The Elder Scrolls

[Let's Henshin!]

The Stormcloaks were far too racist for my tastes, and I read you have to

sack Whiterun

.Hence why I joined the Imperials, although it took me forever to decide.

I see your point, but

if one joins the Empire, then he'll have to raid Windhelm. But, if one kills Ulfric for the Imperials, he can be found in Sovngarde complaining about his choice to attack the Empire, this way weakening it and strengthening Thalmors.

So, the choice depends much on how the player feels "related" to a side. Each of the two have good and bad points.

Like I said it took me forever to decide, I juggled the two for a very long time fully addressing their good and bad points. Eventually though the spoiler I mentioned before is what tipped the scales. I will however go Stormcloak on my next playthrough.

[Havelock Vetinari]

Hm. Which side do you take when both are right?

[Katuko]

Neither or both. I didn't do the civil war quests on my first char. On my subsequent ones I have just joined Imperials, actually, after finding out that I think Ulfric is a racist swine. It's not like choosing any or the other will matter in the end when *someone* gets screwed over and the Thalmor are threat to everyone anyways.

[Field Marshal Rakmon]

Hm. Which side do you take when both are right?

>Implying Stormcloaks are rightBut yeah. If the Stormcloaks won, then:The Thalmor would easily take overIf Ulfric rules Skyrim any way like WIndhelm, Skyrim is screwed.Also, the Stormcloaks don't really have a valid argument for fighting. It's mainly just because Ulfric is a power-Hungry Sociopath.

[Archer Vonn]

>Greentext on BZP>Making greentext green on BZP

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

Hm. Which side do you take when both are right?

>Implying Stormcloaks are rightBut yeah. If the Stormcloaks won, then:The Thalmor would easily take overIf Ulfric rules Skyrim any way like WIndhelm, Skyrim is screwed.Also, the Stormcloaks don't really have a valid argument for fighting. It's mainly just because Ulfric is a power-Hungry Sociopath.

The thing you're not looking at is that the Nords don't need the Empire to beat the elves. Just look at Hammerfell - the Dominion were brutally driven out by the Redguards. By the time the Dominion made an attack on the empire, Skyrim would have strengthened itself enough to deal with any attack. The Elves are not suited to deal with moving through mountains and snow, or dealing with Dragons.Especially the Dragons. I lured one over to the Thalmor Embassy yesterday so I could kill off all of the ones who were in the back area, and you can't get to any other way. Not a Blood Dragon, Frost Dragon, Elder Dragon, or Ancient Dragon. Just a Dragon. At Level 40. With Elves at Level 40.Their magic was useless.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Katuko]

Regular dragons have 50% fire or frost resistance depending on what they use themselves, and is 25% weak to the other. They have 905 HP. In addition, shock spells, which the Thalmor wizards primarily use, are the weakest spells in terms of sheer damage; and the Thalmor use robes or light armor. They also have way less HP than the dragon. This means that if attacked, the Thalmor are one of the weakest factions to handle dragons due to the dragon's ability to kill them all with melee and breath attacks while they struggle to damage it back.Now, regular human soldiers VS Thalmor battlemages... several chain lightning spells in a row will down a group of warriors, for despite the shock spells being a bit weaker than the others; they still ignore armor and they hit multiple targets per casting. I can definitely see how the Thalmor can beat the Nords when most Nords don't care for magic. They might be able to get some serious resistance enchantments on their gear, but in that case the Thalmor can as well.If we look at the Dragonborn and call him/her a novice enchanter at first and later a very good one; then I believe Thalmor - magic-aligned as they are - would have plenty of enchanters around. The game doesn't really explore the possibilities, but if the Thalmor just use their skills and boost their troops properly... anyone could be extremely powerful. The Dragonborn is only special due to the Thu'um, really. While there are some really hardcore ones (such as Call Lightning or Odahviing), neither of them can really do much against 80% magic resistance and +X health and -100% magic cost for the enemy's preferred spells.

[Field Marshal Rakmon]

Hm. Which side do you take when both are right?

