Skyrim V: Skyrim

[pffh]

Not familiar with Ingjard. And I don't give a flying flip who's "hotter", I'd just like a relationship built on more than a doing a favor for them - preferably with someone who has a personality and no exes that will be moving in with them.

Hey me and what's her name in Whiterun built up a long and stable relationship by me handing her a mammoth tusk.

[God Imperror]

Hey how does everyone do?

Regarding dawnguard Calemyr gave great notes a couple more comments :)

Arvak is great as my Shadowmere suicided jumping from a cliff and you can summon it, almost anywhere so if you are in a big map (some underground dwemer ruins are big) it is a great help.

The are at least two new shouts

Spoiler

Show

Durneveir is a great shout and once you learn it and you use it you can summon the zombie dragon, the first three times that you summon him he teaches you words of a new shout, that if they kill an enemy gives you a soul and raise the victim as a zombie. After that he can be summoned an fights by summoning zombies to fight

Crossbows are nice, the best crossbow is slightly less powerful than the new dragonbone bow but it ignores 50% armor and imho charges faster so its okay. I am playing with a crossbow at the moment and its great.

[Calemyr]

Crossbows are nice, the best crossbow is slightly less powerful than the new dragonbone bow but it ignores 50% armor and imho charges faster so its okay. I am playing with a crossbow at the moment and its great.

Crossbows also have exploding bolts, which only cost elemental salts. Adding an extra 10-15 points of AoE elemental damage is kinda nice.

There's also one other shout - Drain Vitality, which drains health, stamina, and magicka from the target and applies it to you. It's pretty bugged, though - if you don't finish Marked for Death first, buying words from one shout can screw up the other.

[Triaxx]

I'm pretty sure there's a mod to make Serana marriagable available on nexus.

[druid91]

I was actually rather dissapointed in general with the whole marriage thing.

At first that it actually existed because I'm prejudiced against romantic subplots in videogames.

Then at how little storyline is involved.

Then at the fact that noone it would make any sort of sense to marry is marriageble.

So I can safely say that mostly it has succeeded in undershooting my expectations. Surprising.

[Somebloke]

...still better than Fable's system.

[The_Jackal]

I was actually rather dissapointed in general with the whole marriage thing.

At first that it actually existed because I'm prejudiced against romantic subplots in videogames.

Then at how little storyline is involved.

Then at the fact that noone it would make any sort of sense to marry is marriageble.

So I can safely say that mostly it has succeeded in undershooting my expectations. Surprising.

The root problem is that Romance isn't something that game designers have done a very good job at conveying in video games, even if gamers might be receptive to such emotions. I'm not against marriage being available, but it would be nice if they gave the whole premise a bit more thought than 'here's a weird way to get a few in-game perks'.

[DigoDragon]

Hey me and what's her name in Whiterun built up a long and stable relationship by me handing her a mammoth tusk.

LOL


Somewhere between the Whiterun stable and Secunda's Kiss (giant camp) I found a horse standing by a dead Nord. The Nord had a letter on her that said something to the effect of "If you're reading this, I'm likely dead. Bandits took everything, killed my family, I'm off to get revenge."
It didn't start any quest or update my map so it seemed a bit random. Dunno why I still have the letter. It just seems so... mysterious.

Horse wandered away after a day. I should of claimed it, it wasn't marked as owned.

[God Imperror]

Crossbows also have exploding bolts, which only cost elemental salts. Adding an extra 10-15 points of AoE elemental damage is kinda nice.

My enchantment and smiting is just so over the top that the 10-15 damage increase is not significant, though it is a nice visual effect. Regardless every enemy except from some lucky dragons die in one shot from either the bow or the crossbow so it is not relevant.

[Triaxx]

I never actually bothered with the marriage thing. I don't really mind romantic side quests as long as they're well done.

Of course, Bethesda is also at the bottom of the list of people I'd select to write a romance of any sort.

[Calemyr]

I never actually bothered with the marriage thing. I don't really mind romantic side quests as long as they're well done.

Of course, Bethesda is also at the bottom of the list of people I'd select to write a romance of any sort.

I fear I may have made the wrong impression. Romance doesn't factor into this game. Romance means something different for each and every character, and the Dovahkiin is a blank slate character you put your own thoughts into. There is no practical way to add something meaningful to everyone in that aspect.

What I have been talking about is the relationships the Dk can make. These basically revolve around the Dk doing something for someone or simply outranking them.

Serana represents a new kind of relationship for the Dk - one where both sides are active participants (for at least as long as the Dawnguard main quest), where the foundation of the relationship is slow and carefully built, layer by layer, experience by experience, until Serana is willing to tell off her own mother in favor of a vampire hunter. Seriously, think about that. And that's probably not even halfway through the quest line.

