The Elder Scrolls X : Thalmor or Less

[veti]

It's amusing how much video game logic takes over. You wouldn't really think to murder a real-life chicken in full view of its owners while passing through town and expect a bemused glance and an offer of a quest, right?

Apparently in Skyrim everyone's so sick and tired of enforcing laws that even minor theft is looked up on as a capital offense. Just so you know.

And that too is videogame logic. In real life, if everyone in town was whaling on me, I'd try to surrender, or failing that, run like hell. I wouldn't fight back, and if for some reason I did, I wouldn't even consider using lethal force.

It's only 40 bounty. Nobody is attacking you for killing a chicken per se, they're attacking you because you're a heavily armed stranger who's just demonstrated a total lack of respect for law and property, and if they don't stop you now, next time you'll be coming through with ebony gear and what's to say you'll stop at chickens? It's a perfectly sensible thing for them to do, IMO.

[TheEmerged]

So, most amusing experience of my third playthrough so far?

I'm swimming from the docks in Windhelm when all the sudden the combat music starts. I initially panic and start looking for those blasted fish that attack... when I glance up and see a dragon. Oh, that's right, I just found a dragon word and the game *hates* it when you have a locked one... Anyway, climb the embankment, start killing it...

...just about the time the soul sucking commences, I suddenly get interrupted by dialog. "This is a stickup..." Oh, that's not the exact words but... yes, three bandits that just watched me slaughter a dragon are trying to rob me. It's such a cliche...

...and that's when it starts raining guards. Don't ask me how, but three or four Windhelm guards suddenly start dropping from above and taking falling damage with no explanation. Apparently they got upset at the damage, and started attacking the would be robbers. When they finished off the robbers, they adopted the "stand there and admire the dragon bones" pose & dialog.

So, dragon attacks, robbers that take on legendary superhereos, raining guards... I love Skyrim

[LibraryOgre]

Nords are many things, but none would be such a coward as to stop a perfectly good robbery just because someone just single-handedly defeated and absorbed the soul of a dragon.

[Winter_Wolf]

So, most amusing experience of my third playthrough so far? I'm swimming from the docks in Windhelm when all the sudden the combat music starts. I initially panic and start looking for those blasted fish that attack... when I glance up and see a dragon. Oh, that's right, I just found a dragon word and the game *hates* it when you have a locked one... Anyway, climb the embankment, start killing it... ...just about the time the soul sucking commences, I suddenly get interrupted by dialog. "This is a stickup..." Oh, that's not the exact words but... yes, three bandits that just watched me slaughter a dragon are trying to rob me. It's such a cliche... ...and that's when it starts raining guards. Don't ask me how, but three or four Windhelm guards suddenly start dropping from above and taking falling damage with no explanation. Apparently they got upset at the damage, and started attacking the would be robbers. When they finished off the robbers, they adopted the "stand there and admire the dragon bones" pose & dialog. So, dragon attacks, robbers that take on legendary superhereos, raining guards... I love Skyrim

Maybe they thought it would be easier to take him since he'd be winded from fighting the dragon? Also, were all the guards male? Was it raining men? There's a song from the 80s called "Raining men" for everyone who doesn't know why I'm amused.

[DigoDragon]

Also, were all the guards male? Was it raining men?

Well, since he didn't see that coming, it must of been a... StormCloaked rain.

[LibraryOgre]

Maybe they thought it would be easier to take him since he'd be winded from fighting the dragon? Also, were all the guards male? Was it raining men? There's a song from the 80s called "Raining men" for everyone who doesn't know why I'm amused.

Hallelujah.

[TheEmerged]

I recall there being at least two males and one female, didn't see the fourth paratrooper too closely (I wasn't sure if it was a guard or not). So technically it was, in fact, raining men

Managed to find three of my final missing enchants at the same merchant - including the all important Muffle & Waterbreathing enchants, finally. Let the Enchanting grinding begin! Seriously, you ought to see the collection of petty & lesser souls & leather helms\boots I've got stored and ready for this.

I've only got a few more levels worth of training I can do on Pickpocketing without getting into the Thieves Guild - which I'm trying to hold off on this time, I did it too early on my original character (that was the main reason that character outleveled himself). I've mostly got this character back on track, I still have trouble with ambush scenarios (which arguably I should anyway) but generally combat is back to being manageable.

[LibraryOgre]

I will say, one of the great things I decided to do for my crafting was to give my companion a Soul Trap weapon and all my empty soul gems.

[Mobius Twist]

The game is surprisingly playable even when you eschew all manner of crafting. The purchased potions are sufficient, the money to buy them isn't exactly hard to come by (even early on) and vendor-sold armor, weapons, and rings take on a new level of importance and value.

