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

[metallicorphan]

new DLC Dragonborn to include Dragon Riding and a return to Morrowind?

360a.org

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s next add-on will allow you to ride dragons and maybe even return to Morrowind, say the latest reports.

Inquisitive PC players have been rooting around in the game’s code following the most recent update and found some telling files, named “DLC2” and “Dragonborn.”

Also contained within the code are dragon riding animations. Apparently you’ll be able to jump on the back of a dragon a ride the scaly bastard around, casting magic as you go!

This geek’s brain just exploded.

There’s more too. Wrapped up in the game’s code is evidence to suggest that Dragonborn  will add new locations too, with quest markers found for Solstheim, Telvanni, Castle Karstaag, Raven Rock and Miraak Temple.

Solstheim and Raven Rock are locations to the east of Skyrim and share the same frosty environments. Telvanni, meanwhile, is the name of one of the six great houses of Morrowind, the setting for The Elder Scrolls III.

Castle Karstaag is a little more mysterious. Karstaag is the name of a giant monster creature that appeared in The Elder Scrolls III expansion, Bloodmoon. But Karstaag Castle? Thats a first for the series.

In addition to all this there’s also entries for Bonemold, Chitin, Nordic and Stalhrim armour varieties.

Be excited.

[metallicorphan]

Premium Edition


Due December-ish
Does not include DLC

The Premium Edition includes a map of the world, a t-shirt with the emblem of the Empire (one of the game's factions), Hell City: an Elder Scrolls novel and six concept art postcards.

Additionally, the PC version comes with a bonus disc that includes background material, trailers, walkthrough presentations, a 600 page ebook and five songs from the soundtrack.

The listing does not mention downloadable content. Gamers are already speculating that this is because of the high-profile issues Bethesda has endured getting DLC to work on the PlayStation 3 version of the gargantuan fantasy RPG.

EDIT:

[metallicorphan]

Bethesda tweeted this picture and says that a trailer be out on Monday

[Arclight]

same old, same old.

[CeeKay]

Cthulhu and Sauron had a love child?

[Soulchilde]

Dragonborn DLC Trailer

[Razgon]

same old, same old.

oh hush you ray of sunshine

[metallicorphan]

Dragonborn DLC Trailer

looks good,i am still hoping in a year or so for a GOTY edition,as i have not played ANY of the DLC yet


looks like those rumours about returning to Morrowind was true,i certainly saw a Morrowind Mushroom type environment in that trailer


must admit,i would be seething if i was a PS3 Skyrim player right now

[Soulchilde]

I just commented on G+ that I'll wait to next summer and hope the Steam includes the DLC into a summer sale.

[Destructor]

Dragonborn DLC Trailer

Okay, that looks cool.

Too bad Microsoft has their usual exclusivity 'we get it first for a month or two' bullcrap on it so I won't see it until next year on the way it was meant to be played (PC).

At least I have mods. Tons of awesome mods.

[Ridah]

Has anyone noticed a hit in performance for the PC version after Steam did it's file restructuring process with it?

[Soulchilde]

[metallicorphan]

New Shouts

Cyclone - creates a small tornado (that is pretty funny to use)
Bend Will - force a dragon to fight with you.
Dragon Riding - player hasn't gotten to this one yet.
Dragon Aspect- creates the dragon armor from trailer and gives stronger shouts, stronger melee attacks and summon Ancient Dragonborn to fight with you when you get low on health. Can only be used once per day.
Battle Fury- like Elemental Fury but for NPCs
Start of the DLC

*SPOILERS for main Skyrim quest*

Spoiler for Hiden:

-Cultists of Miraak are searching for the false dragonborn (you), and when they find you they attempt to kill you. Assuming you kill them first, you find a note on them that tells you what they are doing and where they came from. You find their boat docked at Windhelm and proceed to Solstheim.
-You don't have to complete the main quest to start the DLC, but the character of Miraak has different dialogue if you have already killed Alduin.

-The size of Solstheim is about equal to the reach and has its own seperate map.
-Player is about 30+ hours in and not finished yet, though said one could probably rush through the main quest in 10 hours.

