[Megathread] Skyrim Discussion

[Prancing Minstrel]

I'm fairly sure in the main questline a wood elf mentions the high elves 'purging' the forests, in which his family was killed. I don't think it's a relationship of equals, more obedience tbh.

[Rukh]

Hi guys,

i bought Skyrim and played it for about 90 hours with a Full mage charakter duallcasting Destructions. I had some hardtimes but mostly all went smoothly.

after said 90 hours i got bored and watched a Viode of a assasinchar Onehitting amost everything with Daggersneakattacks. So i restarted and skilled a Sneakchar maxed sneak to 100.

But i have very hardtimes now. Most trash is piece of cake and i can onehit quite easy with shadowwarrior but the stronger ones like Bandit Maraudeurs or the Dragonborn Draug undead (those who shout) hit like a train and i do almost no damage against them. some of the bandits with 2handers onehit me when they see me so i pumped my HP (around 300 hp now) with each levelup but it doesnt seem to help much. Most of those Stronger foes kill me with 2 Hits. I am lvl 30 btw.

I just dont know what i do wrong. I got light armor at 70 or so, purchased 3 perks in the first talent und skilled up to the Stamina recovery but Still they hit like trains.
I seem to do very low damage against them. even if i do a sneakattack with 15x Daggerdamage its only a tiny bit of their HP. (i use a Dwarfendagger with Lightningenchantment)+ Poison. So is this bugged or so? Does those bastards have that much HP? Does Onehandlevel scale with daggersneakattacks? My onehandskill is around 50 or so i think. Is it possible to do a double Sneakattack with daggers when i skill the right branch in the onehand tree with dualwield?

What am i doing wrong? I didnt know that i had that easy time with my mage....

I'm pretty sure the difficulty levels of mobs is severely bugged in this game. Wouldn't surprise me, most everything else is. I went through a whole lot of the game as a mage type first. There would be mobs that I could one shot, and mobs that would one shot me, the difficulty of mobs was that arbitrary. The thing that made it the most frustrating is it didn't matter if they were trash or bosses. The guy at the end of the thief quests (not fll end, but baddie before you go get the key) took two hits, he was so weak. Before you go find him, there's this guy with a whole optional quest to avoid having to fight him because supposedly he's some big baddass. Yet, I accidentally aggro him when walking around and kill him in one hit. Not a backstab, a single swing of a sword. oookay. Then, there's falmer that can one shot me out of nowhere with a bow. They're not stealth critting, they are just uber leveled for no particular reason. There's a part where you can activate this centurion or sneak around it because it's supposed to be hard or something. Well, you activate it, and the falmer turn around and bitch slap it like it was a rodent or something. instablick on it. Okaaay.

Well anyways, I lost my saves ; ;. Hard drive died. Been playing through again, this time as a paladin type mostly though I did end up switching to light armor because a lot of missions force you in to the thief role no matter what you were playing like (main quest and imperial quests both, not to mention thieves guild). And the mobs are so much easier. SO much easier. I checked my difficulty a couple times and it's not different. Only difference really is I have high block instead of high conjuring. still raising lockpicking, alchemy, this time enchanting too though, still not trying to reduce the skills I level because i still refuse to aknowledge that the game punishes you for gaining in skill (even though it does). No, this time the game is randomly easier except again in random places. bandits that will hit like a truck that need to be cheesed.

Oh and the dragons. What freaking wimps. Most of the time when is see one though they go randomly attacking anything in the area and usually get punked by a giant. Apparently the giants are children of the gods or something. Don't know why they need a dragonborn, they could just get a few of those giants.

[Palapwn]

I'm fairly sure in the main questline a wood elf mentions the high elves 'purging' the forests, in which his family was killed. I don't think it's a relationship of equals, more obedience tbh.

but does that mean he hates the empire too? enough that he would join the stormcloaks?

[OrcsRLame]

but does that mean he hates the empire too? enough that he would join the stormcloaks?

