The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Discussion Thread

[Randox]

I am compelled to go right side smithing :lol: On this character, I will not make the mistake of making daedric armour again, because the truth is I like ebony more, but once I have daedric, the tempation to use it is too great. I might consider dragon weapons, depending on how big a difference it is (the armour doesn't matter, I can get max armour with ebony without much issue). Maybe, maybe not.

 

I realized that they changed how training works, which kind of nuked the old iron dagger method. To my great displeasure, the best I've seen to replace it is 'get some spell that turns iron to silver, then gold and make jewlery', which annoys me because I'm sure I sold that tome at some point. My stop gap solution has been dwarven smithing, since the merchants have a lot of the metal, though I should probably be doing something like boots instead of armour, if I can find the steel for that method.

 

Right now my goal is to get Ebony armour, then I'll go and do the dawnguard expansion. First step is to get together a set of orcish armour, and see about getting a new follower since I seem to have gotten Lydia killed (though I might stay solo, I kind of like it, though it is making combat more difficult). I am also worried that another 17 smithing levels will make my enemies more difficult faster than my smithing can keep up. Blackreach was essentially 3 hours of me being a punching bag for the falmer (which I distinctly remember as being slightly less dangerous than wet tissue paper the last time I played). I don't think a falmer has ever killed me before today. I've fought blood dragons that put up less of a fight than some of the ones I found in blackreach (that might not be new though, I never cleared the place out before).

 

I also need to see about getting myself a heathfire home. Going to go for the one that isn't located in a frozen hell hole. I've never really spent any time in Falkreath before, so this will be new for me. And I don't feel compelled to have Ebony before getting started (it will actually help with smithing I'm sure).

 

Oh, and I was looking through my screenshots, of which 90% seem to either be auroras or waterfalls, and I found this one. Not quite sure why, but I really like this one.

[hide][/hide]

[chenw]

I work in complete opposite of your thinking. I hate heavy armor for what it is worth, there are no useful perks in Heavy armor tree before you get to the weightless armor perk, while you need less perks to get it in Light armor and the perks are more useful (Stamina regen is one such example).

 

Light armor makes the game harder up until you start pumping up your armor skills and smithing, in which the Light armor slowly overtakes heavy armor until they reach the cap.

 

I can easily reach the armor cap with Dragonscale armor if I had bothered with leveling alchemy, but I am very few points behind so I am not fussed about it.

 

And lastly, there is nothing you can do in Heavy armor that you can't do without.

 

The only thing that I lose by going the left is I lose out on Daedric arrows, which are more powerful than Glass arrows, but IMO thats not much to lose because I find Daedric bloody impossible to get.

 

Oh, I was cheapskate and used only iron to get my smithing to 100 anyway, it wasn't very long. I found doing Thieves guild and unlocking all fences really help with unloading wears, since the fence in Markath is very close to the anvil (I think it's Markath, the one that rebel who I cannot remember his name is based in).

[Randox]

To be honest, once I saw ebony armour, the dispute was over. I was using ebony armour.

 

I don't think I ever really compared the skill trees when I went heavy on my first char. The one I am doing now is essentially a remake of that character, except this time I am making an effort to play the entire game, rather than just a narrow section of it. It's kind of telling that at least half the quests I do on this playthrough are new to me, and this is character #3.

 

My weakness in games like this is playing through in different ways. I changed from wizard to warrior because I suck at building wizards (might need more than destruction and restoration spells, in retrospect). When I made #2, I just assumed that light armor catered to rouges and heavy to warriors, and made my choice that way.

 

If I decide to play the game again with a rouge, I'll take light armor for sure, and probably end up with dragon scale.

 

 

I've never really been much for enchanting. Since I remembered I'll be keeping my current sword till ebony (because the orcish one sucks for some reason), I'll probably use my grand soul gem on it and make a soul stealing sword, and then actually start collecting souls, something I never did with my previous warrior (I'm pretty sure I destroyed the molag bal weapon to get that enchantment too :lol:). I am also looking at maybe getting into some alchemy, and actually making potions. As it stands right now, I just use the health ones, and very rarely stamina. I am a virtual pack rat, always saving things for an emergency (or just selling the potions off all the time), yet I always pull through without.

 

Essentially I play Skyrim like Thok. I just beat it over the head with my sword until it surrenders.

[Low Levelled]

I've made 3 characters and i cannot decide which one to play. I like them all, and i have the same amount of fun on each. I don't know if I should balance them, or play the shit out of them one at a time.. anyone else went through this problem?

