I also noticed something funny on the stats screens - Animals killed have various numbers, but when you get to Rabbits, it doesn't say "Rabbits killed", it says "Bunnies Slaughtered."
So I picked up Skyrim last night. Just level 4 so far, signed off for the night when I got totally stuck at the golden claw puzzle in the first storyline maze (I didn't realize you could rotate items in your menu; that's annoying). I'm enjoying the game although it's not "oh God it's 3 AM" good for me. The biggest improvement over Oblivion is actually the world and dungeon design, which is much more varied and immersive. The main plot seems a lot more nuanced as well. The menu systems have improved a lot (thank goodness for +/- stat info when looking at an item), the magic system is a lot more transparent and newbie friendly, the perks setup is good, hand to hand combat feels much better if still a little wonky. Load times aren't bad at all even on the 360 with no installing, which is definitely something I was concerned about.
The main annoyances so far:
Weapon swapping - favorites menu is ok, but I want to be able to keybind at least one itemrack switch (e.g. bow and arrow to fire hands). I want to play around with stealthing to get a couple of arrows off and then blowing things up with destruction magic once I get charged, but I'm not sure it matters enough to deal with all the swapping every fight.
Lack of undo at merchants. So far I've gotten exactly nothing out of the gold I collected because I hit the wrong button twice when trying to exit merchant menus. Also, running around a new town trying to find the right merchant to unload something so I can get on with quests is a hassle.
Lack of strategy in attacks. This was pretty much the point made in Gabe's PA writeup. Point fiery hands at charging critter, back up while burning critter down before it gets to you. (Run in, run out for melee combat from what I've heard). No rotations or sequences to puzzle out... although given the annoyance of attack swapping that's probably preferable.
Still seems like lots of gimpy options. Going all stealth is once again going to be a bad idea if you actually want to do the main storyline quest where for example they drop a spider or 3 ghouls right on top of you. Within magic, conjuring seems like it isn't nearly worth it for the mana sink, especially given the still slightly iffy companion AI, and illusion will let you down when there are level issues. No, you pretty much want to be a warrior (don't know their trees) and/or a destruction mage with some healing, and maybe a little bit of stealth on the side, to actually move through the story efficiently. I'd be interested to hear from anyone doing it differently.
I want to be able to keybind at least one itemrack switch (e.g. bow and arrow to fire hands).
Pretty sure there is a way to keybind favorited items to number keys
Yeah, just hover over them in the favorites screen and hit a number 1-8. With spells, if you hit the bound key, it first puts it in your off-hand, and then if you hit it again it goes in your main-hand.
Still seems like lots of gimpy options. Going all stealth is once again going to be a bad idea if you actually want to do the main storyline quest where for example they drop a spider or 3 ghouls right on top of you. Within magic, conjuring seems like it isn't nearly worth it for the mana sink, especially given the still slightly iffy companion AI, and illusion will let you down when there are level issues. No, you pretty much want to be a warrior (don't know their trees) and/or a destruction mage with some healing, and maybe a little bit of stealth on the side, to actually move through the story efficiently. I'd be interested to hear from anyone doing it differently.
I'd disagree with that, but I think that's because I'm a bit further in the levels than you are - the game adapts pretty well to your playstyle, no matter how you play, and while it was hard at first, I'm now a pretty goddamn effective Ninja asshole. I've even managed to clear entire dungeons and camps without breaking stealth, though admittedly, it did take a little thinking and planning at times. My stealth abilities combined with my weapons mean I can be doing very roughly nine and a half thousand points damage with a single dagger strike, and frankly, there isn't a hell of a lot that can stand up to a quick poke or two, though admittedly, I mostly prefer to hit things with arrows from a distance, which seems astoundingly effective - I've got a bunch of bonuses there, too, along with some nice items. If you focus on one power over another, you can really tear shit up - with two perks, I managed to pick up a spell that vastly increases the power of my destruction magic if I dual wield it. Plus, Kamehameha fireballs IN THE FACE.
Unfortunately, I got stuck with the pissweak starting spells for ages, simply because I somehow lost the lass at the college that sells decent destruction magic. More than a little irritating.
And now I'm on my way to being the master of every significant organization in skyrim.
