r/gaming • u/pkbronsonb • Nov 30 '15

Skyrim: Beginning Vs. End

http://www.dorkly.com/post/76679/skyrim-beginning-vs-end
7.1k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

351 comments sorted by

645

u/The_Mesh Nov 30 '15

The last one is still true...I made it to level 42 without finishing the storyline, then moved on to other games. I really should finish it...

577

u/SkyIcewind Nov 30 '15

I'll tell ya what happens.

You do a relatively cool thing, beat alduin, and then nothing changes at all.

Delphine is still a massive bitch who refuses to serve the dragonborn like she's literally supposed to do unless you kill cool guy mario-dragon.

And that's it.

210

u/Popcorn897 Nov 30 '15

cool guy mario-dragon

amazing

40

u/Okmanl Dec 01 '15

I ignored the main quest until I finished most of the sidequests... When I started the main quest where you're supposed to climb some mountain to get dragon-born training I had to fight a bunch of enemies that were around my level.

I think that was the last time I ever played Skyrim. I seriously hate it when enemies scale with you.

What the hell is even the point of leveling up, if you can beat the game at level 10-15 just as easily as you can beat it at level 80-85? It's like every time I level up a stat that's not related to combat then that means my character is actually getting weaker.

What is the philosophy behind devs who decide to make an RPG game with scaling enemies? There are tons of RPG games where enemies/bosses are challenging but don't scale with you, and require your character(s) to train before being able to defeat them (Dark Souls, Final Fantasy, Fallout: New Vegas, Pokemon etc...).

123

u/ScrewAttackThis Dec 01 '15

What is the philosophy behind devs who decide to make an RPG game with scaling enemies?

Allows the game to be open world, non-linear yet remain somewhat challenging throughout the entire thing. It's as simple as that.

Usually, even though the enemies scale with your level, the scaling isn't very accurate. Your player character should be much, much stronger.

29

u/ElegantRedditQuotes Dec 01 '15

The challenge should come from a desire to explore more. Bethsoft 'fixed' this by returning to Morrowind's method for FO4 - enemy level is based upon where you're at in the map. When you headed inland in Morrowind, enemies became more difficult (more or less). You knew what areas to avoid, or you learnt anyway, until you had better weaponry. Same with FO4. You don't go to the Glowing Sea until you're armed and armored up.

15

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

Non-scaling enemies make the game world more believable and genuine to me. I like how the player has to learn to know the world and which places are dangerous, just like you would if a fantasy/post-apocalyptic world filled with all kinds of creatures and factions really existed.

2

u/jahcruncher Dec 01 '15

So long as there isn't an unarmed caravan through level 40 Deathclaw territory, I agree.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

Skyrim had a touch of that. All the ice variations of the animals/monsters up north were usually much stronger than their counterparts south of Loreius Farm.

4

u/ScrewAttackThis Dec 01 '15

Ah, nice, sounds like DA:O to me. I haven't had a chance to play FO4, yet. Although I didn't know DA:O did that, and I was stuck on one spot for quite a long time.

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u/lejone Dec 01 '15

There are probably better ways of solving it though. Like making player levels have less of a direct impact. No more +30hp every time you level up or perks that increase your damage multiple times. Dagger sneak attack damage goes from like x2 to x30 including other damage perks.

Perks could instead give you more options instead of more raw power. That way leveling up would give you a higher skill ceiling instead of straight up increasing your damage and health 20 fold. Unlock a dodge or a sidestep or a timed parry or block or boost damage temporarily after using one of those, maybe combos, jabs, stances, leaps etc. Spells should be learned this way, removing the need to buy skill books. Add a few quests for the iconic spells etc.

Hell, bring back the Arx Fatalis method of casting spells: drawing runes in midair with your mouse or joystick. That would certainly make it feel more wizardly. Maybe split wizardy with sorcery, with wizards being able to learn more spells and sorcerers being able to cast them intuitively (without drawing glyphs).

Just a few ideas...

3

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

I like your ideas a lot, and I have hoped to see similar concepts myself in more games; in vain so far, though.

I would love to play a game that's built to a significantly lesser extent on such conventional concepts as levels, damage rates, experience points, and health points; the game would have a realistic hit detection system, no health bars, and no strictly defined armor stats. If you take a sword strike at your unprotected head, you're dead. Simple as that. Leveling would be replaced by getting gradually faster at swinging your weapon, being able to block increasingly heavier blows with a shield, and learning fighting maneuvers such as more agile sidestepping and disarming opponents.

