The Elder Scrolls

[BenLuke]

But it was only six seventy nineeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. . .What's wrong with buying a download version of Morrowind, though?

Edited August 3, 2012 by BenLuke-116

[Havelock Vetinari]

Look, I don't install many things on the computer. I don't have any games on my computer in fact.Besides, you've no right to scold me, I know what you did with your copy of Skyrim. Shameful.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Basilisk

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

I didn't by Skyrim as a digital copy. I bought it at the store and installed it from the disk, expecting to have it be like all previous ES games where I just needed to put the disk in the drive and hit Play to start. I had no plans on needing to use Steam.But did I end up getting a choice? No!I've gotten used to Steam by now, but I still swear that performance has been far lower than what it would be like if it was still a game where the disk needed to be read by the computer.*Sigh* Bethesda, that was your greatest failure. I'm even counting Horse Armor.Anyways, @ BenLuke, it's because it's an abomination. Morrowind was released as a PC game on a disk copy. The idea of playing Morrowind without needing a disk in your drive, and needing to manually install Tribunal and Bloodmoon with their disks, and then going scrounging the internet for mods... blargh! A disaster, is what it is. Unless you actively searched for a physical copy and couldn't get one, no excuses.@ Basilisk; What? Sleeping with video game cases is perfectly normal. Little kids get to sleep with teddy bears, after all.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[BenLuke]

I didn't by Skyrim as a digital copy. I bought it at the store and installed it from the disk, expecting to have it be like all previous ES games where I just needed to put the disk in the drive and hit Play to start. I had no plans on needing to use Steam.But did I end up getting a choice? No!

You can, in fact, install install Skyrim off the disk (At least, you can with Portal 2, I don't actually own the disk for Skyrim. ), it just requires a bit of fiddling and isn't really worth it.Also: What are some of the best Morrowind mods? I'd especially like something that makes the character models less. . .awful.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

When you put the disk into the drive with Skyrim, you have to make a Steam account and put Steam on your computer, and then give the code on the disk to open it up digitally. After that, the disk is worthless.I liked the old way of doing things because I could loan a disk to a friend and let them use it on their computer to test a game. Or we could install the game throughout the house and swap the disk between computers to playOverall, sucks.As for mods, there aren't many mods for Morrowind that affect the character models. There's a few, but most of them would not be appropriate for mention on this site. Mods you do need, though - Tamriel Rebuilt. They're currently on the 3rd area, and have more to come. Tamriel Rebuilt or bust.Other than that, find what you want. I know a lot of people install this one moderator that makes it so the PC's attacks always hit (unless you're using a custom race), but that more of a thing for their personal taste.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Takatu]

I didn't know there was an enableplayercontrols command. :| I'll give that a shot. Even after the cutscene though, my objective doesn't update saying I've read the Scroll, but hopefully I can still talk to Serana and bypass that, I'll let you know.Also, it's the quest Unseen Visions, vampire side.EDIT: YES! Fixed! That command worked, was able to talk to Serana and finish the quest, big thanks Katuko! EDIT 2: Well, that's a somewhat unfortunate side effect. The Ancestor Moths, going by how the Scroll reading is supposed to happen, should disappear after receiving the vision. Since I had to bypass it with the console, they seem permanently stuck to me. They followed me all the way to Darkfall Cave lol. Anyone know how to get rid of em? They move around too much and too fast for me to select them and deactivate them with the console, and there's like fifteen of em circling me.EDIT 3: Sigh, yet another glitch. Toward the end of Touching the Sky, found Vyrthur, I know what's supposed to happen, but after the first wave of Falmer and Chaurus the scripted sequence won't start. Reloaded a save a few times to no avail. Console command to force the quest forward doesn't seem to be helping either. Hmm.

