Elder Scrolls V

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Kyla Laufreyson

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Picked my copy up the minute it came out...have spent way too much time playing it already...and my Sneak is at 52, which probably says something about how often I'm in Sneak Mode. Plus I've discovered that my aim is as excellent in Skyrim as it always was in Oblivion, which basically translates to...I can shoot anything at any distance.

I love the new menu designs, dislike the appearance of the map, and absolutely adore the dragons just on the basis of THEY LOOK SO COOL. Also, the summons of the Greybeards practically gave me a heart attack.
 

efkelley

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The game is really quick pretty. My big complaint thus far is that I've yet to fight a bad guy or group of bad guys that dual-wield frost spells couldn't finish off. I should find a giant. Yes, that seems like the way to certain death.
 

efkelley

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One criticism that's on the 'this is a touch too aggravating' side is swapping spells. I make heavy use of the Favorites menu, but, if I want to get tricky, I'm pausing the action every four to six seconds, thumbing through a menu, and jumping back in. It really breaks things up.

Seems like they're pushing me towards swords a lot more than sorcery.
 

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Argh! That opening/tutorial seemed to last forever. And I had to do it twice! And Haldvar's accent...Jeez. (Yes, I went with the Imperials.)

Am I wrong in believing the stats (strength, agility, speed, etc.) are gone? I can't seem to find them. If so, that will make leveling up much less nerve-wracking. And since I tend to "lean toward dual-wielding one-handed swords" (to paraphrase Eric), I could see myself rushing through levels pretty quickly.

The finishers are pretty cool. Glad they added those. Liked them in Dragon Age as well.
 
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Kyla Laufreyson

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Am I wrong in believing the stats (strength, agility, speed, etc.) are gone? I can't seem to find them. If so, that will make leveling up much less nerve-wracking.
Yes, those are gone. For example, how carrying capacity used to be effected by strength? Now when you level up, if you choose to increase your stamina, THAT raises your carrying capacity.
 

Priene

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One criticism that's on the 'this is a touch too aggravating' side is swapping spells. I make heavy use of the Favorites menu, but, if I want to get tricky, I'm pausing the action every four to six seconds, thumbing through a menu, and jumping back in. It really breaks things up.

Open up the Favourites menu, select your spell, and then hold down a key from 1-8 for a second or so. You can then use that key to arm that spell.
 

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

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4) brawling dialogue option. i've already made some money brawling. i'm playing a female dunmer and intend to best the best brawlers the nords have to offer.
Have you found some way to improve your Brawling? I'm only about eight hours in (and already a third as high in my level as I reached after over a hundred hours of Oblivion--which frightens me more than I can say), and only had one Brawl (with that bard bothering the merchant in Whiterun). I beat him relatively easy, but it will seem silly to me if later in the game (after slaying dragons) I get my ass handed to me by a tavern bard using fisticuffs...

Also, are giants supposed to be devastingly powerful? I happened across the pair west of Whiterun and stealth-archered them for kicks and giggles. But the first one just stomped up to me and seemed to lean in my direction and I fell over dead.
 
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Kyla Laufreyson

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22 hours in, I have yet to fight any giants. But I need to kill a mammoth at some point, so I suspect a giant will involve itself.
 

Kyla Laufreyson

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I joined, but I'm hoping for a cure to the lycanthropy later on. I just really like being as thorough with completing all the quests as I can, so I went ahead and joined their little Circle.
 

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I'm curious of whether there might have been an opposite quest offered if you didn't join the compainions at all. One where you sided with the Silver Hand to take out the werewolves. That would be cool for a second playthru

Also, in the IGN Review it states that dragon attacks are frequent. Admittedly I am only level 10, but I've seen neither scale nor tail of a dragon since the opening. When exactly do they start attacking? How many have you all encountered and when did they start? (I found a dragon word/phrase (whatever--there was no ingame explanation offered...yet), but I can't use it apparently until I kill a dragon).

ETA: I confess I stopped reading the review about half way thru page one because I am terrified of receiving too many spoilers. So if they answered my question, I apologize.
 
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ShamanDrum

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I didn't enjoy Oblivion much as the characters in the world felt generic, and I hated the level scaling.

I bought this as I heard both issues were addressed. So far after playing for a few hours I'm liking it a lot more, although I am a tad disappointed by the graphics.

Still, having fun :)
 

Kyla Laufreyson

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Also, in the IGN Review it states that dragon attacks are frequent. Admittedly I am only level 10, but I've seen neither scale nor tail of a dragon since the opening. When exactly do they start attacking? How many have you all encountered and when did they start? (I found a dragon word/phrase (whatever--there was no ingame explanation offered...yet), but I can't use it apparently until I kill a dragon).

