The OFFICIAL Anandtech Forums TeS V: Skyrim Thread

[RavenSEAL]

ATTENTION: AMD GPU OWNERS:

CatalystCreator Andrew D
Still working on Skyrim CAP - definitely aiming to get it released ASAP - upcoming performance driver will include other updates as well
1 hour ago

CatalystCreator Andrew D
Catalyst 11.11 will be officially released in a few hours
1 hour ago

 

[Merad]

http://www.vgchartz.com/article/88459/skyrim-sales-exceed-34-million-units-in-two-days/

3.4 million copies sold in two days, not counting digital sales!

 

[waggy]

My Ork Warrior is Sword/Shield. Basically went this route because I want to go with a heavily armoured Juggernaut with a shield. That and I am going to get Shield bash ASAP. Still only Level 3. I like to wander.

that's what i started as. i wanted to be a shield 1h weapon user. but it sucks compared to a 2h greatsword.

 

[Elfear]

ATTENTION: AMD GPU OWNERS:

CatalystCreator Andrew D
Still working on Skyrim CAP - definitely aiming to get it released ASAP - upcoming performance driver will include other updates as well
1 hour ago

CatalystCreator Andrew D
Catalyst 11.11 will be officially released in a few hours
1 hour ago

Woot woot! Hopefully the CAP will be released soon after so I can get me some Crossfire action.

 

[Rhezuss]

ATTENTION: AMD GPU OWNERS:

CatalystCreator Andrew D
Still working on Skyrim CAP - definitely aiming to get it released ASAP - upcoming performance driver will include other updates as well
1 hour ago

CatalystCreator Andrew D
Catalyst 11.11 will be officially released in a few hours
1 hour ago

Nice thanks a bunch for the update RavenSEAL!

 

[WisMan]

Am i the only one that find the game extremely easy? Maybe its the way I've leveled my character but i'm a level 28 sneak archer with both my sneak and archery in the ~70 range and is where a majority of my perks have been invested (Light Armor and Smithing being the other traits.) I have the difficulty set on master and can walk through most dungeons sneak attacking everything and barely run into anything that gives me a challenge. Most enemies can be taken out with 1 sneak 3.0x attack and if not i can usually get in a second attack while they are confused looking for me. I'm currently using an Elven Bow (Flawless) and anywhere from glass to iron/steel arrows depending on what I'm fighting.

Scaled Armor (Flawless) set with light armor rating 250+ is pretty badass as well.

 

[Merad]

Well I spent the morning playing with various ini file tweaks trying to squeeze more visuals out of the game. Man, you can seriously make this game gorgeous by pushing out draw distances and so on. Unfortunately, everything I tried left the game very unstable. Back to the default settings for me.

 

[Wardawg1001]

Am i the only one that find the game extremely easy? Maybe its the way I've leveled my character but i'm a level 28 sneak archer with both my sneak and archery in the ~70 range and is where a majority of my perks have been invested (Light Armor and Smithing being the other traits.) I have the difficulty set on master and can walk through most dungeons sneak attacking everything and barely run into anything that gives me a challenge. Most enemies can be taken out with 1 sneak 3.0x attack and if not i can usually get in a second attack while they are confused looking for me. I'm currently using an Elven Bow (Flawless) and anywhere from glass to iron/steel arrows depending on what I'm fighting.

Scaled Armor (Flawless) set with light armor rating 250+ is pretty badass as well.

I have a feeling that if you focus very heavily on combat skills, then combat is going to become quite easy. I've been having a similar issue to you, so I spent the last few hours in game really boosting my lockpicking, pickpocketing, and enchanting skills. I've gained like 7-8 levels off those without increasing my fighting power (I haven't dumped any perks into enchanting and I have only low level souls to use, so my enchants are awful still), which should increase the comparative difficulty of enemies. It also seems to me that smithing is probably the easiest way to become completely overpowered. Boosting it to 100 very early on and simply doing the base upgrades on low level weapons and armor would make you quite powerful I think, and probably far outweighs the power gain you get from say, 40 pts into a weapon skill, 40 pts into an armor skill, and 20 pts into sneak or block or some magic school.

 

[Merad]

I think Beth tends to make their games with the expectation that players will make a balanced character. So if you focus on one area you can quickly dominate.

 

[thraashman]

I've been having trouble taking damage. I've focused mostly on magic over stamina or health, but haven't ignored them. I've kinda spread out my perks amongst conjuration, destruction, one handed, enchanting, smithing, heavy armor. Most of that being in destruction and one handed. I don't have anything defensive that's great for absorbing damage yet, perhaps I need to get on that.

 

[coldmeat]

That's awesome that you don't have to spend $ to upgrade your old quad. I miss my Q6600, but Sandy Bridge definitely makes the overall PC process so unbelievably fast + a SSD.

Q6600 @ 3.0GHZ should last you for a while :thumbsup:

BTW, when specifically did you notice dips in your performance? I feel like only when I enter a dungeon and there is fog/smoke/lighting effects that it dips in performance (even with my Rig), but I have been using the in-game AA and everything set on Ultra.

I mostly noticed it in Whiterun. Dips don't usually bother me, I'm just really enjoying this game and want it to run as well as possible.

What's funny is how it didn't really increase my temperatures at all. It still idles at the same temp as before (32C), and under load it doesn't really break the low 50s. I figured it should be running a lot hotter.

 

[coldmeat]

Well the cats benefit 2 ways I've noticed. Sneak starts out decent and you can only make it better. Also the claw attack is surprisingly decent. I can easily take out wolves, skeevers, and skeletons with a swipe. But it is kinda slow so not as useful against much else but I have fought off bandits with claws and flames.

