The OFFICIAL Anandtech Forums TeS V: Skyrim Thread

[Zenoth]

Wow, ok. I fast-traveled to Riverwood from Whiterun just a few moments ago. I just wanted to check out which items some of the NPCs had for sale, I was mostly looking to see if Alvor had any Ebony Ingots. So I started walking around calmly as the morning had just risen, clear sky, birds in the distance, and here's my lovely humble Riverwood and its small community. Then, a giant shadow suddenly passes by, I hear wings flapping and I thought "damn, not here!" (I like Riverwood). I look up at the sky as I hear the guards that were sent from Whiterun shouting "dragon!". It's an Elder Dragon, the first one I meet (I'm Level 37). Me, Lydia (both in full Ebony armor) started firing arrows, helped by the guards, trying to take down that beast. We managed, it was very difficult, but there were casualties.

Both Sigrid and Alvor died. Sigrid simply tried to flee but got caught in the dragon's icy (and extremely powerful) breath that was targeted at a guard, and she died from that attack. I had the time to hear her whisper "noo... not like this" just before she died. Then the fight continued and eventually Avlor ran at his work table near the forge, grabbed a two-handed warhammer and ran back at the dragon who had just been wounded enough to stop flying and started its fight for its life on solid ground. Just as the dragon was literally two arrows away from death he attacked Alvor, closed its jaws on the man's ribs, and then swung him left and right like a toy (wasn't really cool to look at) to finally throw him out of view, only to die the next second from the poison effect of my arrows.

The husband, and his wife, dead, whom I've met from the first moments of the game and was a little attached to, just like the village itself. They had a daughter, she survived (I know children can't die anyway), and she's now orphan. I still have my saved game in Whiterun dated about five minutes before I decided to fast-travel to Riverwood. But I also saved after the battle was over. I don't know what to do between loading back and forgetting that fast-travel for a few days, or keeping my current save and deleting the previous one to consider that battle "canon" with the progression of my character. Damn and I thought there couldn't be that much role-playing and attachment for NPCs or locations in Skyrim. I guess I was very immersed and I'm now just starting to realize it as I type this.

Good job Bethesda.

 

[Zeze]

Wow, ok. I fast-traveled to Riverwood from Whiterun just a few moments ago. I just wanted to check out which items some of the NPCs had for sale, I was mostly looking to see if Alvor had any Ebony Ingots. So I started walking around calmly as the morning had just risen, clear sky, birds in the distance, and here's my lovely humble Riverwood and its small community. Then, a giant shadow suddenly passes by, I hear wings flapping and I thought "damn, not here!" (I like Riverwood). I look up at the sky as I hear the guards that were sent from Whiterun shouting "dragon!". It's an Elder Dragon, the first one I meet (I'm Level 37). Me, Lydia (both in full Ebony armor) started firing arrows, helped by the guards, trying to take down that beast. We managed, it was very difficult, but there were casualties.

Both Sigrid and Alvor died. Sigrid simply tried to flee but got caught in the dragon's icy (and extremely powerful) breath that was targeted at a guard, and she died from that attack. I had the time to hear her whisper "noo... not like this" just before she died. Then the fight continued and eventually Avlor ran at his work table near the forge, grabbed a two-handed warhammer and ran back at the dragon who had just been wounded enough to stop flying and started its fight for its life on solid ground. Just as the dragon was literally two arrows away from death he attacked Alvor, closed its jaws on the man's ribs, and then swung him left and right like a toy (wasn't really cool to look at) to finally throw him out of view, only to die the next second from the poison effect of my arrows.

The husband, and his wife, dead, whom I've met from the first moments of the game and was a little attached to, just like the village itself. They had a daughter, she survived (I know children can't die anyway), and she's now orphan. I still have my saved game in Whiterun dated about five minutes before I decided to fast-travel to Riverwood. But I also saved after the battle was over. I don't know what to do between loading back and forgetting that fast-travel for a few days, or keeping my current save and deleting the previous one to consider that battle "canon" with the progression of my character. Damn and I thought there couldn't be that much role-playing and attachment for NPCs or locations in Skyrim. I guess I was very immersed and I'm now just starting to realize it as I type this.

Good job Bethesda.

How can you get attached to Skyrim NPCs when ALL men's voice work is by ONE person that doesn't even try to sound different?

