The OFFICIAL Anandtech Forums TeS V: Skyrim Thread

[Atomic Playboy]

Looks like magic items & potions for enhancing smithing no longer have any effect on the resulting piece of gear. Unless it's a bug that only affects me.

You are talking about upgrading it at a grindstone/workbench, correct? "Fortify smithing" only affects upgrading gear, not building new pieces. I haven't played the 1.5 patch yet, so maybe there is a bug with that (from what I hear, 1.5 introduced an awful lot of bugs).

 

[CPA]

Does Skyrim get harder?

I'm at level 31 with a focus on archery, sneaking and light armor and I'm almost invincible. Rarely do I take damage and I can kill almost anything with a one-shot while crouched. It's starting to get a little boring.

 

[Martimus]

Does Skyrim get harder?

I'm at level 31 with a focus on archery, sneaking and light armor and I'm almost invincible. Rarely do I take damage and I can kill almost anything with a one-shot while crouched. It's starting to get a little boring.

It actually gets easier the longer you play. You get stronger, the enemies keep staying the same (got the quote from dazed and confused.)

 

[Majic 7]

Looks like magic items & potions for enhancing smithing no longer have any effect on the resulting piece of gear. Unless it's a bug that only affects me.

I just upgraded some glass armor to legendary using a potion and some smithing bracers and I'm only level 80 in smithing. On latest 1.5 patch and latest Unofficial beta patch. Still works for me.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Does Skyrim get harder?

I'm at level 31 with a focus on archery, sneaking and light armor and I'm almost invincible. Rarely do I take damage and I can kill almost anything with a one-shot while crouched. It's starting to get a little boring.

The game gets criminally easy after level 30. If you've spent any time at all buffing any combat stats (one-handed, two-handed, destruction or whatever your preferred playstyle is) and made yourself some enchanted gear, you're essentially invincible. You can crank the difficulty up in options or download one of the mods that makes enemies more difficult, but outside of that, you're God.

 

[cytoSiN]

Does Skyrim get harder?

I'm at level 31 with a focus on archery, sneaking and light armor and I'm almost invincible. Rarely do I take damage and I can kill almost anything with a one-shot while crouched. It's starting to get a little boring.

The short answer is "no." I recommend maxing the difficulty though, at least so that you can't one-shot EVERYTHING. I rolled the same build as you on my first playthrough, and by level 40 I had a full set of legendary, double-enchanted dragonscale armor, a legendary, double-enchanted daedric bow, and double-enchanted ring/amulet. At that point, the only thing left to do was finish all the major quest chains, explore until I got bored, and then kill every living thing in the game (although it stupidly refuses to let you murder certain NPCs). That last part was just about the most fun I've had playing Skyrim or any other Elder Scrolls game (second only to going on a similar murderous rampage in Morrowind after exhausting all other options, but in that game they actually let you kill every single living thing).

 

[CPA]

The short answer is "no." I recommend maxing the difficulty though, at least so that you can't one-shot EVERYTHING. I rolled the same build as you on my first playthrough, and by level 40 I had a full set of legendary, double-enchanted dragonscale armor, a legendary, double-enchanted daedric bow, and double-enchanted ring/amulet. At that point, the only thing left to do was finish all the major quest chains, explore until I got bored, and then kill every living thing in the game (although it stupidly refuses to let you murder certain NPCs). That last part was just about the most fun I've had playing Skyrim or any other Elder Scrolls game (second only to going on a similar murderous rampage in Morrowind after exhausting all other options, but in that game they actually let you kill every single living thing).

I don't know if my conscious would let me do that, lol.

 

[Qbah]

So... anyone heard anything about the first DLC?

 

[Merad]

How I play Skyrim

 

[Martimus]

How I play Skyrim

That waz the best Skyrim video I've ever seen.

 

[dust]

How I play Skyrim

rofl

 

[Molondo]

Was looking to start a new char, stealth based. I'd like to stay nord, but i guess slight benefits of the kajit race might be better. I also read that races dont' really impact gameplay all that much down the road anyways.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Just started a new playthrough again after a month or so off. Built a new computer, now I can run with all settings maxed, AA and AF, the official HD pack and a further 4+ GB of HD texture mods, post processing lighting effects... and never dip below 60 FPS (I'll need to head to the town square in Riften to doublecheck, that tends to be a performance killer). This game is absolutely gorgeous when it's at its best.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Was looking to start a new char, stealth based. I'd like to stay nord, but i guess slight benefits of the kajit race might be better. I also read that races dont' really impact gameplay all that much down the road anyways.

