Skyrim

[Jackalope1977]

The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Legendary Edition PS3 093155160026 | eBay

 

[Jackalope1977]

Okay, I'm officially caving. If I can get a "like-new" Skyrim Legendary Edition on eBay for under $40, I'll go that route. If not, I think I'll do $25 on Amazon for the regular game.

See above post.

 

[wizards8507]

Skyrim was supposed to come today but Amazon Prime has let me down. It appears to be stuck in Chattanooga.

#firstworldproblems

Finished the main quest of Oblivion last night. Kind of lame that the last task was "run away from daedra so that another dude can become a dragon and beat the final boss while you watch via cutscene."

 

[ulukinatme]

Finished the main quest of Oblivion last night. Kind of lame that the last task was "run away from daedra so that another dude can become a dragon and beat the final boss while you watch via cutscene."

Yeah, that's the usual gripe with the ending of Oblivion, but to be honest, even as the hero of Tamriel, what hope would you have against a 7 story tall Daedric Lord that's manifested into your world? Your sword is little more than a toothpick to him. It was still a pretty cool battle to witness, a bit of a let down that your only killing involves the little Daedra roaming the streets, but you did the heavy lifting getting to that point. You're also instrumental in getting Martin to the temple, if I remember correctly. In my opinion the final battle in Skyrim is better, but I prefer Oblivion's overall story.

 

[wizards8507]

How long until my character stops sucking? I'm level 7 initially focussing on one handed, block, and heavy armor and I can barely walk from one town to another (while staying primarily on the road) without getting my ass kicked by bandits and ice wolves. I kill one or two no problem, but when I get swarmed I don't stand a chance.

 

[ACamp1900]

Sneak, Bow, Arrow and Spells = the cure for suck.

 

[ulukinatme]

How long until my character stops sucking? I'm level 7 initially focussing on one handed, block, and heavy armor and I can barely walk from one town to another (while staying primarily on the road) without getting my ass kicked by bandits and ice wolves. I kill one or two no problem, but when I get swarmed I don't stand a chance.

What kind of armor/weapon materials are you using? If you're focusing on melee you should be using some good Steel at least by level 7, or better if you've got access to Dwarven materials. If you're working on Smithing at all you can really improve your weapons and armor as well, especially at higher levels with Flawless/Legendary improvements. Enchanting can also really boost your armor and weapons....but it's even more expensive than Smithing to train....and it can be a real pain in the ass.

Do you have a Follower? A Follower is a HUGE boon, depending on which one you go with. You have access to one as soon as you got to Riverwood. Faendal or Sven are the first ones available to you, but there are better ones out there (Aela, Mjoll the Lioness, J'zargo, etc. I find Cicero good for a laugh later on too) The game is structured in such a way that it expects you to have one on most difficulty levels. If you need someone to soak up damage, any of the housecarls do a decent job. If you need extra damage, go for someone decent with a bow or someone like Mjoll. Be sure to give them armor and weapons too, especially anything you can improve at the forge!

When fighting Bandits, try not to engage them in open areas. I like to try and pick them off one by one. I'll find a corner, get the attention of one and lure them my way, then take them out. This prevents you from eating a ton of arrows from the rest of them. Also, be wary of characters with 2 hand weapons! Even if you're wearing heavy armor and a shield, they WILL mess you up fast if you let them power swing at you. It's a bit game breaking...but since you're working on Blocking, look into getting the Perk "Quick Reflexes." If you happen to be blocking when an NPC tries a power attack, time will slow down for everyone but you, allowing you to step to the side and completely avoid the attack while hitting your enemy back. Power attacks are the worst. They'll break your block and can stagger you, not to mention they can take out 1/2 your life depending on what kind of mob you're facing. Take out 2 handers ASAP.

When in doubt, if you're struggling, try to use Sneak attacks like ACamp said. You don't even necessarily need to use a bow, but Sneak attacks with a bow are the quickest way to level the skill. With practice and increasing skills, you can use any weapon. It takes a bit to get better at Sneak, and in Heavy armor it's easier for enemies to hear you, but when you're talking double damage when Sneak attacking with a 2 hander...or even using a dagger for 15x damage (With Perks), you're talking 1 hit kills that can allow you to slip back into the shadows before anyone hears what you did.