Edited August 4, 2012 by Takatu

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

You know, my Morrowind CD never told me "Morrowind is unavailable right now" or "Disc cannot connect to the Steam Cloud" or occupied a spot on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen....It did, however, like having people listen to it talk about its feelings. I didn't mind, because I couldn't hear it. It just sat there, talking while I listened but didn't listen.Also, just wanted to say the End Boss (while I'd be surprised anybody doesn't know who it is, I guess somebody might not - you know who I'm talking about) is totally underpowered compared to even an Elder Dragon. The bat transport made it a bit harder, and happens fast enough that a Slow Time attempt was awkwardly wasted after a single strike. But I don't think he had any armor, his attacks aren't nearly strong enough to harm you at the armor cap... meh. It could have been more impressive of a fight. Seriously - unnamed Dragon Priests could lay him out on the floor.Then again, Liches are the most powerful type of undead, and the Dragon Priests are Liches from the beginning of human history in Skyrim.@ Takatu; Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling Dawnguard? You might just have a fault download or something, because I didn't have a problem like that either. The moth thing sounds kind of cool though, sorry. -Toa Levacius Zehvor

[BBBBalta]

I'm playing through Skyrim for the first time, and I was wondering - what exactly is the difference between Kyne's Peace and Animal Allegiance? I get that the target is neutral with the first and fights for you with the second, but wouldn't that mean the first is just a less-powerful version of the second? Or does Kyne's Peace also affect non-humanoids that aren't animals?Hope that made sense.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

I'm playing through Skyrim for the first time, and I was wondering - what exactly is the difference between Kyne's Peace and Animal Allegiance? I get that the target is neutral with the first and fights for you with the second, but wouldn't that mean the first is just a less-powerful version of the second? Or does Kyne's Peace also affect non-humanoids that aren't animals?Hope that made sense.

It took me a while to get all of this straight myself, but here's your answer -Animal Allegiance forces the animals to fight for you, Kynes Peace just makes them ignore you. They have about the same radius per word, and have the same levels of animal affected (I believe everything but Mammoths). Allegiance is superior in that it makes them fight for you, but in every other way Kyne's Peace has the advantage - it takes less time to recharge, meaning you can use it more frequently. It also lasts a lot longer - you can use it again before the last group you used it on resumes hostilities, in fact.~~~Oh, and on the subject of shouts, Soul Tear is epic. I believe it does more damage than any other shouts, plus the soul trap and animation working on almost anything but Automatons, Dragons, and maybe Daedra - I haven't tested yet. In any case, it's a good way to capture a soul when you don't want to occupy a hand with magic.Also, because I didn't need the Head Slot for full AC, I took the Crown over the Scepter and Shield.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Havelock Vetinari]

Got Morrowind.Won't be one much for awhile. Back to tomb raiding. See ya.

[BBBBalta]

I believe everything but Mammoths

I'm pretty sure Animal Allegiance affects mammoths. One time I stumbled on a couple of giants herding mammoths and used Animal Allegiance to get the mammoths to kill the giants. Of course, then it wore off and the mammoths killed me, but that's beside the point.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

I believe everything but Mammoths

I'm pretty sure Animal Allegiance affects mammoths. One time I stumbled on a couple of giants herding mammoths and used Animal Allegiance to get the mammoths to kill the giants. Of course, then it wore off and the mammoths killed me, but that's beside the point.

Let me rephrase that - it shouldn't work. Mammoths are like Level 30 or something, and can be used for Grand soul gems (Giants, for reference, are Greater). Both shouts cap at Level 20. If they didn't, something isn't working right.Are you sure they were attacking the Giants? Did you see a Mammoth attack a Giant?-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Takatu]

The moths were kinda cool, but after a while they get irritating, when I'm trying to talk to an NPC and I only see glimpses of their face between moth wings. Much as it pains me to do so, since I made it to the very end of the second-to-last quest lol, I'm going to reinstall Dawnguard. I should have read up on bugs earlier, because there was one I ran into right after Harkon made me a vampire lord that said the only fix was to re-install, but since it didn't impede the quest per se, I kind of ignored it. Oh well.EDIT: So, uh, not to sound dumb (even though I am lol)... How to I go about uninstalling just Dawnguard?