New Locations added

-(Hubs): Raven Rock (can buy a player home there), Tel Mithryn (can buy a player home there as well), Skaal Village (follower is from here + is a new marraige candidate)
-(Imperial Forts): Fort Frostmoth, Ashfallow Citadel, Highpoint Tower
-(Shacks): Hrodulf's House, Abandoned Lodge
-(Caves): Frostmoon Crag (home to werewolf pack that you can talk with if you are one), Bristleback Cave, Castel Karstaag Caverns & Ruins, Glacial Cave, Benkongerike, Frossel, Hrothmun's Barrow
-(Landmarks): Brodir Grove, Altar of Thrond, Stalhrim Source, Horker Island (Island of Lord Tusk)
-(Nordic Ruins): Kolbjorn Barrow (quest to help excavate), Bloodskaal Barrow, Vaholok's Tomb, Gyldenhul Barrow.
-(Dwemer Ruins): Nchardak, Kagrumez, Fahlbtharz
-(All-Maker Stones): Earth Stone, Watern Stone, Wind Stone, Beast Stone, Sun Stone
-(Others): Northshore Landing Dock, Old Attius Farm, Snowclad Ruins, Headwaters of Harstrad, Moesring Pass, Bujold's Retreat, Haknir's Shoal, Saering's Watch, Thirsk Mead Hall, Broken Tusk Mine, Damphall Mine, & Miraak's Temple.
-(In Skyrim): Last Vigil


New Creatures & Baddies

-Werebears - no word on whether the player can become one yet, but all have been hostile so far. They transform into the bear after being near them a short time.
-The Morag Tong - They seem to act more like Silver Hand encounters where you fight against them a bit and have random encounters of them. No ability to join with them so far. Hostile Dunmer in Morag Tong armor.
-Serpent-like creature - Player won't describe this excactly, though says one is pictured in the trailer and won't give its exact name either.
-Lurkers - Extremely tough and frustrating enemies with plenty of health and dish out a lot of damage. Good challenge. About the size of giants and they are creatures that have 'slipped' into Tamriel from H. Mora's realm.
-Ash Spawn - officially mentioned and pictured in Bethesda's releases.
-Rieklings - officially mentioned and pictured in Bethesda's releases.
-New Dragon types encountered.
-New Dwemer automation - a walking dwarven ballista.


New Weapons & Armor

-Deathbrand Armor - similar to stalhrim
-Two Unique Scimitars you can get by the end of the quests
-Bonemold Armor - Officially mentioned by Bethesda (heavy armor)
-Chitin Armor - Officially mentioned by Bethesda (possibly a light armor)
-Stalhrim Weapons and armor - Again, officially mentioned (many of these you can glimpse in the trailer and screenshots)
-Carved Nordic Armor & Weapons - a heavy armor
-Spears - I know there are some waiting for info on spears, but Bad News: Only the Reiklings have used them so far and if the player picks them up, they go into inventory as arrows.
-Morag Tong Armor - another light armor you can get off of attackers.
-New Thieves Guild Armor - though said to just be a non-buggy Linwe's Armor.
-Robes - Telvanni Robes and Miraak's Robes

New Spells/Enchantments

-Poison Rune
-Whirlwind Cloak
-Ash Shell - lets you encase enemies in ash (paralyze) or slow them down with damage.
-Waterwalking - back in enchantment and potion form
-A new Ring that allows resurrected creatures to explode into frost and fire damage.
-Staff Enchanting
-New Active Effect - from H. Mora's realm you can find a book that lets you choose from three active effects: Mora's Mercy, Mora's Wrath and -Mora's Agony. You can return to the realm and choose a new effect if you want to replace it (sounds like a similar thing to the effect Parthurnax gives you, or the one you receive for the Nightengale quest) There are five books total, with three options per book, you can get five effects in all supposedly.
-New Summoning power - player doesn't want to spoil what it is, but says it's cool.
-Summon Spells - 3 mentioned:Ash Guardian, Ash Spawn, Seeker


Other Notes

-Bethesda did a great job with Hermaeus Mora's Realm. Twisting Hallways, walls with many books, a dark twisted look. HM is an integral part of the DLC.
-There is one quest that involved Thalmor, you can scare them off of Solstheim.
-All the great Dunmer houses exist, Hlallu is shunned due to its ties with the Empire, Redoran is the primary house on Solstheim, Telvani doesn't have a big presence. The Tribunal still exists, though not in the form shown in Morrowind. And you get a chance to join house Telvanni and get a home in a gaint mushroom.
-And last some random short comments mentioned: Delvin Mallory is Sapphire's Uncle (you will meet her father/his brother), Burnt Spriggans, Captain Falx Carius, Gratian Caerullius, King of the Little People, Mind Control, Serpents, Telvani Master Neloth.
-A new quest you can start if you are level 81: Ebony Warrior


