Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Announced for release on 11/11/11.

[LeninGHOLA]

Choosing a side in the civil war has minimal impact on the game itself, and the missions are also quite similar on each side. It honestly DOES NOT matter which side you pick, it's more of a role-playing thing.

That being said, you should only join the Stormcloaks if you're a Nord (and racist).
All other races should choose the Empire, also including non-racist Nords.

You mean LARPing, because if the choice has no impact, you have to pretend to be playing a role.

 

[Domingo]

I'm still cruising along doing side quests at level 42. I ended up making about 200 iron daggers to get my smithing up to 100. I have a few items like Mehrune's Razor that won't seem to upgrade beyond "Legendary" even though I have the materials needed and my smithing maxed out. Am I missing something?

 

[DudeItsMe]

I'm still cruising along doing side quests at level 42. I ended up making about 200 iron daggers to get my smithing up to 100. I have a few items like Mehrune's Razor that won't seem to upgrade beyond "Legendary" even though I have the materials needed and my smithing maxed out. Am I missing something?

Smithing pots? Smithing enchanted armor? I don't think anything comes past Legendary, there is just your basic Legendary and your super duper awesome Legendary. The suffix after the item will still say Legendary, though.

 

[Parmenides]

I say make a character for the imperials and a character for the stormcloaks. Your neutral characters don't need to join either.... and the game doesn't push you either way. To get the main quest going there is a spot were each sides asks you to join on the spot. Just nod your head for both sides, and don't bother doing their quests for both sides. After you exit dialog and initiate dialogue again you can get past the faction bickerings and ask them about the important issue at hand (for the main quest).

 

[RadioActiveLobster]

Since they appear to be bugged and don't do it on their own, I used some console commands to get Lydia to level up to me, she's now a dual staff wielding badass. Though, she can still get over run. Was in a fight with 2 Draugr Deathlords and 4 or so other Mid to low level Draugr's, managed to accidentally hit her with my enchanted mace, sucked her soul right out and into a Black Soul Gem. Had to reload the save as I don't want to lose her, she's sworn to carry my burdens ever since I took an arrow to the knee.

 

[MavericK]

Smithing pots? Smithing enchanted armor? I don't think anything comes past Legendary, there is just your basic Legendary and your super duper awesome Legendary. The suffix after the item will still say Legendary, though.

Correct, "Legendary" is the highest title you can achieve for enhanced gear. You can get higher stats with boosted smithing skill, but the title will never go past "Legendary".

Also, finally got my Skyrim guide in today...Massive fucking book! I think I'm going to try to go for more Daedric artifacts (already have a bunch of them from just doing random stuff) and the Dragon Priest masks (got 2 already just randomly doing quests).

 

[Riddleofsteel]

@ S.T.A.L.K.E.R., how do we get companions to level up?

 

[azariel]

@ S.T.A.L.K.E.R., how do we get companions to level up?

Step 1: Tell your follower to leave you
Step 2: As the follower walks away, open console -> ~
Step 3: Click your follower and select it
Step 4: Type in the console "Disable", without the "s -> follower disappears
Step 5: Type "Enable", again without the "s -> follower appears again
Step 6: Ask your follower to join you again
Step 7: Profit!!!

Good luck.

 

[eggrock]

I have an older GPU (4850x2 2Gb - effectively 1Gb memory). [edit] Time to start overclocking this thing.

Is there anything I can do to determine how many texture mods I can cram in without blowing the GPU out of the case?

 

[Korben Dallas]

Step 1: Tell your follower to leave you
Step 2: As the follower walks away, open console -> ~
Step 3: Click your follower and select it
Step 4: Type in the console "Disable", without the "s -> follower disappears
Step 5: Type "Enable", again without the "s -> follower appears again
Step 6: Ask your follower to join you again
Step 7: Profit!!!

Good luck.

How can we tell if our companions are leveling up? Would everyone have to do this console trick to have their companions level up?

 

[chockomonkey]

How can we tell if our companions are leveling up? Would everyone have to do this console trick to have their companions level up?

companions never level up.

it's my understanding that they match whatever your level is upon meeting you, and then stay that way forever

 

[UtopiA]

Dark Brotherhood companions are the only ones in the game who are leveling up, at the moment.
The others have to be fixed with the console trick (disable and enable).

That's the last I heard, anyway. Maybe the patches fixed something.

 

[RadioActiveLobster]

How can we tell if our companions are leveling up? Would everyone have to do this console trick to have their companions level up?

Open the console, click your companion and type

getlevel

You can find specific things with the "getav" command, eg..

getav onehanded

getav block

etc...