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.

[Palapwn]

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 guess i'll side with the stormcloaks, since Wood Elves are rational yet enlightened, wanting freedom for anyone under Thalmor (Empire) rule like them.

[Umbra]

but why would the average wood elf side with the Legion since they are in league with the Thalmor?

The Empire is "in league" with the Thalmor, not the Legion. The Thalmor and the Legion were fighting as late as 4E 175 (twenty-six years ago) when the White-Gold Concordat was signed. Do you think they're all bros now because of that? Guess again, they're not exactly allies. A Wood Elf could recognize the Legion as the stronger military force (as opposed to the Stormcloaks) and seek to unite Skyrim under the Legion's banner to reinforce the Legion in preparation for a future assault on Valenwood.

They could also choose not to take a side, of course, and just go on with the other questlines.

[OrcsRLame]

The Empire is "in league" with the Thalmor, not the Legion. The Thalmor and the Legion were fighting as late as 4E 175 (twenty-six years ago) when the White-Gold Concordat was signed. Do you think they're all bros now because of that? Guess again, they're not exactly allies. A Wood Elf could recognize the Legion as the stronger military force (as opposed to the Stormcloaks) and seek to unite Skyrim under the Legion's banner to reinforce the Legion in preparation for a future assault on Valenwood.

They could also choose not to take a side, of course, and just go on with the other questlines.

The Legion is directly a part of the Empire. While they may not be bros with the Thalmor, they are allies in an official political and military sense. They are not opposing the Thalmor in any kind of official way, and they likely never will without a strong leader.

Any race "could" side with the Stormcloaks or the Empire, but arguments can be made either way. Using my personal out of game knowledge though, I think siding with the Stormcloaks is the better choice, despite Ulfric being a power hungry warmonger.

Personally I think the Dragonborn should become both High King of Skyrim and the first Emperor of a new Dynasty.

[Verdugo]

The Legion is directly a part of the Empire. While they may not be bros with the Thalmor, they are allies in an official political and military sense. They are not opposing the Thalmor in any kind of official way, and they likely never will without a strong leader.

Any race "could" side with the Stormcloaks or the Empire, but arguments can be made either way. Using my personal out of game knowledge though, I think siding with the Stormcloaks is the better choice, despite Ulfric being a power hungry warmonger.

Personally I think the Dragonborn should become both High King of Skyrim and the first Emperor of a new Dynasty.

Helping Ulfric win would make all human nations divided, making them ripe for enslavement by elves.

[Umbra]

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.

The Legion isn't opposed to Talos; they're opposed to the Stormcloaks, which is significantly different. Many Skyrim legionnaires believe in Talos; Legate Rikke is but one of them. The Stormcloaks oppose the Thalmor, and the Legion have allied themselves with the Thalmor out of necessity. If the Legion doesn't back the Thalmor against the Stormcloaks, the Thalmor would consider that a violation of the White-Gold Concordat and renew their attack on the Empire.

The Legion won't set themselves up for a two-front war. If that means they have to fight the Stormcloaks, then so be it. They see the long-term advantage of a unified Empire as opposed to a Stormcloak Skyrim and a weakened Cyrodiil-based Empire. With Hammerfell having seceded from the Empire and Skyrim doing the same, there is no military force in Tamriel that can stand up against the Thalmor.

Ulfric may be the hero that Skyrim wants... just not the one it needs right now.

[OrcsRLame]

The Legion isn't opposed to Talos; they're opposed to the Stormcloaks, which is significantly different. Many Skyrim legionnaires believe in Talos; Legate Rikke is but one of them. The Stormcloaks oppose the Thalmor, and the Legion have allied themselves with the Thalmor out of necessity. If the Legion doesn't back the Thalmor against the Stormcloaks, the Thalmor would consider that a violation of the White-Gold Concordat and renew their attack on the Empire.

