This week, I've been mostly doing...

Firefreak on 15/11/2011 at 11:11

Quote Posted by Ostriig

So, quite early, but entirely possible to get sidetracked before that and just carry on without it.

Ah, thanks. I suspected that. I guess it's better to do at least that then, otherwise I'm missing half of the game experience. So, I think I'll have a small detour before getting to Riften as planned for today evening.

Koki on 15/11/2011 at 20:39

Quote Posted by Firefreak

Going off topic in my own thread here, I'm starting to believe the game has some intelligence built in, that tones down present enemies through reloads. I saw this with a dungeon boss I challenged with a companion. The first two tries, the boss would simply switch our lights out. In the third he targeted my companion more/hid behind pillars and in the fourth, he almost only stood around in the open and insults were shouted between the two - while I plastered his head with arrows.

Or it could be just buggy AI. I once killed a Wispmother at level 3 because she decided she'll completely ignore my existence after a few reloads.

Firefreak on 16/11/2011 at 07:28

- seeing a troll fight a bear
- finding a burnt house and a corpse with the reason for the fire in the hand
- sweating out health potions faster than I could drink in the final battle of a Forst
- concluding every Draugr in armor is to be shot on sight, whether it is lying or standing in the corner 'as decoration'

Kuuso on 16/11/2011 at 09:43

- Shooting draugrs between the eyes and being amazed every time how cool it is, when their glimmering eyes slowly fade
- Turned my horse into a pegasus and flew through a mountain (I have a strong feeling this might have been a bug)

If you jump in weird places with the horse, it sometimes gets stuck in jump mode and goes through terrain. It's quite fun, but I haven't founda reliable way to duplicate the effect yet.

Painman on 16/11/2011 at 11:02

Clearing every dungeon/fort that pops up on the "radar" on my way from Whiterun to Ivarstead for the MQ. Getting my ass handed to me in a couple of them. There was one that was full of Falmer and their creepy buglike "pets", and ended in a Dwemer basement with a Falmer boss and a Dwemer centurion that scalded me to death with a steam blast right after I barely managed to take out the Falmer boss guy.

I also ran across a hot spring where a group of hunters were skinny-dipping.

Killed 3 dragons outside the MQ. One of them seemed glitched. It appeared outside some fort right after I had killed another, but once it landed, it instantly died and gave me its soul. I decided not to quibble.

And, improving my kit via smithing. <3 smithing. At level 15 the vendors finally started tossing out Elven armor, so i pieced together a full kit and upped it to Superior with Moonstone. I have a couple of random loot items that enhance archery and one-hand, so I should probably destruct them and enchant my shit with the effects. Lord knows, i've been hoarding smithing/enchanting stuff like a fiend.

Dia on 16/11/2011 at 12:49

This week I:

-have been marvelling at the Dwemer ruins; no two are alike and those I've explored are fascinating - especially having fun with the puzzles. I think I've overloaded my Steam screenshots allowance. ;)
-am almost afraid to talk to anyone new since my 'To Do' list has grown to astronomical proportions (not that I'm minding that).
-have been losing myself in the stories and lore of Skyrim's books; and delighting in the fact that I can 'store' them on my bookshelves in my Solitude home.
-discovered the smelter in Whiterun and can now manufacture my own Dwarven metal ingots. Of course, this means carrying a shitload of Dwemer artifacts/scrap around for awhile, but who's complaining, right?
-am making my own paths through the mountains. Discovered the beautiful hot springs area but couldn't linger as long as I'd wished. Caution: watch out for giants and their mammoths - they're a surly lot.

Ostriig on 16/11/2011 at 13:18

Quote Posted by Firefreak

Sure, I'd probably recommend it. I dunno whether the random dragons will become tedious rather than fun once the novelty wears off, I've only killed three of them, but since they don't seem to show up for the benefit of the Chosen One ™ alone you can probably just ignore them and sneak off if you don't feel like fighting them.

Quote Posted by Kuuso

If you jump in weird places with the horse, it sometimes gets stuck in jump mode and goes through terrain. It's quite fun, but I haven't founda reliable way to duplicate the effect yet.

Bethesda seem to have a bit of a running gag with control systems, and borking up jumping is probably the punchline. You get stuff like not being able to jump onto a ledge from right next to it, needing to take a step back, the games being picky about allowing you to jump when running on a slope or rough terrain, and yes, the occasional levitation. In Oblivion, if you jumped when running up a staircase the character would float in that animation over any terrain until you jumped again.

Kuuso on 16/11/2011 at 15:03

- Met something called "blood dragon" and had the most epic fight ever involving invoking a blizzard (to nearly kill myself) thus getting the attention of nearby giants and so ending up with a lovely clusterfuck of everything. Wonder I survived the first attempt.

The dragons been quite easy this far, but this one was hard as hell. The giants were the only thing that made defeating it possible.

Firefreak on 16/11/2011 at 21:33

- defeating a giant and a giant weakling
- discovering two apparently off-limits Dwemer sites (dang)
- helping a woman find some treasure, only to see her death
- aiding another woman free her mother

Ostriig on 16/11/2011 at 23:46

Ran into three Thalmor elflings coming from the other direction and stopped to see what was up. They were snooty towards me. While at the same time possessing nice gear which I had none of. Right afterwards I thought the best part was that I didn't even have to bribe the guard since it happened in Whiterun, but as it turns out the real best part is that it landed a Thalmor bounty on my head and now they're sending more snooties after me. Free elf gear.