OpenWorldGames Server ONE

lol Fiach.  I looked at my gaming "schedule" this year and realized I had too many games I was planning on playing/buying.  The problem has become so many games I am interested in and I actually miss getting deep into a game like I did with FC2, AC2, and JC2.

So I released a few from my "buy on release" list and will wait to see if they still interest me when/if I have time.   Then just today I start reading and looking at pics of the upcoming Elder Scrolls and I now "HAVE TO HAVE THAT GAME"  which means I am now thinking of finally getting around to playing Oblivion.  This may not be the best thread for it, but I'd appreciate a rundown on it (I assume you've played it).



I renamed the subject so there won't be any confusion with other Elder Scrolls games :) /Art

Oblivion was an all-consuming RPG.. most excellent  :-X

Thanks Art.  I know that it can offer a ton of game time.  I wonder if it can be enjoyed with a moderate amount of time put in. Say 100 hours or less.  It could be just the ticket this summer.  I wish I knew more about the pace of it.  Can you always be on quests, travels, battles, or is there lots of dialogue choices and character building that slows it down?  I mean, can you do the character building quickly and get back to the story/action?

Get the GOTY version of Oblivion, then, do the Knights of the Nine quest first for some awesome armour.

There is another quest, I forget the name, where you inherit a house, dependant on your class or something like that, I still remember one of the houses, it was as creepy as hell!

There is one quest, I forget the name, shattering isle or something, that is awesome.

Then just do the main game I guess :)

actually, you were allowed one house in every major town. And indeed, one of them was creepy, but even more so some in the neighbourhood I used to ransack :)

space, there was a lot of everything. I think I spent hours already trying to determine which kind of class and abilities I wanted to start with, not to mention the time I spent on the facial appearance until I liked my character.

Once you've decided what to start with, you'll be constantly on a mission, and during missions there is a lot of dialogue going on. But you may spend your time free-roaming if you are so inclined :)

If you're into alchemy, you're going to experiment a lot with herbs and spices and all kinds of stuff you can use to make potions, some of those may be valuable, others just poisonous (even to yourself). If you're more into magic, you're going to learn how to cast spells and how to enchant items (more my cup of tea).

Then you'll be collecting stuff, weapons, armour, all kinds of things.. for yourself or as part of missions.

In other words: Forget about playing only 100 hours  ;D

No mate this was DLC content, heres a list of whats on the PC box.

Wizards Tower, Vile Lair (that I think was the creepy one), Thieves Den, Mehrunes Razor, The Orrery, Spell Tomes and (spits) Horse Armour

Then we're just talking about different houses. The vanilla Oblivion had a quest where you could buy  (not inherit, that's the difference) a house in every town. :)

I split this topic off :)

Sounds good guys, thanks for the info.  This does sound like something I would like.  I'd always had my eye on it.  After reading up on Elder Scrolls V Skyrim though, I really think it could be cool to get into it.  The pics of Skyrim look incredible and is very inviting.  The writeup is made me brim with excitement.

So how big is Oblivion?  IS the map quite large?  I'm looking for another open world game with a big game world and lots of NPCs.  What are the methods of travel?  One of the things about Skyrim that sounds interesting is the description of the land and ability to get travel around (not mere background, real mountains etc. as part of the map.)  I'd copy the quote here but I'm too lazy to go get the mag.

I had been thinking about which point/post we could split it off, too.. you chose the same post I would have chosen had I split it off :) By the way, Oblivion is Elder Scrolls IV -- I moved it to Fantasy and Sci-fi. :)

By today's standards the world is small, but it still is big enough to not notice that it isn't as big as say JC2 or FC2. You can travel on foot or preferably on horseback. It's been a while, I don't recall if there was a teleport, I just don't remember (and that's why I don't think so). I do remember that you could mark locations on the map if you had previously visited it, so I think you actually have to travel. And that takes time. The more I try to remember, the more it comes back to me: I remember that I considered routes which would prevent me from running all across the world, so I thought about things to do on my way, i.e. pay visits on my way from A to B. Now I remember that some towns were really far apart, so I was anticipating a trip to the south and enjoy my journey, and if a new mission took me from the south to the north I considered visiting places that were en route. :) That's why the game world appears to be big, because you don't travel fast (at least if it is possible, I never did it). The landscape and landmarks will change at a certain point (when the gates to oblivion open, your main mission is to locate and close them) and travelling through those gates will open a dark world with fire and red skies.. like hell. So there is more than just one world you'll be seeing.. :)

There are many people and creatures around. Some townsfolk run shops of all kinds where you can buy and sell stuff, like blacksmiths, drug stores (so to speak), taverns, hotels.. hehe, there is a lot to interact with :)

Some people (NPCs) travel, too. So you may see some of them in different locations or on your way from A to B :)

I know that you like Assassin's Creed, there is a side quest with a certain brotherhood.. you'll LOVE it  >:D

sounds like it could be right up my alley.  Thanks for the clearer picture of it Art.  I'll be keeping an eye out for it.  I just took a couple minutes to watch some gameplay on youtube which helps solidify a bit of what you described.  :)

Just for the record and from what I remember most people will agree, Elder Scrolls Morrowind and its expansions Tribunal and Bloodmoon are much better games.

Its of no revelance in which order the games are played, but, if you do enjoy Oblivion, it may be a good idea to keep Morrowind on your radar :)

do you think there will be a major detriment to going straight into Skyrim when it releases without playing Oblivion (or any of the others for that matter).  I kind of think it won't be much of a problem.  After reading the article about Skyrim I kind of get the idea, and in the end, it's the environment and game world that is intriguing me, not necessarily the story (though it sounds like normal, good fantasy fare)

Not that Oblivion doesn't look interesting, I just keep coming back to the fact I have lots of games I still want to revisit, plus a bunch coming up this year as it is.  Plus, some of the improvements talked about for Skyrim sound like it'll make it even more of a game that I'd enjoy.

This is a quote from someone else, but the guy seems know what he's talking about :) :

You don't need to by any means. But it was fun to see some familiar things from Morrowind to Oblivion. Certain artifacts came back and there were a few fun references made that you would only get if you had played both.
I'm sure Skyrim will be similarly independent with a few references thrown in for players of Oblivion and some returning artifacts. Skyrim is set 200 years after Oblivion and set in Skyrim and it will have a different story and if you want to see the other games stories you can just read it up on the Elder Scrolls Wiki.
But since both games are about $20 bucks for the originals and their two expansions it's a great way to pass the months waiting for Skyrim to come out.

Thanks Fiach, that helps.  I may still go ahead and pick it up perhaps spring/summer when things die down (if they do).  I'd hate to not give it the time and attention it deserves - it could ruin it anyways if I try to play it just to play it. 

Of course Skyrim will be released at a super busy time itself, which may mean I wait on it, but boy, that article and pictures make it sounds incredible.

I just changed the description in the index post of Other Games, so this topic is about E.S. 5 "Skyrim" -- I got confused because there are already four Elder Scrolls and you were constantly talking about Oblivion (E.S.4) and Skyrim is referenced in earlier games already ;D

Sorry about that Art - Thanks.  Also I changed the name of this topic to reflect the main and future discussion point which is Skyrim.  If I have specific Oblivion quesitons I'll go those other threads.

and I just renamed this topic, too  ???  :-()

lol I just saw that!  I should just let you do your job eh?

What index actually are you talking about?  I don't see it.

nevermind I see it now in the Other Games main .  I was looking inder Fantasy and Sci Fi.  Damn Art, that's a lot of w@&k!  :o  nice job.

Well, The main quest in each is quite short (less than maybe 10 hours) and as the monsters scale with you, there is no need to "grind" levels to beat them, so you could complete them fairly quickly (not recommended :)), and it would give you an idea of the mechanics and the world environment.

I would definately recommend not skipping the DLC's from either game, because they are really bloody good quests.

