The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Grover]

When guards attack try sheathing your weapon. If that doesn't work, sheath, unsheath and sheath it again.

You should get taken in for your "crime"

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Looks like a big DLC is coming this summer called "Dawnguard". XBox exclusive for now, unfortunately.

Just a 30 day exclusive though. We'll be debugging it for everybody else

[mckerney]

Mounted Combat arrives in 1.6 Skyrim Update | Bethesda Blog

Mounted combat is coming soon for Skyrim, or here already if you opt in to the PC beta.

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by mckerney

Mounted Combat arrives in 1.6 Skyrim Update | Bethesda Blog

Mounted combat is coming soon for Skyrim, or here already if you opt in to the PC beta.

That is very interesting news. I've gone away from the game for a bit to play some sports games....biding my team till the DLC comes, but this may draw me back early if it's released first.

[CrimsonFox]

yeah they're going for the pvp crowd it seems.

[ColtCrazy]

Just fired up the game and got an update. Mounted Combat is in. I've stumbled on it after stealing a horse. Only tried firing my bow....you lose your sights, but I did get kill a bandit using the bow while mounted and killed another one that was attacking my horse.

[DougW]

Jacked this game up again, and restarted. Found a pretty interesting take on character creation - and this is what I came up with in a few hours. Was actually fun drawing up the history in my head. I went point by point with the site, and it got noticeably shorter as I went on (so, yeah 1 is lengthy, and 8 is like a sentence), Actually, 1 & 2 have some depth, and 3-end are really short. I'm not sure if I was getting anxious to play, or if I explained in to much detail the early stuff, which led to the later stuff being already covered. Probably a mix of both.

Has anyone else taken the time to set up a character like this ? Or, did I just enter RP nerd zone all by myself ?

(the "interesting" take)
How to Build Interesting Characters in Skyrim

1. Family Background

Spoiler

1. General Family : Imperial family. From Imperial City. Minimal magic runs through the family tree. A generally happy home, until the incident with Sister.
(Age @ Hero Birth)
Sister (older) (5) : Close relationship with Hero, better than most brother/sister. Skilled Enchanter. Growing up, spent time with Hero, teaching him some enchantment work as she learned it. "Sexually Taken" by a group (4) of drunken Imperial soldiers at the The Feedbag on her 23rd birthday. Reported the incident to her father, and then Imperial leaders and was told to not speak of it. She refused and tried to continue up the chain of command, and was killed to silence her (at age 24).

Father (28) : A loyal Imperial soldier. Had a great fear of magic in the battlefield, and sought out as much magical resistance as possible, including the standing stone protection & had Sister put resistance enchantments on all his gear. Encouraged Sister to stay quiet about the The Feedbag incident, and testified against her as he thought it would advance his military career. Upon Sisters death, he was poisoned by an outraged mother over his betrayal of their daughter.

Mother (26) : A member of the Bards college, although lacked skill to be successful. Extremely skilled Alchemist. Worked often with Hero while he was young developing his keen sense of taste. Hero developed the ability to sample an ingrediant, and instantly know what it could effectively be mixed with. [console command : player.addperk 00105F2B]. After Sister was put to death, she was filled with rage. She plotted to track down and kill all Sisters violaters, and then go after the "judicial" system that killed her daughter. She found and killed 3/4 violaters, although died after killing the 3rd, when she was discovered on the camp.

Important Others :
Uncle (Mothers brother) (28) : A criminal in Imperial City, who never seen a gold piece he didn't plan to steal. Was very active with his niece and nephew, especially Hero. Often "fought" with Mother and Father when he'd cart Hero off on jobs. Currently in an Imperial City jail for thievery.

Johnny Bestfriend (1) : Johnnys father was a blacksmith, and he and Hero spent much time helping him with chores. Johnny didn't like it too much, but Hero loved it. Johnny was a "nerdy" fella, and eventually became a waiter at a local diner.

2. Player background

Spoiler

2. Player Background
Hero was a military child, with a close relationship with his sister and parents. He learned to enjoy sneaking and stealing from a criminal uncle, and became decent at honorable trades with his family. His mother was a skilled Alchemist, his sister a skilled Enchanter, both teaching him the basics of their professions. However, Hero was set upon blazing his own trail, and learned blacksmithing from his childhood friends father.

He and his father went bow hunting on vacations, where Hero became pretty good. Although shooting a bow was his best ability (with the possible exception of crafting steel), his favorite thing to do was practice magic. He didn't possess the natural ability as some other Imperials, but enjoyed trying to alter reality and conjure.

