Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

might've been slightly higher level tho

re racism, i remember in Morrowind they were all severely racist against Argonians/Lizardman and I swear that someone once either made this joke in the game, or we made the joke so many times about the game that I can't remember but I'm pretty sure it was actually in the game: "two lizardmen in the back of a wagon, who is driving? the constable!"

i'm playing argonian and people keep basically making vaguely racist lizardman comments and i keep having to remind myself they're talking about me!

I swear that someone once either made this joke in the game, or we made the joke so many times about the game that I can't remember but I'm pretty sure it was actually in the game

ease up on the ganj bro

i am envious of not running into that frost troll on the 7000 steps, are you playing on normal difficulty?

oh wait, I forgot to mention I'm in novice, disregard everything I said or ever will say again

i should clarify that there were for sure a plethora of racist jokes about argonians in Morrowind, I just don't remember if that was actually one of them -- but i think it was.

this game is fucking awesome and I hated oblivion fwiw (despite dropping probably 150 hours into it)

It's funny how there's not necessarily anything that's easily identifiable about how boring Oblivion was. There was the really really stupid way they implemented the invisible walls (which was 80% of my dissatisfaction) but other than that it was just vaguely boring. Skyrim (and Morrowind for that matter) has the X factor that Oblivion completely lacked.

the main quest was kind of incomprehensible/not compelling and had fuck all to do with the player character (you were pretty much an errand boy for the empire iirc). At least for me. So I would go vast amounts of time avoiding it because who cares. And all the writing was kind of shit.

yeah i was really turned off by the gross mystical royalism of the whole thing. and every single person looked fucking deformed.

Also, Oblivion took place in a really generic gameworld. Nordic stuff + weird mushroom dark elf world are not played out in RPGs at all, but like every RPG over the last 30 years has been vaguely Arthurian Western Europe

Yeah that's true. And the side-quests were dull and (iirc) involved loads of waiting for something to happen. It's a shame, because that first view you get in the game (of the big white citadel thingo in the centre of a verdant Cyrodiil) is gorgeous, but then you realise that the entire game looks exactly the same.

AND, while I'm railing against Oblivion, the aforementioned invisible walls actually chopped paths in half (so rather than facing a precipitous mountain face or deep water you just got a dumb message saying you couldn't go any further). Bloody stupid. So far I've not come across anything like that in Skyrim.

xxp Oh god yeah, very weird character modelling.

Also, Oblivion took place in a really generic gameworld. Nordic stuff + weird mushroom dark elf world are not played out in RPGs at all, but like every RPG over the last 30 years has been vaguely Arthurian Western Europe

― Mordy, Thursday, 17 November 2011 10:27 (9 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I want to say it was full of hideous Eddings-style tropes but that's probably not the writer I'm looking for. So annoying. Both Morrowind and Skyrim have proper grit.

climbed a little ways up a mountain today and stopped by a river that fed into a waterfall. i paid some guy wandering along the path a few gold to sing me a song while i just looked around and enjoyed the pretty scenery. was really feeling the *~IMMERSION~*. the ambient nature sounds are beautiful coming through in surround sound. and i love how deeply time of day, weather, and season affect the general mood of the moment and character of the landscape. anyway, when the guy was done with his song and i was finished with the little moment of reverie i got back on the path and a sabretooth tiger immediately jumped out of a bush and mauled me to death. it was a funny moment.

so whenever i'm in a tight tunnel trying to back up away from a fight (to get a few more arrows in before we go into melee) i keep bumping into lydia who doesn't know well enough to move back herself. so i've taken to screaming "lydia!" in annoyance and frustration every so often. finally my wife was like, "why do u keep yelling at lydia???"

I left Lydia guarding my house. If it was Lydia the Tattooed Lady I'd cart her around but no such luck.

also, she is always disappearing on me and then i wonder -- lydia, are you dead? but then, no, a few minutes later she is there again.

She gets stuck behind things.

i get worried bc she's carrying all my dragon scales

If you lose her completely, save & reload or sleep/wait for one hour and she'll just appear.

which reminds me, i really need a house or something to stash all my gear

Wait what? You can give her stuff? I've been selling all my dragon scales.

one of the options when you talk with them is "i need to trade some equipment". They're basically pack mules with crossbows.

what are the popular options in this thread for housing/storage?

xp omg awesome

Storage, I'm going nomad atm. Dumping stuff or selling it.

So horses are kinda shit in this? Am I doing it wrong? Barely faster than walking and getting on and off is a nuisance. I just ditched mine in the woods. Sorry horsey.

Fucking vampires in groups are bullshit.

You should try fucking them 1 on 1

Got stuck in a stupid loop with this bloke who insisted I pick a lock and pickpocket someone. Like fuck. Apparently no way to get out of it, so I restored an older saved file and the whole PS3 crashed.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/11/15/skyrim-companion-lydia/

Comments not short on ways to get the most out of Lydia.

well this came in the mail but i dunno if i'll have time to play it much until the weekend.

the map that comes with it, just, why. there is a LAKE GEIR tho.

Read mayor jingleberries' comment as an xpost to clay. Seemed like strange advice, but unusually to the point!

So horses are kinda shit in this? Am I doing it wrong? Barely faster than walking and getting on and off is a nuisance. I just ditched mine in the woods. Sorry horsey.

I haven't ridden a horse yet, but I did read that the sprint key works for them.

so my initial impression of this is that at some point I should actually read the manual and figure out the controls, because my strategy of "mash buttons and run away" doesn't seem to be effective past a certain point

do you guys like not try all the buttons when you play a game

fyi, mario could jump.

Dan, my big tip is to use the favorites menu to the full extent, switching from bow to 2 handed to onehanded plus spell on the fly is super key

also at least for me the normal setting is pretty challenging - anyone have any good tips on the cave full of vampires or should i just level up for a while before i give it a shot again?

fyi I did try all of the buttons; I think at one point I was able to block using my weapon but I haven't been able to replicate it (although it has led to some amusing "jump up and down while zombies hack you to bits" moments)

the giant spider in the barrow kept 2-shotting me until I perfected the "set it on fire/run away/run back and chop it" pattern

I am liking the favorites menu but HATING the decision to enable sneaking by pushing in the left stick, which has also led to some amusing "turn around and try to slowly skulk away while bandits stick swords in you" moments.

Yeah, normal is hard enough for me. Maybe I'll try hard on a second playthrough.

another thing that i didnt get until recently is how to use power attacks (hold attack button and push the directional stick) which also really would have helped during that spider fight. also sneak attack with bow is key in any of the dungeons full of draugrs on shelves, i think on the last one i didnt actually have to fight any of them.

Do you have power attacks from the beginning?

yeah, it's all tied to how long you hold down the attack button

Dan, my big tip is to use the favorites menu to the full extent, switching from bow to 2 handed to onehanded plus spell on the fly is super key

...and as it's not obvious, for PC users; you can still hotkey weapons and spells, just click a numeric key when you have the item selected in the favourites menu.

Blowed if I can work out how to make it do LH / RH right though, it keeps giving me Healing in both hands, doh.

click = press

yeah, it's all tied to how long you hold down the attack button

Do you have no be still when you do it, or can you be moving forward (or etc.) and then change direction?

lol dunno, I am still trying to keep from dropping into sneak mode mid-battle

i keep accidentally sneaking too. i may try to remap the buttons a lil' bit tonight

just a lil' bit