The Legion won't set themselves up for a two-front war. If that means they have to fight the Stormcloaks, then so be it. They see the long-term advantage of a unified Empire as opposed to a Stormcloak Skyrim and a weakened Cyrodiil-based Empire. With Hammerfell having seceded from the Empire and Skyrim doing the same, there is no military force in Tamriel that can stand up against the Thalmor.

Ulfric may be the hero that Skyrim wants... just not the one it needs right now.

You misunderstand me. I don't think either alternative offers even a small chance for a military victory. If the Empire couldn't win when the Blades were strong, and it was united, it won't win with Skyrim under its control.

I think the only thing that offers a chance for victory is Talos and the dragon bloodline. While many in the Legion aren't opposed to the worship of Talos, officially, the legion is. They're outlawing the only thing that offers a chance for victory, the Stormcloaks are not.

Mark my words, when the Aldmeri Dominion falls, it won't be because of military might. It will fall the same way the Septim Dynasty did, a supernatural battle between gods and godlike beings.

[Deleted]

You misunderstand me. I don't think either alternative offers even a small chance for a military victory. If the Empire couldn't win when the Blades were strong, and it was united, it won't win with Skyrim under its control.

I think the only thing that offers a chance for victory is Talos and the dragon bloodline. While many in the Legion aren't opposed to the worship of Talos, officially, the legion is. They're outlawing the only thing that offers a chance for victory, the Stormcloaks are not.

Mark my words, when the Aldmeri Dominion falls, it won't be because of military might. It will fall the same way the Septim Dynasty did, a supernatural battle between gods and godlike beings.

But Ulfric doesn't really care about Talos, he just wants to be the high king. I find it almost impossible to side with the empire too but siding with the Stormcloaks might actually have a worse outcome.

And as a subnote, all the player controlled heroes in TES games, at least since 3 (haven't played any before Morrowind) have become some sort of half-gods or gods. In fact, YOU might be the new Talos, being dragonborn and all. So it might not matter either way. You might just be so powerful at the end to be able to just solo all the elves and destroy the Thalmor all by yourself.

[OrcsRLame]

But Ulfric doesn't really care about Talos, he just wants to be the high king. I find it almost impossible to side with the empire too but siding with the Stormcloaks might actually have a worse outcome.

And as a subnote, all the player controlled heroes in TES games, at least since 3 (haven't played any before Morrowind) have become some sort of half-gods or gods. In fact, YOU might be the new Talos, being dragonborn and all. So it might not matter either way. You might just be so powerful at the end to be able to just solo all the elves and destroy the Thalmor all by yourself.

I know Ulfric doesn't care about Talos, he wants to be king, and that's it. I'm well aware of that. It's precisely that he doesn't care about Talos that I would side with him though. He doesn't have a reason to outlaw the worship of Talos. And I doubt the Dragonborn will, "become the new Talos" as you put it. Talos isn't some title, and the current Talos may have an issue with that.

I do agree with you though that the Dragonborn may be able to destroy the Aldmeri Dominion by himself. It's been a while since I read the ending of Arena, but I know the main character of Daggerfall is dead canonically. There are 6 different endings to Daggerfall, and canonically all of them happened. Since the player enters Aetherius, Akatosh causes a time shift that forces all possible outcomes to happen. He fucked with reality hardcore on that one, since basically everyone involved both won and died. In the case of Mannimarco this actually made two of him, one that became a god, and one that was killed.

[Deleted]

Someone, please help me get the legendary Wuuthrad mod to work. I downloaded it, got the 7zip file manager, extracted the .esp file and put it straight in my folder, it still doesn't work...

Also, where is this foolishness coming out that Ulfric desires to be King and nothing more? Do you fools not see that his anger floats on a bed of tears? Galmar's words, not mine...

