely leveling further than I should have because I finally ran into a dungeon that I had to abandon since I found absolutely no solution for a very well-armed bandit bitch that was taking me out without any problem.

It's embarrassing, that's like being killed by a raider in Fallout, but after going 0-5 I decided that discretion was indeed the better part of valor.

Your valor isn't discreet enough. I ran into a couple rough cave encounters the other night, and how I ended up clearing them was creeping close enough to use the bow to take out the weaklings, scooching back into cover until they forgot about me, etc, until all that was left was the primary badass. Sneak attacked him for 2x damage a couple times using the scooch method, then finally went in and cut him.

[Grover]

I love the little things about this game. Guards from Riften and elsewhere recognizing me as a member of the Companions and commenting on it. So awesome.

Also, hiring a mage follower has been the best decision I've made in the game yet. Absolutely fantastic when fighting dragons.

[Drake]

Okay, two stories from me:

1. Watched my son battling a random blood dragon outside of Windhelm. Well, the dragon was actually battling a saber tooth on the road, so my son joined in. The dragon soars up in one of those wheeling climbs and just splats on top of the saber tooth, killing it instantly, plus a patrol of 3 Imperials with a Stormcloak prisoner who happened to be wandering by at the exact wrong moment.

2. I've developed this fetish for finding horses in the wilderness and escorting them safely to the nearest hold stable. I assume these are "owned" horses whose owners have been killed, because they're not marked with the "steal" order. I just can't leave them out there to freeze and starve, for some reason -- and it's the only time in the game where I actually ride horses. (Generally, not a fan of horseback.)

I'm not sure what it says about a game, or me as a gamer, that I can't leave digital horses out in the digital winter to die or be eaten by digital trolls.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Drake

Okay, two stories from me:

1. Watched my son battling a random blood dragon outside of Windhelm. Well, the dragon was actually battling a saber tooth on the road, so my son joined in. The dragon soars up in one of those wheeling climbs and just splats on top of the saber tooth, killing it instantly, plus a patrol of 3 Imperials with a Stormcloak prisoner who happened to be wandering by at the exact wrong moment.

2. I've developed this fetish for finding horses in the wilderness and escorting them safely to the nearest hold stable. I assume these are "owned" horses whose owners have been killed, because they're not marked with the "steal" order. I just can't leave them out there to freeze and starve, for some reason -- and it's the only time in the game where I actually ride horses. (Generally, not a fan of horseback.)

I'm not sure what it says about a game, or me as a gamer, that I can't leave digital horses out in the digital winter to die or be eaten by digital trolls.

I killed a bunch of bandits the other night, and afterward, their horse was still marked 'steal.' I rode it back to a stable, and was credited with stealing a horse.

I wonder if they stole it from its original owner somewhere. Usually the 'steal' stuff goes away once the owner is killed.

Be neat if the AI bandits are capable of doing that.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Usually the 'steal' stuff goes away once the owner is killed.

Not sure about that. I found a small house in the middle of nowhere, went in, killed the owner and all of his stuff was still marked "steal".

[EagleFan]

Came across my first Ice Troll. I don't like Ice Trolls.

[Chief Rum]

Just died for the first time (I just started playing yesterday), fighting some badass draugha wizard or somesuch. I think I woulda still had him, if two other fellow draugha didn't show up to help him.

I'm just Level 4 so I am clearly way behind most of you.

[Icy]

Re-asking about stealing...

how does it work? if i steal something from a house when i'm alone inside, can i be caught? does the owner "know" i stole it even if he didn't saw me?

My original character idea was a thief/archer dark elf but at level 9 i have yet to steal anything.

As stupid as it sounds, I have a really hard time trying to do ilegal things or killing innocent people on games, i feel bad and that is why as much as a i would like, i can't enjoy games like GTA, i would prefer one where you are the cop or the good guy.

[RainMaker]

Whats the best way to build up alchemy. Ive got smithing down but alchemy isnt going as fast as I had hoped.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Just died for the first time (I just started playing yesterday), fighting some badass draugha wizard or somesuch. I think I woulda still had him, if two other fellow draugha didn't show up to help him.