Ralof, that Riverwood smith, Jarls of all cities, they are all exactly same voice act.

 

[cytoSiN]

...I guess I was very immersed and I'm now just starting to realize it as I type this.

Good job Bethesda.

Well said. There's another thread on this forum bashing Skyrim for basically the lack of what you just described. I've been tempted to reply there but couldn't find a succinct way to describe the joy (or in your case, the displeasure) caused by the unrivaled immersion in this game. Now I don't have to.

Personally, I would probably reload the previous save, but then see if I could fast-travel and kill the dragon without casualties (it's likely to still be there if you fast travel to Riverwood again). But I like the idea of treating it as canon too.

 

[Merad]

I think they should have made the crafting skills not use perks, and instead require quests to unlock each of those talents. Everybody seems to get them anyway (except maybe alchemy and only because it's far too annoying to level) so why make people sink points into them? Level the skills like normal and seek out people for quests to teach you the different styles would be much more interesting. Unlock the mysteries of Dwarven smithing through exploring one of the old Dwarven ruins. Gain the trust of the 4 Orcish holds for Orcish smithing. Learn Arcane smithing under the direction of that dude at the Winterhold college. Complete enough of the Daedric quests to unlock Daedric smithing.

That would be an awesome mod. If you don't object I may look into implementing it after the CK is released.

 

[Joemonkey]

This place made me sad Frostflow Lighthouse for anyone who hasn't come across it yet

 

[Mem]

You can check out the unofficial bug list thread here http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1303609-unofficial-buglist/,its too huge to list as a quote in this post.


I think the game is going to need another 4 or 5 game patches.

This place made me sad Frostflow Lighthouse for anyone who hasn't come across it yet

I completed that,so got some revenge for them .

 

[Demo24]

How can you get attached to Skyrim NPCs when ALL men's voice work is by ONE person that doesn't even try to sound different?

Ralof, that Riverwood smith, Jarls of all cities, they are all exactly same voice act.

He does a lot of them, and you hear his voice a bit more frequently than others (guess cause he does the best 'nord' sounding voice), but he doesn't do them all. I can kind of forgive them given just how many npc's are in the game, but it would have been nice to hire 2 more to say the same lines and have them alternate.

This place made me sad Frostflow Lighthouse for anyone who hasn't come across it yet

Yeah, I was kinda hoping for something with that quest but it was all rather depressing.

 

[Joemonkey]

Yeah, I was kinda hoping for something with that quest but it was all rather depressing.

I don't read all the books, but I definitely read all the journals, and it just made me mad that

Spoiler

there was really no "saving" anyone, just figuring out what happened and bam, that's it, no distant relative to send a letter to or anything, it was just... over

 

[RavenSEAL]

How can you get attached to Skyrim NPCs when ALL men's voice work is by ONE person that doesn't even try to sound different?

Ralof, that Riverwood smith, Jarls of all cities, they are all exactly same voice act.

Try it.

 

[homercles337]

I'm fed up with this game. On my second character, this time a theif/fighter. Once I hit level 15ish, every enemy just became an unstoppable juggernaut with 1000's of HP that kill me in one shot. Just regular bandits and bears and such. Not sure how I'm supposed to kill a dragon when he kills me with one pass of fire breath and I can't hit him with a single arrow. This is on adept btw. Maybe my game is bugged?

Over at TES forums is a thread about the possibility that armor was "disabled" with the 1.2 patch. You might want to look into this.

 

[slag]

This place made me sad Frostflow Lighthouse for anyone who hasn't come across it yet

Damn bugs.

 

[thraashman]

Over at TES forums is a thread about the possibility that armor was "disabled" with the 1.2 patch. You might want to look into this.

I don't think armor was disabled as I take virtually no damage from physical attacks (did the smithing trick). However I've heard resistances were F'ed, and I think that extends to a Breton's magic resistance. I'm a Breton and while magic users were previously a pain, they're killing me in 3-4 hits now at level 44.

 

[Merad]

Running the latest version of Skyrim Script Extender will fix the resistance bug. Personally though I just have rolled back to 1.1 until the next patch.

 

[JSt0rm]

How can you get attached to Skyrim NPCs when ALL men's voice work is by ONE person that doesn't even try to sound different?

Ralof, that Riverwood smith, Jarls of all cities, they are all exactly same voice act.

