The OFFICIAL Anandtech Forums TeS V: Skyrim Thread

[pontifex]

Are scrolls 1 time use or can you learn the spell from them?

 

[Snock514]

Scrolls are a one time use, spell books teach you it permanently.

 

[Coffinmaker]

Got this on tuesday, what a masterpeice I must say. I have played for about 20 hours and haven't had a CTD yet. Fingers crossed. Everything about this game is absolutely beautiful!

 

[NoSoup4You]

Creation engine is a heavily reworked version of Gamebryo, but this definitely isn't Gamebryo anymore. Vastly improved, thankfully.

Skyrim thus far, I have 52 hours played and it has CTD once. No other issues other than three times it has suddenly bogged down to 1 fps, alt+tab'ing out and back cleared it each time. I'm running the WHQL nvidia drivers released on 10/25 for the BF3 launch.

 

[CottonRabbit]

Holy crap, as a part of a side quest I was led to an underground cavern that's literally the size of 1/5th of Skyrim. You could fit all of Whiterun and the surrounding plains into the place. This game is huge.

 

[RavenSEAL]

So apparently I just became a werewolf. :awe:

 

[NoSoup4You]

One irksome part of the game which is instantly reminding me of Oblivion - I skipped the Companions quests but am going back to them now at Level 21. I am the Thane of Whiterun for saving the town from a dragon and have killed probably half a dozen other dragons by now, completed dozens of quests, I own a home in Whiterun...etc. But the Companions quest line dialogue has everyone spitting on me as if I'm an outsider whom they've never heard of. One guy had a line where he reminded me to be careful with his sword since it's probably worth more than I am. I have 10k gold and am wearing a fully enchanted set of armor. Argghhhh... vexing.

Obviously this questline was intended as an early part of the game but it's one of the few immersion breakers I've encountered thus far. Oblivion was chock full of stuff like that - becoming Archmage of the Mages Guild despite being a two-handed barbarian class character, and being treated like absolute garbage by everyone despite being the head of the freaking Mages and Fighters Guilds concurrently...etc.

lulz

 

[Snock514]

So apparently I just became a werewolf. :awe:

Pretty fun! I tried it against the first dragon when I was level 11.... Got wrecked. Without the ability to use healing pots + expert difficulty = lots of reloading of save points. I eventually gave up and reloaded it on an easier difficulty. Dragon killing is incredibly hard when you're melee based.

 

[Merad]

Are there any downsides to becoming a werewolf?

Obviously this questline was intended as an early part of the game but it's one of the few immersion breakers I've encountered thus far. Oblivion was chock full of stuff like that - becoming Archmage of the Mages Guild despite being a two-handed barbarian class character, and being treated like absolute garbage by everyone despite being the head of the freaking Mages and Fighters Guilds concurrently...etc.

Yeah, that's a problem that's particularly obvious in TES games. It's easier to deal with when the player has to take a totally linear or at least somewhat restricted path. Beth would probably have to record a dozen variations of each dialog to really address all the possibilities. One of these days though, voice synthesizers will get to the point that they can make realistic voices..... and once that happens, the possibilities for RPGs like TES are truly orgasmic.:awe:

 

[ManBearPig]

Is fire, ice, or lightning the best type of destruction magic? My Mage is level 9 and kinda sucks. I've out all his points into magicka and honestly have no idea what to do with my perk points. Should I invest them in the three diff types of destruction magic or just focus on one and dual cast? I STILL am using flame and spark lol...

 

[RebelCapitalist]

Is fire, ice, or lightning the best type of destruction magic? My Mage is level 9 and kinda sucks. I've out all his points into magicka and honestly have no idea what to do with my perk points. Should I invest them in the three diff types of destruction magic or just focus on one and dual cast? I STILL am using flame and spark lol...

Look a page or two back. I posted some info on building out a mage. My dark elf is a pure mage. I'm around lvl 37 right now.

Short answer: lightning (chain cast lightning w/ dual cast).

You'll want to get enchanting up to 100 asap and put Fortify destruction on your ring, necklace and circlet.

My mage felt like he was going downhill until I did what I mentioned a couple pages back. You have enough perk points to go around.

 

[pontifex]

I can't figure out how to change ore into ingots...I can't see anything at a blacksmith that would let me do it.

 

[pontifex]

Look a page or two back. I posted some info on building out a mage. My dark elf is a pure mage. I'm around lvl 37 right now.

Short answer: lightning (chain cast lightning w/ dual cast).

You'll want to get enchanting up to 100 asap and put Fortify destruction on your ring, necklace and circlet.

My mage felt like he was going downhill until I did what I mentioned a couple pages back. You have enough perk points to go around.

Any particular reason why lighting? What does it do differently that fire or ice don't?

 

[Locut0s]

Okay quick question. I need to get an idea of how well I'm levelling. I'm playing a light armour wearing one handed (with shield) melee player with a little bit of sneak thrown in. Right now I'm just at level 8 and I just had a rather difficult encounter at Halted Steam Camp outside Whiterun. There were 3 bandits there a wizard, and two melee bandits. Took me about 4 tries to get them got killed the first 3 times or so. Does this sound like I'm underpowered at my current level or does this sound like a difficult encounter at level 8 to begin with?

Any comments on this from anyone?

