Skyrim for the Unwashed Console Masses

I am one of the unwashed myself and by choice. I could drop a better graphics card in my Hackintosh and boot Windows 7 and probably run Skyrim on ultra with some crazy graphic mods and....... brb need to go look at newer Hackintosh compatible graphics cards

Not to stir up anything, but there's also an 'Open Cities' mod, as there was for Oblivion which remove the loading when entering a city - instead, the doors just open like they do in caves..

IMAGE(http://members.iinet.net.au/~monkey.boy/GWJ/Soap.jpg)

So I did a few quests and thought I was feeling accomplished and they I looked at the map again and realized I was a tiny spec on a huge mountain. I don't think I've even hit the tip of the iceberg with this game. Yeesh.

Don't let it bother you. If you approach an Elder Scrolls game as a completionist, you'll always be disappointed.

gtnissanfan wrote:

Don't let it bother you. If you approach an Elder Scrolls game as a completionist, you'll always be disappointed die before you have time to finish the task.

FTFY.

m0nk3yboy wrote:
gtnissanfan wrote:

Don't let it bother you. If you approach an Elder Scrolls game as a completionist, you'll always be disappointed die before you have time to finish the task.

FTFY.

"My undertaking is not difficult, essentially... I should only have to be immortal to carry it out."

Gremlin wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:
gtnissanfan wrote:

Don't let it bother you. If you approach an Elder Scrolls game as a completionist, you'll always be disappointed die before you have time to finish the task.

FTFY.

"My undertaking is not difficult, essentially... I should only have to be immortal to carry it out."

Did that post just send you over the limit?

We better get one of these started then eh?

m0nk3yboy wrote:
Gremlin wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:
gtnissanfan wrote:

Don't let it bother you. If you approach an Elder Scrolls game as a completionist, you'll always be disappointed die before you have time to finish the task.

FTFY.

"My undertaking is not difficult, essentially... I should only have to be immortal to carry it out."

Did that post just send you over the limit?

We better get one of these started then eh?

I guess it was appropriate that it was a Borges quote, then.

gtnissanfan wrote:

Don't let it bother you. If you approach an Elder Scrolls game as a completionist, you'll always be disappointed.

Yeah, I have a friend that finished the main story and said he wasn't close to finishing all the other side quests.

I pretty much considered myself finished when I got all of the achievements. On a plus note I think this is one of the only Bethesda games where you can do that with a single character without using any tricks.

Rykin wrote:

I pretty much considered myself finished when I got all of the achievements. On a plus note I think this is one of the only Bethesda games where you can do that with a single character without using any tricks.

I did that with Oblivion + Shivering Isles too. It made for quite the emergent narrative in my head.

But yeah, I was satisfied that I hit all the major highs in Skyrim once I got the last achievement. But that was nine months ago, and there's still no real end in sight.

Just a little LTTP on this. I had picked up the Elder Scrolls pack during a Steam sale earlier this year as a carrot to build out a gaming PC, but after 4 months, seeing Skyrim on sale on XBL for $30 pushed me over the edge.

Got a Level 6 Wood Elf that is splitting time between sword & board and archery after a few hours of play, and even took down my first dragon.

Just got this for PS3, and man is it a ton of fun. Buggy as all hell though, with pretty long loading times. Still, a ton of fun.

For a while I was trying to be all sneaky, and then I got my minion Lydia. Lydia does not understand stealth. Oh well. It's good I didn't waste any perks on stealth because now there's nothing but heavy armor and weapons.

Miashara wrote:

Just got this for PS3, and man is it a ton of fun. Buggy as all hell though, with pretty long loading times. Still, a ton of fun.

For a while I was trying to be all sneaky, and then I got my minion Lydia. Lydia does not understand stealth. Oh well. It's good I didn't waste any perks on stealth because now there's nothing but heavy armor and weapons.

I remember in Fallout 3, you could ask followers to stay around a corner while you stealth ahead.

I started the Companions questline, and lost Lydia for Farkas in the Proving Honor quest, and he's a 2H beast. I just let him tank away, and plink from the sidelines with my bow.

McIrishJihad wrote:

I remember in Fallout 3, you could ask followers to stay around a corner while you stealth ahead.

Oh, you absolutely can. Perhaps I put that wrong. Let's say I'm not terribly lamenting the new method of combat and am gleefully diving into the fray with wild abandon. It's because I have to, you see. Lydia doesn't sneak. And I can't leave her behind. That would be rude to my housecarl.

Miashara wrote:
McIrishJihad wrote:

I remember in Fallout 3, you could ask followers to stay around a corner while you stealth ahead.

Oh, you absolutely can. Perhaps I put that wrong. Let's say I'm not terribly lamenting the new method of combat and am gleefully diving into the fray with wild abandon. It's because I have to, you see. Lydia doesn't sneak. And I can't leave her behind. That would be rude to my housecarl.

She has sworn to carry your burdens, you know.

I've gotten up to level 4 using magic skills, but for some reason it's not yet grabbing me. I kind of feel like restarting and swinging a big sword around instead. Or maybe flinging some arrows. I can't decide.

fleabagmatt wrote:

I've gotten up to level 4 using magic skills, but for some reason it's not yet grabbing me. I kind of feel like restarting and swinging a big sword around instead. Or maybe flinging some arrows. I can't decide.