Morrowind DLC Bloodmoon and Tribunal.

Oblivion DLC Knights of the Nine (awesome armour), Shattered Isles (damn funny), Vile Lair, and Mehrunes Razor. 

This is the index (to be found on the front page and if going to the Other Games board)

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login
(http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1695.0) <-- click this :-D

Thanks, space.. someone has to do it, and I do it gladly  :)

Quote from: Fiach on January 24, 2011, 11:14:57 AM
Well, The main quest in each is quite short (less than maybe 10 hours) and as the monsters scale with you, there is no need to "grind" levels to beat them, so you could complete them fairly quickly (not recommended :)), and it would give you an idea of the mechanics and the world environment.

I would definately recommend not skipping the DLC's from either game, because they are really bloody good quests.

Morrowind DLC Bloodmoon and Tribunal.

Oblivion DLC Knights of the Nine (awesome armour), Shattered Isles (damn funny), Vile Lair, and Mehrunes Razor.

Thanks Fiach.  I'll keep that in mind.  It was the GOTY version I've been looking at.  The earlier games I think would be PC or xbox only.  I'd have to check system requirements for them, they might be old enough to coincide with the age of my PC  :-\\

I played them on an old PC running XP and they ran perfectly, that was a few years ago, so you should have no problems, iirc, I even played them on the previous PC I had too, which was win 98.

Rec Req :

800mhz Pent 2, 256mb ram, NVIDIA GF2 or ATI 7500.

Demo gameplay with commentary by  Director Todd Howard

Part 1

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Demo Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xwboyafbwc#ws)

Part 2

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Demo Part 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7WohnlLEQo#ws)

Part 3

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Demo Part 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt7IeycKJKQ#ws)

Cheers mate, nice find :)

I pre-ordered it at Gamestop yesterday.  :)

Nice :) :-X

11.11.11  ...The day I lose more sleep than usual. I've been pre-ordered for over a two months now, I cant wait to whip out my "Burlap" map and let destiny guide me to my fate, good or bad.  ^-^

*sigh*  :) I need more time.

Recommended Specs

Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
4GB System RAM
6GB free HDD space
DirectX 9 compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with 1GB of RAM (Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon 4890 or higher).
DirectX compatible sound card
Internet access for Steam activation

Minimum Specs

Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
Processor: Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor
2GB System RAM
6GB free HDD Space
Direct X 9 compliant video card with 512 MB of RAM
DirectX compatible sound card
Internet access for Steam activation

Also tweeted: "The Min specs get you playing. The recommended specs let you play on High, not on Ultra. You'll want beefier rig for that."

They are lower than I thought they would be, huzzah!

 :laugh: @ "huzzah"  :-D cheers, and indeed, not too far from what we've got :-X

I don't need an upgrade yet after all  :-()

yes indeed, I'm glad to know that it will at least run on our machines even if not in all its glamour. That's reserved for upgrades or even new machines. :)

I can run Rage with no problems .... just sayin'..... >:D :angel: :laugh:

I wanted to check your gaming rig specs (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1453.0) but there aren't any. Maybe a good idea to post away over there, "whatcha got mate?"  :-D

Its nothing special mate, its a Dell Inspiron Desktop, Win7 64bit, Quad Core, 6 gig ram, ATI Card 5 series with 1 gig of Ram, 1TB HD, dunno what the motherboard is (dunno if i3 helps any).

I hate the card though and I hate NVIDIA, because NVIDIA has a thing called PHYSX (spelling?) and a lot of games use it, but the ATI cards cannot handle it and it buggers up some games.

I see, that's quite a shite machine.. I understand why you've never posted those specs in the members' game rigs topic.

Spoiler

:laugh:
sorry, couldn't resist  :-D
PhysX it's called indeed, makes use of GPU acceleration to create better game physics. ATI and nVidia always had that kind of competition going. They keep inventing exclusive/proprietary stuff.

You know, I had done everything but ask you straight to please post in THAT topic which I had already hyperlinked to.. haha, epic failure.  ^-^

Hahahahaha :) I love the word "shite", s#!t doesnt quite express the same depth of feeling that that extra letter "e" tends to add to the word :)

 ^-^

You did see the spoiler tags and read its content, didn't you?  :-D

yeah mate, its all good :)

Quote from: Fiach on October 26, 2011, 01:59:00 AM
I love the word "shite"...

Just be careful you don't accidentally type "shiite" - you could get yourself into a world of - well, shite... 8-X

It's shite being Scottish
(film, "train spotting")

Shite being Scottish (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1tJJO_pVvQ#ws)

Quote from: fragger on October 26, 2011, 05:39:41 AM
Just be careful you don't accidentally type "shiite" - you could get yourself into a world of - well, shite... 8-X

hahahaha  ;D

Nice link mate, I love that movie :)

cheers, and yes, got it on DVD :)

I was just looking at the specs, 6gig HD space.... thats the size of a 360 disc.....

Does that mean that there will be no better gfx on PC than the 360 do you think?

likely  :-\\

Ouch! Saves me wondering which platform to get, couch and WS TV wins easily :)

 :)

360 version (dunno about the PC version) has texture pop in problems, I guess like RAGE had. There is a day one patch, but it does not address this problem. Glad I decided to wait lol :)

A pretty informative review, no score yet and some bad bugs/glitches, but over all it looks like a bloody good game (well after patching a bit), some nice information in the article.

http://uk.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/reviews/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-review-6344618?hd=1&page=1 (http://uk.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/reviews/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-review-6344618?hd=1&page=1)

Let's wait a bit until all issues have been addressed and fixed (patched). Like, a year or so. :-D

It'll be in the bargain bin by then  :-()

OK, so I caved in, both will and flesh are weaksauce.I went with the PC version (for mods), it autodetected my settimgs, and it chose "High", I was kinda pleased with that.

The game seems to run at a very low framerate, combat sucks balls in First Person, but you can switch to TP view, so that helps, the inventory.... there is absolutely no design in it, its just plain black and white text, no icons etc. It looks just functional, no concept behind it. Lockpicking is OK, you have a slim dagger and a pin, you rotate one or the other until you find the sweet spot.

The game starts as you being a prisoner and something happens, so you wind up escaping from the dungeons as in Oblivion iirc. Once you get outside, the world is quite nice looking, water (rivers, waterfalls etc.) is very nice and natural looking.

Character design is OK, more realistic than oblivion I think. I saw the first dragon, it was very well done, very scary, but havent fought one yet, so I'm looking forward to that.

The game auto detects my  controller, which is nice and it controls well.... I think the game would be a good argument on how consoles are invading the PC niche, its basic gfx and ease of control would make me believe this game was concieved with consoles in mind, thats not a bad thing, but I am playing on a PC and I have seen older yet better looking console games in the same genre. Two Worlds  2 springs to mind :)

On saying that, the world seems to be pretty HUGE, so that would hamper gfx quite a bit, to keep it running smoothly. One thing I noticed, (could be my gfx card), but if you are in a light space, when you turn to a dark space, it can take a second or two to adjust to the light, I dont know if this is a purposeful design or  glitch, but its annoying in combat indoors.

Havent tried any quests yet, other than to escape, but I'm anticipating a high quality experience with them.

Good post - the game doesn't sound like my cup of tea  ;)

Fiach, the change from light to dark sounds like typical (purposeful) "HDR" gfx (high dynamic range) which is supposed to mimic real life: if you stared into the sun and then dropped into a dark cave it'd indeed take you a couple of seconds (quite a couple of seconds) to adapt to the darkness. :)

Yeah mate, I kinda thought that may be it, but its annoying when it happens in one room lol :)

Hit the first large town, the gfx do look good now, many different textures and effects, as opposed to dungeons and countryside, which are dark and snow covered, respectively, making for boring viewing . The game does have one annoyance peculiar to RPG's, having to wait for a shop to open at 9am, who ever thought that was a good idea, should be sacked immediately lol :)

Combat is annoying as I said earlier, but I couldnt figure out why.... you done seem to be able to "lock-on" to a target, causing you to miss alarmingly frequently.

