The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

I've got two arrows sticking out of my head and I can't seem to remove them.

You should appreciate this video then:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B3UCytEtKU

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

I think the problem is that with a warrior, you already have mage like abilities with the Shouts, and they are better in fact because you don't need to equip them to a hand - with a mage, for me it just felt like a lot of switching hands around - the conjuration stuff was cool, though, so I am sure I will play my mage some more.

Bingo! That's the best way to describe it. The combat doesn't flow as well for me with my mage because I'm constantly accessing the Favorite menu to switch spells. With my Warrior, the action is mostly real-time, and flows better. Or perhaps I just suck at playing a mage.

[Qwikshot]

Bought it friday night and put a bunch of hours in...I'm a Khajit Rogue who dabbles in Destruction and Two Handed weapons...but just made the jump to Bows.

The game is challenging.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by mckerney

I read that in QA testing the best time was a little over two hours, but I'm sure now that it's out it won't take long for people to find the glitches necessary to complete the main quest line in 5 minutes.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Why would you want to do that though? I never even finished Oblivion. And I never even finished Red Dead either. I love just wandering around in these Open World games and screwing around.

Same here. The same people that are annoying to play any multiplayer with like WoW or any competitive FPS typically do this kind of thing. The whole competition thing of showing people their penis size.

You want to see a funny speed run? I found THIS:
How's THAT for a stupid penis.

[Bobble]

A few pages back you guys were talking about the giants. I accidentally ticked one off and tried to run away. Well, he caught me and hit me with an uppercut that had me hurtling up in the air so high, it was like I was looking at the map!

Anyone know how to determine ingredient effects without just trying them out? I don't mind doing that for plentiful ones but when you only got one beehive husk, I hate to waste it.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Those used to go away when you healed and/or repaired your armor, but since we can't repair armor anymore ...

Are the arrows in your head or are you wearing a helmet? If so, have you tried removing the helmet to see if the arrows go with it?

One was floating next to my head regardless of which of my two helmets I wore (or no helmet!) and the other was through the eye socket.

They eventually just disappeared. Nothing I did influenced it, be it healing potion, sleeping, whatever. They just got bored and walked off.

Weird stuff.

[Drake]

Was your character wearing a Steve Martin hat, by any chance?

[DataKing]

I've only had one real frustrating moment thus far when I was jumped by some hired thugs. These guys seemed way over-powered for the level I was at (only 5) and I died four times I think before finally dispatching them. I think I'm done stealing for a while, if those are the repercussions I'm going to face. A few other notes and observations thus far:

• My character is a Redguard Warrior with a little magic use thrown in (Alteration, Restoration, and Destruction exclusively) and I am absolutely loving the "independent hands" setup. I keep a shield in my left-hand almost all of the time, and can freely switch my right between one-handed weapons and spells. I was quite pleased when I learned I could keep a shield up in one hand and have a spell equipped in the other.
• I believe I was a bit under-leveled when I first reached Whiterun and dealt with the "title quest" (no spoiler) there, but it was still quite entertaining.
• My immersion into this game is some of the deepest I have ever experienced. Every little detail just makes it "feel" right...like you really are in medieval Scandinavia.
• The voice acting is mostly superb, except for the one guy who seems to be doing a really bad Schwarzenegger accent.
• I too was experiencing carry capacity issues and was forced to sell some things I would really have preferred to keep, but I now have a house in Whiterun and am working on furnishing it. Very cool that the place has a name.

Seriously enjoying it so far and I am pleasantly surprised by it overall. It has exceeded my already lofty expectations of a Bethesda game.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Spoiler

the morning after I talk to Alvar, leave his house per his request, I come back to his house... and he attacks me, alongside Sigrid and Hadvar. Is this a bug from a previous save game? Ie, no matter when I load the game, they always attack me. Feel bad murdering my buddy Hadvar for no reason (who I escaped the keep with).

Sorry, am I being an idiot here? does this always happen?

