The Elder Scrolls

[Rachel D.]

Hermaeus Mora is the scariest thing I've ever seen in an Elder Scrolls game. And Seekers are pretty bad, too.

The next DLC should be Happy Rainbow Unicorn Land.

 

[u2popmofo]

Yeah, I've heard there's a lot of cool Lovecraft stuff in this dlc. Been too addicted to Far Cry 3 to download it yet.

 

[bono_212]

I'm back, bitches.

 

[bono_212]

Well, 10 minutes in and it froze on me. I have no patience of this tonight. We'll try again tomorrow. Time to read.

 

[Rachel D.]

A lot of people are disappointed in the way dragon riding works, and it could be better, but it's really not that bad. I took an Ancient dragon for a spin yesterday to mess around with it more, and here are my findings. It might be a little spoiler-y.

Spoiler

-Dragons aren't like horses, because you can't steer them (which makes sense; how would you steer a dragon?), so I would say that they're more of a weapon than a mount. It's like the dragon is taking you for a ride, and not the other way around.
- You can fast travel while on a dragon, so if they're aren't any enemies around, you can go find some. Otherwise, it just flies in circles.
- The only weapons you can use while on a dragon are ranged magic attacks or magical staffs (staves?), or you can tell the dragon to attack things (which is better; it's hard to hit a moving target while I'm in mid-air).
-If you tame a dragon and don't ride it, it follows you like a kite. They mostly circle around, but one hovered in place for a while until the shout wore off and it said "I must leave you now" and left.
- If you fast travel on foot, the dragon comes with you. At one point I fast traveled to a populated area with My Pet Dragon and the game froze.
- I was riding an Ancient dragon and was amazed at how fast it killed a Frost dragon.
- I rode one around for a while, got off, and the dragon attacked me after a couple of minutes, so they do return to their normal behavior after a while.
- It's kind of cute when they land and ask "Shall we go flying together?"

Basically, dragon riding isn't perfect, but it's still fun. It's something they could definitely improve later with patches/updates.

 

[u2popmofo]

A lot of people are disappointed in the way dragon riding works, and it could be better, but it's really not that bad. I took an Ancient dragon for a spin yesterday to mess around with it more, and here are my findings. It might be a little spoiler-y.

Spoiler

-Dragons aren't like horses, because you can't steer them (which makes sense; how would you steer a dragon?), so I would say that they're more of a weapon than a mount. It's like the dragon is taking you for a ride, and not the other way around.
- You can fast travel while on a dragon, so if they're aren't any enemies around, you can go find some. Otherwise, it just flies in circles.
- The only weapons you can use while on a dragon are ranged magic attacks or magical staffs (staves?), or you can tell the dragon to attack things (which is better; it's hard to hit a moving target while I'm in mid-air).
-If you tame a dragon and don't ride it, it follows you like a kite. They mostly circle around, but one hovered in place for a while until the shout wore off and it said "I must leave you now" and left.
- If you fast travel on foot, the dragon comes with you. At one point I fast traveled to a populated area with My Pet Dragon and the game froze.
- I was riding an Ancient dragon and was amazed at how fast it killed a Frost dragon.
- I rode one around for a while, got off, and the dragon attacked me after a couple of minutes, so they do return to their normal behavior after a while.
- It's kind of cute when they land and ask "Shall we go flying together?"

Basically, dragon riding isn't perfect, but it's still fun. It's something they could definitely improve later with patches/updates.

Saw this on Reddit the other day and laughed:

Skyrim: The Dragonborn Rides Again - Dorkly Comic

 

[bono_212]

So, I decided to boot up Skyrim again.

It froze. Again.


It appears that I am experiencing a 1.5 update glitch. I had to delete the game file and updates and reinstall them.

I swear, a dragonborne rampage is at hand if my save file gets screwed up.

 

[Rachel D.]

Yeah, there seem to be a fair amount of bugs, as expected. I'm having trouble with a noise glitch where a horrible sizzling sound from Apocrypha won't stop after I leave and it drives me nuts. I looked up how to fix it, and apparently all you have to do is save and then reload, so I'll try that today and see if it works. It's from the Black Book called The Sallow Regent.