I'm just Level 4 so I am clearly way behind most of you.

welcome to the cult

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Whats the best way to build up alchemy. Ive got smithing down but alchemy isnt going as fast as I had hoped.

Not sure, it's not working very well for any of my characters - I make tons of potions but you get so little skill for each one it's starting to seem kind of pointless.

[Thomkal]

So last night I decided to play for an hour before bed-so I decide to take my one guy to Riften (from riverwood) because I had found a treasure map that shows a sign to riften at a bridge. (there are a lot of bridges in this game with signs to riften by the way). No problem I say, I'll just run all the way there find the right bridge and log off for the night.

Run...run....have to stop to kill wolves and skeevers...oh man look at all the mountains/rivers/forest/wild animals that run away from me as I approach, including some freaking big elk...run, run, run...oh here's some new ingredients I haven't tried yet....run, run, run...hey here's some Imperials escorting a stormcloak prisoner, should I try to free him? nah not enough time tonight....run, run, run...hey let check out all these dirt roads leading off the main road to see where they go-holy crap that's a giant I think! run back to the main road...run, run, run...find what looks like a mostly intact tower that has slid down the side of the hill to land next to a raging river. There's a door there looks like a dungeon, let me go check that out-but gotta find a way across the river first...

finally get there-its named abandoned prison...ooh let me see why its called that-find a whole bunch of stuff (and the reason why it was abandoned) and a lot of empty rooms before I start hearing a ghost calling out not happy with my intrusion, man its getting late dont want to fight now! Run out, get back across the water, promise myself I will not stop till I get to Riften (which is a hell of a lot further away than I thought it would be by the way)...oh there's one of the Stones like the three in the tutorial-lets check it out-crap necromancer and skeleton jump out from behind the stone as I get there! Kill them find out stone gives animate dead power if I want to use that as my Stone-cool! but not for this character...run, run, run...oh hey man sitting on the side of the road what's wrong? sure I'll help you catch the bandits that robbed you of everything from your cart! (can't believe I survived that one), take care of that get back to the main road-almost get to riften, decide to check a fort or something off a dirt road-nearly get shot up by arrows from bandits who have taken over what is actually the home of a guy sitting outside the fort with two friends and want me to help them take back the fort because they are holding his family captive...man I don't have time for this dude sorry, but I gotta go to bed-I promise I will come back and help okay? (he wasn't happy with that)

find the bridge that I think is the correct one for the treasure map-decide to go into Riften first and save the treasure map for when I get the chance to play next-Riften is Thieves Guild central, so had all these people approaching me about jobs and threats and what not that I had to listen to...knew the temple of mara was here, and had a disease, so went and got that taken care of, knew I could get a quest from the priestess..which is going to take me to some town near riften when I go on it. Finally some three and a half hours from when I started I finally close the game down and go to bed. Me tired this morning.

Man I hate this game.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Icy

Re-asking about stealing...

how does it work? if i steal something from a house when i'm alone inside, can i be caught? does the owner "know" i stole it even if he didn't saw me?

My original character idea was a thief/archer dark elf but at level 9 i have yet to steal anything.

As stupid as it sounds, I have a really hard time trying to do ilegal things or killing innocent people on games, i feel bad and that is why as much as a i would like, i can't enjoy games like GTA, i would prefer one where you are the cop or the good guy.

I went to go to the logger's gouse in Riverwood and he kept telling me to leave. But then he just up and left himself. So I shrugged and cleaned him out. Not long after, I went over to the mill and hung out with him and his wife. He didn't seem to be acting like I stole from him. So you're probably in the clear.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

So last night I decided to play for an hour before bed-so I decide to take my one guy to Riften (from riverwood) because I had found a treasure map that shows a sign to riften at a bridge. (there are a lot of bridges in this game with signs to riften by the way). No problem I say, I'll just run all the way there find the right bridge and log off for the night.

