[Megathread] Skyrim Discussion

[Poppincaps]

The way I see it is: Novice: Godmode without crafting. Apprentice: Little more difficult, but overall easy. With crafting it's a cakewalk. Adept: Getting to the point where it will be tough without crafting. With crafting it's alot easier.Expert: With crafting it is difficult, but if you are careful you won't have many problems. Master: Even with full crafting you will still have difficulty with Dragons/Dragon Priests and other bosses. If you don't use strategy (traps, poisons, illusion spells/rune spells) then a group of bandits can be challenging.

If you want godmode, then don't play master.... simple. I mean there is no penalty for not playing master. You won't be excluded from getting any achievements if you play on novice, so I don't see why Master shouldn't require you to be very good at the game. I mean in Oblvion I usually have the slider set at 25% and 50% towards the end on my playthrough. I couldn't even begin to play with the difficulty slider all the way up.

I don't think slowing it down would help at all.... I mean yes, you probably won't get your skills up until around 35-40, but the end effect is still the same. Although I think we all have to admit that it is not easy balancing a game such as Skyrim. All of our suggestions have big flaws, and I suppose I shouldn't be so critical of them, when even I probably couldn't come up with a solution that doesn't mess anything else up.

[Blackout15]

An average Wood Elf probably wouldn't join either. Average people are typically stupid, ignorant, and they rarely do anything that has a significant impact on the world. So it would depend entirely on your character's own point of view. The only concrete thing we get with that, is that the Empire tried to have him executed.

I personally feel that an enlightened person, (regardless of race) would side with the Stormcloaks over the Empire. Anyone that knows the history of the Empire can tell you that it's a shadow of what it once was. Neither faction is particularly good, but I feel the Stormcloaks are less evil.The Stormcloaks are better in my eyes for one reason and one reason only, they want to restore the worship of Talos.

Talos is a very real, very powerful deity, and siding against him just doesn't seem like a wise long term plan. So I guess it would depend on if your Wood Elf actually cares about his heritage as a Dragonborn.

I cant side with the stormcloaks for a few reasons. The first and main one, they are EXTREMELY racist. They believe nords are the dominant race, their army is all nordic decent besides you who they expect to die on the quest to join. Yes the legion says your not supposed to worship talos, but where in the game do you see the legion opposing talos? No where, its only the high elves you see doing it, and even legate riggite or w/e her name is at the end of the main quest line says something to do with talos. The stormcloaks also seem a bit sexist, though this may just be the game randomly making the stormcloak soldiers.....but in my game i think i found 1 female stormcloak soldier, and none of higher ups like the captains or the generals in the main cities were female. Or at least in my stormcloaks game at the point im at none are. Again, this may just be my game so i could be wrong on this. But the racist issue still stands quite strong.

[Borfl]

I think a higher density of enemies would make the game challenging and a lot more fun. I'm quite disappointed when walking into Forts and there's only like 5 guys to kill, it would be fun if there was just swarms to fight like 30 guys and to make things interesting 5 really strong guys(just outside the fort) THEN inside just as many and then the really powerful bandit chief.

Dragons also need to be harder, even on Master, Zerker rage + 366 daedric greatsword + 100 2H practically 2 shots Elder Dragons and they can't do shit because of stagger. Dragons aren't hard as melee, the only time they're hard is if you're a sneak-style without Shadowmaster, but once you get shadowmaster + 30x dagger crits its lolezmode just run up crouch and strike and they die in 1 shot.

Enchanting/Alchemy/Smithing boosts+potions was dumb, first it's tedious and secondly you become ridiculously OP and to be quite frank I don't like the idea of the best weapons being crafted. I'd prefer if there were specific dungeons at really high levels where you can get the best weapons in the game. Instead smithing should take armor you find and be able to replicate them adding your own stats, I think it's fine for the best armor to be crafted as armor caps out really quick (you only need ~580) which gives you the max 80% dmg reduction, but it's ridiculous when you have weapons that one shot everything. I also think the sneak-style should be refined, shadowmaster is incredibly OP, instead you should be able to deal more damage when striking from behind regardless of stealth.

[Dimqtpie]

Just bought Skyrim on steam, going to be doing a fresh playthrough of the game.(First time playing any of the Elder Scroll Games.)

twitch.tv/dimqtpie

High Quality Stream on Ultra Settings. I plan on playing this game throughout the day, starting right now. Come watch me SLAY SOME DRAGONS!

[Elpalmo]

Hey, i just got skyrim and about to start it.. i just want to know whats the best class (thief, warrior, mage) would be the best for me.. and what type of wepshould i use for that one? and what skills would be the best to lvl up first?