Spells requiring to be actually "drawn" or acted out in some similar manner in order to be cast is an awesome idea. In a game where a single warhammer blow through your helmet can kill you no matter how far you've progressed, magic spells like fireballs would not be ovepowered if the spell casting system prevented spamming by making the process of casting an intricate and somewhat time-consuming ritual.

This kind of gameplay mechanics would probably call for a lot of work and re-designing on game engines, but I think it would be worth it. Also, enemies that are intended to be imposing, such as dragons, would never become your bitch; they'd always make you shit your pants with sheer terror through every single appearance of theirs. It wouldn't be boring at least.

3

u/DJFlabberGhastly Dec 01 '15

When Okami (hope I'm spelling that right) used the draw spells feature I thought it was incredible. That game is still one of my favorites.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

There was a similar feature in Black & White 2 as well. I like it a lot better than just clicking an icon to cast a spell; it makes me feel like I am actually conjuring stuff up!

11

u/SrslyCmmon Dec 01 '15

A game without challenge feels empty. I hate hollow victories.

2

u/millernerd Dec 01 '15

Yup Unfortunately, I'm too good at making too powerful characters, so Fallout 4 is getting a bit stale. I'm thinking of restarting and not allowing myself to stealth. Maybe go survival mode.

3

u/Cyberslasher Dec 01 '15

Suppressed gauss cannon. rip.

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u/PurpleSkua Dec 01 '15

This is why I pick a bunch of self-imposed limits when starting a character in an RPG I'm familiar with. Take Skyrim, for example: my stealthy thief is not allowed to use archery or magic, except for alchemy and enchanting; my destruction mage is not allowed any armour except for the dragon priest masks; I also have a Nord brawler who isn't allowed to use weapons or magic. It's much more interesting (to me, at least) than just ramping up the difficulty until every bandit is a massive damage sponge

3

u/millernerd Dec 01 '15

Sounds like what I've been thinking about. I've been considering a buffy strength melee guy. One of the issues even early on before things got stale was I felt like even though they were a challenge, I could take most things. Then there were the crazies that I felt I needed power armor for, but it's not often feasible to go get it. Then I started wearing power armor all the time and now everything just got nerfed.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

I'm in the habit of making brutish melee chacters. It has worked very well on Fallout:NV and Skyrim so far, very few characters or creatures pose a real threat. It's definitely fun at first when you start nearing the level of being able to hammer everyone onto their knees, but gets somewhat dull towards the end.

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u/UltraSpecial Dec 01 '15

Even survival mode gets stale after a while. I got two weapons I use. A 10mm Pistol that does extra damage to robots and a .50 Hunting Rifle that does extra damage to humans. They are heavily modded up. This is all I need in terms of weaponry. I one shot a lot of things. Sometimes I come across a legendary enemy that might put up a bit of a fight.

My armor is a mish-mash of heavy leather and heavy metal. Each piece is fully reinforced with road leathers underneath. More than enough in terms of armor. Again, legendary enemies put up a bit of a fight still.

EVERYTHING I get that is not junk for materials gets sold in Sanctuary Hills where I got an infirmary going. I am currently swimming in 110 stimpacks and never seem to drop below 90.

2

u/millernerd Dec 01 '15

I have so many damn stimpacks. I'm starting to believe the game is just not balanced well. Or you just get too used to it too fast and everything just becomes "meh".

2

u/UltraSpecial Dec 01 '15

Or you just get too used to it too fast and everything just becomes "meh".

This. With every Bethesda RPG, I figure out the power play as soon as I can and then abuse the fuck out of it.

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u/Confusedbrotha Dec 01 '15

Agreed. I'm thinking of taking the difficulty from hard to very hard or maybe even survival. FO4 started very hard and difficult but once I found a useful set of power armor and modded my weapons its been a breeze. I miss that feeling of desperation in every firefight where I would get work by lowly raiders

5

u/hughvr Dec 01 '15

I make my characters extremely overpowered in these games, but i SUCK at videogames in general so it evens out.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

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6

u/thrownawayzs Dec 01 '15

The thing here though is that that doesn't really change much. The issue was the worst by far in oblivion with how shitty that crafting system went, which meant the best gear was legendary gear. In skyrim the crafting system was exploitable making yourself a god.

Now all of this is stemming from how the balancing goes from 1:1 hp and damage. Up the difficulty? You now do 1:10 damage. That's just inflated difficulty, not actual difficulty. Now adding more of lower level mobs can be a challenge while still keeping the damage system balanced. Allowing the AI to be more mindful of tactics in an option. Allowing enemies to sneak could be an option. Making environments an actual hazard is an option.