 

[wizards8507]

What kind of armor/weapon materials are you using? If you're focusing on melee you should be using some good Steel at least by level 7, or better if you've got access to Dwarven materials. If you're working on Smithing at all you can really improve your weapons and armor as well, especially at higher levels with Flawless/Legendary improvements. Enchanting can also really boost your armor and weapons....but it's even more expensive than Smithing to train....and it can be a real pain in the ass.

Do you have a Follower? A Follower is a HUGE boon, depending on which one you go with. You have access to one as soon as you got to Riverwood. Faendal or Sven are the first ones available to you, but there are better ones out there (Aela, Mjoll the Lioness, J'zargo, etc. I find Cicero good for a laugh later on too) The game is structured in such a way that it expects you to have one on most difficulty levels. If you need someone to soak up damage, any of the housecarls do a decent job. If you need extra damage, go for someone decent with a bow or someone like Mjoll. Be sure to give them armor and weapons too, especially anything you can improve at the forge!

When fighting Bandits, try not to engage them in open areas. I like to try and pick them off one by one. I'll find a corner, get the attention of one and lure them my way, then take them out. This prevents you from eating a ton of arrows from the rest of them. Also, be wary of characters with 2 hand weapons! Even if you're wearing heavy armor and a shield, they WILL mess you up fast if you let them power swing at you. It's a bit game breaking...but since you're working on Blocking, look into getting the Perk "Quick Reflexes." If you happen to be blocking when an NPC tries a power attack, time will slow down for everyone but you, allowing you to step to the side and completely avoid the attack while hitting your enemy back. Power attacks are the worst. They'll break your block and can stagger you, not to mention they can take out 1/2 your life depending on what kind of mob you're facing. Take out 2 handers ASAP.

When in doubt, if you're struggling, try to use Sneak attacks like ACamp said. You don't even necessarily need to use a bow, but Sneak attacks with a bow are the quickest way to level the skill. With practice and increasing skills, you can use any weapon. It takes a bit to get better at Sneak, and in Heavy armor it's easier for enemies to hear you, but when you're talking double damage when Sneak attacking with a 2 hander...or even using a dagger for 15x damage (With Perks), you're talking 1 hit kills that can allow you to slip back into the shadows before anyone hears what you did.

Wow, thanks for all that. Is there any concern of leveling up too quickly if I do a lot of sneaking and shooting? I read that melee-focussed characters should try and stay away from non-melee skills because their level will outpace their fighting abilities. Like you said, those two-handed power attacks have been what really gets me. What's the best way to level-up smithing? Just mine ores and make/sell a ton of daggers? Very few merchants are selling anything better than iron at this point but I do have an orcish sword and a few steel pieces.

 

[ulukinatme]

I played through Skyrim the last few weeks, just hitting the main quests. I've decided to start another character: a Khajiit and practice "Cat-ra-te"

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vQ2baj_mGLk?list=PLnMlh8dHsRY9QiTsFEzjrPEVXLPUSKS_C" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Episode 2 "Friendship Smash" is pretty good too.

 

[ulukinatme]

Wow, thanks for all that. Is there any concern of leveling up too quickly if I do a lot of sneaking and shooting? I read that melee-focussed characters should try and stay away from non-melee skills because their level will outpace their fighting abilities. Like you said, those two-handed power attacks have been what really gets me. What's the best way to level-up smithing? Just mine ores and make/sell a ton of daggers? Very few merchants are selling anything better than iron at this point but I do have an orcish sword and a few steel pieces.

Sneaking and Shooting is really an easy path to follow because the better you get at Sneaking, the less you actually have to go toe-to-toe with mobs as you'll take them out easily with Sneak attacks. Of course, there will be a few circumstances where you can't avoid it, such as boss fights that lock you in a room with no cover. It certainly makes dungeons easy to clear out when they never see you till an arrow from the shadows happens to pierce their skull and they fall over.

