Ah I see, thanks. I did not know that!

I'm pretty purest rpg'er too, however, I don't consider smithing, alchemy and enchanting over and over to be a "cheat" someone has to make stuff for others to buy...

"enchanting is one of the few things that keep us connected with the rest of Skyrim"... the enchanter at the college says. Let's face it milling grain, chopping wood, and mining don't net you much. In life the more you do something the better you get and are able to expand that knowledge to do more difficult things. I'm a master mechanic but I didn't start learning by rebuilding a 12 cyclinder super - turbo charged diesel engine.

In skyrim I can start with iron daggers and work up to daedric wepons. It seems like a natural progression to me.

For traveling I like to walk/ride horse within a hold but use the wagon to move from hold to hold - like driving my car around the state and then flying to another state then renting a car. In-game it forces me to use the cities as hubs. Gives more usefulness and reason to have multiple homes too and a reson to visit multiple shops.

Yeah, I guess I just come from a video game background while others come from a D&D roleplaying background.
I... just did? >_>
You can't just quote out of context the conclusion to all I just wrote and then ask me to elaborate on it.

Also dont use the wait and save option and only sleep in real live as long as you character sleeps ingame.

Grinding (in 1 session 1-100) imo is essentially 'cheating' not exactly the same but similar. Not that you shouldn't do it, but i'd rather just type player.advskill ect... more efficient cheating if you're going to go that route.

I do everything except the last one.
Sometimes I reload because I didn't do something EXACTLY the way I wanted to do it. It has to be PERFECT.
I may be insane.

Cheating - 'Using a computer application, password, or disallowed technique to advance to a higher skill level in a computer video game.'

Grinding is an allowed technique, whereas using the console is using a computer application, so they are not similar and neither is it cheating...it might be boring and silly, but certainly not a cheat.

i think strict roleplaying is how one must play skyrim.

the hud is a broken system and, therefore, i reduce it so that i can actually grab the right stuff, see that something is empty and read what's being said during dialogue.

i have characters that i will play with reloads to get to all the content/achievement type stuff and i have DID saves where i get to try different character builds with insane immersion and tension.

expert and master only.

I also play this way, only thing different is i play with no hud by using the iHUD mod or what ever it's called. i also walk in towns, buildings, caves,dungeons. only time i run or sprint is out in the open roads or plains...or in combat when i need to flee. i do play with master+deadly dragons+wars in skyrim+PISE+deadlier traps+no health regenerate ( edit through console, used a bat file to force it on everytime ) no fast travel, it's even disabled through a bat file.

i also eat sleep drink each day and night, i have to really because i have mods on that add a ton to this system.
i also have hypothermia mod enabled.

currently playing an Altmer pure mage who came from Morrowind after the Crysis there. he first started out in Skyrim as a newely recruited mage at the College ( i use the 'live another life' mod )
through some weeks of learning he has learned to chop wood and mine ore as a side trade to make some extra coin, does not like the Thalmor nor the Legion. and has come to like the Stormcloaks.

nope, i'm a perfectionist, too!

depending on how i'm playing rule-wise, i'll reload all kinds of things that i know i could have done better, lol.

edit: psychoticjoker- damn you! i need a new computer, now.

Smithing is flawed because:

1.) How you gain experience is not contingent on the quality of item. The better the item, the more experience. At a certain point, crafting trivial items should yield a highly degraded skill increase. Players should have to use higher quality materials to raise their Smithing skill.
2.) The Perks for Smithing are silly. The effect of the Perks are HUGE. They can quite easily scale out of control and the fact as soon as I get say Ebony Perk, everything before that becomes obsolete and just pre-reqs. I believe Perk point investments should provide continual benefits. I think it is asinine that basically, the only reason why the Smithing tree is as screwed up as it is is so the "immersion" seekers can take Steel Armor and improve it to the cap and do not have to trade off armor values for RP visuals.
3.) The way the Perk tree is constructed is crazy. Light Armor has 1 less Perk point tier and the Glass Weapons are not on par with Daedric. The best Light Armor is Dragonscale which you can get from the Heavy side, yet Dragonplate is NOT the best Heavy armor. This means you are better off Light or Heavy going the Heavy route as the best Weapons and Armor are that route.
4.) Buying raw materials are incredibly easy to do. You can craft everything MUCH quicker than you can find it. This leaves players who invest in Smithing unenthusiastic when the gear they find is worse than what they are wearing.
5.) Smithing is the only way to have your gear scale. There are EXTREMELY limited tiers of weapons and armor. Considering Base Values are static, a player MUST invest in Smithing to raise their damage output.
6.) The Concept of Smithing is bad. Typically we refer to crafting as a "tradeskill". The reason being as it is used as a source of income for players to TRADE with other players. Typically, the reason why you had to trade was because you could only invest in a LIMITED amount of professions, and some recipes required materials from OTHER Tradeskills. This fosters an economy. Skyrim, is a Single Player game. You do NOT need tradeskills in a Single Player game, and actually you are BETTER served having that reside with NPCs.
7.) Not enough customization. What you do with Smithing is not unique to the game world. You make the same bland items that can be found in the game. Materials are easy to come by and once you make one piece for you, there is no need to make another, outside of how crappy the Enchanting system is you cannot overwrite Enchants so as you level Enchanting you will need more sets of armor or weapons to place higher and higher Enchants on.