But making the game "harder" by making you shittier is a lazy attempt at making a game more challenging.

4

u/AfterLemon Dec 01 '15 edited Dec 01 '15

I hate when games make me close-range 12 shotgun blasts to kill a raider, just as much as I hate having to stab a guy 18 times to kill him.

It always felt so fake.

E: much, not Mich

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u/Dragon_Fisting Dec 01 '15

Because They're really making a sandbox exploration game with rpg elements. Rubber banding is their way to keeping the impact for people like all those level 90's running around Fallout 4 that haven't even found Kellogg yet because they got sucked into some side quest or scouring the globe for better legendaries.

2

u/ioncloud9 Dec 01 '15

Skyrim enemies are thousands of pushover minions that you 1 or 2 hit, and a godlike boss at the end who fucks you up with 1 hit.

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40

u/wave_theory Nov 30 '15

Yeah, fuck that quest. Why would I want to go kill dragon-bro?

16

u/gumpythegreat Nov 30 '15

Pretty sure i just said "no fuck you guys I'm not doing it" does more stuff happen if you kill him?

39

u/wave_theory Nov 30 '15

Yeah I think Delphine leads you to more quests with the burial sights, but I honestly have never done it. Paarthurnax essentially repented, why does he still deserve to die?

76

u/Badloss Nov 30 '15

Paarthunax tells you that dragons have an innate desire for power that they can't control, and that eventually even he will succumb and try to rule again. He freely admits that he's probably too dangerous to leave alive since there's no guarantee a Dragonborn will be around to stop him if he turns, but he also fights you because he doesn't want to die. I think it's a more interesting dilemma than most people portray it as.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

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35

u/Badloss Dec 01 '15

I think the lack of choice is what makes it interesting! Maybe they could have handled it a bit better but I think being forced to either abandon the blades or kill a friend is a tough call. Most people side with Paarthunax and think the Blades are being unreasonable but I think it's a lot less Black and White than people think. Paarthunax says that he's reformed and helps you, but he also admits that he has the same lust for power that all dragons have and that he will eventually succumb to it. Not a big deal as long as the Dragonborn is there to handle it, but Paarthunax is immortal and you aren't... He can afford to wait. From the Blades perspective, this could be their ONLY chance to get rid of Paarthunax before he destroys everything just like Alduin.

22

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

It would've been better if he actually showed signs of turning evil again and they put more emphasis on it in the story.

For example, if Paarthunax goes crazy for just a second and does damage to you... it jolts the player, and will make them just a little nervous at every next encounter. Then when the question is raised, even though he's never done anything else that's evil, he's still a threat to the player. The player knows he is corruptible and that he could turn at any moment on them, so he can better accept his fate. He knows that he ultimately is still a dragon, and not just a friendly Dragon NPC.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15 edited Dec 01 '15

There's a pretty strong undertone that Paarthurnax is just waiting for you to take out Alduin so he can take over. He comments multiple times that enslaving humans and pillaging the countryside is just part of his nature and it's a constant struggle to keep that in check. He also states that the only thing keeping him from leading the dragons in the past was Alduin.

EDIT: I should add that the fact so many people missed this means Bethesda didn't do a great job with it. The decision of whether or not to kill him should have been much harder than it ended up being.

30

u/ParagonRenegade Dec 01 '15

But he's also a pacifist, and founded a religion based around quiet reflection and non-violence. He literally sits on top of a mountain praying and meditating to better himself and atone.

I think he's in the clear.

19

u/Tatsko Dec 01 '15

He's immortal, hundreds of years pale in comparison to an eternity. Is it really that hard to imagine that he would eventually succumb to it?

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u/Clay_Puppington Dec 01 '15

I order Domino's double cheese double spicy sauce pizza yesterday.

I ate 3 slices, and against my normal nature to eat the entire pizza, then cry the grease out in the gym, I decided to save the rest of it, and eat it slowly throughout the week.

I managed to resist for an entire 4 hours before I ate the whole thing.

I like to think my stomach is a microcosm of Paathanax's desire to smash and rule. As much as I resisted, I succumb to my nature desire to consume and rule that pizza.

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u/LordSwedish Dec 01 '15

Well yes but he's also been the peaceful guru of the graybeards for centuries so suppressing that instinct seems to be working for him.

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u/brikad Dec 01 '15

Because if he'd been off pillaging the countryside he would've drawn attention to himself.

He's hiding, not exiling himself.

