201 replies to this topic

[JRPomazon]

[Sir Deimos]

I'm so very scared... I could see that easily becoming a television show, were Bethesda to allow it.

[Elvenlord]

Relevant:

[chef]

I'd so watch that show.

[Showsni]

eah, that's sort of where I'm at too. I'm pretty crazy about having good computer hardware; my laptop has an Intel i7 and ATI Radeon 5870, so I think I shouldn't have a problem with Skyrim. I'd totally love to walk across the street to Target and pick up a copy right now. But I haven't played Zelda SS yet. And to do so I need to go out and buy a used Wii. And that requires me to get off my lazy ass.

...what to do?

Get off your lazy donkey and buy a Wii!

[Ninja]

For they My Little Pony fans in the Skyrim section....

[DarkJuno]

All right, so Skyward Sword was completed with all Heart Pieces and items at the end of December, and with a whole whack of Best Buy Reward Zone points and Christmas gift cards, it was a pretty natural time to finally grab Skyrim (and also Assassin's Creed Revelations, but that's another story. And I need to finish Brotherhood).

Better late then never.

First thing's first, as a PS3 gamer, Bethesda games have an infamous reputation as I'm sure most have begun to hear. All those PC and 360 bugs? Yeah, multiply that by 10 and you get the PS3 version, except it's almost random who gets hit with glitches and who doesn't. For every one I've played previously (Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas though that last one's techncially Obsidian) there are always people where the game runs flawlessly from start to the end of the DLC, and there are as many people where the game explodes and murders itself by becoming completely unplayable without any add-ons installed. And there are just as many people who run between those two extremes, it's just a game of Russian roulette at times. Myself, I had no problems whatsoever with Oblivion, even with Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles. Fallout 3 froze on me once late game, got a little slow twice in Brotherhood of Steel, and then forced me to constantly save in Operation Anchorage since it seemed like it froze everytime I sneezed, making that a pain and a great relief to finish. Point Lookout, The Pitt and Mothership Zeta all varied between Brotherhood and Achorage.

I don't even want to talk about how New Vegas treated me.

Hopefully Skyrim will be closer to my Oblivion experience as far as techncial issues goes, so I'm crossing my fingers. Tangent over, actual game talk now.

Only about 10 hours in thus far and only killed two dragons - the story one at the tower and a random one in the middle of a field - but I am liking this much more then Oblivion so far, though where it stands compared to Morrowind, we'll have to see. I'm avoiding the main story for the most part, even dealing with a couple of the non-misc. sidequest threads before ever giving the Dragonstone back to the court wizard, though it's less by purpose and more because I'm just interested where it's going, which is a good sign. I like the looks, the environments are amazing and expansive, and I love how Radiant AI is working here, better then it ever worked in the two Fallouts they made - even the glitches are mostly amusing at the Red Dead Redemption level (the ones regarding the system I mean, not the technical ones). That second random dragon encounter I mentioned actually was going quite well for me considering that I had stupidly told Lydia to go back home for some reason until I stupidly backed up into a creek and mudcrabs starting biting at my knees. Not a problem normally, but when a dragon is breathing fire at you that's a deadly distraction. So what happend? A friggin' WILD MAMMOTH (not owned by any giant) came charging over the hill compeltely unantagonized and smacked one of the crabs seemingly into the horizon and held the rest at bay while I turned my full attention back to the dragon.

Dragon & Mud Crabs VS. Dragonborn & Mammoth. Would've been nice if he gave me a hand against the actual dragon, before I whittled it down to almsot nothing, but whatever. If there was a way to tame and own that mammoth I'd have done it because I love the thing now, and I kinda smile whenever I see it grazing around out there - any thoughts I'd have had of killing it because it has no giant guarding it are gone at this point, alas. I expect many more instances of random unscripted events colliding into each other in delightful awesome trainwrecks in thsi game.

I wills ay though, much like how....annoyed I got with Oblivion replacing the Morag Tong with that damn Dark Brotherhood (yes, I know the brotherhood is a splinter from the guild) I'm annoyed at the Fighters' Guild being replaced by the Companions. I understand that these are vikings so it makes sense, but I just don't like them as much as the guild, and...