The world is quite huge, making initial explorations time consuming, but you can return to previously discovered locations by clicking on the map.

I picked this up today.  I'm not sure if I'll dig in this weekend or not, I still have unfinished business in other games lol.  This is my first dip into the ES series.  This just sounded too interesting to pass up.  Since I'm not wrapped up into the storyline I think I might be able to enjoy the free roaming, exploring, quests, etc. as they unfold naturally.  The "radiant story" they talked about should make this fluid.  To me this seems like a mix of RDR/Assassin's Creed (I may be wrong)  The idea of interacting with lots of NPCs is interesting to me.  The world looks like a treat to just walk/ride through and see what you come upon.

Should be a perfect game for you spaceboy :)


There are no cars in it.

 :laugh:

LOL :)

Well there are horses, so it must be like RDR then  :laugh:

 :-D

...we must preserve the old ways... <said while pounding the floor with an ancient wooden staff>

 :laugh:

hahaha  :laugh:

Anyone playing this yet?

I was wondering if anyone had an archer or a caster, I'm currently playing melee as I find the ranged character combat a bit....s#!t, you cant lock on to aim (from what I can see, manual doesnt mention it anyway).

I'm currently level 14 and enjoying it so far, the world is pretty huge, so it involves ALOT of walking around, but at least you can fast travel to any places you have discovered.

I have a companion with me, I got her from one of the first quests, but there are other people that will help you ig you do small quests for them, their pathfinding can be a little upsetting at times though. They are handy for carrying junk too :)

Not me - some chap named Fiach is playing games so I don't have to  :-()

Seriously, from your earlier description it did not sound like something I would complete.

Yeah I started it, underline started.  I like it so far, but have been trying to wrap up Uncharted 3.  I created a Redguard character, and just went to Riverwood and White Run (haven't spoken to the King or whatever yet though).  On the way around Riverwood and to White Run, my 7 year old daughter wanted to move the character around, so we started a new save file for "her" and we created this wicked female Reptilian race warrior goddess with awesome horns etc. lol  Then we took her and veered off straight away from the escape, found a house of bandits, and cleared them out after picking the lock to gain access to their hut.   :-()  FUN!

My son has also created a couple characters for himself and has taken one to White Run.  So we are very early in, only level 1 and 2s.  I fully expect this game to be one I play for a LONG time, on and off with other games.  I also expect to allow myself to get distracted since, coming in as my first ES game, I don't particularly care about finding out the story (though it's interesting enough) and just want to wander and do side missions as much as the main missions.

I'm thinking of starting again too as one of those Tiger looking dudes...I'm always playing as humans, why not something else for this game?

...and PZ - you might actually like it.  The fighting isn't as fluid as Assassin's Creed, but similar weapons, plus a huge open world, lots of NPCs to mess around with (pickpocketing like you enjoyed so much in AC), The beginning is intriguing enough to get you into the story and world.  It's my son's new favorite and can't stop talking about it.

hmmm... I'll have to look at a few more videos.  ;)

:-X

The last game (Oblivion) had a couple of things that influenced your average gaming:

- Learn how to make magic potions by collecting plants and other stuff like rat meat and crabs, combine and distil them with a more and more sophisticated apparatus so you got more or less useful potions or highly dangerous poisons, or eat stuff to benefit (or suffer) from their effects.

- learn to use and create spells and enchant various things (clothes, weapons, rings..)

- learn how to use different weapons and armour

Stuff like that. Anything of the first two still in the game?

Quote from: PZ on November 16, 2011, 01:36:44 PM
Not me - some chap named Fiach is playing games so I don't have to  :-()

Seriously, from your earlier description it did not sound like something I would complete.

ROFL! Touche mate :)

Spaceboy have you tried a ranged character?

Anyway, pro-tips :)

Theres a guy in the first town, goes around with a big quiver on his back, he'll ask you to deliver a letter for him, if you do, He will become a companion if you want, he will teach you Archery for a price, so get him to teach you (he can teach you 5 stages per level up), while he is a companion, then pay him and ask him to trade, you can take your money back from him, rinse/repeat :)

Alchemy. making potions, you dont need to "learn it", once you know the ingredients for an item, just make it at a bench, now, later on you will need more powerful potions, Alchemy training will make your potions more powerful, but (well I'm lv 14) I havent needed to yet, but, be aware that its not easy to find potions in shops, they will only have one or two, so you need to harvest stuff.

Health Potion Recipies Here is the effect, eg Restore Health, then the different ingredients needed. Just decide what your character will be, then just pick up the materials you need, save cluttering up your INV, eg a Warrior will need Health and Stamina, a Mage will need Health and Magicka.



EFFECT


INGREDIENT 1


INGREDIENT 2




Restore Health


Blue Mountain Flower


Butterfly Wing




Fortify Health


Giant's Toe


Hanging Moss




Regenerate Health


Juniper Berries


Nordic Barnacle



Magicka Potion Recipies  



EFFECT


INGREDIENT 1


INGREDIENT 2




Restore Magicka

Creep CLuster


Red Mountain Flower




Fortify Magicka


Red Mountain Flower


Tundra Cotton




Regenerate Magicka
 

Garlic


Salt Pile



Stamina Potion Recipies  



EFFECT


INGREDIENT 1


INGREDIENT 2




Restore Stamina


Pine Thrush Egg


Purple Mountain Flower




Fortify Stamina


Garlic


Lavender




Regenerate Stamina


Bee


Mora Tapinella



Resistance Potion Recipies  



EFFECT


INGREDIENT 1


INGREDIENT 2




Resist Fire


Fly Amanita


Snowberries




Resist Frost


Snowberries


Thistle Branch




Resist Shock


Glowdust


Snowberries



Utility Potion Recipies  



EFFECT


INGREDIENT 1


INGREDIENT 2




Invisibility


Chaurus Eggs


Nirnroot




Waterbreathing


Chicken's Egg


Nordic Barnacle

see I'm more of  a melee guy rather than magic.  While I won't mind crafting a thing here or there, I imagine I may not take the game to that extent.  Maybe I'll be into it enough where I want to do that, but right now I'm hoping to take down most enemies with brute strength  ;D    I definitely will look up the archer guy though (I think I met him but didn't have enough money for a lesson), because I love bows and arrows - or more specifically crossbows if I can get 'em.

I think you will need to make the potions mate, some enemies are pretty tough, they are always your level as they scale with you.  :-(

that's cool.  I've been harvesting plants when I see them and picking up strange things like crab claws or whatever.  I'm sure it'll engage me enough to do them if I need to in order to fight something.  Right now it just feels like a huge open new world for me to investigate without worrying about the future story...just what I was looking for!  :-X

Thanks Fiach :)

I remember in Oblivion I used to have enchanted weapons and armour and rings and amulets which I had personally spiced up at the mages university as well as self-made/custom-made spells I could create at the varsity, too. Those became so potent I could afford to completely skip alchemy at some point :) Until then, geeeeeez, collecting all kinds of stuff and creating all kinds of potions, some of which were poisons you could for example dip your arrows or tip of the sword in and then.. hehe  >:D I remember I had this incredible poision made from apples from the brotherhood, there was NO cure against those apples/poison made from them.  ^-^

Yes you can make poisons and enchant gear too mate :)

I was looking at some fatalities and they are very reminsicent of the slo mo kills in Fallout, the game is better looking than FO though.

Fiach - do you play in 1st or 3rd person?  I am using 3rd person.  It helps so much for field of vision and also in combat to see what's going on.  Plus I like to see my character I worked so hard to create!

In this dungeon/cave I encountered were these swinging blades.  Well I was getting killed pretty badly by 3 skeletons so I backtracked through the swinging blades, then watched as all three got cut down trying to make it through  :laugh:  silly undead warriors - don't they know you have to run through the swinging blades?

