Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Loki]

I've just realised that I never choose a Guardian Stone at the start of the game which makes your warrior, mage or thief skills advance 20% faster.

I'm only level 21 now though... not much lost

This game is incredible though. Even thought it makes my work day seem to last twice as long, which fucking sucks.

[Sabreman]

fuck me, the fucking followers are fucking useless when you're trying to get somewhere. They're not much use when in combat (thanks for standing at the end of the corridor away from the fight, Lydia. Massive help). The only thing so far that's a massive chore.

It's funny (not funny) because they won't go anywhere other than defined routes and roads. Every time I come out of Westrun and head north I jump down the rocks near the walkways just outside. Lydia stands dumbfounded for a moment then runs off down the road and circles round to meet me on the other side

[Flub]

One thing I recommend as soon as you hit Sneak level 40 is Deadly Aim - that's the 3x damage on arrows fired when hidden one. Really makes a huge difference!

Generally I found that if I played it by constantly being crouched and firing arrows at enemies whilst hidden, particularly in the perk-free early stages, both my Sneak and Archery levels leapt upward quite quickly. Might be a slower way of doing things, but it pays its dues

I think on my current character I got my sneak to around 20 just by fucking around. Not even using it in situations where it's needed so I guess If I'm using it seriously it's going to rank up fairly quickly.

Pick pocketing though. Is that just running around town robbing folk and paying the fine when you keep getting caught? Does it work better if you're stealthed or can you just walk up behind someone and start rummaging?

I keep getting warnings from guards not to play with any locks or there'll be trouble. That's caused by a bug in that if you stand facing a shop waiting for it to open and advance time the door doesn't unlock until you look away and look back and I keep just clicking on the lock starting the lock pick process

[daveodeth]

Yes, it is a good thing! But the idea of finding them is quite daunting. I guess for one of the two I need to start by finding some sort of

boat

somewhere...

Genius tip here

look around the water parts of the map

[Flub]

I've just realised that I never choose a Guardian Stone at the start of the game which makes your warrior, mage or thief skills advance 20% faster.

Wait what?

[Voodoo-child]

Was wandering to kill some bandits & saw a troll walking a small wooley mammoth. Shame he one hit killed me. Amazing sight!

This games just keeps giving.

[Teeohbee]

Wait what?

Sometimes it pays to stick to the path. (After escaping Helgen)

[csuzw]

What kind of armor values do people reach through conventional methods (ie wearing the best heavy armor)? I've got 300 through the Ebonyflesh spell and Alteration perks but I've no idea how that compares with non-magical methods.

Is it possible to kill a giant in melee or do they always hit you for a mile?

[Loki]

Wait what?

When you come out of Helgen Keep at the start. There's a series of Guardian Stones all bunched together. The Warrior Stone, The Thief Stone and The Mage Stone.

I know because I saw my brother at them. But I completely missed them

[Davros sock drawer]

I've just realised that I never choose a Guardian Stone at the start of the game which makes your warrior, mage or thief skills advance 20% faster.

.

You can go back to the guardian stones at any time though, and change which one is active. I just changed to the Warrior one for a bit.

[fieldy]

Wait what?

yea - what?

[Loki]

What kind of armor values do people reach through conventional methods (ie wearing the best heavy armor)? I've got 300 through the Ebonyflesh spell and Alteration perks but I've no idea how that compares with non-magical methods.

Is it possible to kill a giant in melee or do they always hit you for a mile?

I'm currently level 21 and I can solo kill a giant with melee (I've not managed it yet, because there's always been a pesky mammoth fucking my shit up.

I'm a heavy armoured battlemage type character, I've put a few points in to block so it's about 40% better. Without that, I don't think you stand a chance as it's still a one hit kill for me if I'm not blocking.

[Dandy_Sephy]

I know because I saw my brother at them. But I completely missed them

How on earth did you miss them, the NPC points them out to you!

[moosegrinder]

It's funny (not funny) because they won't go anywhere other than defined routes and roads. Every time I come out of Westrun and head north I jump down the rocks near the walkways just outside. Lydia stands dumbfounded for a moment then runs off down the road and circles round to meet me on the other side

Exactly. And she attacks mud crabs she's died twice and I've reloaded it because of a) guilt and b) she's no good to me dead.

[Loki]

You can go back to the guardian stones at any time though, and change which one is active. I just changed to the Warrior one for a bit.

Oh aye, I realise that.

I was just a bit concerned at missing out on the 20% boost as such for the 21 levels I've just done is all.

Then again, I'm still advancing quite quickly and I plan on making another character for a play through so will remember for then

How on earth did you miss them, the NPC points them out to you!

It was late, okay! And I was excited to go explore the woods and shoot some elk in the face with my bow.

Gaaaawd!