[Randox]

Started on Hearth Fire. I like it, though I'm not sure if I would want to do this on multiple charecters. Also, it took about 30 seconds before I stopped trying to make the books stannd up, and just settled for making them stay on a shelf. I am hoping actual book cases have an option to take the books, or it's going to be the same deal for them.

 

Within 24 hours of purchasing and starting to build my home, I killed a necromancer who I'm pretty sure was on my land (as far as I'm concerned, I own everything from my little plateau to the lake, less the road), was ambushed by my first frost dragon outside a bandit camp 200ft off my land, and had a giant attempt to kill my horse (I don't remember Unrelenting Force throwing giants before, let alone a good 200ft).

 

I now have the entire structure built (I have an armoury, trophy room, and enchanters tower), with a little bit of furniture. I also have two daughters (and am working on a husband). Decided to get the orphans on the streets of whiterun and windhelm. I am hoping to get Farkas (of the companions) as my husband, since I obviously need someone who can fight (to fend off the dragons and giants). Assuming I can develop all 3 plots in the same game, I might do so. I want to see the other layouts, and potentially change the Lakeview manor based on what I see. My only gripe is I really hate the Falkreath yarl. Perhaps almost as much as I hate the upper class in Markarth (their both crooked as all get out). I think if I arrange the quest timing right, I might be able to get the yarl of Falkreath changed. Going to look into that.

[Cheefoo]

Started playing Skyrim on my shiny new gaming PC. The graphics are nice and all, and I'm getting consistently high FPS, but I wanna PUSH IT TO THE LIMIT. Anyone reccomend any shiny fancy pretty graphics mods?

[Randox]

I can give you my list, with load order, with short descriptions.

 

Warburgs 3D paper world map - Latest Aquisition, and one of my best. Converts the world map to paper and adds I think every last road in the game too it (and very accurately too). It keeps the 3D structure. If you want roads on the normal map, I think you have to go to the nexus to get a mod for that.

 

Enhanced Blood Textures 2.5 - If you have Dawnguard, you need to replace it with the dawnguard edition. Note: Any saves made while this mod is in use (ie while you have blood on you, or your gear) require this mod to load (including when switching versions). So it is best not to save right after a fight if you planning on using that save as a long term one. It does however look fantastic, and ending a fight covered in blood (you and your enemies both) adds another level of immersion to the game.

 

Wearable Lanters - The problem with mods such as REalistic Lighting is that interiors and nights get really dark. Like, I can barely the end of my sword dark, because it's designed for realisim. This forces you to use torches to see at night, or in caves, but that means sacrificing your shield. This mod allows to you strap a lantern on your belt Zelda style, and comes with a light setting intended for the realisitic lighting mod. I'll stick a screenshot in the bottom of my post. There is a book you get from any general store in game that allows you to configure the lantern, such as does it run out of fuel (and if so does it get dimmer) and set how bright it is.

 

Birds and Flocks - Links to the hearthfire edition, don't have normal in my list. Just adds more birds to the game, and more areas where you startle birds into flight.

 

Terrain Bump - Rather than compressing the game textures, this mod uses the full texture at half size to achieve the same same texture size while improving the graphical look of the game.

 

Real Rain Basic - Essentially makes rain heavier. Also some tweaks to make it look a bit nicer.

 

Pure Waters - The biggest thing I notice with this is water transparency. This will not work with any mod that creates fog, the game engine is sort of a one or the other in terms of fog/transparency apparently. My only gripe with the mod is that water at long range is really flat (thought that might not actually be the mod). Not normally an issue I find, but it exists. Also, seeing still water in heavy shadow (noticed in Markarth) at more than very short range might throw you. It almost looks black (which is actually exactly what many lakes look like when calm and in shadow).

 

Water and Terrain Enhancement Redux - This is an alternative I have to pure waters (I had this one first, it's older). On the whole, I do think pure waters looks nicer, but I think this one is a bit more comprehensive in it's scope, and it handles deep still waters better (like the pond at the bottom of the stairs to dragons reach).

 

More Grass - More Grass!

 

Lush Grass - Fills out the grass a bit, not so thin anymore.

 

Better Dynamic Snow - Simply changes the game to use it's own default snow texture for falling snow, rather than pure white.

 

Climates of Tamriel Lite Edition - A considerable increase to the weather library. New weather systems and combinations, as well as some beefed up effects, particularly for thunderstorms such as forked lighting and thunder that made me jump the first time I heard it after installing this. I use this in place of realistic lighting (this mod also makes the world and some interiors darker.

 

Lush Trees - Makes trees thinker, adding branches and whatnot.

 

Chopping Block/Woodfires FIX - MUST HAVE if you get the HD texture packs for the game. Those packs are missing the texture for chopping blocks, and will instead offer you the purple looking bitmaps. This mod adds the missing texture, and improves woodfires at the same time.