When running around I use FPS, in combat I use TPS, to me its the only viable way to see whats going on, I havent tried bows too much I find them a pita, but I would use FPS for them.

In casting you can use eg. a spell in one hand and a sword in the other, or a staff with a different spell, or a different spell in each hand (or the same spell if you have dual cast ability, which more than doubles the spells power). For that I would also use FPS, its not as slow as bows, so its a pretty viable form of combat if you have a decent melee companion.

Those blades, you probably saw the activation chain on the other side to turn them off, its handy if you have a companion behind you, but yeah its cool, there are also spiked doors, some you can slip through the hinge area and the enemies walk straight into the doors :)

As regards the blades, you will get a dragon spell (windsprint iirc), it will allow you to run through thngs like that, also jump across some pretty wide gaps (you dont need to "jump", just activate the shout and it will propel you through/across).

Hope you are still having fun. :)

One thing I like is when you do something, people comment on it when you pass, eg. if you become a werewolf, people will say things like..."is that hair growing out of your ears?" or ..."anyone get a smell of wet dog here?" Or if you go to the Mage College and learn a spell, they will say...."so, you learned a spell, is that meant to impress me?" :)

Oh yeah the fun has just started!  I'm only level 3 and just starting to make Skyrim my primary game for a spell (no pun intended).

I hadn't noticed the chain to stop the blades until after this incident.  If I had known I could have drawn them through then back again turning the blades back on - would have been a bit more suave.  I just liked how they followed me instead of old school enemies that stayed in their areas.

I was told about the college, I'll have to go there.  I like that I "read" a book I found in the cave about thieving which apparently increased my thieving skills.  I haven't even tried to learn or do magic.  Still having fun going medievel with my axes and warhammers  :)

I need a place to sell my loot so I can have more money and inventory space.  I assume White Run or Riverwoods has shops for this but I haven't looked that closely.

Oh - I also spent a moment at the Warmaiden's shop and she taught me to use the forge etc. and make a helmet.  She said I did a good job - I think she likes me...  8)

LOL, well as you are so suave, I'm sure she does :)

If you melee you will use heavy armour I guess, so that will be heavy in your inv.

Only storage is to buy a house there will be a chest upstairs.

You can sell your stuff in both places, in White run there are two shops, on an apothacary the other for general goods, by and large shops will only buy what they stock, so an apothacary will not buy Heavy Armour.

A house costs 5k, but you will only need to buy potions/ingredients so you should accumulate it pretty quickly :)

Cool, thanks.  Can I sell weapons and armour at the Warmaiden's?  Sorry, I should probably know that.  I know I don't have enough for a house yet, but once I get into a habit of selling my extra loot it'll add up.  I do need to buy some potions if I make it out of the cave I'm in.  I have no potions left so here on out it may be a bit tough.  I think I'm near the end...hopefully.  If I can get out and back to White Run I'll be ok.

I never tried to sell anything other than to traders, so I dont know mate sorry.

One thing thats annoying is you pick up a cool looking weapon, it will have a value of 400g, but when you get to the shop, the trader will only give you a pittance for it, which is annoying, when you expected more.

Potions, well I make them myself I always have about 20+ of each if possible. Look at your skills/powers, see if you have a heal power, I saw one in my list, I never used it though, so I'm not sure how it works, maybe you picked up a heal spell book or scroll, see if you have, maybe you could use them, you dont have to be a mage to cast a spell.

Any cave I have been in so far, I didnt have much trouble, but there was one cave, I forget the name, but if you do go in to one with a creature (humanoid) called a Falmer, just leave and save your self a world of hurt, I managed to kill three and gave up. The game is supposed to scale to your level, so far its been great, but that one cave has me beat, Ill go back when Im a bit higher (16 currently).

I have a bunch of perks skills I havent used (maybe 8/9), but the warrior skill tree is a bit crap and I dont see anything I really fancy, I'll probably dump them into magic, I'm not that pushed about crafting etc.

I haven't spent much time in the menus of skills etc. I've upped my health and stamina with my 2 points so far, and increased 2 handed weaponry and blocking for the perks. 

What you mentioned before about the NPC comments and such, from their talking and what all they're doing really makes this world come to life and makes it seem to be persistent with or without you around.

I have found fire scrolls, maybe I need to "use" them or read them.  I'm coming into this game with very little knowledge of it's specifics or detailed RPGs at all for that matter.  It's selling me on them though  :-X

Quote from: spaceboy on November 18, 2011, 10:58:49 AM
I haven't spent much time in the menus of skills etc. I've upped my health and stamina with my 2 points so far, and increased 2 handed weaponry and blocking for the perks. 

I have found fire scrolls, maybe I need to "use" them or read them.  I'm coming into this game with very little knowledge of it's specifics or detailed RPGs at all for that matter.  It's selling me on them though  :-X

Its in Restoration Magic (Heal) if you have it. Check your books, see if you have  a book of healing. Scrolls are a one use item afaik, books are permenant, I'm not sure how you use a scroll, I guess you equip it to a trigger, then activate it, but I'm just guessing :)

I went with one hand and shield (Sword and Board in RPG terms :)), the reasons being :

Extra Armour, Shield Bash (a skill) stuns enemies, it blocks better than a weapon, also I can be a battle mage, use the shield for protection and still fire spells.

BTW if you pick up staffs, you can use them in one hand and a shield/sword in the other, staffs run out of charge after awhile, so you will need to recharge them with a soul gem at an enchantment table. Fire Staff seems to be the more damaging so far.

In Oblivion scrolls were use-once/disposable spells. You equip it when you want to use it and pop there goes your scroll and its spell. :)

I'm nearing lv 17 and the last couple of missions have got really hard, really fast. I have even had to get my AI companion to stay back, to stop her getting killed (not KO'd actually killed).

I guess the game kinda hand holds you for a period then drops the hammer.

I met a few guys and for no reason the attacked me with extreme prejudice, but were so spread out, I couldnt get to the mage without being killed, so in the end, I ran away, but they still chased me, luckily, the terrain changed and the mage had no line of sight, so I was able to kill the melee guys, then flanked the mage and killed him, it was pretty annoying, but, interestingly he had a letter, basically there was a contract out on me, so I guess this ambush crap is going to be an ongoing thing like in Morrowind.

Another tough-ish place was Swindlers Cave. After you kill your first dragon, you are accosted by people looking for a Redguard girl, she is in the Tavern near the Apothacary, she will tell you to go to the jail (its up in the Jarls building), there you can talk to a prisoner for directions to the cave. Not many enemies there, but placement was awkward for the companion AI so I had to dump her and do it alone, but at the end I spoke to the boss. There were two sides to the story.

Spoiler

Basically the girl sold another city out.... to the buggers that took the contract out on me, so I set her up to be taken by the other crew.

Quote from: Art Blade on November 18, 2011, 12:03:29 PM
In Oblivion scrolls were use-once/disposable spells. You equip it when you want to use it and pop there goes your scroll and its spell. :)

Thanks for that Art :)

Welcome. I just remembered that scrolls basically were useless unless you got extremely potent spells you couldn't produce yourself (yet). Scrolls with self-healing spells are good because you can't miss yourself as a target but different scrolls with something that needs aiming at enemies.. better don't even think about buying that kind of shite. If you find them (scrolls), sell them. Good money for otherwise crap inventory fillers  :-D

Yeah aiming is crap, even with staffs, if they are not in your face and moving across your line of sight, you have to basically hose them with a stream of magic from the staff.

Heres something I didnt know (shoulda read the loser manual :)), trainers will only train you for 5 points per level, I was getting freebie archery levels like I mentioned earlier, but if you get 5 archery levels, you cannot train any other skills until you level up again, you gould get 3 archer and 2 one hand, or 1 Enchanting and 4 Smithing, so basically I was training up archery to the detriment of skills I would actually use.

