I have to ask... Am I playing this "right"? : V - Skyrim

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:55 pm

Spoiler

I must admit, I've never been very good at playing games. I've never had good reflexes, or hand/eye coordination. For me, stories always came first, which is why RPG's are the mainstay of my video game collection. I've even downloaded the Kindle book the guy made that has the text of all the books in the game. With Skyrim, I find myself in a bit of a dilemma.

Most people are aware of the Paradox of Choice - The fact that when presented with TOO many options, people tend to chose none, or become less satisifed with the choices they've made. Skyrim is the holy grail of choice. From what I've seen, the world is SO massive, and there is SO much story behind everything, I just don't know what to do, where I should go, or what I should focus on. And every time I DO something, I'm always worried that I shouldn't have done this yet, or how is this going to affect the game later because I did this or made this choice.

I've restarted my character several times, and I am only recently getting to the point of meeting the leader of the Greybeards (Keeping statements generic to avoid spoilers). I'm aware of the civil war. I also know from watching other peoples plays on YouTube, that there is a TON of content that through my 20-30 hours of gameplay, I had no IDEA existed. And through all of it, before each time I restart and as I slowly crawl my way back to where I was before, I keep asking myself, "What am I doing wrong?"

For one, is it right that I'm chugging heal pots faster than I can find or buy them? Is there some healing spell that people use (While in combat, mind you) that isn't a hindrance to use for a melee character?

Does anyone make enough money to raise their crafting skills without a dupe of some kind? I tried to do something simple and fitting in the game by chopping wood for HOURS on end. I think I made 10K before I stopped, and with one house purchase and stockpiling materials for crafting, it was gone in a flash. And because I'm trying to advance the main story, I'm not making nearly enough to buy materials I need to even make healing potions, let alone ingots and leather to raise smithing, or gems for enchanting. I harvest everything I see, of course, but it never seems like enough to even make enough healing potions. And does the game basically REQUIRE you to use "Wait for X hours" in order to buy things in a sensible amount of time?

Is it right that no matter where I go, the mobs beat the ever loving snot out of me, even though I'm in heavy armor, blocking half their attacks, chugging pots like a pledge having his first beer, and improving/replacing equipment as much as my smithing allows? (I never play range or magic, due to the afforementioned coordination problems.. I seem to have difficulties hitting the broad side of a dragon with a sword when the damn thing is right in front of me.) I know there are ways to make armor and weapons that let you two-shot just about anything. I don't want to be a god, demolishing everything I see, but is there no balance between challange for a player that doesn't result in a massacre or huge waste of resources, and god mode?

If I do start going on all these side quests, exploring every dungeon I come across (Which is my natural tendency - "Ooooh. Wha'ts that over there?"), or raising my crafting skills, is the difficulty of areas going to be even MORE difficult? I'm having problems now, doing nothing but the basics.. What happens when I raise my smithing to 100 and I gain 15 levels, without any improvement to my combat skills?

Will there be some quests or dialog or something that will become unavailable or drastically different if I complete the main story first? Or worse, become non-sensical?

Power attacks - What? I know I hold down the button, but I hear all this stuff about different types of power attacks.. Do you have to hold them while moving, and the direction you're moving dictates the type of power attack it is? I know there's a perk to do more damage to a target if you hit them while sprinting at them, but how the heck does anyone actually HIT things like that? Seems like every time I try, they just dodge out of the way.

I guess I'm just at a loss as to how to procede. I know some of these issues are purely mechanical, and can't really be answered because it's likely due to my poor coordination, but I just can't shake the feeling that there's always something I'm missing, or I will miss out on if I make a decision. Like there's some grand secret in Elder Scrolls games that I don't know that would make them all make sense.

How do you guys play? What's you're approach? If you were to write a guide on, "This Is How *I* Play Skyrim", what would you suggest?

They might be beating the snot out of you because youre spending so many skill increases on alchemy, smithing and enchanting that your actual combat skills are lagging behind. I think it would help if you would stop using those and just focus on your core combat abilities for a few levels.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:21 pm

I must admit, I've never been very good at playing games. I've never had good reflexes, or hand/eye coordination. For me, stories always came first, which is why RPG's are the mainstay of my video game collection. I've even downloaded the Kindle book the guy made that has the text of all the books in the game. With Skyrim, I find myself in a bit of a dilemma...................

How do you guys play? What's you're approach? If you were to write a guide on, "This Is How *I* Play Skyrim", what would you suggest?

