Skyrim IV: Oblivion

[Beowulf DW]

Do you actually have evidence for this, or are you just assuming it because of your love for Ulfric? I certainly don't recall anyone saying Toryg was a poor warrior...

Toryg had some martial training, but even his allies admit that he was childish. Ulfric was a veteran of many battles, and...well...did you ever see the duel between Paris and Menelaus in Troy? Yeah. That's how fights between little princelings and experienced soldiers actually go.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

People actually watched Troy?

[Zorg]

Hectur!

HECTUR!

HECTUUUUUURR!!!

[Lamech]

So anyone have any cool mods yet?

[LordShotGun]

People actually watched Troy?

Hey! I thought it was pretty dang good IMO. Since troy in its entirety is historically inaccurate I don't care too much about that part of the film and the characters were good and the action was good. I liked troy because it was one of the few films that doesn't have a pure good side and a pure evil side. Both sides had the good, the bad, and the ugly.

So anyone have any cool mods yet?

Front page has a few, and you could do worse then to go to skyrim nexus and download most of the top 100 mod list.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Yeah but the story of the Trojan War is so intertwined in myth that it seems like it'd be impossible to tell. I read The Iliad, and the gods interfere on both sides many times throughout the poem, to the point where the war's less about getting Helen back and more the gods fighting amongst themselves by proxy.

[LordShotGun]

Yeah but the story of the Trojan War is so intertwined in myth that it seems like it'd be impossible to tell. I read The Iliad, and the gods interfere on both sides many times throughout the poem, to the point where the war's less about getting Helen back and more the gods fighting amongst themselves by proxy.

Well I was talking about the value of troy the movie not troy the epic poem.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Yeah, but it's very hard to judge the movie on its own merits. You're always going to compare it to the source material, that's the problem with adaptations.

[userpay]

Anyone else want a mod that gives the player bear arms for unarmed combat?

[Opperhapsen]

Do you actually have evidence for this, or are you just assuming it because of your love for Ulfric? I certainly don't recall anyone saying Toryg was a poor warrior...

How about every singe comment on the King by people who were not his wife?
Toryg was BRAVE, but he was a crap warrior.

[TheEmerged]

Thanks for the answer. Note to self, do a better job of not letting the dragon kite me next time...

A few more questions from the newb.

1> How often should I be running into dragon attacks? I'm still working my way through Whiterun's side quests before going to the Graybeards, and I just ran into my 4th dragon. I was on the side of a mountain and it flew off before I could start fighting it, but is this normal?

2> I see on the informatiom link from the first page on this topic (and have seen seconded/similarly reported from two other sources) that I should be careful of pursuing "side" skills like Smithing, Enchanting, Alchemy, and so forth. The reason given is that it is too easy to gimp my actual combat skills -- and since the enemies I'll run into are based on my level not my skills, I'd be running into foes I can't match (reference: my attempt to get a mammoth tusk straight from the mammoth).

So I'll take the suggestion at face value... but is there a good\simple reference for what rank my combat skills should be at by level, and/or what level I should expect to be? I'm about halfway through 9th right now, for example.

3> A cursory search didn't get me a straight answer on this one. When using bound weapons (like the Bound Sword spell) in combat, does it skill up the applicable weapon skill (One Handed in this case), Conjuration, or both? I ask because I've noticed the rate at which One Handed is skilling up has dropped off dramatically (I know it goes down as the skill goes up, but it's gone down more than expected) -- and last night, I got a Conjuration skillup in the middle of a fight without casting any spell.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Thanks for the answer. Note to self, do a better job of not letting the dragon kite me next time...

A few more questions from the newb.

1) It's random-ish. I've spent days without being attacked only to get jumped by two at a time. It's supposed to increase in frequency as you advance on the main quest. Sometimes you'll also see dragons flying about, but they wont land or attack you. It's normal.

2 )No, crafting skills are pursue-able. And in fact break the game apart and make everything cry baby tears of impotence at your unstoppable rampaging. Just don't dump points into useless-ish things like Speech or Pickpocket.

3) No idea, haven't fooled around with Conjuration yet.

[Beowulf DW]

1) It's random-ish. I've spent days without being attacked only to get jumped by two at a time. It's supposed to increase in frequency as you advance on the main quest. Sometimes you'll also see dragons flying about, but they wont land or attack you. It's normal.

2 )No, crafting skills are pursue-able. And in fact break the game apart and make everything cry baby tears of impotence at your unstoppable rampaging. Just don't dump points into useless-ish things like Speech or Pickpocket.

3) No idea, haven't fooled around with Conjuration yet.

3) It improves both. Bound sword improves one-handed. Bound axe improves two handed. Bound bow improves archery and comes with 100 bound arrows. All three improve conjuration by casting and then using them. Very useful for a battlemage build.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

How about every singe comment on the King by people who were not his wife?
Toryg was BRAVE, but he was a crap warrior.

And yet somehow he made it into Nord-Warrior-Heaven.