Achievements

Outlander - Arrive on Solstheim (20 G)
Raven Rock Owner - Own a house in Raven Rock (20 G)
Solstheim Explorer - Discover 30 Locations on the island of Soltheim (30 G)
The Temple of Knowledge - Complete "The Temple of Miraak" (20 G)
The Path of Knowledge - Complete "The Path of Knowledge" (20 G)
At the Summit of Apocrypha - Complete "At the Summit of Apocrypha (40 G)
Hidden Knowledge - Learn the secrets of 5 Black Books (40 G)
Stalhrim Crafter - Craft an item out of Stalhrim (20 G)
Dragon Aspect - Learn all 3 words of Dragon Aspect (20 G)
DragonRider - Tame and Ride 5 dragons (20 G)

Dragonborn is out on December 4th for 1600 MSP.

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news/news-13557-Skyrim-Dragonborn-DLC-Info-Isn-t-Just-Leaked--it-s-Tsunamied.html

[metallicorphan]

Eurogamer have reviewed the new Dragonborn DLC

Spoiler for Hiden:

and given it a lovely 9

[Chrisoc13]

I've been playing it the last few days. It is well worth the money.

Sent using tapa

[TarrenVonRose]

I pre ordered Skyrim, picked it up on the midnight launch and logged almost 22 hours of playtime afterwards. The game was honestly a monster in my opinion, but what a wonderful monster it was. I played it on the Ps3 so I was not lucky enough to get the DLC that they did make for it. Though I wanted Hearthfire so I could build a house and adopt a kid, it seemed like a fun idea. One complain I had was on the Ps3 you could only have one save file so if you weren't happy with your choice in race and you wanted to play a different one you were completely restarting. Which I did a few times until I finally ended up on the Nord. Also with Skyrim come patch 1.06 it happened to have a glitch where if you were submerged in water for even a second that the game would freeze your entire playstation 3. I ran into this problem a few times and had to uninstall the game itself and the patch and then re-install them. Mind you the second time this happened to me I had no internet so I could not play my game thanks to the save file having been played with said update.
Another downfall of the game was its many glitches, The Ognam Infinium (I do believe I spelled that wrong) which you could spam using a book shelf and fast level to 81 though it broke the bookshelf itself. A glitch which I exploited a few times myself but only to level my smithing up to 100 so I could forge my daedric armor. Which was the only real glitch other than the patch I found myself. For PC players there are a number of mods that seem interesting, moveable houses and creatures from other games was very interesting. Skyrim is well worth the money you would spend on it and its replay value is one of the highest I have seen in my entire lifetime. I would give this game a 9.7/10 and would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good open world rpg.

[EddieA]

Speaking of the PS3 version, all of the DLC will be released on PSN in February (at 50% off the regular price) as well as patch 1.08.  The PC version of Dragonborn arrives February 5.

[Ridah]

Ok peeps, I just finished the main quest line and I have questions that were likely answered 10 pages back.

Spoiler for Hiden:

After I kill Alduin, have I actually finished the main quest line?

[Soulchilde]

Ok peeps, I just finished the main quest line and I have questions that were likely answered 10 pages back.

Spoiler for Hiden:

After I kill Alduin, have I actually finished the main quest line?

yes

[metallicorphan]

Ok peeps, I just finished the main quest line and I have questions that were likely answered 10 pages back.

Spoiler for Hiden:

After I kill Alduin, have I actually finished the main quest line?

there should be an Epilogue though,but that automatically appears after finishing the last quest,so its likely you have done that

[Ridah]

That's strange... I didn't even realized I had finished the main quest line. Are there credits at any point in this game?

[metallicorphan]

That's strange... I didn't even realized I had finished the main quest line. Are there credits at any point in this game?

Nope

I think the Main quest took some 15hrs or so for me,yet i spent another 189 hrs on the game,LOL

[CeeKay]

so, the Dragonborn DLC hits PC tomorrow and I'm torn.  I want to play right away, but I also imagine something this big will break many mods.  does Steam Workshop identify mods that aren't up to date and remove them until they are?

[metallicorphan]

I have started playing as well,i have started the whole game again so its going to be awhile before even getting near the DLC

On the 360 so couldn't answer your mod question CK

[Destructor]

so, the Dragonborn DLC hits PC tomorrow and I'm torn.  I want to play right away, but I also imagine something this big will break many mods.  does Steam Workshop identify mods that aren't up to date and remove them until they are?

No.

And I know I won't get this at launch - my mods change way too many core aspects of gameplay. But I'll pick it up eventually.