Favorite weapon so far, though? A staff with an unpredictable random effect. With every hit, it could do anything from make the target explode in flame, heal them, kill them instantly, turn them into a chicken, or turn them into a terribly dangerous daedric prince.
I'd disagree with that, but I think that's because I'm a bit further in the levels than you are - the game adapts pretty well to your playstyle, and while it was hard at first, I'm now a pretty goddamn effective Ninja asshole. I've even managed to clear entire dungeons and camps without breaking stealth, though admittedly, it did take a little thinking and planning at times. My stealth abilities combined with my weapons mean I can be doing very roughly nine and a half thousand points damage with a single dagger strike, and frankly, there isn't a hell of a lot that can stand up to a quick poke or two, though admittedly, I mostly prefer to hit things with arrows from a distance, which seems astoundingly effective - I've got a bunch of bonuses there, too, along with some nice items.
Favorite weapon so far, though? A staff with an unpredictable random effect. With every hit, it could do anything from make the target explode in flame, heal them, kill them instantly, turn them into a chicken, or turn them into a terribly dangerous daedric prince dremora.
I've heard that stealth + bow can be a game breaking combination in Skyrim. So stealth is probably not all that useless.
This. The AI is stupid and you can shoot it, hide, wait about 30 seconds, rinse and repeat. It's not noble or honorable, but I've left a major trail of dead bodies in my wake.
Favorite weapon so far, though? A staff with an unpredictable random effect. With every hit, it could do anything from make the target explode in flame, heal them, kill them instantly, turn them into a chicken, or turn them into a terribly dangerous daedric prince.
Where did you find this? I wants it for when I start turning myself into a mage AND bow-weilding assassin who skulks in the night.
This. The AI is stupid and you can shoot it, hide, wait about 30 seconds, rinse and repeat. It's not noble or honorable, but I've left a major trail of dead bodies in my wake.
Yes, that's true, but it's also terribly amusing to falcon some poor bastard with an arrow from a hundred feet, and watch him do a full gainer off a walkway and startle the hell out of the poor fucker patrolling below.
Or, of course, when you put an arrow through a stronger enemy's head, but they don't detect you, and they run around going "Is someone there?" with an arrow sticking out of their forehead.
Where did you find this? I wants it for when I start turning myself into a mage AND bow-weilding assassin who skulks in the night.
You pick it up as the reward for a particular side-quest, where you deal with one of the gods - you get the quest from an NPC called Dervenin in Solitude, I recommend it, it's a fun one. I've also got another staff which is entirely more boring, Sanguine's rose, which looks cool but it's effect isn't quite as good, it just summons up a dremora, and I've got the Mace of Molag Baal, too, though I don't use it much.
Since a few people are playing vicariously by reading this thread...
Finished the first dungeon and the main Whiterun line (for now at least). Didn't actually level at all; I've got to be the most glacial player ever. I got the two xbox keybinds set up, thanks guys, and I'm having a lot of success opening with an arrow or two to the head and closing with 2x fire if needed (I've got the same perk as Churba). Still a little paranoid about screwing up the leveling after Fallout 3 (followed a guide after wasting hours on a gimpy character; going all out to max rifles, or any single thing relative to your level, really, was pretty broken) but you guys don't seem to be having problems dualclassing. I guess I'll stick with mage clothing since no way I'm going to switch all of that out.
I've been playing making decisions along the lines of "what would I actually do" and I'm not sure where I would go now. Oblivion's side quests for me were maybe 20% cool, 80% why not just play WoW and doing a couple of towns like quest hubs basically was enough to make me quit. Not really sure what to do with the free companion either. If I take her with me, odds are really high I'll friendly fire her halfway through the next dungeon and feel sad. I guess she's good to have tag along as a pack mule? Doesn't seem like most of you are bothering with companions.
I'm not bothering with companions, because their AI is a little annoying for my playstyle - if I fire an arrow at someone, say, 200 feet away, and score a hit, my companion will register the aggressive act and then go tear-arsing up to them to punch them in the face, usually ruining my stealth strategy, alerting everyone in the area, and generally making life harder for everyone.
On the other hand, they can be useful for some things - companions can do various things, like unlock things that you might not be easily able to, Soak up tons of damage and deal out plenty of their own, cast spells that you might not be able to, and of course, they work well as pack-mules.