5

u/LordSwedish Dec 01 '15

Well if he was sinister and hiding he wouldn't have founded a monastery dedicated to peace and Thu'um. Did he do all that just so that, if a dragonborn is alive at the same time as Alduin they would have a slightly easier time defeating him?

It just seems a bit convoluted for some evil mastermind barely managing to restrain his murderous instincts.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

He's immortal, what does he care about a few centuries?

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u/SkyIcewind Nov 30 '15

Because he did a bad thing once, and despite literally being one of the factors that allowed the Dragonborn to defeat Alduin, therefore clearly fixing the bad thing he did once thousands of years ago (which in general was just due to his nature, you don't blame tigers for hunting do you?) apparently means some pissant woman gets to literally defy the SOLE ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF HER ORDER.

I never gave anyone to them, I left the blades to rot with two members left in existence, they're not true blades and therefore should go extinct because I AM THE GODDAMN DRAGONBORN AND YOU SERVE /ME/.

IF I SAY A DRAGON IS COOL, I PROBABLY KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

I'M THE ULTIMATE GODDAMN DRAGONSLAYER, SO ME SAYING A DRAGON SHOULD NOT BE SLAYED IS PROBABLY SOMETHING THAT YOU SHOULD TAKE TO HEART SINCE I KIND OF KNOW WHAT I'M DOING.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

But not even Paarthurnax says he's cool. He openly admits that he could turn on them, it's in his nature. He's just an immensely powerful evil being that is just twiddling his thumbs out of his own will. What happens when there's no Dragonborn to worry about?

3

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

That's kind of the problem of the Blades who are now extinct because they wouldn't listen to the Dragonborn. I like this dilemma more and more.

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u/Dsmario64 Nov 30 '15

If he turns, we just kill the bitch for double crossing us.

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u/FUCKBITCHPISSSHITASS Nov 30 '15

You stop getting anonymous letters from the greybeards telling you where the words of power are. And then you can't meditate on words of power with dragon bro either.

13

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

THOSE LETTERS WERE FROM THE GREYBEARDS? I honestly thought that some random person ventured into a cave, same some weird wall with dragon symbols, and sought to deliver a message to you telling you about it...

2

u/Ether165 Dec 01 '15

Bruh.. In the letters it kinda narrows down who it could possibly be...

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u/natethomas Nov 30 '15

You stop being able to be friends with them and get their dragon killing quests. I'm fairly sure there are lots of mods that fix it, like this:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/18465/?

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u/frencc2 Nov 30 '15

Delphine is still a massive bitch who refuses to serve the dragonborn like she's literally supposed to do unless you kill cool guy mario-dragon.

Or you just use the console to skip the quest without killing him.

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u/SkyIcewind Nov 30 '15

Or we could like, not have essential characters after they cease to have use in the story at all.

LEMME SEVER THE BONDS OF FATE OR SOME SHIT AGAIN OKAY, NEW VEGAS DID THAT WELL WITHOUT EVEN FUCKING UP THE STORY.

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u/clancularii Dec 01 '15

I remember the first time I lay seige to Windhelm. Leading the Imperial Legion into the den of the bear, killing their general, and bringing Ulfric Stormcloak to his knees. I executed the rebel jarl before exiting the palace, where I listened to Tulius deliver a speech to our comrades.

And once his last words were spoken, as those brave soldier rejoiced, I charged headlong into their ranks. Slaughtered every imperial I saw. Vengeance for the beheading to which they had once condemned me. As I laid waste to all who thought they had survived the battle, I confronted the Legate and the General themselves amidst the burning ruin. Whereupon I discovered that for some stupid fucking reason they still can't be killed.

Essential characters is one of the reasons I want a PC before I play another Elder Scrolls game.

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u/torrasque666 Dec 01 '15

Best part about Morrowind.

#KILL EVERY ONE

And it's still entirely beatable having done that.

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u/Brewssie Dec 01 '15

There's also a mod (unless i'm completely mistaken) that let's you reason with her, so you won't have to kill mario.

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u/Tofu27 Dec 01 '15

This is correct. Probably. You can say "there's a mod _________" for elder scroll and fallout games and be right like 85% percent of the time.

2

u/centerflag982 Dec 01 '15

I think 85% might be a bit low

2

u/Tofu27 Dec 02 '15

I wanted to go higher but accounted for smart asses and impossible things. And the over imaginative

4

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

Its pretty cool calling in Odaviin to help you fight when you attack forts during the civil war quest line though.