Do you understand the logistics of having 600 voice actors on a videogame? The game would cost the end user $250

 

[exar333]

I don't think armor was disabled as I take virtually no damage from physical attacks (did the smithing trick). However I've heard resistances were F'ed, and I think that extends to a Breton's magic resistance. I'm a Breton and while magic users were previously a pain, they're killing me in 3-4 hits now at level 44.

Read: I now have a chance of actually dying. Why would I play this game anymore?

 

[you2]

How do you get 60x damage from a bow? I'm mostly playing a sneak sort tht snipe shots but i don't think my bow does any where close to 1800 damage.

At level 4, I really wanted to kill a giant. I spent about 30 mins trying to kill him and my armor and attack gained exp really fast.

Then at about level 8-9, I learned how to properly time shield-punts and attack swings. Giants swing VERY slowly, if you punt him during their swing, they'll never land a single blow. You can kill them easily, albeit it takes time.

Then finally at level 25 as a thief, I could 1-shot a giant with a sneak attack with 60x Crit attack of 1800 damage LOL

30 base damage Daedric dagger + 15x Assassin's Blade crit + 2x double damage thief gloves + 2x power attack (holding attack button) = .

Fucking satisfying.

 

[amish]

getting excited to go to broken oar barrow and kick somebody's ass during lunch today.

 

[Imp]

We managed, it was very difficult, but there were casualties.

That's annoying and I've dealt with it in Falk___ (why can't I remember!!!) and Riften too many times to count. It sometimes takes me 10+ reloads to make sure no one important dies. The best approach is to try to get aggro, but when the dragon flies away, it usually attacks the guards, or its breath is too powerful for you to just stand there and take it.

Would have been nice if Bethesda made it so that all the named/quest related NPCs go into their houses while guards stick around. Oh well...

 

[RavenSEAL]

That's annoying and I've dealt with it in Falk___ (why can't I remember!!!) and Riften too many times to count. It sometimes takes me 10+ reloads to make sure no one important dies. The best approach is to try to get aggro, but when the dragon flies away, it usually attacks the guards, or its breath is too powerful for you to just stand there and take it.

Would have been nice if Bethesda made it so that all the named/quest related NPCs go into their houses while guards stick around. Oh well...

_______rend

(HINT: Main questline)

 

[thraashman]

How do you get 60x damage from a bow? I'm mostly playing a sneak sort tht snipe shots but i don't think my bow does any where close to 1800 damage.

As far as I know you cannot get 60x damage from a bow. Only daggers give the 15x multiplier, and then I think the gloves he's referring to also only improve daggers ( I don't have them but they've been mentioned to me by a friend).

Read: I now have a chance of actually dying. Why would I play this game anymore?

I did the smithing trick because I was at times dying WAY too easily to just your average Joe bad guy. But when a cave full of mages each can take away a third of my health with one spell despite being Breton and have The Lord stone active, I think something's a bit busted. I don't mind a challenge, but some of this game is excessive if you don't game the system. I'd get bored real fast if every random saber cat or cave bear I ran into could kick my ass.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

That would be an awesome mod. If you don't object I may look into implementing it after the CK is released.

Well I'm certainly not going to do it, so knock yourself out. :awe:

 

[Imp]

Which ritual stone is everyone using, by the way?

I've been using the warrior stone for most of my time so far, but switched to the +carry weight and no armor movement penalty one yesterday. Found a damage reduction one, which may come in handy. Other ones I've found appear useless...

 

[Skott]

Do you understand the logistics of having 600 voice actors on a videogame? The game would cost the end user $250

I agree but if they would have hired a few more trained actors that specialize in various voices, accents and such it would be better. They sold 7 million copies the first week. They could have afforded it I'm thinking. I'll be curious if some modders tackle the voice acting or the lack of the variety of it. Assuming it can be done.

 

[coldmeat]

Which ritual stone is everyone using, by the way?

I've been using the warrior stone for most of my time so far, but switched to the +carry weight and no armor movement penalty one yesterday. Found a damage reduction one, which may come in handy. Other ones I've found appear useless...

That's the one I'm using. I wear light armor so I don't care about the armor penalty, but I love the +100 carry weight.

 

[NoSoup4You]

I believe I'm using "The Lover Stone" or something like that, it's +15% leveling speed to all attributes. The other ones I found weren't too appealing...