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opa
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Skyrim: Salmon's quest

by opa Tue Nov 12, 2019 11:53 am

My subsequent posts will be updates on my progress.

Original post:
I've had Skyrim for years and theoretically I should enjoy it as I loved the environment of the Solstheim expansion in Morrowind. The couple of times I've tried to start it I don't really know how I should be playing? I don't really like the melee combat. Would it be feasible to go through the game as an archer?

Any other hints/tips I ought to know? I know very little about this Elder Scrolls.
Last edited by opa on Sat Nov 30, 2019 12:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Skyrim: not sure how to go about playing it?

by noiseredux Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:00 pm

First thing to know: Skyrim is easily one of the best games. Ever.

Second thing: I played the game prob 75% as an archer. Maybe even more. I only meleed when I HAD to.

There's two ways to approach it, and I spent a good 30+ hours doing both. The first, obvious way is to just do the main quest. It's great, and short. You can probably knock it out in like 12 hours if you ignore everything else.

The second super fun way is to ignore the main quest. Pick a direction. Walk. See what happens. I dumped so much time into this. And the game gets better when you really absorb the world.

Honestly, this game is so high on my list that just you threatening to play it gives me urges to fire it back up for side quests I haven't done yet.
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Re: Skyrim: not sure how to go about playing it?

by marurun Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:11 pm

Melee gets better. I mean, this has arguably the best combat of any Elder Scrolls game. You recall the MMO-like combat of Morrowind, right? That said, if the melee doesn't gel with you it doesn't matter how much better it is. Archery works OK, but you really need to pair it with sneaking to be truly effective, so be prepared to be a sneak-thief. I wish I could tell you being a mage was a viable alternative, but magic as an offensive tool has been nerfed even more from Oblivion, where it was already pretty second-string as a way of engaging enemies. I really want to play a mage in Skyrim, but there's just no good way to do it.
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Re: Skyrim: not sure how to go about playing it?

by opa Wed Nov 13, 2019 1:04 pm

Good to hear you had success as an archer, noise. I may just wander as you said. The side quests are generally better than the main quest in these games any way.

I liked Morrowind's combat. Lol. Yeah, it was nonsensical looking but I actually felt a sense of progression once your combat skills got above "I can kill a fish" level.

Sucks to hear about magic. I loved levitation and the other useful spells.

I think I'm gonna do a khajiit archer-sneak/thief/assassin build. Maybe have short blades or something as a melee option.
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Re: Skyrim: not sure how to go about playing it?

by noiseredux Wed Nov 13, 2019 1:11 pm

Please keep us updated. One of my favorite games to read experiences about.
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Re: Skyrim: not sure how to go about playing it?

by Ack Wed Nov 13, 2019 1:13 pm

You could play the way I play: Nord with 2-handed hammers. Crush your enemies. Crush them to goo!
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Re: Skyrim: not sure how to go about playing it?

by opa Thu Nov 14, 2019 9:25 am

One fateful afternoon, a khajiit by the name of Tuna picked the wrong caravan to waylay. This was an orc caravan escorting princess Hog-Tooth who was betrothed to the mighty Duke Skunkface. Tuna, having a keen eye, was infamous for his arrow-in-the-knee robberies. One arrow was enough to incapacitate his victims while he rummaged through their belongings looking for gold, jewels, and apples (he loves apples).

Tuna picked the biggest, baddest looking orc and let fly his sharpest arrow. The princess gave out a holler. Apparently an arrow in the knee was not on her wedding registry. After wrenching out the blasted protrusion she glanced above and saw a lanky cat giggling in the trees. She dismounted from her steed and roundhouse kicked the base of the trunk. This sent Tuna tumbling down hitting every branch along the way.

When he awoke he was bound and on a cart ride to his doom. He didn't understand anything about Ulfric this or Imperials that but he knew a chopping block when he sees one. Thankfully a dragon was having none of this and Tuna scrambled away.

That's the story so far! I've made it to the first village and started a quest to go into a local barrow (where I died because I'm still getting used to the button layout). I do enjoy archery. I can usually get two or three shots in on a melee enemy before I have to draw a sword. By then their health is already down quite a bit. I don't know how much damage it'll do later on but we'll see.

It's strange how they've stacked all the weapons. Like axes, short swords, and long swords are all in the same skill set? Overly simplified compared to previous entries but maybe it'll be fun to swap out what I'm using.
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Re: Skyrim: not sure how to go about playing it?

by noiseredux Thu Nov 14, 2019 10:41 am

I'm slow clapping. Thank you.
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Re: Skyrim: Tuna's quest for a good skooma pipe

by opa Sat Nov 16, 2019 11:25 am

I finished the barrow quest and started making my way to the next main town. I was supposed to go and talk to the Jarl or something but right outside the town there was a giant attack in progress. I joined in and got the killing shot on the brute and talked to the warriors. Apparently they were part of the local fighter's guild type group. I went into town and joined up! I was gonna be a sneaky thief but I've got to be able to defend myself and I need to level up somehow. My first significant quest was to go into (yet another) barrow and find a fragment of an ax. They lent me Thor's cousin Falkus to aid me in the journey. I didn't count but we probably killed about thirty zombies. I didn't know I was playing Resident Evil! At the end of the dungeon there was a gauntlet of zombies continually popping out of graves. My archery skill leveled up about three times in that one battle alone. After the slaughter, we traveled back to the lodge and they made me a member of the group.

Oh, I almost forgot! On the way to the barrow I ran into a group of bandits. One bandit was so preoccupied with shooting at me that he failed to notice the mudcrab that ran up behind him. He got a critical hit from a mudcrab and died instantly. How sucky of a bandit are you that a mudcrab kills you?
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Re: Skyrim: Tuna's quest for a good skooma pipe

by opa Mon Nov 18, 2019 9:20 am

All hail Tuna, Thane of Whiterun, Dragonborn, slayer of dragons, devourer of apple pies!

The first dragon is dead (twice; the game froze after the first fight). I climbed the mountain to go talk to the greybeards and now I'm on a quest to get... something. I don't remember off the top of my head. I've actually taken a break from quests to level up my skills some more.

I appreciate the barrows now because I get to one shot many of the zombies which increases both my sneak and archery skills. Some of them even have Nordic arrows so I get restocked fairly easily. One of the barrows contained an orcish bow so I'm pretty pleased about the find. I just need to figure out a defense against magic because I noticed that when mages throw fire it tends to drain my health significantly. I'll figure something out though.

A curiosity: I stole a horse (cause screw walking to Mount On-the-other-side-of-the-planet). I have a 1000 gold bounty but the guards don't say anything? Even when I talk to them they just say one of their standard dialogs.

There's nothing else important to note other than now dragons are flying around. I managed to sneak away from one because when I tried to face one alone he blasted me into bits. I'll tackle them later.
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