Heck, artifact quests are suddenly awesome.

Of course, if you level only magic skills in a harsh Nord tundra, all bets are off. You're really just dooming yourself.

[TheEmerged]

See, I'm one of those weirdos that likes the crafting aspect of games Figuring out how to best mix the enchants into equipment sets is as fun as actually playing the game for me, and the mingame of figuring out the best way to cap the results out almost as fun. That's why I've been stockpiling lesser\petty gems and making hoards of leather boots\helms, it's a particularly good way of doing it. The same way that one of the best ways to get early Smithy points is to hoard iron\silver ore until you get the Transmute spell and make jewelry - since your skillups are dependent on the value of the item, at the lower skill ranks you're much better off making jewelry than the "make 10000 iron daggers" approach.

Similarly, if the first & second playthroughs taught me anything it's that many of the skills are WAAAAY easier to level when you make a equipment set appropriate to the challenge. See for reference the Dragon Armor of Thievery, the Dragon Armor of Life & Death (free casting of Resto and Destro), etc etc etc. That's one reason I didn't bother with Conjuration and Illusion early on with this character (during my original run, Conjuration was my first skill to 100 and I spent a lot of early effort getting Illusion leveled for a perk I wanted).

[Calemyr]

Put me down as another vote for crafting. I love making my own gear and melding it to my own purposes, far far more than premade gear - even if it were superior, though it never is.

To my mind, the Dovahkiin is always the founder of a new age. Everything in the game is built on ancient traditions and legendary treasures. The fact that the Dovahkiin is a god-smith that pulls forgotten arts from the history books and builds new legendary weapons and armor that put the gods to shame... That the last Dovahkiin saves the world just not through brute force and forgotten arts but also through creativity, ingenuity, and original thinking... It just really appeals to me. You sing the songs of the old days. I sing the songs of days yet to come.

[Triaxx]

Agreed. Though I suppose if you're going pure wizard in Skyrim, learning when to flee becomes important. Even more than a thief, knowing when to hold your ground, when to fall back, and when to just leg it is the disctinction between life and death.

Or just buy firebolt and get impact and laugh maniacally.

[Mando Knight]

Agreed. Though I suppose if you're going pure wizard in Skyrim, learning when to flee becomes important. Even more than a thief, knowing when to hold your ground, when to fall back, and when to just leg it is the disctinction between life and death.

Or just buy firebolt and get impact and laugh maniacally.

For me, the Thief gameplay is mostly "when to hold your ground, when to hide again, and how to get Lydia to do the brawling for you."

[Anxe]

On Legendary all the gameplay is about not getting hit. Bandit Leaders can kill me in one hit. Mages are terrifying until I get in close to smack em. I gotta have an immortal follower to soak up damage, but she usually goes down fast in fights. Then I've got my Dremora Lord summon to soak up damage after that. Final way of avoiding getting hit is a Paralyze enchantment on my Sword. Once I close on one enemy that enemy will never move again.

Dragon breath is also so frightening. I usually need to chug two Ultimate Healing potions if I can't get out of the blast. One potion mid blast and another at the end. That's with 600+ health.

Mods might make the game difficult, but cranking the difficulty slider up does the job too.

[Mobius Twist]

Until I found Spellbreaker dragon breath was a significant worry too.

Between that shield and the occasional ward spell the fly-by breathings were less of a concern. When they're on the ground and breathing you straight in the face for prolonged periods, that's still a problem. Then, some vegetable soup and constant Shield Bash is the only way out.

[Anxe]

Until I found Spellbreaker dragon breath was a significant worry too.

Between that shield and the occasional ward spell the fly-by breathings were less of a concern. When they're on the ground and breathing you straight in the face for prolonged periods, that's still a problem. Then, some vegetable soup and constant Shield Bash is the only way out.

I've been using Spellbreaker too! Best Shield.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Question: for the Oblivion Arena, is there any questline or plot beyond 'kill things and become Champion' and 'find out about the Gray Prince's father?'

[Anxe]

Question: for the Oblivion Arena, is there any questline or plot beyond 'kill things and become Champion' and 'find out about the Gray Prince's father?'

Does, "Kill the Adoring Fan in humorous ways," count as a quest?

[LibraryOgre]

Question: for the Oblivion Arena, is there any questline or plot beyond 'kill things and become Champion' and 'find out about the Gray Prince's father?'

Not really.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Okay I guess I'll just use it as an early gold source. Thank you both. :)

[TheEmerged]

I have to say, "amusing thing happened during\after dragon attack" is approaching trope level during this playthru.