Did you steal anything? kill any barnyard animals in town or townpeople?

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Thanks CF

I had figured most of that out, but anyone having trouble hotkeying things needs to watch it.

[GrantDawg]

So tempted to start over. I just hit level 11 with my character, but there are some things I wish I had done differently. This will be my big fear now. Constantly restarting till I burn out on it.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

So tempted to start over. I just hit level 11 with my character, but there are some things I wish I had done differently. This will be my big fear now. Constantly restarting till I burn out on it.

Then I would do so now if you are not liking the character you made.
No sense in not enjoying the game because of it.

You could just speedrun through all that stuff but I doubt it would be the same really since it would be a different experience

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Anyone know how to determine ingredient effects without just trying them out? I don't mind doing that for plentiful ones but when you only got one beehive husk, I hate to waste it.

You can eat various ingredients - that is a good way to identify some of their properties, but it won't always work, and if it is a poison or something you will get the effect, but it will be shortlived.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by PraetorianX

It is real, I have it myself though I only tucked it away in my home. You should have been able to loot the body, iirc.

That's what I thought. Sigh. Maybe I'll go back and see if it will magically allow me to loot it. IMO it's not worth it to go through the whole quest chain all over again. If I have to, I'll just make a different character type for a fresh game another time, one that's more suited for that grab anyway.

[Izulde]

Happily I was able to loot the body when I went back. Awesome.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

You can eat various ingredients - that is a good way to identify some of their properties, but it won't always work, and if it is a poison or something you will get the effect, but it will be shortlived.

Good tip. I think that only gives you the first effect, though. I know you can also find/purchase recipes. I'm wondering if there's anything else that reveals effects. Getting a high enough level like in previous versions?

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Did you steal anything? kill any barnyard animals in town or townpeople?

Ooh - maybe a chicken. Is that what triggers it? Then I'm an idiot - didn't even think about that, and my last save is all the way back at the beginning.

[CleBrownsfan]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Ooh - maybe a chicken. Is that what triggers it? Then I'm an idiot - didn't even think about that, and my last save is all the way back at the beginning.

I think I save about every 10-15 min

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

Then I would do so now if you are not liking the character you made.
No sense in not enjoying the game because of it.

You could just speedrun through all that stuff but I doubt it would be the same really since it would be a different experience

It really wasn't so much I didn't like the character, it was that I did something stupid fooling around, and just want it un-done. Anyway, knowing more about the game now, I started at the default difficulty, and changed my race (was Nord, now Brition).

Now, though, I am having big time crashing problems. I've gotten into one of the caves near the begining, and I am crashing to desktop every two minutes. I don't know what the heck the problem is. I turned down resolution, but that didn't help. Getting pretty ticked.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

I think I save about every 10-15 min

I think there's a setting for an autosave interval, I'll see if i can find it when I get home from work.

[BigDPW]

I am new to Elder Scrolls and RPGs in general (except I have played Fallout 3). My question may be obvious to some of you who play these all the time but are the spells (healing as an example) limited in any way other than I can't do them if my magicka bar is at 0? For example I use my healing spell after or during fights with guys in the dungeon and try to stay at full health before encountering the next foe. Will my spell run out eventually or as long as I have magicka on that bar to use I can heal with it?

Just seems almost too easy to heal if that is the way it is intended and I can continue to use it? Got to thinking about it today after my first play session last night and want to make sure I am not screwing myself down the road by using it so much now.

In Fallout you had to eat things and use limited stimpaks to heal so I didn't know if this was totally different. Obviously you can eat food and things in Skyrim too but I won't carry that stuff with me if I don't need to since I have a healing spell.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by BigDPW

My question may be obvious to some of you who play these all the time but are the spells (healing as an example) limited in any way other than I can't do them if my magicka bar is at 0? For example I use my healing spell after or during fights with guys in the dungeon and try to stay at full health before encountering the next foe. Will my spell run out eventually or as long as I have magicka on that bar to use I can heal with it?