I love this question, your story is everything that I worry about and try to ignore. My playing style in virtually all FPS games is to play as a stealth sniper, if there's magic to be had I'll take that too. I always start with the intention of really dedicating myself to some aspect and savouring the locations, exploring in detail before I move on.

Instead I blunder about, wandering hither and thither, fast travelling at the first opportunity and generally getting in a right muddle. As for money, that's the only thing I have early discipline in. I collect and sell on a regular basis, storing nothing but the things I think might be a quest item of some sort (still haven't found a taker for my 20 or so troll skulls), so I've always got plenty of money.

Playing a stealth sniper means I can take on virtually anything with a chance of winning or running away. Never underestimate the value of running away. Remember the world levels up with you, so make sure you get perks in defensive/attack skills fairly regularly and don't bother putting anything into lockpick and speech (unless you want to invest in shops).

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:27 am

If you have trouble with combat try using sneak + summoning. Sneak close, summon something, run away and hide. Repeat. Archery for finishing off any opponents that are left and for hunting. Light armor and sword for emergency backup if something manages to get close to you. Don't start crafting until later other than improving any armor/weapons you are using yourself. You need to concentrate on leveling up combat/defence skills first. Just explore / hunt at first without going into any dungeons. See what's out in the world. You'll get enough combat experience just travelling around and finding locations. Giants/ Mammoths are great for increasing archery skills. Just find someplace high that they can't reach and plug away in sneak mode.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:32 pm

If you have to ask then your probably doing it wrong.

Alchemy is a great way to make mula. Simply pick up everything you see then go to an alchemist and buy all their matts. Then create a bunch of potions then vender them for a large chunk of change.

The rule of thumb on selling potions is to craft potions with as many effects as possible 3-4 will net a ton of change for just 1. Second to that is to know which ones are worth the most. The best effects are Damage Magic Regen, Invisibility, Slow, Paralyze, and I think 1 other I can't remember.

Other than that simply pick up every dagger you see and enchant it then sell for $$. You can carry tons of them and they sell well with the right enchant. I used Absorb Health because I don't have Paralyze which is the best weapon enchant. If you can find Waterbreathing enchant it's the best all around for non-weapon items. Consider not vendering all the rings and neck peices you get as they are very light and sell well.

Cheers.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:12 am

I've restarted my character several times, and I am only recently getting to the point of meeting the leader of the Greybeards (Keeping statements generic to avoid spoilers). I'm aware of the civil war. I also know from watching other peoples plays on YouTube, that there is a TON of content that through my 20-30 hours of gameplay, I had no IDEA existed. And through all of it, before each time I restart and as I slowly crawl my way back to where I was before, I keep asking myself, "What am I doing wrong?"

For one, is it right that I'm chugging heal pots faster than I can find or buy them? Is there some healing spell that people use (While in combat, mind you) that isn't a hindrance to use for a melee character?

Does anyone make enough money to raise their crafting skills without a dupe of some kind? I tried to do something simple and fitting in the game by chopping wood for HOURS on end. I think I made 10K before I stopped, and with one house purchase and stockpiling materials for crafting, it was gone in a flash. And because I'm trying to advance the main story, I'm not making nearly enough to buy materials I need to even make healing potions, let alone ingots and leather to raise smithing, or gems for enchanting. I harvest everything I see, of course, but it never seems like enough to even make enough healing potions. And does the game basically REQUIRE you to use "Wait for X hours" in order to buy things in a sensible amount of time?

Is it right that no matter where I go, the mobs beat the ever loving snot out of me, even though I'm in heavy armor, blocking half their attacks, chugging pots like a pledge having his first beer, and improving/replacing equipment as much as my smithing allows? (I never play range or magic, due to the afforementioned coordination problems.. I seem to have difficulties hitting the broad side of a dragon with a sword when the damn thing is right in front of me.) I know there are ways to make armor and weapons that let you two-shot just about anything. I don't want to be a god, demolishing everything I see, but is there no balance between challange for a player that doesn't result in a massacre or huge waste of resources, and god mode?

If I do start going on all these side quests, exploring every dungeon I come across (Which is my natural tendency - "Ooooh. Wha'ts that over there?"), or raising my crafting skills, is the difficulty of areas going to be even MORE difficult? I'm having problems now, doing nothing but the basics.. What happens when I raise my smithing to 100 and I gain 15 levels, without any improvement to my combat skills?

Will there be some quests or dialog or something that will become unavailable or drastically different if I complete the main story first? Or worse, become non-sensical?

