Skyrim

[Architectonic]

So who is looking forward to Skyrim?

We all suspected this was the next Elder Scrolls game, since they registered the trademark back in 06/07, but it has been announced to be released 11/11/11.

http://bethblog.com/index.php/2010/12/11/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-announced-at-the-vgas/

The trailer is very cliche though.

 

[ProxyAmenRa]

I will not play any rpg game that does not involve streaming hordes of monsters and an isometric view point. Diablo 3 FTW!

 

[Cwestiwn]

I've loved the Elder Scrolls ever since Daggerfal and I'm totally looking forward to Skyrim, but I hope they make it more like Morrowind than like Oblivion.

 

[Architectonic]

I will not play any rpg game that does not involve streaming hordes of monsters and an isometric view point. Diablo 3 FTW!

Isn't that just going to be another clickfest?

I've loved the Elder Scrolls ever since Daggerfal and I'm totally looking forward to Skyrim, but I hope they make it more like Morrowind than like Oblivion.

Yes. Although I still haven't figured out exactly why I liked Morrowind more than Oblivion. The gameworld had more depth? The stupid leveled enemies system? Oblivion had some quests that were better than Morrowind quests.

 

[Cognisant]

There was so much more depth to Morrowind than Oblivion, sure in every other respect Oblivion was the superior game, but for many of us the whole point of playing a RPG is to enjoy its depth, to delve into the factional politics, to take sides, to choose a path and be taken to different places by the different paths we take.

That was the second major fault of Oblivion imo, it allowed you to go everywhere and do everything on the first play through, robbing you of the enjoyment of replay-ability which is so crucial to the quality of an RPG.

Honestly what’s the point of “role playing” if you don’t feel like you have a role in that world? Personally I hate being a generic adventurer.

 

[Melllvar]

For me it was hard not to like Oblivion better, simply because of the addition of fast-travel (maybe one day I'll end up telling my/someone's kids/grandkids about how "back in my day" we had to play expansive open-world RPGs without fast-travel... and uphill in the snow both ways). Although it did feel like a little more of the same after Morrowind. I'd guess that I either liked the story with the ash blight and the Nerevarine prophecy better, or maybe after spending so much time playing that the whole Oblivion story just seemed too similar.

I expect it'll be the same sort of deal with Skyrim, with some sort of chosen one who is prophesied to defeat the dragon things (in fact, from the trailer it's already looking that way). But I'm not really sure what else they'd do for an Elder Scrolls game... anything less than playing some sort of messiah on a mission to save the world would just seem like a let down. Over all though, can't wait, will definitely be playing it as soon as it comes out.

 

[Ach]

I have only played Oblivion from the previous elder scrolls games, and I loved it.
I wonder how addicted I will become to Skyrim when it comes out.

 

[Stoic Beverage]

I've played The Arena, Daggerfall, and Oblivion. Morrowind is obviously missing from that list. While I regret this and want to fix that as soon as possible, getting my mitts on Skyrim the moment it comes out is currently of higher priority.

 

[Architectonic]

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/t...technology-behind-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim.aspx

I'm hoping the NPC behaviour (and PC interactions) will be a lot more 'organic'. The whole 'always where you expect them to be' behaviour of NPCs isn't realist.

And behind the scenes at Bethesda:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/01/10/video-behind-the-scenes-of-skyrim.aspx

Note the stuff on the whiteboard - they will hopefully eliminate most of the annoying manual collection of items from containers.

 

[zxc]

Hope it's good. I'll give it a go, definitely. Any excuse to play an open-world medieval-themed game.

 

[GunsNDoses]

I want this game, but I think I might have to choose Diablo 3 instead.

 

[Oedipus]

I want Skyrim so badly but I'll need a new computer to play it, and I'm a bit skint.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[Mello]

Skyrim - YouTube

 

[aracaris]

Definitely a game I am really looking forward to. Morrowind was great, Oblivion was great, this one looks like it probably will be too. A big big part of what makes these games for me though is the modding community, so I hope that they continue to be as active for this game as for the last few.

