Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim

[jlb1705]

Is there any reason not to join all the factions (Thieves Guild, Companions, Dark Brotherhood, Winterhold)?

Are there other factions to join other than the ones I named (other than the Imperial/Stormcloack, which is one or the other I assume).

There's the Bard's College in Solitude. It's only three or four quests though, and they're all pretty much bugged on PS3. If I had it to do over again I wouldn't have bothered. I'm stuck carrying 10 lbs. in musical instruments that I can't get rid of because I don't have console commands. If you're not on a PC you may want to look it up just so you don't accidentally pick up any of those items if you happen to stumble upon them.

 

[Buckeye86]

There's the Bard's College in Solitude. It's only three or four quests though, and they're all pretty much bugged on PS3. If I had it to do over again I wouldn't have bothered. I'm stuck carrying 10 lbs. in musical instruments that I can't get rid of because I don't have console commands. If you're not on a PC you may want to look it up just so you don't accidentally pick up any of those items if you happen to stumble upon them.

Oh yeah, I had written off the bards after you had complained about them previously I believe.

Is there any reason not to join all the others? It just seems odd to be in all of them at the same time from a "real world" view point. I am a combat themed Nord, so being in the Companions makes the most sense.

I still want to do another sneaky/evil/thief/assassin/mage character in the future, which obviously melds better with Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild.

I suppose I might wait until I start that build to join, but I am undecided at this point (which is why I am seeking input from others).

 

[Hubbard]

Oh yeah, I had written off the bards after you had complained about them previously I believe.

Is there any reason not to join all the others? It just seems odd to be in all of them at the same time from a "real world" view point. I am a combat themed Nord, so being in the Companions makes the most sense.

I still want to do another sneaky/evil/thief/assassin/mage character in the future, which obviously melds better with Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild.

I suppose I might wait until I start that build to join, but I am undecided at this point (which is why I am seeking input from others).

They are all pretty fun IMO. I was a fighter like your self, but I did all the arcs, a couple of the Dark Brotherhood ones took me a minute to figure out how no to get caught.

 

[ulukinatme]

There's the Bard's College in Solitude. It's only three or four quests though, and they're all pretty much bugged on PS3. If I had it to do over again I wouldn't have bothered. I'm stuck carrying 10 lbs. in musical instruments that I can't get rid of because I don't have console commands. If you're not on a PC you may want to look it up just so you don't accidentally pick up any of those items if you happen to stumble upon them.

Are there any real perks to joining the Bard's college? I mean, I've done all those quests mentioned, but you just don't seem to...really feel like a bard or anything. Not that it would be my idea of fun and entertainment, but you don't really seem to learn how to do anything...bardish. You can bore yourself by sitting in on some classes, but you don't learn to play an instrument, no gigs, no other quests other than "Find these special instruments for us." It's like the whole college was an afterthought.

 

[jlb1705]

Are there any real perks to joining the Bard's college? I mean, I've done all those quests mentioned, but you just don't seem to...really feel like a bard or anything. Not that it would be my idea of fun and entertainment, but you don't really seem to learn how to do anything...bardish. You can bore yourself by sitting in on some classes, but you don't learn to play an instrument, no gigs, no other quests other than "Find these special instruments for us." It's like the whole college was an afterthought.

Agreed.

I was was more interested in figuring out how to get rid of that fucking lute I found thru random dungeon diving than actually being in the guild.

 

[CentralMOBuck]

I think I've got an addiction to downloading mods for the pc. I'm currently at 40. Most of them are just visual enhancements. The only ones that aren't are the Dovahkiin and ranger hideouts. I have no idea why I have them both installed.

 

[morbitzerker]

Oh yeah, I had written off the bards after you had complained about them previously I believe.

Is there any reason not to join all the others? It just seems odd to be in all of them at the same time from a "real world" view point. I am a combat themed Nord, so being in the Companions makes the most sense.