Power attacks - What? I know I hold down the button, but I hear all this stuff about different types of power attacks.. Do you have to hold them while moving, and the direction you're moving dictates the type of power attack it is? I know there's a perk to do more damage to a target if you hit them while sprinting at them, but how the heck does anyone actually HIT things like that? Seems like every time I try, they just dodge out of the way.

I guess I'm just at a loss as to how to procede. I know some of these issues are purely mechanical, and can't really be answered because it's likely due to my poor coordination, but I just can't shake the feeling that there's always something I'm missing, or I will miss out on if I make a decision. Like there's some grand secret in Elder Scrolls games that I don't know that would make them all make sense.

How do you guys play? What's you're approach? If you were to write a guide on, "This Is How *I* Play Skyrim", what would you suggest?

First advice is walk everywhere, dont fast travel, cept to turn in quests or if you are close to your max carrying weight.
You will pick up a ton of side quests this way. Also try do a ton of side quests, dont try to get though the main quest right away.

Also, try to pick one class and stick with that I do half mage and one handed. I would recommend for any class, at least get the restore magic, so you dont waste potions.

you can make tons of money but looting, so go do some dungeons, also there are necklas's that can help you get better rates.
Also the speachcraft can help with that (perk).

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 4:15 am

For one, is it right that I'm chugging heal pots faster than I can find or buy them? Is there some healing spell that people use (While in combat, mind you) that isn't a hindrance to use for a melee character?
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Regenerate_Health might help you here, I know later on you mention about blocking most attacks so this one might help you gain that extra bit of health to finish off your enemy and help you stop using so many health potions.
Also make sure you have a guardian stone selected to help level the relevent skills, as a Melee based player id suggest using the http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Warrior_Stone

Does anyone make enough money to raise their crafting skills without a dupe of some kind?
Clearing out dungeons is a great way to earn money, Make sure you buy yourself a http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Pickaxeas allot of mines have http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Oreinside and will save you money buying them so anything you create is pure profit. Also remember to kill wolfs for http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Leatheras its a key component for most craftable items.

I tried to do something simple and fitting in the game by chopping wood for HOURS on end.
This is only really any good for the first couple of levels and wont make you allot of money, The only use I found for it was to upgrade Longbows into Longbow (fine)

I harvest everything I see, of course, but it never seems like enough to even make enough healing potions. And does the game basically REQUIRE you to use "Wait for X hours" in order to buy things in a sensible amount of time?
You can find potion upon potion in any of the dungeons instead of buying them, a good combination I have found is to pickup all 3 types, health/ Stamina and magika, then what you want to do is keep Health and Stamina potions for personal use and sell Magika potions (assuming your melee class). that way the money you make on selling magika potions you can purchase more health and stamina potions.

Is it right that no matter where I go, the mobs beat the ever loving snot out of me, even though I'm in heavy armor, blocking half their attacks, chugging pots like a pledge having his first beer, and improving/replacing equipment as much as my smithing allows? (I never play range or magic, due to the afforementioned coordination problems.. I seem to have difficulties hitting the broad side of a dragon with a sword when the damn thing is right in front of me.)
The thing that I found I would when I started was try and spam power attacks, This would reduce my stamina so quick and when your stamina is empty an enemy can pretty much flick you and your dead,
When they try to attack remember to usehttp://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Block_%28Skyrim%29. Also have you considered using a shield to start with ? this might help you understand the battle mechanics of the game as you have more of a chance of living ling enough to play around. wait for the enemy to attack, bash with your shield or weapon and use light attacks (not power attacks) as it will preserve your stamina cuz at lower levels your stamina goes down pretty quick.
Also the skill tree is your best friend ! if you know your a melee character that uses heavy armor make sure your skill point reflect that setup.
if I wear heavy armor use a 1 handed sword and a shield and im a level 5 for example my perks would be as followed.
1 perk used for block, 1 perk used for heavy armor, 1 perk used for one handed weapons and save the other 2 for when you can level up one of thoes 3 again. I make it a rule to always have 1 - 2 spare perks unassigned so I have room to play with them mid fight if somethings going wrong.
I know there are ways to make armor and weapons that let you two-shot just about anything. I don't want to be a god, demolishing everything I see, but is there no balance between challange for a player that doesn't result in a massacre or huge waste of resources, and god mode?
Use the grind stone, at lower levels this will turn your weapon from standard to fine and thats more than enough to get the edge damage-wise on your nme's

If I do start going on all these side quests, exploring every dungeon I come across (Which is my natural tendency - "Ooooh. Wha'ts that over there?"), or raising my crafting skills, is the difficulty of areas going to be even MORE difficult? I'm having problems now, doing nothing but the basics.. What happens when I raise my smithing to 100 and I gain 15 levels, without any improvement to my combat skills?
simple answer, you will perish, dont level your crafting so high first try and keep it in line with your combat skills if not lower until you grasp the game a little better. If you raise your level to 20 through crafting then hit the dungeons your enemys will be level 20 and what are you gonna do ? craft them to death ? your main focus should always be your fight style be it magic melee, archer etc etc. if you can survive the dungeons you will find there is plenty of loot that will earn you a ton of cash.