He made his living as a blacksmith, and had just broken off from being Johnnys dads apprentice to open his own shop. He had made his peace with what happened with his sister, and the rage his mother felt. But, believed his sister would have wanted him to carry on a normal life. However, after his mother was killed, his anger returned and he left Imperial City for Skyrim to track down and kill the remaining assaulter of his Sister, and finish what his mother had started. This is where he was when he was picked up by the Imperials, and Skyrim starts.

3. Motivations/Ambitions (pretty short from here out)

Spoiler

3. Motivations/Ambitions
Family man. Wants to settle, have kids. Mostly motivated by money and success. Wants to make a name for himself as an important/wealthy/premier craftsman. Knows the key to this is creating powerful weapons, and once he is confident in his steel crafting will combine this with what his sister taught him in enchanting (and expand) to gain fame/wealth. Obviously also by venging his sister/mothers deaths.

4. Habits/Quirks

Spoiler

4. Habits/Quirks
Loves books. Cannot look at a book without wanting to take it (even books he already has). Not a ridiculous obsession, where he'll try to steal one in front of someone, but, if the chance is there .. the book is his. Also, due to his mothers teaching of taste bud discipline, he will only eat food that has been prepared. (No apples, but apple pie is OK - basically, has to eat something that was cooked by the fire, or a homecooked meal from his wife).
Note : Will add difficulty with the eat/drink/sleep mod that causes me to lose regen if not fed, drank, and rested.

5. Fears

Spoiler

5. Fears
OK, not a fear, but a "creepiness". If I sees a mudcrab, I gotta kill it. Hand to hand style, not my usual Arrow to the forehead.

6. Prejudices

Spoiler

6. Prejudices
Obviously, I am totally prejudice of all Imperials (red coats). Yes, dad was a loyal soldier, but .. they (even him in the end) did my family really wrong. If I can get away with killing one, he's dead. (Not gonna take on a whole palace, but if I can handle it .. watch out).

7. Special Personality Trait

Spoiler

7. Special Personality Trait
Sucker for the (age appropriate) ladies, he's a playa. Hero has to talk the girls, and help them out if they need something (quest). And, it's priority. Yes, even after marriage, he still can't resist the boobs. And, yes, the boobs outweigh the color of their cloak. (So, hero can't resist helping an Imperial 'girl').

8. Gimping myself

Spoiler

8. Gimping yourself
No magic resistance. (Other than 15% from the marriage questline - he does want a family). But, his betraying father insisted that magic resistance was the key to being a strong soldier. Hero is set to prove that an arrow to the face is more effective than not being killed with fire. And it just seems wrong to have magic resitant gear/stones (whatever) when dad made Sister enchant him those.
(Note : Did this because my last toon was a tank, with 85% Mag res, and 85% of each other restitance - for a 98% total resitance (max). And a shit ton of armor. Game was pretty boring.)

[samifan24]

FYI Dawnguard, the first expansion, is out today for 1600 MS points ($20). It has a 30 day exclusive on the 360.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by samifan24

FYI Dawnguard, the first expansion, is out today for 1600 MS points ($20). It has a 30 day exclusive on the 360.

Yeah, just bought it for my daughter. I basically bought my xbox360 just so she could play Skyrim. A very pretty 16 year old girl that loves playing video games and reading comic books? Yeah, I have a shotgun.

[Buccaneer]

What does Dawnguard do to the game?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

What does Dawnguard do to the game?

Vampires.

The story of The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard involves the return of a Volkihar vampire lord named Harkon, who seeks to end the tyranny of the sun. Harkon intends to use the power in the ancient Elder Scrolls to accomplish his goal, while an order of vampire hunters known as the Dawnguard seek to stop him.

The Dragonborn is given the option either join the Dawnguard and help defeat Harkon or join forces with the Volkihar vampires.

Dawnguard can be started by listening for rumors or asking Hold Guards about a group of vampire hunters who are recruiting. This will steer the Dragonborn in the direction of Fort Dawnguard and the add-on will begin

edit to add: There's new weapons, shouts, perks, etc but I'll spoiler those

Spoiler

Dawnguard introduces several new additions to both ranged and melee combat. The first new addition is the inclusion of Dragonbone weapons that are reported to be the stronger than Daedric Weapons[8]. Mounted combat is also included, which allows the Dragonborn to fight on horseback with a variety of weapons, but not spells [1][2].