 

[Wardawg1001]

I can't figure out how to change ore into ingots...I can't see anything at a blacksmith that would let me do it.

Some blacksmith areas have a "Smelter" I think is what its called. Theres one in Whiterun by the blacksmith shop.

 

[Wardawg1001]

Any particular reason why lighting? What does it do differently that fire or ice don't?

Fire does the highest damage. Ice drains stamina from your target. Lightning drains magicka from your enemy. Ice and lighting do roughly the same amount of damage (not accounting for enchantments and perks).

 

[ManBearPig]

Look a page or two back. I posted some info on building out a mage. My dark elf is a pure mage. I'm around lvl 37 right now.

Short answer: lightning (chain cast lightning w/ dual cast).

You'll want to get enchanting up to 100 asap and put Fortify destruction on your ring, necklace and circlet.

My mage felt like he was going downhill until I did what I mentioned a couple pages back. You have enough perk points to go around.

Thanks, never really considered enchanting. Usually in games it seems like the pre-made items are better. I never really use enchanting/crafting/smithing or anything in games so i overlooked it...maybe i'll give it a try if you say its worth it!

 

[Merad]

I can't figure out how to change ore into ingots...I can't see anything at a blacksmith that would let me do it.

You need a smelter. For some reason they're not always located with blacksmiths. If you go to the blacksmith in Whiterun they have a smelter. They're also usually located just outside of mines.

 

[Wardawg1001]

Any comments on this from anyone?

Hard to say. Like someone else mentioned, different area's have level 'ranges' where even if you are a really low level the mobs there may not adjust fully down to your level, so you may have wandered into one of those areas and been fighting mobs above your level. That said, bandits and mages can actually be pretty tough, and 3v1 isn't easy for someone in light armor, even with a shield.

 

[ManBearPig]

Hard to say. Like someone else mentioned, different area's have level 'ranges' where even if you are a really low level the mobs there may not adjust fully down to your level, so you may have wandered into one of those areas and been fighting mobs above your level. That said, bandits and mages can actually be pretty tough, and 3v1 isn't easy for someone in light armor, even with a shield.

Also, i might add i've only come across (level 8 or 9 wizard) 2 fighters/1 bow and arrow fighter, or 3 wizards. Never 2 fighters/1 wizard. Prolly be harder that way.

 

[Wardawg1001]

Thanks, never really considered enchanting. Usually in games it seems like the pre-made items are better. I never really use enchanting/crafting/smithing or anything in games so i overlooked it...maybe i'll give it a try if you say its worth it!

I'm at level 41 and I've almost exclusively been using weapons that I've made/upgraded/enchanted. The only exceptions really are rings/amulets that have enchantments much more powerful than the ones you can make until you get really high level enchanting and sink some perks into it. I find that magic weapons/armor is pretty few and far between in Skyrim, and more often than not it doesn't match your play style. With blacksmithing you can get a full set of the best armor available to you much easier and cheaper than buying the pieces or finding them usually, and upgrades you can do at the blacksmith are usually more powerful than whatever enchantments you find on pieces out in the world.

 

[Snock514]

Best place to find iron/steel ores/bars? Is any place specifically good for veins?

 

[RebelCapitalist]

Any particular reason why lighting? What does it do differently that fire or ice don't?

Chain lightning over fire because it flows through multiple enemies without them needing to be super close (like with fireball). But you can easily add a couple points into fire perks and have them both. I have fire and shock perks. I didn't bother with cold.

Plus I just love being the Emperor from Star Wars.

BTW, just went back and joined the Legion.

 

[Wardawg1001]

Best place to find iron/steel ores/bars? Is any place specifically good for veins?

I haven't found any place thats particularly heavy with ore veins (besides Dwemer ruins). Even the mines only have a couple. I usually end up having most of the ore/bars I need just from regular adventuring by the time I'm ready to make a new set of weapons/armor, and I buy what I dont have.

Dwemer ruins have TONS of dwarven armor, ingots, and pieces to smelt into dwarven ingots. Dwarven gets underpowered pretty early, but if its your material of choice at the time, a run through a single Dwemer ruin should give you enough bars to craft and upgrade a full set of armor and weapons for you and a follower. You can't make a set of light dwarven armor though, its heavy only.

 

[Tequila]

This game is fricken amazing. Just finished the mage quest line in Winterhold and the end rewards are incredible making my magicka regen at an insane rate, plus you get a sweet staff. I was hoping for some good rewards because there weren't any gear upgrades that dropped in the dungeons while working on the quests. I had that necromancer robe for a looong time lol and the regen was painful even at 75%. Now it is 200% with the arch mage robe and morokei head. I haven't read any spoilers at all so those rewards were a nice surprise.

The tough part for me is that I'm a Kajiit mage, not excatly the ideal race for a mage so my destruction and conjuration are low(52 and 30) at level 20. My original intention was to do mostly thief with some magic but I loved the magic so much I went back to the guardian stone and switched my focus rather than starting the game all over. I get such a kick out of dual casting and the Impact perks Can't wait for 60 destro so I can get the 100% fire, frost and shock bonuses. Dual casting Lightening Bolt makes me feel like Emporer Palpatine

I do have issues however with CTDs and the inventory system. I get quite a few CTDs when I read books or click on the skills section. And the god awful text inventory system makes me scream and want to strangle the developers. But the game is so good that those two drawbacks are pretty minor.