By the way, does she not use the traditional follower slot? Both Katria and Farkas were able to join and leave the party without having to go find her later. I turned off Ultimate Follower Overhaul before starting Dawnguard, out of fear of screwing up Serana's scripts. That would be kinda nice.

Besides that, the only follower I can think of that might have more personality is Mjoll.

[Kaun]

I find the explosive bolts are nice for lighting up oil patches from range in stealth.

[Maugan Ra]

LOL


Somewhere between the Whiterun stable and Secunda's Kiss (giant camp) I found a horse standing by a dead Nord. The Nord had a letter on her that said something to the effect of "If you're reading this, I'm likely dead. Bandits took everything, killed my family, I'm off to get revenge."
It didn't start any quest or update my map so it seemed a bit random. Dunno why I still have the letter. It just seems so... mysterious.

Horse wandered away after a day. I should of claimed it, it wasn't marked as owned.

I ran into something similar while wandering around the Reach. Only in my case, it was an old lady who'd been determined to retrieve a ring from the bandits, the only thing she had left of... I think it was her son. Woman was attacking three forsworn with nothing but a kitchen knife.

I gave her an improvised pyre on the mountainside after she died, with said ring on her person. Felt like the right sort of thing to do. Plus, hey, fire.

[DigoDragon]

I gave her an improvised pyre on the mountainside after she died, with said ring on her person. Felt like the right sort of thing to do. Plus, hey, fire.

Neat! Its those little random things you find that make the game interesting. I've been collecting the odd notes and letters I find like that, such as apparent love letters where one or both the lovers perished in some way.


Speaking of random, I had a funny encounter hit me yesterday. I had cleared the "Dead Man's Respite" dungeon and upon leaving it was about 10PM in-game. I decided to walk back to Solitude instead of using Fast Travel to fill a few low-level soul gems. On the way I found a bandit camp (Robber's Gorge) and didn't feel like getting into a fight so I tried sneaking around it.

Trouble was, they spotted my partner and attacked us so I pulled out my bow and defended myself. Halfway through the fight an elder dragon shows up. The bandits collectively freak out and run for cover. I fight the dragon and managed to slay it with only minor difficulty. The bandits came out and looked at the dragon for a moment (As NPCs generally do), then turned around and picked up the fight they had with me.
I was laughing so hard on their fickle AI nature.

[CreganTur]

Yeah, it would be great if the AI was smart enough to have them flee after watching you slay a dragon.

The Crossbow is neat, but it's completely useless for my archer character. My Dragonbone Bow, upgraded to Legendary with Health and Stamina drain enchantments, does something like 80 points more damage than an upgraded and enchanted crossbow. If I'm sneak attacking, then everything dies. 1-shotted a dragon that I caught napping on one of those dragon-word shrines. Can't do that with a crossbow.

I agree with everything said about the relationship with Serana. Having actual interactions and conversations with her was intriguing and made it feel like you were actually building a relationship. That's why not being able to marry her is stupid and annoying- because she's the only one you have actually built a relationship with.

It would be awesome if they gave her some unique dialog once married... like telling you to cook your own bloody dinner if you ask... or having her direct you to the cattle (if you remain a vampire lord). Maybe even have an actual conversation when you tell her you want to move where she might be resistant to leave the castle if she's still a vampire.

So many missed opportunities.

[The_Jackal]

The Crossbow is neat, but it's completely useless for my archer character. My Dragonbone Bow, upgraded to Legendary with Health and Stamina drain enchantments, does something like 80 points more damage than an upgraded and enchanted crossbow. If I'm sneak attacking, then everything dies. 1-shotted a dragon that I caught napping on one of those dragon-word shrines. Can't do that with a crossbow.

I'm confused. Why can't you improve/enchant a crossbow in the same way you can improve a bow? With both at legendary, the crossbow should do 68 damage with 14 damage bolts, plus another 15 damage of Frost/Shock/Fire, plus whatever enchants you can put on the weapon itself, as well as ignoring half the armour of the target. The dragonbone bow with dragonbone arrows will only do 66 damage, plus 25 from the arrow, plus enchants.

[Divayth Fyr]

I'm guessing he went with the left side of the smithing tree and doesn't have the Dwarven perk - so he cannot improve the crossbow as much as the bow.

[TheEmerged]

Which would be a pity, since that single perk makes smithing significantly easier to grind. There's a lot of dwarven metal out there to be found & smithed, after all, compared to the amount of iron and such.