Power attacks - What? I know I hold down the button, but I hear all this stuff about different types of power attacks.. Do you have to hold them while moving, and the direction you're moving dictates the type of power attack it is? I know there's a perk to do more damage to a target if you hit them while sprinting at them, but how the heck does anyone actually HIT things like that? Seems like every time I try, they just dodge out of the way.
Power attacks can differe depending on your weapon type or when & how you use the up down left right keys, the easiest way to see this is to look at your character in 3rd person view and see what they do. down does a spinning backwards attack standing still does a downward slash but the thing to remember is DONT OVER USE THEM !!! the more you use the lower your stamina gets and for lack of a better word your [censored], if your stamina gets too low you need to use stamina potions or theres a good chance you will get defeated with one hit no matter how high your health is.

Another thing to try is using weak poisons on your blade this will give you extra damage and costs none of your stamina.

How do you guys play? What's you're approach? If you were to write a guide on, "This Is How *I* Play Skyrim", what would you suggest?
If you look at my signature I have plenty of videos on one of my play styles. some note worthy ones are for archery style play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjUI4plky_k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkarBjEMno0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cP4YQ7-a9g

If you have any more questions Id be happy to try help you just PM me any questions or ask on here .Also sometime in the next week I will upload a video to youtube of melee combat at low levels that might help you out a bit.

Hope this helps a bit.

Bitter

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:44 pm

You don't need money to make healing potions.

Wheat + butterfly wings. Both easy to find and plentiful.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:51 pm

I must admit, I've never been very good at playing games. I've never had good reflexes, or hand/eye coordination. For me, stories always came first, which is why RPG's are the mainstay of my video game collection. I've even downloaded the Kindle book the guy made that has the text of all the books in the game. With Skyrim, I find myself in a bit of a dilemma.

Most people are aware of the Paradox of Choice - The fact that when presented with TOO many options, people tend to chose none, or become less satisifed with the choices they've made. Skyrim is the holy grail of choice. From what I've seen, the world is SO massive, and there is SO much story behind everything, I just don't know what to do, where I should go, or what I should focus on. And every time I DO something, I'm always worried that I shouldn't have done this yet, or how is this going to affect the game later because I did this or made this choice.

I am not good at hand/eye coordination as well. That is why I hate the mini games. This is a Roll Playing Game. (Yes I said Roll, because the computer computes the Dice Rolls for us

) and it should be based on Player Character Skill not Player Skill. There is really no wrong way to play TES games. Yes you can make mistakes but what I mean no wrong way, is you can do What you want, when ever you want. If you want to Role Play the game you can, if you don't, you don't have to either.

So just go ahead and do what you want. Think of yourself as the character and just play the game.

I've restarted my character several times, and I am only recently getting to the point of meeting the leader of the Greybeards (Keeping statements generic to avoid spoilers). I'm aware of the civil war. I also know from watching other peoples plays on YouTube, that there is a TON of content that through my 20-30 hours of gameplay, I had no IDEA existed. And through all of it, before each time I restart and as I slowly crawl my way back to where I was before, I keep asking myself, "What am I doing wrong?"

For one, is it right that I'm chugging heal pots faster than I can find or buy them? Is there some healing spell that people use (While in combat, mind you) that isn't a hindrance to use for a melee character?

You are not alone. I am chugging the "heal pots" as fast as well. What I do now, is I try and make my own as well since I run out of them fast. So don't worry. Don't worry about others who say the game is easy. I find the game hard. I die alot. So just drink those potions, since they are keeping you alive. Rememeber it's a single player game. Who cares what others do. Do what is Fun for You.

Does anyone make enough money to raise their crafting skills without a dupe of some kind? I tried to do something simple and fitting in the game by chopping wood for HOURS on end. I think I made 10K before I stopped, and with one house purchase and stockpiling materials for crafting, it was gone in a flash. And because I'm trying to advance the main story, I'm not making nearly enough to buy materials I need to even make healing potions, let alone ingots and leather to raise smithing, or gems for enchanting. I harvest everything I see, of course, but it never seems like enough to even make enough healing potions. And does the game basically REQUIRE you to use "Wait for X hours" in order to buy things in a sensible amount of time?

