The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Add-ons have been growing rapidly since it became practical to deliver extra content digitally (DLC: Downloadable Content). Most major gaming studios seem to be trying to work out a way to add this to every major release. Bethesda definitely had it for the Fallout 3 series (I don't know about earlier). The DLC can be pretty hit or miss depending on the game, but it almost always cost around $15 regardless of how much it adds. Mass Effect 3 actually had an add on on the disc already that you had to pay extra to play.

DLC definitely has the ability to extend the life of a game you enjoy. I find it a hassle in multiplayer games where some friends have a DLC map pack and others don't. DLC can definitely feel like a cynical ploy to milk more money out of a game as well.

"Game of the Year" editions of games generally include the main game plus all the DLC released if you pick the game up a year or two after release.

 

Thanks, man. Very good explanation. I'm guessing if I have XBox 630 Live or whatever then I could dl a DLC.

 

Yep, and Xbox has been working deals to get DLC a month before PS3/PC release, so Dawnguard will likely be available on Xbox first.

 

That's pretty awesome....for those of us who have a XBox lol

 

Ha, I thought maybe I had read that somewhere on this thread. Xbox seems to have this for every game, though, so I get confused.

 

I recently got the Hearthfire DLC and I've been playing it a bit. It just gives you the ability to build new manor houses roughly near the three hold capitals you can't buy houses in (Falkreath, Morthal, and Dawnstar) although it's just the same house so you only need to do it once. It's actually quite a bit of work to do it because you need many supplies. You are going to get to know your local shop keeps and mill owner really well. Once you have built up a livable place, your romantic partner moves in. If you build enough to house kids you can adopt a couple rugrats from the Riften orphanage. The kids are nice - if you go away for a while they are happy to see you when you come back. They ask for gifts (sweets, toys, and clothes are added to the game - they also like daggers) and they play kid games and you can tell them to do chores and the boys make a fuss when you do. You also get a steward (a standard housecarl, but with options to help you build your home) and can hire a carriage or a bard.

I wish there was more options in what you can do. You have no choices in the interior layout or style - you can just chose which of the items you build. The add-ons (library, kitchen, storage area...) are hard coded to certain wings, so you can't (for example) have both a kitchen and a library. The library sucks because it's a tiny tower and proper libraries require rectangular rooms. But at least there's enough space for one of each non-spell book in the game (which I long ago collected). Your wife/husband doesn't do anything more (in fact, mine won't cook for me anymore) so they aren't as fun as the kids.

The houses are in the middle of nowhere so it's a little dangerous. I had a couple bear attacks and a giant rampaged through my cow pen. Once I played hide-and-seek with my boy and he ran out of the house (at night time!) and when I went outside I couldn't find him. I used the aura shout and I could see wolves and beasts in the far distance all around and I panicked for his safety. Eventually I found him - sleeping in his bed. Bastard. I'm going to make him sweep twice as much for scaring me like that.

It's worth the few bucks it costs, but if they had more customizations and more domestic features it really would have expanded the game in a bold direction. At some point you just get tired of killing and want to sit down by the fire with some cabbage soup. Hearthfire doesn't quite get you there.

 

guild wars 2 looks good, i just don't have time

 

When you adopt the girl, she gives you a cupboard full of "pretty things" (feathers, butterfly wings and so forth). If you have two kids they eventually get into arguments and you have to deal with it. The kids have lots of new behaviors - they are the best part of the DLC.

The kitchen (I built another house to see what it was like) is great. You get a oven which lets you create all sorts of new foods (with useful magical attributes) using some new alchemical ingredients (sack of flour, butter, milk...). You can plant some kinds of vegetables and flowers in the garden to grow more. Each house also has a unique feature. One has a bee hive that makes bees and honey. One has a fish hatchery.

I think what the DLC needs to be great is a radiant quest system where your family or your staff give you minor quests for the upkeep of the house.

 

Bit late to the party, but decided to pick this game up a week ago. It's strangely addictive....and fooking HUGE. I've pretty much abandoned the main quest while I go getting other stuff, but yeah, dangerous game for your social life.

As much as I love the game, one thing does annoy me. The way they level up the enemy. I wouldn't mind them leveling up big dungeons and their bosses to give your ever improving character more of a challenge. However it seems to be the opposite I breezed through a warlord and a boss called Morekei....the when I left and went back to a town, a random old man in rags challenges me to a mage duel, and kept kicking my ass, because he did mass damage and hardly took any himself. Same with random bandits. Something that the developers should work on for future games I think.

 

Anyone still play this? I bought this thing awhile ago, played it for an hour or two, got bored and quietly stowed it away. After reading this thread I decided to give it another ago, and the addiction finally set in.