Run...run....have to stop to kill wolves and skeevers...oh man look at all the mountains/rivers/forest/wild animals that run away from me as I approach, including some freaking big elk...run, run, run...oh here's some new ingredients I haven't tried yet....run, run, run...hey here's some Imperials escorting a stormcloak prisoner, should I try to free him? nah not enough time tonight....run, run, run...hey let check out all these dirt roads leading off the main road to see where they go-holy crap that's a giant I think! run back to the main road...run, run, run...find what looks like a mostly intact tower that has slid down the side of the hill to land next to a raging river. There's a door there looks like a dungeon, let me go check that out-but gotta find a way across the river first...

finally get there-its named abandoned prison...ooh let me see why its called that-find a whole bunch of stuff (and the reason why it was abandoned) and a lot of empty rooms before I start hearing a ghost calling out not happy with my intrusion, man its getting late dont want to fight now! Run out, get back across the water, promise myself I will not stop till I get to Riften (which is a hell of a lot further away than I thought it would be by the way)...oh there's one of the Stones like the three in the tutorial-lets check it out-crap necromancer and skeleton jump out from behind the stone as I get there! Kill them find out stone gives animate dead power if I want to use that as my Stone-cool! but not for this character...run, run, run...oh hey man sitting on the side of the road what's wrong? sure I'll help you catch the bandits that robbed you of everything from your cart! (can't believe I survived that one), take care of that get back to the main road-almost get to riften, decide to check a fort or something off a dirt road-nearly get shot up by arrows from bandits who have taken over what is actually the home of a guy sitting outside the fort with two friends and want me to help them take back the fort because they are holding his family captive...man I don't have time for this dude sorry, but I gotta go to bed-I promise I will come back and help okay? (he wasn't happy with that)

find the bridge that I think is the correct one for the treasure map-decide to go into Riften first and save the treasure map for when I get the chance to play next-Riften is Thieves Guild central, so had all these people approaching me about jobs and threats and what not that I had to listen to...knew the temple of mara was here, and had a disease, so went and got that taken care of, knew I could get a quest from the priestess..which is going to take me to some town near riften when I go on it. Finally some three and a half hours from when I started I finally close the game down and go to bed. Me tired this morning.

Man I hate this game.

Heh...yeah, this game blew away my Sunday for the most part.

I have a treasure map out of the Riverwood, too. I wonder if it's the same one? I haven't tried to follow it yet. It seemed difficult to read.

[DougW]

Originally Posted by Icy

Re-asking about stealing...

how does it work? if i steal something from a house when i'm alone inside, can i be caught? does the owner "know" i stole it even if he didn't saw me?

My original character idea was a thief/archer dark elf but at level 9 i have yet to steal anything.

As stupid as it sounds, I have a really hard time trying to do ilegal things or killing innocent people on games, i feel bad and that is why as much as a i would like, i can't enjoy games like GTA, i would prefer one where you are the cop or the good guy.

You can steal as much as you want, and it has no effect on you unless you are caught. Usually if you get in the crouch position, and the eye is closed - you're safe to steal. You can steal whatever/whenever you want without any trouble. The only problems you'd have is (at the tender level of 9 ) : You may not have somewhere to store the stuff you're stealing, because vendors won't buy it from you. You need to find a "fence" to buy your stolen stuff. But if you are going to use the stolen merchandise (ie cook it, eat it, wear it, charge weapons with it, etc) feel free. The only time it's trouble is if you get caught.

Same with pickpocketing. Also, with pickpocketing .. you may go in their "pockets" without consequence. Look around all you want, even if they are staring at you while you do it. You only get in trouble if you take something and are caught.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

So last night I decided to play for an hour before bed-so I decide to take my one guy to Riften (from riverwood) because I had found a treasure map that shows a sign to riften at a bridge. (there are a lot of bridges in this game with signs to riften by the way). No problem I say, I'll just run all the way there find the right bridge and log off for the night.