>Implying Stormcloaks are rightBut yeah. If the Stormcloaks won, then:The Thalmor would easily take overIf Ulfric rules Skyrim any way like WIndhelm, Skyrim is screwed.Also, the Stormcloaks don't really have a valid argument for fighting. It's mainly just because Ulfric is a power-Hungry Sociopath.

The thing you're not looking at is that the Nords don't need the Empire to beat the elves. Just look at Hammerfell - the Dominion were brutally driven out by the Redguards. By the time the Dominion made an attack on the empire, Skyrim would have strengthened itself enough to deal with any attack. The Elves are not suited to deal with moving through mountains and snow, or dealing with Dragons.Especially the Dragons. I lured one over to the Thalmor Embassy yesterday so I could kill off all of the ones who were in the back area, and you can't get to any other way. Not a Blood Dragon, Frost Dragon, Elder Dragon, or Ancient Dragon. Just a Dragon. At Level 40. With Elves at Level 40.Their magic was useless.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

Ok, your second argument is useless due to the fact that you're substituting gameplay for lore/story. Gameplay =/= Lore. And Hammerfell didn't singlehandedly drive the Aldmeri Dominon out. There was still quite a bit of Imperial Soldiers in Hammerfell, NTM they were fighting a single army, without supplies or reinforcements. Plus, they weren't actually "driven out"- They let themselves out through a formal treaty.Speaking of which, why on Earth are you not able to join the Thalmor? I absolutely love Ondolemar (He perfectly mixes arrogance and knowledge of knowing exactly what he's doing), and I really, really want to kill Delphine and Esbern. Plus, Elves are just so much cooler/better than the other peoples. I kind of hate Nords.In other news, I just got out of the Sewers in Oblivion, and I haven't the slightest idea what to do, and I'm also slightly scared to do any quests, if the radiant leveling system is anything like Skyrim's (I can't begin to explain how much the whole 'most specific tools and Followers level with you but cap at your current level and get sucky later on but are actually really good' thing makes me raeg). What should I do? My character's a Nord Barbarian, and I want to join the Arena, but am scared to (as I already explained). Any guideance? Edited June 17, 2012 by Field Marshal Rakmon

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

Hm. Which side do you take when both are right?

>Implying Stormcloaks are rightBut yeah. If the Stormcloaks won, then:The Thalmor would easily take overIf Ulfric rules Skyrim any way like WIndhelm, Skyrim is screwed.Also, the Stormcloaks don't really have a valid argument for fighting. It's mainly just because Ulfric is a power-Hungry Sociopath.

The thing you're not looking at is that the Nords don't need the Empire to beat the elves. Just look at Hammerfell - the Dominion were brutally driven out by the Redguards. By the time the Dominion made an attack on the empire, Skyrim would have strengthened itself enough to deal with any attack. The Elves are not suited to deal with moving through mountains and snow, or dealing with Dragons.Especially the Dragons. I lured one over to the Thalmor Embassy yesterday so I could kill off all of the ones who were in the back area, and you can't get to any other way. Not a Blood Dragon, Frost Dragon, Elder Dragon, or Ancient Dragon. Just a Dragon. At Level 40. With Elves at Level 40.Their magic was useless.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

Ok, your second argument is useless due to the fact that you're substituting gameplay for lore/story. Gameplay =/= Lore. And Hammerfell didn't singlehandedly drive the Aldmeri Dominon out. There was still quite a bit of Imperial Soldiers in Hammerfell, NTM they were fighting a single army, without supplies or reinforcements. Plus, they weren't actually "driven out"- They let themselves out through a formal treaty.Speaking of which, why on Earth are you not able to join the Thalmor? I absolutely love Ondolemar (He perfectly mixes arrogance and knowledge of knowing exactly what he's doing), and I really, really want to kill Delphine and Esbern. Plus, Elves are just so much cooler/better than the other peoples. I kind of hate Nords.In other news, I just got out of the Sewers in Oblivion, and I haven't the slightest idea what to do, and I'm also slightly scared to do any quests, if the radiant leveling system is anything like Skyrim's (I can't begin to explain how much the whole 'most specific tools and Followers level with you but cap at your current level and get sucky later on but are actually really good' thing makes me raeg). What should I do? My character's a Nord Barbarian, and I want to join the Arena, but am scared to (as I already explained). Any guideance?