[Deleted]

It's totally up to your gamestyle! There is none (I think) preset classes in Skyrim, you can be whatever you want. There is no one real combination, however, I have heard that destruction mage is pretty powerful.

[Blackout15]

Enchanting/Alchemy/Smithing boosts+potions was dumb, first it's tedious and secondly you become ridiculously OP and to be quite frank I don't like the idea of the best weapons being crafted. I'd prefer if there were specific dungeons at really high levels where you can get the best weapons in the game. Instead smithing should take armor you find and be able to replicate them adding your own stats, I think it's fine for the best armor to be crafted as armor caps out really quick (you only need ~580) which gives you the max 80% dmg reduction, but it's ridiculous when you have weapons that one shot everything. I also think the sneak-style should be refined, shadowmaster is incredibly OP, instead you should be able to deal more damage when striking from behind regardless of stealth.

Agree with the part where we shouldnt be able to make the best weapons. Sure, people say....dont use it if you dont like it.....thats bull shit, theres still no reason we should be able to make the most powerful armor and weapons in the game. We are no where near the best smiths and dwemer made artifacts should be a hell of a lot stronger.

[Jargan]

Depends on the pace you want or if you prefer weapons, magic, ranged, etc.

I personally went dual-wielding warrior until I kept dying. To fix this, I started keeping a heal in my left hand and a 1-hander in my right hand, and healing when I needed to. This method will get you through dungeons pretty quick if you can take one or 2 enemies at a time. Anytime I have 2+ mobs on me, I'm usually dead. Casters do a ton of damage if you can get the playstyle down.

Recently, I've been trying to level sneak and archery, to try and take out a mob or 2 in a group so I can throw the 1-hander back on and take care ofthe rest. Again, it depends if you want to rush through a dungeon, or if you think sneaking around and stabbing stuff is more fun. Skyrim is pretty open to whatever you wanna do and whatever is fun to you.

[Hitmachine]

Sigh at that mind set. make what you think feels & looks the best, if you want the BEST you can easily expoilt your way to the top with an assassin build. but its the least fun or challenging.

in terms of "fun" i found sword & sheild block & onehanded was always the most engaging. Sneak & archery & daggers are OP but fun.

[kronpas]

I cant side with the stormcloaks for a few reasons. The first and main one, they are EXTREMELY racist. They believe nords are the dominant race, their army is all nordic decent besides you who they expect to die on the quest to join. Yes the legion says your not supposed to worship talos, but where in the game do you see the legion opposing talos? No where, its only the high elves you see doing it, and even legate riggite or w/e her name is at the end of the main quest line says something to do with talos. The stormcloaks also seem a bit sexist, though this may just be the game randomly making the stormcloak soldiers.....but in my game i think i found 1 female stormcloak soldier, and none of higher ups like the captains or the generals in the main cities were female. Or at least in my stormcloaks game at the point im at none are. Again, this may just be my game so i could be wrong on this. But the racist issue still stands quite strong.

This, aside from logical thinking made me join the Empire's cause. Really, what a bunch of racists without significant backing and strong allies can do against the host of Elves? (provided they won the civil war in the first place).

[OrcsRLame]

I cant side with the stormcloaks for a few reasons. The first and main one, they are EXTREMELY racist. They believe nords are the dominant race, their army is all nordic decent besides you who they expect to die on the quest to join. Yes the legion says your not supposed to worship talos, but where in the game do you see the legion opposing talos? No where, its only the high elves you see doing it, and even legate riggite or w/e her name is at the end of the main quest line says something to do with talos. The stormcloaks also seem a bit sexist, though this may just be the game randomly making the stormcloak soldiers.....but in my game i think i found 1 female stormcloak soldier, and none of higher ups like the captains or the generals in the main cities were female. Or at least in my stormcloaks game at the point im at none are. Again, this may just be my game so i could be wrong on this. But the racist issue still stands quite strong.

I've seen plenty of female Stormcloak soldiers. Honestly, I don't even think Bethesda has acknowledged the existence of sexism in their design of the Elder Scrolls universe. Unless there's something sexist in Arena or Daggerfall, I've never seen a single sexist thing, (in universe or otherwise) in any Elder Scrolls game. And the Stormcloaks don't believe Nords are the dominant race, it's just that their one and only goal is freeing Skyrim. You don't exactly see them kicking the Dunmer out of Windhelm.