Interestingly, I discovered that you can get married to people in the game, and as long as someone is marriage eligible in the game, you can marry them, no matter your character gender. Then, the person will move in with you, provide some bonuses, and can even start their own business(of various kinds) to provide a steady stream of income, while also providing you with other benefits, such as your own personal buyer/seller.
I actually love having my companion, who is ironically named Lydia. ^-^ Shes really good at fighting and almost can't die (I thought she couldn't die because every time she got bad she would just hunch over for a bit and then be okay again, however she did die once, not sure what did it). Shes a great distraction for hard enemies like dragons, who blow their fire at her (since she insists on getting up close) instead of me and I can just pelt them with whatever. If I give her a cool new weapon or apparel item, she wears/uses it and its awesome. And when she does something dumb I yell out "Stop being dumb, Lydia!" and it sounds like I'm talking to myself :P I admit, the following around can be annoying, esp when I'm doing something special like when you learn stuff with the Greybeards, she kept getting in the way. I have to tell her to wait in the corner, like a dog I suppose. :P
I'm not bothering with companions, because their AI is a little annoying for my playstyle - if I fire an arrow at someone, say, 200 feet away, and score a hit, my companion will register the aggressive act and then go tear-arsing up to them to punch them in the face, usually ruining my stealth strategy, alerting everyone in the area, and generally making life harder for everyone.
Hmm, mine sneaks when I sneak, and has never spoiled a surprise attack. Maybe I was far enough away?
When I became a Whiterun thane, I left my housecarl with the yarl, but I did pick up a chick who got in a tavern brawl with me (long story). Anyway, we left town and were ambushed by bandits, who quickly killed her. I felt a little sad as I was taking her fine steel armor, but didn't think about it too much.
I later went down into the catacombs of Whiterun, and saw her coffin. AWKWARD.
I'm doing pretty much a battlemage (one handed sword, destructive magicks), but I keep a bow handy. Also, the horse is FUCKING INDESTRUCTIBLE.
Hmm, mine sneaks when I sneak, and has never spoiled a surprise attack. Maybe I was far enough away?
Maybe I should just try grabbing a different companion - I've only brought along two outside of the missions that require them(mostly thieves guild missions so far), and every time, they were terrible - even the ones who were supposedly better, sneakier, deadlier thieves than I was would do that stupid "Run up and punch everything" shit, including the one that was meant to mainly use a bow, who would take one shot, then run up and start punching things with her nightingale dagger. I even had one bit where my two companions on that same mission managed to put each other out of commission by doing big, sweeping melee attacks right next to each other, meaning the entire group of enemies they were fighting suddenly turned around and decided that turning me to tasty fillets would be the best use of their time.
So, After all that, I don't bother with them so far, but I might grab them sometime. I think I have Lydia as a companion option, I might go grab her.
My Lydia died after I had had her around for much of my game, it was very sad. I have since found a Dark Elf companion mercenary who was cool to have around, and seemed pretty knowledgeable about things. She would drop some facts about places we were or things we were fighting.
And then just recently I became a Thane of Solitude, and got a new Housecarl with that. Been using new Housecarl now, and she seems good, but I haven't really done much with her yet. Though she did kill a dragon by jumping on it's head and stabbing it in the brain, which was pretty badass.
Favorite weapon so far, though? A staff with an unpredictable random effect. With every hit, it could do anything from make the target explode in flame, heal them, kill them instantly, turn them into a chicken, or turn them into a terribly dangerous daedric prince.
My Lydia died after I had had her around for much of my game, it was very sad. I have since found a Dark Elf companion mercenary who was cool to have around, and seemed pretty knowledgeable about things. She would drop some facts about places we were or things we were fighting.
And then just recently I became a Thane of Solitude, and got a new Housecarl with that. Been using new Housecarl now, and she seems good, but I haven't really done much with her yet. Though she did kill a dragon by jumping on it's head and stabbing it in the brain, which was pretty badass.
Dude, I've gone through most of stuff to be a thane of Solitude, but they want me to buy a 25000 house. Where did you get all the money for that? :O
Also, I wonder what it'd be like to have 2 (or more!) housecarls following you around... badass dragon killing posse woo!