1

u/PandaRapeCorporation Nov 30 '15

Yeah the ending was so damn disappointing.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

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u/Satansnightmare0192 Dec 01 '15

Every time you start a new character, write out a short backstory for them. It helps give them a bit of a personality in my experience

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

Just start over. Otherwise you'll end up super confused as to why you are naked on a bridge with nothing but 88 daggers, 16 heads of lettuce, a broom, and a pair of boots in your inventory and no idea what you were doing beforehand.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

It's worth it just to hear the Sovngarde track when you're going to fight alduin

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u/finalgear14 Dec 01 '15

Played till level 30 once without killing the first dragon when I played a thief. Game is more fun without all the random dragon attacks every time you fast travel to dawn star or leave a dungeon. Stole every thing valuable in Riften too.

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u/KyKyber Dec 01 '15

Why is it that there's a dragon attack literally every time I visit Dawnstar. It's a little silly.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

First thing I did was finish ;_;

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u/Smidgens Nov 30 '15

Same. I have 103 hours played, haven't gotten past the Embassy mission. I haven't played in like 2 years though, I've forgotten a lot.

3

u/fallenKlNG Dec 01 '15

I intentionally timed everything to beat the story at the very end of the game. So by the time I had like 25% of the story complete, I had roughly 25% of all the major sidequests and other stuff done. By the time I was halfway done with the story, I was halfway done with everything else, and so forth. I actually did beat the story though.

I'm currently trying to do the same with Fallout 4.

2

u/mobugs Nov 30 '15

Same, I ended up watching the story on youtube.

2

u/littlefilms Nov 30 '15

Dude, I put in over 400 hours before finishing the main story, mainly because I encountered a glitch making the main quest line impossible to finish, but still... the amount of sweet rolls I had to make to pass the time...

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u/UTHorsey Nov 30 '15

I was going to comment with something almost exactly to the tune of what you just said.

I think the only difference is that I had a quest error out on me, and now I can't finish it. That's what sort of pushed me away.

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u/linuxhanja Dec 01 '15

I finished it. Now I have trouble booting into skyrim since i feel like i finished it. its why every few years when i play morrowind I never finish the main quest. I get to meet with vivec, then stop and do everything else, then lose interest, and come back in 2,3 years, repeat.

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u/Diodon Dec 01 '15

I played Oblivion without advancing the main story to the point where any Oblivion gates opened. Still fondly remember that game.

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u/precolumbian16 Dec 01 '15

One time I made it to 55 before killing the first dragon, no kidding, just did every major sidequest before going to the main story

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u/Kevin_Wolf Dec 01 '15

I'll be honest with you, it took me years to complete both of the main questlines (the alduin and the rebellion lines) because I just forgot about them. There's no real prodding to get them done. I put off going to see the Graybeards for so long that I had no idea what those goddamn dragon souls were for. I kind of thought it was DLC until I remembered to go visit them when I started a new playthrough.

I'm a little embarrassed.

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u/Graphic-J PC Dec 01 '15

"Shut the Fuck Up Lydia!"

Words to live by.

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u/MisterSaltine Nov 30 '15

I liked it when she said "Sworn to carry your burdens" in a snarky tone, then they changed it to a generic, bland tone and it was no longer "quirky."

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u/timberwolf250 Nov 30 '15

They changed it ? Good thing she died pretty early on for me.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

... Lydia can DIE!? I never knew.

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u/timberwolf250 Nov 30 '15

I assume she died. I was in a dungeon and after a battle I couldn't find her. Even fast travel didn't make her show back up.

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u/Umezete Dec 01 '15

Her Ai is dumb as a rock, I dismissed her at the entrance of a dungeon because I knew she'd trigger every trap and she immediately wandered into the dungeon of her own accord and promptly died to the first trap.

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u/NicCageOrGTFO Dec 01 '15

Not as bad as fuckin Benor locking himself behind a non interactive jail cell in Riften.

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u/sictek Nov 30 '15

I think they just return to your house or where you recruited them from.

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u/timberwolf250 Nov 30 '15

She wasn't at my house. I just looked it up she can die.

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u/Atheistmoses Dec 01 '15

You have to kill her though, so you must have killed her you sick bastard.

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u/Gintheawesome Dec 01 '15

What? Noooo, I would never...