Anywho, it doesn't matter what you see the Legion doing in game, it matters what they're actually doing. And what they've done, is closed down every temple of Talos in Tamriel. They did it under orders from the Thalmor, but they do enforce it, and they will put people to death if they oppose it, regardless of their Thalmor masters being there or not.

Every single member in the Legion may disagree with what they do, they may not like it, but they're still doing it. And they will continue to enforce that law until an Emperor abolishes the White-Gold Concordat.

Either way I think you're missing the point. I don't think any kind of military power or strategy, or any political movement means anything. Fighting the Thalmor is a no win scenario with the current state of things. The Empire can't do it, the Stormcloaks can't do it. In the end, the war will be won with supernatural power, and I doubt anything less will do.

[Neeshka]

To make the game difficult there are 2 primary changes:
1) Fix level scaling to be dependant on offensive skills. Scaling should not abruptly stop at level 30.
2) Severely nerf potion usage.

@stormcloak vs imperial
correct me if i'm wrong but if you follow the main quest you sort of get steered into choosing stormcloaks right ?
imperials always seem to sound like the big oppressor.

[Intropid]

FUS RO DAHHH

Eh, I was bored.
Obviously.

[Zafire]

@stormcloak vs imperial
correct me if i'm wrong but if you follow the main quest you sort of get steered into choosing stormcloaks right ?
imperials always seem to sound like the big oppressor.

Not really, if you talk to a lot of imperials about it they make a pretty strong case too. The Thalmor would've destroyed the legion if the legion didn't sign the treaty that banned talos. Stormcloaks kind of use that as a reason to overthrow the imperials when it really wasn't the imperials fault to begin with. Stormcloaks weren't even a big threat before the ban on Talos.

[Deleted]

I've seen plenty of female Stormcloak soldiers. Honestly, I don't even think Bethesda has acknowledged the existence of sexism in their design of the Elder Scrolls universe. Unless there's something sexist in Arena or Daggerfall, I've never seen a single sexist thing, (in universe or otherwise) in any Elder Scrolls game. And the Stormcloaks don't believe Nords are the dominant race, it's just that their one and only goal is freeing Skyrim. You don't exactly see them kicking the Dunmer out of Windhelm.

Anywho, it doesn't matter what you see the Legion doing in game, it matters what they're actually doing. And what they've done, is closed down every temple of Talos in Tamriel. They did it under orders from the Thalmor, but they do enforce it, and they will put people to death if they oppose it, regardless of their Thalmor masters being there or not.

Every single member in the Legion may disagree with what they do, they may not like it, but they're still doing it. And they will continue to enforce that law until an Emperor abolishes the White-Gold Concordat.

Either way I think you're missing the point. I don't think any kind of military power or strategy, or any political movement means anything. Fighting the Thalmor is a no win scenario with the current state of things. The Empire can't do it, the Stormcloaks can't do it. In the end, the war will be won with supernatural power, and I doubt anything less will do.

After they take power, the Stormcloaks actually become the most powerful human faction in Tamriel, and elicit actual fear from the Thalmor.

Anyway, I think that Shor will return to lead mankind to shake off the tyranny of the Elves, just as he did in the First Era.

EDI: If anyone has the Legendary Wuuthrad mod, please please please tell me how you got it to work.

[OrcsRLame]

After they take power, the Stormcloaks actually become the most powerful human faction in Tamriel, and elicit actual fear from the Thalmor.

Anyway, I think that Shor will return to lead mankind to shake off the tyranny of the Elves, just as he did in the First Era.

You have a source for that? Not that I'm trying to question the validity of your statement, I just never saw anything like that mentioned in game, meaning it would basically have to be a statement from Bethesda, and I'd like to read the quote.

Assuming that's true, that's a little bit crazy. I just don't understand how a unified Empire, (despite losing the Septims) could lose to the Thalmor with the Blades and the Imperial Legion at full strength. I always felt that the Empire should have just steamrolled the Thalmor to begin with, as the Nords, Redguards, and Orcs are the strongest warriors, and they made up a large portion of the Legion. And the Legion had Bretons, the best anti-mages in the setting, effectively negating the one true advantage of the High Elves, their potent magic capabilities.

A potent force of one of the more powerful races being able to defeat the Thalmor in open combat is what I would have originally expected before Skyrim came out. So to me that lends a little bit of validity to my previous assumptions. With the Thalmor's out of game victory against the Empire, I may have overestimated their strength, as I was comparing them to the might of the relatively still stable Empire.

[Deleted]

You have a source for that? Not that I'm trying to question the validity of your statement, I just never saw anything like that mentioned in game, meaning it would basically have to be a statement from Bethesda, and I'd like to read the quote.