It takes me a while to get money as well. I saved $7000 to get Breeze home. I buy everything all at once, so just in case I don't get the glitch or bug that others get when buying furnishings for the home. It took me a long while to do this. Just like in real life, in Skyrim, you need to get a job or work for your money. Even if you become a thief, you need to work for it.

. As others have said, chop wood, mine ore, do quests for other people.

One thing that I did wrong is Role Play Skyrim, so when they said "it's a hurry" I did it right away. Sad thing about Skyrim, some stories are SO SHORT, I did like the College of Winter Hold so fast I was like WTF?! So when ever they say "it's a Hurry" don't worry about doing it right a way. They will wait for you. So do other stuff or "quests" you want to do. So again, it's "Do What You Want, When Ever You Want". So if you need more money, "earn it". Also becarefull when Enchanting and using Alchemy and lockpicking because that will level you up. Since it levels you up BUT you are NOT leveling up your combat skills (sword or desctrution) you become weaker while the world becomes Stronger. That has happened to me. I started a new game to try and level up a bit better. So that could be why you keep getting owned. Also don't forget to use your perks as well. I saved mine and the game became harder.

Is it right that no matter where I go, the mobs beat the ever loving snot out of me, even though I'm in heavy armor, blocking half their attacks, chugging pots like a pledge having his first beer, and improving/replacing equipment as much as my smithing allows? (I never play range or magic, due to the afforementioned coordination problems.. I seem to have difficulties hitting the broad side of a dragon with a sword when the damn thing is right in front of me.) I know there are ways to make armor and weapons that let you two-shot just about anything. I don't want to be a god, demolishing everything I see, but is there no balance between challange for a player that doesn't result in a massacre or huge waste of resources, and god mode?

As I said, lower the difficulty level. Again watch out for smithing since it can level you up fast. I love smithing, so now I just say Frack it. If I level up, I level up, but will turn the difficulty level down after dying 10 times and can't figure it out, I just lower the difficulty level to get by and then put it back up again.

If I do start going on all these side quests, exploring every dungeon I come across (Which is my natural tendency - "Ooooh. Wha'ts that over there?"), or raising my crafting skills, is the difficulty of areas going to be even MORE difficult? I'm having problems now, doing nothing but the basics.. What happens when I raise my smithing to 100 and I gain 15 levels, without any improvement to my combat skills?

Will there be some quests or dialog or something that will become unavailable or drastically different if I complete the main story first? Or worse, become non-sensical?

Again do what you want. One thing I love about Skyrim is there is CONSENQUENCES. In Oblivion, you could almost do no wrong so you felt your hand was held for you so you don't make a mistake. Here you do have to make some choices. What if I kill that person? What can happen? Just like in real life there is some choices to make. Again don't worry about diffiuclty. You, me, and others are still learning the game. Game will become easier later. Just be happy the game is hard. As said before, others find it easy so great for you and me we can turn the difficulty level down and to make it easier or up, to make it harder if we need it eventually.

Power attacks - What? I know I hold down the button, but I hear all this stuff about different types of power attacks.. Do you have to hold them while moving, and the direction you're moving dictates the type of power attack it is? I know there's a perk to do more damage to a target if you hit them while sprinting at them, but how the heck does anyone actually HIT things like that? Seems like every time I try, they just dodge out of the way.

Not sure how these work, still learning. As like you, they dodge out of my way as well. Just think of it this way. Wouldn't you dodge out of the way as well? It's great the AI can do this stuff. Makes the game more fun for us. Also are you using poisons? I forgot to mention it before. I am starting to use them more now, since I find the game so hard. I tip my arrow in poinson and my daggers for the first hit. Then when I think I have time, I will use more in combat if I remember. Don't forget to use your Racial Special Powers as well.

I guess I'm just at a loss as to how to procede. I know some of these issues are purely mechanical, and can't really be answered because it's likely due to my poor coordination, but I just can't shake the feeling that there's always something I'm missing, or I will miss out on if I make a decision. Like there's some grand secret in Elder Scrolls games that I don't know that would make them all make sense.

How do you guys play? What's you're approach? If you were to write a guide on, "This Is How *I* Play Skyrim", what would you suggest?

Again do What You Want, When You Want. There is no right or wrong way to play. Are you having fun? If so, you are playing it right.