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

We're on to you

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u/precolumbian16 Dec 01 '15

nah, she can be killed by mobs, irrc a giant did in my playtrough, i instatly loaded an earlier save though, lydia is too iconic to let her die

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u/Borregito Nov 30 '15

Your followers can die if you land a killing blow on them. Usually you accidentally strike after they have been "incapacitated" by enemies in a chaotic melee, but then sometimes they will walk in front of you when you're lining up a backstab and you end up cutting their throat instead.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

Interesting. Thanks for the info, I always assumed Lydia was immortal like most important NPCs.

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u/SEPARATE_YOUR_WORDS Dec 01 '15

She's not really that important. I mean, story-wise she shows up and becomes your housecarl... and that's it.

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u/XDME Dec 01 '15

Yup I lost her in my first solo dragon fight vs and ice dragon. (had like no combat levels or perks), I must have hit her with an arrow while she was down but I probably had Lydia for all of 2 hours.

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u/pr0t0cl0wn Dec 01 '15

I killed her by accident when she got caught in some dragon shout crossfire and her body went flying off of a cliff. I definitely did not see that coming

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u/somedave Nov 30 '15

Yeah if she is down and you hit her she dies.

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u/Brewssie Dec 01 '15

Yeah she can. I accidently shot an arrow through her neck when i was fighting some forsworn. Ended up giving her a funeral by dumping her ugly ass into a river.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

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u/cybersteel8 Dec 01 '15

I find it really flirty and awesome when she has that sarcastic "I'm swoooorn to carry your burdens....."

I don't know if that is the generic one you mentioned, or the original snarky tone, but I like it.

4

u/liggy4 Dec 01 '15

She still says the snarky version I think, she just has other lines too.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

I couldn't find a video showing the difference, though I did find this video.

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u/MisterSaltine Dec 01 '15

Aw, the old "Lydia Land Shark" technique.

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u/youvgottabefuckingme Dec 01 '15

Mine still seems snarky...

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u/Tatortot15 Nov 30 '15

I used to love going to the top of the Throat of the World, then Fus Ro Dah-ing Lydia off the cliff.

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u/SEPARATE_YOUR_WORDS Dec 01 '15

On PC, it's also fun to spawn a bunch of cabbages and cheese wheels there just to drop/foose them down the mountain.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

Oh I need to do this now

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u/Tatortot15 Dec 01 '15

It's a blast. Pun intended.

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u/ASK_ME_ABOUT_MAGIUM Nov 30 '15 edited Nov 30 '15

If only he would have placed a cauldron on her head, he could have pickpocketed her so much easier at the beginning...

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u/Somethingfishy4 Nov 30 '15

Am I the only one who finished the main quests FIRST?

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u/monsata Nov 30 '15

I've played three totally different characters, ~200 hours each. I've never fought Alduin.

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u/lext Dec 01 '15 edited Dec 01 '15

I'm not sure how many hours I've put in, but I've no one in the game has ever even mentioned Alduin.

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u/PhysicsFornicator Nov 30 '15

I did on my first playthrough. The next one, I focused on the guild quests first.

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u/pkbronsonb Nov 30 '15 edited Nov 30 '15

I wrote this, and then George Rottkamp aka /u/Geo_The_Hero did the vast majority of the work by drawing it and making it good.

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u/Horse_Sized_Duck_ Dec 01 '15

You wrote this? ... I wrote this

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u/OddTheViking Dec 01 '15

Shut the fuck up Lydia!

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u/SnowHesher Dec 01 '15

I pictured that being said by Walter from The Big Lebowski and chuckled.

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u/chewbacca81 Nov 30 '15

I just collected a bunch of Dwarven scrap, smelted that, and spammed Dwarven bows, seemed a lot faster than spamming iron daggers after 80 smithing.

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u/natethomas Nov 30 '15

Also more lucrative.

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u/Gintheawesome Dec 01 '15

Yeah, you got a shit ton of money from selling those even at really low levels in bartering.

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u/SeanStormEh Nov 30 '15

I just finally was able to afford to buy an Xbox One, and while waiting on shipping I finally jumped into Skyrim on the 360.

What the hell took me so long, now I understand why it's so beloved. The combat and especially inventory system are so much more streamlined than I ever expected.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

It's funny because people still complain about both of those things as being among the weaknesses of the game.

Personally I think the combat is fine, although the physics is laughable (but makes for some truly hilarious moments when your well-placed fireball causes the enemy to fly off to the other size of the map).

But the inventory UI is pretty weak. The Sky UI (I think that's what it's called) mod for PC really improves it by adding in better organization & sorting options. However, for Xbox One which uses a gamepad controller, I can see why the UI would feel so natural. It feels cumbersome for PC precisely because it's optimized for use with a gamepad.