Spells don't "expire", if that's what you're asking.

Obviously you can eat food and things in Skyrim too but I won't carry that stuff with me if I don't need to since I have a healing spell.

That's the value of restoration magic, especially at lower levels.

But I'd caution you that, at higher levels (as your health gets larger but so does the damage caused by various monsters), the odds of surviving solely on magic alone aren't very good, at least not based on my Oblivion experience. Even a combination of magic + potions sometimes has to be augmented with food and anything else you can get your hands on.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Good tip. I think that only gives you the first effect, though. I know you can also find/purchase recipes. I'm wondering if there's anything else that reveals effects. Getting a high enough level like in previous versions?

I think I'm finding second effects by using ingredients to make known 1st effect potions.

For example, I've discovered the second effect of several ingredients that I was using to make something else; i.e (totally made-up example here, I don't have the game open at the moment)

-- Wheat + mushroom = Restore Health (first effect known for both)
-- I make Restore Health potion but get Restore Health 10 + Restore Stamina 10
-- It turns out that both ingredients second effect is Restore Stamina
-- So know I know the second effect for both (and can combine with other known first effect Restore Stamina ingredients to make plain Restore Stamina potions)

Not the most elegant explanation in the world but hopefully it made sense.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

What specifically do you want changed in the UI? For me the only part that seems pretty bad is the skills/perks area on the PC - it's just really awkward to have to click a dozen times to move left or right to a specific skill. I would prefer to be able to mousewheel to a specific skill, then use WASD or something to go to the specific skills - it looks cool but is annoying.

The rest of the UI I don't have much of a problem with - the tab and then directional thing is annoying but I only use that when I level up, the rest of the time I just use I, M, J, P to go directly to particular areas.

I personally love the look of the map, but that's just personal taste.

The big one for me is also the skills menu. It's not intuitive at all.

Another major thing for me is I want to be able to sort my inventory be weight, value, etc. When I am close to being over the limit, if I could just sort by weight and see real quick what would be the most reasonable thing to drop that would be great.

I do think the having to go into the inventory, putting a weapon in the favorites, then going to the favorites to hotkey it is pretty damn stupid as well.

[BigDPW]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Spells don't "expire", if that's what you're asking.



That's the value of restoration magic, especially at lower levels.

But I'd caution you that, at higher levels (as your health gets larger but so does the damage caused by various monsters), the odds of surviving solely on magic alone aren't very good, at least not based on my Oblivion experience. Even a combination of magic + potions sometimes has to be augmented with food and anything else you can get your hands on.

Thanks JIMGA. That is what I thought but didn't want to realize later in the game that I was screwed for doing the restoration magic stuff early on. I like doing it a lot because it allows me to level it up too.

Not many genres I play now that I feel like a noob but RPG is one of them. I have never really been into the whole fantasy genre/magic etc but Fallout kind of eased me into it. I do miss the targeting system from Fallout a bit and wish I could so some archery and go for headshots in slow-mo...

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

The big one for me is also the skills menu. It's not intuitive at all.

Another major thing for me is I want to be able to sort my inventory be weight, value, etc. When I am close to being over the limit, if I could just sort by weight and see real quick what would be the most reasonable thing to drop that would be great.

I do think the having to go into the inventory, putting a weapon in the favorites, then going to the favorites to hotkey it is pretty damn stupid as well.

Completely agree on skills, there's no easy way to tell what I'm able to level up without cycling through all the stars. I would love to see a grid based inventory with tabs for item types, sort options, stats and statuses shown, and ability to set a hotkey there without going to the favorites. The map should zoom out more, plus text needs to be smaller with larger text boxes. I shouldn't have to scroll down when a 2 sentence message pops up.

Dialog is a pain too. Clicking seems like it chooses whatever you centered with the scroll wheel instead of the option you clicked on.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Ooh - maybe a chicken. Is that what triggers it? Then I'm an idiot - didn't even think about that, and my last save is all the way back at the beginning.

