TES V: Skyrim

I started playing around the same time as someone else I know, and our paths completely diverged at this point since he didn't do that quest.

 

Dwarven Centurions are bad ass.

 

Enjoying it so far but I have some bugbears (warning ranting below!)

Skyrim has somewhat improved character interactions but it's still really clunky with combat. Severance Blade of Darkness has a wonderful almost kinesthetic combat system that feels visceral and provides lovely realistic tactical situations with opponents. Skyrim has picked up some of this feel but it still analogous to bashing cardboard cutouts together over and over again. Also the fatality cutscenes belong in an arcade street fighter game, not this.

Also what is this obsession with cookie cutter outdoor vegetation slowly swaying as if you're meandering through a giant underwater octopus' garden? Bethesda please watch some Terrence Malick movies to see what grass and trees really look like when the wind blows.

Overall the graphical presentation has not really progressed very far, it's Oblivion with mods and strange cartoon like colors everywhere, every mouse movement is followed by an equally jarring and clinical update on your screen, as if to remind you that "yes you are still just playing with a computer program"

Still, putting that aside until we get the new consoles and the next installment / ports, there's plenty to discover in Skyrim to keep you occupied.

 

Do you have a more specific example of this? I'm not having any loading issues on my machine, and I've only read about small parts of this on the PS3 version of the game where a fast turn can result in textures that aren't loaded and they take a second to load.

 

Yes. I was badly low on potions by the time I encountered one. Luckily I had a scroll to summon one of those storm elemental things to distract him so I could run away, quaff some magika potions and cast Fast Heal. I think if I go through again as a pure magic character Conjuration will be a focus of mine...

 

I give you the lost Dwarven city of Blackreach -- I stumbled onto this quest, which takes you into the very deepest reaches of a dwarven city that is absolutely gorgeous.

 

Does anyone else have invisible walls on that bleakfalls barrow area? I was very confused at first when I could not go through open archways.

 

Got my 2nd build up to level 9, a orc berserker wearing heavy armor and wielding a 2-handed warhammer. Game is much easier than with a mage and honestly more enjoyable; being a glass cannon isn't the most fun, at least for me. I'm also enjoying the companions quest line more than the mage's guild.

 

I am playing a redguard in heavy armour wielding an orcish warhammer. Feels good man, but I need better armour! Gimme orichalcum ore!

 

Alright. I have to give some input. This game has "win" written all over it. Possibly my favorite in the series, thus far, and if the pace keeps up, it'll be an honest-to-god marvel for the series. At first, I wasn't impressed. The beginning was old hat. Same old "you're a prisoner of explained crimes being lead to your death" crap. But as soon as you actually get to Riverwood, the game kicks it into high gear. I've always been a huge fan of Nordic themed games, but this seriously has that feeling down. I've been playing a Nord Warrior, wielding a two handed weapon and have been kicking ass. Spell casting is a little clumsy if you're using a two handed weapon. If you're looking to cast a restoration spell on the fly, it probably isn't happening. As opposed to dual wielding, and having it readily accessible and being able to fight, at the same time. You have to equip it from the favorites menu, literally pausing combat and heal yourself on the run. It's cumbersome to say the least, but not game breaking. When tweaked, the game has real potential. The addition of SSAO is a really nice touch. My prior complaint about dark shadows on grass was remedied by changing the Nvidia Inspector profile from Fallout 3 to Oblivion. Fighting dragons is epic, but I have a feeling I have an idea of where the story is going to lead, even after killing my first dragon.

Other than a few clumsy controls and mildly predictable plot, if you're a fan of the ES series, do not miss out on this.

 

One thing I do like is that apparently you can only unlock higher versions of shouts by doing the main quest (at least up to a point where you will get taught). Dragons are more fun than stupid portals in Oblivion.

 

You can avoid pausing by opening the favorites menu beforehand and pressing a number key to bind to each of your favorites. The duel wielding and switching mechanics in general take a little bit to get used to but it works decently (though it can be improved I'd say).

Also, once you do have all/some of your favorites bound to certain keys, the other thing to note is that pressing key to the favorite you currently have equipped will switch to the last equipped setup. I've done this occasionally to keep my companion alive; equip dual healing hands, switch to my bow (bound to 1) and then if he or she needs healing just press 1 to quick switch.


edit: is there a trick to getting depth of field working? I've tried forcing it on in the ini settings, but it doesn't appear to do anything.

 

I think the visuals are still better than Oblivion with mods. It's the water, environmental aspects like mountain clouds/fog, and the depth of field effect that improve the overall scene a lot over Oblivion. It's also more stable than Oblivion with mods. But yeah I feel Oblivion as I'm running around and that is I think due to the overall design of the areas and the animations.

The melee combat is very similar to Oblivion and that is not so great. Oblivion was a gigantic improvement over Morrowind's stand and click but there was a lot of room for improvement. Skyrim hasn't really done much to the overall feel of it. Dark Messiah has the best first person melee combat I've found in any game. For one, you have a body and it's part of the movement and such. The problem here is Gamebryo and Bethesda's inability to rework it (or maybe a lack of interest in such action things).

I still do think it's a great game, just that the combat mechanics are again a bit weak. The amount of content here and attention to detail are astonishing as usual. From an artistic standpoint it's a big improvement over Oblivion too IMO.

 

Any idea what's causing "FP16ARGB filtering : no"? The card should obviously support it, right?

 

Maybe the game is pretending we all have R5x0 GPUs.

 

I've got my smithing at 29, and at 30 I think I can grab the dwemer armor perk. Will have to find some dwemer ruins at that point and start carting scrap metal back to a smelter for ingots. Fortunately my orc berserker build has been alternating health and stamina increases during level ups, so my carrying capacity is growing.

The Smithing perk tree is a big loop and for this toon it's definitely better to take the right-side of the tree (dwemer, orc, xxx, then I think daedric and dragonbone).

 

Totally agree on the smithing. I am working hard to get to 60 so I can pick the enchanted smithing perk. I am making jewellery out the wazoo.

One thing I noticed was that the vendors started selling dwemer metal as I levelled up so I just bought some and made a superiour suit of dwemer armour for myself. Now I am looking to complete my exquisite suit of orcish armour, but I need more orichalcum! Aaaa I have found more ebony veins than orichalcum veins.

 

I've got the strat guide at home, so if you want I can see if it lists the locations of orichalcum veins throughout the game.

 

I gave the game a whirl on a box with my old Radeon 3850 OC and a Core 2 Duo @ 2.8 GHz with only 2GB RAM. 1280x1024 LCD. The game ran fine, around 30 fps I'd say. It was pretty smooth even in Whiterun. That would work for me. This is a box I built years ago for the kids of my boss and they used it for Oblivion and Fallout 3 among other things. I gave them the 3850 about a year ago - they had my X800XT before that!

BTW, I think it's not the best setup for Bethesda to have their high detail preset running maximum MSAA. That's a big hit for little IQ gain over 4x AA.