 

Enhanced Distance Terrain - I think this one allows the game to build more detailed distance terrain textures, so that when you see across the entire province (and at some points in the game you see REALLY far), it doesn't look look like 2006.

 

Vibrant Auroras - Ensures you'll spend the first 10 minutes of your first night with this mod installed taking pictures of the sky.

 

That's Ice - Replaces the default ice and glacier textures.

 

Alternate Sunglare - Less Star Trek (2009).

 

Water FX Get Wet - Will make you/you're gear look a bit wet whenever you been swimming or walking in the rain (or a good fog).

 

Whiterun Exterior Enhanced - Adds a nice level of detail to the exterior around whiterun. This author likes to add foliage to places.

 

Towns and Villages Enhanced Riverwood - Same author. I also liked this one. I don't like having every corner of the map teaming with plant life, but this one is absolutely fantastic. if a little over the top (you might have trouble finding your way around off the beaten path. Even if you don't use it all the time, it's worth seeing. Very cool.

 

Detailed Cities - I use this author mostly, instead of the guy doing the enhanced. This one is more subtle. Again, it just adds assets to the cities.

 

Detailed Outskirts - Sister mod. Makes the area around the cities transition into what you find inside.

 

Static Mesh Improvement - More replacement textures.

 

More Rain- more Rain!

 

And here is the load order for all the mods I currently have active, though looking at this list I'll be playing around as I think some of my mods were designed for people not using the HD pack. Not sure, want to make sure I have the best setup. If you don't use all of these, the load order for the ones you do is the same, and other mods will have to slot in where appropriate. Ordered using BOSS.

 

Skyrim.esm Active

Update.esm Active

Dawnguard.esm Active

HearthFires.esm Active

HighResTexturePack01.esp Active

HighResTexturePack02.esp Active

unofficial skyrim patch.esp Active

unofficial dawnguard patch.esp Active

chopping_block_wood_fires.esp Active

unofficial hearthfire patch.esp Active

morerain.esp Active

realrain.esp Active

climatesoftamriel.esp Active

thatsice.esp Active

staticmeshimprovementmod.esp Active

birdshf.esp Active

chesko_wearablelantern.esp Active

dynamicspells.esp

enhanceddistantterrain.esp Active

lush trees.esp Active

moregrass.esp Active

vibrantauroras.esp Active

whiterunexenhanced.esp Active

alternate sunglare.esp Active

better dynamic snow.esp Active

lush grass and trees.esp Active

dd - enhanced blood main.esp Active

Requires: Dawnguard Compatibility_Patch. (note: I ahve both versions. BOSS doesn't recognize the DG version, so I use this one when I use BOSS to handle the load order, then swap them before I launch the game)

terrain bump.esp Active

riverwoodenhancedplugin.esp Active

detailed outskirts.esp Active

detailed cities.esp Active

purewaters.esp Active

water.esp

waterfxgetwet.esp Active

minemapmarkers.esp Active

[Sprint]

Nvm. Hate how the forums don't go to the last post in a topic when I click on the button now.

[Serpent Eye]

Anyone tried out Dragonborn yet? $20.00 so I'm not sure if I want to download it or not. :<

[Alg]

Anyone tried out Dragonborn yet? $20.00 so I'm not sure if I want to download it or not. :<

My brother might look into it, If he does I can get him to tell if it's worth it or not.

[Serpent Eye]

<3:

[Alg]

<3:

Okay, short version, yes. Especially if you're a Morrowind fan.

 

Longer version: To compare the current DLC to Oblivion's, Dawnguard was a longer version of Knights of the Nine, at a fairly high price. Dragonborn is essentially Shivering Isles, you get a quest series, and a fairly large landmass to play with.

 

If you're a Morrowind fan, however, it's basically one long callback to that game; Raven Rock now resembles Ald'Ruhn, there's a city built out of mushrooms like the House Telvanni ones, and the guards are wearing bonemold armor again. The landscape is sort of a cross between Vvardenfell (ash-filled desert) and Skyrim (snowy mountains), and you'll see a lot of familiar creatures (From an hour of watching him play: scribs, netches, one silt strider, ash creatures).

 

I cannot wait for the PC release, and that's more than I could say for Dawnguard or Hearthfire.

[Serpent Eye]

DRAGONBORN IS AWESOMEEEEEEA DHAFADFHJADFADFADF.

[Miner_Guy]

Is the sales for Hearthfire and Dawnguard worth it, i havent played Skyrim in ages so im not sure.