Spoiler

...frankly, I don't want to be a werewolf, it just doesn't fit my character's sensibilities. I did it anyway because it's pretty obvious from the way the (not)leader talks that there is a cure like in Blood Moon, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Though I admit, it may have to do with how it seems way too easy to be accepted into the groups now then before. You had to move the planet to finally be accepted as an equal in the Fighters Guild, yet here, all I had to do was fistfight an old woman (oh that wacky Radiant AI!) before being given the standard "This is the mission where you prove your worth!" mission immediately afterwards, complete with learning a small piece of the closely guarded secret that you have to work to be trustworthy enough to fully be told. Except that after going and killing a wolf that broke into someone's house, you're shuffled off into the secret room to be accepted into the inner circle.

What.

Anyway, small nitpicks really. I'm sure I'll be obsessed with this game just fine. Still curious about marriage despite everyone saying it's not worth it, though it's apparently best to wait till later in the game so you'll have guests at the ceremony? Ah, time will tell.

Oh, and for the record, playing basically as the same type of character I played in Morrowind and Oblivion - Nord Warrior dabbling in just enough magic, lockpicking and speech to get by but almost exclusively focused on DPS-style melee. Worked before, will work again, though I am very interested in smithing, but I don't know if I'm interested enough to go all the way and do the 100 attribute points to forge dragon armor.

Edited by DarkJuno, 10 January 2012 - 04:00 AM.

[Sir Deimos]

I actually was one of the lucky few with relatively minor bugs and glitches. Then my save file got larger than 10k, and now it's like playing a god damn slideshow.

[BurgundyTears]

My husband is playing, and as far as I can tell, Skyrim is possibly the most in-game racist iteration of the series. If you're a Nord, everyone but your own race hates you. If you're not a Nord, all the Nords hate you, and there's way more of them than the others. And the Nords have a kind of "go Nord!" thing going on, so I wonder if your experience with the Companions might have been different as say...a Khajit.

Edited by BurgundyTears, 10 January 2012 - 03:57 PM.

[Khallos]

Got it last week and have been dabbling with two characters:

A warrior Nord, as viking as possible (not the same dedication as my friend who never takes off his stormcloak armour). Reasonable sneak for those Conan suprises a wizard moments but otherwise a stormcloak supporting hero of Skyrim (struggling to be racist enough), generally do quests with the opinion of I will kill and loot whatever I consider against me or the Nords. And take being dragonborn seriously.

A mage/thief imperial (with some dual wielding). Being the biggest ass possible, totally self serving and generally not giving a shit about anything other than self service. Supports the stormcloaks because the struggle for Skyrim allows for so much lovely killing and looting, why not prolong it?


The second character levels fast and is also more fun to play...but I guess the first has more of a storyline. Really need to make a Legion guy in the future and quash those damn rebels...

[TheAvengerLever]

Lost all my save data because I can't set the autosave in this game to just save over one slot. It has to create several to autosave and I keep having to delete them. As I was trying to figure out a way to make it autosave for one slot I got killed, and moments before I had completely deleted all my saves. I know it was my mistake, but what the fuck, autosave? What. The fuck.

[Ikiosho]

I have no means to play Skyrim. Ever. At all. So I went out and bought Morrowind with some expansions, I heard it's the best replacement?

[Dizzy]

Not by a long shot, IMO.

[Fin]

i started skyrim the other day. i have done nothing else since.

incidentally, skyrim is the closest i've come to replicating my experiences with the original zelda on a modern game. nintendo should take notes.

[Elvenlord]

i started skyrim the other day. i have done nothing else since.

THIS OMG THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS

[Ikiosho]

Not by a long shot, IMO.

Reeeeeeallly? What could I do to replace it then?

[Elvenlord]

Get something able to play Skyrim.

[Selena]

Morrowind is considered by many to be the best of the series, even including Skyrim. I have not played it myself, but you should be more than fine.

[Ikiosho]

That saves me about $350. Thanks Lenabear.

[Selena]

The major upside to Morrowind is that its landscape is very fantasy-heavy. All sorts of things that don't exist in the real world. Whereas Oblivion and Skyrim are both fairly realistic in terms of the scenery. So, although pretty, it's more fun to explore a totally foreign world. Exploration was Morrowind's big selling point. And, arguably, the plot is bigger and with higher stakes. The game interface is just a little clunkier because of how old it is.


edit: OH! And if you want a little Skyrim-lite, get Morrowind's Bloodmoon expansion. Takes place on an island near Skyrim, lots of Nord culture and werewolves and stuff.