And a dragon froze while I was riding it and I couldn't get off until another dragon killed it. Now when I fast travel, sometimes the same dead dragon appears out of nowhere.

 

[Rachel D.]

Ahh, more glitches! Now it's started crashing whenever I walk into a certain spot in Raven Rock. I have to take the long way around or it'll freeze.

A courier brought me a note and he was not wearing any clothes, just a hat, boots, and his underwear. I don't think that was supposed to happen.

The noise bug went away, but the dead Ancient dragon still appears for no reason.

 

[Rachel D.]

Sorry to spam the place, but there's an Elder Scrolls sale today for Xbox. I got Hearthfire for only 200 points!

 

[bono_212]

I do have it for XBox as well as PS3 now.

 

[u2popmofo]

Damn this game and its addictive nature. Threw it in the other night for the first time since late summer, have spent hours over the last couple days just trying to level up all the werewolf perks and a few of the "easy to grind" type skill trees. Think I went from 20 to 100 on the Illusion tree in a couple hours.

 

[Rachel D.]

^ Wow, that's pretty good! I've been lax with my magic skills, and a lot of others. There's an achievement for picking 50 locks and 50 pockets, so I might go on a pickpocketing spree to get it and raise my skill at the same time.

I finally got tired of fiddling with Hearthfire, mostly because it's so buggy. My husband and adopted children have no dialogue options and spend their time wandering the wilderness, the stuff in my house(s) won't stay where I put it, and I can't buy the third piece of land because a random Misc. quest is keeping me from becoming Thane of Falkreath, and I don't know which one. So I decided to finally finish No Stone Unturned instead and am almost to the Crown of Barenziah.

After almost finishing with my first house, I figured out that I can tell my steward to furnish it so that I don't have to build every single piece of furniture myself.

 

[mobvok]

The really entertaining part of Skyrim that keeps me interested is the meta-narratives my brain builds while staring at the in game map, deciding on the path I'm taking to complete all the waypoint arrows/quests from city to city.

Like, I had a really good time last weekend going to Rorikstead, fighting a nearby dragon on the open plain while ducking behind pillar to pillar, descending into the Reach for the first time, completing some of the tasks along with the Markarth/Cidna Mine quest, exploring, and leaving the main quest mission at Karthspire for last.

Unconsciously I kind of turned it into a very structured/designed area, like a super-sized Zelda area. An Ice Dragon was flying dead center in the middle of the Reach over Karthspire, so that became the final boss, which I spent a lot of time carefully avoiding and sneaking around. Finally once everything else was finished, I snuck in above the Forsworn Karthspire camp, then dropped down and lured the dragon in. So now there's like 30 Forsworn going apeshit, an Ice Dragon blasting everything, Esbern and Delphine and their atronarchs running in, and I'm just sort of waltzing through this mess. Very cool.

The problem was, that was the last area left to explore in that manner for my second playthrough. Playing around in the world geography is much more interesting to me than the psychic reward from simply following quest arrows, and while those quests were new the first time I played, with both familiar geography AND familiar quests, I think that hurts the replay value. Which is relative, of course, since I sank just under 100 hours into my second character, but there's an enormous amount of game I'm just not much interested in doing again. The other negative thing was that while using sword and shield can be a bit repetitive, it's at least more intimate and requires more interesting tactics than the projectile magic I'm using as a Mage. I picked a fight with the dragon snoozing at Autumnwatch Tower, and while I fondly remember the first playthrough requiring some smart decisions about when to commit to staying outside to attack vs. hiding in the safety of the tower, going as a magic-first character meant I could duck a quarter inch out from the stonework, launch a fireball, and then immediately hide before any flame blast reprisal. No risk, and very boring.

Counterpoint: exploding fireballs are hella cool.

 

[Rachel D.]

They've announced PS3 release dates for Dragonborn, Dawnguard, and Hearthfire:

PSN release dates for Dragonborn/Dawnguard/Hearthfire | Bethesda Blog

I hope it works out for you with minimal bugs.