Now as I am high-ish, it takes longer to level up, so longer to train skills, So seeing as you are pretty low spaceboy, it might be prudent to start training those skills earlier, rather than later.

I rolled an elf pure mage, only level 2, but she is ripping stuff up, only problem is ranged attackers, but I have the ranger guy from riverwood to take care of them, only spells so far are not long distance, they kinda shoot from the mages hand like a hose for about 2 metres, vs my melee guy (so far) she can incinerate more people faster than he can kill with sword.

Its only early stages and that may change as she can only wear cloth armour (well she can wear heavy, but mana takes longer to regenerate) and as enemies become stronger.

One annoying thing is that all the save files for each character are kept in the same folder, so it would be easy to over write a differnt characters save file, on the 360, each character would have its own save files.

That's something I do early in a game: analyse the save game rules and structures. A shame that we need to, really.

I got  a little too overzealous selling stuff to the Riverwood's trader, Lucan, and accidentally sold the clothes off my back!  So dang funny, my son and I couldn't stop laughing seeing my character in his loin cloth.  Of course it was no problem buying them back, but it was funny since I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.  He gives a good price for buying stuff, I think it was "list" price of what I had in my inventory.

That is funny :laugh:

Just as well you could buy your clothes back. It'd be a tad embarrassing setting out on a mission in your undies :-[

Heh, I can almost still hear that "OOPS! ??? " --  :laugh:

And I can also imagine those silent thoughts to himself, "ohmyfuckingodwhattheFUCKamIdoing.."  :-D

yeah, we did start walking around the shop and other customers were looking at my character, probably in the same way they always do, but in our minds they were looking at me like I was some lunatic.  Then we stepped outside and finally put the clothes back on.

Immediately afterwards 3 thugs came up and said they were there to teach me some manners!  I thought - what are they part of the decency police, but after I smote them down I found one was carrying a contract out on me.  Some SOB up in White Run wanted me dead!  I didn't know who it was at first but we just happened to bump into his wife later on in White Run and she mentioned her husband's name.

Man, the level of NPC interaction is awesome in this game!

Hehe yes :)

I remember something similar happened to me in FO3. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I found a contract with my name on it someone I just killed had been carrying around. He and his mates were members of some special forces. I don't think I ever had a similarly deep shock in any other game because it is quite something to be attacked by some guys whom you noticed sneaking up on you, kill them, search them, find a contract with your name on it (it did read "Art Blade") and learn they wanted you dead.  :o

Spaceboy have you made any decision on which side to join (Imperial or Stormcloaks), My first character escaped with an Imperial Guard, the second escaped with a Stormcloak, both wound up in Riverwood though, I thought the Stormcloak would have brought me to the camp near the witches that have nettlebane, so I thought I would have found a different story arc, but that didnt happen.

I imagine the factions are only seperated by which one is the lesser of two evils, similar to the Fallout games.

I just did the quest to retrieve the dragonstone, the final boss was a pita with melee, but with the mage, she just turned him crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside in a couple of seconds, definately having a more fun game with her, it seems less of a chore.

Sometimes you will see pink liquid on floors, this is flammable, so its cool to just wait until the enemies walk into the pool and chuck a firebolt at it :)

Ranged is still annoying vs a moving target, but as opposed to arrow, when a firebolt does hit, the enemy knows all about it :)

Well I've been hanging out with the Imperials in White Run (Jarl) and haven't interacted with the Stormcloaks.  Jarl even made me Thane of White Run for downing that first dragon - of course he wants a Dragonborn on his side lol.

But then, with the joint decision of my son who was watching me play, I decided to join the Companions.  I'm not sure that affects joining Imperials or Stormcloaks too.  But they've got nice quarters there in White Run, plus lots of hot warrior babes are Companions.  And my new guard that Jarl assigned to me, Lydia, is quite a looker and didn't seem to mind me joining the Companions.

Not sure if I'll go this route, but you can apparently get married in Skyrim.  :o
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/11/11/how-to-get-married-in-skyrim.aspx (http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/11/11/how-to-get-married-in-skyrim.aspx)

My son joined the Stormcloaks on his playthrough.

Art - this game is full of cool surprises for me!  My son has even played tag and hide and seek with the kids in a couple towns.  Hilarious!

Yeah I joined the companions with my first character, they are cool with a couple of nice surprises :)

They have trainers there too for most skills, so its a handy one stop shop.

BTW, if a chick asks you to get here a mammoth tusk, there is one in the companion, in a room just off the main room, I just closed the door and stole it, killing mammoths kinda suck ALOT :)

I dont think it has any bearing on whether you go imp or SC, but I didnt progress past doing the companion questline, which was cool, then I made a new character.

space, not sure why your son's playing tag and hide and seek made you think of me but hehe, glad you're having fun together :) I liked the interactivity in Oblivion, too.

Which reminds me:

Fiach, stealing -- in Oblivion stolen goods were marked red in your inventory and you couldn't sell them plus it gave you some kind of notoriety. There were very few fences who would buy stolen goods from you, stolen goods were worthless otherwise unless you could eat/use them.

How about stealing in Skyrim?

Well you can go up to an item on a table and if its steal-able, it will be written in red.

AFAIK its not a crime if nobody sees you, kinda like real life  >:D

I only did it once for the tusk and I closed the door prior to taking it, I havent done it since. I did click on an item in the apothacary shop and took it, she gave me a right telling off, so I just reloaded.

I did some crime on my last character, but I cant remember what it was, but I was given the option to pay a fine or go to jail, I just reloaded the game.

Just found a dungeon that I walked past without noticing on my melee character, I would say that if I wasnt a mage, it would have been a tough fight, I cant imagine it with melee, there were so many enemies. But its kinda cool that there are dungeons slightly off the beaten track that you find by accident :)

I found a horse beside a dead body, I could ride it, which was cool, I went as far as a dungeon (2 massive trolls inside), after the dungeon, the horse was gone when I came out, I thought I would be able to keep it. :(

Thanks, Fiach :)

Dungeons were essential for random loot (usually you'll find a treasure of sorts in every dungeon/cave) as well as for quite a few missions. I loved them but orientation could be tricky for me.

I'm a lousy pathfinder unless I got a map, a compass, and good luck slapping me on the head as in "gee, statistically you should have found that exit an hour ago, I can't stand it any more, here you go, get out already .."  :-()

I never found any decent loot in any dungeons yet, which surprised me.

The maps are VERY good in the dungeons, the main map is pretty shite though.

So, I got this dual wield skill for my mage, you can have a spell in each hand, of the same type, but it does more than twice the damage of the single version.

You can also have two different spells, eg a "ward spell", these have to be kept on all the time, so you have to keep that trigger held, plus eg a fire spell in the other hand, so in effect, you have a wall of protection around you, against spell attacks, yet you can cast attack spells yourself, really chews up the mana though.

Or you could have a heal spell on one trigger and an attack spell on the other.

My biggest problem at times can be friendly fire, eg my companion getting hit by my spell, it really pisses them off, but they wont attack you, however, if you are on a quest with a non-companion, they will attack you if you damage them significantly.

I have to say that I wasted alot of points with my melee character, but at least I knew what I was doing with the mage, so that character is MUCH better built, every point has gone into magic, unlike all the archery crap I put on the melee character, because it was free.

Although it is fun to fight with swords and some such in the end to me it seems better to use magic. Regenerates, can be a weapon or a tool (open locked doors, make invisible and so on) or err, what to call it, well -- medical aid :) or protection. Very versatile, hidden, and always ready (given you're loaded with manna). If you are allowed to enchant items.. whoa, even better :)

I'm enjoying a combo of melee and magic.  Shooting fire out of one hand and using my magic induced sword in the other (though shield bashes are fun too).  My sword is an Ancient Nord Ice sword that slightly freezes and depletes the health of the enemies I hit.  A very cool effect, though I wonder if it is counteracting the lasting fire effects lol - I may need to if I have an ice spell instead of fire.