[Ikiosho]

Bloodmoon and Tribunal come with this disc.

[DarkJuno]

Morrowind is very much the "weird" installment to the series. Yes, you have the typical high fantasy type tropes in play, but then you also have giant mushroom forests, land squid monsters and giant insects used to travel form town to twon rather then horse carriage to name just a small bit. I also always liked it a lot more then Oblivion graphics aside, but take that with the knowledge that it was also the first entry in the series I ever played so my bais is obvious. Still, I think it's worth a look unless the graphics and interface just bother you that much, though you []could[/i] always also buy Oblivion on the PC and download the Morrowind Mod. Yeah, it's Beta and thus buggy, but.....well, I don't think any Bethesda game is ever finally bug and glitch free on any platform.

Oh, and here's my character so far. Was going to make a bearded guy but, like usual lately, I decided to do something completely different instead.



Still a Nord, so meh.

Edited by DarkJuno, 12 January 2012 - 01:03 AM.

[Fin]

oh my god, lydia is charmingly inept. my favourite is how she keeps insisting on getting us in fights we can't win. i've learned to make her wait far away while i check out those weird giant camp sites. the first time we explored one together ended... not good.

i want to keep her forever.

http://www.rockpaper...im-lydia-death/

Edited by princess hypercortisonism, 12 January 2012 - 08:52 AM.

[Khallos]

As generic as she is, its the simple fact she is sworn to you that makes her better than all those other sellswords. I even said I'd climb the 7000 steps alone, it was my personal pilgramage - then this frost troll started killing me so I went and got her, damn useful distraction. Unfortunately she does tend to crouch in injury near deadly opponents who I rush in and kill and then swipe her accidently...

Although I'm dropping her asap on my mage-thief, she can't stealth for shit.

[BurgundyTears]

My husband doesn't have Lydia or any other companion follow him. The only time I see Lydia is when he's in his house and she stands in the doorway of a room he's trying to leave and she yells at him for shoving her aside (because there's no way to say "um, you're in my way...").

I'm going to have to tell him how to move objects. He's been using his Shout that pushes people (and corpses, and objects...). The author of that article shouldn't feel bad about conversing with the NPCs. I talk to Warmachine models when I'm painting them.

[Selena]

I usually travel alone for stealth purposes, but I drag a few companions around for certain open battles and misadventures. Just for kicks. I actually never use Lydia much. She just sits around my house and cooks.

I always traveled with Mjoll the Lioness (now also wife) instead, because she can't be killed and does impressive damage with two-handed axes. And says various things while you travel, so she's not completely boring. I think she's one of the strongest NPCs in the game. Also not bad with sword and shield, but that's only if I need her to on defense for whatever reason. Only thing with Mjoll is, unless you want to slowly lose your mind, you need to discreetly kill her wussy, obnoxious roommate. Because he will follow you to your home.

[DarkJuno]

I gotta say, I like how some of the random dragons that appear in the world are completely and totally unhostile to you or anyone else unless you tick them off. Spotting my second one I made a point of running up the nearby cliff and was pretty much a foot away as it flew by. Took one look at me as it swooped by and.....totally left me alone. I rather like that, and with all the ones that are incredibly hsotile towards you, it's a nice touch to be able to just see them fly around with no fear of being attacked.

Also, after having forged steel plate armor for my girl there - surely it's actually more of a weakness to mold boobs into the armor then whatever comfort it might give, right? At the very least it tells the enemy exactly where to hit to break her sternum. <.<

[Sir Deimos]

As far as real armor goes, you're 100%a right. Boob molds would just guide an attacker's blade right towards the heart. The blade would have a hell of a time piercing the metal, but it's still not something that'd ever actually been done.

[Fin]

well yeah, but women's armour in fiction is never designed with practicality in mind.

i'm still happily ignoring the plot while i chart the land. and i gotta second your point about dragons, dj. there's something awesomely majestic about watching them just fly by. and nothing makes me feel more useless than when i attempt to antagonise only to have them ignore me. i look forward to when i have the power to make them pay for their arrogance.

Edited by princess hypercortisonism, 15 January 2012 - 03:14 AM.

[Selena]

Well, if nothing else, modern female Elder Scrolls armor has improved drastically since the days of the first game!