I suggest, you do what you want. If you want to Smith, or Alchemy or Enchant, or lockpick, just keep in mind, that you will level up faster since Your Weapon skills or Magic skills are not leveling up as well so game can become a bit harder. If so lower the difficulty level down one level or 2. When game becomes easy, up the difficulty level up a level till it "feels right".

Hope this helps a bit. Just remember you are not alone. For me the game is hard, I keep dying alot and I turn the difficulty level up and down. Alot. I also dring healing potions alot as well, so do not worry.

:tes:

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:04 am

This is a good thread - a wealth of advice here.

My first character was a sneaky sort, lightly armored and favoring quick, clean kills - even with my archery and daggers at reasonable level I'd get clobbered if things went poorly and I was caught in melee. Some foes I had to simply avoid until I was much more confident in close quarters. (cough... frost troll) Hagravens and other strong casters were even worse news. It did get frustrating but I enjoyed the challenge, and thought out how I could hone the skills I enjoyed using to best solve those fights and was better prepared for the worse than was to come at higher levels.

As for crafting and money, if all you do is skin your animal kills and craft leather armor and sharpen as many looted weapons as you could carry back from a dungeon, you'll break the merchant's coffers every trip before you know it, even after investing in the requisite ingots. I didn't force my smithing higher than the materials I was finding. Furthermore, If you know even a spark of enchanting, the same sharped sword with a neophyte's enchantment on it is usually worth a small fortune. No perks required.

happy hunting

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:26 am

Now finished reading the thread. Lots of great advice. All I will say once more, is what I am currently doing.

I am not worrying about "besting" the game. I have lost connection with my character when I have done so. So starting over again, I do What I want, when I want. I ignore, "it's a hurry" since I seemed to rush through things then. When I need money, I will go dungeon crawling and loot what has the most money with the least weight. I Smith, and I use alchemy now without worrying if I level up to fast. If combat is too hard for me, and after 10 tries (give or take a few) I will lower the difficutly a bit and then as soon as combat is done, I will but it back to normal again (adept I think it's called could be wrong.)

So I don't worry about anything no more. If you need to practice your "combat skills" what ever it is, sword, magic mace, SAVE your game, go find some wolves, mudcrabs, and practice on them. Again just like in real life practice makes perfect. Just make sure you practice your combat skills ONLY and nothing else (maybe restoration since I find it hard to level up) and try not to raise ALL Skills all at once.

So if you level up only combat skills (and restoration), I find the game easier a bit now. Still die alot, but having a blast now.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:40 am

Gonna start a new game purley for making youtube tutorials.

Build Idea

Character Race: Redguard (as he starts with 10 points towards my one handed skill)
Weapon of choice; War Axe's
Skill Tree Focus: One Handed/ Heavy Armor/ Conjuration/ Smithing & Enchanting
These will be my main focus's my theory being that If I level up my heavy armor enough mixing it with enchantment techniques blocking will soon become irrelevent as they will be dead before I take too much damage.

Difficulty: Expert/ change to Master later on
Gameplay theory.
Weapons: War Axe/ Bow & Pickaxe
I will be playing is that I will carry a minimum amount of equiptment.
I will use the Bow and Arrow to Pull enemys and using the quick inventory menu I will switch to conjuring a low level familiar to take enemy aggro and use my War Axe to deal damage.
I will not be leveling my bow and arrow until later in the game it will simply be used to pull enemys not for damage.

Potions
I will mainly be using Stamina and Health potions and selling Magika as I will only be using conjuration to take aggro off me in a multiple enemy situation, as most of them last around 60seconds this should give me enough time dispatch all enemies one by one.
I will also possibly collect poisons for use later or possibly sell. stamina regen potions are also something I may consider as time goes on.

Items of Interest
I will mainly be picking up gems/ jewlery, enchanted weapons for disenchanting and low weight clothing

Armor
I will be mostly using heavy armor's as I will not be using sneak and will be trying to pull enemys from as far as possible.

Quests
I will be following the Champions and other questlines that dont envolve leveling sneak or pickpocket and trying to focus purley on combat so no accidental sneak leveling.

Health/ stamina distribution
60/ 40 Health will take a slight majority here as I will not be using block perks (may need to use general block perks but nothing up skill tree other than slow motion) dealing light attacks and mixing in a few heavy's.

Cant think of anything else right now but will start recording and see how this all pans out :smile:

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 5:08 am

Gonna start a new game purley for making youtube tutorials.

I look forward to watching!