Crossbows are added to the arsenal of weapons at the Dragonborn's disposal. Crossbows will remain loaded while running through the world and provide a quicker shot. They are, however, slower to reload than bows. Another benefit is that each shot has a chance to stagger an opponent. All of the perks spent in Archery skill tree will apply to crossbows [2]. Crossbow bolts can also be crafted with various enchantments, such as fire and frost damage [5].

New shouts are also included in the add-on. One shout called Soul Tear can be learned from Durnehviir, an undead Dragon found in the Soul Cairn[8]. This shout allows the Dragonborn to steal the soul of a defeated enemy and raise their soul as an undead minion [2].

These details & others from http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/T...s_V:_Dawnguard

[Buccaneer]

So they dovetailed the new characters, weapons, perks, etc. into the existing game and made it another quest line?

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Yeah, just bought it for my daughter. I basically bought my xbox360 just so she could play Skyrim. A very pretty 16 year old girl that loves playing video games and reading comic books? Yeah, I have a shotgun.

And you mentioned this on FOFC?

[DougW]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

And you mentioned this on FOFC?

Carefully read the last sentence.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

So they dovetailed the new characters, weapons, perks, etc. into the existing game and made it another quest line?

Pretty much. Standard add-on fare is my first reaction sight unseen, except maybe for the exception that it adds a couple of items that are likely to become popular (or have been requested in the past).

[mckerney]

[RainMaker]

Does anyone know how many hours the DLC adds on? I'm interested if it adds a bunch of quests and gets me back in the world. But if it's something I'd pound through in an hour or two I'll probably pass.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Does anyone know how many hours the DLC adds on? I'm interested if it adds a bunch of quests and gets me back in the world. But if it's something I'd pound through in an hour or two I'll probably pass.

Up to 20 hours according to some early comments on it I've seen.

[DougW]

Haha, epic fight (yeah, I dragged it out a little) and great finish !

Skyrim First Dungeon on Vimeo

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by DougW

Haha, epic fight (yeah, I dragged it out a little) and great finish !

Skyrim First Dungeon on Vimeo

How did you do the dancing??

[DougW]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

How did you do the dancing??

Dance Animations - Shake it at Skyrim Nexus - Skyrim mods and community

Edit : The one I was using was "Electra" .. the mod has 10 I think, he says he plans to make over 100 haha.
A couple mods are pretty visible in the vid. A HD mod, an auto potion mod (Is when you see me regen Stam, then magic, then heal up, I have mine set to drink a potion @ 50% health, mana, or stamina). A cloaks mod (adds to cloaks to various npc's in the game, and makes them craftable, enchantable, and found as random drops, stats are in line with level). Obviously the dancing. Also, you can't 'see it, but you kinda can, cuz I used it to swap weapons/spells - I use a mod that ups my hotkeys to 68 instead of just 1-8. I run about 60 mods in all, mostly immersive types, and none are beneficial to me - unless to help me with fluidity. IE the potion one; I HATE pausing the game to drink a potion or change spells, and I like the flow that offers. My feeling is that I probably would about 50% anyway, this allows me to do it and keep smooth combat w/o pausing.

My favorites are :
~The hotkey one is definately my favorite. Allows me so much more freedom, and keeps me almost totally off the pause screen. Can even set up hot keyed dual wielding, which I hate that I can't do in vanilla.
~Hypothermia mod. It always bothered me that I never got cold running around in the snow. This mod makes you get cold, if you swim, hang in the rain, etc. It's really realistic in when you get cold. Your performance is effected by being too cold. Like 3-4 stages, first couple are speed, regen penalties, nimble finger penalties (picking pockets or locks) and the last one, you start getting really slow, blurred vision, even death. I even died once when I was up north swimming (testing the mod haha). I had time to do something (set up a camp and warm by the fire) about it as my body temp decreased, but it "felt" pretty serious haha.
~Eat,Sleep, & Drink : Tracks the last time you ate, drank or slept. Gives you bonuses or penalties for being fed/hungry/starving, etc.
~Campfire. Goes great with the above 2. I can set up a camp, with a fire & bedroll if I'm out too long. Can cook on the fire too.
~UI stuff : A real nice inventory sorter, one that makes my compass just a compass (without all the cheats that show me where things are that I haven't discovered, etc).
~Real Lighting : Almost forces me to use a torch (or magelight) to see at night, in dungeons. Also really nice shadow, and realistic lighting work.
~I also set timescale to 7. Default is 20 - which means 1 hour in front of the computer= 20 hours in game. I hated going out at noon, and a half hour (real time) later it being dark haha.

[BYU 14]

Should have figured that out, LOL. I play it on XBox so I forget about the CPU mods.