Edited August 5, 2012 by Takatu

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

The moths were kinda cool, but after a while they get irritating, when I'm trying to talk to an NPC and I only see glimpses of their face between moth wings. Much as it pains me to do so, since I made it to the very end of the second-to-last quest lol, I'm going to reinstall Dawnguard. I should have read up on bugs earlier, because there was one I ran into right after Harkon made me a vampire lord that said the only fix was to re-install, but since it didn't impede the quest per se, I kind of ignored it. Oh well.EDIT: So, uh, not to sound dumb (even though I am lol)... How to I go about uninstalling just Dawnguard?

I dunno. Maybe Google does, though. (I know that's usually meant to be mean, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to do it )I never actually worried, since I just figured I would go back to a previous save if there was a bug. If it was threatening something, I would just open up the Sykrim thing and deactivate the check mark on the ESM file.Also - Vampire attacks don't seem that bad. But I rarely return to town, so meh.Though while in Dragon Bridge for the one quest, I did manage to do it. Dragons and Vampires. Well, almost. Theoretically, if that Dragon had appeared five minutes later, it would have happened. I fast traveled to town, and the Vamps attacked. So I killed them all viciously and Serana reanimated one. We walked around town talking to people and then went into the Penitus Oculatus Outpost after some three minutes later.As soon as I get out with no luck from them, do you know what happens? Ancient Dragon from nowhere lands. I manage to even perform a critical blow on him and get the kill cam (on that subject - I hate spell kill cams) of jumping up on his head and going stabbity. He may not have done almost any damage to anyone but one of the dumb guards....... but he was still a tougher fight than Harkon. Probably could have taken the whole castle by himself.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Takatu]

Understandable, been looking for an excuse to use that myself for a while. I did actually Google it before asking here, but all I've gotten are 360 versions. Wasn't sure if the Data Files checklist would work, heh. I'll keep looking though, thanks.Also, in my time playing Dawnguard, I didn't have many vampire attacks. But then I spent very little time in the cities.

[The Lord Of Wednesday]

Out of Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, what would you guys agree is the best?

[Archer Vonn]

URGH INB4 MORROWIND FANBOYSI think the pecking order in most TES fanboy circles is Morrowind > Skyrim > Oblivionalso no offense with the word fanboy LOL

[Takatu]

I think it depends on what you like to play. I played Morrowind first not long after it came out, then Oblivion, then Skyrim. My gut wants me to say Skyrim is easily the best, if only for graphics, much better streamlined everything, and the best combat system (not the best in any game ever, of course, but definitely best for an Elder Scrolls game). Morrowind had this absolutely magical and enchanting world and atmosphere, and I think the best main questline from a story point of view. But the UI system and whatnot was kinda cluttered, and as I've said before, I despised the combat, though some people prefer it.Oblivion was a much more traditional fantasy adventure, though with a pretty dark and creepy streak if you knew where to look (implications of the Lovecraft-inspired quest, that one haunted house, Dark Brotherhood got a little freaky toward the end, Shivering Isles had some pretty weird stuff between the comedy). It lost a lot of Morrowind's uniqueness, but again, some people prefer the more traditional stuff.Skyrim is much more streamlined, but setting wise I don't think it's quite as varied as Oblivion, though Dawnguard fixes that a little. It's also a bit more "real world gritty" than Oblivion, which was a little more fantastical.