I still want to do another sneaky/evil/thief/assassin/mage character in the future, which obviously melds better with Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild.

I suppose I might wait until I start that build to join, but I am undecided at this point (which is why I am seeking input from others).

So far I've completed Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Companions and College of Winterhold - there's no reason not to do them all. They each have there perks and lead to lots of quests. I can't recall any of the quests interfering with any of the others, so there doesn't seem to be a reason not to join them all.

If you want to play the game again differently, then I'd say just join the one's you want to join. Personally, I'm pretty much going for broke on this play through and doing everything I can. I really haven't even progressed that far through the main storyline, having not trapped the dragon yet. But I've put a lot of time in doing just about everything else. I'm trying to collect all the dragon masks I can right now that don't need the main quests for access.

 

[jlb1705]

So far I've completed Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Companions and College of Winterhold - there's no reason not to do them all. They each have there perks and lead to lots of quests. I can't recall any of the quests interfering with any of the others, so there doesn't seem to be a reason not to join them all.

If you want to play the game again differently, then I'd say just join the one's you want to join. Personally, I'm pretty much going for broke on this play through and doing everything I can. I really haven't even progressed that far through the main storyline, having not trapped the dragon yet. But I've put a lot of time in doing just about everything else. I'm trying to collect all the dragon masks I can right now that don't need the main quests for access.

I tried playing a Paladin-type of character at first. I wanted to unlock all of the shouts with my first character though, and once I realized I wouldn't be able to get at some of the word walls without joining certain factions I gave up on that idea and just decided to do everything.

I hadn't planned on being a thief, but I'm on the verge of finishing that questline and it has turned out to be quite good. Better than the Mage's Guild and Civil War to be sure.

Dark Brotherhood is probably next for me. I still haven't resumed the Companions either - I'm still disappointed in the whole werewolf thing.

I also want to add that I could have saved my character a lot of trouble with the Thieves Guild and Mage's Guild questlines if the game would simply allow me to kill certain NPCs up front just for pissing me off with their attitude. I kind of miss how Morrowind had few to no essential characters, and you could kill somebody integral to a quest just because they acted like a dick.

I would like a TES game that rewarded you for being a good judge of character for killing somebody up front who turned out to be a backstabbing prick.

"Hey, we were going to make you go and risk your life in a bunch of dungeons looking for an obscure journal that would tell our faction who was fucking us over, but you figured it out and put an end to that shit on your own. As an expression of our gratitude for swiftly ridding us of that dickhead, please avail yourself of our humble town's bounty of goat meat and wenches."

I'm thinking I need to use some perk points on my Speech/Mercantile abilities. I haven't done anything with respect to that yet. I hadn't planned to either since I don't need extra cash, but I'm at the point where I spend as little as 20 minutes tearing straight thru a 4-zone dungeon, and then over two hours after that selling all the loot I pick up. I need the cashing in part to go a little faster so I can actually "play the game".

 

[Buckeye86]

I still haven't resumed the Companions either - I'm still disappointed in the whole werewolf thing.

I wasn't/am not a big fan of that either. However, you can cure yourself of it without too much hassle, which I plan to do shortly after completely all of the quests in which it is necessary (the companion quests and then three radiant quests involving retrieval of totems).

 

[redguard117]

Didn't know we had a gaming forum on this site. Pleasantly surprised

 

[morbitzerker]

I tried playing a Paladin-type of character at first. I wanted to unlock all of the shouts with my first character though, and once I realized I wouldn't be able to get at some of the word walls without joining certain factions I gave up on that idea and just decided to do everything.

I hadn't planned on being a thief, but I'm on the verge of finishing that questline and it has turned out to be quite good. Better than the Mage's Guild and Civil War to be sure.

Dark Brotherhood is probably next for me. I still haven't resumed the Companions either - I'm still disappointed in the whole werewolf thing.