Assuming that's true, that's a little bit crazy. I just don't understand how a unified Empire, (despite losing the Septims) could lose to the Thalmor with the Blades and the Imperial Legion at full strength. I always felt that the Empire should have just steamrolled the Thalmor to begin with, as the Nords, Redguards, and Orcs are the strongest warriors, and they made up a large portion of the Legion. And the Legion had Bretons, the best anti-mages in the setting, effectively negating the one true advantage of the High Elves, their potent magic capabilities.

A potent force of one of the more powerful races being able to defeat the Thalmor in open combat is what I would have originally expected before Skyrim came out. So to me that lends a little bit of validity to my previous assumptions. With the Thalmor's out of game victory against the Empire, I may have overestimated their strength, as I was comparing them to the might of the relatively still stable Empire.

Well, the Redguard managed to beat the Thalmor out of their lands alone. This is often held up as the White Gold Concordat being completely unnecessary capitulation. Furthermore, Skyrim was considered to be the most potent remaining province of the Empire. Of course, this was never fully explained how. So this is part of my hypothesis.

Secondly, the dossier that mentions Ulfric Stormcloak mentions how disastrous it would be for him to gain Skyrim's kingship. Which is due perhaps to Ulfric's military leadership being capable of overcoming the Thalmor. This is basically the bulk of where I draw my argument.

The Empire was incapable of defeating the Thalmor because they had only recently survived the full brunt of Mehrunes Daegon's invasion. As Akatosh specifically made his covenant with Man, Mankind alone posed the greatest threat to his dominion. So most of his efforts to take Nirn were centered in Cyrodiil, despite the Thalmor claiming to have had greater success with the Oblivion gates in Summerset Isle, they did not have to endure as much Humanity did. Still, Martin's sacrifice was supposed to have ignited 'a religious awakening' in Cyrodiil. I was more convinced that the Empire would turn into a theocracy.

Even though, the Thalmor themselves were not completely unscathed in the war. They had lost some potent generals and 2 armies, after all. Even though you could make the case that this isn't worth much, as the Empire had lost 2 Legions and none had more than half of its men fit for service. It's this sort of massive casualty ratio that shows that The Empire's stagnating influence in Skyrim serves more as an impediment. Rikke states that the Dominion would consume Skyrim if not for the Empire, what possible protection can the battered remnants of the 4th Legion offer?

Furthermore, keep in mind that no race is 'the best uniformly', as Erikur states; 'not every Nord is obsessed with honour or strength at arms'. Sleazy little man that he is, he has a point.

Lastly, we're going to have to see how much damage the Dragons bereft of Alduin's Lordship will do against the Skyrim. If Ulfric can work in peace, Skyrim may become the center for a Second Nordic Empire. Of course, Paarthunax mentions that he will bring 'the rightness of his Thu'um' to the dragons, whether they are willing or not. Whether Paarthunax will engender a new age of morality among the dragons, or will simply attempt to take Alduin's place is unknown. Odahviing, after all, mentions that few Dragons will trade Alduin's command for 'the tyranny of Paarthunax's Way of the Voice', as he puts it. Why he would call it 'tyranny' is interesting.

[Deleted]

Lastly, we're going to have to see how much damage the Dragons bereft of Alduin's Lordship will do against the Skyrim. If Ulfric can work in peace, Skyrim may become the center for a Second Nordic Empire. Of course, Paarthunax mentions that he will bring 'the rightness of his Thu'um' to the dragons, whether they are willing or not. Whether Paarthunax will engender a new age of morality among the dragons, or will simply attempt to take Alduin's place is unknown. Odahviing, after all, mentions that few Dragons will trade Alduin's command for 'the tyranny of Paarthunax's Way of the Voice', as he puts it. Why he would call it 'tyranny' is interesting.

It's tyranny because the way of the voice is simply praying to gods and not doing anything else other that sitting around peacefully. Of course they see it as tyranny cause sitting around and not destroying things would hardly be what dragons consider as fun.

[Deleted]

It's tyranny because the way of the voice is simply praying to gods and not doing anything else other that sitting around peacefully. Of course they see it as tyranny cause sitting around and not destroying things would hardly be what dragons consider as fun.

Interestingly enough...

His name means "Ambition Overlord Cruelty". - In regards to Paarthurnax

Taken from the Elderscrolls wiki

[Dimqtpie]

Streaming more skyrim playthrough today. (Started fresh yesterday ~8 hrs into the game.)
High quality stream, with ultra settings, little to no interruption.

twitch.tv/dimqtpie