After the Empire surrendered and signed the White Gold Concordant, Hammerfell refused to go along with it and seceded from the Empire. The Redguards forced the Aldmeri Dominion out of their lands on their own. And in any case, if it's Lore vs. gameplay, then the Dragons are even more powerful and have access to multiple shouts besides those they use. Actual descriptions of battles against Dragons in lore describe them literally stopping time around them and causing lightning to shatter the sky and strike their enemies.In that case, as soon as the Elves faced a Dragon, they would be obliterated even easier.Why not join the Thalmor? Because they're the bad guys, that's why. Unlike the Civil War questline, where there are no really good guys or bad guys (the discussion between Ulfric and Tullius at the end of the Stormcloak questline puts that in clear light), the Thalmor are evil.To summarize their plan - kill all the races of men and ascend to immortality.That is why the Psijic Order, the Blades, and pretty much everyone opposes them.My guidance? Do whatever you feel like doing and don't consult internet guides. Just have fun with the game.The leveling system basically says that an NPC will always be a certain number of levels above you. You meet certain monsters depending on your level. The highest level monsters (Lich, Gloom Wraith, Xivilai, Goblin Warlord & Shaman, Ogre, Minotaur Lord, Dremora Valkynaz) grow stronger as you level up; with the Goblin Warlords, it's ridiculous. And unlike Skyrim, it doesn't stay set.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Havelock Vetinari]

Hm. Wonderful visions of elves burning as Alduin smashes their pitiful armies now dance in my mind.Joy.

[Field Marshal Rakmon]

Meh, Good and Evil are arbitrary descriptions used to describe something from a biased POV. For example, one can say the Blades are Evil since they more or less forced Dovahkin to do a bucketload of random carp for no reason and w/ no compensation whatsoever, yet one could also say they're good for helping Dovahkiin (in some way they MAY have helped you). And then what if you're playing as an Elf? GO ALDMERI DOMINON WOO

[Havelock Vetinari]

....They want to KILL all other races. That's evil in most belief systems.The one's where it isn't aren't really fit to be discussed here.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

Meh, Good and Evil are arbitrary descriptions used to describe something from a biased POV. For example, one can say the Blades are Evil since they more or less forced Dovahkin to do a bucketload of random carp for no reason and w/ no compensation whatsoever, yet one could also say they're good for helping Dovahkiin (in some way they MAY have helped you). And then what if you're playing as an Elf? GO ALDMERI DOMINON WOO

Yeah, like he said. Genocide can't be placed in the good light by anyone. Ulric may be racist, and he shows apathy for the Argonians and Dark Elves, but he's never told them who they can worship and actively sought them out to kill them. The Dominion do.The Blades are not evil, they're Lawful Stupid. Delphine and Esbern never did anything immoral. They want Parthurnax to die because of actions he did long ago and has repented for; and as Parthurnax explains, you can't blame them. It's not right, but it's not evil either - everything else they did was for the purpose of turning the Dragonborn into the ultimate dragonslayer.Besides, I found a moderator that lets you tell the Blades you're not going to kill Parthurnax and make them shut up, which should have been included in vanilla anyways.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Havelock Vetinari]

Well, after some thought and reflection, I will be going with a Stormcloak play through. One of my primary concerns about the Empire, namely their tendency to put criminal in positions of power (Riften, Falkreath, I'm looking at you) would make a nice motivation for the character I'm crafting to work against them. That and the whole almost killing him thing. Hard not to take that personally.

[Angel Beat]

I... may have accidentally saved a new character over my old one.Oopsie.Goodbye Terina, level 22 Redguard Werewolf..