If he didn't care about Talos, then why would he demand to the right to free worship of the God after liberating the Reach from Madanach? Yeah, I'm sure that dossier casts the suspicions of him being an agent to the Thalmor, but the same dossier mentions that he is no longer in contact with them, and that the Elves are scared shitless of him because his victory means a Skyrim under vigorous leadership that will present a clear threat to the Dominion. Let us not forget that Skyrim was perhaps the most unscathed province of the Empire, one of the largest, one of the most developed, and housed a potent warrior tradition that was one of the main reasons why the Empire included it as a province (in Balgruuf's own words, anyway). It is also notable that Ulfric references Talos and the Gods often, even in casual conversation.

Also, the Redguard's victory over the Aldmeri dominion shows that the White-Gold concordat was unnecessary and had Titus Mede kept his nerve, the Empire could have overcome the Aldmeri dominion. Or at least had the conditions of the Concordat altered to be more in favour to the Empire.

Also, the book the Great War, implies that Titus Mede is a Daedra worshiper, or he at least struck a bargain with them for Goldbrand. And one eyewitness account states that Lord Naarafin's body was carried away by 'a winged daedra'.

[Zafire]

What would Skyrim Hardmode look like? (like Fallout new vegas)

-Actually have to cook food and drink something to stay alive, an aspect of the game many people ignore.
-Arrows and Lock picks have weight
-All weapon swings cost stamina and you can't swing after you run out of it.
- Longer cast time on magic spells?

My Skyrim hard mode would look like this:

-NPC's could walk up cliffs/mountains, so you couldn't take advantage of terrain
-One handed weapons and bows would all take a 30% hit, two handed weapons would take a 40% hit
-Perks would be 10/20/30/40/50, instead of 20/40/60/80/100. Sneak would be 5/10/15/20/25
-Enchanting would be reduced by 80% for melee skills, and -50% for casting skills (+8% One Handed damage at max with all perks, -12% magicka cost, etc)
-Smithing would only let you make higher tier gear, not improve them twice as much
-Improving gear to (Legendary) would be impossible
-Vendors would no longer sell ore/leather
-Enchanting potions wouldn't exist, period
-Smithing potions wouldn't exist, besides the ones you find in the world yourself
-Self made potions/poisons would be reduced by 60%. The grind to level alchemy would be eased drastically to make up for this.
-All vendors would have their gold decreased by 50%, and it would take one week for their gold to restock (Game time)
-Speech would enhance shouts, as well as increase the gold vendors have by 2500
-All enemies would have their health increased by 50%
-Giants would be level 32 until you hit level 30, then they'd be 81
-Dragons ignore 75% of armor, like maces

Something like that, I think.

[Deleted]

My Skyrim hard mode would look like this:

-NPC's could walk up cliffs/mountains, so you couldn't take advantage of terrain
-One handed weapons and bows would all take a 30% hit, two handed weapons would take a 40% hit
-Perks would be 10/20/30/40/50, instead of 20/40/60/80/100. Sneak would be 5/10/15/20/25
-Enchanting would be reduced by 80% for melee skills, and -50% for casting skills (+8% One Handed damage at max with all perks, -12% magicka cost, etc)
-Smithing would only let you make higher tier gear, not improve them twice as much
-Vendors would no longer sell ore/leather
-Enchanting potions wouldn't exist, period
-Smithing potions wouldn't exist, besides the ones you find in the world yourself
-Self made potions/poisons would be reduced by 60%. The grind to level alchemy would be eased drastically to make up for this.
-All vendors would have their gold decreased by 50%, and it would take one week for their gold to restock (Game time)
-Speech would enhance shouts, as well as increase the gold vendors have by 2500
-All enemies would have their health increased by 50%
-Giants would be level 32 until you hit level 30, then they'd be 81
-Dragons ignore 75% of armor, like maces

Something like that, I think.

This would actually make things a lot worse and wouldn't improve anything

-NPC's could walk up cliffs/mountains, so you couldn't take advantage of terrain

Ok this is a good one. It's too easy to abuse it now but a better solution would make them regenerate to full HP if they can't reach you.