ETA: I confess I stopped reading the review about half way thru page one because I am terrified of receiving too many spoilers. So if they answered my question, I apologize.
I'm not going to read the article (I've probably read it already, honestly) but for dragon attacks: you have to get at least a little bit into the main quest. If you didn't already go to Riverwood like Havard told you to, you have to do that--then you'll be told to go speak to the Jarl in Whiterun. Once you do that, you'll end up with a dragon attack and then they start showing up all over the place. I've taken out at least 5 or 6 so far, and seen another 3 that just flew off on me instead of attacking.

ETA: I feel like such a nerd for being able to answer like any question that pops up about this game...
 

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

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I'm not going to read the article (I've probably read it already, honestly) but for dragon attacks: you have to get at least a little bit into the main quest. If you didn't already go to Riverwood like Havard told you to, you have to do that--then you'll be told to go speak to the Jarl in Whiterun. Once you do that, you'll end up with a dragon attack and then they start showing up all over the place. I've taken out at least 5 or 6 so far, and seen another 3 that just flew off on me instead of attacking.
I got the quest from the Jarl's wizard, but then got caught up with the Companions and just exploring the area around Whiterun. Heading south to Riverwood and the Bleak Barrow Falls (for 2 pending quests) is next on my list.

Thanks Nerd!:wag:
 

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I didn't enjoy Oblivion much as the characters in the world felt generic, and I hated the level scaling.

I bought this as I heard both issues were addressed. So far after playing for a few hours I'm liking it a lot more, although I am a tad disappointed by the graphics.

Still, having fun :)

The characters aren't wildly different but the world feels a lot more convincing and the level scaling - well, I'm not sure it's massively different, but it seems much more natural this time round. No bandits in glass armour, just more dangerous monsters dotted around the place as you level up. The character levelling itself is very stripped-down, and actually I don't miss all the min-maxing in the least.

On the PC, playing on Ultra, the graphics are lovely if not anywhere near Crysis-level, and actually it's nice to be able to play it with all the fruit turned on and not have my computer chug and wheeze trying to render it all.
 

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*desperately trying to avoid reading spoilers as he posts this*

I want to buy it, but I'm not going to bother yet because I know I wouldn't be able to play it the way I want. Maybe over winter break.
 

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

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Anyone else playing on PS3? I somehow zoomed in on my 3rd Person POV cam and can't get it to reset. It is very close to the back of my character's head, making it hard to see what is going on around him. When he draws his weapon the camera does zoom out to the regular distance, but as soon as I sheath the weapon the camera zooms back in against his head.
 

efkelley

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Open up the Favourites menu, select your spell, and then hold down a key from 1-8 for a second or so. You can then use that key to arm that spell.

Alas, I'm stuck playing on a console. I DESPISE console gaming for anything that should be done with a mouse. But, beggars don't get a menu.
 

efkelley

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Anyone else playing on PS3? I somehow zoomed in on my 3rd Person POV cam and can't get it to reset. It is very close to the back of my character's head, making it hard to see what is going on around him. When he draws his weapon the camera does zoom out to the regular distance, but as soon as I sheath the weapon the camera zooms back in against his head.

On the Xbox, 3rd/1st zoom is by depressing the right thumbstick. PS3 has the same kind of controller, yes?
 

efkelley

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SPOILER TIME! Flee if you're not interested.

It's very hard for me to avoid comparing this to Dragon Age. What with the billion dragons and all. That said, my biggest criticism is immersion. That's an area that most BioWare games accomplish seamlessly, and Bethesda just fails at.

Example. I return to Whiterun after offing a cave full of bandits. Colossal roar overhead. Weary sigh from me: 'Another one of these fucking things?' Dragon fight ensues. Townsfolk are running around. Guards are milling about with swords drawn (perhaps hoping the flying thing will hop down to ground level?) And I'm waiting for the damn thing to sit still long enough to blast it with giant ice spikes. The battle takes a good five minutes.

The dragon finally collapses, I absorb its soul, and a half dozen townsfolk are looking on with awe. Pretty spiffy, right? Dialog is appropriately awed/reverent/fearful. Pretty cool. Then the event is 'over' and the immersion breaking begins.

The first comment from one of the departing guards is 'My brother is off killing dragons, and I'm stuck here on guard duty.' Hello? Giant skeleton not three feet away? Next comment on my way to the keep: 'If a dragon attacks Whiterun, we'll be ready.' You mean the NEXT time, or was that little fracas in the market circle just for practice? Then I get to the Jarl: 'I hope we never see a dragon in Whiterun.' Dude, you cannot tell me I'm the first one up to the keep.

