SKYRIM!!!!

[arabeth]

That's really all I have to say.  Other than maybe a couple extra !s.

Official poll:  how awesome does this game look?
option 1) INCREDIBLY awesome.
option 2) SPECTACULARLY awesome.
option 3) stop pretending there are other options and pick 1 or 2
option 4) all of the above (...?)

[Marak]

Already bought, and pre-loaded on Steam. And my weekend off.

Good times ahead! 

[TheSnork]

Need new computer now... BF3 MW3 Skyrim... I weep

[arabeth]

So holy CRAP dragons are HARD!  My god this game is difficult.  So far I've been able to kill dragons in exactly two ways:  lead them to a heavily populated area and let the guards kill them (and hope important NPCs don't get snuffed), or turn down the difficulty level.  Looking around online "lure them toward others" seems to be the only major trick, although I am worried for what happens when I'm completely alone...

For anyone who hasn't started yet, I'd recommend just doing the classic warrior + heavy armor.  I've been doing the light armor/archer/sneak, and basically everything takes forever and everyone kills me in like 2 hits.  No idea how to get less squishy in melee without turning down the difficulty.  Anyway are other folks having fun?  What builds are you using?

[Marak]

If you think dragons are hard... wait untill you meet a frost troll. No joke.

So far I've killed 3 dragons, including the first one at a certain guard tower. Spoilers I shall not give. I find the fire breathing variety alot harder then the frost breathing variety, due to my manly Nord frost resitance.

If you're having a very hard time with the dragons, I'd suggest you stock up on frost and fire resist potions. Once you dont' have to to run quite as often from their breath attack, you'll find them easier to shoot down.. and once they are grounded, they are done for.

I don't remember the alchemy recipe for fire resist off the top of my head, but I know it has salt in it. haha.

This game is huge, exciting, and the dungeons/ruins are quite varied. I have not yet found two exactly repeated layouts. It is starting to get harder though..  I had to run from that frost troll. Could not kill it, even with my new best friend Lydia. I think she likes me. Silly girl follows me everywhere.

[arabeth]

Ha, good point - being a stealthy type I've eschewed any company.  Maybe I can get a tank buddy to help out?  (I tried summoning a familiar...  HA!  That thing was dead before it could move.)  It just feels like the pathing AI is rough (especially since I tend to run along mountain sides) and I don't want them making noise in a cave, since I tend to get three shots until I'm dead - and those three shots better kill whatever it is.  In a weird twist, I abhor leveling up, since I know enemies will get harder while I have merely gotten to be a better blacksmith or pickpocket.  I leveled up 4 times from smithing alone, and even though I was able to build (and improve) a bow with twice the damage output, it seemed like I was doing the same amount of percentage health drain from my targets.  What the hell?!  It was about that time I went ahead and swallowed my pride and turned the difficulty down one notch.

As for a frost troll:  three shots, dead (even before difficulty tuning).  I've avoided one on principle but killed two so far.  They're like bears to me:  either I kill them before they get to me, or I have to reload because I'm dead.  This is how I engage that type of creature, step by step:
1.  run along, chasing after a small butterfly and then suddenly realize I'm dead because I didn't notice it before it was upon me
2.  reload and enter stealth mode (thank god I quicksave every ~15-30 seconds)
3.  find target, shoot once, immediately start shooting again since the target is somewhat aware of where I am, hopefully hit twice (this does about 90 - 95% of their health in damage - or ~10%, if it's a bandit leader / hag / other boss creature)
4.  by two shots they have discovered me and I fire at will hoping to get lucky before they close range; usually one more hit will get them but occasionally they swing around and get to me before I can pull it out (or they are a bandit leader / hag / any other creature with significant health), in which case I die and goto line 2

This strategy obviously has its limits, in particular against dragons, which basically cannot be stealthed up to.  I'm improving stealth steadily in hopes of the perk which allows you to hide during combat:  I see that being a game-changer.

Oh, and I am absolutely LOADED with fire/frost resist potions.  (Snowberries are your friend!)  That's a given, although sadly they only do about 13% resist with my pitiful alchemy skill.  My problem is on "normal" difficulty, dragons can still damage me about 2/3rds of my health for about every 1/20th I can do to them.  Those just aren't sustainable odds.  Turning it down a notch made it closer to 1/3rd to 1/10th - something I can completely do, but it's still challenging.