[Randox]

I'e enjoyed the bit of dawnguard I've played so far (I stopped because I started playing right as I got interested in the next game in my rotation). After I found the bloody fort that is (I walked right past the entrance, and the warp point is oddly distanced from the fort itself, which is my only gripe thus far).

 

As for heathfire, I like it, but I'm not crazy about it. It is very neat to come back back to the house with my adopted daughters though, and some day I will have a husband too. I would have liked it more with more flexibility, but if you can pick up cheap then go for it. I got the two of them for less than dawnguards regular price.

[Alg]

Via UESP:

Bethesda has officially announced the release date for

Dragonborn

for PC players to be on Tuesday, February 5th. It will be available on Steam, including the English, French, Italian, Spanish, and German versions.

PlayStation 3 players will have to wait a little bit longer, with Dragonborn arriving on PSN in February, though there is no official release date.

Hearthfire

and

Dawnguard

will also be released for PS3 by the end of February, as well as the Version 1.8 of the

Official Patch

. PS3 players will be happy to hear that all three add-ons will be 50% off during their launch week on PSN.

[stevepole]

I would be excited for the DLC if wasn't almost a year-delayed, & I still played Skyrim.

[Kimberly]

Since signups for the closed beta have started, please direct discussion of the Elder Scrolls MMO here: http://forum.tip.it/topic/310836-elder-scrolls-mmorpg/

 

Thanks :)

[Randox]

In anticipation of Dragonborn coming out for PC, I thought I'd get back into this. I am now back to blissfully ignoring the main storyline in favor of dawnguard. I am quite enjoying the story, and the voice actor for Serena is superb, as is the actual dialogue itself. They've done a wonderful job humanizing her, though at the back of my mind I am still waiting for the betrayal, or maybe there really wont be one. I am also in love with the crossbow, or as I like to think of it, my "Medieval Shotgun". I like to start a fight with ranged attacks, and it's perfect for getting a shot or two off before drawing my sword, though it's really fun if I am against enemies I can one hit with it in regular combat. It's also useful for killing weaker creatures I don't want to soul trap with my sword.

 

Not sure how I felt about being told I was still a vampire hunter at heart no matter what. I mean, I've only been hunting them for like two weeks as Skyrim would see it. I'm really more of a dragon slayer, but some people just don't get that. I've also realized I'll have to wait a few days when Dragonborn is released before I can play (if I don't wait for a sale), since I have a couple mods running I am pretty sure will break, and I would miss them dearly (a new map, and enhanced blood effects).

[Shyla]

I'm going to wait for a couple of months before getting Dragonborn. I have over a hundred mods running and I'm worried the new dlc might break the game >.< Just thinking of updating each mod and making clean saves...yikes.

[Randox]

I'm going to wait for a couple of months before getting Dragonborn. I have over a hundred mods running and I'm worried the new dlc might break the game >.< Just thinking of updating each mod and making clean saves...yikes.

Nexus or workshop?

 

Any mods from the workshop that get updated will automatically get puched to your computer if your still subscribed. Once you have dawnguard, and have it activated in your load order, BOSS will alert you of any mods that are known to be incompatible, or require an additional piece, and will point you to them so you can replace/download them. Still a pain, but not as bad as it could be.

 

I assume whatever program deals with nexus mods also has an ability to update them, though not using them, I can't say for sure (my thirst for more graphical mods being totally eclipsed by my own laziness).

[Alg]

I assume whatever program deals with nexus mods also has an ability to update them, though not using them, I can't say for sure (my thirst for more graphical mods being totally eclipsed by my own laziness).

If you're using the Nexus mod manager it shows you when there's a new version for one of your mods, but you'll have to download it yourself. If you manage your mods manually, you'll have to keep track of it yourself.

 

It doesn't always work, though - I have at least one mod that's outdated because the Dawnguard version has a different version number than the standard one.

[Shyla]

I never do manual installation, always through NMM. I check for updates once a week even if there's no update notification. Gotta keep my sword mods updated...god I love my swords.

 

 

I'm really disappointed over the lack of good male-related mods. Animations, armors/clothing, limited body and face textures...the female-male mod ratio is like 10:1. I want to prettify my Beefcake too :(

[Randox]

I just encase my character in a full suit of armour, though I actually keep my helmet hotkeyed. I guess it's something of a personal RP, I will remove my helmet in the presence of those I respect, and keep it on when talking to people I do not.

 

Also, someday someone can explain to me how full ebony, daedric, and dragon armour is not automatically intimidating, or how any mugger on the road can see me on Shadowmere, or even better, Arvak, and go "yeah, I think I can take them".

 

What part of riding around on an undead nightmare horse in exotic armour suggests I can't fight?

[Alg]

It's even better if they just watched you kill a dragon.