It's alright to level Smithing, it's just not suggested to knock out 40 points of it in one sitting. It's fine to craft a bunch of stuff and move up 10 points or so, add a Smithing Perk to craft better stuff, and then do it again in another 4-5 levels. Not to mention the fact that certain materials don't spawn until later levels, like Ebony, so theres not much point dumping all your resources into something like Smithing early on.

As far as HOW to level Smithing, it's based on the value of the weapon/armor you're crafting. Daggers are cheap and therefore don't increase your skill by a large about, yet they're still cheap to make and so they can be an easy way to skill up. I play around with what I'm leveling on, it all depends on what materials you have a lot of and what's available to you. At later levels, crafting Steel Plate Armor is a great way to skill up because it's very expensive, yet the materials are fairly cheap. After you've visited Dwarven ruins, Dwarven items become another great way to skill up Smithing as I believe you can melt down Dwarven scrap metals for extra ingots. Don't forget to have the Warrior stone active when Smithing, it'll give you bigger skill gains. It also helps to have gotten the "Rested" bonus prior to crafting a bunch of items.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

ulukinatme gave you some good advice. I'll emphasize one of his points and contradict him on another.

Quick Reflexes is hugely important. Melee enemies will almost always power attack when they can, so simply raise your shield and wait for time to slow. Once it does, release block, side step, and counter with a power attack of your own. Very effective and fun, since it's interactive.

I'd recommend against leveling up Archery much, though. Skyrim is much more enjoyable when you put some limits on your character and try to focus on immersion. A Dragonborn who's good at everything gets boring really quickly. I can't recall any situations that simply required a good ranged skill. Even against dragons, they'll land quickly as long as there's room nearby. If there's not, run somewhere there is. Also, Archery requires Sneak to be effective, and it's difficult to sneak in Heavy Armor.

If you must have a ranged skill though, go to Riverwood and finish Faendal's quest to gain his favor. Ask him to follow you, have him train you in Archery, and then simply take your gold back through trade. You can get to level 50 very quickly this way. Once you've completed the Companions quest line, Aela can take you 75 using the same method (and you really should go join the Companions in Whiterun ASAP based on your character type).

Though as I mentioned before, I think you'll have more fun as a strictly melee-range fighter. Focus on One-Handed, Block, and Heavy Armor. Craft lots of vegetable soup, as it allows for unlimited Shield Bashes and Power Attacks. Pick up Smithing and/ or Enchanting if you feel your gear is lacking. A few points in Restoration are helpful, too, since you can heal safely behind a shield. And a few points in Speech are always good, since everyone needs money. But that's about it.

If you're using Heavy Armor, you must have either the Steed Stone or the Conditioning perk. It's difficult to recommend a specific perk allocation in Heavy Armor since there are a lot of crappy ones in there (like the two pre-reqs for Conditioned =/), so stick with the Steed Stone. If you can tell me which armor set you think looks best, I'll give you the most efficient perk point allocation to hit the armor cap.

This build should help you through the early game, along with some points in Heavy Armor, but I'm not sure how many you'll need to invest until I know which end set you intend to use. As I mentioned above, the Heavy Armor tree kinda sucks, so you don't want to spend any more points in it than necessary. In One Handed, stay away from the Weapon Spec perks; they're also very weak. The linked build will maximize your damage when using a shield; you could also pick up the dual wield talents to give yourself an offensive boost versus Archers and Mages, but you'd lose the benefit of those situational Shield perks. Block is an awesome tree, and really makes combat more interesting. Avoid Shield Charge because it's buggy and trivializes a lot of fights. Pick up the Bash perks if you really like whacking stuff with your Shield, but you don't really need them.

 

[ulukinatme]

Whiskey is a great source of knowledge too, I approve. Archery does take some of the fun out of it, especially if you boost it with Sneak. Besides, there aren't any badass decapitation scenes with bow kills It's all about the immersion. If you're untouchable and theres no challenge, where's the fun? My last melee build relied only on purchased potions to stay alive, it makes it more interesting to believe my mana bar didn't exist. Of course I had a Healing spell since they give you one at the beginning of the game, but would Conan use a Healing spell? Of course not. Just like my unarmed Monk I'm playing with wouldn't use traditional armor or weapons, just the fists.

