[PC/360/Ps3] The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Impressions, tweaks and more!

[shon]

Hah, dark elf bow and magic guy here as well!! Interesting how we all end up choosing that? Loving the game so far - Exploring my very first dungeon was...awesome and just as tense as in morrowind - LOVE the sounds in the game..simply brilliantly enhancing the atmosphere.

How does the switching between magic and bow work?  Can it be streamlined to a click?  This was going to be my approach too 

It's a couple of clicks.  You make magic and bow your favorites and then you open up the favorites and move to what you want then click and you are ready.  The game pauses while you make your choices so you don't have to be that quick with it.  I don't think you can map those to the number keys though.  That could be coming with a mod.

[Crawley]

Really surprised at how well this game is running. Have an older rig with a Q6600 and a Radeon 5850 and it defaulted to high. The game seemed to be running just fine so pumped up the anistophic filtering from 8 to 16 which gave it much crisper look and it ran surprisingly smooth. Will have to see what else I can increase - but I'm more than happy with how it looks currently. Haven't even bothered to overlock the video card yet which I ended up doing when playing Witcher 2.

I'm playing it with the Xbox controller and its actually not too bad. There was a bit of awkwardness at the start but I've gotten used to the controls and it seems to be working out well.

Woke up early to play it before work. Was a mistake...want to get back to game!

[hepcat]

What difficulty level are you guys playing on?  Any idea on what higher difficulty settings affect in the game?

[Roguetad]

I like that the developers leveled the playing field somewhat between races and their racial perks, so you're not screwed if you want play something uncommon like an Orc mage type, or a Breton warrior.  The skill difference from racial boosts seems to be anywhere from 5 to 10, but nothing too drastic, which is good.

I started an Orc last night (big applause to how cool orcs look in skyrim), and experimented with 1 hand and shield, using a 2 hander, dual wielding 2 weapons, and using a 1 handed weapon and shooting flames from the other hand.  You know, it's hard to pick a clear winner, all the playstyles seemed fun.  

I wish Steam had the manual posted, some of the menu and inerface stuff isn't intuitive.  Still trying to figure out how to effectively use the B menu and d-pad menu.  I think we can select 2 items/skills on the dpad menu that can be swapped by using dpad left and right?  The rest of the items/skills/perks/powers have to be selected through the dpad pause up/down menu...I think.  Hopefully I'm missing something, because it would be nice to have 3 or 4 skills that could be swapped out.

I didn't see a big advantage early on to using dual wielding.  It looks cool.  But there's no way to parry (that I found), and the weapon speed seems almost the same as just swinging the right weapon over and over.  Hitting left and right triggers together for a dual strike works, but it's slow.  

I have a brand new pc with good hardware (6 core processor, gtx580 3gb, 12gb ram), but the game's hardware detection came back with a High Settings recommendation.  I'm wondering if the hardware detection will ever recommend Ultra.  Anyway, I selected Ultra, ran Fraps for the first hour, and saw framerates in the 30-60 range.  Mostly around 40-60.    

Looking forward to playing again tonight.

[PR_GMR]

Meet Preton Gamir, a Breton and novice spellcrafter starting his illustrious career near White Run. Here, he just cleaned a den of dastardly bandits. He loves to set motherfuckers on fire, then stab then to death; specially with a sweet stabbing finishing touch. The guy which family sword Preton just returned was very happy. Preton's journey shall continue!

[Destructor]

FYI - despite almost every review saying otherwise, the hotkey system from Morrowind/Oblivion IS in the PC version. Pull up your Favorites, highlight what you want to hotkey, then push a number button from 1-0. It has issues (like it keeps forgetting my sword I hotkeyed somehow), but if you're going to use it to just swap what spell you have loaded (assuming you're not dual-casting), it works great.

It was in the manual as well. How did the reviewers miss it?

[jersoc]

I'm liking this game way better than MW and Oblivion. It does have it's quarks but mods will fix them soon enough.

I made a high elf for a magic user. She is destroying so far and I'm only at level 5. So far I've learned 2 shouts, but can't use them yet. Soon though. I've been using a combo of fire and a sword along with a companion.
The dungeons have been pretty fun so far. Especially with the trap and stuff that you can use against the enemies or yourself all the same.

Ran into a texture bug last night making some trees and armor bright purple. Seemed to come and go.