I suspect NPC interactions will be improved, and that the AI will have been improved as well (I hope so, Oblivion was awesome, but there was definitely a lot of room for improvement when it came to those features). Also hoping werewolves are in, they were very fun to play in the Morrowind expansion I thought.

 

[kantor1003]

While you all wait for skyrim you should definitely play dark souls in the meantime. It's a brilliant game.

 

[Architectonic]

The problem with Dark Souls is that it is console only.

 

[Melllvar]

I've been playing this game for about five hours now, and I'd like to give a quick, preliminary review:

Spoiler

HELL YEAH.

That is all for now.

 

[kantor1003]

I've been playing this game for about five hours now, and I'd like to give a quick, preliminary review:

Spoiler

HELL YEAH.

That is all for now.

Quick question, are you able to kill every enemy you encounter from the get go? or are there enemies you have encountered that you can forget about beating until you level up some more? Please let the answer be no... pretty please..

 

[Melllvar]

Quick question, are you able to kill every enemy you encounter from the get go? or are there enemies you have encountered that you can forget about beating until you level up some more? Please let the answer be no... pretty please..

Nah, it went back to a more normal difficulty system after Oblivion, apparently. I've had to run from a few fights because I wasn't quite powerful enough to kill them, and then came back and had no problems a few levels later. (The trolls that regenerate health were giving my mage trouble when I first encountered them. When I'd stop to regen health and mana, so would they.)

EDIT: Oh wait, found an official answer while looking up something else:

Enemy Leveling System

Many criticized Oblivion's system of leveling enemies, as many hours were spent fighting enemies that were just too strong to take on, and only grew stronger as you leveled up. In Skyrim, this is replaced with a system that is similar to the one in Fallout 3. The level of enemies is determined both by location and level. There will be places with foes you just aren't strong enough to beat at level 1. Upon entering a dungeon in Skyrim the players level will be saved/locked into position. In other words the enemies will be similiar to the level the player is when he/she first enters the dungeon. In the event of entering the dungeon later the player should find, (assuming the player has leveled up since their last visit to it) that they can more efficiently rid of the foes within the dungeon. This is due in part by the fact that the foes remained the level that the player was when he/she first entered the dungeon. Obviously there will be some location where enemies will be stronger and some where they will be easier, especially places that the main quest go through.

 

[Melllvar]

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/TaekwanKim/20111121/8944/Breaking_Skyrim.php

Game mechanics spoilers (from above article):

Spoiler

"The crafting skills are now robust enough to completely support the player on their own. This mainly has to do with two factors: 1. you can now fortify a magic school to reduce magicka cost to casting spells from that school to ZERO; 2. The damage reduction cap of 80% can be reached with a relatively low armor rating (567), while the master enchantment perk of two enchantments on an item lets you max out resistances too.

As an experiment, I decided to start a new game (master difficulty) to level only the crafting skills until I had maxed them out (good lord that used up all of Saturday). This took me to level 35, which would basically have resulted in an unplayable game in previous TES games. The suspicion, however, was that using enchantment to boost alchemy (loop that twice) to boost smithing would put me a stone’s throw away from hitting the damage reduction cap with the starting Heavy Armor skill level.

This suspicion was borne out with an AR of 447 at level 15 Heavy Armor with no perks, and sure enough, my character was quickly tanking giants and spamming restoration with aplomb."

 

[kantor1003]

What kind of character do you play?

 

[Melllvar]

What kind of character do you play?

I'm mainly playing as a wizard/mage, although the cool thing is that there's plenty of room to expand your other skills, so I can go into rogue/warrior mode pretty easily without a lot of effort. I just made a new character yesterday to try and further optimize my build (based on the info in the above link). My first one was pretty much a 'pure' wizard, this one's more of a battlemage (the main difference was deciding to train smithing/enchanting and wear armor this time around).

The cool part is that you don't even need the perks for a lot of the skills, so you can incorporate aspects of other classes into your character pretty easily. E.g. I was opening the hardest difficulty locks with no lockpicking perks and only about 35/100 skill, and was doing ok with sneaking too, so I can kinda play a wizard-rogue hybrid all in one without having to start multiple characters. Which is good, this game is way too long to play through three to six times so you can experience every play style.