Now to go back to my PC save where I (still) haven't actually finished the game (or gotten anywhere close). And I've only played for 175 hours. Maybe I'll go visit Dawnguard for a while...

[shon]

Well I restarted and put on the Skyrim Unleashed overhaul mod and see how this goes.  The creator is supposed to update the mod for Dragonborn by the end of the week.  I tried playing with Requiem but it was just too hard and I really wasn't having that great of a time.  This mod is not too crazy so hopefully together with the Duel mod I will fare better.

I had my first encounter and I thought that it felt right, I died and I should have but it wasn't instantly like in Requiem. 

[metallicorphan]

Well as said i started Skyrim again,and fully loving it all over again...I have actually started the Windhelm murder case that for some reason wouldn't trigger first time around when i played it at release,and i am also keeping an eye out for the other quests that were broke when i first tried them(The White Phial as well)


I have been a little shy with the 3 pieces of DLC


Hearthfire-i have adopted a kid for my Breezehome in Whiterun,but not actually yet made myself a new home

Dawnguard-I finally found my way to Castle Dawnguard,but just followed the guy to the entrance,not done anything else

Dragonborn-I went to Solstheim,and explored the island and i think i uncovered more or less all places,other than that though i have not done any quests yet on there yet apart from save a captain from the ash monsters


Solstheim i was a little disappointed in,i didn't really get that Morrowind feel,although there are parts that look like Morrowind a lot of the island looks like Skyrim
However,the island of Solstheim apparently featured in Morrowind expansion Bloodmoon,even though i have the GOTY edition of Morrowind i have not played the Bloodmoon part

maybe Morrowind will be next for me to play

[metallicorphan]

Good God,i have just spent about 10+hrs just building houses in Skyrim

I first built the house at Falkreath,with a hall and 3 wings,then i found out you can have 3 houses so i built one near Morthal but the one near Dawnstar i can not build yet(I think i need to do a quest at level 22),so i went back to the house at Falkreath and continued to build furniture inside,takes a lot of materials,a lot of money and a lot of fast travelling to certain blacksmiths for materials and a lot of waiting for opening times


FWIW-the places where you can have your house,are not very safe,they are vulnerable to Bandit,kidnappers,wolves and Skeevers..i have also had a dragon attack

Talking about Dragons,it's got to that point wherever i travel there is usually a Dragon attacking a town(and killing the NPCs.Grrr),it's getting annoying now


back to the furniture,creating everything can be quite addictive if you have the money I started playing last night at around 9pm,and next thing i know,its 8am

[hepcat]

This is the very definition of nitpicking and I certainly won't stop playing Skyrim because of it, but I wish there was a mod or dlc that allowed you to start a character who isn't the dragonborn so I could just roam around and quest without all that overhead.

[Destructor]

This is the very definition of nitpicking and I certainly won't stop playing Skyrim because of it, but I wish there was a mod or dlc that allowed you to start a character who isn't the dragonborn so I could just roam around and quest without all that overhead.

There is AFAIK. Also, you can do that yourself - just once you start the game, never visit the next quest giver. The world will wait, no dragons will invade, etc etc.

[Caine]

I don't remember the name of it, but one mod I found changes up the starting spawn point so you don't even have to go through Helgen.  now, if they could make it so that Helgen never got burned down, you would pretty much have what you are looking for.

[Caine]

A few that I could find now. 

Random Alternate Start

Alternate Start - Live Another Life

Character Creation Overhaul

[shon]

A few that I could find now. 

Random Alternate Start

Alternate Start - Live Another Life

Character Creation Overhaul

I've used both the alter start and Random Alternate Start and both are pretty good.  I've had some cool times with the random one, it can drop you somewhere safe or right in front of a hungry bear, if you just want to do sidequests or play around choose random, if you want to start on the main quest use Alternate as it drops you right where you need to begin.

[metallicorphan]

Grrr a Dragon(or Vampire attacking the town) has killed an NPC without me realising it,i can now no longer use Brina's Shop in Winterhold as her being dead on the streets puts a stopper on that...annoying as hell



I was trying to uncover all the places on the map when i saw out into the sea an outline of a castle on an island,pretty sure i did not uncover that on my first playthrough so i started to swim over there and discovered Castle Volkihar,i looked in the index of my Skyrim guide and Castle Volkihar was not there,on a feeling i looked up Volkihar and i noticed that there is a Master Vampire Volkihar,so i guess i have uncovered a DLC place for Dawnguard(which the friggin' guards around the world wont stop talking to me about)

[Turtle]

If you don't object to using console commands, there's a command to revive her, assuming you can find her corpse. Also, there's another set of commands to properly spawn a new NPC with all the proper flags.