[Flex Lord Splash]

Is Dawnguard worth chucking away $20 bucks for? I actually have to pay for my games and stuff now, and I rarely ever buy DLCs because they are so expensive, but I'm seriously thinking about buying this one because Skyrim is so epic.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

@ Flex Nard; A lot of people say not to buy Dawnguard, calling it nothing more than just a bunch of new dungeons and areas. Honestly, I think it's silly - that's what Skyrim is, adventuring and performing quests in those areas. If you're not willing to investigate the entire Soul Cairn and Forgotten Vale to find every little interesting nook and cranny, then you're not a real Elder Scrolls player. Lots of stuff that's not even important to quests (a reason I liked the game Guild Wars over World of Warcraft, since the first had two major areas that were the most visually stunning in the initial game being in one case completely pointless and the second having only one quest).You can easily get 20 hours or more from Dawnguard, and completing just the main questline for one faction will take longer than some of the poor excuses for storylines you see in Call of Duty games if you're willing to look around all but the two large areas. Counting the time to maximize your favored Form power, exploring every inch of the new areas... you're looking at the 20 hours above, if not more. On multiple characters, a lot more.So you should buy Dawnguard, but as a lot of people have stated, it's got a lot of bugs right now. You might want to wait until later to buy the DLC, when bugs are fixed. The price isn't a problem, though. Unless you're actually comparing it to an Elder Scrolls game, it's one of the best deals for gameplay.@ Proud Stigma; Ooh. This one.Morrowind is my personal favorite. It's the best game if you like having a better mainquest, a feeling of accomplishment at the end, and a fantastical setting with lots of options. It's also a good place for actual roleplaying, but YMMV. It's also better for newer systems. It's the worst game if you just want a game with flashy graphics, and you require a good combat system to play (though note that it's the only game where you use different damages depending on how you move in combat dependent upon the weapon, rather than it just changing power attacks). It's also the worst game if you're a PS3 player, for obvious reasons. PC mods make it great, especially ones like Tamriel Rebuilt, and you can compensate for the bad graphics and even the combat to some extent. Some mods can even make it look like Oblivion, but I believe that a fully Morrowind taxes the system more than vanilla Oblivion.Morrowind has the most diversity in equipment, and the most pieces you can have, allowing you to make characters that look however you want. Want a pauldron missing on one arm? Okay. Want this armor combo? Sure. Want a battle skirt for your female character? Go ahead. Along that vein, you can enchant any item, as long as it is potent enough for it, and create your own spells - there's a lot of spells. Another thing is that Morrowind is the only of the three games with enemies of set levels, though it still retains leveled lists. NPCs are also set, and do not respawn with simple Bandits and the like. Thus, it's the world that's most malleable, but also the least 'alive'. So YMMV.Oblivion is my least favorite, but I still consider it a better game than most. It's the best game if you want a simple medieval feeling, and it also grants a feeling of accomplishment at the end, though NPC reactions can become annoying. It's got one of the best questlines in the series, the Dark Brotherhood questline. It's graphics are middway between the two, and can also be buffed to some degree. It's the worst game if you want a complicated story, since it's main quest is pretty much textbook fantasy. It's also the one that makes the player the least important - you can easily skip from Morrowind to Skyrim without playing Oblivion, if all you do is the main quest. Finally, the part up in the best also comes around - if you want a more fantastical game, this is not as good as Morrowind.Oblivion has the best expansion pack in the game, and continues on the tradition present with Bloodmoon in featuring a Daedric Prince as the main antagonist. Shivering Isles reclaims the more mystical feel. Note that Oblivion has the worst enemy leveling in the series - I still dread the name Goblin Warlord because of their increasing powers. The lack of enemies of set levels makes the game much less impressive, and the fact that some never stop leveling makes it irritating, even in Shivering Isles - running through a beautiful dungeon and then hitting a wall of HP is not a very heroic feeling. Oblivion, like Morrowind, has many mods - possibly the most in the series, as a matter of fact.Skyrim is the middle ground of the series. It's the best game if you want the (series') best combat and graphics, and a more down and dirty feeling of grit. It gives you some feeling of accomplishment, but it's pretty much only the guards, and they have arrows in their knees. It's the worst game if you want to truly impact the world, though - killing the Emperor himself just makes the guards nervous, and bringing an end to Alduin the World Eater doesn't do anything to the dragon menace. The enemy leveling system is slightly better than Oblivion, and diversity continues to a higher level. But it's still got the downsides of a leveling system.Skyrim is the newest of the games, with the least mods available, but some are pretty good. It's still got bugs even after all of this time, but they're not major ones, and I'm pretty sure it's mostly just Steam being stupid - I'd bet Morrowind and Oblivion would mess up just as much if I was a digital downloader like those cheapos up there (), but I still have the old disks and will only use them. It's a very good game, and it might even be the best game in the series, and the sharpest looking, but... meh. It's just not my thing.So overall, that's my analysis. Morrowind FTW though.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Takatu]