[Sng]

Best tip I've heard? If you're trying to get somewhere but can't just up the terrain then turn around and jump backwards. You must do this kinda bum climb shuffle like what girls do and you can climb stuff that you couldn't normally climb front-ways.

Try it, very handy!

[robdood]

If like me you're craving to be back in Tamriel, why not waste some time recounting adventures on the Skyrim blog morrius set up?

It is as I feared. When it's a toss up between doing something or writing about doing something' date=' I'll choose to just do it every time. As such my journal entries have been somewhat sparse since last week.

Was it only last week? It feels like so much has happened in that short time. Yet I have trouble recalling it in detail; it is all a blur, a fantastical mix of colour and creatures and adventure.

However, I'm having to go back shorter visits to the mancave for the time being, and have resorted to rising earlier than usual to squeeze in a bit if adventuring before real life kicks in.

This morning, I attempted to finish the long walk from Whiterun to High Hrothgar, home of the greybeards. Despite only getting distracted by a few things, I started this walk approximately six hours ago (I don't mean Skyrim time either)

I started just east of Riften. After spending a brief time hunting some brown bears, I carried on making my way west towards the great mountains in the distance. Lydia, my faithful companion, was still in tow. We were close to being overburdened, and we in desperate need of finding a town for a rest (in hindsight we should've stopped at Riften to unload).

The south east of Skyrim is beautiful; the landscape is coloured in the yellows and oranges of a perpetual autumn. As we wandered, we discovered a location or two, and hard fought the urge (and Lydia's curiosity) to go exploring.

I stopped and stooped to hunt some elk (I always need new hides for the tanning rack), and suddenly a shadow filtted over the ground between the elk corpses and I: dragon!

My dual flame hands were of little use as the creature had fire affinity, and Lydia was knocked down almost immediately, so I ran to a bridge I could see nearby, which would hopefully make good cover.

Thankfully, the bridge was on the edge of a town, and a pair of guards quickly came to my aid. The three of us pelted arrows through a wall of fire until it died.

The guards exclaimed their wonder as I absorbed the dragon's soul and then casually walked to the inn. I needed a rest! And hopefully I could finally unload some equipment for gold.

Sadly the innkeeper was only interested in food and ingredients. I paid for a nights stay and chose to sleep til morning, there was a long walk ahead tomorrow!

Early the next morning, Lydia and I departed for the summit. Along the way we met some pilgrims, a snow leopard and a snow troll. Goodness knows how the pilgrims got passed those fearsome creatures without dying. (Perhaps they just snuck by, something I find difficult with Lydia in tow)

The snow was relentless. Visibility was very poor and the cold was biting. We eventually made it to the summit as the weather began to clear..

We'd arrived.

[/quote']

[Monkeyboy]

Some of the starting mission objectives that end up in the miscellaneous folder are remarkable vague. One of them is 'find evidence of someone's past' and another is 'find a sword you read about' - they could be anywhere!

You can mark them, and the game will show you where to go on the map, just like with normal quests. Just select whichever miscellaneous quest you want to do. To be honest, I find it's essential to do that sometimes. My miscellaneous list is so vast now, that I can't remember what half of the quests are about.

[Teeohbee]

So what's the advantage of clairvoyance over your bog standard map marker?

Apart from the roleplaying aspect of it of course!

Also, got my Khajiit Sneaky Archer off the ground and I'm wondering what magic skill would make a good accompaniment. Illusion looks useful for the invisibility spell only, while conjuration looks like it could provide good meat shields. Have bound weapons/armour been any good in any of the ES games?

[robdood]

You can go back to the guardian stones at any time though, and change which one is active. I just changed to the Warrior one for a bit.

There are more than just those three as well. You can read a book in the game that updates your map with their locations, or use your burlap effect map (there are red crosses in the locations)

[robdood]

You can mark them, and the game will show you where to go on the map, just like with normal quests. Just select whichever miscellaneous quest you want to do. To be honest, I find it's essential to do that sometimes. My miscellaneous list is so vast now, that I can't remember what half of the quests are about.

Not all quests have a marker, I have one active right now that has no marker..

I wonder if clairvoyance will work for these types of quests?

[Argh]

I was very tired when I played this last night, so I may have imagined this, but...if you're overburdened and can't run, you can still go a little bit faster than a walk by notching an arrow and holding it without firing. If you sneak you do a crouch-walk which isn't exactly running, but is still faster than the snail-pace when you're carrying the entire inventory of a million bandits and a mammoth.

Just be sure to put your bow away without letting go of your "fire" button when you're done walking if you don't want to waste the arrow.

Oh, and as for missing those standing stones, the bloody NPC when you come out of Helgen does go "we should split up", then he runs off. The first time, I didn't follow him either, cos I thought he'd basically told me not to (but I found the stones anyway).