Of course, it's up to personal preference.

[metallicorphan]

If you don't object to using console commands, there's a command to revive her, assuming you can find her corpse. Also, there's another set of commands to properly spawn a new NPC with all the proper flags.

Of course, it's up to personal preference.

Sorry 360 version  and she is an ash pile at the moment which makes me think the Dragon killed her but when the Vampires attacked the town,they revived her and when i killed the vampires-she as a drone(whatever)then turned to dust as is usually the case

It all happens at Winterhold,i had two dragons attacking the town last night at the same time,unfortunately by the time i had killed one of the dragons the other one had buggered off,thankfully the very few NPCs left in that town usually stay in the Inn drinking,although the town Chicken got killed by the dragon...the guards also died,but they always get replaced so wasn't too bothered by them,i still stole their arrows though


Looked up how many locations there are supposed to be in the game,and i think i have found that there is supposed to be 343 fast travel locations without the DLC,i have 366 on my stats screen(which includes the DLC obviously),so i reckon i may of exhausted exploring now

[hepcat]

A few that I could find now. 

Random Alternate Start

Alternate Start - Live Another Life

Character Creation Overhaul

Oh man, thanks Caine!   

[metallicorphan]

did the Thieves Guild and the Mages Questline over the past few days

The Thieves guild quest line i really enjoyed whereas the Mages one i thought was a bit short and nothing great,and when you become the Arch Mage at the end of it,it feels a bit...why me?,i've only just joined,whereas the Thieves Guild when i became Guild master it felt like i had earned it

still not done much with the main questline,i am still at the start of Act II(I need to go to the Thalmer party)

oh,and two dragons again at Winterhold last night,this time i managed to defeat both,but not before they killed Ranmir,he is the sister of Brima who also bought it...although Ranmir was nothing but a drunken asshole so not that fussed with him,but still i hate my named NPCs dying



couple of things that piss me off:
I wish people wouldn't talk to me just because i pass them in the street,i don't mind them saying the odd thing but when i am talking to someone i want to talk to(or listening in on them),and then another person passes by the two of us and says his line for passing me by,his subtitles overtake the subtitles i was reading for the person i want to listen to


Okay,Killcam was a nice little treat,but please give us a way to turn it off!!..I am an Archer who sneaks and if i see two enemies,I kill one of them without them knowing i was there,it goes to killcam....and while I'm watching the Killcam,meanwhile his friend has realised i am there and has started to run towards me,giving less time for me to get my shit together

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Yeah, there are mods that fix both of those issues on PC. Hopefully, the next gen systems will allow for mods.

[metallicorphan]

doubt it,I don't think MS are fans of that kind of thing,it would be great if it happened though




So,coming up to 100 hrs now

When Oblivion was released I was amazed at it,and it became my favourite 360 game,then came Fallout 3 and that blew Oblivion out of the water...but it's only when replaying Skyrim now,despite that i have had about 30 hard lock ups on my 360 ,i think i am to say that Skyrim is my favourite current gen game,just loving it so much and it constantly impresses me how big the world is and how detailed with all kinds of tedious stuff(you know what i mean,stuff you see and have absolutely no interest in..but its cool that its there)

I may,next time i play through this game though delete DawnGuard DLC if i can and only install that when i come to it....because the Vampire attacks on my precious NPCs are nearly as frequent as the Dragon Attacks and they are annoying,keep on having to reload and reload so my NPCs don't end up dead


Still not started the DLCs though,(been studying up on the perks for Werewolf and Vampire for Dawnguard online though)...got my locations found list to 382,reached the mammoth sized Blackreach last night and collected 30 Red Nimroot...which is another thing i love about Skyrim,the amount of missions,tasks,favours and side stuff are never ending


I did a 'favour' for Svana in Haelga's Bunkhouse(Riften)...she works for Haelga and is treated terribly,so she wants me to get 3 Marks of Dibella from various people and show them to Haelga to watch her squirm,as apparently Haelga puts it about a bit(Mark of Dibella means she has slept with that person)

After i did the quest i went into Haelga's bedroom(because I'm nosey like that) and it had leather strips on the sideboard,2 volumes of the Argonian lusty Maid,shackles on the bed,statue of Dibella and a pot of honey...but underneath her bed,there was a strap-on made of leather strips and a Horker Hawn,Kinky Bitch!!