 

[wizards8507]

Level 10 and I can proudly report that my guy no longer sucks. I'm having WAY more fun that a week ago when I couldn't even walk from town to town on a main road without getting slaughtered by Frostbite Spiders. I had really taken for granted the Woodland Grace benefit from the Boots of the Crusader in Oblivion.

Does anyone else find Barbas the invincible dog to be a bit game-breaky? I can't decide if it's awesome or lame that I can enter a mine and he kills everything inside before I even have to draw my bow.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Level 10 and I can proudly report that my guy no longer sucks. I'm having WAY more fun that a week ago when I couldn't even walk from town to town on a main road without getting slaughtered by Frostbite Spiders. I had really taken for granted the Woodland Grace benefit from the Boots of the Crusader in Oblivion.

Did you take some time to level up a ranged skill, or are you sticking with 1h + shield?

Does anyone else find Barbas the invincible dog to be a bit game-breaky? I can't decide if it's awesome or lame that I can enter a mine and he kills everything inside before I even have to draw my bow.

An invincible follower definitely has the potential to trivialize a lot of content. There are many quest-related followers that are flagged "Essential" until their specific quest is finished, until which they can't be killed. Barbas is one of those. I'd suggest you finish his quest for that reason. The quest reward -- the Masque of Clavicus Vile-- is one of the most useful in the game.

 

[wizards8507]

Did you take some time to level up a ranged skill, or are you sticking with 1h + shield?

I dabble in archery. Initially I didn't seem to be getting any bonus from a sneak attack but somewhere along the way it kicked in. I'm not sure if it was a level-up in archery, a level-up in sneak, or if it was there all along and I just completely overlooked it.

An invincible follower definitely has the potential to trivialize a lot of content. There are many quest-related followers that are flagged "Essential" until their specific quest is finished, until which they can't be killed. Barbas is one of those. I'd suggest you finish his quest for that reason. The quest reward -- the Masque of Clavicus Vile-- is one of the most useful in the game.

I haven't been remotely close to Rimerock Burrow where the Rueful Axe is. I've put off finishing the quest for now since there's nowhere nearby for me to fast travel. My wife has a work dinner tonight so I'll probably get around to it.

 

[zelezo vlk]

I finally got this and all other games out of my head and now you guys are making me wanna okay again..

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[ulukinatme]

I dabble in archery. Initially I didn't seem to be getting any bonus from a sneak attack but somewhere along the way it kicked in. I'm not sure if it was a level-up in archery, a level-up in sneak, or if it was there all along and I just completely overlooked it.

Just like your 1 hander, your bow damage will go up as your Archery skill improves. Your damage won't actually go up as your Sneak increases, but it'll be easier to stay in Stealth for those nasty 3x Sneak Attacks (Deadly Aim Perk), and easier to return to Stealth for another one of course.

I finally got this and all other games out of my head and now you guys are making me wanna okay again..

I know. I was content not playing Bethesda games for awhile, but Kuehnja's bump of this thread (Quitter!) got me talking, and I decided to install some new mods and start a new character. I'm really enjoying this Kahjiit I've made, and using all unarmed attacks is sweet. One of the mods I've been using is this, it comes with a dojo:
New Unarmed Hand to Hand Skill by Budcat at Skyrim Nexus - mods and community
The death blows are great if you add the Dance of Death mod:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bLaSoZ70Iuo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

One of the unarmed death blows causes you to knee the other guy in the groin and flip him over. Theres another where you German Suplex the guy if you attack him from behind.

 

[koonja]

After conquering metal gear, I'm buying Skyrim again today.

 

[ACamp1900]

After conquering metal gear, I'm buying Skyrim again today.

Got Metal Gear Collection for the Vita... Sons of Liberty was a good game, never played Snake Eater, so we'll see.

 

[koonja]

Got Metal Gear Collection for the Vita... Sons of Liberty was a good game, never played Snake Eater, so we'll see.

