Skyrim IV: Oblivion

[Ulysses WkAmil]

I can see the Redguard vs. Aldmeri argument being a good one. But, one would assume the Redgaurd were A. Fighting on their soil, in climates they're better equipped to fight in and B. Were only fighting a portion of the Dominion. If it had been the whole army, who knows.
I'd think the Dominion would either muddle around in Skyrim a bit more until their forces are ready for a grueling war against a Dragonslayer and Co. or (on a bit more far-fetched note) split up the Empire completely to the point where it can sweep through a few countries without fighting a large concentration of humans. Just my thoughts, sorry if i missed some lore there.

[Coidzor]

I can see the Redguard vs. Aldmeri argument being a good one. But, one would assume the Redgaurd were A. Fighting on their soil, in climates they're better equipped to fight in and B. Were only fighting a portion of the Dominion. If it had been the whole army, who knows.

It was their whole army, after they'd squandered most of it and lost it in the Imperial counter attack. As they attacked Hammerfell after it broke with the Empire after the White-Gold Concordat.

So they were no longer fighting the Empire at that time.

[t209]

It was their whole army, after they'd squandered most of it and lost it in the Imperial counter attack. As they attacked Hammerfell after it broke with the Empire after the White-Gold Concordat.

So they were no longer fighting the Empire at that time.

Or maybe they have weak army but sacrifice them to bluff the humans.

[Triaxx]

aberratio ictus: If you're on the PC, try out Balanced Magic. It adjusts the perks for Alteration so the main line of them boosts the duration of Alteration spells, as well as lowering magicka costs, and replaces mage armor with both a permanent version and Less is more which reduces spell costs across the board.

It also alters the Destruction tree to improve damage as you go up the Novice>Master line. Much improved scaling.

Also, Midas Magic 007b seems to solve the crash problem, but ensure that it's the last thing loaded in the order for maximum stability. I was having issues with the Midden and moving it to the last spot in the order corrected them.

Of course, the CTD's all seem to happen randomly now, but I just save a lot and live with it.

A backstab wizard with Ebonyflesh is quite nasty. Even if you don't kill them on the first blow you can drop invisible without dying. Midas Magic is useful since it brings back Bound Dagger. (And adds a burning death laser just for fun. Mad love for the burning death laser.)

[LordShotGun]

Has anyone tried the new nexus mod manager? It is literally one touch mod installation and management. Granted it is in beta but so far I have had ZERO crashes with it and this is adding about 10 major mods (gameplay and difficulty mods) and 30 or so minor mods (item and texture mods).

If you want, it can automatically download stable updates to the mod you downloaded.

The only downside is that it requires a nexus account, but since you need one anyway to download the larger mods, you should have one anyway.

[druid91]

I discovered an interesting glitch today, I was training alteration in the riften marketplace, using telekinesis and detect life, when I knocked the bucket I was using for a telekinetic target down, and I used manipulate object to pick it up, at which point the bucket and myself rose into the air, flying out of the city, I stopped myself, but I could control the angle of flight, and everything. Soared clear over the marketplace into the blacksmith. Right over one of those massive canals.

[Avilan the Grey]

aberratio ictus: If you're on the PC, try out Balanced Magic. It adjusts the perks for Alteration so the main line of them boosts the duration of Alteration spells, as well as lowering magicka costs, and replaces mage armor with both a permanent version and Less is more which reduces spell costs across the board.

Admittedly I have only dabbled in magic so far, but I have seen several lets playds as well as friends play mages and so far it seems more like Magic is more in line with melee, than that it is underpowered. In virtually all other game franchises all mages are extremely overpowered. Not here.

My only problem is that Bethesda STILL haven't figured out how to make a pure mage compare to a battlemage, but then Bioware fell in the same trap with DA:O.

Has anyone tried the new nexus mod manager? It is literally one touch mod installation and management. Granted it is in beta but so far I have had ZERO crashes with it and this is adding about 10 major mods (gameplay and difficulty mods) and 30 or so minor mods (item and texture mods).

I have used it since day one. It is absolutely wonderful; I only wish that people making the mods would number their versions correctly so the manager won't get confused.

In other news, my great plan of 7 characters has gone through it's first two changes - One substitution, one cancellation:

First I deleted my new female Sword and Board Orc, because I felt I had already done Orc. I replaced her with a fierce but beautiful female Redguard Sword And Board that I played up to the point where I deleted the orc.
I also ditched LLarel, the Dunmer Spellsword. She was just... boring.

So now we are down to six, and I really like playing with all of them.

