[Gothos]

Stop tapping over them a little over-zealously then?

[cerveza_fiesta]

I don't even want to check the last couple pages to see how many times Silencer has dissed skyrim for not being as good as morrowind....

Decided to go with the PC version. It was the better platform for Oblivion and I figured that would hold true here, after much comparing and reading. Graphical differences between platforms were essentially nil, but I wanted to flex my new GPU's muscle...plus TES games get modded to shit within a year (many of the mods extremely awesome) so I wanted access to all that.

I was impressed with my GPU's abilities. Full max settings on everything at a very playable fps (as in I don't notice any frame-rate related jitteriness whatsoever). Not that the requirements are unbelievably huge for Skyrim, but I was glad to see that it didn't max out a GPU I spent almost 300 bucks on. The game is absolutely striking at full settings....like really. Even just playing through the first cavern trying to escape the Dragon was incredible looking. Reminiscent of the dungeon design of Oblivion but just better looking and more diverse elements all around.

I'm playing a hot female Nord. Not sure what I want to be yet but fighter mage is a very, very strong possibility. They have revamped the magic system so utterly from Oblivion it isn't even funny. Being able to specify handedness for weapons and spells is totally amazing too. I really like the sustained magical attack thing where spells like flame and spark are DPS instead of instant damage. It just seems so much more fluid as a caster to be able to sustain the spell over time. Not sure exactly why it makes it better....it just does. Fighter mage is always tough to do right and definitely isn't as easy as pure fighter, but TES is such a time investment I'll probably only play through all the content with one character. I'd hate to miss out on combat elements or magic elements from specializing too heavily in one thing or the other.

I was not so impressed with the inventory / menu interface on a first impression. It is painfully obvious they catered to the platform more than anything this time around. The whole interface is 100% made to be navigated with a controller in hand...which isn't terrible but it sure as hell ain't the point-and-click PC-friendly menu system that Oblivion had. While I understand that the consoles represent their biggest buyer base these days, it would have been nice to have gotten a more intuitive menu system for the PC port. I'm sure it will just take some getting used to and this complaint will disappear over time, but for a lot of people playing a TES game on PC for the first time, I think there will be some disappointment.

Luckily, there is a healthy modder community out there for TES, so I bet the menu system will be overhauled within months.

This post has been edited by cerveza_fiesta: 14 November 2011 - 01:17 PM

[Traveller]

 POOPOO MCBUMFACE, on 14 November 2011 - 11:23 AM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 14 November 2011 - 03:50 AM, said:

Oh and I'd be PISSED if the music wasn't all EPIC. Sorry, I play this game to FEEL epic. Even if that's just killing a fox and reanimating his body to do my bidding, or getting hammered in Whiterun with the town drunk.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel the EPIC and MAJESTIC becomes mundane in itself if that's all there is. Like if Malazan was nothing but extreme Ascendant battles for a few hundred pages; sure, they're almost always a high point, but would they be as effective without the marine POVs and the buildup? Would Fiddler nuking a Dhenrabi be as awesome if he pulled out two modified machine-gun crossbows that feed into a pocket warren of infinite cussers, roared "TIME TO BRING IN THE CATCH" and was attacked by a hundred at once while firing them non-stop? Actually, yes. That was a bad example. But you see my point. I get a bit tired of people screaming that I'm a badass legendary hero of legend everywhere I go when I don't feel like I've earned it in any way.

It's a minor niggle in the grand scheme of things, certainly. I just feel that it goes a long way to diminishing the game's great atmosphere; for me, the most memorable part of open-world RPGs is when I finally feel like I've worked up the resources, power and experience to venture out and really make a name for myself, really become a world-changing figure. In Skyrim, I was the mighty hero everyone needs right from the start.

Still really enjoying the game, though, don't get me wrong.

I turned the music off after about 5 minutes. The sound effects are great, and create enough atmosphere without a continual score.

@QT - I do that. I go to look at something, accidentally pick it up, and get chased out of town. Or I find out I've been done for trespassing, but only when a guard picks me up for it later - at the time there was no-one around.

I got attacked by wolves earlier, and while moving cautiously forward, I saw something through the trees. I shot it, then saw someone run over to it... it was a hunter, and I'd just shot his dog. Whoops. He was very nice about it though, he had a conversation with me without mentioning it, even though he was still crouched over his dead dog, which had one of my arrows sticking out of its head.

[Tapper]

I've probably done more damage to my wardog than wolves ever could.... silly bugger is so protective of me he jumps between my mace and my enemy whenever he sees an opportunity. Not to mention blocking every single cul-de-sac behind me. You probably did that hunter a massive, massive service.

[Use Of Weapons]

I can't install it, it keeps cycling back to the install screen. Downloaded via Steam. I can launch by bypassing the launcher app, but then I can't change any graphics settings, and so can't play it full screen. Goddamit, I just want to play!

[cerveza_fiesta]

@UoW


I had some irritating errors that kept crashing the game back to desktop on load relating to missing DirectX 11 files. DL'd the latest NVIDIA drivers and no love.

Then I got what should be the same driver from my actual GPU card manufacturer (MSI) and it worked all of a sudden.

Just check on all that stuff. Most of the problems (and solutions) I read on the web while searching for a solution to my issue were GPU/driver related issues.

Does steam have tech support you can call?