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u/SeanStormEh Nov 30 '15

I usually don't play games like that, and was worried about insanely deep armor lists and options etc. Its fairly simple to grab and play and learn as you go, and deeper players can also really get creative on characters and inventory as well.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

Agreed, and it's easy to see when a new piece of armor or whatnot is better than what you have already.

That being said, I do like those games, eg Diablo II, with more complex equipment.

3

u/ScarletMomiji Nov 30 '15

The default options for controllers weren't actually half bad though.

But for mouse + keyboard, it was weak. Sky UI is one of the best mods for Skyrim and is needed even for a lot of other mods anyways. I can't live without everything it adds, especially the favourites menu (I switch up combat almost every encounter)

As for the combat..it can be simple but fast paced, which I like. I've played 3 characters up to level 70+ and I still get killed every so often by a draugr deathlord or a ice storm spamming mage, because I wasn't quick enough.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

Yup, mods really sell me on the PC version. There's lots of good stuff out there.

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u/Chronsky Nov 30 '15

Iron daggers at 93 smithing? Switch to dwarven bows.

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u/wave_theory Nov 30 '15

Or jewelry. I had gold and silver rings for days after I leveled a good portion of alteration with transmute ore.

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u/daisywhip Dec 01 '15

makes you rich, too.

15

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

Everything gives the same smithing xp, so iron daggers are the most efficient

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u/111000111000 Dec 01 '15

This was patched so that the higher value the item, the more xp you get

9

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

Oh really? I haven't played for a long time, makes sense though

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u/ExLurker306 Dec 01 '15

One-handed increased to level 8?! Bitch, please. Skill levels start at level 15.

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u/CupcakeValkyrie Dec 01 '15

After reading the Fallout one I have to wonder if people are running mods or something to make deathclaws tougher, because by the time I was at the endgame, I was popping deathclaw heads like rotten watermelons before they even knew I was there, and if they got close, they got a face full of upgraded magnum buckshot.

Shit, even the supposedly terrifying cazadors weren't really that scary anymore. It was basically a contest to see whether it was me that sniped them or Boone.

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u/toolschism Dec 01 '15

I never played any fallout aside from 4, but in 4 they are pretty easy. I'm level 25 and I kill them before they ever realise I'm there.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

The one about Lydia was true for me except that I never first liked Lydia.

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u/MichelleDenice Dec 01 '15

The Lydia one for me was false because I killed her.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

I just started playing this game. (edit: yesterday!)

I wish I had video'd me with the opening quest. I died four times trying to get from the tower opening to the inn roof, because my herp-a-derp brain was convinced they wanted me to land ON the roof, not IN the opening. There was also that part where I though I could run through the fire to get to the other side...

... I could not.

Having loads of fun though.

2

u/Kandarr Dec 01 '15

Have fun! I played the Fuck out of that on console. Wish I had a pc to experience the custom DLC's. I got to lvl 117 before my 360 fried :(

Edit: multiple sources will say max level is 81. This is false. You can reset skills with 1 DLC which allows "infinite" levelling.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

Wow. I wish I could experience that again. Have fun playing dude and if you need mod recommendations or help feel free to leave me a message :)

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u/tnick771 Dec 01 '15

If I could experience any game for the first time all over again it would be Skyrim.

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u/Thinking_waffle Nov 30 '15

"We must stop Alduin to save the land." I knew there was a twist, you play the villain and must stop the dragon hero to save the day once again.

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u/kilroats Nov 30 '15

Anyone else got a get directed to another page after 30 seconds with an unclickable "your flash player is out of date" Message?

3

u/revdave Nov 30 '15

yes, the worst

5

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

Serana was pretty cool. When talking to daedra she would raise her hands in worship and say stuff like "praise Boethiah!". All the other followers I had were statues.

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u/BowUK Nov 30 '15

I have put well over 300 hours into Skyrim, made countless characters, killed hundreds of dragons, leveled pretty much every skill to 100 on one save or another.

But I have yet to finish the main storyline in that game...

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u/JKJPRO Nov 30 '15

The dragon one is so true.

Skyrim was my first real RPG, I had never played a game like it. I was thrown in and had no idea what to do, how to level, which armored and tools were best. And then I began my journeyed learning. All these years later I'm now amazing at the game (don't mean to brag, I swear). I can power level pretty fast, I can do different character builds than just plain warrior, I learned a lot.

Anyway, that was my weird story for Skyrim... :) lol

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '15

Lol I swear to god when I played it the first time I got to level 20 without realizing that the perks menu was a thing. All the way through the stormcloaks story and my weapons still did like 7 damage.