[Sisen]

Grr. That's what I don't like about the way files save... I have Ansem level whatever mage... but I had cleared my 360 cache because Skyrim was freezing left and right. (Probably because I have legit 500+ save files. I get paranoid about doing something and not having a save to return to.)Now I'm playing as some Khajiit archer, because my Ansem save was under a downloaded update. So until I update my Xbox again... I have to cautiously save my Khajiit character. While it is fun playing as another character, I miss my magic. :(You would have thought they would have made profiles or something simple to categorize...

[Angel Beat]

And that's what I thought Skyrim had, like most other modern games. :POh, well...

[Sisen]

They should release a patch or something... I guess I could always somehow have one save of the game stored on a different memory device...?

[Angel Beat]

I hope so, for you. :)I'm playing on the PC, however, so it never occured to me to backup mine.And the dumbest thing is that it autosaved my new character over my old character's manual save. <.<Edit: Apparently there's a modification on the PC that lets one have multiple character profiles.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Valenti

[Sisen]

Hm. I'll have to look into it some.

[Angel Beat]

Disaster mostly averted! I found a neat trick online that let me restore my save folder to a previous version.Terina the Redguard Werewolf has been restored to level 20. ^^And I still have my new character as well!Edit: Maybe I can recreate today's awesome situation where I was looking for the Space Core outside Whiterun when suddenly a blood dragon attacked.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Valenti

[Havelock Vetinari]

So, am I the only one here who can spend an hour in the character creator and still not be happy with the end result?

[Archer Vonn]

Ugh, no you're not. Not at all. Just like in Fallout, they all look the same until you enter the real world and can't change anything. Wish there was some cosmetic spell that could change your facial features afterwards.Meanwhile gonna start on a Redguard mage just to be different.

[Angel Beat]

When it comes to looks, the only character I'm happy with is my female Redguard.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

Ugh, no you're not. Not at all. Just like in Fallout, they all look the same until you enter the real world and can't change anything. Wish there was some cosmetic spell that could change your facial features afterwards.Meanwhile gonna start on a Redguard mage just to be different.

Redguards are awesome no matter what you play, even if it's a weaker start. On the bright side, the maximum level you can reach without training skills you don't want to use goes up. :PI get distracted by other things, like what the first thing that character is going to do, quite easily. I can't actually do the character creators for more than thirty minutes or so, so I usually only focus on things like face width and try to give the character proper proportions. Things like neck complexion and the like? Not worth it unless it looks really funky.Honestly, I don't even know what my Main looks like anymore. He hasn't taken off his Daedric Helmet for some ten levels or so now, save for when he was swapping it out for another, better enchanted Daedric helmet. Besides, that's only when I'm in a 3rd person situation. I prefer 1st person view (though I'm finally starting to get used to it with Deadspace).As far as changing things afterwards, I think I was reading somewhere that Dawnguard would have an NPC in the Ratway who can change some parts of your appearance, but not things like gender and race. For fairly obvious reasons with the exclusions.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Havelock Vetinari]

Hm. All I know is I've been through it twice trying to start up my new game. I'm on my third try now.

[Archer Vonn]

I play a healthy amount of third person games, but I just find it clunky in Skyrim. It was designed to be a first person game- even in Fallout it's incorporated better. In Skyrim, it feels like an afterthought.

[Katuko]

The main problem I have with third person is the aiming. In Mass Effect, I can aim just fine, but in Skyrim, there is the big issue of your attack not targeting the cursor, but some calculated point in relation to it and your character's direction. Too many times I have aimed straight at an enemy, only for my Lightning Bolt to strike the ground several meters below the cursor. This especially happens in uphill battles, but not even on flat ground does it seem safe to use projectiles.On the other hand, using melee in first person sometimes devolves into an incredibly shaky camera and animations that I'm not even sure how they're gonna play out. Unarmed in particular loves to swing that camera around.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Katuko

[Archer Vonn]

Not once have I needed to use unarmed combat, other than a few jail brawls.

[~Xemnas~]

Grr. That's what I don't like about the way files save... I have Ansem level whatever mage... but I had cleared my 360 cache because Skyrim was freezing left and right. (Probably because I have legit 500+ save files. I get paranoid about doing something and not having a save to return to.)Now I'm playing as some Khajiit archer, because my Ansem save was under a downloaded update. So until I update my Xbox again... I have to cautiously save my Khajiit character. While it is fun playing as another character, I miss my magic. :(You would have thought they would have made profiles or something simple to categorize...

