The OFFICIAL Anandtech Forums TeS V: Skyrim Thread

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scooterlibby

Senior member
Feb 28, 2009
752
0
0
Well let's all keep an eye out and post here when/if Dawngaurd goes on sale.

Been replaying using the ENB mod as well as some others. Looks fantastic. When fully cranked up it makes my two 580's chug, which is pretty crazy. Oddly it's indoors, though where they really struggle. Outdoors I still pin at 60 FPS but drop into the 30's when I'm inside. I
would have thought it would be the other way around.
 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
I'm enjoying the DLC. Werewolf perks actually make it fun to play as one again (instead of getting insta-gibbed :p) - spent literally a few hours running around as one and killing / eating everything :D The crossbow is really cool too. And the DLC isn't completely standalone, it needs some things from main quest too. Also, quite a few additional quests, some big, some small - the new areas look ok too. Some weapons have new things on them - and not limited by charge, which is nice! I really enjoy the new companion too.

Anyway, spent like 30 hours already - mixing it with normal quests and places, but it's fun. Was it worth for me the 20€ I paid? Yep - but I'm sure plenty of people won't feel this way.
 

Madia

Senior member
May 2, 2006
487
1
0
I'm enjoying the DLC. Werewolf perks actually make it fun to play as one again (instead of getting insta-gibbed :p) - spent literally a few hours running around as one and killing / eating everything :D

It's just a minor quibble but I think the werewolf perks should've been patched in like the mounted combat. It doesn't make sense for it to be dlc exclusive unless there's a mission for it that I'm unaware of.

Anyway, spent like 30 hours already - mixing it with normal quests and places, but it's fun. Was it worth for me the 20€ I paid? Yep - but I'm sure plenty of people won't feel this way.

I'm sure a lot of people on this thread would agree that they got $100+ value out of Skyrim but my guess is that just about every one of them would've balked at a $70 msrp for it. The msrp for games is $60 and $10 or $15 for DLC. Anything over than that and the consumer's going to want to know the reason behind the extra charge. With the Dawnguard DLC, there's no reason it's priced higher than comprable DLC.
 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
It's just a minor quibble but I think the werewolf perks should've been patched in like the mounted combat. It doesn't make sense for it to be dlc exclusive unless there's a mission for it that I'm unaware of.

Nope, no mission. And I have to agree here. The werewolf without those perks is useless later in the game.

I'm sure a lot of people on this thread would agree that they got $100+ value out of Skyrim but my guess is that just about every one of them would've balked at a $70 msrp for it. The msrp for games is $60 and $10 or $15 for DLC. Anything over than that and the consumer's going to want to know the reason behind the extra charge. With the Dawnguard DLC, there's no reason it's priced higher than comprable DLC.

There is nothing special in this DLC that will "wow" you. It's just more of the same pretty much - but you can feel they put effort into what was delivered. Serana is a fun character to have as companion. Crossbows are cool to use.

A bit spoiler-ish, so tagging:

You get a few new shouts and a nice way to unlock them. You get to travel to a lot of places too, get to buy "extra muscle - armored trolls", get a few new other weapons too. The new area (Soul Cairn) is rather bland though - very deserted (kinda expected) but there's nothing really happening inside, unlike say Shivering Isles from Oblivion or the Fallout DLCs. It's a short trip there without anything substantial happening or being explained. At least not until I left it... You got to find out so much about Shivering Isles, interacted with it so much, it's a shame Soul Cairn is so empty and quick. But, well, it's fun (or I just love Skyrim that much :p) - I summed the dragon (new), which summoned extra help too, turned into a werewolf and we really ripped stuff to pieces together! :D

However, a few bugs showed up again - the quick reflexes one for example :( I had a mod that fixed it in the vanilla game, seems it's broken again. I had to remove the perk using console commands, otherwise I could not play... Using the crossbow also sometimes "locks" you into firing position and you have to sheathe it to shout for example. Serana also likes to "bug" and gets stuck in combat mode - she won't move or talk to you until you switch locations. Annoying for the story parts as you miss dialogue and have to run around a lot to "unblock" her.