Snake Eater is the best one by far IMO.

 

[blueNDgold44]

Skyrim was only $10 on the 360 dashboard on Saturday as one of the daily deals they are doing so I figured I would try it out. I had to restart within an hour because I killed a chicken and the guy for the main quest tried to kill me because of it haha.

 

[zelezo vlk]

I got this game again eight days ago. Breton battlemage.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[koonja]

So I'm still an excellent lock picker.

Am I the only person that finds the sound of picking up the glowing mushroom very annoying? It's a primitive game of bear hunting, giant thrashing, and ax swinging, and that subtle 'tisk' sound bothers me.

 

[wizards8507]

Some of the glitches in this game are driving me nuts. Right now I have a stupid amulet I can't get rid of because it's a "quest item" even though I've beaten that quest, and another quest I've completed that continues to be displayed in my "Miscellaneous" menu.

 

[ulukinatme]

After conquering metal gear, I'm buying Skyrim again today.

You have chosen wisely

So I'm still an excellent lock picker.

Am I the only person that finds the sound of picking up the glowing mushroom very annoying? It's a primitive game of bear hunting, giant thrashing, and ax swinging, and that subtle 'tisk' sound bothers me.

I've always enjoyed the lock picking in the Elder Scrolls/Fallout games. I almost prefer the Oblivion style though. It was more complex, but maybe people complained about it and that's why they simplified. The game gave you anywhere from 1-5 tumblers that you had to knock up into place. I guess an image would help:

Anyway, based on which tumblers were present, you had to knock each one up and hit the button once it reached it's apex. If you didn't time it correctly, the tumbler would fall back down and often it would reset any others that you already completed, forcing you to start from scratch. Seems simple, but the tumblers often didn't move at the same speeds, and they would vary how...sticky the springs were behind them at times. Sometimes the tumbler bounced right up (Which made it tougher to time it right), other times it slowly pushed against the spring (Making it easier to pick). It was probably more time consuming, and I know a few buddies that strongly dislike lock picking all together...yet they never can seem to avoid a locked door or chest despite the fact that very few quests require you to access either.

As far as the mushroom picking sound...need the PC version so you can change it or remove it if you want :smilewink That, or you can pretend that your character refuses to touch any flora when out in the wilderness. Then you'll have to just buy all your ingredients.

Some of the glitches in this game are driving me nuts. Right now I have a stupid amulet I can't get rid of because it's a "quest item" even though I've beaten that quest, and another quest I've completed that continues to be displayed in my "Miscellaneous" menu.

What quest item and quest are they, and what console are you playing on? This does seem to happen from time to time, although I haven't had it happen on PC in quite awhile. The nice thing about quest items is that most don't have any weight to them, so at least they aren't contributing to your pack. On PC theres a couple nice mods that fix any quest items that get bugged and you're unable to drop, same for quests that fail to move to completed. Theres also a handy mod for PC called SkyUI that completely overhauls the Skyrim menu system so theres not so much clutter and allows better sorting.

 

[wizards8507]

What quest item and quest are they, and what console are you playing on? This does seem to happen from time to time, although I haven't had it happen on PC in quite awhile. The nice thing about quest items is that most don't have any weight to them, so at least they aren't contributing to your pack. On PC theres a couple nice mods that fix any quest items that get bugged and you're unable to drop, same for quests that fail to move to completed. Theres also a handy mod for PC called SkyUI that completely overhauls the Skyrim menu system so theres not so much clutter and allows better sorting.

I'm on Xbox 360 unfortunately, so no PC mods for me. I'm stuck with a "Strange Amulet" because I skipped some steps in the Blood on the Ice quest (necromancer doing a bunch of murder). I was able to complete the quest but I didn't talk to the right NPCs along the way to have the item released. I also completed "Return to Grace" where you have to convince the executed guy's mother to go back to Temple. The quest was completed and Amulet of Talos was released from being a quest item, but it's still in my "Miscellaneous" menu. Neither of these are any more than annoyances but I like to play a "clean" game so it kind of nags at me.