This is a classic Bethesda issue. The randomness of the world does make gameplay more dynamic, but the world doesn't react to what you do. It saps those amazing moments of their immediacy from both gameplay and story perspectives. Fallout avoided a lot of this because wandering the wastes killing bandits is the norm for pretty much everyone. Also, Deathclaws didn't attack settlements regularly. You didn't have situations where you just did something awesome and the townsfolk go back to normal. You did your awesome shit far away from town. I feel like some consideration for this should have been given to Skyrim.

Oh, another complaint: Goddam telepathic guards. I'm not playing a lawbreaker (this time) but in the quest to visit the big friggin tree the pilgrim with me got right in the way during the spriggan ambush and caught on fire. He's then in my face with fists flying. Now, the dialog in this part is so ambivalent and the action so poorly scripted, that I wasn't sure if he was on the spriggan's side or not. After all, the 'humans' down there weren't really people, and this dude had made a big big fuss about accompanying me. Was he on their side? I dunno, but he's in my face now, and maybe he was attacking my Huscarl? Not sure, but Lydia was trying to take his head off, and that's good enough for me. Ice Spike torpedoes: ready. Fire! Dude goes flying. We sheathe swords and spells, and call it a day. Or so I thought.

I transport back to Whiterun whereupon a guard yells 'We know how to deal with your kind!' and swords come out of nowhere. Three minutes later, half the guards and a third of the townsfolk are dead, and I get to ask: 'What the fuck was that??' Apparently the pilgrim really was a real pilgrim who just didn't like getting set on fire. Thing is, I'm pretty sure Lydia didn't rat me out. Hell, she's the one who cut his head off. So who else knew about it? Stupid. Dumb. Stupid. I ended up reloading and just letting the guy die to spriggans before wading in myself.

What's most frustrating is that the rest of the game is great. It's beautiful, the mechanics are fun, and dungeon crawling is a hoot. They've even fixed companion sneaking such that they share your stealth level where in Fallout if you went anywhere with the Brotherhood of Steel chick she's clanking around while you're stalking bad guys in your stealth suit. My huscarl is pretty sneaky for a chick in full plate. Way cool. Yet, dealing with the world at large, the society itself, just feels completely primitive, incomplete, and shoddy.

And that's a lot more words than I intended to write on this topic, but there ya have it.
 

Kyla Laufreyson

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I got the quest from the Jarl's wizard, but then got caught up with the Companions and just exploring the area around Whiterun. Heading south to Riverwood and the Bleak Barrow Falls (for 2 pending quests) is next on my list.

Thanks Nerd!:wag:
Doing the Bleak Barrow Falls stuff should trigger the dragon attack I mentioned.

And you're welcome with all my nerdiness :tongue
 

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

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On the Xbox, 3rd/1st zoom is by depressing the right thumbstick. PS3 has the same kind of controller, yes?
Yeah, I can go back and forth between 1st/3rd zoom without a problem. The problem is I somehow jacked the 3rd POV camera and it is right behind my character's head. I can't see anything around his big fat head (actually a small head vs. size of body, but that's another story) unless I swing the camera up to look straight down and then can only see like an inch in any direction.

I reloaded a save from the start just to be sure I wasn't crazy, and I definitely did something to the 3rd person POV cam. I was hoping there'd just be a reset option.
 
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JohnnyGottaKeyboard

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The game is really quick pretty. My big complaint thus far is that I've yet to fight a bad guy or group of bad guys that dual-wield frost spells couldn't finish off. I should find a giant. Yes, that seems like the way to certain death.
I'm not sure about this lack of leveling. I mean, there was a cave south of windhelm that I cleaned out pretty easily, and then just a few steps away I got slaughtered by some sort of ice troll.
 

Kyla Laufreyson

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I'm not sure about this lack of leveling. I mean, there was a cave south of windhelm that I cleaned out pretty easily, and then just a few steps away I got slaughtered by some sort of ice troll.
Freaking frost trolls (I forget the actual long name for them)! As if NORMAL Oblivion trolls weren't bad enough, now they get to be icy. Hate those things.
 

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I got my first random dragon attack last night. Best video game moment I've had in a good while. Maybe it will get overdone later, but the timing was...impeccable. That and I had no idea such attacks would happen. I had been beating up a group of thugs, and chased the last of them out to a river. I jumped into the water, readied my bow for the final shot, and --
FWOOSH! A huge stream of dragon fire comes out of nowhere, roasting the poor thug. And suddenly I'm jumping to get out of the middle of the open river as fast as I can go.

Aside from the geeky story: I like the leveling system very much. It's rewarding and interesting without making me feel as though I need to second-guess my decisions to min/max stats.

Now I'm looking forward to starting the Dark Brotherhood quests. That was my favorite quest line in Oblivion. Hopefully this game's version holds up.
 
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