[Aptorian]

[Dolorous Menhir]

 Silencer, on 14 November 2011 - 12:56 AM, said:

Loving it. @DM - If you loved Morrowind, this game will not be too much of a change or disappointment for you like Oblivion was. That being said, if you haven't played Oblivion, it might seem worse for that, seeing as I'm looking at this as "got closer to Morrowind than Oblivion" rather than "how does this directly compare to Morrowind?".
Magic is pretty good. Flamethrower hand for first spell? Epic win. But the magic choices on the whole do seem very limited to me. Not as much variety as there *could* have been, if you know what I mean. Though if you can run this on PC, mods will fix that shortly, I'd imagine.

Thanks Silencer. Key magic question: will there come a point in the game where I'm so powerful I can levitate permanently and kill everything with fireballs? Because that was when Morrowind came into its own, when I could fly everywhere and swat down cliff racers like flies.

[Obdigore]

 Dolorous Menhir, on 14 November 2011 - 09:23 PM, said:

 Silencer, on 14 November 2011 - 12:56 AM, said:

Loving it. @DM - If you loved Morrowind, this game will not be too much of a change or disappointment for you like Oblivion was. That being said, if you haven't played Oblivion, it might seem worse for that, seeing as I'm looking at this as "got closer to Morrowind than Oblivion" rather than "how does this directly compare to Morrowind?".
Magic is pretty good. Flamethrower hand for first spell? Epic win. But the magic choices on the whole do seem very limited to me. Not as much variety as there *could* have been, if you know what I mean. Though if you can run this on PC, mods will fix that shortly, I'd imagine.

Thanks Silencer. Key magic question: will there come a point in the game where I'm so powerful I can levitate permanently and kill everything with fireballs? Because that was when Morrowind came into its own, when I could fly everywhere and swat down cliff racers like flies.

Fireball is an adept spell, there is still expert and master spells to learn, and I'm currently blowing everyone and everyone up with my fireballs.

Have not seen levitate in the game, but it seems almost as if you cannot even see the spell tomes before you have the ability to learn them... maybe?

[QuickTidal]

Haha, I came out of the Solitude, Elewen's party, quest with info and having rescued two people from torture...

...only to have an assassin try to take me out, and the assassin was equipped with a note that said someone hired the Dark Brotherhood to kill me. LOL

[Trull's son]

So i joined the cult of cannibalism in skyrim. I frikkin love this game.

[Garak]

Yeah I randomly stumbled across an asassin in the woods. Wonder who wants me dead.

[Gothos]

I ran across a DB assassin on my Nord but not on my sneaker dunmer. I do wonder what that's about.

[Silencer]

I got accosted by "hired thugs" one night in Falkreath, wherein I was trying in vain to find someone to freakin' feed upon...stupid vampiric hunger. XD

That was partway through the DB questline though, and it was because of the Occulus Penitarius or whatever the fuck their pseudo-Latin name is. But I'd hazard a guess that the random DB encounter has something to do with fame/infamy? Just a guess.

[Obdigore]

Apparently there are numerous Dragon Priests (9) to fight, and their individual masks to take. I must have them!

[Silencer]

 Obdigore, on 15 November 2011 - 10:20 AM, said:

Apparently there are numerous UNDEAD Dragon Priests (9) to fight, and their individual masks to take. I must have them!

Fixed. And yes, this will be most enjoyable...

[Gothos]

I must find them, and kill them. Their bodies are old and frail. Mine is young and strong. (whoever gets the reference gets a cookie)

[Obdigore]

 Gothos, on 15 November 2011 - 10:34 AM, said:

I must find them, and kill them. Their bodies are old and frail. Mine is young and strong. (whoever gets the reference gets a cookie)

Sounds like Conan.

Anyway, does anyone know where the Ebony Armor is? I found the gauntlets but have not found the other pieces. I have figured out (saw online) a way to make it so that as a mage I don't need to wear mana restore robes once I get certain skills up high enough, so I'm going to put some heavy armor on and then use nothing but flame cloak and walk through draugrs.

[drinksinbars]

 Obdigore, on 15 November 2011 - 10:20 AM, said:

Apparently there are numerous Dragon Priests (9) to fight, and their individual masks to take. I must have them!

didnt realise thats what they were but i have two masks already. they come with good stat boosts like 20% for alchemy, lockpicking and sneaky. or increased poison and disease resist.

playing through as jean tannen i realised after a few hours when i fell into a dual war axe wielding character. once you bump your perks up in one area it really pays off. level 70 with dual wielding and i can kill a sabre tooth in a single double power attack. Awesome the killing everything in sight technique of levelling is also working like a charm. coupled with choosing the warrior stone at the start.

one thing about oblivion i didnt like was the length of time it took to level up. Even failing to crack a lock pushes your skill up in skyrim, early on you gain a level almost every time. awesome game

[POOPOO MCBUMFACE]

I got attacked by super-strong hired thugs at a rather inopportune moment. The first dragon fight. On Master. Before my battlemage was of a level to either be a good fighter or a good mage and his strongest spell was flames. That was... fun.

Continually surprised at the fact that I'm still really liking the game. I loved Oblivion and FO3 for about ten hours before the zen moment where I realised I wasn't enjoying them in any way, so I was kind of expecting to reach the same point with Skyrim, but I'm 16 hours in and still enjoying it. Withholding my full judgement for retrospect, but so far...

This post has been edited by POOPOO MCBUMFACE: 15 November 2011 - 11:06 AM