Yeah, fuck that expensive house. If I didn't have a compulsion to buy every damned arrow I see (They are weightless, I say, WEIGHTLESS! I wanna carry thousands of arrows!) I'd have it. As it stands, I have about 10K I should be able to get the house in Solitude in another few days.
BTW, how the hell do you get into the Deadra slaying business? I haven't seen a whisper of that yet.
Dude, I've gone through most of stuff to be a thane of Solitude, but they want me to buy a 25000 house. Where did you get all the money for that? :O
Also, I wonder what it'd be like to have 2 (or more!) housecarls following you around... badass dragon killing posse woo!
Well I had about 10K when I got that mission. I've been working on smithing, so I've been selling a lot of that stuff. I also found a Dwarven ruin which had a bunch of stuff for me to smelt down into materials, which helped.
You pick it up as the reward for a particular side-quest, where you deal with one of the gods - you get the quest from an NPC called Dervenin in Solitude. He's wandering the streets outside, you'll see him.
Dude, I've gone through most of stuff to be a thane of Solitude, but they want me to buy a 25000 house. Where did you get all the money for that? :O
The trick is twofold - pick up everything you see that's light and worth money - Gems and jewelry in particular. Dragons are also a good source of cash, they tend to carry a few thousand gold(god knows where), a few Gems, and they usually have 2-5 "dragon bone" items which are worth about 500 each, and 3-4 dragon scale items, which are worth about 200 each. Every time you go into town, go by every single vendor and sell everything you can. I've got two houses so far, and I've still got about 25 grand worth in walking-around cash.
Also, I had to try it after I found out about it from reddit, and it works - if your stealth and pickpocket skills are high enough, you can silently kill some enemies by sneaking up behind them and PICKPOCKETING THEIR HEARTS. Talk about nimble fingers.
So I decided to go with the flow and ordered Skyrim from Amazon. Hopefully it will be here next week. Then I will join you all in epic adventures in dragonkilling-land.
Oh, I almost forgot - If you manage to kill a dragon in the air, they circle around, try to land, and then plow into the dirt, leaving a permanent 50-60 foot furrow in the dirt, with dirt and smoke and debris going everywhere. Also, get out of the way, standing in the path of the dying dragon while it slides toward you at 40 miles an hour, not good for one's constitution.
Comments
Also, Penny Arcade's "If you can pick it up, you probably need it!" should be a shirt. Or a sticker. Maybe more a sticker so I can put it on things.
His character is named Syrio who is an assassin/thief.
The main annoyances so far:
Weapon swapping - favorites menu is ok, but I want to be able to keybind at least one itemrack switch (e.g. bow and arrow to fire hands). I want to play around with stealthing to get a couple of arrows off and then blowing things up with destruction magic once I get charged, but I'm not sure it matters enough to deal with all the swapping every fight.
Lack of undo at merchants. So far I've gotten exactly nothing out of the gold I collected because I hit the wrong button twice when trying to exit merchant menus. Also, running around a new town trying to find the right merchant to unload something so I can get on with quests is a hassle.
Lack of strategy in attacks. This was pretty much the point made in Gabe's PA writeup. Point fiery hands at charging critter, back up while burning critter down before it gets to you. (Run in, run out for melee combat from what I've heard). No rotations or sequences to puzzle out... although given the annoyance of attack swapping that's probably preferable.
Still seems like lots of gimpy options. Going all stealth is once again going to be a bad idea if you actually want to do the main storyline quest where for example they drop a spider or 3 ghouls right on top of you. Within magic, conjuring seems like it isn't nearly worth it for the mana sink, especially given the still slightly iffy companion AI, and illusion will let you down when there are level issues. No, you pretty much want to be a warrior (don't know their trees) and/or a destruction mage with some healing, and maybe a little bit of stealth on the side, to actually move through the story efficiently. I'd be interested to hear from anyone doing it differently.
Unfortunately, I got stuck with the pissweak starting spells for ages, simply because I somehow lost the lass at the college that sells decent destruction magic. More than a little irritating.
And now I'm on my way to being the master of every significant organization in skyrim.
Favorite weapon so far, though? A staff with an unpredictable random effect. With every hit, it could do anything from make the target explode in flame, heal them, kill them instantly, turn them into a chicken, or turn them into a terribly dangerous daedric prince.