You had a mage... named Ansem? I give you a cookie for that KH reference, sir. :DAnd now I have to be careful of how I save- I've had many close calls, and hopefully I'll never accidentally save a new file.

[Ektris]

I don't understand the complaints about save files at all?I have two characters running just fine, and a ton of older saves I should probably get rid of for the one. Yeah, only having so many autosaves could be annoying if you're constantly switching between them and you lose one. But even with one character that happens. That's why you need to manually save. And since it defaults to new save instead of an overwrite - which is how I have about 60 accidental saves for one character - it also shouldn't be a problem.So what am I missing here?~|ET|~

[Angel Beat]

I don't understand the complaints about save files at all?I have two characters running just fine, and a ton of older saves I should probably get rid of for the one. Yeah, only having so many autosaves could be annoying if you're constantly switching between them and you lose one. But even with one character that happens. That's why you need to manually save. And since it defaults to new save instead of an overwrite - which is how I have about 60 accidental saves for one character - it also shouldn't be a problem.So what am I missing here?~|ET|~

I just don't know what went wrong...

[Katuko]

Not once have I needed to use unarmed combat, other than a few jail brawls.

It's completely useless if you play normally, but lately I started a run as the most epic warrior ever, who doesn't need fancy swords or pansy spells. Just his fists is enough. So yeah, investing in Heavy Armor for protection and the perk for dealing your gauntlets' armor rating in extra unarmed damage... and then punching everything, everywhere, all the time.

So what am I missing here?

I believe there was an issue with some files getting incredibly bloated as the game progressed, as they saved more and more of the clutter object positions within zones and stuff. I'm not sure if it was patched or not, but I think it was only an issue on the console versions.

[Ektris]

So what am I missing here?

I believe there was an issue with some files getting incredibly bloated as the game progressed, as they saved more and more of the clutter object positions within zones and stuff. I'm not sure if it was patched or not, but I think it was only an issue on the console versions.

Huh. Well seeing as I'm playing on a console and have explored a ton of Skyrim with my main character... I guess I'm just lucky to have not encountered glitchiness/lag/whatever from this?~|ET|~

[Katuko]

Apparently. As said, I'm not aware of the particulars, but IIRC the issue revolved around saves becoming more and more likely to lag and crash the game the more you played.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

It's official, oh ye people who don't completely obscure their character behind a suit of armor that weighs more than gold armor (which, if made of smelted gold coins, would presumably weigh nothing in the ES universe - except Daggerfall).Yes, you can have a facial reconstruction performed by some NPC in the Ratway if you get Dawnguard; yes, there is an achievement for it.

It's completely useless if you play normally, but lately I started a run as the most epic warrior ever, who doesn't need fancy swords or pansy spells. Just his fists is enough. So yeah, investing in Heavy Armor for protection and the perk for dealing your gauntlets' armor rating in extra unarmed damage... and then punching everything, everywhere, all the time.

Get some enchanted gloves to increased damage by 30 or so and be a Khajitt, and you're set for life.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Katuko]

Yes, you can have a facial reconstruction performed by some NPC in the Ratway if you get Dawnguard; yes, there is an achievement for it.

Hm, Fallout 3 had something similar for hair with a few hairdressers here and there; and then one place for facial reconstruction via "plastic surgery". Me, I just use the console to bring up the character editor. PC, yay!

It's completely useless if you play normally, but lately I started a run as the most epic warrior ever, who doesn't need fancy swords or pansy spells. Just his fists is enough. So yeah, investing in Heavy Armor for protection and the perk for dealing your gauntlets' armor rating in extra unarmed damage... and then punching everything, everywhere, all the time.

Get some enchanted gloves to increased damage by 30 or so and be a Khajitt, and you're set for life.

I plan on getting enchantments for +heavy armor and +unarmed, but I skipped Khajiit because I'm not all that fond of them. I mean: yay, catgirls () but I wanted a male character. I went Argonian because they look awesome, they also get a bonus to unarmed (not as much as Khajiit, though) and they have the Histskin ability.