Funny moment - on my way from Rorikstead  ("Rorikstead! I'm from Rorikstead"... "Archers!"... sorry, I can't help it) to White run I saw a giant near his campfire and a Wooly Mammoth standing nearby.  I thought I'd check out how much damage I could give the giant with some arrows from what I thought was a safe distance.  One hit on the giant's shoulder and the Mammoth, roars and starts charging at me! Apparently it was his "pet" with a very keen sense of protection of its owner!  Anyways, that thing ran so fast I couldn't escape getting trampled.  After respawning I just passed that duo up with a wide gerth.

Nice pet. Would it be allowed in into a church, do you think?  >:D

Mana is the problem Art, especially if you are a warrior, my starting mana was twice as high as my HP lol :)

Killed a dragon in about 10 seconds, used lightning bolts as it was a fire dragon, so its good to have spells from opposing elements :)

That ice sword, you may notice a greay bar that depletes as you use it, when its gone you will need to recharge it with a soul gem at an enchantment table.

Ice slows enemies and steals their Stamina, so its a pretty cool sword (pun intended :)).

You can get a spell called Bound Sword, it creates a magic sword in your hand, dunno if its useful against some particular enemy, but it could be worth considering if you meet some enemies that dont take melee damage, it may be useful against them (just a guess on my part, I havent encountered anythin like that, but I cant see it being of any other use). There are other bound weapon spells you can get too.

I'm lv 11/12 now, so near enough where I was with the last character, it was worth restarting, having a good time, I am doing the companion missions again, currently in Dustmans Cairn.

Yeah actually I had to regenerate my sword's power already once, but I think I did it right out in the open, no special table or place to do it iirc.

Other fun things:

Using scrolls.  One I found gave me a huge fireball to unleash.  Another I haven't used yet reanimates dead skeletons to fight for you for a bit.

Potions/poisons:  I had a bit of a tough time on a group that had archers, melee dudes, and one particularly nasty mage that came at me hard with fire.  Kept dying.  So I put a little potion on my sword that makes the next person hit with it, fight against your enemies.  When I entered the camp I ran straight for her tent, smacked her once and watched as she came out and started blazing up her friends!  It was great.

I'll have to keep an eye out for that Bound Sword!

There was a spell with that effect, space, which I loved to use all the time, turn enemies (or anyone, ehehe) against one another and create chaos and wild brawls  ^-^ :-X

Quote from: Fiach on November 21, 2011, 09:50:39 AMits a pretty cool sword (pun intended :)).

:laugh:

At least in Oblivion spell-bound (even worse: scroll-bound) weapons were crap for one reason: they wore out the moment you relied on them the most. Which could look like this:

"Oh. I believe that over there is the enemy. Right, old chap, I'm going to teach you a lesson in a minute. I'll just cast my magic sword with that spell.. I said, with that spell.. where the f.. ah! Got it. Oh good gracious, he's seen me. I reckon I need that other spell for my magic shield, then. God damn it, where in that bleeding mess of an invento.. Oh wow, there he is, proceeding towards me rather quickly! Alright, cast spell.. done. Oh gee, he's almost here!! Quick, I need my magic armour. I think I had a spell for a magic armour. I can't fricking find.. just in time!"

CLONK!

"Ouch! My sword has just vanished!"

CLONK!

"Ow! And why did he hit m.. my shield! It's gone."

CLONK!

"Aw, man! My armour has just gone, too!"

CLONK! *AAARGH!*

"What the.."

Reload last save game? [Y/N]

:laugh:

Cool stories guys, I'll keep an eye out for those potions, all I pick up are HP and Mana :)

If there is a place where you can enchant gear and, independently, learn how to create spells, focus on that. I had used the same "spell" (25% invisibility) to enchant four items I could wear at once: two rings, an amulet, some clothes. 4x25=.. totally invisible  :) Since you wear those enchanted items, their effects are immediate and permanent (as long as you wear them).. no "wearing off" of effects  :-D

And for spells.. like spaceboy described.. a spell that turned anyone against the next guy  :laugh:

Not sure mate, you can create spell books, using "ruined books", but its not something I have looked into really.

I was thinking of a mage university or something like that.

Yes there is a college, but I only go there to level up spells, I havent started the quest chain there yet as I am with a different group (The Companions) doing their quest chain first, I'm doing theirs because I can rush through them really quickly as I have done them before :)

I see  :) Should you ever find time to play in a way that the college becomes your anchor I'm not sure but hope that you'll like what you can do with that (sorry, judging from Oblivion) -- spells (goes for enchanting items, too) there can be comprised of different features and be of different nature. What I remember is that you could select qualities that didn't exist in available spells (or were not as powerful as one had hoped) and using those as well as proper range and power made the magic stuff really worth while and the fights very, very enjoyable.  >:D

Basically you could create a spell that, when you fart, the blow turns someone behind you into a pile of charcoal that smells of roses and illuminates a dungeon for hours.  :-D

I played Oblivion, as melee with the Knights of the Nine armour, so that stuff about spells doesnt really ring a bell, but I bought it recently for the PS3 (GOTY edition), so I hope to be replaying in the near future, I'll keep what you said in mind, cheers :)

 :) :-X

Getting a bit fed up with this now, Im lv 19 nearly 20, there s few problems that are really getting to me.

The map is freaking rubbish.
Companion AI is VERY bad, but jesus, the wardog takes the biscuit, I dunno how many times I have had to reload the game due to AI stupidity, the just dont obey commands, in a dungeon, like "wait here", "go fecking home", they will attack anything on sight, making any tactical approach impossible. In the end what I did was go to my house, leave the dog there, then take Lydia with me, but I park her outside dungeons and just use her as a loot mule.

Its very easy to kill your companions in a fight as the area of effect for spells is quite large, if you can get away with just wounding them thats OK, but if you injure a quest companion, they will attack you back and try to kill you.

I was doing a quest for the companions and I had to kill a bunch of witches, crikey just finding the place was a pita, it took me ages, between trying to find it and exploring, by the time I got there killed the witches and returned, the

Spoiler

quest giver had died

, now I havent checked, it could be part of the story line, but its just annoying all the crap I went through to do the quest and I cant

Spoiler

give the bugger the witches heads

:D

I'm quite tempted just to finish the main quest and leave it, maybe return at a later date and do sidequests.

I'm still early on, probably level 5, I took a break and played some Battlefield this weekend and started AC Revelations.  I'll be bopping around between games for awhile I think.  My son is on level 15 I think.  He seems to be really enjoying it, but also took a little break for some LBP2 - making Skyrim levels  :).

I'll keep an eye out for those AI problems though.

Well I'm now leader of the Companions and what happend earlier was supposed to happen. It was a pretty cool quest chain in the end, but the fact that, each area was so far away and took so much time to get to, it diluted the impact of the storyline for me.

I have a ton of dragon bones and dragon scales, do you know if there is a use for them spaceboy?

I dont know what prompts dragons to spawn, I initially thought there was like a dragon as a boss of each region, but I have killed two in the first area and two at the mage college, so maybe they respawn, or level ups trigger their appearence. I havent progressed the main quest any further than the first dragon, so I dont think its the main quest that triggers their appearence.