Right now I feel the strongest for my Imperial Necromancer, who I guess will be lucky finding coins LATER, but when she left Riverwood to hike all the way to the College in Winterhold she had to do so barefoot (my fault; I had sold her robe since I first intended to play her as a dual wielder figher, so she had to cough up money for a new robe) in the cold. And when she finally had walked all those miles in the snow barefoot, she got to the small town and the store had NO boots at all! Luckily for her when she made it over the walkway to the college her new uniform came with a pair of boots, finally.

Btw here is a tip for people who do the College as your first major quest (she has not done the golden claw yet):

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The Draugr Wright is still there, and impossible to kill at that level. However just backpedal into the room with the gate and close it. it can't get to you and just pump it full of spells (sparks goes through the door, flames seems to get stuck on the bars).

[Suedars]

Admittedly I have only dabbled in magic so far, but I have seen several lets playds as well as friends play mages and so far it seems more like Magic is more in line with melee, than that it is underpowered. In virtually all other game franchises all mages are extremely overpowered. Not here.

Destruction scales extremely poorly making it quite underpowered at high levels. It's a one-trick pony school completely dependent upon abusing Enchanting so that you can get free spells allowing you to spam doublecasted spells, stunlocking your opponent with Impact (though it still takes forever to kill anything since you do so little damage). Aside from that (which is one of the main focuses of Balanced Magic which allows Destruction to scale while nerfing Impact), magic is generally fairly decently balanced, though the Mage Armor spells are a little underpowered.

[Avilan the Grey]

Destruction scales extremely poorly making it quite underpowered at high levels. It's a one-trick pony school completely dependent upon abusing Enchanting so that you can get free spells allowing you to spam doublecasted spells, stunlocking your opponent with Impact (though it still takes forever to kill anything since you do so little damage). Aside from that (which is one of the main focuses of Balanced Magic which allows Destruction to scale while nerfing Impact), magic is generally fairly decently balanced, though the Mage Armor spells are a little underpowered.

How much of this is observed by players that play on "standard" difficulty (whatever it is called in this game)? I am just asking because I remember similar discussions regarding a lot of other games, where what it really boiled down to was that the game was "unbalanced" on the highest difficulty.

Edit: also, I don't think focusing on a single form of spellcasting is a very good idea... to use destruction as your only offensive weapon is the equivalent of nerfing your thief or fighter deliberately along the lines of "only using daggers" or "use one-handed weapons without a shield OR a spell OR another weapon.

Heck, ALL my characters are at least knowledgeable around bows and arrows, for this very reason (even the mages). And both my mages will be leveling at least two schools of magic each (illusion and conjuring for one, and conjuring and destruction for the other).

[LordShotGun]

Heck, ALL my characters are at least knowledgeable around bows and arrows, for this very reason (even the mages). And both my mages will be leveling at least two schools of magic each (illusion and conjuring for one, and conjuring and destruction for the other).

I agree wholeheartedly with the bows part. Considering that the main enemies in the game are melee (BEARS!!!, you can forget unmodded dragons). It is always a wise idea to take a few pots shots if you can, preferably from stealth if possible.

[factotum]

Edit: also, I don't think focusing on a single form of spellcasting is a very good idea...

The enemy mages certainly believe that...necromancers raise corpses to do their bidding, but they'll spray ice or fire in your face as well.

[druid91]

I tend to go for three schools. This time it's Alteration, Destruction and conjuration.

Paralysis and bound weaponry rocks.

[DiscipleofBob]

My main mage character only used Destruction magic, and it worked out just fine. Had a follower tank who would (hopefully) snipe dragons enough to bring them down. Never used other schools except for a little bit of Restoration to keep my health up. They were just too much of a drain on magic. I was even stuck using the basic level of spells until I was almost done with the Thieves' Guild questline and realized I should really get some new spells, but before then I'd slain plenty of dragons and took down two dragon high priests found just by exploring. I even put all my stat boosts in magic just because it irritated my warrior-playing fiance to no end to see me at level 20 with 100 health and stamina. Eventually I got a little One-Handed in there when I found a sword with a health absorbing enchantment, at which point I just ceased to care about enemies. And with Firebolt I no longer needed to count on Lydia to snipe things.

[Zorg]

In other news, my great plan of 7 characters has gone through it's first two changes - One substitution, one cancellation:

So are you going to eliminte them one by one until you're left with the ultimate character?


I also go three schools:
Axe
Sword
Fist

[Silverraptor]

So, I'm a little confused with enchanting. Mainly the soul gems. When you use one, I assume that means it destroys the gem, not just empty it. And if that's true, is there a way to make soul gems than to just pick up all the petty and common empty gems littered around the crypts everywhere.