If I may request, if you can, please be detailed about "How" you fight. By that I mean, dodging, keeping range in mind, timing of when to use magic in a melee fight, LoS, etc.

I can't seem to find many videos that really teach TECHNIQUE. It's something I'm sorely lacking.

Let us know when it's up!

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 2:34 am

How come everyone needs to use potions all the time?, I'm on expert and pretty poor at the game but I've managed to kill everything I've found so far, on expert it's easy as hell with my Mage as my Dremora Lord kills everything, but it's much more challenging on my melee builds as they have to get up close. I'm crap in fights so my battles are ALWAYS long drawn out affairs with me hiding behind a stone pillar so I don't get roasted with dragon breath.

I die plenty (couldn't believe it when these Ice Wolf things killed me last night!) but I'm fine with that I just reload and I always get them on the second (or third or fourth etc) attempt so as long as I'm progressing through the game I'm happy. Ive never used a single potion or poison though as I've not needed to, I want to go through the whole game without using them as they seem to be a cop out to me, I could defeat an enemy with ten thousand health points if I had a hundred potions with me and just kept drinking them instead of having to carefully manage health and magic, now I have to decide what to do when the enemy isn't attacking, should I counterattack and try and finish him off, or use the breather to heal myself then press on, there would be none of that if I just went rushing in knowing I could swig another pot if I got hurt. I can't see how it would help you improve your skills in combat if you rely on potions to get you through battles.

I did level smithy to 100 with daggers so my combat skills fell behind, I don't know what effect that had because while I did get one shotted a lot it was around the same time I upped difficulty to expert. What I'm trying to do is only use the armor equivalent to what is available in the wild or to buy, so at level 32 I'm using Dwarven then I'll move up when I start seeing Glass armor etc in chests and things. No point in running around with Daedric armor in at the start of the game it'll just remove the challenge.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 4:56 pm

Your putting far too much thought into this game. This is my first elder scrolls game and when I started playing it I didn't really know what I was supposed to be doing. But I just did things that took interest I went in a direction of the map that I liked the look of. I still haven't done any enchanting, smithing or alchemy and I'm now at level 46. I am only half way through the main quest I've not done any of the guild quests and this is still after I have been playing the game for 128 hrs. So I would say just do what you want like I have and it will all work out fine as long as your enjoying playing the game.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 5:01 am

Just to let you know im just editing the footage together for the video I should hopefully have it online ether later tonight or by tomorrow morning and I'll send you a link when its up

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:57 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf84ZjXCZyE

hope this helps out in some way

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 3:32 pm

There is no "wrong" way to enjoy the game for sure, but one question that the OP asks about not breaking quests, etc., is valid.

I tend to try to stay away from locations (except for mapping them) that I have "stumbled" across accidentally on my way to somewhere else. I feel that I can always head back there later on. Sometimes it is clear that a place is quest related, and other times it is not as clear. I will look at the wiki without reading more than a sentence to two to see if it is quest related.

I have played Fallout 3 and NV, and I feel that I know Bethesda well enough now to know that they want you to do the main quest in bits and pieces while doing sidequests to level up and have fun. This worked perfectly for me in the previous titles, and so far it has been rewarding in Skyrim.

R

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:47 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TzXsz2IVnc&list=PLB299FC9C3609A688&index=1&feature=plcp heres another video that might help you out

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:08 pm

I played Oblivion so have some experience. That is, experience ****ing around in the game. It's who I am.

Stop worrying about breaking something. To be honest, quests will break. This is how Bethesda rolls. I doubt you'll get through with no broken quests no matter how careful you are. So chill on that.

Walk around. Mine. Pick flowers. Catch butterflies. Kill wolves. Make potions. Smith.

As for healing, I'm melee and rely on potions. Collect all the ingredients you see and brew away. If you have a fair number of ingredients, alchemy levels quickly. Eventually, you'll be lugging around dozens of your own bottles. And of course, loot the ones you find.

Sell extra potions (e.g., any restore magicka if you're melee). Sell food. Sell drops

Spend perk points. Lower the difficulty. Stay near soldiers on the road for battle help or bring a companion. Talk to everyone. Flee from aggros that you know give you trouble.

There is no right way. There is only your way.

Case in point: I have not pursued the main quest and have only done a handful of others. I explore. I make potions. I smith. I cook. I follow soldiers for no decent reason. I take ALL the cheese.

Well, my brother also plays. He did the main quest and replayed the final battle for me. He's starting fresh with a mage now. He didn't know about the bugs and technical problems. Or how to make fondue.