Unrelated:  the variety of locals to plunder is spectacular - completely agreed!  That is absolutely the best part of the game so far.  I love how every area is specific in flavor and texture.  It's a real treat!

[Marak]

Interesting, my experience with frost trolls is completely different. I ran into my first one around level 11, on the steps up to high hrothfar. Unfortunately I'm for once not playing a thief style char, and have no stealth damage bonus. My nord has an axe in one hand, and a fireball in the other. And bits of corn flakes in his beard. Oh, and a horse that defies physics.

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970376492/screenshot/631856881915832462?tab=public

Bad horse. Bad.

Is it wrong that I used my Dragon Shout to knock him off, so I could get to him? I mean, it seemed like a good solution at the time.

[Marak]

Played around with alchemy for an hour or two, before work. Here's what I learned.

Ingredients with Resist Fire properties (probably not complete list)

Bone Meal, Dragon's Tongue, Elves Ear, Fire Salts, Fly Amanita, Mudcrab Chitin, Snowberries

Ingredients with Resist Frost properties (probably not complete list)

Frost Mirriam, Frost Salts, Hawk Beak, Purple Mountain Flower, Silverside
Perch, Slaughterfish Scales, Small Pearl, Snowberries, Thistle Branch

Ingredients with Resist Magic properties (probably not complete list)

Bleeding Crown, Chicken's Egg, Lavender, Nirnroot, Tundra Cotton

Ingredients with Healing properties (probably not complete list)

Blisterwort, Blue Dartwing, Blue Mountain Flower, Butterfly Wing, Charred Skeever Hide, Eye of Sabre Cat, Imp Stool, Rock Warbler Egg, Wheat

I still have some ingredients to test, and others I did test that don't fit into the above catagories. And so far, only a single one for Cure Disease, Mudcrab Chitin. The potion I want to make the most seems to be the most elusive in ingredients. Figures.

For those not playing Skyrim, (yet,) each ingredient can have 4 hidden properties that have to be discovered by either tasting, or mixing the ingredients together. And there are A LOT of ingredients out there. Everything from small fish you have to catch in the water to human hearts and giant's toes. The alchemy skill is a game in it's own.

When I learn more, I'll update the list. Feel free to chime in if you make a good discovery!

[arabeth]

Re: bugs
This game is COMPLETELY buggy, it's so true!  My favorite so far has been a flying horse:  I saw a guy on a horse flying in rapid circles all over the place one time.  Later I found him on the road, traveling normally.  Another big one that's actually been nice is sometimes when you load a game (including loading from fast travel) you will teleport any nearby corpse to your location.  One time I went to a camp and suddenly a giant dragon skeleton was bouncing around.  So far nothing has been game-stopping for me.

Re: alchemy
I've managed to find a jillion potion recipes but most of them aren't very useful - your list is certainly some of the better ones.  I tend to grab and eat everything I come across...  Restoring magic is another useful one for your list, and I've been experimenting with poisons although I think they only last for one hit (and bigger creatures can resist them).  The biggest trick is you really need a couple of perks in alchemy to make them more powerful, and I'm too busy trying to make myself sneakier and archer-ier so I can just survive normal combat!  I definitely think my game has been harder because I'm spreading myself out too thin:  I bet I'd do a lot better just picking an offensive skill and a defensive skill and maxing them out before doing anything else.  (Hilariously, my best skill so far is smithing.  It's almost 60.)  Then again, I don't know how else you'd play if you couldn't work on several skills at once...  Plus, I REALLY want the pickpocket ability to boost your carrying capacity by 100!  That seems spectacular.

So my character is a wood elf / light armor / archer / sneak.  What's everyone else's?  Fortunately I've not had to worry about disease as a wood elf (plus you can just go to a temple and get all diseases cured for free), but I do believe that at the end of the day, Nords and dark elves are the best racial choices just for the frost/fire resist.  Boosting skills is easy, so starting skills don't really matter that much:  innate racial resistances / bonuses are unique, though.

[arabeth]

I found a great (spoiler-free) article about the difficulty level in Skyrim (it even mentions frost trolls):

http://www.vg247.com/2011/11/14/the-pearly-gates-assessing-skyrims-dynamic-difficulty/

It definitely gives me hope.  I guess part of my problem is that I hate running from stuff; I like to see it through.  Essentially, the thing to learn is that sometimes this is impossible.