I also want to add that I could have saved my character a lot of trouble with the Thieves Guild and Mage's Guild questlines if the game would simply allow me to kill certain NPCs up front just for pissing me off with their attitude. I kind of miss how Morrowind had few to no essential characters, and you could kill somebody integral to a quest just because they acted like a dick.

I would like a TES game that rewarded you for being a good judge of character for killing somebody up front who turned out to be a backstabbing prick.

"Hey, we were going to make you go and risk your life in a bunch of dungeons looking for an obscure journal that would tell our faction who was fucking us over, but you figured it out and put an end to that shit on your own. As an expression of our gratitude for swiftly ridding us of that dickhead, please avail yourself of our humble town's bounty of goat meat and wenches."

I'm thinking I need to use some perk points on my Speech/Mercantile abilities. I haven't done anything with respect to that yet. I hadn't planned to either since I don't need extra cash, but I'm at the point where I spend as little as 20 minutes tearing straight thru a 4-zone dungeon, and then over two hours after that selling all the loot I pick up. I need the cashing in part to go a little faster so I can actually "play the game".

The Beast mode is not great, although it did help me in the Dark Brotherhood quest when I fucked up earlier in the questline, I was left weaponless and had to use it to progress, other than that, I cured myself pretty quickly from that shit.

I really did enjoy the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood quests, really good storytelling.

As far as the last part about merchants - you're dead on. It took me a while but I realized I needed to invest in the speech perk to be able to sell all the loot I've found. It got to the point where I was doing prep work in fast traveling and selling all the shit I had so that I wouldn't need to do it the next time I played. I finally have the Investor perk and the perk that allows you to sell anything to any merchant, both of those really help. It takes a few times levelling up, but I was in a position that I could take the time to get those perks. It's worth it in the long run because there is almost too much booty to sell; which isn't a bad problem.

Also, I must spread reputation around before giving greenies to the goat meat and wenches comment. Hilarious.

 

[jwinslow]

A friend who is clueless (about RPGs) asked me to post what this game is like.


1. You pick your race, which have various special skills and adv/disadvantages, but all face the same adventures, storylines and options.


2. You start out as a low-powered, low-skilled character. As you do various things, you gain experience. Each time you level up, you get to upgrade your Magicka (magic), Health or stamina by 10 pts. You also get one perk to upgrade each time, so you can make yourself better at sneaking by choosing to be 20% sneakier, or better at picking simple locks. There is a tree of perks for each category, so after choosing/upgrading the simple stuff, you can start adding advanced skills.

ie: Restoration = healing yourself with magic

- An early perk lets you heal yourself while using half as much of your magic bar.

- One of the last perks saves you from death, giving you a 250 pt health boost anytime you fall below 10% health (but it takes 24 hours to recharge).

In addition to leveling up your character (like a rank of 42 in CoD or BF), you also level up those skills by using them.

Fighting with one-handed weapons, or wearing light armor makes you better in those areas. Same with pickpocketing someone, succeed and your skill rating will improve.

When an enemy starts to see you but you manage to get away and hide (by crouching), you earn points for your sneak category.

A few to a half dozen moments like those and you will level up in that area, or simply one really long moment of that activity.


I like Skyrim because it is full of action. Some RPGs have too many miniscule decisions and you spend more time deliberating over which way to steer the conversation instead of fighting. Don't get me wrong, those non-linear storylines are fun, but sometimes it's also fun to have your battles, thefts & actions drive the story instead.



2) Search everything: a staple of any RPG game is searching for valuable items and storing them. You have a limited amount of space so you have to pick and choose what to keep.

Killing enemies yields gold, armor, weapons, jewels, but you also have to search endlessly through storage containers for valuable things hidden in there. Books also are scattered throughout the maps, with some containing skill leveling up, the rest are just backstory or filler.



3) Selling: You can also sell what you find, either at various shops, with varying interests (armories do not want to buy your flowers :lol), or to traveling traders. Your speech (persuasion) skills can lessen how much they rip you off.