I'm about to lose it on Bethesda. Uninstalled Dawnguard, reinstalled, went back to an ancient save prior to getting the DLC in the first place, and actually things went better for the most part. I get to Castle Volkihar with Serana, let Harkon turn me into a Vampire Lord, and go through the learning process. But when I go to revert, I technically return to my normal body, but I still can't access menus as though I'm still in Vampire Lord form. Also the gate watchmen still didn't do his thing, so I had to console through that.Given it's past 3:00 in the morning, I'll tackle it again during daylight hours.

[BenLuke]

^^ Your lack of Daggerfall disturbs me.

[Wotz]

It's also the one that makes the player the least important

You can say that again:Oblivion: *joins the Blades* "Protect the Dragonborn!"Skyrim: *kills a dragon and a guard runs over* "It's like the ancient legends... You're Dragonborn!"

[BenLuke]

It's the worst game if you want to truly impact the world

Huh? What? Skyrim allows you to impact the world more then in Oblivion, what with the whole Civil War quest line and all. I can't remember being able do anything quite on that scale in the 100 or so hours I've played Oblivion.It's also a lot better at making the main threat actually threatening, Oblivion gates just sit there popping out a couple easy to kill monsters once in a while, dragons attack towns.

[Wotz]

Huh? What? Skyrim allows you to impact the world more then in Oblivion, what with the whole Civil War quest line and all. I can't remember being able do anything quite on that scale in the 100 or so hours I've played Oblivion.

What he means is the game basically stays the same save a few guards going 'well done' or 'these are dark times we live in'. Killing Alduin doesn't stop the dragons from attacking all the time, killing Harkon doesn't stop vampire attacks, etc. Sure, winning the civil war changes the guard's uniforms, but I've run into enough people who are worried about the war still being on and encountered enough Imperials that still call me 'citizen' to know that the game is still pretty much the same.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

Think of it this way. You complete the Civil War questline and NPCs change in cities. But that's it. You go to the Imperial camps to start finishing them off on your own crusade, but you can't. They just repopulate. The Legate can never be killed because they're essential. And when you beat the Main Quest, the Dragon threat doesn't recede. If anything, it gets worse, with you fighting more powerful ones. Kill Harkon? Vampires still going crazy.In Oblivion, when you beat the games Main Quest, the entire Temple District of the Imperial City is ripped apart. The ceiling of the Temple of the One is gone and there's a giant dragon statue. You talk to NPCs and they say "I heard that the 200 foot tall demon bla bla" which does get annoying, but it's cool. When you save Kvatch, you also get a huge statue made for you that's customized to your characters equipment. And all of the Oblivion gates close, too.Sure, there may not be a visible threat, but at least there's one to end. Skyrim has no way for you to stop the Dragons, or do pretty much anything major asides from the Civil War questline.Besides, the guards are no different save the uniform. There's nothing that feels any different.Oh, and the reason I didn't include Daggerfall? Because he didn't ask for Daggerfall. He asked for Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim. I thought that was obvious. -Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Wotz]

So, what are people thinking of TESO so far? I know there's not much to go on but still.Also, I really want to write a fanfic for some reason, but I have no idea what to write about. I was half thinking of starting a new game or something and recording the adventures in an exaggerated and prosified form, but that seems a bit dull.