 

[bono_212]

I'm pretty jazzed. Won't be purchasing them all, I feel, but I'll definitely get Dragonborn.

 

[u2popmofo]

This made me laugh more than it should have:

 

[bono_212]

That's fantastic.

 

[mobvok]

pssh I'm so over Skyrim, it's wayyyy old. You know where the cool kids are at?

SOLSTHEIM, BABY

after landing, I wasn't sure about the artistic decision to have the players' first walkthrough be through the southern region (color scheme: GRAY, WITH DUST EVERYWHERE), but once you start exploring northward there's a better variety of places and you can peek south to see Red Mountain still puffing smoke. Cool stuff.

Apparently it's $10 on PSN for the first week before it rises up to $20, so be aware.

 

[u2popmofo]

$10?! WTF, I want to buy it for that price on 360!

 

[bono_212]

What is it?

 

[u2popmofo]

The Dragonborn DLC.

 

[bono_212]

Oh nice.

I thought it was called dragonborn

 

[No spoken words]

I am starting to get tempted to break my insanely powerful character out to have him wreck the lives of everyone who exists in this DLC.

 

[u2popmofo]

Me too.

Also, I need to finish the game. And the faction story lines. And the other DLCs. Damn this game to hell, I can never stay focused on any task.

 

[No spoken words]

I finished but didn't finish, if you follow.

I WILL FOLLOW

 

[u2popmofo]

 

[mobvok]

Album of Skyrim concept art

The third one is basically sold by the lighting at Dragonsreach. Imagine being able to see the sun set on the mountains and clouds in realtime.

Spoiler

 

[Rachel D.]

I've always admired the artwork of Elder Scrolls games; there's so much detail in every little thing. It's too bad that the artist that did most of the concept art passed away. I hope they can find someone as good for the next games in the series.

 

[u2popmofo]

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 'Legendary' Update Coming Later This Month - Xbox 360 News At Xbox360Achievements.org

[QUOTEBethesda has announced that the Skyrim 1.9 Legendary update that's available today on Steam as a beta version, will be available on consoles later in the month, offering up a bunch of Legendary features and bug fixes.

Said Legendary features include a new Legendary difficulty and Legendary skills, which in essence removes the overall level cap.

"For console players out there, we’re hoping to release 1.9 later this month — we’ll keep you updated when we have specific dates," a post on the BethBlog claims.

Here's a list of the features and fixes the Skyrim 1.9 Legendary update will bring:

Skyrim 1.9

New Features

Legendary difficulty setting
Legendary Skills – Skills of 100 can be made Legendary. This will reset the skill to 15, return its Perks and allow the skill to affect leveling again. This effectively removes the overall level cap.
Bug Fixes