A lof ot people did it so you are far from alone. You likely have a bounty on your head-I have no idea how to check for that. You can surrender to a guard by sheathing your weapons (spells, etc). But there are no guards in the starter town-so you might have to go to Whiterun or any other town with guards and surrender to them so you can pay for your crime, you evil chicken killer!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by BigDPW

wish I could so some archery and go for headshots in slow-mo...

IIRC, I saw a high(er) level perk under archery that slows time when aiming, or something like that. I think I saw something like that anyway.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

IIRC, I saw a high(er) level perk under archery that slows time when aiming, or something like that. I think I saw something like that anyway.

Yeah, first there's the zoom-in perk, which is great but will also eat your stamina. Then there's a perk that will slow down time when you're zoomed in,but I forget if that's a multi-level perk or not.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Did you steal anything? kill any barnyard animals in town or townpeople?

I think this quest is definately has a bug...

Spoiler

I killed the head vampire but Alva was still alive after I proved she was a vampire who caused the deaths of the girl and mother. I kill the head vampire and a few days later Alva is still walking around the town like her crap don't stink. I break into the house and there she is asleep in coffin. I manage to kill her but am wanted, I pay the fine. Then her new hubby goes for me, and I have to kill him in self-defense, yet the guards come after me...so I have to flee. Very strange and frustrating.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

I think this quest is definately has a bug...

Spoiler

I killed the head vampire but Alva was still alive after I proved she was a vampire who caused the deaths of the girl and mother. I kill the head vampire and a few days later Alva is still walking around the town like her crap don't stink. I break into the house and there she is asleep in coffin. I manage to kill her but am wanted, I pay the fine. Then her new hubby goes for me, and I have to kill him in self-defense, yet the guards come after me...so I have to flee. Very strange and frustrating.

I think what may be happening is if you don't do all of the steps in a quest in the right order, weird things happen.

Spoiler

Sounds like you might have missed a step in the quest line which would have changed a variable to allow you to kill the two of them without facing the guards. I did this quest and killed the two of them with out any problems from the guards or townspeople.

[spleen1015]

Skyrim Stories: 'Wanted in Whiterun' - Shacknews.com - Video Game News, Trailers, Game Videos, and Files

[TRO]

My favorite experience so far:

Spoiler

After killing the first Dragon and gaining my shout power, I report back to the Jarl of Whiterun.

During the conversation, the annoying assistant spouts off about "How do we even know he is a Dragonborn, I've never heard him shout".

So, naturally, I do my new Dragon Shout at him.

Immediately, the Jarl and all of his guards, pull out their weapons and proceed to kill me.

[DataKing]

Originally Posted by TRO

My favorite experience so far:

Spoiler

After killing the first Dragon and gaining my shout power, I report back to the Jarl of Whiterun.

During the conversation, the annoying assistant spouts off about "How do we even know he is a Dragonborn, I've never heard him shout".

So, naturally, I do my new Dragon Shout at him.

Immediately, the Jarl and all of his guards, pull out their weapons and proceed to kill me.

I was so tempted to do the very same thing, but figured I would meet a similar end...

[MizzouRah]

Ok mine came today, for x360 players, is it ok to install to the HD? Someone said something about HD textures not working if you install to HD?

[TRO]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Ok mine came today, for x360 players, is it ok to install to the HD? Someone said something about HD textures not working if you install to HD?

You currently have a choice:

Install, reduce load times but have lower resolution textures due to a streaming bug.

or

Don't install, longer load times but better resolution.

They are expecting to release a patch, but no current ETA.

I have not installed and the load times are minor. But they do occur rather frequently when you are going in and out of shops in town.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by mckerney

Completely agree on skills, there's no easy way to tell what I'm able to level up without cycling through all the stars.

The way I tell is that the stars that are blue or blue/white are eligible to take, the ones that are purplish are not. I can see them even without zooming in, but that may just depend on the person.