-One handed weapons and bows would all take a 30% hit, two handed weapons would take a 40% hit

Very bad idea. I think the weapons are perfectly fine and only become too strong after you start reaching 100 blacksmithing and getting ebony and daedric ones. It would only make the start more tedious and practically force you into grinding smithing to 100 asap.

-Perks would be 10/20/30/40/50, instead of 20/40/60/80/100. Sneak would be 5/10/15/20/25

Another bad idea, wouldn't change anything but to grind smithing to 100 asap. As for sneak, it's useless anyway. I only put the first point in it and then get more bonus from enchanted gear. 4 perks aren't worth half an enchanted item with sneak. If anything it should be buffed and base sneak reduced.

-Enchanting would be reduced by 80% for melee skills, and -50% for casting skills (+8% One Handed damage at max with all perks, -12% magicka cost, etc)

It should be made much harder to level and maybe only the dual enchant perk overlooked (like second enchant with half strength). Before 100, you can get more powerful items from shops anyway, why kill off that skill? For example I just bought a 40% bow damage glass helmet and boots that resist fire by 70% from Riften shops.

-Smithing would only let you make higher tier gear, not improve them twice as much

This would just kill off the skill.. all the perks would become useless other than maybe daedric and dragon.

-Vendors would no longer sell ore/leather

Strongly agree with this one. There could be a few for very high prices though.

-Enchanting potions wouldn't exist, period
-Smithing potions wouldn't exist, besides the ones you find in the world yourself

I think they make the game more interesting but the loop where you can make infinitely powerful items should be removed.

-Self made potions/poisons would be reduced by 60%. The grind to level alchemy would be eased drastically to make up for this.

Also not agreed. Potions are fine but they are much too expensive. Buying herbs should cost more than you can sell the potions for unless you are very skilled in alchemy and have high speech.

-All vendors would have their gold decreased by 50%, and it would take one week for their gold to restock (Game time)

This would accomplish nothing as waiting has no negative impact.

-All enemies would have their health increased by 50%

They already have high health on master, even too high.

-Giants would be level 32 until you hit level 30, then they'd be 81

Why? There is no point in killing them anyway. They are peaceful and don't drop anything good other than the toes..

-Dragons ignore 75% of armor, like maces

Why? It's already harder to melee them. I always use bow and they never hit me .. or even try to hit me.

[Hitmachine]

My Skyrim hard mode would look like this:

-NPC's could walk up cliffs/mountains, so you couldn't take advantage of terrain
-One handed weapons and bows would all take a 30% hit, two handed weapons would take a 40% hit
-Perks would be 10/20/30/40/50, instead of 20/40/60/80/100. Sneak would be 5/10/15/20/25
-Enchanting would be reduced by 80% for melee skills, and -50% for casting skills (+8% One Handed damage at max with all perks, -12% magicka cost, etc)
-Smithing would only let you make higher tier gear, not improve them twice as much
-Improving gear to (Legendary) would be impossible
-Vendors would no longer sell ore/leather
-Enchanting potions wouldn't exist, period
-Smithing potions wouldn't exist, besides the ones you find in the world yourself
-Self made potions/poisons would be reduced by 60%. The grind to level alchemy would be eased drastically to make up for this.
-All vendors would have their gold decreased by 50%, and it would take one week for their gold to restock (Game time)
-Speech would enhance shouts, as well as increase the gold vendors have by 2500
-All enemies would have their health increased by 50%
-Giants would be level 32 until you hit level 30, then they'd be 81
-Dragons ignore 75% of armor, like maces

Something like that, I think.

my god.... patches.. use them.

[Very Tired]

Actually since we're modeling after Fallout New Vegas hardmode you can't just suggest everything for making the game more difficult in your mind. The actual difference from hardmode and casual setting were just a few things that made the game much much more difficult. For skyrim it would be...