General memory and stability improvements
Fixed issue with quest scripts that were not shutting down properly
Companions will equip better weapons and armor if given to them
Fixed rare issue where player is unable to learn the Clear Skies shout during “The Throat of the World”
Fixed rare instance where Alduin would become invincible during “Alduin’s Bane”
Fixed a rare issue where player could become stuck in Night Mother’s coffin during “Death Incarnate”
Fixed rare issue where protected companions could be killed from poison damage
Fixed rare issue with certain ash piles left from resurrected NPCs not clearing properly
Fixed rare issue with NPCs and creatures respawning improperly after player fast travels
Fixed rare crash when entering Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary
Fixed rare crash when entering a player owned home
Random dragon attacks will no longer occur during “Battle for Whiterun”
Fixed a rare crash when attempting to save your game during “Waking Nightmare”
Fixed issue where “Glory of the Undead” would not start properly if player is in combat with Eorlund Gray-Mane
The white phial is no longer consumed if given to a follower
If player marries Aela, the “Totem of Hircine” quest will be available
Unused briar hearts can be dropped after finishing “The White Phial”
Fixed issue with paying off a crime against the Companions that prevented player from getting Companions quests properly
Thieves Guild caches are now properly enabled in the appropriate cities
The Dragon Infusion perk now works properly when taking Esbern’s Potion
Cragslane Cave properly resets if player receives a radiant quest to clear it out
Fixed rare issue with bounty quest objectives not properly clearing after completion
Gallus’ Encoded Journal is no longer a quest item after completing the Thieves Guild
In “No Stone Unturned” Vex will now accept Unusual Gems if you’ve collected them all before starting the quest
Vekel the Man now gives rewards for completing “Toying with The Dead”
Fixed rare issue with being unable to turn in stolen items in “The Litany of Larceny”
Fixed issue with followers becoming over-encumbered after being repeatedly rehired
Fixed rare issue with visiting Kynesgrove on horseback not progressing “A Blade in the Dark” properly
Fixed issue with receiving a duplicate radiant quest from a Jarl
Fixed conflict with clearing Driftshade Sanctuary before starting “Trouble in Skyrim”
Fixed issue with using shouts while in jail and having guards unlock the jail cell
Fixed rare issue with quest NPCs not properly moving to quest locations
Fixed issue with NPCs not selling master level spells
Fixed rare issue where player gets control locked outside the Thalmor Embassy at the start of “Diplomatic Immunity”
Fixed rare issue with disappearing containers after upgrades in player owned house
Fixed issue with being erroneously attacked while as a werewolf during “Ill Met By Moonlight”
The Ebony Blade is now only improved by two handed perks
Locked door to Proudspire Manor can now be unlocked by proper key
Fixed issue with merchants not receiving the proper additional gold with the Investor perk
Fixed a rare issue where the player would be unable to learn a word after leaving for several days during “The Way of The Voice”
The Nord Hero Bow can now be improved
The Purity perk no longer requires the Experimenter perk
Fixed rare instance where Lovers Comfort would not be applied properly
If you approach Frostmere Crypt from the north, “The Pale Lady” will start properly
Fixed rare issue where player could be prevented from speaking with Atub to start “The Cursed Tribe”
Fixed rare issue where a dragon could appear in the Mind of a Madman realm and kill the player
Fixed instance where player could get stuck in Japhet’s Folly
Fixed rare instances where Arngeir would not teach Worldwind Sprint
Fixed issue with “Ill Met By Moonlight” if Sinding dies before the quest starts
Gharol can now properly train up to level 75
Fixed conflict with visiting The Karthspire before starting “Alduin’s Wall”
Reduced the instance of random dragon attacks after fast traveling post main quest
Recruited Blades now have appropriate dialogue while at Sky Haven Temple
Fixed rare issue where an incorrect dungeon could appear as a location during “Totems of Hircine”
Fixed rare instance in “Fetch me that Book” where books found before getting the quest would not be properly recognized
Fixed rare issue with traveling to Thalmor Embassy with companions during “Diplomatic Immunity”
Fixed issues with Matching Set perk not working properly with certain pieces of armor
Fixed issues with Custom Fit perk not working properly with certain pieces of armor
Fixed issue with NPC dying in a bear trap blocking progress in “Time of My Need”
Fixed rare issue with swinging door becoming stuck and blocking an entrance in Volunruud
Imperial Light Armor can now be crafted
Fixed issue with “Vald’s Debt” where Vald was not leveled properly
Fixed issue with Vilkas not giving proper greeting after completing “Battle for Whiterun”
Fixed issue with respawning actors that were raised by using the Ritual Stone power
Fixed issue with the Ancient Knowledge perk not calculating properly
The Palace of Kings now has patrolling guards on upper floors
Reduce percentage chance of getting a werewolf loading screen while player is a werewolf
Pantea’s flute is no longer a quest item after completing “Pantea’s Flute”
Placing an unread Oghma Infinium on a bookshelf in the player’s house no longer allows the book to be reused again
Adjusted dialogue priority to improve chances of hearing more combat dialogue from certain NPC enemies
Fixed issue with falling damage on high difficulty levels
Fixed bad collision on certain clutter objects
Fixed rare instance of couriers who would appear only dressed in a hat][/QUOTE]

It's awesome they're still giving this game so much support.