I am sworn to carry your burdens - Skyrimming for fun and profit

Aaaah, I think killing my first dragon is next on my to do list. I'll give it a go tonight and see what happens.

so THIS is where the skyrim thread is

guys: skyrim on mac! baller!

The idea of playing through to L17 before unlocking the dragons in a game about dragons is so great.

Now I will listen to Therapist Sweater/J3ff T.'s "Dragon" to celebrate.

this DL of skyrim i got already had a character started (but only right at the v beginning), so i played that guy up to level 6 or so, and i did the dragonstone quest super early, like @ 4/5 i think.

started a new character for the ~full experience~ and have skipped that dragonstone quest for now, just cuz i didn't want to go slog through a dungeon twice in a row. just joined the dark bros

kinda envious of peeps that havent started fighting dragons yet since the goddamn things seem to be everywhere now in my game. still tho, shouts are awesome (slow time u my boo). i am a little shocked by the lack of variety enemywise in this game though, pretty bored with killing draugrs and dwarven spiders over and over and over

ok so here is a question that is maybe really stupid, but: does skyrim automatically adjust the levels of your foes to whatever level you are? i've never seen any indication that the dudes i'm fighting are like LVL 60 TROLLs or anything, but it certainly ~feels~ like quest-specific foes are tailored to your current ability.

which, if true, is awesome game design, imo. i was always a little bummed in WoW that whole areas were unable to be explored because they were above yr paygrade. or that accidentally landing yourself in a new zone could mean instant death because even the lowliest creatures were totally elite. i never played AD&D or anything, but i always thought that the nice thing about DMs was that they could downgrade/tailor an adventure to be commensurate with the players' abilities. and in a sandbox game like skyrim, exploring and side-quests should be picked up or ignored by players for reasons other than "yeah i'm not ready for that right now."

(nb i'm basing this entirely on the fact that i got the dragonstone at level 4. and:

I;ve been messing around with side quests waaaaaay to much. I'm on L17 and I've only just got the Dragonstone! However, I do have some kickass archmage robes and L55 on archery, so happy days.

like, was your experience in the dungeon to get the stone just pitifully easy, or were the enemies scaled up to meet you? i didn't have much of a problem at the entry level (playing 'normal'), and i'd imagine that someone significantly higher on the food chain would breeze through the place)

some stuff def doesnt scale with you, for example my first fight with a giant was impossible but now they are relatively easy to kill, same with not having to run away from bears anymore. not sure about the quest stuff tho

well yeah that's why i was thinking 'quest-related' specifically.

i was able to kill the dragon for the dragonstone quest, and then soon after got aced because i thought i could step to a giant, being a dragonslayer and all

The second time I did the High Hrothgar quest I was farther along, and the enemies on the steps were much tougher than the first time when I only faced some wolves and the ice troll. There were a bunch of sabertooth tigers or whatever the second time, and some spiders.

how's the combat in this?

do you like first person melee?

that's a red line for a lot of people, but i'm getting into it. getting a rhythm down with the blocks, staggering, bashes and power attacks is pretty satisfying imo.

Killed my first dragon last night! Hurrah! wtf am I mean to with these dragon bones? I just left them there tbh, I need to offload some loot first.

re leveling up: It certainly feels like some baddies level up with me, and some aren't. Certainly saber-tooth bears or whatever don't panic me like they used to, but it still took me a couple of goes to kill the dragon.

The idea of playing through to L17 before unlocking the dragons in a game about dragons is so great.

I have to say, the perversity of this did attract me, but it was made easier by the game not really telling you which quests are the "main" quests and which are sidequests. Everything in the "misc" section I'm guessing is a sidequest, but everything else seems to be given equal importance in your journal, so I didn't even twig that maybe dragons were like, the big device around which the game revolves. Tho I suppose I could have worked it out by the whole dragon-attacks-city opening sequence. Oh well.