[arabeth]

Wow:  so if you want a HUGE list of tons of stuff that can be combined for alchemy, here you go:

http://segmentnext.com/2011/11/13/elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-crafting-guide-alchemy-smithing-and-enchantment/

Marak:  the super-short version is you need some hawk feathers.    (Also, charred skeever hide works if you can discover its second property.)

[Marak]

There is an entire thread on Reddit/r/Skyrim devoted to horse physics.

Meanwhile...

[sarianas]

I love this game.  Killed two dragons and ran from a troll.   Fear my power.

I burn then with fire till they get close then smack em with my mace, works pretty well so far.

[Marak]

Last night, I had the perfect storm. I was minding my own business, trying to pick snowberries, and suddenly.. a dragon. Fine.. this one would be the 5th notch in my axe and I wasn't too worried. I tried to get a little higher ground so I could use my bow, turned around, and Lydia is fighting a Wispmother. Luckily the dragon is the ice breath variety, and my Nord can stand a few breath attacks. Just as the Wispmother is dying, I notice Lydia is once again shooting at the dragon.. who has been circling, and has somehow enraged a giant camp at the bottom of the hill. Can see where this is going, can't you. The giants, are fighting the dragon, but have become reddot (aggro) to us as well. I don't know if Lydia hit one with an arrow, of if because the dragon was attacking them too they just freaked out.

So, every time the dragon flew down to do a hover breath attack, or land, the giants would turn and chase after the dragon. As soon the dragon lifted off, they would turn and chase after me. It was like an absurd game of monkey in the middle. Except if the monkey reaches you, it can kill you in one hit.

Finally, the dragon grounds itself for good, and I rush past the giants to make sure I get the final killing blow and absorb the dragon soul. The next 3 minutes are spent kiting the giants around so I can get back to the skelton and loot. No idea where Lydia is, or if she's even alive. I finally find her back by the kill, stuck near a fallen log, alive and well.

Cheapskate dragon only has 208 gold on him, and a crappy iron sword. I blame Sarianas.

[arabeth]

Very nice!    Honestly, THAT is what makes this game so cool:  the stories that come out of just playing it.  None of the quests are as good as what fun you have just minding your own business.  (Also, just fyi, you definitely don't have to get the killing blow to absorb the soul - you just have to be near it when it's dead.  No idea if there's a time limit to get to it, tho.)

My best dragon story so far comes from Mr. #3.  Out in the middle of an open desolate area, it was not a pretty fight - so I sprinted back to a mining settlement (that happened to have some guards).  It was so fast it beat me back there by a mile, and as I crested a hill coming up on the dragon I saw it shaking its head like a dog holding a chipmunk and then I saw a human body get tossed through the air like a rag doll.  By the time the guards and I took down the dragon, it had killed two bandit leaders - the TOUGH guys - and all but one of their followers, thus killing several birds with one... dragon. 

I will say that the article I posted above is right, in my experience:  I had a huge difficulty spike from level ~14 to level ~22 or so (granted I completely skipped 16-20 thanks to smithing), but about that time things came back around.  I put the difficulty on 2 out of 5 for just one dungeon, but it seemed easy so I went back to the default (3).  Since then I've managed to fell 2 dragons by myself(!).  Also, I found an amazing head piece:  it's a named, light-armor dementor mask that gives +20% to alchemy, lockpicking, and archery.  Um... yes please?  Between that and a +20 health ring (that's two freakin' levels' worth of health!), my character seems to be doing a LOT better.  Also, I finally hit 50 in archery and got the 50% chance of stunning shot - that has been quite huge against non-dragons.  And my stealth is at least 60 - I actually managed to get a (single) sneak attack on dragon #6!  (That's two arrows I didn't have to shoot!)

Also, I REALLY need to remember to use my shouts.    The original shout works decently against a dragon by stopping its breath mid-breath.  Anyone find any other useful ones?  I've discovered a disarming one (that I never remember) and an animal-calming one (that I never remember) and just recently a turn-someone-to-ice one that I've not tried.

Oh, the biggest the-game-never-tells-you-anything bit of advice that I've found so far:  you can go to any stables and find a wagon that will drive you to any of the major cities!  Holy CRAP that just made getting around 10x easier!  I'd have never gotten around to the mage college or the thieves' guild without that thing.