His BIL, he started a game. He killed a chicken. Slaughtered guards. Was regularly two-shotted. Minimal armor. Power attacks that zeroed his stamina. Reloading every 5 minutes because he kept dying. He killed Belethor for no good reason.

The point being, we all do something different. There's no right way.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:55 pm

I must admit, I've never been very good at playing games. I've never had good reflexes, or hand/eye coordination. For me, stories always came first, which is why RPG's are the mainstay of my video game collection. I've even downloaded the Kindle book the guy made that has the text of all the books in the game. With Skyrim, I find myself in a bit of a dilemma.

Most people are aware of the Paradox of Choice - The fact that when presented with TOO many options, people tend to chose none, or become less satisifed with the choices they've made. Skyrim is the holy grail of choice. From what I've seen, the world is SO massive, and there is SO much story behind everything, I just don't know what to do, where I should go, or what I should focus on. And every time I DO something, I'm always worried that I shouldn't have done this yet, or how is this going to affect the game later because I did this or made this choice.

I've restarted my character several times, and I am only recently getting to the point of meeting the leader of the Greybeards (Keeping statements generic to avoid spoilers). I'm aware of the civil war. I also know from watching other peoples plays on YouTube, that there is a TON of content that through my 20-30 hours of gameplay, I had no IDEA existed. And through all of it, before each time I restart and as I slowly crawl my way back to where I was before, I keep asking myself, "What am I doing wrong?"

For one, is it right that I'm chugging heal pots faster than I can find or buy them? Is there some healing spell that people use (While in combat, mind you) that isn't a hindrance to use for a melee character?

Does anyone make enough money to raise their crafting skills without a dupe of some kind? I tried to do something simple and fitting in the game by chopping wood for HOURS on end. I think I made 10K before I stopped, and with one house purchase and stockpiling materials for crafting, it was gone in a flash. And because I'm trying to advance the main story, I'm not making nearly enough to buy materials I need to even make healing potions, let alone ingots and leather to raise smithing, or gems for enchanting. I harvest everything I see, of course, but it never seems like enough to even make enough healing potions. And does the game basically REQUIRE you to use "Wait for X hours" in order to buy things in a sensible amount of time?

Is it right that no matter where I go, the mobs beat the ever loving snot out of me, even though I'm in heavy armor, blocking half their attacks, chugging pots like a pledge having his first beer, and improving/replacing equipment as much as my smithing allows? (I never play range or magic, due to the afforementioned coordination problems.. I seem to have difficulties hitting the broad side of a dragon with a sword when the damn thing is right in front of me.) I know there are ways to make armor and weapons that let you two-shot just about anything. I don't want to be a god, demolishing everything I see, but is there no balance between challange for a player that doesn't result in a massacre or huge waste of resources, and god mode?

If I do start going on all these side quests, exploring every dungeon I come across (Which is my natural tendency - "Ooooh. Wha'ts that over there?"), or raising my crafting skills, is the difficulty of areas going to be even MORE difficult? I'm having problems now, doing nothing but the basics.. What happens when I raise my smithing to 100 and I gain 15 levels, without any improvement to my combat skills?

Will there be some quests or dialog or something that will become unavailable or drastically different if I complete the main story first? Or worse, become non-sensical?

Power attacks - What? I know I hold down the button, but I hear all this stuff about different types of power attacks.. Do you have to hold them while moving, and the direction you're moving dictates the type of power attack it is? I know there's a perk to do more damage to a target if you hit them while sprinting at them, but how the heck does anyone actually HIT things like that? Seems like every time I try, they just dodge out of the way.

I guess I'm just at a loss as to how to procede. I know some of these issues are purely mechanical, and can't really be answered because it's likely due to my poor coordination, but I just can't shake the feeling that there's always something I'm missing, or I will miss out on if I make a decision. Like there's some grand secret in Elder Scrolls games that I don't know that would make them all make sense.

How do you guys play? What's you're approach? If you were to write a guide on, "This Is How *I* Play Skyrim", what would you suggest?

You worry too much.

These kinds of games are designed for you to play the way YOU want, not how others do. You can go through this entire game being just a wizard or sword fighter, skilled at most or skilled at one.

Pick one character closest to YOU and what YOU like, relaz and just adventure. Let things take you wherver they do.

That`s it.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 4:00 pm

"I have to ask... Am I playing this "right"?"

That's one of the many great things about Skyrim, there's really no wrong way to play. You can do what you want when you want, and where you want.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 2:15 am

http://youtu.be/8nCDXrRxy9U heres another beginners guide video that might help someone