Question for anyone who plays this on PS3. Do the nerfs that were done to blacksmith leveling apply to PC only or for the console versions as well? I've been doing all my blacksmith leveling by transmuting iron ore to eventually end up with gold bars at which point I've been making gold rings. It seems kinda slow going. Just wondering if there are any better ways for PS3 as much online discussion seems to be amongst PC gamers.

 

I still do, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit. No other game holds my attention long.

The same rules apply. The latest updates allow you to reset your skills down to 15 in order to help you raise your level higher, so I recently did the work of getting good at smithing all over again. I generally got all the raw materials I could gather and then built the best things I could built at the time (with enough material left over to improve everything I built). The million iron dagger method is another way to go. If you have Hearthfire, making fittings for construction also builds skill, so you can do the ten million iron nails method. If you have Dragonborn, jewels are very common and jewelery making will be more productive.

When you are raising your smithing skill, you will also be raising your overall level. That means you can buy skills from trainers. Do that as often as you can. Do smithing after sleeping in an owned bed and use the Lover Stone perk - that will help raise the ability quicker.

If you play the game enough, you will get the smithing skill up eventually just by making your own stuff for you and your companions. I think Enchanting, some of the magics, and Alchemy are tougher. Especially Alchemy. For that, first collect as much of everything as you can. Eat one of everything to learn the first ability. Then go download and print the list of what everything makes from a website, make enough to learn the natures of all ingredients, and concentrate on making the most expensive things (that usually means potions with Giant Toes and Bear Claws) no matter how useless or hard to sell the result is. But doing all that is a serious grind.

 

Yes, from what I've gathered, alchemy is a grind that may no be worth the reward. I'm at level 18 right now and I've just completed the main quest line. While I did go through a lot of health potions for some of the bigger fights I never had to purchase a single one as there seem to be plenty for the taking in the dungeons.

Smithing hasn't been too bad of a grind for me. There's something satisfying about creating a full set of armor and weapons, enchanting them and then one-shotting some apprentice mage you encounter in a dungeon.

Of course I played World of Warcraft for 5 years straight so I know what a really really BAD grind feels like, and Skyrim doesn't even approach that.


Do you always bring a follower with you or do you pretty much reserve them for the harder dungeons?

 

I always have a follower. I like the role playing aspect, so I like having someone to talk to and make comments. The best by far is Mjoll, because she talks a lot (sometimes right over a guy giving you important quest information). The mercenary guy in the Dragonborn DLC is also good. Of course, having someone help carry stuff is a plus. I'm pretty much always at my limit of carrying stuff - and with my current enchantments that's about 720 pounds.

I've recently tried switching companions often. I always leave them with awesome stuff and enough money to buy a house.

 

I always get a strange addiction in trying to make my character as powerful as possible in these types of games (not uncommon I guess). So I ended up with breezing through dungeons etc with my super enchanted bow and sword and maxed out armour (Elder dragons were a breeze). Not sure if that was a good thing in the end.

 

Ill never forget how epic and amazing the game seemed at first. I enjoyed it for a good few hours but alot of the quests were boring after a while and the last third of the story wasnt all that. Great game though but I have no desire to play it again

 

Just the fact that it's 3rd person is enough for me to avoid it.

 

I've been trying a few user-created add-ons. Usually I end up deleting them pretty fast. But here are a few everyone should try:

First, get the Unoffical Skyrim Patch and Unofficial Dragonborn Patch. They fix countless little bugs in the game.

If you are high level, get Better Combat AI. It makes human bad guys more difficult to fight and keeps the game interesting when you are level 60 or above.

And the absolute best new territory I've played so far is Wyrmstooth. None of the others I've seen are worth your time. This one is. It is professional, encompassing, interesting, novel, and perfectly fitting in the Skyrim universe. You get a whole island to explore (and more) with a long main quest line and many separate ones.

I haven't played Falskaar, however, and that seems highly rated.

 

Hmmm...After reaching level 35 in this game I gave up because it rarely offered a challenge. The AI and mechanics of boss fights are really below par for me. Most fights have been very straight forward button mash fests where I often prevail the first time through.

I do understand that you can raise the difficulty, but that doesn't change the fact that the AI and boss mechanics are still just plain dumb most of the time. For example, in one of the winterhold college quests you have to drain a giant orb of power in order to be able to kill a boss, which takes about a second to figure out. The boss kinda just chills while you drain the orb and then takes his beating with little resistance.

Also, since you can just craft all of the best armor/weapons in this game with relative ease, it makes boss fights that much less rewarding when you know that whatever weapon they drop won't be as good as whatever you can craft.

Maybe World of Warcraft spoiled RPG's for me.