You also can eventually add a spouse who owns her own shop and makes daily income for you. He/She does not give you a discount.



4) Quests: this is where RPGs are a lot of fun. Do you want to continue the Companions quest in the big city? Do you want to join the rebellion? But most of all you will continuously uncover hidden caves, forts, enemies as you are crossing the countryside, some which are too powerful for you to handle before leveling up a lot more.

Typically you will have a half dozen different quests you are actively doing at one time, but you're free to go hunting wolves in the wild or drink beer instead.


Someone else feel free to compliment this writeup. I just picked up Mass Effect 3 and want to give it a whirl.

 

[TooTall]

Thanks to that friend who knew nothing about RPG's for inspiring you to give us this nice write-up!

 

[BigWoof31]

Picked this game up on Friday and played it mostly yesterday evening after basketball was over. Couple of NewB observations thus far.

1. I picked the Breton, figuring that his resistance to magic was a good thing and thinking that I could get him trained up in Archery pretty quickly. I immediately gave him the biggest, blackest handlebar mustache available.

2. Is Alchemy really as random as I think it is? All I've done thus far is pick up flowers, mushrooms and bone meal and find an alchemy table. "Little of this, little of that....BOOM! I created Poison of 20% less Magica Regen?"
So do I throw it at an enemy? Put it on my arrows or sell it? How is it used?

3. On the flipside - blacksmithery is awesome. I am having a blast making my bow more powerful and my armor better.

4. Enchanting stuff looks important, but Grand Soul Gems are freakin' expensive.

5. Killed my first dragon at the West Tower Watch. Then I fell off the tower at the end and died. Fought him again and killed him and then when I tested the shout, I knocked over four soliders (which they interpreted as an attack and they killed me ASAP). I had to kill the damn thing three times.

6. Thus far I stumped only because I can't find Argonian wine for that damn town drunk and I absolutely love waiting till nightfall and breaking into peoples houses and robbing them blind.

 

[jlb1705]

2. Is Alchemy really as random as I think it is? All I've done thus far is pick up flowers, mushrooms and bone meal and find an alchemy table. "Little of this, little of that....BOOM! I created Poison of 20% less Magica Regen?"
So do I throw it at an enemy? Put it on my arrows or sell it? How is it used?

Alchemy isn't random at all, actually. Every ingredient carries four possible effects, but they are hidden to you. If you combine two or more ingredients that share an effect, you create a potion for that effect and those effects or no longer hidden when you view the ingredient in your inventory. If you try to combine two or more ingredients that share no common effects the experiment fails and you lose the ingredients. Finally, if you combine two or more ingredients that have multiple effects in common, you create a potion that carries all of those effects. It's possible in that way to create potion that carries both positive and negative (poisonous) effects.

You can discover one out of the four effects for any particular ingredient by eating it. If the ingredient is poisonous you will take the corresponding damage though, so be careful.

I don't use alchemy all that much and rely mostly on found potions early in the game. It can be very powerful though if you spend the time and effort on it.

4. Enchanting stuff looks important, but Grand Soul Gems are freakin' expensive.

Enchanting is a good way to get powerful customized gear. It's not essential though, and even though I've maxed out my enchanting skill, I haven't actually enchanted anything for my character's own use. I'm just using what I've found, and my character is pretty much unstoppable. As you advance in the game you'll find more and more enchanted items that may suit your needs.

Grand soul gems & black soul gems are expensive, especially filled. There are plenty of ways around that though, whether by looting, bartering, theft or creating them.

One of the cool things about the game is just how deep you can get into making weapons and apparel if you want to. My wife rolled her eyes one time when I told her I had spent two hours in a video game mining iron. If it's your kind of thing you could have your own vertically-integrated dagger-making business, where you mine & smelt the ore, harvest and tan the leather, fill the soul gems and enchant with custom effects. A lot of the finer specialty weapons are really detailed and look pretty cool, too.