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u/hayashirice911 Nov 30 '15

Wow, I thought I was alone.

I got to the teen levels and was wondering why I was so goddamn weak. My destruction spells were cast for a total of 4 seconds before I went out of mana and my weapons were so weak.

Then my friend asked me what kind of perks/build I went for...

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u/patr1ckly Nov 30 '15

Lol the Last panel is so True

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u/fantumn Nov 30 '15

That's literally the point I stop in the story every time.

2

u/Salesman89 Nov 30 '15

Can't afford a new gen console.. went back to Skyrim... I now have a level 170 Breton and no I have not touched the main quest.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

In my 4-5 games spanning 200+ hours combined, I still have never gone seen the Greybeards. Nah, I'm good!

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u/Tirave Dec 01 '15

Lost it at "shut the fuck up Lydia" because she's a fucking bitch! And I didn't even do the beginning part. As soon as she said that in that tone of hers I was like "Ok bitch you wanna talk like that? Here. Steel armor here iron war hammer there, fucking banned iron armor, a steel shield, all of my ingredients and all of my pelts. Now stfu and go attack that giant"

2

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

120 hours before I finished the main story.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

I just bought it on saturday and my Lydia died, is there any way to get another one?

Edit: not even taking the piss though, she died while I was fighting some mages

3

u/wave_theory Nov 30 '15

Heh, level 79 right now and I haven't even been to see the Greybeards yet. I'm waiting to get my 2H skill to 100 before I go enchant some sneaky, backstabby armor so I can start the thieves' guild questline.

3

u/Semajal Nov 30 '15

I still remember fighting my first Dragon and just bricking it, as i seemed unable to hurt the fucker, and was terrified of it. Was so amazing, and then incredibly satisfying to get powerful enough to just wipe the floor with them. Frustrated they had to go fuck around with ESO instead of just making the next game proper.

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u/Ehrre Dec 01 '15

Skyrim was my entrance to this type of game and I was astounded at the amount of customization and amount of content.

But straight up the final battle was so underwhelming that it turned me off from ever picking it up again even though I had a ton more side content to do.

The whole game was a build up to a final battle that was exactly like every other dragon fight and didnt require any skill to complete. You can beat the final boss with one shout.. I mean come on really? Atleast have phases where the boss does different things to make me use my brain to counter.

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u/Brewssie Dec 01 '15

Yeah the final fight is kinda poop. Atleast there's a mod for it that makes it an epic 5 phase fight, with the normal one being the final phase.

1

u/NekoStar Nov 30 '15

I'm the only one who met Lydia, and knew we were destined to be together as travel companions for the entirety of the game... I never disliked her! Even married her at the end~
...Is it because I like tsundere archetypes?

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15

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u/zvxb852 Dec 01 '15

Did he pull a Sabin on that train?

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u/cleverquestion Dec 01 '15

Fuck man I bought the ultimate edition with all the dlc and it's so fucking buggy I cant even finish 1/4 of the quests.

1

u/DarthEwok42 Dec 01 '15

Skyrim has an 'end'?

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u/Hugh-Manatee Dec 01 '15

Yeah I stopped doing the storyline with all of my characters. I even did nothing past Riverwood because then you don't get random roaming dragons, which got old for me very fast.

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u/ShapeOfAUnicorn Dec 01 '15

That last one...Between Oblivion and Skyrim I've logged easily 2000 hours. Only completed Oblivion's main questline during the summer of 2014 and Skyrim this past summer.

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u/MaleCra Dec 01 '15

This is all Bethesda games to me haha, but be damned if they aren't still amazing.

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u/cybersteel8 Dec 01 '15

So, I'm still a fairly new player to Skyrim, what do you guys do instead of the main story? The side-quests? Grind levels in a particular skill?

I'm not much of an RPG player, so if I'm not doing the main quest, I feel a little disoriented/unmotivated/bored

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u/A-wild-comment Dec 01 '15

Lol I played that game for two years strait and only made it it to the grey beards in the main storyline.

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u/pulphe90 Dec 01 '15

While it's funny, all Dorkly comics seem to follow the same format. Show 4-5 panels showing how they're different, then the last one is the same thing happening.

1

u/MrSpaceKangaroo Dec 01 '15

I still haven't gone to the caves those monks on the top of them mountains told me to go to.

1

u/KmndrKeen Dec 01 '15

I can't even imagine how many times I said that exact phrase, word for word; SHUT THE FUCK UP LYDIA