1.Food and Potions restore stats over time rather than instantly.
2.Normally weightless items now have weight (probably arrows lockpicks or herbs)
3.Followers now die instead of falling down to regain their hp.
4.The player must eat,drink, and sleep otherwise face increasingly negative effects up to death. (Like I said the "food" portion of the game as well as buying a room from the inn have pretty much been ignored in this game for us, especially from us werewolf. In fallout its all stimpacks, in skyrim is all health potions or healing spells.) (This also prevents players from abusing the Wait funtion as much)
5. Everything from the Master setting to a higher extent.

[Poppincaps]

I think you guys are missing the point of hardmode. Hardmode in New Vegas was there to make the experience more "realistic", you guys are just listing off improvements you would make for the game....

Also, I understand you are trying to be helpful Zafire, but the thing that you have to realize is that some of your suggestions would unbalance the lower level part of the game, which is pretty balanced for the most part. It is Smithing and Enchanting that makes the game so unbalanced. Honestly, I think they should lessen the amount you can improve your gear, and lower or get rid of the +weapon damage/-spell cost enchants. Free spells and 250 damage longswords are what makes the game so easy. Like ita said +5% or 10% weapon damage and such would still give an incentive to level enchanting while not making the game super unbalanced.

[Zafire]

I think you guys are missing the point of hardmode. Hardmode in New Vegas was there to make the experience more "realistic", you guys are just listing off improvements you would make for the game....

Also, I understand you are trying to be helpful Zafire, but the thing that you have to realize is that some of your suggestions would unbalance the lower level part of the game, which is pretty balanced for the most part. It is Smithing and Enchanting that makes the game so unbalanced. Honestly, I think they should lessen the amount you can improve your gear, and lower or get rid of the +weapon damage/-spell cost enchants. Free spells and 250 damage longswords are what makes the game so easy. Like ita said +5% or 10% weapon damage and such would still give an incentive to level enchanting while not making the game super unbalanced.

It was mainly my "hard mode" ideas. It wouldn't be to balance anything, just make the game very challenging without being unrealistic to the point where it's frustrating. Think about it though.

1 handed weapons at lvl1 are 10DMG. 30% less would be 7 damage. Hardly a big of a hit as it seems. Would still be able drop things pretty fast. Level smithing up a bit, improve your weapon, grab a few perks, you'd be sitting with that 7DMG weapon back up at 10-11dmg, which is what it was at the start at the default game anyway.

[Deleted]

It was mainly my "hard mode" ideas. It wouldn't be to balance anything, just make the game very challenging without being unrealistic to the point where it's frustrating. Think about it though.

1 handed weapons at lvl1 are 10DMG. 30% less would be 7 damage. Hardly a big of a hit as it seems. Would still be able drop things pretty fast. Level smithing up a bit, improve your weapon, grab a few perks, you'd be sitting with that 7DMG weapon back up at 10-11dmg, which is what it was at the start at the default game anyway.

What if you don't want to level smithing at all? By level 15-20 they get so weak. Yesterday I was playing on master, had like 50-60 one handed skill and ebony sword that did maybe 50 damage per hit(didn't have any one handed gear as I was normally playing as archer). So I got the event where 3 bandits had killed some imperials and try to extort money from you. Well, the fight took like 15 minutes.. and they were just some common bandits in crappy armor and iron and steel weapons.

Even that is unrealistic that an ebony weapon takes so long to take down some common half-naked thugs. Sure, you COULD boost the damage to oblivion and back but that would take maxed smithing, alchemy and enchanting. With this change, you would force everyone to have them and characters without those skills wouldn't even be viable.

---------- Post added 2011-12-25 at 08:30 PM ----------

Anyway, about the hardmode, yes I agree with Shop Ebay and other suggestion. They make it more realistic and force you to use more aspects of the game.

However the solution for the infinite damage is not nerfing them but slowing them down. That way you could still have godmode weapons but buy the time you get them, you would have already completed most of the game so why not.. by that time you should be pretty godlike anyway:P