BF3 is supposed to be very good, my kids have LBP1 and seem to enjoy it alot :)

The companion/dog story reminds me of Oblivion and why I had modded my very own body guards of two immortal trolls with enchanted armour and "insta-death" weapons. I had their aggression level cranked up so high that they'd attack anything that moved but wasn't me. They were so dangerous to the environment I had to enable and disable them when I needed them because leaving them running around would have led to ghost countries (as opposed to ghost towns). When they met other NPCs they'd kill them without hesitation and keep clubbing quest-NPCs unconscious over and over again  :-()

I remember having them around when I went for a stroll through a little forest when I noticed both of them halted and turned their heads followed by whipping out their maze and sword and then they dashed off into the woods. I followed them and from far I could hear their weapons hit and swoosh through the air followed by something weird, a sound as if someone choked on a flute or something like that. Turned out that they had sensed a herd of deer a mile away and kept killing them all. They had that kind of madness and a completely insane expression on their faces when they realised there was yet another and another and another deer left to kill.. I saw deer come sailing across hills, having been clubbed by one of my maniac guards and sent flying.. I was laughing so hard at that spectacle, I'll never forget  :laugh:

that's a funny story Art :)

Fiach - I don't know what Dragon scales and bones do.  I assumed they were for some awesome potion or magic.  I only slayed the first one.  I read that dragons are just supposed to spawn intermittently in the world "naturally", and of course any story based ones too.

LOL, so if santa cancels Christmas this year, we'll know it was you killed the reindeer :)

Spaceboy, have you ever followed any of the rabbits or foxes, they lead you to cool places from what I have seen, just a little off the beaten track that you may otherwise miss.... ummm well thats the way it seems from what I have seen, they dont just hop around a small area, they travel a fair bit.

He can't cancel it if he died before he could, can he.  :-D

Probably not, but you are definately going on the Naughty List mate :)

Y'know something that hit me last night after finishing a dungeon?

You're walking from A to B and constantly get sidetracked into Castle Keeps and underground caves, but there is absolutely no point in going into them...

I just realised that (I'm lv 24 now), this game has no loot! You will be lucky to maybe get....what 100-200 gold, it wont even buy a health/magic potion, but more than likely you will be using a few of them. You can only buy maybe 2 of either potion at a trader and even if you do learn alchemy, there are buggerall ingredients to buy, everytime you load the game, the apothacary will only have 3/4 Blisterwort/Wheat, so thats 3-4 Health potions that will recover 20+ Health points. I'm a mage and I have 300HP, so if I need a potion in combat badly, more than likely I will have to drink 10+ potions, not even counting mana potions.

My companion is still wearing the same armour we got in some place in Whtierun, my robes are ones I bought in a store that only became available when I was able to wear them, they are Adept level (a magic level), they are 2% better than my previous Apprentice lvel robes.

She is using an Elven bow found outside Riverwood, I dont use weapons, but any staff I have found was of no use to me, because....well they were just shite.

So you have a huge gameworld, that there is absolutely no point in wasting time exploring, just from a logistics view, you waste resources and time.

Then you have the quests from the Factions, I have done all companion quests and I am the leader of the Companions, what did I get? Nada, zip, I got a title. Sure the quest was pretty cool, part from the distances I had to slog, but I got nothing worth talking about, maybe (guessing) 600 gold from looting and the rewards for each stage of the questline.

I'm currently doing the Mage College questline and just finished a significant section, my reward.... 5 skillbooks, one for each spell school, now that is just rubbish as you will only maybe levelling 2 skills trees, to any significant degrees, which I could have done anyway in a few fights, just using the skills.

I also find that your earlier spells become less effective as you fight higher enemies, well that makes sense, BUT, you cant level them up, you can only get the next spell set, so for examople, my bread and butter spell would be Flames, you shoot a jet of flames from your hands, like a flame thrower, it was good and targetable to a fair degree, now I have Fireball, extremely powerful....BUT, it will kill the crap out of any helpers you have, making them pointless to have with you (I know I mentioned it earlier, but it does bear repeating).

So, I'm level 90 in Destruction Magic, its very powerful, but in a weird way it makes solo play too easy and ironically, companion play more difficult, when it should be the other way around.

On a more positive note, I progressed the storyline a little further, so now I know why the dragons are returning and its pretty cool, I met the dragon from the beginning of the game. But I have read that the main quest only takes 2+ hours to complete.

This is a GREAT game, I would really stress "great", but some of the mechanics are just plain stupid. I suppose if you want to just dick around, its a really good sandbox game, but you cant have the fun you would have with a GTA/Saints Row game. Maybe MMO's have jaded me somewhat, with their huge worlds and similar dungeons and quest lines, but at least you do them in the company of friends and they are a more finely tuned experience. I guess it would be like an analogy of playing MW3 live (WoW) vs playing MW3 with bots (Skyrim).

Yeah, sorry, I kinda went off on one there  :-[ 8-X >:D

Lydia is dead, one of the last missions in the Mage College, it was impossible to keep her alive as the enemies were so far apart and swarming around randomly. On saying that, I breezed through the next mission, so I guess it was for the best.

Anyway, I  saw a really cool sword and armour on the following quest to get the Magus Staff in Labrynthine, in the last section, I would have carried it out with Lydia, but I didnt have her on the mission, but it was a really good great sword, with armour that was anti fire iirc. So worth checking out spaceboy for your warrior, also the enemies had swords that drained magica making it virtually impossible for me to cast spells, it was pretty annoying, they had similar bows as well, so, again, worth going there with a warrior.

Nice, I'll keep that in mind, those enchanted swords sound quite helpful!

It's true what you said about not a lot of loot.  I guess early on I got my awesome Nord Cold Sword, but not a lot of unique weapons, just standard fare, maybe a small pittance of gold, etc.  It may not have stuck out to me as much since I don't play alot of RPGs.  In contrast though I can see the loot that is in War in the North (very different game of course being linear), now I haven't finished it and want to get back to it, but there always seemed to be new weapons, armour, and decent gold.  Skyrim overall is of course a much better game, but I can see where the loot is a little light.

Finished the College questline, The last quest was pretty good too, now I'm Archmage there, its pretty cool, I got a mask in the second last quest, looks kinda like Darth Vadar, but when I don my Arch Mage Robes, my face goes invisible, its really rather cool looking, looks like a phantom floating around ! :)

Probably a gfx glitch as my face is here if I dont have the mask equipped, but its a good glitch lol :)

cool mask and robes.  Being a melee warrior I probably won't get that stuff I guess. I do want to visit the college though - any cute Nord Co-eds up there?  ::)

Well, I have just been shafted by Bethesdas ineptitude, progressing the main quest, I was supposed to give my gear to someone, but it never said what gear, progressed the quest, so I didnt hand over anything, they just gave me what I needed to wear to the party, I went to the locker to get my gear after the paty intro and there was no feckin gear there, all my potions and mage stuff are gone and I dont get them back til the mission is over due to some stupid glitch, GG Bethesda.

hmm, I know my son was telling me about that mission.  It was a party and he was real hesitant to hand his gear over (to a woman character I believe?).  He did though and did get his gear back afterwards - I don't know the specifics though so that isn't much help.  So you say you stored your gear instead of giving it to her?  But maybe it sounds like you will get it back after the mission which is what he said, so maybe there is no difference.

Yes its the party, but I didnt hand it over and apparently that causes a glitch, as its supposed to be in a chest in the next area, but its neither in the chest or my inventory, even all my potions are gone, so I'm stuck in a room with two guards and a mage that are killing the crap out of me, I still have my spells, but only enough mana for about 3 casts, so I can only kill one guard, then I have no potions to replenish anything, so I'll have to reload an old save later tonight, prior to meeting the woman, its just really annoying  :D

Another major bug, as you progress the main story, you have to talk to a bloke in Riftens Sewer dungeons, Esbern, the door wouldnt open, apparently you need to use a no clip console code or some other code, cant remember the name, or copy voice files from something or other, this is a main quest ffs.

I used no clip, but even when I got in, I had to keep hammering the talk button, then he opens the door (the sound makes like opening a door), but its still locked, so I had to keep no clipping.talking/opening, eventually he opened the door.... then ran and hid behind a chest and wouldnt follow me  :D

I eventually got him to come with me, we are still in the dungeons, but I'm kinda sick of it for today, so I logged off in disgust.  >:((

Fiach: WITH A GUN FOR A LOVER AND A SHOT FOR THE PAIN. AND A LARGE TROUT TO SLOWLY BEAT SOME IDIOT NPC TO DEATH.