[Takatu]

Quick question for PC players. I downloaded a modification that makes one-handed weapons appear on the back when sheathed as opposed to the hip, but I'm having trouble with my game now and I think that this one's the cause (a few others said they had similar problems with it). I'm okay with getting rid of it, only really looks good with swords anyway, daggers and axes look a little awkward. But there's no .esp file or anything I can just uncheck from the data files list, and I'm not sure if it replaced anything. I'm afraid if it did, I'm gonna pretty much break my game by deleting anything. I've asked on the site where I downloaded it, but the author seems to have just abandoned it and no one's questions ever got answered. This is a list of files from the modification, for those that have the regular animations, can you tell me if you see any of these in your Skyrim data folder? If not, good, means I can delete them without worrying. Thanks!Meshes>Actors>Character>Animations>1hm_equip.hkx1hm_unequip.hkxaxe_equip.hkxaxe_unequip.hkxdag_equip.hkxdag_unequip.hkxMeshes>Actors>Character>Character Assetsskeleton.nifskeletonbeast.nifMeshes>Actors>Character>Character Assets Femaleskeleton_female.nifskeletonbeast_female.nifMeshes>Weapons>Daedric1stpersondaedricdagger.nif1stpersondaedricsword.nifdaedricdagger.nifdaedricsword.nifMeshes>Weapons>Dawnbreaker1stpersondawnbreaker.nif1stpersondwarvensword.nifdawnbreaker.nifdwarvensword.nifMeshes>Weapons>Imperial1stpersonimperialsword.nifimperialsword.nifMeshes>Weapons>Iron1stpersonirondagger.nif1stpersonlongsword.nifironarrow11.nifirondagger.niflongsword.nifMeshes>Weapons>Scimitar1stpersonscimitar.nifscimitar.nifMeshes>Weapons>Silver1stpersonsilversword.nifsilversword.nifTextures>Weapons>Daedricdaedricscabbards.ddsTextures>Weapons>Dawnbreakerdawnbreaker.ddsdawnbreakerscb.ddsdwarvenscabbard.ddsTextures>Weapons>Imperialimperialscabbard.ddsTextures>Weapons>Ironirondaggerscabbards.ddslongswordscabbards.ddsTextures>Weapons>Silversilverscabbards.ddssilversword.ddssilversword_n.ddsI know that's a lot, but I wanted to be thorough just in case. Again, if no one else has these in their Skyrim directory's data folder, it means nothing was replaced and I can safely delete them. Thanks again! 8D

[Katuko]

What lies in the Data folder (meshes, textures, etc) are usually not the default game files. Those are all packed into Skyrim.esm. When you place something in those folders, the game loads those files instead of the regular ones. Removing them should not break the game at all. If you worry, then don't delete, just move the files to a different folder and run the game. If it breaks, move them back.

[Ultimate_Kardas]

Success! I have managed to complete the civil war questline while also keeping the Jagged crown in my possession!I was having a couple problems with the questline as well, especially trying to regain the holds. I discovered that I could not do it unless I finished the end parts of the main quest, and even after I did that, I still got the "reporting for duty" glitch. Luckily one of the recommended fixes actually worked this time.And if you love the Jagged crown a lot like me and want to keep it but also finish the civil war quest, here's what you do:As soon as you get the crown, reverse pickpocket it onto whoever you escaped with from Helgen. If you joined the opposite side of whoever you escaped with, then you cannot do this glitch (or so I've heard). Anyway, even though the chance of reverse pickpocketing is 0%, you still have a chance of doing it. I got it on my first try and I'm only a level 34 pickpocket. Just make sure you save before you do it.To continue, after you've done that, head to Tulius or Ulfric and complete the quest. You should be able to complete it even without the crown in your inventory. Anyway, after that, go find Ralof or Hadvar. I just found Hadvar when I was doing the battle for Whiterun. Then just pickpocket the crown back. And voila, the crown is now yours.~U_K~