Elder Scrolls: Skyrim [DARGONS EDITION]

Jacks:SmirkingRevenge said:

you don't have to do anything.
maybe you should get a little more creative with your character build and tactics?

you don't have to be just ranged, or just melee, or just magic. there's tons of scrolls and enchants that, when combined with the ability to swap out gear in combat, provide for a variety of ways to approach any encounter. the game can be played however you choose.
it sounds like you're choosing to play it in a way that upsets you and then complaining about it

I know I posted the picture of the Skinner Box, but that was more making fun of achievements than the game itself or its mechanics. Skyrim is still very enjoyable for me after what has now been countless hours of play. and that's because I play it in a way that allows me to enjoy it.

Click to expand...

That was just a simple example of one situation I was in, and apparently you don't understand the retarded difficulty spikes this game has. I went through the dungeon killing every monster in like 2-3 hits, and then the boss was a mage that would kill me in 1 giant ice blast, and he would shoot one every 3 seconds and it was impossible to dodge unless you hid behind a pillar. So no, it had nothing to do with my choices or tactics or anything.

Anyways that isn't too big of a problem on it's own, that just removes the fun out of the boss fight (climax) of a dungeon. I've had way more issues than that, and most of them had to do with the ease of everything. There's no risk/reward, just reward, reward, reward. So easy to just grind your skills, collect up masses of gold, ect, ect. You can basically do everything and there's no difference in your choices. Boring to me, and I'm sure other people too, but I guess they just don't play the game.

I really want to like the game though. The dragon fights are pretty cool and are done right (besides the part where it's impossible to avoid their attacks). The environments are definitely done right and are awesome, ect, ect. The scripting of events and dialog is a lot better than what they've done before. Exploring dungeons and the environments is fun. Heck, basically all my problems has to do with the combat systems and the rpg systems. Now that I think about it, this game would be way better as a action adventure FPS, like Zelda or Metroid or Castlevania or GoW, but in first person and open world.

Then ignore the skills. You don't have to grind. Ever. The goal is to complete quests that interest you, not to max out this or that skill as early as possible and acquire money to get onto a non-existent scoreboard.

Just spend points on the perks you want because they make you better at what you do anyway and off you go into action-adventure bliss. That's how I play it and I'm having a blast.

My problem with combat is that melee seems boring. It looks and feels visceral and all, but your personal skill barely helps you in fights. It's much more of a numbers game than it should be, imo.
In Morrowind you couldn't block manually. If you had a shield out your character had a certain chance to block incoming attacks. They gave you control over the shield in Oblivion but apparently they were scared that with the combat being what it is players could be too good with the shield and avoid damage altogether. They couldn't just make combat more interesting then, making it impossible to block everything (e.g. guard breaks, quick kicks, grabs, hitpoints for shields, max damage specific shields can block per hit, more impact for fighting with low stamina and big damage to stamina per hit, etc. etc.) but they kept the numbers game from Morrowind, except now your character didn't block a certain percentage of hits, your shield only blocked a certain percentage of the damage.
A percentage that made shields useless unless you had a high shield skill. The shield skill you would only get by using the damn shields against better judgment, while they were still useless...

I thought they had sorted that out in Skyrim, with the combat being supposedly so much better, but what has mostly changed is the feel of combat, because of the much heavier animations and the balancing. The core mechanics are more or less the same, and with that, shields are again useless unless you skill them...

I'm a happy archer now. Don't have a problem with mages because I can usually drop them before fights even occur.
I still have a shield and sword on me because occasionally it's more convenient to spam someone to death with that than to shoot them with the bow while they're all in your face, but I don't enjoy melee too much, really.

Maybe next time I'll invest some skills in it. See if it gets better then. For now I'm very very happy with archery.

EDIT: One more thing. I can't be the only one. So you're strolling around in the wilderness and you happen to see a dude not too far ahead. What do you do?
I quicksave, then I enter sneak-mode and shoot him and then check the deathmessage or his lifebar that just appeared after I hit him to see if it's a nameless bandit or someone with a name, and if he has a name I quickload, run up to him, see if he can be talked to or if he turns hostile, and if it's the latter I quickload again and drop him with a ranged sneak-attack. Or two. Or three...
There's got to be a more convenient way of doing this that doesn't take you out of the game as much!
If the little "[E] Talk" thingy could somehow be made to show up, if it's applicable, even at long distances, but grayed out until you get close enough to actually Talk, that'd be just great.
Maybe not realistic, but great.
I don't suppose there is a mod for that?

More screenshots from today

[SCREENSHOT]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/Slainchild/1bd92f0b.jpg[/SCREENSHOT]

[SCREENSHOT]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/Slainchild/c9f85a7f.jpg[/SCREENSHOT]

[SCREENSHOT]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/Slainchild/c592e4b3.jpg[/SCREENSHOT]

xMurphyx said:

Then ignore the skills. You don't have to grind. Ever. Just spend points on the perks you want because they make you better at what you do anyway and off you go into action-adventure bliss.

Yup, but then:

My problem with combat is that melee seems boring.

And I'm stuck with my dual weilding perks ATM, and that is even worse than the shield combat you explain. I'm gonna have to use console commands and either switch my stuff around, or just max all the skills and truly play it as an action adventure, as you say.

I'm a happy archer now. Don't have a problem with mages because I can usually drop them before fights even occur.
I still have a shield and sword on me because occasionally it's more convenient to spam someone to death with that than to shoot them with the bow while they're all in your face, but I don't enjoy melee too much, really.