You don't need to restart. Just pick up a sword and start hacking away! You will skill up in whatever you use, and at level 4, you've only put skill points into a few things, and the opening skill points in almost every tree feel useful to me.

fleabagmatt wrote:

I've gotten up to level 4 using magic skills, but for some reason it's not yet grabbing me. I kind of feel like restarting and swinging a big sword around instead. Or maybe flinging some arrows. I can't decide.

As Nike said "Just Do It"; there is no need to restart. You can switch things up mid-game with the new skill system and at level 81 I had more perks than I knew what to do with.

You can switch things up late game too. I changed from light armour/sword-and-board to heavy armour/two-handed around level 45. I'm closing in on maxing all my combat and stealth skills, and then I'll be switching to magic, say around level 70.

Best TES skill system yet, maybe one of the most player-friendly skill systems in any RPG, C or P&P, I've seen.

I played through Fallout 3 and Fallout:NV last year, and I can certainly see design beats that held over into Skyrim. But I'm so glad they went this direction with the skills and perks.

OMG - using my skills makes me better at them? I can't just dump 15 points into 1H and suddenly be awesome? I actually like this!

I did notice with something like lockpicking, is that even when snapping picks, I was getting better. Sure, I got a huge boost when I unlocked an Apprentice lock, but I was getting nice ticks even when cracking half a dozen picks to get that one unlocked.

I wish the same was true when leveling Alchemy. Especially when you're low level and haven't discovered all the effects of a lot of ingredients, you can end up making potions that fail.

Alchemy was super easy to max out for me. Of course it was also one of the best ways to make money so I ended up maxing it out first with both of my characters and the smithing skill was probably second. Eating the ingredient should revel at least the first use and you could always just look at a wiki for the others.

P.S. I think you still get experience for failed potions and a quick way to level lockpicking is to just fine the hardest lock you can (Expert or Master) and break a ton of picks on it.

Rykin wrote:

Alchemy was super easy to max out for me.

Explain.

This is my slowest-growing stealth skill, and I'm making potions every chance I get. I think it's only in the 70s right now, mainly because I started training in it since I've out-trained every other combat and stealth skill.

Rykin wrote:

Alchemy was super easy to max out for me. Of course it was also one of the best ways to make money so I ended up maxing it out first with both of my characters and the smithing skill was probably second. Eating the ingredient should revel at least the first use and you could always just look at a wiki for the others.

P.S. I think you still get experience for failed potions and a quick way to level lockpicking is to just fine the hardest lock you can (Expert or Master) and break a ton of picks on it.

I did enchanting pretty easily (as in not a lot of effort to buy soul gems, etc...) from the Black Star and an enchanted weapon with Soul Trap. Pretty easy leveling as using that grand soul from a bandit gives you about half a level up in the skill until you get to around 70ish in the skill. Just gotta keep doing that over and over in a bandit cave or the civil war quest line (as those enemy soldiers tend to be pretty squishy). If you can remember to do it at the battle of Whiterun, you can level up a LOT. Then just use a bunch of petty soul gems on all those iron daggers/jewelry you make to level smithing and you're usually pretty good to go. Somehow my Khajiit thief has like 120,000 gold, and having not touched alchemy, I'm not sure still how I did that. :X Lot of radiant quests for the thieves guild trying to get Guild Master I guess.

Gravey wrote:
Rykin wrote:

Alchemy was super easy to max out for me.

Explain.

This is my slowest-growing stealth skill, and I'm making potions every chance I get. I think it's only in the 70s right now, mainly because I started training in it since I've out-trained every other combat and stealth skill.

I grabbed like every alchemy ingredient I could while questing and stored them up a bit and then would make hundreds of potions at once. Sell the potion for more alchemy ingredients and then repeat. I guess my real secret here is walking from place to place instead of using fast travel and picking everything I see along the way and visiting the various alchemy shops to unload the potions for more ingredients. Just figure out which potions you can make the most of. Probably something that calls for Mountain Flowers. Did pretty much the same for smithing.

So silly question - is there any decent place early on for me to stash stuff?

I don't want to ruin too much by hitting up a wiki, but I'd love to know where its safe to stash off magic items and other rare stuff so I'm not always playing the "drop this so I can fast travel" game.

McIrishJihad wrote:

So silly question - is there any decent place early on for me to stash stuff?

I don't want to ruin too much by hitting up a wiki, but I'd love to know where its safe to stash off magic items and other rare stuff so I'm not always playing the "drop this so I can fast travel" game.

Get a horse, you can fast travel while encumbered. Do some of the quests that take you to the Jarl of Whiterun, as this will get you a companion (or you can hire one in almost any tavern) that will carry stuff for you, which gives you a little wiggle room. If you go the Whiterun route for your first companion, you can then buy a place to stash stuff... otherwise most everywhere else can and will reset, losing your stuff.

Yeah, if you're a true wanderer and just want to free-roam through the game, I'd suggest at least following the main quest line (Jarl of Whiterun) until you earn your own house. Then you'll have a base of operations where you can safely unload all your stuff between adventures.