[rittchard]

I had a funny graphics bug fighting some wolves, the one dead wolf just stood their upright after it was dead.  Kind of creepy

Didn't get to play that much last night, but really really loved the atmosphere and the way the introduction sequence moved along.  The environment graphics as some have mentioned are just gorgeous, but the characters are a bit lacking.  Performance was excellent for me as well running on Ultra-High at 2560x1440 resolution, and this is with an iMac running a mobility processor.  Even better the fan didn't kick on at all while I was playing, which it does on other games.  I'm hoping this bodes well when I try to install it on a laptop this weekend.

I didn't like the interface much but if you can really assign 1-0 I'll be fine.  I like that they tried to go with this atmospheric approach and I understand the mentality (no UI showing), but personally I'd still prefer easier functionality over the beauty of no interface. 

Looking forward to more exploration this weekend!

[Destructor]

I'm enjoying the ever-loving crap out of Skyrim right now. I've put in nearly 9 hours since it came out last night, explored a few dungeons, have hit level 8, and having the time of my life.

Of course, the first thing I did short of the very first 'main quest' quest of visiting the starting area was to turn around and walk the opposite way of the main quest goal.

[Turtle]

The hotkeys only go from 1-8, but otherwise works as described. You put something in your favorites, then open up the favorites menu, mouse-over one of the items and hit the number key you want it to be.

That's how I'm playing my Argonian Archer/Sword and Shield, making it easy to quickly switch between the two.

How does enchanting and enchanted weapons work? I just enchanted my first weapon, and there was something about the amount of charges to put into it. I wasn't sure where I got the charges from or how many I had to put in, but it gave me a choice of how many to use.

[Hotfreak]

The hotkeys only go from 1-8, but otherwise works as described. You put something in your favorites, then open up the favorites menu, mouse-over one of the items and hit the number key you want it to be.

That's how I'm playing my Argonian Archer/Sword and Shield, making it easy to quickly switch between the two.

Thank you and Destructor for pointing this out.  I'll be playing tonight.

[Destructor]

How does enchanting and enchanted weapons work? I just enchanted my first weapon, and there was something about the amount of charges to put into it. I wasn't sure where I got the charges from or how many I had to put in, but it gave me a choice of how many to use.

In the older days, the size of the initial gem (Petty, Grand, etc) determines how many charges an item gets. I doubt they've changed that up (haven't tried anything myself yet), but you never know.

[TiLT]

Been playing for 5 hours now, and enjoying it a lot. After getting my first dragon shout I decided to head directly towards the mage guild far to the north since I play a pure mage. It was one hell of a journey, even after I bought a horse. I have now enrolled in the guild and have started to delve into the surprisingly challenging quests (playing on Expert). I'm very early in the guild yet, but so far this is much more involved than in Oblivion, giving a stronger feeling of actually being part of a guild.

Took a screenshot of myself on my brand new horse, on my way towards the first mage guild quest. The weather is harsh up in the north (the area you begin in feels temperate in comparison), with snow storms being the norm rather than the exception. I lucked out and had clear weather as I took the pic. This was taken on High detail.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

What difficulty level are you guys playing on?  Any idea on what higher difficulty settings affect in the game?

I'm playing on the difficulty level one up from "adept". So far it's pretty easy. Not sure exactly what difficulty affects.

[CeeKay]

damn, just got raped by a wooly mammoth at level 2.  ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS PET IT!!!!!!!!!

[edit] reloaded, snuck around then and then I got sodomized by an ice wraith.  I'd say those worried about creature leveling need not be worried.

[Soulchilde]

Just took a screen shot of five bandits taking on two giants...

The giants won, so I made sure to steer clear of the giants

[CeeKay]

kinda annoyed the in-game screenshot taker puts them in .bmp format, not sure why they wouldn't have gone with .jpg for ease of use.

anyways, made my trek to the norther shore, clearing out a bandit hideout on the way.  took down a bandit chief in there, as I beat him he went down and tried crawling away saying 'I yield'.  I noticed he was crawling through some oil on the floor, so I showed him the light.

[Purge]

I had a funny graphics bug fighting some wolves, the one dead wolf just stood their upright after it was dead.  Kind of creepy

Beware the howl of the unfallen wolf!!!

[Purge]

Hotfreak - you'll never hear us complaining about members plugging the work that we do.

[EngineNo9]

After hearing so much about this game and waiting for it for so long, I have to say I'm a tiny bit disappointed.  I think I actually had more fun playing Two Worlds 2.  This game is definitely more open and has more options, but so far none of those things are actually fun.  Even the combat sucks, so I hope that gets better as my skills level up.