Random game pics:

[bimgx=500]http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/9554/skyrimmage.jpg[/bimgx]
My mage, Wednesday Addams.


[bimgx=500]http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/3975/skyrimorba.jpg[/bimgx]
From the College of Winterhold questline.


[bimgx=500]http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/9471/skyrimboss.jpg[/bimgx]
Random boss. Killing that dude was a bitch.


[bimgx=500]http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/2313/skyrimlandscape.jpg[/bimgx]
Landscape immediately outside Riverwood.

 

[Oedipus]

Someone give me their computer.

 

[Words]

I followed the same route of pure destruction/conjuration mage then got tired of the low def and focused on smithing/enchanting/heavy armor/restoration/destruction mage. No difference between enchanted robe and enchanted plate armor except for stamina reduction. I didn't have any problems with the winterhold quest-line boss though. His own storm conjuration turned against him, I don't know how, and I was just throwing firebolts while he was still regaining(presumably) mana. (Lightning depletes mana) Maybe I'll post pics later.

This game made me play games again...

 

[Architectonic]

Someone give me their computer.

My old videocard died and I'm too cheap to get a new one... So I'm pleased to note it runs on my laptop (ATI 6630M)!


I think the weakest points of the game are: Magic doesn't scale as well as the other offensive skills. The puzzles are lame. There are a few bugged quests (but we expected that) and the physics engine has amusing quirks (but we already knew that too).
The rest is pretty good.

 

[Felan]

I think the weakest points of the game are: Magic doesn't scale as well as the other offensive skills.

Actually I've had the opposite problem. My magic kicks major butt. I'm a Female Breton Vampire. Usually try sneaking and using a dagger to instakill because it is more challenging. I think sneaking is a bit broken because I seem to get detected more now then I did earlier.

It's only if I get in a tight spot that I switch to two bolt spells which stagger the enemy thanks to a perk and lay waste to everything. Dragons cannot stand up to my double staggering lightning bolt.

I did use a mod and console commands to give my character Nocturals robe and hood, the items are worthless stat wise but they look cool. I enchanted them to suit my needs.

Skill wise I focused enough on Destruction to get the stagger effect and was surprised at how awesome it was. Then I focused on and maxxed enchanting and armorer, both very cool. I have a good mix of double enchanted items on everything that can bear them mostly focused on: Magicka regen, stamina regen, fortify stealth, fortify carry, fortify one-hand damage, waterbreathing, and fortify armor. I have a bit of investment in one hand and am currently focusing on getting the perk for silent casting out of the illusion tree.

I haven't played a melee focused character though. I did get Boethiah's (I think) ebony mail which has an awesome particle effect when in combat or sneaking. I'll have to make a point of getting that armor when I play a sneaky heavy armor melee type.

The puzzles are lame. There are a few bugged quests (but we expected that) and the physics engine has amusing quirks (but we already knew that too).
The rest is pretty good.

Agree with the rest. I had to use the console to fix one quest that got bugged and was essential to me. I wanted to go back to being a vampire instead of being a werewolf.

 

[del]

I've been playing this obsessively since it came out as well.

Illusion is AWESOME and I suggest you guys play around with it on a second play through if you haven't already.

I really like stealthy/sneaky characters that kill things indirectly, and it's funny watching a room of bandits kill each other or chain invisibility/backstabing them.

Alas, with games like this I suffer from creating too many characters and spreading myself too thin. I have a destruction/conjuration pure mage and a sneaky daggers/bow/etc. character, but they're both like level 20ish.

 

[Zionoxis]

I have it and am quite enjoying it. If only I could get the enchanting up..it is only level 50 and particularly useless to me. I am a level 22 mage and I need more mana (or mana reduction).

 

[Words]

^

just a tip. Don't do enchanting, potion-making or smithing, at all, except end-game. It's worthless because it wastes your level and your enemy grows stronger as you get levels. The only way to make it "work" is if you immediately max out enchanting and smithing, but by then you'll have a pretty boring game. I recommend simply focusing on spells, particularly alteration and illusion for defense.