[Beowulf DW]

And yet somehow he made it into Nord-Warrior-Heaven.

Making into Sovengard means that you died courageously in battle, or that you lived a brave and honorable life.

Doesn't mean you were actually good at fighting.

[t209]

Making into Sovengard means that you died courageously in battle, or that you lived a brave and honorable life.

Doesn't mean you were actually good at fighting.

Guys can we move on to Skyrim Characters alignment?
Dark Brotherhood- Lawful Neutral (assasins)
Jarl Balgruuf- Neutral Good (he even let Heimskrr preach for Talos)
General Tulius- Lawful Neutral (he's just trying to hold the empire together)
Ulfric could be true neutral (he rebel against the empire but he's a ruler. He's neither good nor evil) or Neutral good a best.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Dark Brotherhood- Lawful Neutral (assasins)

Uh-uh. Lawful Evil, tops. All their talk about hailing their dread father, plus the perverse delight they take in fulfilling their contracts definitely places them in the Evil territory.

Jarl Balgruuf- Neutral Good (he even let Heimskrr preach for Talos

I agree. Balgruuf's greatest concern is always for Whiterun and he's avoided taking sides in the war because he knows if he does either side will then target Whiterun in retaliation, and is one of the few people in Skyrim who supports you as Dragonborn wholeheartedly. Plus there's the fact that he's carrying on his family duty of SPOILERS! keeping the Ebony Blade locked up so it can't corrupt and cause strife.

General Tulius- Lawful Neutral (he's just trying to hold the empire together)

Indeed, though one could make the argument that he's Lawful Good, since he genuinely cares about his men enough to double their pay and make sure the families of the slain are compensated once the war's over, and while diplomatically he's a bull in a china shop he comes to appreciate Skyrim and its people.

Ulfric could be true neutral (he rebel against the empire but he's a ruler. He's neither good nor evil) or Neutral good a best.

I think True Neutral is the ONLY way one could describe Ulfric. He's a rebel against authority, but he strictly adheres to Nord cultural traditions. He fights so all the fighting he did before wasn't in vain, but he jumped the gun and ordered many Forsworn killed when he reclaimed Markarth. Ulfric is such a complex figure that you could almost do a Batman-style alignment chart for him with Ulfric in each slot instead of Batman. Still, I think that True Neutral is probably the best label if one fits him at all.

[TheEmerged]

3) It improves both. Bound sword improves one-handed. Bound axe improves two handed. Bound bow improves archery and comes with 100 bound arrows. All three improve conjuration by casting and then using them. Very useful for a battlemage build.

Interesting, I wonder if it cuts the increase in half then.

Oh, and for my build I'm using a variant of the "Spellbuckler" I've used since Daggerfall. Leather armor & some spells for protection, weapons for damage (conjured since Morrowind), spells for effects\healing, and a healthy leavening of roguish skills for getting into places\things I shouldn't be. I used a Sorceror in Arena, essentially the same thing.

As for Question 2, I think what I was seeing was more advice not to pursue them early, in particular not to "grind" them. I understand with maxed enchanting I'll be casting 2 schools of magic for free at higher levels...

[t209]

How about Forsworn- Chaotic Evil if you met them

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Maybe Chaotic Neutral or True Neutral once you hear the story on exploitation of Silver Bloods and Nords upon Breton Natives of the Reach.

[Opperhapsen]

And yet somehow he made it into Nord-Warrior-Heaven.

He died by a shout and a stab, that's how warriors go out in skyrim.

[Hazzardevil]

Are there any good mods that make unarmed into an actual skill or rolls it into an existing one?

Quite a few actually, search unarmed on steam workshop and you'll get a few, I personally use combat fists 1.2, which rolls unarmed into one-handed.

Which does beg the question of why Ulfric isn't backing YOU as the new Emperor. After all, if Tiber Septim was the first Dragonborn Emperor, why can't the next Dragonborn unite the Empire anew, and crush the Thalmor once and for all?

Ulfric just wants to be king really, simple as.

YMMV about that. Really just makes you sound like an elf lover.

Considering recent history and the fact that they allowed one of their own to get banned...



That would be giving the player far too much credit and go past the scope of Skyrim and instead be a game in its own right. Letting the player take the throne. Preposterous!

Remember, this is the same bunch what decided that the grand finale of Oblivion should be watching two NPCs scuffle. And I'm not even going to discuss Fallout 3.

We need DLC for this and joining the Thalmor, simply because deep down we all want to be Nazi Elves dressed in black leather.

So anyone have any cool mods yet?