[Arclight]

After hearing so much about this game and waiting for it for so long, I have to say I'm a tiny bit disappointed.  I think I actually had more fun playing Two Worlds 2.  This game is definitely more open and has more options, but so far none of those things are actually fun.  Even the combat sucks, so I hope that gets better as my skills level up.

Yeah, It's the opposite for me. I played Morrowind, and Oblivion, but couldn't finish either. Didn't get far at all in either. So I wasn't too worked up about Skyrim. I thought, it will be nice to see some of the vista's and views with my new card, but other than that I wasn't holding out for much. But wow, I'm surprised at how much fun Im having. The atmosphere that seemed to be missing in the other two is here in Skyrim in spades, for me. With a game like this combat is secondary to every other RPG element. I wouldn't say that for any other game to readily. But for sure its like possum-roadkill-pie. Either you have a taste for it, or not.

[USMC Kato]

Ever since I put the combat difficulty to expert it is almost as fear inducing as Dark Souls, and I like it    At least as a Nord Warrior (heavy armor, 2-hand weapon, & no magic)

[CeeKay]

some graphics tweaks plus links to more tweaks: http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/11/11/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweaks-improve-graphics-disable-vsync-change-fov-and-more/

[Arkon]

So I am up to level 25, and I am always very fearful of my life...Skyrim is a cruel and deadly land.  I think I made a critical flaw in building my character, I decided to start off primarily as a thief, and as such I have fairly low combat abilities.  I can pickpocket the toe off of a giant, but damn I am dead if he catches me.  I think I need to head back to the guardian stones and use one to increase the rate of skill gains in my combat skills.

[CeeKay]

it never fails- I take a day off to specifically get some game time and I always get busy with other matters. only got to play about 5 hours yesterday, and most of those were spent just wandering around and exploring.  I wandered into several encounters that were defintiely above my character's level and lost all but one of them-  I encountered an ice tro0ll on the northern shore and ended up doing the backpedaling circle of death dance with him using Flame.  I'm also playing a theif fighter, but I'm planning on alternating one fighting perk and one thief perk per level, with maybe a destruction perk after every 4 levels (i.e. 1 fighter, 2 thief, 3 fighter, 4 thief, 5 destruction, repeat as necessary).

random thoughts:

I started exploring a Dwemer ruin, but ended up having to stop halfway through after I ran into their constructs.

not having any real issues with the mouse/keyboard setup.  my only complaint is that I remapped the character screen (default=tab) to one of my extra mouse buttons, and I figured anything that needed to use the tab key would also recognize that button, but not so.  if I needed tab to exit the conversation tree I had to hit the tab key but the game has no problem accepting the mouse button for exiting the loot screen.

[Hotfreak]

Hotfreak - you'll never hear us complaining about members plugging the work that we do.

Well, then, let me also add that it's an excellent review. 

[Qantaga]

I played Morrowind, and Oblivion, but couldn't finish either. Didn't get far at all in either. So I wasn't too worked up about Skyrim. I thought, it will be nice to see some of the vista's and views with my new card, but other than that I wasn't holding out for much. But wow, I'm surprised at how much fun Im having. The atmosphere that seemed to be missing in the other two is here in Skyrim in spades, for me. With a game like this combat is secondary to every other RPG element.

 
  
These are my feelings exactly. I enjoyed Morrowind and Oblivion (and even Fallout 3), but never felt drawn in like I have been with Skyrim.
    
I've got a Nord specializing mainly in two-handed, light armor, and restoration.
    
Favorite moment: I was fighting Mirmulnir and triggered the death blow sequence. I jumped on his head, while I was on fire, and finished him off. I wish I would have thought to get a screenshot, but I was consumed by battlelust at that moment.
    

[CeeKay]

OK, did any part of the tutorial mention that you can move objects without putting them in inventory by holding down the E (or whatever you changed it to) key?  I didn't think it was an option anymore since there wasn't a separate key like Oblivion had (Z I believe), but this video (posted by Monkeyfinger, thanks dude!) showed it was possible so I went searching and found out about the E key.


oh, yeah, the video is kind of funny too.