People keep trying to get in fights with me in bars, and I keep destroying them. They don't stand a chance. Is that because of my claws? I'm not a very high level, so I expect these fights to be more difficult.

 

[coldmeat]

Oh, and add me to the list of people with a very inconvenient first random dragon encounter. I was fighting a really tough enemy out in the open when a dragon decided to join in. I managed to kill the guy I was fighting with and run away to hide in a nearby shack. The dragon eventually gave up and left. It was a frost dragon I think, how tough are they? My arrows didn't seem to do much damage.

The dragons are pretty awesome though. My first time seeing one outside of the main quest was pretty cool. I exited a cave and it was storming, heavy rain and lighting, and I thought I could hear something so I looked up and it was circling me. I ran for it and got away before it started to attack.

 

[Monster_Munch]

I've been having trouble taking damage. I've focused mostly on magic over stamina or health, but haven't ignored them. I've kinda spread out my perks amongst conjuration, destruction, one handed, enchanting, smithing, heavy armor. Most of that being in destruction and one handed. I don't have anything defensive that's great for absorbing damage yet, perhaps I need to get on that.

Try getting the lord guardian stone, that's what I did. It gives you damage reduction for both magic and physical.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I hate you all. My motherboard picked a hell of a time to crap out.

To make matters worse amazon shipped half my order via fed ex now I"m waiting on UPS to deliver my new CPU.....

Urge to slay dragons is getting overwhelming....

 

[sigurros81]

I do agree that the game is pretty easy as well as I'm playing on default difficulty--the dragon encounters have been a joke. I remember the Deathclaws in Fallout3 make me run for my life the majority of the time.

I'm ok with the game being a bit on the easy side though because I'm thorougly enjoying exploring the world and the sheer amount of content/quests/tasks I am discovering. I'd imagine a game of this magnitude would just become stressful for an old timer like me if it gets too hard.

On a side note, I feel like I'm cheating on BF3 with Skyrim as I have not played BF3 since Skyrim came out Both amazing games but I am just hooked on to Skyrim's world.

 

[dpodblood]

On a side note, I feel like I'm cheating on BF3 with Skyrim as I have not played BF3 since Skyrim came out Both amazing games but I am just hooked on to Skyrim's world.

Same here. I have to get back into it this weekend before my skills go down the crapper.

 

[evident]

i've never played any elderscrolls game before. would i miss any backstory if i just bought this game and started playing it? would i be completely lost?

 

[Zubinen]

A bit of a repost of earlier, but:
I'm trying to do a proper evil roleplay for my first playthrough, I was wondering what suggestions you guys would have if I want to achieve Dick Cheney levels of cruel and unusual... Here's a video of my first attempts at playing as an evil character, but be warned, it's very basic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBlOHc0y-mE&hd=1

I'm playing without mods for my playthrough and I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions for what I should do for future videos in the series, it's just a little series I wanted to do for Skyrim that I never got to do for Minecraft due to how open ended the game is. Any feedback is appreciated

Also, to answer a question someone had previously, I couldn't kill the woman because it's one of the self-reviving invincible NPC's which makes roleplaying as an evil character a bit more difficult since she can chase me around, although I can down her for a bit and run away. Also, I was thinking about playing as a hand-to-hand combatant but I'm not sure about it since there isn't much in the way of perks that would help me with hand-to-hand combat aside from the heavy armor tree, unless I'm mistaken...

 

[thraashman]

Try getting the lord guardian stone, that's what I did. It gives you damage reduction for both magic and physical.

Good idea. I've had the Mage guardian stone active since right after leaving Helgen. Never ran across any others. Guess I know where I'm going tonight after work!

 

[RavenSEAL]

i've never played any elderscrolls game before. would i miss any backstory if i just bought this game and started playing it? would i be completely lost?

You won't be lost, unless you read the backstory.

The game is too massive in of itself, your brain will collapse. However, if you're interested to learn, there are a bunch of books in-game that tell you everything; or you can wiki it.

 

[thraashman]

i've never played any elderscrolls game before. would i miss any backstory if i just bought this game and started playing it? would i be completely lost?

Nah. The Elder Scrolls games aren't really sequels to eachother. They take place in the same world within the same empire (Tamriel). The first 4 games occur in the reign of the same emperor but across a span of years. Skyrim takes place I believe 200 years past the end of Oblivion. I haven't even run across anyone making mention of the events of Oblivion. It's a completely stand alone story. And in truth, so far at least, the gameplay and story has been better in Skyrim than any of the previous Elder Scrolls games, even adjusting for the limitations of their time.

 

[coldmeat]

I have a pair of gloves that do double sneak attack damage with one handed weapons. If I had the assassin's blade perk that does 15x sneak attack with daggers and I was wearing these gloves, it would do 30x the dagger's damage? That seems ridiculous, given that one dagger I have does 12 damage + 10 shock damage. Wouldn't that mean it would do 660 damage?

 

[Red Storm]

I have a pair of gloves that do double sneak attack damage with one handed weapons. If I had the assassin's blade perk that does 15x sneak attack with daggers and I was wearing these gloves, it would do 30x the dagger's damage? That seems ridiculous, given that one dagger I have does 12 damage + 10 shock damage. Wouldn't that mean it would do 660 damage?

Yes, it does 30x damage AFAIK.

Ah, The Dark Brotherhood. :wub:

 

[sigurros81]

I have a question regarding a particular sword, the name escape my mind and I can't look it up since I'm posting this at work, but there's a sword in my inventory, The Fury something something. I try dropping it but game says it's a quest item and I can't drop/disenchant/sell the thing. It's a pretty cool looking 1H sword but my guy's a 2hander and the thing is eating up 12 pounds in my inventory and I can't do anything to get rid of it!