21 of them, some cooler than others:
Midas Magic, already discussed
Black Sacrament Armour, cool looking armour that you make under daedric smithing, hard to make, but looks cool, the only mod on this list that is not on steam workshop, will give links on request
Combat Fists, adds unarmed combat to one-handed, a few perks and kill animations
Rorikstead expanded, A mod a friend made, WIP with a voice acted NPC and a quest, more coming soon apparently
Fall of the space core, official mod for skyrim
Dynamic guards, stops the guards looking like clones
Open Cities Skyrim, Makes it so you don't have to load when entering certain cities, not finished yet
Specilized companions, gives companions special abilities, different for each one
Faster Horses, faster horses
Parthunax fix, (I will reveal this in a spoiler otherwise it is a spoiler)
Dragonbone Weapons, self-explanatory
Stronger Carriges, (Makes carrigages carry you if you are over-encumbered)
Kill them egenerals, stops genereals being unkillable in camps, for some reason they are always unkillable
Realistic Ragdolls, makes ragdolls better
Apla Wolves, makes wolves appear in larger packs with a leader
Leveled weapons, allows you to level up weapons and armour like nightingale and other stuff that is different depending on the level you find it.
Blood is everything, (Edits vampires so it is better, you will have to find it yourself for the full details)
Fix Parthunaxx

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During the main quest the blades find out that the head of the graybeards is a dragon. the blades don't like this and you either have to kill Parthy or let him live. If you kill Parthy the graybeards hate you forever, let him live and you cannot do anything with the blades anymore, including their quests and possible companions you have given them. Fix Parthunaxx lets you avoid making this choice.

Guys can we move on to Skyrim Characters alignment?
Dark Brotherhood- Lawful Neutral (assasins)
Jarl Balgruuf- Neutral Good (he even let Heimskrr preach for Talos)
General Tulius- Lawful Neutral (he's just trying to hold the empire together)
Ulfric could be true neutral (he rebel against the empire but he's a ruler. He's neither good nor evil) or Neutral good a best.

I agree with Dark Brotherhood, Jarl Balgruuf has an alterior motive for letting Heimskr preach, go to the bannered mare and talk to the bar woman when you have reached level 20 to find out why. Balgruuf worships talos
General Tullius I think is LN/NG, I like him, he doesn't throw his men away and is careful with them.
Ulfric could likely have a batman allingment chart made for him if we got more material.

Also this.

[Opperhapsen]

I think True Neutral is the ONLY way one could describe Ulfric. He's a rebel against authority, but he strictly adheres to Nord cultural traditions. He fights so all the fighting he did before wasn't in vain, but he jumped the gun and ordered many Forsworn killed when he reclaimed Markarth. Ulfric is such a complex figure that you could almost do a Batman-style alignment chart for him with Ulfric in each slot instead of Batman. Still, I think that True Neutral is probably the best label if one fits him at all.

He doesn't rebel against authority, he rebels against what he believes is a betrayal of his people and their traditions. A man does not become Jarl, nor fight in the manner he did, if you're anti authority.
You can argue for most alignments, yea. But I don't see anything chaotic about his actions.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

He doesn't rebel against authority, he rebels against what he believes is a betrayal of his people and their traditions. A man does not become Jarl, nor fight in the manner he did, if you're anti authority.
You can argue for most alignments, yea. But I don't see anything chaotic about his actions.

Yeah he rebels against authority. The Empire counts as an authority.

[Raistlin1040]

Creating a ghetto for one non-Nord race and fencing another off at the Docks? Ulfric sure is a hero.

[NEO|Phyte]

Yeah he rebels against authority. The Empire counts as an authority.

Rebelling against a specific authority does not make you anti-authority.

[Beowulf DW]

Creating a ghetto for one non-Nord race and fencing another off at the Docks? Ulfric sure is a hero.

One man's hero is another's villain. I'm sure the Falmer would have a thing or two to say about Ysgramor. If they could talk, that is.

[AsteriskAmp]

One man's hero is another's villain. I'm sure the Falmer would have a thing or two to say about Ysgramor. If they could talk, that is.

They can, they even have their own alphabet (whatever use it could still have). And I'm sure they'd be more hating of the Dwemer then of the Nords.

[Coidzor]

People actually watched Troy?

I was a freshman in highschool and the only reason to see the movie I ever heard was from my English teacher who said she went just to see Brad Pitt's tuckus.

How about Forsworn- Chaotic Evil if you met them

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Maybe Chaotic Neutral or True Neutral once you hear the story on exploitation of Silver Bloods and Nords upon Breton Natives of the Reach.

Nope. They're still CE in their methods and actions. Indiscriminate killing and kidnapping children that are chosen by the gods in order to enact horrible rites to corrupt and/or otherwise destroy them.

[t209]

Nope. They're still CE in their methods and actions. Indiscriminate killing and kidnapping children that are chosen by the gods in order to enact horrible rites to corrupt and/or otherwise destroy them.

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There are no innocents! Just the Guilty and the Dead in Markath. Can count as Evil (Forsworn) vs Evil (Silverblood)

P.S-

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Do you believe that Ulfric massacred a village that was described during a truce mission?

[Anteros]

So. I just simply cannot get into this game. Which is weird because I absolutely loved Morrowind, and greatly enjoyed Oblivion.

This game just bores me to tears though...which is a real shame. Any tips for getting into it?