Run...run....have to stop to kill wolves and skeevers...oh man look at all the mountains/rivers/forest/wild animals that run away from me as I approach, including some freaking big elk...run, run, run...oh here's some new ingredients I haven't tried yet....run, run, run...hey here's some Imperials escorting a stormcloak prisoner, should I try to free him? nah not enough time tonight....run, run, run...hey let check out all these dirt roads leading off the main road to see where they go-holy crap that's a giant I think! run back to the main road...run, run, run...find what looks like a mostly intact tower that has slid down the side of the hill to land next to a raging river. There's a door there looks like a dungeon, let me go check that out-but gotta find a way across the river first...

finally get there-its named abandoned prison...ooh let me see why its called that-find a whole bunch of stuff (and the reason why it was abandoned) and a lot of empty rooms before I start hearing a ghost calling out not happy with my intrusion, man its getting late dont want to fight now! Run out, get back across the water, promise myself I will not stop till I get to Riften (which is a hell of a lot further away than I thought it would be by the way)...oh there's one of the Stones like the three in the tutorial-lets check it out-crap necromancer and skeleton jump out from behind the stone as I get there! Kill them find out stone gives animate dead power if I want to use that as my Stone-cool! but not for this character...run, run, run...oh hey man sitting on the side of the road what's wrong? sure I'll help you catch the bandits that robbed you of everything from your cart! (can't believe I survived that one), take care of that get back to the main road-almost get to riften, decide to check a fort or something off a dirt road-nearly get shot up by arrows from bandits who have taken over what is actually the home of a guy sitting outside the fort with two friends and want me to help them take back the fort because they are holding his family captive...man I don't have time for this dude sorry, but I gotta go to bed-I promise I will come back and help okay? (he wasn't happy with that)

find the bridge that I think is the correct one for the treasure map-decide to go into Riften first and save the treasure map for when I get the chance to play next-Riften is Thieves Guild central, so had all these people approaching me about jobs and threats and what not that I had to listen to...knew the temple of mara was here, and had a disease, so went and got that taken care of, knew I could get a quest from the priestess..which is going to take me to some town near riften when I go on it. Finally some three and a half hours from when I started I finally close the game down and go to bed. Me tired this morning.

Man I hate this game.

The story ends better than I thought. Halfway through I thought, I haven't seen a save mentioned. I thought it was going to end with....

"Almost to Riften, hey look a giant, he looks pissed, run... splat... reload.... nooooooo I hadn't saved and I have to make the whole trip again...."

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

The story ends better than I thought. Halfway through I thought, I haven't seen a save mentioned. I thought it was going to end with....

"Almost to Riften, hey look a giant, he looks pissed, run... splat... reload.... nooooooo I hadn't saved and I have to make the whole trip again...."

heh yeah that would not have been a good ending for me. I'm a RPG veteran who knows the first rule of playing RPG's: Save Often. And I have autosave set to five minutes just in case.

[Drake]

Has anyone tested to see if you can get married more than once?

So, er, I'm collecting these empty black soul gems with the ultimate goal of smithing/enchanting an entire kit using only black soul gems filled with the souls of my murdered wives.

But to do it, I need to know the game will let me marry more than once. Anyone know?

(For the record, I can't tell if this plan is role-playing my new career as a Dark Brotherhood assassin, or just being twisted and evil because it cracks me up. Clearly, if I can get the 8 or so wives to pull this off, I've already got cocky and funny covered.)

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

heh yeah that would not have been a good ending for me. I/m a RPG veteran who knows the first rule of playing RPG's: Save Often. And I have autosave set to five minutes just in case.

Especially with a game that crashes as much as Skyrim. I haven't had any yet, but read they happen somewhat frequently do others. I haven't changed the autosave, but instinctually hit F5 about once every three or four minutes.

[Grover]

Has anyone else done / completed the House of Horrors line in Markath?

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Grover

Has anyone else done / completed the House of Horrors line in Markath?

Is that the vampire one? If so I've done that.

[Galaril]

I got the PS 3 version and am wondering if anyone who has that can say if there is an in game map and how to access it command wise?

[Grover]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Is that the vampire one? If so I've done that.

Spoiler

It's a quest for Magol Bal, results in a fantastic 1H mace, if you're into that.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Grover

Has anyone else done / completed the House of Horrors line in Markath?

Yes, and I enjoyed it immensely.

[Grover]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Yes, and I enjoyed it immensely.

This. I've been getting interesting comments from the guards in various towns since I finished the line.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I got the PS 3 version and am wondering if anyone who has that can say if there is an in game map and how to access it command wise?

