Re: TES V: Skyrim First, don't go into Volskygge. It in unique in having a one-way room so you can't retreat from the top-level bad guy. I think it would be for people around level 15 or up. At your level you should also avoid hagravens (except when they are penned in and you can hit them long range), groups of bears (if you see trees broken instead of cut, you are in bear territory), most places with evil mages, and certainly giants, who will send you into orbit with a single hit. You are going to find some places with very tough bosses, but you can just back out of those. There really aren't locations for those - you can find them anywhere. You can find those even in some seemingly innocuous places. I once stumbled into a tiny illegal dog fight establishment, and ended up facing a guy with a hammer that will do a billion points of damage through excellent armor while shielded. In terms of races, bandits and draugr are usually easiest, mages and Forsaken are tougher. Higher level Forsaken are murder. If you are facing a foe who raises dead or conjurers creatures, always attack the head guy first. In close fighting, attack the toughest guy first as well. In long range fighting, start from the bottom up to reduce the number of people shooting at you. If you are facing mages you cast the ice spell that leaves a wide track of ice on the ground, tell me how to beat them because I can't. Oh, and sneak constantly in caves and crypts. It really helps, and you have to sneak to become good at sneaking.
Re: TES V: Skyrim I figured out the means to get married to people, but what does it mean if you actually do it? I've found two guys who offered, but they totally weren't my type (one was racist against dark elves - the other was a dark elf, as if I could ever marry one of them). The only woman so far was really old. But she was a landowner with her own mill...
Re: TES V: Skyrim What skill trees have you all been investing in? With me it's mostly one-handed, heavy armor, smithing and enchanting. Even animal pelts can make you a nice bit of coin if you get your smithing skills up far enough. It's amazing how many quests are in this thing. I just got two more just from checking my inventory after clearing out a dungeon: one from reading a book, another from reading a note I found on an undead.
Re: TES V: Skyrim Only did that mission around level 24 and found it relatively easy. In terms of high-powered mages and giants, I usually use my unrelenting force shout before (in case of the mages) they have the chance to put up a protective ward. That leaves them defenseless for a few seconds, which means they lose most of their health by the time they crawl back to their feet.
Re: TES V: Skyrim Three more places to avoid at low level: Folgunthur, Geirmund’s Hall, and Saarthal. They all have big guys at the end and some if not all have one-way sections. Also, if you go to them without first getting the Forbidden Legends quest, it totally screws the quest up. Now the amulet I need is impossible to get to. One hand and archery, mostly repeatedly picking the lowest one in those. I really want the perk to fix magical and high level armors, but I just can't get the skill high enough. Yeah, I've probably got around 40 going right now. But you know, with a little killing you can take out a whole tree of quests and end up in the right. Has anyone found a flawless ruby?
Re: TES V: Skyrim The difficulty has been ramped up big time. No longer can you show up at a location and plough through everything easily without thinking. Now you have to carefully plot your way into a location now. I like that! The toughest opponent I have seen so far is a draugh overlord . Constantly heal themselves mid-battle and have strong magic and physical attacks .
Re: TES V: Skyrim I read an interview before the game came out with the developer and he said the difficulty does scale with your level but it also scales with the location of dungeons, caves and stuff. So the dungeons up in the mountains are a lot tougher than the ones found down in the forest areas. Also the difficulty of these instances is randomised around your level.
Re: TES V: Skyrim I did a quest to pick up a certain sword from the Forsaken and I cut through the enemies like it was nothing until I met one of their mages who cut me down like it was nothing on the first two attempts... Seems like the level of opponents within one group can sometimes be a bit random.
Re: TES V: Skyrim The toughest places I have seen were fortresses packed out with mages or bandits. I try to avoid situations where you fight multiple foes. Try to get in situations where you are 1 v 1 so you have much more chance. if its 1 v 1 you can often find a barrier like a table and fight around it using magic attacks .
Re: TES V: Skyrim They have some goblin likes mages called Haagraven IIRC tough for early level players but easier later on .