 

[ulukinatme]

Ahhh, yeah, I've had issues with the Strange Amulet in the past. Short of reloading a previous save game, check this out:

Although the Amulet cannot be sold or dropped even after the quest has been completed (due to it still being regarded as a Quest item), it can be "given" to the corpse of Susanna the Wicked or Arivanya.
If the player managed to save Arivanya from being murdered, they can put the Strange Amulet into her inventory by pickpocketing her and giving it to her.

The other one doesn't seem to have a work around on X-Box, all you can do is try reloading a previous save and trying it again:

Bug: This quest may stay in the miscellaneous quest section even after completion.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

So I'm still an excellent lock picker.

I recently discovered that holding a torch in your off-hand makes lock-picking significantly easier. On one hand, it's nice that the mini-game can be mastered without too much frustration. On the other hand, the entire Lockpicking perk tree is pretty useless since one can easily pick every lock they come across without investing a single point in it.

Am I the only person that finds the sound of picking up the glowing mushroom very annoying? It's a primitive game of bear hunting, giant thrashing, and ax swinging, and that subtle 'tisk' sound bothers me.

Nirnroot? It's a holdover from Oblivion. And yes, I think everyone compulsively harvests them-- whether they need them or not-- simply to make that noise stop.

I've always enjoyed the lock picking in the Elder Scrolls/Fallout games.

IIRC, the main difference between Skyrim and FO3 is that locks were divided into 5 different tiers-- Very Easy, Easy, Average, Hard and Very Hard-- and you couldn't even access the mini-game unless your skill was high enough for a given locks tier. This made lockpicking one of the most important skills in the game. But FO has always been more RPG than Action game, and Lockpicking was frequently one of several alternatives for advancing toward a goal. In Skyrim, it's mostly just for getting loot. In other words, I'm not sure how to make Lockpicking perks more attractive without depriving non-Thieves of a lot of important loot.

I've been playing around with limited character templates to maximize immersion and fun. ulukinatme and I have both plugged the "pure" Mage before-- only Mage-oriented perks, cloth armor, Expert difficulty, etc.-- and it's still probably my favorite way to play the game. But I've been having a blast playing as a Block-oriented pure Warrior on Expert recently. The key is to eschew Magic Resistance and rely heavily on Quick Reflexes, Deflect Arrows and Elemental Protection. It makes combat much more tactical; you have tools to handle every type of enemy, but you can't just stand there and tank arrows or fireballs while you dispatch the melee fighters.

 

[ulukinatme]

Nirnroot? It's a holdover from Oblivion. And yes, I think everyone compulsively harvests them-- whether they need them or not-- simply to make that noise stop.

I think he's talking about the actual sound effect that occurs when you harvest an ingredient like a glowing mushroom. It is kind of an odd sound I guess, but it never bugged me all that much.

IIRC, the main difference between Skyrim and FO3 is that locks were divided into 5 different tiers-- Very Easy, Easy, Average, Hard and Very Hard-- and you couldn't even access the mini-game unless your skill was high enough for a given locks tier. This made lockpicking one of the most important skills in the game. But FO has always been more RPG than Action game, and Lockpicking was frequently one of several alternatives for advancing toward a goal. In Skyrim, it's mostly just for getting loot. In other words, I'm not sure how to make Lockpicking perks more attractive without depriving non-Thieves of a lot of important loot.

I've been playing around with limited character templates to maximize immersion and fun. ulukinatme and I have both plugged the "pure" Mage before-- only Mage-oriented perks, cloth armor, Expert difficulty, etc.-- and it's still probably my favorite way to play the game. But I've been having a blast playing as a Block-oriented pure Warrior on Expert recently. The key is to eschew Magic Resistance and rely heavily on Quick Reflexes, Deflect Arrows and Elemental Protection. It makes combat much more tactical; you have tools to handle every type of enemy, but you can't just stand there and tank arrows or fireballs while you dispatch the melee fighters.