[druid91]

So, I'm a little confused with enchanting. Mainly the soul gems. When you use one, I assume that means it destroys the gem, not just empty it. And if that's true, is there a way to make soul gems than to just pick up all the petty and common empty gems littered around the crypts everywhere.

Buy them from merchants.

Though the best way is to get the black-star. Then just soul trap a bandit.

[Silverraptor]

Buy them from merchants.

Though the best way is to get the black-star. Then just soul trap a bandit.

Black star?

[Dhavaer]

Black star?

A reward from one of the daedric quests. Indestructible black soul gem.

[LordShotGun]

A reward from one of the daedric quests. Indestructible black soul gem.

FYI black soul gems = grand soul gems in power but are immensely easier to fill from random bandit camps and the like.

[druid91]

And it's not one of the evil quests either!

No cannabalism, backstabbing, or mass-murder necessary!(Unless you count obliterating a necromancer coven, and killing their soul-eating disembodied master mass-murder... then yes there is mass-murder. A whole lot of mass-murder.)

[LordShotGun]

And it's not one of the evil quests either!

No cannabalism, backstabbing, or mass-murder necessary!(Unless you count obliterating a necromancer coven, and killing their soul-eating disembodied master mass-murder... then yes there is mass-murder. A whole lot of mass-murder.)

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Not to forget that to earn the black soul gem as was stated before you actually do have to betray someone. Someone very powerful and angry that you spoiled her relic.

[druid91]

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Meh, I like Sheogorath better anyway. Besides if azura wanted her star so bad she could get off her lazy omnipotent butt and get it. Instead she sent me. She can see the future. So she knew what I would do all along. Thus it's her idiocy for sending me anyway.

[factotum]

And it's not one of the evil quests either!

No cannabalism, backstabbing, or mass-murder necessary!(Unless you count obliterating a necromancer coven, and killing their soul-eating disembodied master mass-murder... then yes there is mass-murder. A whole lot of mass-murder.)

And then there's the whole "having to murder people to fill the gem" once you've got it, of course...

[Qwertystop]

And then there's the whole "having to murder people to fill the gem" once you've got it, of course...

You generally end up killing random bandits over the course of the game anyway.

Think of it this way: You kill someone. You waste nothing. You take their equipment and sell, craft, or use it. If you're a werewolf, you might eat their corpse. If you're a necromancer, you use their corpse as a soldier.

Why waste the soul?

[The_Jackal]

And then there's the whole "having to murder people to fill the gem" once you've got it, of course...

Elder Scrolls is basically the Grand Theft Auto of the fantasy world. If there's a crime someone's thought up, you can commit it in Elder Scrolls. There's no denying that Skyrim has a villainous slant, after all if you join the Dark Brotherhood, you get an epic series of assassination missions, culminating in

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the Emperor himself

If, on the other hand, you turn them down, you get one mission to wipe out the Dark Brotherhood, and are rewarded with a shiny rock.

The same pattern shows itself in a number of quest lines, where the good option is either non-existent or merely perfunctory.

[Beowulf DW]

Buy them from merchants.

Though the best way is to get the black-star. Then just soul trap a bandit.

You can mine soul gems as well. There's quite a few veins (along with everything else) in Blackreach.

[druid91]

You can mine soul gems as well. There's quite a few veins (along with everything else) in Blackreach.

I love blackreach... I wish there was an option to start another hold in it's ruins. With the dragonborn as Jarl of course.

[Coidzor]

The same pattern shows itself in a number of quest lines, where the good option is either non-existent or merely perfunctory.

Yup. Bethesda is sending a clear moral lesson. Being good gets you less content. No one let Jack Thompson's successors know.

IIRC, they have a similar problem with speech options, wherein rather than presenting alternate routes or different game content, they mostly just serve to skip portions of it with nothing interesting in return.

So, basically, you're encouraged to be an inveterate murderhobo, just like a proper adventurer!

[Avilan the Grey]

So are you going to eliminte them one by one until you're left with the ultimate character?


I also go three schools:
Axe
Sword
Fist

Not all the way, but more eliminate those that turns out to be boring. So far the plan has only eliminated one character... will be MANY hours spent in the game if I continue all six left...

[t209]

The same pattern shows itself in a number of quest lines, where the good option is either non-existent or merely perfunctory.

Actually, the Malacath Quest

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The cursed orc tribe was not a cruel act, it was to punish Chief Yamars who was a weak to protect his people. He was kinda an jerk and gloryhound who deserve to die. Skyrim quest are greyscale though (Some Daedric Quest). Sheogorath quest can also be intepreted as trying to sooth the mad emperor's mind.