I still didn't finish the DLC, so I'm sure I will have more comments later. But so far, again, I just enjoy it. Though I do enjoy anything Skyrim and 20€ won't make-or-break my wallet, so I didn't mind paying more.
 

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,828
184
106
Holy shit... Just found out there's a Skyrim expansion and it's out already. Bit disappointed it's $20, will probably wait for sale.
 

Madia

Senior member
May 2, 2006
487
1
0
PCGMR-ALLIN-GREEN

At GMG will get you the $15.

Thanks for the heads up. I picked it up since I recenty got back into Skryim (due to the various graphic mods) and was willing before to pay full DLC price ($15). Too bad there's still reports of bugs; I had hoped they would've fixed those with xbox360 earlier release. Hopefully by the time I get around to playing it they'll have released a patch.
 

The_Golden_Man

Senior member
Apr 7, 2012
816
1
0
I "borrowed" Dawnguard for PC. I must say it's not worth the money at all. At best it's a mediocre guild quest.

Another thing, there is no point playing both sides. You will do mostly the same things in the same areas. Only difference is your home guild house.

Also that Soul Cairn is a very boring, empty and uninspiring place. It has bad textures and style art. Almost as If Bethesda rushed it. I actually feel that the planes of Oblivion in TES IV looked much better.

Crossbows is pretty cool though.

Like many others I feel tired after playing 180 hours + prior to this DLC. Now I have over 200 hours in the game. This game needs something totally new like something along the lines of Shivering Isles for Oblivion, as mentioned earlier.
 

The_Golden_Man

Senior member
Apr 7, 2012
816
1
0
Here is my bad/ugly looking wood elf Level 50. Finished the Dawnguard quest a while ago (Siding with the Dawnguard). Taking a few sidequests for them now. I have 216 hours playtime in Skyrim according to Steam now.

a2gjtu.jpg
 
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turn_pike

Senior member
Mar 4, 2012
316
0
71
Hey guys, what do you think of the 2K Textures Mod as compared to the official HD Textures pack ?
Since I only have a 6870, I will be using the lite version fot the mod.
How's the performance penalty and is it worth it ?
 

mcjonesy

Junior Member
May 22, 2012
3
0
66
Hey guys, what do you think of the 2K Textures Mod as compared to the official HD Textures pack ?
Since I only have a 6870, I will be using the lite version fot the mod.
How's the performance penalty and is it worth it ?

I use both and load the 2K textures after the official ones. I don't notice a performance hit, but I'm running 2 7870's. I think you should try it out. If you don't like it, you can always remove the textures.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,081
136
I'm gonna wait a year until the super platinum edition comes out and saves me 50 bucks.
But the DLC does look good.
 

Madia

Senior member
May 2, 2006
487
1
0
lol--you can adopt children?

for...what purpose??

D:

I think some people in the community actually wanted it. Hopefully they'll improve your spouse since they're still kind of buggy. Also, why keep such a small mod exclusive to the xbox 360 for a month?
 

Truthslayer

Member
Dec 21, 2010
63
0
66
I think some people in the community actually wanted it. Hopefully they'll improve your spouse since they're still kind of buggy. Also, why keep such a small mod exclusive to the xbox 360 for a month?

I'll go into details here as I understand it: Bethesda strikes a deal with Microsoft for extra development money (free patches?) in exchange for exclusive rights to the first two DLC addons for one month each, before releasing to the other platforms. It was done before for Fallout 3, but not Oblivion (IIRC).

From what I'm inferring here, is that there's no limitation as to minimum price/content value of DLC as contracted out. They could have done two small addons and then pushed Dawnguard + other big DLC afterwards, but some people would then feel that it's Horse Armor all over again. They start with something sizable to keep interest 6 months+ down the line, then push out a minor DLC to finish off the contract.

TL;DR: they're now free from having to hold back DLC and can release for everyone at the same time for future content. Wouldn't surprise me if more content is out at or near the one year anniversary.