Of course, I have to admit to how much time I spent going back and forth from dwarven dungeons carrying it all back even with a follower to help...

[Triaxx]

The absurd abundance in Avanchzel alone makes it more numerous than anything else around. Plus the stuff is more expensive than it's iron or steel equivalents. Especially if you use a mod to give more melting options.

[CreganTur]

Didn't know it was under the Dwarven perk, which I do not have, so that might be part of the issue.

But, regardless, I prefer my bow... at least for my main archery character. Having a crossbow would be good for my other characters when they just can't seem to make a dragon land.

[The_Jackal]

Didn't know it was under the Dwarven perk, which I do not have, so that might be part of the issue.

But, regardless, I prefer my bow... at least for my main archery character. Having a crossbow would be good for my other characters when they just can't seem to make a dragon land.

That is totally legit. Honestly, the comparative advantage of the crossbow disappears the moment you want to fire a second shot.

[God Imperror]

I'm confused. Why can't you improve/enchant a crossbow in the same way you can improve a bow? With both at legendary, the crossbow should do 68 damage with 14 damage bolts, plus another 15 damage of Frost/Shock/Fire, plus whatever enchants you can put on the weapon itself, as well as ignoring half the armour of the target. The dragonbone bow with dragonbone arrows will only do 66 damage, plus 25 from the arrow, plus enchants.

I have both perks and maxed smithing, enchanting (with perks for more enchanting power) and alchemy (again with perk to increase power in potions)

While my bow does 516 damage my crossbow does 380. Both have been crafted and improved using the same equipment and the same potion and the damage is compared using the same equipment so, even using explosive bolts the gap is not closed.

Although it is not significant, since only ancient dragons or stronger are able to take more than one of strike of either and in those cases the crossbow armor reduction almost compensates its weaker damage.

[Tergon]

I'm using the Legendary Dwarven Crossbow at the moment, but mostly because I haven't achieved Dragon Smithing yet. Mind you, the Dwarven Smithing Perk is making that pretty easy, so I should be able to do a proper comparison soon.

The reason I'm loving the Crossbow so much, though, is simply because firing it is easier. I see one Bandit or Falmer standing in my way, I click once, it's no longer in my way. Problem solved, next bad guy please. With the Stealth perk to triple ranged damage, I'm not really having any bother no matter what I shoot with, so I'll take the one that is simpler. And now that arrows are so easy to find, things just get better, don't they?

Also: Loving the upgrades to Werewolf. Haven't tried the Vampire Lord yet, but I find that I'm actually having a reason to wolf out once in a while and maul some people. And if nothing else, cleanup after a battle with a bunch of humans makes it absurdly easy to level wolf skills.

[The_Jackal]

I have both perks and maxed smithing, enchanting (with perks for more enchanting power) and alchemy (again with perk to increase power in potions)

While my bow does 516 damage my crossbow does 380. Both have been crafted and improved using the same equipment and the same potion and the damage is compared using the same equipment so, even using explosive bolts the gap is not closed.

Although it is not significant, since only ancient dragons or stronger are able to take more than one of strike of either and in those cases the crossbow armor reduction almost compensates its weaker damage.

Curious. Sounds like the Crossbow isn't affected by the Dwarven Smithing perk. Running any custom crafting mods?

[God Imperror]

I'm playing on Xbox and I don't know how to mod it

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Ah, you can't mod on the Xbox. Bethesda said they were at one point discussing with Microsoft a way of running mods on the Xbox, but nothing came of it.

[druid91]

Question, I recently downloaded Dawngaurd for the 360. And it never seems to load properly. It tells me that old characters use features that no longer exist, even new characters never get the "reforming the dawnguard" rumor. And mounted combat does not seem to exist.

Or if it does I'm doing it wrong.

Any idea what could be the issue?

[Kesnit]

Have you tried deleting it and downloading again? It may have just not downloaded exactly right

[Triaxx]

Microsuck doesn't want mods, because it would cut into their DLC cash.

Are you sure that your game updated properly? Sounds like it's corrupt.

[DigoDragon]

A neat little detail I stumbled upon last night-- The chests found from the Treasure Maps seem to respawn loot after 30 days. Well, numbers 1 and 2 did for me so far, but I've only found four chests to this point (ther other two being 7 and 10, which I found only 2 days ago. I should wait for 28 more days to see if they respawn too).


I as well love archery over melee weapons. My favorite Shout to go with the bow is Slow Time. I know I could buy the perk in the Archery tree to slow time, but the Shout makes it easier for me to keep mobile. Handy when someone gets in my face with a battleaxe.