[DougW]

Anyone have a 1.6.89 version of TESV I can have ? I fired up the game today, and it auto updated to 1.7.7 - so I'm sure none of my mods are compatible or whatnot.

Then I have to learn how to tell Steam to NOT auto update my shit. I'd like to be able to update when I want .. (like AFTER it's not buggy, and my important mods have been updated).

Anyway, thanks. -

And oh yeah ... . 1.7.7 was released today.

[mckerney]

Are any mods not working? A patch shouldn't automatically break mod compatiblity and if one happens to the patch has been on Steam for a week or two so mod makers have had time to make any fixes.

[DougW]

IDK yet, can't even get in. I have a few Script Dragon & SKSE dependent, and they haven't been updated. I'm just assuming some mods will be broken (From what I'm reading some dragon and water stuff is broke - and I have both). I know, I could just take those out .. but I really don't like uninstalling/installing - I've got a good mesh of compatible mods going, and hate messing with stuff (always seems to make me break haha).

There is a skse, but its for 1.7 beta - not sure if it's ready yet. Still the Script Dragon stuff is a no go as of now. (from what I'm reading).

Edit : OK. The Beta SKSE seems to work fine. Alexander has said 1.6 to 1.7 is an easy upgrade for Script Dragon, and should be out soon. So, I took Script Dragon out, and it appears to run fine (without my SD dependent mods of course - gotta have my hotkeys !). So, I guess it'll all be good once SD gets it's 1.7 boost. Of course I have to try to remember what I changed in my .ini haha.

[DataKing]

I haven't messed around with Skyrim on the PC yet, but for Fallout and New Vegas I always used FOMM (Fallout Mod Manager). It allowed you to tweak the load order of all your ESM and ESP files, as well as determine which ones would load and which ones would not. Perfect for experimentation and for running your game without running specific mods without having to uninstall them. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a FOMM-style utility out there for Skyrim.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by DataKing

I haven't messed around with Skyrim on the PC yet, but for Fallout and New Vegas I always used FOMM (Fallout Mod Manager). It allowed you to tweak the load order of all your ESM and ESP files, as well as determine which ones would load and which ones would not. Perfect for experimentation and for running your game without running specific mods without having to uninstall them. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a FOMM-style utility out there for Skyrim.

The Fallout Mod Manager works with Skyrim, though Skyrim also has support for the Steam Workshop where you can chose what mods you want to install on Steam and they will automatically download when you launch Skyrim, while also being able to chose load order and to disable a mod without uninstalling it.

[jeff061]

I used Steam Workshop. It's been fantastic for both Portal and Skyrim.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by jeff061

I used Steam Workshop. It's been fantastic for both Portal and Skyrim.

Me too, it's absolutely fantastic. It makes finding and installing mods easier than it's ever been, I hope more games start to use it.

There's also some pretty amazing stuff that comes through the workshop for Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2. I think Gabe Newell recently mentioned a kid in Kansas who has been making $150,000 a year off of items in the Team Fortress 2 workshop.

[DougW]

Very cool. I found a workaround to reverting to 1.6.89, also just noticed I can play "offline". I like it, and can update to 1.7.7 when all my mods update, and I "hear" it's not buggy.

Workaround for anyone else wishing to do the same. (note, not my info - just grabbed it from a comment on Script Dragons site. Tried it and it works.

For those of you with Windows 7 (or Vista) who accidentally updated to 1.7 and want to revert to 1.6 until Script Dragon is updated, here's how to do it:

Go to the Skyrim folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\skyrim), right click on TESV.exe and click "Properties". Then go to the "Previous versions" tab. You should have a version older than the day you updated there (and hopefully not too old). Click it and click "Restore...". When asking for confimation, click "Restore".

Now before you run Skyrim, go to Steam and right click on Skyrim on your steam library. Click on Properties, go to "Updates" tab and select "Do not automatically update this game".

Now you can play Skyrim again with all the 1.6 enabled mods.

Once Alexander releases Script Dragon for 1.7 you can normally update Skyrim again (by changing the setting in steam back to "Always keep this game up to date".

Cheers!

[mckerney]

Dawnguard is out today for PC, hoooray!

It costs $20, boooooooo!

[lighthousekeeper]

New Skyrim DLC announced which looks very promising.

Skyrim Nexus - Skyrim mods and community

I'm excited about the addition of several new enemy types (plus spear throwing - cool)!