 

[Abraxas]

After reading your reviews, I don't wan't this game anymore, I actually NEED it!

 

[Zionoxis]

^

just a tip. Don't do enchanting, potion-making or smithing, at all, except end-game. It's worthless because it wastes your level and your enemy grows stronger as you get levels. The only way to make it "work" is if you immediately max out enchanting and smithing, but by then you'll have a pretty boring game. I recommend simply focusing on spells, particularly alteration and illusion for defense.

But a greater offense is my greatest defense! Also, just for you guys to know ahead of time. The Expert fire spells are terrible and consume huge amounts of mana with little to no gain. Don't do it.

 

[blarg]

I used to look forward to Skyrim, but then I took an arrow in the knee.

 

[Roran]

I used to look forward to Skyrim, but then I took an arrow in the knee.

You did not just post that.

 

[blarg]

You did not just post that.

The best way to kill an overused meme is to use it even more.

 

[Roboman]

I used to be an adventurer like you..

Always brings a little smile to my face when a guard say it.

 

[Symbiot]

I don't agree with the smithing/enchanting. It doesn't give you such a terrible level imbalance like Oblivion did. I leveled both up as I went along, eventually got them to 100 after 90 hours, and it has been helpful the whole way without making everything too difficult or too easy.

I started doing destruction, then fell in love with archery. Next time around I'm going to do a sneaky illusion guy, that should be fun.

Such an amazing game!

 

[Cognisant]

I spent ages working on a Conjuration based build, the idea being that with a high enough Conjuration skill I could get Daedric armour from the Winterhold shrine/forge thing which with a Breton's magic resistance + the lord stone would make me nearly invincible.

But I need a full set of ebony armour to make it AND the boots don't work

And screw illusion, there's nothing you can do with it that a potion can't do equally well, restoration too, even if wards block more damage a resist-whatever potion is a equally valid defence and it doesn’t use up your mana. Furthermore you can make conjuration staves at winterhold so you can piss all over learning that skill, the only reason anyone learns alteration is for the stoneflesh spell and mage armour is just a liability at higher levels, why bother with it when a set of heavy armour + a fortify heavy armour potion does the same thing, except without wasting your mana.

And all these work-arounds are simply because the game discourages you from levelling up.


But you will anyway, I mean who doesn’t try to unlock the chests?
You know there's goodies inside, but lockpicking raises the lockpicking skill, making the game harder, but it's not a combat skill, so it just makes the game harder
Ditto for speechcraft, it's not like you can calm a bandit and talk your way out of a fight.

 

[Zionoxis]

I spent ages working on a Conjuration based build, the idea being that with a high enough Conjuration skill I could get Daedric armour from the Winterhold shrine/forge thing which with a Breton's magic resistance + the lord stone would make me nearly invincible.

But I need a full set of ebony armour to make it AND the boots don't work

And screw illusion, there's nothing you can do with it that a potion can't do equally well, restoration too, even if wards block more damage a resist-whatever potion is a equally valid defence and it doesn’t use up your mana. Furthermore you can make conjuration staves at winterhold so you can piss all over learning that skill, the only reason anyone learns alteration is for the stoneflesh spell and mage armour is just a liability at higher levels, why bother with it when a set of heavy armour + a fortify heavy armour potion does the same thing, except without wasting your mana.

And all these work-arounds are simply because the game discourages you from levelling up.


But you will anyway, I mean who doesn’t try to unlock the chests?
You know there's goodies inside, but lockpicking raises the lockpicking skill, making the game harder, but it's not a combat skill, so it just makes the game harder
Ditto for speechcraft, it's not like you can calm a bandit and talk your way out of a fight.

Well, I thought I would give an update. I am now level 45, and have 100 conjuration, enchanting, smithing, and destruction. Everything else is....in various other places. I am playing as a Breton and with full deadric armor that has 65% resistance to magic, I am invincible wizards, necro's and dragons (aside from one hit kill attacks and physical attacks). I have enchanted my armor to grant me infinate casting of destruction and conjuration without cost. Basically, I spam a double Incinerate on enemies until they die...which is usually seconds later.