Maybe next time I'll invest some skills in it. See if it gets better then. For now I'm very very happy with archery.

^^^ and now you see one of my main issues

Click to expand...

I guess I'll mess with the console and see if I can get some preferable gameplay out of this game.

So Jacks, I really can't play it in my own style that I enjoy, maybe that'll change once I max all my skills in console or something. Even then, like murphy said, I might just be archer/stealth because of how crummy melee is.

Archery is awesome, atleast if you got high + in something like frost, or fire.

I can't seem to stop getting assaulted by dragons. awesome first, but tendious after the fourth dragon in a row. (with all the storage limitations that it implies)

I'm really thinking of using an inventory cheat...

toniglandyl said:

I can't seem to stop getting assaulted by dragons. awesome first, but tendious after the fourth dragon in a row. (with all the storage limitations that it implies)

I'm really thinking of using an inventory cheat...

Click to expand...

Yeah, it really pisses me off when I just finished unloading all my loot at my house five minutes ago and a Dragon swoops down. I've killed about twenty of them so far.

Needless to say, I fast travel to Whiterun a lot.

Slainchild said:

More screenshots from today

Click to expand...

Is your game on ultra high settings? Just wondering because a friend wants to see what it looks like.

Darkdrium said:

Is your game on ultra high settings? Just wondering because a friend wants to see what it looks like.

Click to expand...

Yup, with some extra tweaks in the .ini files.

edit: Also, this mod: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=131 with the settings file in my attachment. Basically makes the colour tones a tad more vibrant.

xMurphyx said:

There's got to be a more convenient way of doing this that doesn't take you out of the game as much!
If the little "[E] Talk" thingy could somehow be made to show up, if it's applicable, even at long distances, but grayed out until you get close enough to actually Talk, that'd be just great.
Maybe not realistic, but great.
I don't suppose there is a mod for that?

Click to expand...

It's pretty strange that after all the advances they've made that such a simple thing as Fallout 3's Perception blips on the radar couldn't have been kept in some form. You could tell if someone way up ahead was friendly or not pretty easily. Though, most hostile humans I've come across seem to threaten me first if I'm poking my nose around their little fort and only get pissed when stick my long wooden spoon in their cooking pot. I think I actually kind of prefer it this way, since it's more realistic and I can't really blame anyone, bandits may they be, for getting all sword happy when my big burly Nord strolls into their house all dusty and cold from the road.

Skyrim looks like shit on the xbox. Lucky for me I only rented it first. PC here I come.

SleepyHe4d said:

apparently you don't understand the retarded difficulty spikes this game has.

Click to expand...

look I'm playing on Expert difficulty and I'm level 46.
I'm pretty sure I've seen the majority of what the game has to offer in terms of a challenge.

it doesn't change my opinion about you because in spite of how far along I am, I haven't endured the sort of issues you are describing. and no one else really seems to be sharing your sentiment; the common denominator being you

basically all my problems has to do with the combat systems and the rpg systems.

Click to expand...

again it just sounds like you're playing the game in a way that upsets you.
the combat and RGP "systems" are the same for every person that plays. the difference is how each person approaches it.

between the combination of perks, spells, scrolls, potions, weapons, armor, and power-word shouts there exists a pretty wide array of approaches to engaging in combat and building a character. from the few examples you've provided thus far, I can only conclude that you're playing the game in a very superficial manner and that's your fault; not the game's.

I've noticed the difficulty jump in some dungeons, where the trash is super easy to kill, but the one guy at the end is super tough.

I've noticed it as well, but it makes sense in the game world.
Draugr Death Overlords and the Draugr Dragon Priests have the power of the Thu'um as well, so they are supposed to be more powerful than the normal Draugr trash for example.
Forsworn Briarhearts are the Forsworn leaders for the camp you are attacking, so the magic users will be a significant pain to deal with. However don't underestimate the dual-wieilding ones either.

Sure this change in power causes a big change in the pacing of your gameplay, but it's not like it's impossible to plan for. Observing how the dungeon progresses should tell you that you are nearing the end of it and that you should get ready to face the leader of whoever inhabits the zone.

With proper planning I'm sure any playstyle will do in clearing the dungeons with relative ease. There are some times where I'd do a fight and it would go relatively well, but I'd then die in two or three hits after about a minute of owning the other guy because I did something wrong. Correcting my mistakes usually means that the next attempt will succeed. However some other times I've approached a fight with what I thought was the good way to do it, and I'd have to try and try again until I changed my plan completely.

So, I was playing skyrim while my girlfriend showered. She watched me play for a bit, and then asked.. "can I make a character?" Sure, why not.

Big mistake. We're on hour three of her rampaging through skyrim, using dead bodies as marionettes, and attacking livestock in town (and subsequently wondering why everybody in town is trying to kill her).

Thank God I just got my kindle fire today, or I'd be going through serious withdrawals.

I think it's Yahoo Answers time for you Trash123. Just reverse the question.

Darkdrium said:

I think it's Yahoo Answers time for you Trash123. Just reverse the question.

Click to expand...

Wow, so his girl has a penis....

Okay, so I've decided to take a break for all the sidequests and progress the main plot a bit. I've only just now spoken to Paarthurax and damn, it was awesome. He mindfucked me a bit and added a lot of depth to the story. I'm just absolutely in love with this game right now.

Also, I got a chuckle out of seeing this on my way there:
[SCREENSHOT]http://i.imgur.com/Dm5Gz.jpg[/SCREENSHOT]

I got on top of the Throat of the World without that shout.
Horse don't give a shit too.