[CrimsonFox]

Sigh....okay okay I'm going to order it. :P

[Chief Rum]

Been a long time fan of this series. I loved Daggerfall and Morrowind. I bought Oblivion, and started to go around in it, but real life got in the way and I never got back to it.

I may be interested in jumping into Skyrim here, but I have a question. In Morrowind, I always felt if I had a joystick/game controller type of set up, I could be better at combat. I game exclusively on PCs (I don't even own a console), and usually heady games, not "games where joysticks/console controls are required.

Given that, would you recommend I get some kind of joystick/console controller to make comabt easier? Or is it easy enough using keyboard controls that that is not a real upgrade to combat/gameplay?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by TRO

I have not installed and the load times are minor. But they do occur rather frequently when you are going in and out of shops in town.

I'd echo this re: load times minor.

Changing scenes is pretty quick on 360, IMO, on the other hand the delay when trying to activate a menu option (inventory, skills, map, etc) is annoying the hell out of me.

[Peregrine]

I was reading a Skyrim wiki and it was mentioned that the bands of hired thugs some of us have experienced are probably coming from people we have robbed. Apparently some merchants and NPCs are willing to send thugs, or even an assassin, to teach you a lessong - interesting, if true.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by TRO

My favorite experience so far:

Spoiler

After killing the first Dragon and gaining my shout power, I report back to the Jarl of Whiterun.

During the conversation, the annoying assistant spouts off about "How do we even know he is a Dragonborn, I've never heard him shout".

So, naturally, I do my new Dragon Shout at him.

Immediately, the Jarl and all of his guards, pull out their weapons and proceed to kill me.

I did the exact same thing.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Izulde

I did the exact same thing.

Me too

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

Me too

Geez, at least I had the courtesy to turn around and blast the feast table.

[PurdueBrad]

Originally Posted by Shkspr

Geez, at least I had the courtesy to turn around and blast the feast table.

+1, I thought about hitting him with the shout but figured that would be in poor taste so instead I took a shot at the table.

[TroyF]

Am I the only psycho who has a penchant for collecting books? I kept all the books I found until I got my house. I then used my chest to store all of them. I think I've got about 30 of them at this point and I know there are 200+ to get. I think I'm leaning on starting over as well. About level 11 or 12. I know what I'm doing now and want to make a few changes.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

I was reading a Skyrim wiki and it was mentioned that the bands of hired thugs some of us have experienced are probably coming from people we have robbed. Apparently some merchants and NPCs are willing to send thugs, or even an assassin, to teach you a lessong - interesting, if true.

Thing is, I never robbed anyone.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Been a long time fan of this series. I loved Daggerfall and Morrowind. I bought Oblivion, and started to go around in it, but real life got in the way and I never got back to it.

I may be interested in jumping into Skyrim here, but I have a question. In Morrowind, I always felt if I had a joystick/game controller type of set up, I could be better at combat. I game exclusively on PCs (I don't even own a console), and usually heady games, not "games where joysticks/console controls are required.

Given that, would you recommend I get some kind of joystick/console controller to make comabt easier? Or is it easy enough using keyboard controls that that is not a real upgrade to combat/gameplay?

I would get a 360 controller. I probably couldn't even play this game without one. Pretty cheap, and just plug and play.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Been a long time fan of this series. I loved Daggerfall and Morrowind. I bought Oblivion, and started to go around in it, but real life got in the way and I never got back to it.

I may be interested in jumping into Skyrim here, but I have a question. In Morrowind, I always felt if I had a joystick/game controller type of set up, I could be better at combat. I game exclusively on PCs (I don't even own a console), and usually heady games, not "games where joysticks/console controls are required.

Given that, would you recommend I get some kind of joystick/console controller to make comabt easier? Or is it easy enough using keyboard controls that that is not a real upgrade to combat/gameplay?

I would much rather use mouse/keyboard for a game like this but so far I would say that the mouse/keyboard controls really suck. Will try the controller tonight to see how that goes.