Skyrim, or, How I Ruined My LifeFollow

Ignoring the graphics engine, because going into graphics discussions can get silly, I'd be surprised if the points and gear systems are really all that different from other shooters out there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going quite so far as to say it's the equivalent of a DLC roster update being charged at full game price*. Just that the gameplay of every shooter I've played thus far in the modern generation has felt pretty much the same, and with so little focus on the story, they kinda run together for me.

That's what I love about RPGs. The focus being so heavily on the story, you can release a game with the same exact gameplay and as long as the story's different, it really is a whole new game.


*Spoilerlol Madden.

Boiling Skyrim down to any set of RPG elements would be inherently disingenuous. To give any kind of acceptable set of criteria for defining it, you should really just leave it at the open world system. Skyrim isn't really about leveling up or killing dragons, it's about freedom.

So you have 4 options:

1. Daggers
2. Swords
3. Axes
4. Maces

These are sorted by weapon speed, from fastest to slowest. I'm pretty sure their stamina cost per swing changes too, but I'm not sure (I imagine it's a factor of weapon weight).

Daggers and Swords get a chance to crit, and increased points in that perk buff the chance and the amount it crits for.

Axes add bleed damage, more with increased perks.

Maces will ignore up to 75% of armor.

Axes look useless to me. Well, not "useless" but not super useful either. It depends partly on how long the bleed is. And intense, but short, bleed would be nice. But anything drawn out? Nah. I face too few foes where that would be useful. Add in a slower swing speed and meh.

Maces look solid. 75% armor penetration is great. But they don't see any bonus on unarmored enemies. And IDK what the breakdown is with regards to health and armor with enemies. I imagine Maces are good against a lot of humanoids, but useless for a lot of creatures (like mammoths, giants, bears). It seems to me that Dragon Priests are probably unarmored too, but I have no way of knowing that for sure. Dragons, too--are they armored in game mechanics, or is it just extremely high health? Etc.

Swords are my preference. Crit isn't the best, but it is useful against everything. They have a fast swing speed, but still do good damage. Their kill animations are great. They look best (to me). Plus, their damage bonus is exponential. Armor penetration is great, but I imagine that unit armor isn't going to increase forever. Once you start getting really good weapons, I'm guessing swords will outpace Maces on all but the most heavily-armored foes.

He woke at daybreak to the snow gently falling to the ground, in the distance he could barely recognize the other apartment buildings from the foggy haze the snow creates. He reached for my usual weapon of choice, a cup of folder's dark roast coffee brewed strong from the magical contraption known as a Mr. Coffee. As he felt the warm embrace of Mara's own nectar embrace his tongue, the surge of the ancient language spilled from his mouth like water over the falls. "FUS RO DAH" He exclaimed! He quickly huddled back into the warmth of his bed, his slumbered maiden at his side. He thought to myself, "I'm going to play the **** out of Skyrim today."

It's snowing finally! My wife has drill this weekend 4 hours away and I'm getting out of work early for mucho skyrim. I'm thinking it's high time I join the stormcloak's or the dark brotherhood who knows! Maybe I'll work on alchemy! It's an adventure!!!!!!

I'm making my mage side with the Empire, then having my second character (a SnB Warrior) side with the Stormcloaks.

I'm working my way through the Stormcloak side right now on my Nord. I have to say it's a pretty good story so far. The stormcloaks have given me not one but two nicknames to represent how awesome I am. (I'm guessing 3 is not far away and it's somewhat like a rank)

They did make me do something I was not happy about. I really had to push though it and felt real remorse after. But that is saying something in and of itself that the story was compelling.

I plan to make my mage toon a High Elf Thalmor/Imperial type of guy and follow that route on my second play through.

I think my thief will just stay out of it and rob them both blind.

Edited, Nov 18th 2011 12:19pm by Shojindo

So today my phone died and one of my coworkers decided his vacation starts, so I have to deal with part of his workload all while trying to reinstall all the crap on my phone. Meaning no Skyrim until Monday.

I don't really play games at home.

I figure I'll go Stormcloak when I make a new Nord. My Breton is probably going to side with the empire.

Of course, the Thalmor already hate me, because I'm a Breton who believes Talos is a god. :P They have already issued kill orders for me. :P I want to see if I can do something like try and join with the Imperials AND destroy the Thalmor presence in Skyrim.

One thing that is irritating me about the Imperial side, though, is that Ulfric challenged the High King to a duel, and the King accepted. I mean, c'mon... Hate him for killing the king, fine. But don't pretend like you have a legal case againt him when the King agreed to an engagement in which one of the two people were definitely going to lose their lives.

Also, is there any way to track down who gave the Dark Brotherhood a contract for you? Because one just tried to kill me, and I wanna flay whoever ordered my assassination...

I'll probably lean towards the imperial side until they try to force me to choose between two equally ****** options, at which point I will just kill everyone to protest the game forcing me into rigid, crappy choices.

Hmmm...

That reminds me -- it's REALLY worth it to finish the achievement to restore the Thieves Guild to its former glory if you want to go rogue.

I vote for cold and lightning! (Unless you aren't bothering to get that perk...)

Battlemages can work great. Especially if you invest in the alteration tree.