This. The AI is stupid and you can shoot it, hide, wait about 30 seconds, rinse and repeat. It's not noble or honorable, but I've left a major trail of dead bodies in my wake.
Where did you find this? I wants it for when I start turning myself into a mage AND bow-weilding assassin who skulks in the night.
Or, of course, when you put an arrow through a stronger enemy's head, but they don't detect you, and they run around going "Is someone there?" with an arrow sticking out of their forehead. You pick it up as the reward for a particular side-quest, where you deal with one of the gods - you get the quest from an NPC called Dervenin in Solitude, I recommend it, it's a fun one. I've also got another staff which is entirely more boring, Sanguine's rose, which looks cool but it's effect isn't quite as good, it just summons up a dremora, and I've got the Mace of Molag Baal, too, though I don't use it much.
Also, my new armor is SUPER badass.
Finished the first dungeon and the main Whiterun line (for now at least). Didn't actually level at all; I've got to be the most glacial player ever. I got the two xbox keybinds set up, thanks guys, and I'm having a lot of success opening with an arrow or two to the head and closing with 2x fire if needed (I've got the same perk as Churba). Still a little paranoid about screwing up the leveling after Fallout 3 (followed a guide after wasting hours on a gimpy character; going all out to max rifles, or any single thing relative to your level, really, was pretty broken) but you guys don't seem to be having problems dualclassing. I guess I'll stick with mage clothing since no way I'm going to switch all of that out.
I've been playing making decisions along the lines of "what would I actually do" and I'm not sure where I would go now. Oblivion's side quests for me were maybe 20% cool, 80% why not just play WoW and doing a couple of towns like quest hubs basically was enough to make me quit. Not really sure what to do with the free companion either. If I take her with me, odds are really high I'll friendly fire her halfway through the next dungeon and feel sad. I guess she's good to have tag along as a pack mule? Doesn't seem like most of you are bothering with companions.
On the other hand, they can be useful for some things - companions can do various things, like unlock things that you might not be easily able to, Soak up tons of damage and deal out plenty of their own, cast spells that you might not be able to, and of course, they work well as pack-mules.
Interestingly, I discovered that you can get married to people in the game, and as long as someone is marriage eligible in the game, you can marry them, no matter your character gender. Then, the person will move in with you, provide some bonuses, and can even start their own business(of various kinds) to provide a steady stream of income, while also providing you with other benefits, such as your own personal buyer/seller.
Shes really good at fighting and almost can't die (I thought she couldn't die because every time she got bad she would just hunch over for a bit and then be okay again, however she did die once, not sure what did it). Shes a great distraction for hard enemies like dragons, who blow their fire at her (since she insists on getting up close) instead of me and I can just pelt them with whatever.
If I give her a cool new weapon or apparel item, she wears/uses it and its awesome.
And when she does something dumb I yell out "Stop being dumb, Lydia!" and it sounds like I'm talking to myself :P
I admit, the following around can be annoying, esp when I'm doing something special like when you learn stuff with the Greybeards, she kept getting in the way. I have to tell her to wait in the corner, like a dog I suppose. :P Hmm, mine sneaks when I sneak, and has never spoiled a surprise attack. Maybe I was far enough away?
Anyway Lydia is awesome ^-^
I later went down into the catacombs of Whiterun, and saw her coffin. AWKWARD.
I'm doing pretty much a battlemage (one handed sword, destructive magicks), but I keep a bow handy. Also, the horse is FUCKING INDESTRUCTIBLE.
So, After all that, I don't bother with them so far, but I might grab them sometime. I think I have Lydia as a companion option, I might go grab her.
And then just recently I became a Thane of Solitude, and got a new Housecarl with that. Been using new Housecarl now, and she seems good, but I haven't really done much with her yet. Though she did kill a dragon by jumping on it's head and stabbing it in the brain, which was pretty badass.
Also, I wonder what it'd be like to have 2 (or more!) housecarls following you around... badass dragon killing posse woo!
BTW, how the hell do you get into the Deadra slaying business? I haven't seen a whisper of that yet.
Also, I had to try it after I found out about it from reddit, and it works - if your stealth and pickpocket skills are high enough, you can silently kill some enemies by sneaking up behind them and PICKPOCKETING THEIR HEARTS.
Talk about nimble fingers.
Thanks Dave!
That was an amazing idea :O