[rshetts2]

Finally got my chance to play.  So far its excellent.  Its streamlined but still very robust in the skills so any fears of it being watered down to casual play are completely unfounded.  Im running it on my new gtx 590 and it is awesome.  Smooth as silk.  I did have one crash to the desktop, not sure what caused it but fortunately it happened right after it autosaved, so it was no big deal.  Destruction is OP early on.  Dual casting fire through the first dungeon was a piece of cake.  I didnt buy a guide but Im thinking it may not be a bad idea.  The world is immense and theres so much going on with skills, crafting, enchanting etc.  Of course most of this info will be available on line any day so its no big deal there either. 
 Bottom line,  Skyrim is a top notch game that manages to streamline without compromising what makes Elder Scrolls great.  Dragon Age 2 could have learned a thing or two from Bethesda, thats for sure.  The game will no doubt keep me entertained for a long time.   

[Arkon]

For those having issues with carrying weight, just figured out that adding to your stamina on level up also adds to your carry weight.  I had not done so previously because I rarely use power attacks.

[EngineNo9]

For those having issues with carrying weight, just figured out that adding to your stamina on level up also adds to your carry weight.  I had not done so previously because I rarely use power attacks.

Yeah, I have upgraded that a few times so far because I'm constantly hitting max carrying weight.  Is there anywhere in game that explains what stats those three upgrades help (Health, Stamina and the other)?  I'm guessing they somehow affect things like strength for attacks, chance of crits, ranged attacks, etc, but hell if I can tell from the info I see.

Also, is anybody else having troubles with hot-keyed favorites losing their key assignment?  I have a sword assigned to 1 and a bow to 2, but after I switch a couple times they no longer work and I have to open up the Q menu and assign the keys again.  Which defeats the purpose of just having hotkeys in the first place.

[CeeKay]

For those having issues with carrying weight, just figured out that adding to your stamina on level up also adds to your carry weight.  I had not done so previously because I rarely use power attacks.

It's 5 pounds per point put in stamina.  I've been picky about what I grab- anything with a value of 20 or less gets ditched. 

Has anyone noticed that voices are really soft in game?  I had to turn my speakers up past the halfway point and it's still soft.

[Sarkus]

Definately noticing the quiet sound.  In game is at max, windows desktop is at 75, and speakers are at 50%.   For most games that combo would be too loud.  Here I keep turning up the speakers.

[Destructor]

For those having issues with carrying weight, just figured out that adding to your stamina on level up also adds to your carry weight.  I had not done so previously because I rarely use power attacks.

Yeah, I have upgraded that a few times so far because I'm constantly hitting max carrying weight.  Is there anywhere in game that explains what stats those three upgrades help (Health, Stamina and the other)?  I'm guessing they somehow affect things like strength for attacks, chance of crits, ranged attacks, etc, but hell if I can tell from the info I see.

Also, is anybody else having troubles with hot-keyed favorites losing their key assignment?  I have a sword assigned to 1 and a bow to 2, but after I switch a couple times they no longer work and I have to open up the Q menu and assign the keys again.  Which defeats the purpose of just having hotkeys in the first place.

AFAIK, the only thing that raising Health and Magicka do is raise their respective caps. Stamina is the only exception as each level up gives you 5 carrying weight (which is squat once you get enchanting things - so don't raise that if you're looking for more weight).

And yes, I've had lots of problems with the game forgetting the number hotkeys for weapons. It works fine with two-handers (bows, weapons), but anything one-handed it gets very wonky on. Also, if you double-tap a spell that way, it'll put it into both hands.

Voices aren't soft for me, Arkon. Sometimes what's going on may overpower them though, so you may want to turn down the other sound effects to compensate. But yes, the global sound at 100% is quiet.

[TiLT]

So... I'm apparently Arch-Mage in the Mage Guild already at level 11. That was disappointingly quick. Don't get me wrong, the quest chain to get there was very good, but there was no progression through ranks like in the old games, so I went directly from Apprentice to Arch-Mage in a period of time that was much shorter than it would have been in Oblivion, or any of the older games for that sake. I loved those old ranks! Please don't tell me that this is how it works in all the guilds now!

Also, while I'm complaining, there's been way too much dungeon crawling for my tastes so far. Pretty much every quest I've been through has involved me going through a large, difficult dungeon, often taking me 1-2 hours each to complete. Then again, I've mostly been doing Mage Guild quests so far, and they may not be typical for the rest of the game. Is the amount of quests that lead you into dungeons large for the rest of you too? I would enjoy a bit of questing above ground for a while now that I'm Arch-Mage.

[jersoc]

Joined the mages last night. Pretty cool quest line so far.  I stopped to catch up on a few other quests for now. Up to level 8 now and destruction is starting to rock faces. I have a 250 magicka and that doesn't even seem enough if you dual wield. Guess I gotta do a few shots then back to single shots.