[Buccaneer]

Just catching up to the news now and I see three DLCs: Dawnguard, Hearthfile (something like that) and now Dragonborn. Looks like I'm going to be busy playing after the holidays just like I did earlier this year.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Hearthfire is the disappointing "build your own 'custom' house" DLC. Except that it isn't really custom, more like cut & paste.

I'm just trying to force myself to get over how much I dislike Dawnguard to begin playing again. The "feature" that it introduced into the game pretty much stopped me dead in my tracks, that's how much I hated it.

Dragonborn did look good though, the chance to play in Morrowind sure seems intriguing.

[Buccaneer]

But didn't Dawnguard produced another new quest line (i.e., more things to do) regardless whether the feature is relevant or not?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

But didn't Dawnguard produced another new quest line (i.e., more things to do) regardless whether the feature is relevant or not?

The quest line is fine as far as that goes. Only moderately interesting (since I've never cared to play as a vampire nor have any real interest in them beyond just another monster) but okay.

The random death of NPC's that are not fully replaced was very uncool. It's apparently fairly avoidable but that means changing everything about the way I play the game and being forced to carefully manage something that I really don't care to have to worry about.

Irritated me so much as to be a virtual game-killer.

[lighthousekeeper]

i kinda liked hearthfire, but it did corrupt my save file (i think).

[Shepp]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The random death of NPC's that are not fully replaced was very uncool.

How does that happen?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Shepp

How does that happen?

Once Dawnguard begins, so do random vampire attacks upon entry to towns at night. I believe (but can't 100% confirm) that it stops once you finally complete the quest line of whichever faction you sided with.

[Shepp]

Does that mean that you have to enter the town during the day to prevent this?

[Drake]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Once Dawnguard begins, so do random vampire attacks upon entry to towns at night. I believe (but can't 100% confirm) that it stops once you finally complete the quest line of whichever faction you sided with.

So true. I probably console resurrected a dozen NPC's in towns/cities who tried to "help" fight off the vampires.

(Admittedly, I started a new character from scratch because I lost my complete game save in a HDD failure, so that's 10ish dead NPC's over full game replay, not just a Dawnguard playthrough.)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Shepp

Does that mean that you have to enter the town during the day to prevent this?

That at least limits it (I think one of the attacks is auto-fired after beginning the quest line)

[Maple Leafs]

Did any of the DLC ever come out for the PS3?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Did any of the DLC ever come out for the PS3?

Not according to some stuff I read while looking for more details about the new one. Apparently there was some missing code in the PS3 release or something, might not be fixable ... but new hint today that a fix might be coming soon.

Skyrim DLC for PS3 'close' according to Bethesda - National Console Gaming | Examiner.com

[JonInMiddleGA]

Having now (finally) completed the Dawnguard DLC, I'll give them credit for doing several things right in it while still absolutely positively hating the way they handled attacks on NPC's

-- the primary companion is probably the best from Bethesda other than the talking armor suit in Fallout. Totally not annoying, unlike several of the others in Skyrim.

-- the visuals are darned nice in 2-3 segments of the DLC sub-world. Just ... pretty.

-- they definitely didn't skimp on geographic depth

On the downside, one of the segments is among the more frustrating to play in terms of trying to find the objectives (I'd still be looking if not for finding an online explanation & even with it the search took a while). Yeah, it adds length & difficulty but at some point accomplishing that by simply turning off your quest markers & giving you little to go on while searching feels like a cheap & annoying way to do that.

[Buccaneer]

I assume Dragonborn for the PC should be arriving any time now? I'm anxious to play again from the beginning with the expansion.

[mckerney]

Interesting NPCs at Skyrim Nexus - Skyrim mods and community

I'm going to have to try this mod next time I play.

Features
• More than 90 Voiced NPCs and over 100 in total
• Nearly 20,000 lines and over 300,000 words of Player and NPC Dialogue
• 8 Full and 6 Miscellaneous Quests (Target Goal is 100 Quests so long as quality is maintained)
• Over 20 Followers with Location Based Commentary
• 8 Marriage NPCs

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I assume Dragonborn for the PC should be arriving any time now? I'm anxious to play again from the beginning with the expansion.

Should probably be soon, though if I remember correctly they've announced the PC release date only a few days prior to it coming out.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Having now (finally) completed the Dawnguard DLC, I'll give them credit for doing several things right in it while still absolutely positively hating the way they handled attacks on NPC's

I really enjoyed a couple of instances of "water flume" physics that I hadn't seen in the original game.

[lighthousekeeper]

anyone get Dragonborn yet? Hoping to see some first impressions before taking the plunge.