I never considered the fact that Fallout does prevent you from even attempting a lock if you're not skilled enough to try it, while Oblivion/Skyrim at least let you make an attempt. The same thing went for any Fallout Science/Hacking mini games. That's an interesting point, Whiskey. Perhaps it is because of Fallout's RPG background. While there aren't a lot of quests that prevent you from forging ahead without those skills, I can think of a few that bar your progress.

I am pretty disappointed with a number of the perks in the Lockpicking tree though, as well as a few in the Pickpocketing/Sneak lines. The one nice thing about Fallout is that you're never forced to take a crummy perk in order to reach a better one (Unless you're short on a required stat and need to use a perk to increase it). While there are certainly some weaker perks in Fallout, it's never necessary to take one, so it almost always feels like your decision is meaningful when you level up and get access to a new perk. On the other hand, in Skyrim theres so many weak perks that are stepping stones to better ones, (Especially in the Lockpicking and Pickpocketing trees) it probably would have been best if both skills were combined. I've been considering restarting another new game soon and trying one of the Perk Overhaul mods.

I haven't played a pure Mage build in a year or so, but it's high time I try an old school sword and shield template again. I've definitely been tempted to play around with it and use Quick Reflexes once more. Unfortunately the last time I went with a sword & shield combo /w Quick Reflexes, I had some horrible bug where my game would get completely stuck in slow motion whenever Quick Reflexes would fire off. It was awesome when the perk worked, and when it didn't I was forced to move to another zone and come back before the effect would disappear. I'm not sure what caused it, but it ruined shields for me at the time. It was really fun when it worked though, and despite my bug I still suggested the build to wizards because I think it's worth it.

Heres a guy that had the same bug, he ended up removing the perk all together, which is what I did too: Slow motion issue. - Steam Users' Forums

Interesting note about Mages and lockpicking: I was a bit miffed they didn't include lockpicking spells to Skyrim like they had for the previous games. I like the mini game, as mentioned, but as a character I didn't think it was realistic to have a nerdy Mage picking locks with tools like a Thief. So, I created lockpicking spells similar to the old ones from Morrowind/Oblivion. Downside is...the spells only work for me I uploaded the mod to the Skyrim Nexus, but Bethesda changed their toolkit a bit when they did Skyrim. At the time it wasn't a well known fact, but scripts have to be included with mods now, they're not automatically packaged. As a result, no one can use my spells, and unfortunately the scripts are stuck on a laptop with an overheating issue that I haven't been arsed to troubleshoot yet.

Open Sesame - Lockpicking Spells at Skyrim Nexus - mods and community

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I am pretty disappointed with a number of the perks in the Lockpicking tree though, as well as a few in the Pickpocketing/Sneak lines. The one nice thing about Fallout is that you're never forced to take a crummy perk in order to reach a better one (Unless you're short on a required stat and need to use a perk to increase it). While there are certainly some weaker perks in Fallout, it's never necessary to take one, so it almost always feels like your decision is meaningful when you level up and get access to a new perk. On the other hand, in Skyrim theres so many weak perks that are stepping stones to better ones, (Especially in the Lockpicking and Pickpocketing trees) it probably would have been best if both skills were combined. I've been considering restarting another new game soon and trying one of the Perk Overhaul mods.

That's a great idea.

I haven't played a pure Mage build in a year or so, but it's high time I try an old school sword and shield template again. I've definitely been tempted to play around with it and use Quick Reflexes once more. Unfortunately the last time I went with a sword & shield combo /w Quick Reflexes, I had some horrible bug where my game would get completely stuck in slow motion whenever Quick Reflexes would fire off. It was awesome when the perk worked, and when it didn't I was forced to move to another zone and come back before the effect would disappear. I'm not sure what caused it, but it ruined shields for me at the time. It was really fun when it worked though, and despite my bug I still suggested the build to wizards because I think it's worth it.

That's happened to me a couple times, but there are a lot of ways to fix it: (1) waiting for the enemy to power attack again; (2) talking to your follower; (3) saving and reloading; or (4) entering a new zone. It also seems to happen most frequently when one interrupts a power attack with a shield bash. Since I almost always side-step instead of bashing when QR kicks in, I rarely ever get stuck in Slow Time now.