And I've been enjoying the game sans dragons, just bumbling around the map "adventuring", so I didn't feel much imperative to get on with the main story. I tend to do that with sandbox games tho; I'm very much a sidequest kinda guy.

i was happy just goofing around with sidequests until they all started involving traveling to the very edge of the Whiterun, past several locations i'd never been to before. now i kind of want to get back to the main quest to move things forward a bit. there's a war map in the castle of ulfric stormcloak that reveals most of the locations in whiterun if you examine all the little pieces, and i wish i never would have done so. it was more fun to lack knowledge about what was in the unexplored territory of the world map. now i look at it and see dozens of additional locations in whiterun alone and feel like it will take me the rest of my life to finish the game (in a bad way)

finished the main quest yesterday but will prob keep playing for awhile just so I can get some better armor (I have a full set of dwarves at the moment)

ah transmute spell, you are a grinder's dream

Alchemy for fun and profit: I enchanted some alchemy gear (hat, gauntlets, necklace & ring at +20%) and potions made from two cheap ingredients sell for 120 - 750. The problem has become offloading them, but every cycle through Solitude-Windhelm-Riften-Whiterun yields 5000 gold + enough ingredients to repeat. I'm looking into that Solitude mansion at a young level 33.

A special set of armour just for alchemy! Nice thinking. And one for enchanting too? And for smithing...

The Smithing gear is actually much more effective on a +% basis. There's no enchantments that improve enchanting, but potions can be made.

Downside of the level advancement from learning crafting skills means I'm facing level 35 Elder dragons with level 25 combat skills (but good kit).

wait you can own property in this??

yeah... what did you think lydia was all about?

(jkjkjk!)

Do quests for the jarl in each hold (or high monarch in Solitude) and you become thane and can buy houses, starting at 5k gold (unfinished) in Whiterun rising to 25k in Solitude. Double those figures for full furnishings.

You can also invest 500 gold in businesses to increase cash available for transactions, as a perk in the Speech tree.

The opposite of how I play Skyrim (I've yet to return to High Hrothgar): a speed run in 2 hours 47 minutes (the current record is 2 hours 13 minutes). Too many spoilers for me to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmg6H2qxFAw

speedrunning skyrim seems like totally missing the point

Yeah but 2 hours and 47 minutes later you have plenty of time to play it the right way.

So far the only person or creature he has killed is the dude with the book and the king Draughr in Bleak Falls. He is finished with Dragonstone quest and is only like 1/4 of the way through L1.

Read the collected written works of Skyrim offline on your Kindle, iPad, or other device.

in addition to other treasures (including all my creative writing notebooks from grade school and all my sports + trading cards) i found these in my parent's garage while cleaning out my boxes this week

http://i41.tinypic.com/55gzfm.jpg

sanpaku that is nuts. the writing in those books is so badddd

Eh, they're quick reads, and its a better option for absorbing some of the background (this is my first Elder Scrolls game) than sitting at the desk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=bPHtAHxB3iI

arena!!! lulz

i kind of don't like enemy scaling, it can seem a little bit like it defeats the point. -- i mean then why even level at all.

ff8 had an interesting system but it was broken every which way.

whatever, i am going to start playing new vegas now

Killed the first Dragon last night at level 7. was hungry to get with that shouting that everyone is talking about... As a Melee character, you just have to stay away from the business end of the Dragon, but I'm not looking forward to the later much tougher Dragons..

Not sure whether to stick to 2-handed melee or go though a few dungeons building up the one handed just for a backup.

I swear I hear Colonel Tigh from Battlestar Galactica do one of the opening voices and now every new character is a game of "is it Tigh?"

One-handed is for wimps. Quit cowering behind a shield.

i would use two shields if i could

One-handed is for wimps. Quit cowering behind a shield.

Dual wield one-handed = 2x the chances to accidentally clap Lydia round the head.

One-handed is for wimps. Quit cowering behind a shield.

one-hand + magic

rawwwwrr!

I swear I hear Colonel Tigh from Battlestar Galactica do one of the opening voices

Yeah, he's that imperial captain dude.

Is anyone crazy enough to attempt a complete game? I guess it would all locations discovered, all areas cleared, all main quests completed?

"frakkin nords"