 

[Cavallier]

So many have decided to go with being a mage but spamming a spell is really rather boring

I tried being a mage but just couldn't get into it. Spam this spell or spam that spell. Plus, everywhere I go there are mages.

So, I went to a Rogue Breton with a major in sneaking and a minor in restorative magics. The spell resistance is nice for a game where you fight mages constantly. It means the game is more challenging since I'm squishy but also more interesting. Then I went for the werewolf form as an ace up the sleeve. I know I know. "But werewolves are for warriors" you say. Yeah well, as a squishy it's nice to break out the werewolf when cornered plus the various drawbacks of being a vampire are irritating. Though comments about my ear fur and wet dog smell get really old.

Next I'm going to go for Ultimate Tank of Badassery. It's not my norm.

 

[Decaf]

Did someone steal your sweetroll?




I did the Sneak/Archery/Illusion/Smithing/Enchanting route, and its awesome. Aside from a couple bosses its both highly enjoyable and fast-paced. My custom bow one shots most mobs from hiding now (excellent at anti-mage cause they don't get a chance to put their armor up) and dragons aren't too bad if I'm not caught out in the open. Its the Dragon Priests I have issues with

 

[Cavallier]

I did the Sneak/Archery/Illusion/Smithing/Enchanting route, and its awesome. Aside from a couple bosses its both highly enjoyable and fast-paced. My custom bow one shots most mobs from hiding now (excellent at anti-mage cause they don't get a chance to put their armor up) and dragons aren't too bad if I'm not caught out in the open. Its the Dragon Priests I have issues with

You and I think alike my friend.

 

[Decaf]

You and I think alike my friend.

Sadly us poor archers of doom miss out some splendid melee coupe de grace animations

 

[Cavallier]

Nah, that's what wolves are for.

 

[Cognisant]

Sadly us poor archers of doom miss out some splendid melee coupe de grace animations

But you do get to admire the ragdoll physics and the arrow embedded in their flesh.

Its the Dragon Priests I have issues with

Breton magic resistance (25%) + lord stone (25%) + alteration perks (10% + 10% + 10%) + amulet, ring or shield (15% respectively, generally) + Dragonskin Breton power + elemental blocking with your shield = absolute immunity to all kinds of magic.

Combine this with a good set of heavy armour and the relevant perks and/or restoration/potions + stoneflesh, and you're almost entirely invincible.

Evidently this game lends itself to defence, as I've done the whole high elf master of destruction thing and been killed by every mage I met because they never seem to run out of mana while using wards, wtf?

Btw when doing the whole defence before offense thing I find it's easier to kill most magic users by simply walking up to them and caving their face in with your bare hands, yeeeah ward that off motherfucker.
The barehanded finishing animation is very, very gratifying.

 

[lucky12]

Shake your dicks, this pissing contest is over.

Some of my main skills: Sneak(100), pick pocket(60), archery(~85), lock pick(~100), two-handed(~87), one handed (60), light armor (~80)
Level 40.

Yeah I should probably get into smithing, but Idgaf lol maybe later. Having PC version has it's perks.
Main weapons..

Ebony bow, mehrunes razor, red ebony razor, wuuthrad

I wear nightingale armor and boots of major sneaking all of the time. Cicero's hat if I really want to fuck with people. I can sit in a room and roll around without anyone knowing where I am. Archery is so much fun, being a CSS scout my head shots have been ridiculous lately. I love watching NPC's look for me as I fling arrows all around the room, then if I fuck up I charge in with my big axe and throw down.

 

[dark]

lol typical, everyone is a mage, no one thinks to be a defensive warrior who is near invulnerable to everything even on master difficulty.

Leveled blacksmithing up after I got my shield and heavy armor to about 50, then enchanting, made a full set of Deadric, enchanted the hell out of it, and now I don't take any damage. Got bored with it so I quit.

 

[Oblivious]

I punch dragons to death with my fists. On Master.

/thread

 

[Decaf]

This is a must watch!

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHbF9ynGZV0"]Skyrim: Sneaking - YouTube[/nomedia]