Lightening bolt is crazy OP against other mages since it damages hp and magicka. A few shots of that, especially dual wielded and they can't cast shit.

And yeah, the low sound is very annoying. I turned on sub titles because of it.

[TiLT]

Parts of the game mechanics are well hidden. I noticed the game giving me a Rested state whenever sleeping, just like in older games. I could find nowhere that described the effect however. I also got a bit confused when people I met occasionally started to say things like "Are you feeling all right? You don't look well." when the game hadn't informed me of any kind of disease. Digging deeper, I eventually discovered that all this information is hidden in the Magic section, of all places. Go to the Active Effects tab there, and you'll see everything that's currently afflicting you, including bonuses like Rested and diseases. Going through this section I realized I had gotten a disease called Rockjoint, most likely after being bitten by a wolf. Getting rid of it was easy enough by wandering into a nearby pawn shop and buying their last Cure Disease potion, but it would be nice if the game showed these things more clearly. Why did they hide this stuff in the Magic section anyway?

[Arkon]

Parts of the game mechanics are well hidden. I noticed the game giving me a Rested state whenever sleeping, just like in older games. I could find nowhere that described the effect however. I also got a bit confused when people I met occasionally started to say things like "Are you feeling all right? You don't look well." when the game hadn't informed me of any kind of disease. Digging deeper, I eventually discovered that all this information is hidden in the Magic section, of all places. Go to the Active Effects tab there, and you'll see everything that's currently afflicting you, including bonuses like Rested and diseases. Going through this section I realized I had gotten a disease called Rockjoint, most likely after being bitten by a wolf. Getting rid of it was easy enough by wandering into a nearby pawn shop and buying their last Cure Disease potion, but it would be nice if the game showed these things more clearly. Why did they hide this stuff in the Magic section anyway?

I found that just last night as well...my guess was that it was a UI design decision, albeit one that should have been better documented.  Instead of seeing buff icons that "take you out of the game", you are dependent on visual clues and dialog from NPCs.  For the roleplayer in me I love it, for the practical gamer I hate it.

[Barrakketh]

Parts of the game mechanics are well hidden. I noticed the game giving me a Rested state whenever sleeping, just like in older games. I could find nowhere that described the effect however. I also got a bit confused when people I met occasionally started to say things like "Are you feeling all right? You don't look well." when the game hadn't informed me of any kind of disease. Digging deeper, I eventually discovered that all this information is hidden in the Magic section, of all places. Go to the Active Effects tab there, and you'll see everything that's currently afflicting you, including bonuses like Rested and diseases. Going through this section I realized I had gotten a disease called Rockjoint, most likely after being bitten by a wolf. Getting rid of it was easy enough by wandering into a nearby pawn shop and buying their last Cure Disease potion, but it would be nice if the game showed these things more clearly. Why did they hide this stuff in the Magic section anyway?

I found that just last night as well...my guess was that it was a UI design decision, albeit one that should have been better documented.  Instead of seeing buff icons that "take you out of the game", you are dependent on visual clues and dialog from NPCs.  For the roleplayer in me I love it, for the practical gamer I hate it.

Indeed, I had an npc tell me I didn't look well, and sure enough, when I was checking the Active Effects, I had Ataxia, which was lowering my lockpicking/pickpocket by 25%. Bought a cure disease potion and fixed that. Later I noticed the 10% bonus to skill gain for being well-rested.

Now, back to Skyrim!

[Tscott]

Also, is anybody else having troubles with hot-keyed favorites losing their key assignment?  I have a sword assigned to 1 and a bow to 2, but after I switch a couple times they no longer work and I have to open up the Q menu and assign the keys again.  Which defeats the purpose of just having hotkeys in the first place.

Yes.  The game keeps forgetting what I've set my bow to.  When attacking, I usually start out with my bow, switch to sword/shield, then usually will bring out some spells at some point in the fight or afterwards.  By this time, it has lost my number for my bow.  I'm finding it very annoying.

EDIT: I may have solved this!  I just read a post in the Steam forums where someone said this may be caused when you have multiple copies of the same item- like 3 bows.  Switching away from "a stack" of items can lose the hotkey setting.  I just tried this in game, and after dropping my extra bows, I was able to switch back and forth from all my desired weapons/spells with no problems!  
Nice.  But this may be a problem if I ever get multiplies of something expensive that I want to use and sell extras to a shop.