[Hello Goaty ♥]

I've got 4000 and something gold coins at the moment, and people keep noticing im carrying money

regards being rich as fuck then, whats the best house to buy? are the 5000 gold ones okay? or just keep going and buy something BIGGER!

[csuzw]

I'm actually thinking of turning miscellaneous quest tracking off. I'm spending far too long doing them, meaning my proper quests are stacking up uncontrollably.

[moosegrinder]

Gnnnnnnnn. On an escort mission with character and Lydia in tow when I come across an elf. He tries to sell me drugs and gets stroppy when I say it's not entirely legal. So, he puts up his duke, I get my massive bastard sword out and give him what for only for him to suddenly heal fully and tell me he'll let me off this time. The next thing I know, there's a notification of a 1000 bounty being added to Whiterun and the NPC I'm escorting runs off screaming! What the fuck?! HE STARTED ON ME! Then the guards from the nearby tower show up and start shooting arrows and shit so Lydia, bless her heart, starts wading in a laying into the guards.

*sigh*

*reload autosave*

[Cosmic_Guru]

A very combat heavy session last night.

The first dragon is a pussy! Clearly not levelled so probably a deal more challenging if you go straight into this quest. I just waltzed up the tower and steadied my bow with lightening damage, took the fire breath full on and he went down in about 3 hits.

That was the easy bit. I bought the house, acquired the legendary Lydea, took her out for a stroll to cap some bandit chief but that turned out to be a very short quest, dumped her back home and then spent about 4 hours just doing two quests, one for the thieves guild which involved a bit of arson and one Radiant quest for the Companions, not even a full blown story line quest. The latter took place at Faldan's tooth and it was very challenging, I needed every potion and poison, every defensive and recovery spell, a soul trap enchanted sword to keep my fire sword and lightening bow charged up and so on but I made it to the objective finally (a levitation spell would have done the trick with this situation straight away since it was essentially the highest tower of the fort, to get to which you had to clear out the defenders outside, then crawl round the structure to reach). So I top the chief, select the loot to carry back and put my head down for a nap.....only to be rudely waken by some bounty hunters so there was a madscrap chase away from there.

The upshot of both quests was a bunch of points added to one handed, archery, sneak and light armour, but it was a bruising encounter.

As for AI intelligence, in my experience they don't just stand around waiting to be hit - if you raise a bow at an archer or mage they do a little sidestep away, the melee ones just charge. I think maybe I need to bring Lydea along for the ride for future Companions quests.

I have also noticed in town that guards will say "Don't think I don't recognise that thieve's guild armour"

Tonight I go back to the Thieves guild questline and then plan another epic trek - maybe west of Riften along the southern edges of the map).

[Talk Show Host]

Oh no, the talk of other ways of playing the game make me want to restart! I'm playing a mage, but haven't focussed on one school of magic particularly - I mainly use Destruction, Conjuration and Restoration, of course - which means I haven't really specialised.

Now all this talk of enchanted weapons makes me want to start a new game as my original idea, a hack and slasher Redguard enchanted to the max. Or a Khajiit thief type. Or an archer. Damn, too many ways to play the game!

Ι have actually started as a pure mage, but now my character doesn't want to reveal his abilities that often. So I equipped a great, one handed axe (waiting for a proper sword) with an enchantment and I'm wearing a studded leather armor, improved on the Skyforge. I'm beggining to enchant my weapons and armor, while at the same time I'm upping my alchemy skills and I have plenty of useful potions.

Despite being a mage I go to battles now with a melee mentality and a healing spell on the left hand. Only when things get really tough I reveal my full mage self, my dual casting and my dragonborn shouts.

I can sense the enemies' terror at that time, "what the fuck, he is the legenary dragonborn mage?? Ruuuuuuuuuuun..."

Then a mudcrab kills me.

[Flub]

So what's the advantage of clairvoyance over your bog standard map marker?

While you're powering it you get a glowing blue line that leads directly to your current objective. A bit like Fable. Handy to have but not something you'd get a lot of use out of. When you do find you need it however it's excellent.

[Cosmic_Guru]

You can mark them, and the game will show you where to go on the map, just like with normal quests. Just select whichever miscellaneous quest you want to do. To be honest, I find it's essential to do that sometimes. My miscellaneous list is so vast now, that I can't remember what half of the quests are about.

I think that's a bit of a strange design decision. This game is so vast that most players will sooner or later decide to have a break, play something else and come back later. How on earth do you then remember who was looking for some bird? Even a two liner, Dude X in Riftin jail is looking for Chick Y would help. Rumours are one thing and can be separately listed but a wee bit more info on miscellaneous quests wouldn't go amiss.

[Flub]

Oh man. I just have to level conjuration. If only for this spell

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Dead_Thrall

Permazombie buddies. Shit doesn't get any more epic than this.