No, but they can be very helpful in the early going. If you're playing as a stealthy character, it's nice to start with stealth at 30 instead of 20. But after you pass level 25, it really becomes irrelevant, as you can craft gear for whatever your preferred play style is and level everything to 100 regardless of race. I'd say play as the race you want without worrying about the starting stats; you can work past that. The race-specific powers might be a consideration too (the Orc's Berserker Rage is pretty wicked for warrior classes, but useless for mages, for example).

 

[zinfamous]

iirc, kajit bonus (unarmed attack) is made obsolete rather early in the game. I think it is great early on--Kajit unarmed is better than most early game armed combat, but even if you prefer to play unarmed for the entire game, heavy armor gloves will soon trump any advantage from a Kajit running around with claws.

 

[cytoSiN]

Was looking to start a new char, stealth based. I'd like to stay nord, but i guess slight benefits of the kajit race might be better. I also read that races dont' really impact gameplay all that much down the road anyways.

If you're going to go stealth+archery, consider Bosmer. That +10 to archery is useful early on.

 

[cytoSiN]

How I play Skyrim

Lol, fantastic!

 

[zinfamous]

If you're going to go stealth+archery, consider Bosmer. That +10 to archery is useful early on.

But you can cheese the system and at the beginning of the game, your first possible companion--Faengol, can train you up to 50 archery for free. (have him as follower, train, take his money through companion commands. repeat)

 

[The_Golden_Man]

But you can cheese the system and at the beginning of the game, your first possible companion--Faengol, can train you up to 50 archery for free. (have him as follower, train, take his money through companion commands. repeat)

What's the point in cheating? It would take all the fun away.

 

[scooterlibby]

Just started a new playthrough again after a month or so off. Built a new computer, now I can run with all settings maxed, AA and AF, the official HD pack and a further 4+ GB of HD texture mods, post processing lighting effects... and never dip below 60 FPS (I'll need to head to the town square in Riften to doublecheck, that tends to be a performance killer). This game is absolutely gorgeous when it's at its best.

What specific graphics mods are you using?

 

[Atomic Playboy]

What specific graphics mods are you using?

A ton, at this point... But I'll list some of the bigger ones:

WATER - Water And Terrain Enhancement Redux
Static Mesh Improvement Mod
Skyrim Realistic Overhaul (This is the bulk of my high-res textures except for ones overwritten by the following)
XCE - Xenius Character Enhancement
Improved NPC Clothing - High Res
Skyrim Flora Overhaul
Better Dynamic Snow
Enhanced Blood Textures
Deadly Spell Impacts
AOF Believable Hair -Female and Male-
Enhanced Night Skyrim
Nordic Ruins Clutter Improvement

I'm running the official HD pack as a base with a few bug fixes for it, then these as texture replacement mods. I'm using RCRN v21 HDR - Realistic Colors and Real Nights as my lighting mod on the "Legacy" setting so the nights aren't pitch black, but are still noticeably darker than Vanilla. Ingame settings on Ultra High preset with 4xAA and 16xAF forced through drivers, FXAA disabled.

 

[zinfamous]

What's the point in cheating? It would take all the fun away.

something like that isn't cheating. It's "cheesing the system."

maybe subtle, but definitely not the same thing.

 

[Molondo]

I downloaded black tower and black sacrament armor pack. I found out i can pickpocket the armors from the guy which cost aroung 5-10k starting. I decided not to as it would make me way to powerfull so early (lvl 15).

 

[scooterlibby]

A ton, at this point... But I'll list some of the bigger ones:

WATER - Water And Terrain Enhancement Redux
Static Mesh Improvement Mod
Skyrim Realistic Overhaul (This is the bulk of my high-res textures except for ones overwritten by the following)
XCE - Xenius Character Enhancement
Improved NPC Clothing - High Res
Skyrim Flora Overhaul
Better Dynamic Snow
Enhanced Blood Textures
Deadly Spell Impacts
AOF Believable Hair -Female and Male-
Enhanced Night Skyrim
Nordic Ruins Clutter Improvement

I'm running the official HD pack as a base with a few bug fixes for it, then these as texture replacement mods. I'm using RCRN v21 HDR - Realistic Colors and Real Nights as my lighting mod on the "Legacy" setting so the nights aren't pitch black, but are still noticeably darker than Vanilla. Ingame settings on Ultra High preset with 4xAA and 16xAF forced through drivers, FXAA disabled.

Thank you!

 

[Qbah]

Rumors about the DLC

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/04/27/skyrim-dlc-found.aspx

Snow elves and crossbows!