:-D

Got me a purple dildo now, I dont need no stinkin trout :)

Too much information... :-\\

I agree fragger... man those PC mods are wacky  ???

Quote from: spaceboy on November 30, 2011, 07:01:04 AM
I agree fragger... man those PC mods are wacky  ???

LOL, its in Saints Row 3  :laugh:

 :-D  lol I kind of figured that, but couldn't get past the picture of your Skyrim character carrying around the Purple Dildo of Dismay or something.   "What in the name of Oblvion is that!!!"

"The Purple Dildo for a deserving recipient, Mike Hunt, can be conceived in the back."  :-D

Apparently Bethesda (*spits) released a patch for the game and it borked so many games they took it down, also saves may be affected too.

I havent looked into it too much as I'm done with the game, but if you are offered a patch, look into it more closely first, I would suggest. I think its patch 1.2, but again check it first.

This was in relation to the 360 version, I dont know if its only that version though.

Heh, kind of funny to observe how the game screwed you over and sideways, and the statement "I'm done with the game" as logical consequence is quite strict but I'm sorry the game didn't deliver and looking back, it rendered your time invested a waste of time. That is annoying.

However, by saying..

Quote from: Fiach on November 30, 2011, 12:03:48 PMlook into it more closely forst

..did you mean "look into it more closely, Forrest (Gump)," or "look into it more closely first," perhaps?  8-X  :-D Which adds to the expression

Quote from: Fiach on November 30, 2011, 12:03:48 PMthey too it down

:laugh:

Sorry matey, can't resist commenting on THAT  :-()

Note to self: Probably a good idea to carefully avoid some lumps of land in the sea for a while where a tribe called "Irish" lives.

Well, I played some more of that quest (the main one that was bugged), it continued with the bugs.

When you got the guy to talk to you to progress the storyline, he had no speech and his text only appeared on the screen for a split second, it was like watching a foreign movie on DVD, relying on the subtitles, but playing it on fast forward. Even getting him to talk meant standing there hammering the talk button to eventually get him to start, then when he did, you had no idea what he was saying, eventually I progressed the quest to a new area and the bugger never turned up (I didnt know he was supposed to), so I was stuck in a temple beside a Quest marker, hammering the activate button, reloading, walking out of the dungeon and back into the dungeon to the temple, then suddenly he arrives and just stands there, more hammering on the talk button, more unreadable text with no sound, eventually he walks to a circle on the floor, spouts more gibberish, but then an activation icon appears, so I could cut my hand and spill some blood to open a door.

The guts of an hour on just that part of the quest, not counting the crap where I rescued him and the afterwards at the debriefing in the tavern.

I had no other problems with the game, but I was getting disillusioned with it before that, I just got pushed over the edge that last couple of hours of playtime.

Thanks for pointing out the spelling, if I'm going to have a bitch, it should at least make sense :)

I was just connecting with a "Catholic mess"  :-D

LOL karma :)

man those bugs really stink.  I already downloaded the patch last night before the hubbub about today.  I've heard of dragons flying backwards and acting weird as well as magic resistance not working.  I've got lots to play while they sort it out I guess, but I really am enjoying it, just slowly amongst other games.  Hopefully that works to my benefit.

That is an advantage I guess, I restarted at lv 14 and it wasnt long until I was back to 14 again, because I knew where to go and how to fight etc.

I got the guide for this in a sale today and jesus the game is huge, I dont know what the level cap is, but there are so many quest lines, Main Quest, Companions, Imperials, Stormcloaks, Mages Guild, Assassins Guild, Thieves Guild, each of them having their own sub sets of missions apart from their quest lines. All this of course is totally seperate from the standard quests you pick up from "civilians".

When its fully patched, I'm sure it will be a yardstick by which future RPG's will be judged.

Anyway, if you really like the game, the guide is well worth getting.

I'll look at that down the road.  I was hoping to just let things unfold as I play, but it'd be a shame to miss some cool stuff by merely never coming across it!

Well, I'm sure you wouldnt really miss anything significant, I had done the companions, mages and had started the thieves quests by being directed towards them with the main quest, eg. You cannot continue the main quest, without doing a Thief Guild Quest, you get sent to the thieves guild to find a guy (the bugged guy I mentioned), but they wont hand him over unless you do a quest for them.

But it is handy to know the volume of quests available in the game. :)

Late again, just don't call me late for dinner :-D

Been playing KoA, DA:O, DA2 and all the dlc's. Since I like them well enough I just went on Amazon and bought Oblivion & Skyrim.

Any tips?

Yes, you can damage your NPC followers with your spells and sword swings, this will make them turn on you which is a pita.

Dont bother buying a horse they are crap to control.

You can take carriages to different towns, so you dont have to schlep anywhere.

Just got the Dawnguard DLC, maybe I will get to play it sometime this year :)

I found mage easiest, ymmv.

Dragons Dogma is much more fun, I just mention this because of the dragon storyline similarities, but it kinda puts me off firing up skyrim anymore.

Thanks Fiach,

I'll be playing Oblivion first, and it's the Platinum version with 2 dlc's Ko9 & SI. I'll get the dlc's for Skyrim too...

I play these games on easy/casual since friendly fire is off. Is Skyrim different? I might need to be more careful with my spells  :-()

You get a very good suit of armour in KotN, I would play that first :)

Good to know, thanks  :-X

I started another play of DA2 yesterday, and after that it's on to ES series. I'll try to squeeze some BL2 in there somewhere...  :) shoot, I still have a play of KoA I put on hold when I started DA:Origins that I need to finish  :laugh:

Gave up on Oblivion after about 20 minutes; loaded up Skyrim and haven't looked back  :-D

At lvl 28 right now and haven't completed act 1 yet because I've been spending so much time building the Lakeview house and exploring. I can see this taking up quite a bit of my time as I'm already in over 100 hours  :-X

Hehe, I can't count the hours spent on Oblivion. I have the game both in English and in Spanish and three additional retail CDs with DLC made available on them. I played so much that I didn't want to go into Skyrim because I still need to put some distance between the Elder Scrolls and me. Oh, and I have one of the prequels, Morrowind, which is sitting on my shelf and has remained unopened.  :-()

I probably didn't give Oblivion a fare shake, might have to give it another go. That said, I've got about 200 hrs into Skyrim and still haven't progressed the main quest line very far; Diplomatic Immunity next up. I've been keeping myself busy exploring and building houses  :)

My lvl 41 has enchanting at 100 and smithing at 99. Light armor can also hit 100 depending on bonus stuff...good game. I think I'll start Dawnguard today :-X

building houses?  ??? Oblivion had a house in every (big) town if I remember correctly. You could somehow achieve them. I needed them because of the showcases and boxes and drawers and so on to stash my vast amount of loot away :)

The Hearthfire DLC allows you the option to buy up to 3 pieces of land. I've bought one house in Whiterun and built 2 others. Have an armory in one house, but still not enough weapon racks  :-D

There are mods for Morrowind to make the gfx more HD Art, Its very good with a couple of nice exapnsions.

I preferred Oblivion to Skyrim personally, even the exapnsions to me were better.

Currently going old skool with Arcanum of Steamworks and Magic Obscura.

You can get it pretty cheap here (http://www.gog.com/gamecard/arcanum_of_steamworks_and_magick_obscura), there are also mods to give higher resolution gfx.

KingRat:  :-D :-()

Fiach: cheers, mate :) I remember the (pre-OWG) time when someone posted happily away about Morrowind and how I was amazed at the stunning graphics and how cool it was to think about a player riding on a horse that looked really great (back then, hehe). I never got around to buying the game when it was new but when Oblivion was released I was all in. :) Later I found a cheap copy of Morrowind in a bargain bin and thought heck, why not :) Still not played it, though  :-(