I have the PC version and use the 360 controller but I bet it is about the same.

Now I may be overlooking a different way there but that has been my only complaint so far (again, I may just be doing it wrong).

I hit start to bring up the quests and then hit X to bring it up a map. I forget how the PS3 maps, I think that is the square (the left one of the 4 buttons) or it's the circle.

Seems like a round about way to get there but nothing else that I have pressed hot-keys to a map.

[EagleFan]

Surprised there hasn't been a negative response to the poll yet. Usually it's cool on the internetz to rip a good game.

Easily surpassed. Especially since I had no intention of getting it until I started reading this thread so it's not like I had many expectations.

[DataKing]

My expectations were met and not exceeded, but only because those expectations were very high.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Is that the vampire one? If so I've done that.

I cleared out some vampires near Markath, but didn't get the quest for it. Did find a nice pair of boots though.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'll say this, once I reached the upper teens/low 20's in overall level (via much alchemy & smithing) things have gotten a damned sight more serious in combat.

I'm finding even presumably lower level monster types that are giving me fits, the last three dungeons I've crawled pushed my combat skills to the absolute limit to beat even with multiple death/respawn sequences, one of those I was finally forced to retreat to tackle when I'm more skilled. That's something that never happened to me in Oblivion.

Granted, I under-leveled intentionally and consistently in Oblivion in order to avoid that sort of thing whereas in Skyrim I've taken the levels as they came. Starting to wonder if I'm going to end up regretting that decision, I'm getting a little worried that I'm going to end up completely over my head at some point.

[Grover]

Just encountered my first assassin just off the road on the way to Winterhold.

Spoiler

Poor bastard.

[Chief Rum]

Is there a way to post a screenshot of your character facing forward? It might be cool to start posting shots of our characters, maybe armed their fiercest.

[Grover]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Is there a way to post a screenshot of your character facing forward? It might be cool to start posting shots of our characters, maybe armed their fiercest.

I can only seem to get them facing forward when the weapon is sheathed.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Heh...yeah, this game blew away my Sunday for the most part.

I have a treasure map out of the Riverwood, too. I wonder if it's the same one? I haven't tried to follow it yet. It seemed difficult to read.

Did you find your Treasure Map shortly after leaving the cave coming from the tutorial? If so I know where that treasure chest is appromixmately and can give hints if need be. Mine is labeled Treasure Map IX. Turns out I was at the wrong bridge in my report earlier. Looked at the map today again, realized I needed to be on the other side of Riften. Have found the area where the chest is supposed to be, but have not found it yet.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Icy

Re-asking about stealing...

how does it work? if i steal something from a house when i'm alone inside, can i be caught? does the owner "know" i stole it even if he didn't saw me?

My original character idea was a thief/archer dark elf but at level 9 i have yet to steal anything.

As stupid as it sounds, I have a really hard time trying to do ilegal things or killing innocent people on games, i feel bad and that is why as much as a i would like, i can't enjoy games like GTA, i would prefer one where you are the cop or the good guy.

This. I'm dreading the thieves guild quests. I don't want to hurt the innocents. I'm REALLY dreading the Dark Brotherhood strand. I'm a good guy, damnit.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Did you find your Treasure Map shortly after leaving the cave coming from the tutorial? If so I know where that treasure chest is appromixmately and can give hints if need be. Mine is labeled Treasure Map IX. Turns out I was at the wrong bridge in my report earlier. Looked at the map today again, realized I needed to be on the other side of Riften. Have found the area where the chest is supposed to be, but have not found it yet.

I forget if I found it right in the cave or in Halgen (or whatever it is called) or if I took it from some bandits I ran into shortly after leaving the cave, but it was somewhere around then. I'm at work, so I can't look up right now what mine is named. But I would guess we're talking about the same treasure. I'm on a quest right now, but I plan on looking up the treasure when I return to Riverwood. If I don't have any luck, I'll probably hit you up for those hints.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by TroyF

This. I'm dreading the thieves guild quests. I don't want to hurt the innocents. I'm REALLY dreading the Dark Brotherhood strand. I'm a good guy, damnit.