Re: TES V: Skyrim If I have a complaint about this game, this is definitly it. I like how you basically create your own story, but I hate how decisions can pidgeonhole you down the line when nit comes to quests or getting stuck. Its poor design IMO.. THe same thing happened to me in Morrowind years ago. I had to go back and replay about 20 hours of game (which I didnt, I just quit) in order to not kill someone who gave a major quest to enter into a region (something along those lines.. it was 10 yrs ago). I understand you should save frequently, but it still irks me, that you arent somehow warned about game changing events, which at the time seem like minor decisons. My advice is to save ALL THE TIME, and use up a ton of save slots.
Re: TES V: Skyrim Are you guys all playing on PC or XBOX/PS3? I have an XBOX, but also a capable PC - which do you recommend?
Re: TES V: Skyrim you need to boost your speech skill to get better prices.. and you can find various rings ,necklaces ,items of clothing that boost skills while you wear them . each village has afew shops in them...
Re: TES V: Skyrim There isn't one best store and no one has large amounts of money until you get a high level perk in the Barter constellation. If you want single stores that buys and sells a wide variety of things, the general store in Whiterun and the two general stores in Windhelm are good.
Re: TES V: Skyrim I use the shops all over Skyrim really. Usually I have so much loot after I clear out a dungeon I cannot sell it all at one (or even two or three) place(s). The only reason I even take my companion (Lydia) with me is to use her as a pack mule.
Re: TES V: Skyrim But this was when I was around level 26? Or is that still early level? I feel like my character (Redguard with one-handed, heavy armor, smithing and enchanting as the highest skills) is vulnerable to magic in general.
Re: TES V: Skyrim I thought you was still on an earlier level. Seems like when you go any location that level you will encounter one tough mage. Just make sure you pack plenty of health potions . This game allows you to pause mid battle and heal up . When it comes to magic I use restoration and destruction .
Re: TES V: Skyrim Are you sure the legends quest is messed up if you visited one of the three places before starting it? I had picked up the amulet fragment at Saarthal before activating the overarching quest and it just added the Saarthal sub-quest as completed. IIRC, this happened when I found the claw in Folgunthur.
Re: TES V: Skyrim I always have plenty of health potions on me. This particular mage cut my health down by 70% on a single successful attack. I only managed to dispose of her on the third try by hitting her with unrelenting force from the side (the times I tried from the front she always managed to pull up a protective ward before I managed to hit her). And I only managed to circle around because she focused her attacks on my companion on that try.
Re: TES V: Skyrim I went to Geirmund’s Hall before the quest started. Geirmund didn't have the fragment on him (or maybe I just didn't take it, but I doubt I would do that), and on going through the second time to get it, I found the place repopulated, Geirmund’s crypt holding a new tough baddy, but no Geirmund. The quest arrow points at nothing in the pool where you have the final fight (actually, slightly underground of nothing, but I didn't see anything even using no-clip).
Re: TES V: Skyrim Perhaps the bug only occurs with Geirmund’s Hall and not the other locations. Still haven't properly figured out which creatures give what type of souls. Whenever I now need a high-powered one to enchant a weapon or armor I just go out to find a giant. Since that seems to be the only sure way of capturing a greater soul.
Re: TES V: Skyrim You can also give her a soul trap weapon and empty soul gems and have her fill soul gems for you. Another Lydia/companion tip is to give them a single rare arrow type and then pick up all the extra arrows they fire during a fight.
Re: TES V: Skyrim I didnt know companions could hold loot. I was getting frustuated with vendors running out of money, but found out you can also store stuff in your cloest spce in a house, or if you join the Mage university, they give you a room after completing an easy quest chain. How quickly do vendors replenish their money? 24 hours?
Re: TES V: Skyrim I didnt know companions could hold loot. I was getting frustuated with vendors running out of money, but found out you can also store stuff in your closet space in a house, or if you join the Mage university, they give you a room after completing an easy quest chain. How quickly do vendors replenish their money? 24 hours?