If I don't ask questions of an npc in the 'right' order or if one option out of two I want to say causes the other to 'disappear', I have to reload. Even if it's a trivial character. Do you do this?
I also never keep playing if my horse has died, or if a follower is accidentally killed by me. I like them too much. I guess that's not hardcoe enough but I'll suffer the shame.

I wouldn't reload after my horse died if it didn't run up and attack things. You are a horse? What are you doing? You are supposed to be scared of snakes and stuff. Go run off into the forest until I call you with my whistle...oh wait.

I tried that and it was awesome! But, I had no idea what my health level was and that got annoying, since a guy should know if he was in perfect health or if he was about to keel over dead from lack of health. Eventually I turned it on again.

REALLY wish there was a way to turn off sneak crosshair and compass on a PS3 or Xbox.

How do you deal with not knowing what your health is?

every game i've ever played i reload dialogue trees.

absolutely, i reload if my horse/follower dies. lol.

unless i'm playing DID. that's why DID is very tough for me, but, the tension, immersion and strategy considerations are too much to pass by.

RIP stray dog, Vigilance, my horse (I loved that horse, she was light in colour, you could see her in the dark).

Cause of death : no reloads.

No, no, of course: I pay close attention to health & stamina (especially, since I play dead-is-dead).

Thankfully, they disappear when not in use.

Similarly, shout-timer is only visible when in use.

I use the global map to re-orient if the quest description is vague in terms of whereabout (which they generally are).

which reminds me of another house rule I use:

- no purchasing ingot or raw materials; use only found/mined ones (except iron & steel):
My Dwemer scholar works hard in finding dwemer junk to be smelted, fighting hordes of Falmer for each piece. I think it is silly that they can just be purchased by the dozen at your local Walmart.

I agree, but you have to fight against the throngs that believe "TES is about choice and having the ability to buy an unlimited supply of materials and you should use rules and restrictions to not buy them." To a degree, yes more choices are better, but I think you should have to work to get stuff in game. Be it to become super powerful or craft the best items. The fact that it is just handed to you is off-putting to say the least. If I want to be overpowered, I should have to go out of my way to do so and it should be a challenge to get to that point, so once I am at that point I feel justified. I don't feel that in Skyrim. It's kind of like being a part of a company. You only work the bare minimum and get this huge elaborate plaque and a dinner honoring you and handed bonus after bonus! It feels wrong somehow that you didn't really put in any special work to reap that kind of reward, you just did what you normally would do like everyone else but the reward is way out of scale with the time/effort put in. You should have to put in overtime or accomplish something great to get that reward. It is deflating and unimpressive to be handed overpoweredness in your lap in Skyrim.

see, these are the types of creative gameplay ideas i need. don't know why i didn't think of that for my current character.

i think i may have to restart, lol! i'll never get past level 30...

I never get past 30 because, well, I die...

Those that say that "Adept is too easy" (or, heaven help me, "Master is too easy") should try surviving a dead-is-dead game.

I'm really hopeful about my current character though: he will bring peace and justice to Skyrim (unlike the other dragonwhelps I lost...)


Am I having fun?

Hell, yes!

If you are on an Xbox or PS3, you can turn off the crosshair, but there is no way to turn off the sneak crosshair or the compass without turning off the entire HUD, which means no health/magicka/stamina bars. I really wish you could turn off sneak crosshair and compass without loosing your health on a console.

Good points, but my main gripe with smithing is that it is just not part of the gameplay. You do not naturally level up smithing as you play and therefore you HAVE to grind to get anywhere with smithing. Want that sweet Daedric armor? Too bad, you're not at lvl 90 yet, and you won't be before you've made a whole bunch of gear you're never gonna use anyway.

very true. and, like has been said many times before the trade skills have been poorly implemented. the experience is way off and it's as if someone had a good idea, failed to flesh it out but it was added anyways.

I think it's cute to talk about making up rules for yourself when the character you play is forced to be a liar, a cheat, a traitor, a thief and an assasin! I mean we are actually low down, sneaky, miserable, oportunistic, sly, flipant, vain, nasty pieces of work

Cheat? is the least of your worries because you enjoy being bad. Admit it.

Nice thread though.