I never did the DB quests nor the Thieves Guild quests in Oblivion, just didn't feel right for the head of the Mages Guild & the Fighters Guild.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I'll say this, once I reached the upper teens/low 20's in overall level (via much alchemy & smithing) things have gotten a damned sight more serious in combat.

I'm finding even presumably lower level monster types that are giving me fits, the last three dungeons I've crawled pushed my combat skills to the absolute limit to beat even with multiple death/respawn sequences, one of those I was finally forced to retreat to tackle when I'm more skilled. That's something that never happened to me in Oblivion.

Granted, I under-leveled intentionally and consistently in Oblivion in order to avoid that sort of thing whereas in Skyrim I've taken the levels as they came. Starting to wonder if I'm going to end up regretting that decision, I'm getting a little worried that I'm going to end up completely over my head at some point.

For whatever it's worth, I'm level 37 and things are still challenging, but I've never gotten to the point where I've felt that it's impossible. I am definitely seeing the risk/reward of how I leveled though.....I have put most of my perks into sneaking and archery which are both between 60-75 ranks, and if I can get off a couple of stealthy shots I can take down most anything, whereas once someone gets up close to me it becomes a LOT more challenging even though my combat skills are decent (30-50 ranks in one-handed, block, and light armor). I think they handled the leveling balancing pretty well.

On the other hand, some remnants of Oblivion's leveling still remain that are kinda bothersome. Because I'm relatively high-level now, it becomes pretty obvious what monsters level with you, and what don't. At this point, I can take out a giant with two stealthy arrows, and a dragon is relatively easy compared to any kind of non-vanilla bandit with a two-word 'title' (bandit commander, marrauder, etc.) let alone that apprentice mages have suddenly become some of the toughest creatures on the planet. As such, any humanoid mob of greater than 2 people can pretty much fuck me up, with ease, which negates any feeling of real power that I can build up. I'd like to see that part balanced a little.

I get the feeling that the greatest arbiter is armor (and the skills behind it). As I've levelled up, all the humanoid opponents' armor is getting better, while mine stays roughly the same, somewhat capped by my need to stay in light armor, for stealth reasons. All the bandits I kill now are wearing heavy steel armor, and I assume have the skill to use it well, and conversely I've kind of ignored my armor perks, and I think both sides of that coin have contributed towards making close-combat a lot harder in the later levels.

Also, things got easier when I started using ALL of my inventory, e.g. spells, scrolls, staffs to address each situation, rather than just trying to repeatedly bully my way through using only my (secondary, for me) close combat skills.

[CrimsonFox]

Of course we know, in this case the trout are 50th level, 28 feet tall, glowing, magical, firebreathing trout.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I forget if I found it right in the cave or in Halgen (or whatever it is called) or if I took it from some bandits I ran into shortly after leaving the cave, but it was somewhere around then. I'm at work, so I can't look up right now what mine is named. But I would guess we're talking about the same treasure. I'm on a quest right now, but I plan on looking up the treasure when I return to Riverwood. If I don't have any luck, I'll probably hit you up for those hints.

Yep you got it from the bandits shortly after you left the cave, so we're on the same page here.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I got the PS 3 version and am wondering if anyone who has that can say if there is an in game map and how to access it command wise?

Hit the Circle button and it is the down option. Just push down twice and it will come up. Map commands at the bottom of the screen.

[Edward64]

For those with PC's.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: PC Performance, Benchmarked : Can Your PC Handle The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim?

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion redefined our expectations for open world fantasy RPGs, and it was brutally hard on the hardware of its day. Is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as challenging on today's PC hardware, or can a modest rig handle it?

The Elder Scrolls series of role-playing games is distinguished with a tradition of pushing PC graphics past contemporary expectations. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind amazed players back in 2002, and was one of the first games to use pixel shaders for realistic water effects, along with hardware-accelerated tessellation, a feature that only went mainstream when it was incorporated into DirectX 11. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion took visual quality up several notches, but also completely redefined what a rich, detailed, and open virtual world could aspire to be.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim lands at our feet with big expectations to satisfy. How do Bethesda’s developers push the envelope in the series' most recent chapter?