[Takatu]

I always thought writing about the new war with the Thalmor with the Dovahkiin leading the fight against them with the Empire or Stormcloaks (or whoever) with Odahviing and possibly Durnehviir could be pretty fun.

[King of the Madness Isles]

I'm close to starting mine. It revolves around Dwemer ruins and soul-capturing technology.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

I thought about one that would be set 20-30 years later and have the protagonists be a number of the more interesting (but still rather undeveloped due to their minimal interaction with players) children NPCs as adults. But I haven't started it or anything. Just a possible idea.@ Wotz; TESO? Sorry, but I have Guild Wars 2 coming. I don't need a cheap WoW clone polluting my single-player experience. I think The Old Republic provides a perfect example of what will happen.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Takatu]

I'm pretty uninterested in TESO. Never really been big on MMOs, I feel like it's inevitable they sacrifice a lot of plot stuff for the sake of gameplay, which is just a casualty of the genre. That works for some people, but eh, I'd rather do my own thing without having to worry about other players all over the place.Finally got Dawnguard working (mostly at least, my Vampiric Grip doesn't seem to work, but everything else is fine). The Forgotten Vale was incredibly awesome. The paragon idea was cool in theory, but I never would have found them all without help from the internet. Also, the final fight was much better than the final battle against Alduin. The Soul Cairn is almost oppressively dreary and depressing. Makes sense I guess, but I found myself wanting to get out as soon as possible. Eventually went back for Arvak and the pages of Jiub's opus though. Also, why did Bethesda feel the need to take one of the biggest pains in the game - the Chaurus - and give it wings? :|Serana is pretty much the bestest best NPC ever though.

[Archer Vonn]

Fonline got scrapped, TESO is somehow still going? Wuttha? Another fantasy MMO? That'll last.Also Chaurus never gave me much trouble.

Edited August 12, 2012 by ~JC~

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

The only trouble I ever had with Chaurus was with a moderator that spawned like twenty of them at the same time. At level 10.Become Ethereal and the terrain made everything better.@ Takatu; You should really play Guild Wars, then. The game has a really great main story (or, rather, four) and I imagine GW2 will be a great game if it comes anywhere as close. And it's one of those games where a lot of stuff has no quest relevance, but is just there to look cool. Majesty's Rest, for example, is one of the most visually impressive areas in the game but has no quests linking to it.Relating to Dawnguard - Jiub was awesome to have, though. They got the same voice actor back, even made reference to the very first quote he says with his random dialogue as he stood (" 'Stand up. You were dreaming'.... Yes, that was it."). Though I found it easier to find the 10 pages then him. -Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Takatu]

I've heard that I'd probably like Guild Wars, never got around to playing it though. I actually ran into Jiub completely by accident on my way to the second (I think) Keeper. I about lost it when I heard him speak in his original Morrowind voice. I got all kinds of lost looking for his pages though, for a while other than the Boneyard, the big wall and the exit to Castle Volkihar, I had a hard time discerning any unique landmarks to tell me where I was.

[Angel Beat]

Yay Mehrunes' Razor.Also got smithing to 100.

[Mare Tranquillitatis]

I guess you got up to 100 thanks to Dwarven Bow.

[Angel Beat]

Nope, Glass daggers. :PAnd a variety of other items.

[Mare Tranquillitatis]

I can only guess how much you must have spent with those daggers. And I said that because that's how I got it up to 100 fast.

[Angel Beat]

Yeah, it really cost me. xDBut yay, dragon armors. (Don't have Dawnguard, so no Dragon weapons for meeee.)

[Inferna Firesword]

No Dawnguard for me either. Mostly waiting on more patches for it before I buy. =PAlso, did anyone else have trouble with that necromancer in Kilkreath during Meridia's Daedric quest? I still haven't beat him, and I want to know if I'm alone with this problem.(Why do Necromancers use ice spells anyway? They're not Ice Mages. He's got plenty of dead bodies he could ressurrect in his chamber down there; he could at least live up to his title before using that uber-frost-spell of doom. )-Inferna