1> I fast travel back to that farm with the lady that wants 20 jazbays when, yep, the "nature abhors a locked dragon word" trigger goes off and here comes a dragon. Thankfully I have a freshly-made, improved, and enchanted daedric sword I need to get first blood with and the dragon lands quickly so it's over almost as fast. After the dragon dies and everyone is walking away, the younger sister on the farm sighs heavily and complains about how every day is the same at this boring farm...

"Right, because a freaking creature out of this world's myths lands behind your windmill and gets killed when a DragonBorn jumps on the back of its head and sword-trusts through the skull repeated almost as often as you go to the well."

2> I'm outside of Windhelm, getting ready to hitch a ride to Solitude to start some quest chains there when, you guessed it, here comes a dragon. No bandits or raining guards this time... just a carriage driver that keeps telling me to hurry up because he doesn't have all day.

"Sorry, I realize saving your life from this ancient monstrosity is delaying your schedule but..."

This time I didn't have the locked dragon word to blame. Ah well, a bit of amusement and some additions to my "Dragon Smithing is only about 10 skillups away" collection.

RE: Spellbreaker. Heh, see, my characters usually take the next best thing - Breton who typically ends up taking those Alteration perks to raise magic resistance and/or absorption. I think the only ES game where I *wasn't* Breton was Daggerfall because of the High Elf cheat.

[veti]

RE: Spellbreaker. Heh, see, my characters usually take the next best thing - Breton who typically ends up taking those Alteration perks to raise magic resistance and/or absorption. I think the only ES game where I *wasn't* Breton was Daggerfall because of the High Elf cheat.

Yep, a Breton with the Agent of Mara perk (power, trait? whatever) only needs to add a cheap amulet to be permanently warded better than by Spellbreaker, hands-free and without the weight. It's been my favourite race for the past three generations of Elder Scrolls.

Nords and Dunmer also each get 50% resistance to the breath of approximately half the dragons out there. Unfortunately, you can't always tell what's going to hit you before it does. (Heck, sometimes I'm still in doubt until the blast ends, and I can finally see what's happened to the ground around me.)

[Anxe]

My character is an Imperial and the Voice of the Emperor has proved to be pretty damn useful when I want someone to just sit down and listen (or sit down and let me take their stuff). It's basically replaced a third of the Illusion spells.

[DomaDoma]

Voice of the Emperor: the ability to evoke a preternatural reassurance in everyone around you, for the thirty seconds before someone looks you up on IMDB.

But yes, seriously useful. Was kind of disappointed that it makes your allies stand stock-still, as I first used it as a "hey, so why DON'T we reason with the Stormcloaks" in the tutorial dungeon, but even so... probably the best of the "get me out of here" species bonuses, with non-combat benefits to boot. I adore it.

[Feytalist]

Started up Skyrim again after a couple of weeks' taking a break (I was playing Quake 1 and 2 again... shhht).

My current character is level 50 now, and I haven't even visited the whole Western part of the map at all. Everything Rorikstead and beyond is undiscovered. I just reached Falkreath. Haven't set foot on Solstheim yet, and haven't started Dawnguard either.

I've come to realise that trying to do absolutely everything in one playthrough is... counterproductive.

[DigoDragon]

I've come to realise that trying to do absolutely everything in one playthrough is... counterproductive.

It really is, and I consider that a point in the game's favor. That I cannot just play it through once and have gotten through everything.

[LibraryOgre]

I'm going through Oblivion, but my wife gave me a surprise: A new (to me) laptop. By the numbers, its only marginally better than my old desktop, but it's got 7 instead of Vista, twice the hard drive, and a processor that clocks in at 3 times better according to passmark... and the desktop was running everything fine.

But now I have to find the balance of mods on Oblivion, because my Oblivion run (a Redguard Woman with all of the magic skills as primary... but who mostly hits people while wearing a mix of armor) is ALMOST finished... just Shivering Isles and the Main Quest to go.

[DomaDoma]

Never done Shivering Isles, but word on the street is that doing it before the Main Quest cuts a lot of your main-quest interactions into so many ribbons of nonsense. Do that one second.

[LibraryOgre]

Never done Shivering Isles, but word on the street is that doing it before the Main Quest cuts a lot of your main-quest interactions into so many ribbons of nonsense. Do that one second.

It's Sheogorath's Realm. I expect it to cut things into shimmering ribbons of nonsense. ;-)

[DigoDragon]

my wife gave me a surprise: A new (to me) laptop.

Sweet!

I never gamed on a laptop cause the screen sizes are pretty small for me. But I guess nowadays you can readily plug them into a monitor or digital TV.