There is also a bug where every time you dismiss and then hire them they get duplicate inventory items (default items). You can check using the "show inventory" command. I checked Lydia one time and she had 18 Hunting bows taking up space (so she couldn't haul all my crap). You also can't see this if you do the "trade" so the console is the only way to remove them

If you run into that you can remove it by adding additional command

Step 1: Tell your follower to leave you
Step 2: As the follower walks away, open console -> ~
Step 3: Click your follower and select it
Step 3.5: Type in the console "removeallitems" (This removes EVERYTHING, so make sure to take anything you want from her before you tell her to leave you, you'll have to give all the stuff back to her once you "hire" her again"
Step 4: Type in the console "Disable", without the "s -> follower disappears
Step 5: Type "Enable", again without the "s -> follower appears again
Step 6: Ask your follower to join you again
Step 7: Profit!!!

companions never level up.

it's my understanding that they match whatever your level is upon meeting you, and then stay that way forever

General consensus is that it's a bug that this happens, they should level with you.

 

[chockomonkey]

^^ ahh good stuff. Thanks for the info

 

[Megalomaniac]

Im curious to hear how many people use a companion?
I havent ever used one. I'm guessing that only mages need one.

 

[UtopiA]

They're good pack mules... that's about it.

They have bad aggro detection, even when using a bow, so it's difficult to get them to actually HELP in combat since they're usually pissing around somewhere else.

 

[Parja]

Im curious to hear how many people use a companion?
I havent ever used one. I'm guessing that only mages need one.

A non-summoner mage, at that. Or maybe a heavy armor wade into battle type character. Maybe have an archer companion for additional damage.

Otherwise, I know my sneak attack silent killer don't want nothing to do with no companion. They'll blow my cover...and might steal some of my kills! Can't have that happening.

 

[MavericK]

Yeah, companions not leveling with you makes them totally worthless in combat. Even with full Daedric armor and a Daedric sword (all enchanted) Lydia still can't take more than like two hits, and she does barely any damage. Doesn't really make sense considering how good her equipment is alone.

 

[chockomonkey]

A non-summoner mage, at that. Or maybe a heavy armor wade into battle type character. Maybe have an archer companion for additional damage.

Otherwise, I know my sneak attack silent killer don't want nothing to do with no companion. They'll blow my cover...and might steal some of my kills! Can't have that happening.

hey me too!

 

[Forceman]

Otherwise, I know my sneak attack silent killer don't want nothing to do with no companion. They'll blow my cover...and might steal some of my kills! Can't have that happening.

That's the most frustrating thing. They can't hide worth a damn - always giving me away.

 

[eggrock]

Im curious to hear how many people use a companion?
I havent ever used one. I'm guessing that only mages need one.

Nope, don't want someone running around causing aggro everywhere and bathing in my fireballs.

 

[Jellylesg]

This game is bugged as fuck. I have, on three separate occasions, quit out of a game with a recent autosave, quicksave and full save. Upon relaunching, all three have been broken and required me to roll back 3/4+ hours of gameplay.

I also have a 50/50 chance of coming out of an Enchanting table with my view stuck in first-person, fixed on the table, requiring a reload of a save.

More than half of the time, when talking to a companion or NPC, clicking dialogue options fucks up to the point that I have dismissed companions accidentally, when trying to look in their inventories. It doesn't track mouse movements accurately, and often doesn't track WASD/arrow momvements in dialogue at all. Every third NPC dialogue I have to tab out of and start again just to access the right dialogue option, because it wasn't selectable.

Every time I go into my Books sub-menu in the inventory I can scroll normally until I open and read a book, at which point it stops scrolling by each item and instead jumps to every third item, requiring yet another close/reopen of the inventory.

It's getting quite tedious, to be honest. I just went and started two new characters since my level 48/129.5 hours gameplay (holy shit where did I get the time to do that?) save would lock up on loading. I did the Faendal learn archery/take back gold from level 1 and was level 8 with an archer skill of 60 - only shot 4 wolves - in the space of 90 minutes.

 

[Porter_]

Yep I sneak around too much to take a companion with me. I had a battle dog with me for a short while just to try it out (plus dogs are cool ) but I sent him back home after a while.

 

[Q-BZ]

Want to see a companion that's basically an outright exploit? Get Barbas. Once he's with you, you're in no hurry to do the quest related to him and you can take him wherever you want except certain other quest missions.

He basically can't be killed and kicks all kinds of ass on your behalf. Giants, dragons, sabre cats, bears...it just doesn't matter.

 

[theNoid]

Want to see a companion that's basically an outright exploit? Get Barbas. Once he's with you, you're in no hurry to do the quest related to him and you can take him wherever you want except certain other quest missions.

He basically can't be killed and kicks all kinds of ass on your behalf. Giants, dragons, sabre cats, bears...it just doesn't matter.

I just use Shadowmere (death horse) for that. It cannot be killed and when knocked down you can store unlimited amount of items on it. It also will allow you to walk up mountain sides you cannot on foot.

 

[revenant]

Im curious to hear how many people use a companion?
I havent ever used one. I'm guessing that only mages need one.

I never used one until new vegas and finally kind of got used to having one, definitely makes things more complicated at times... I have been using Brelyna and she's been a decent companion... and Dragonborn can sleep in a bed with her for the 15% stat boost of Lover's Comfort. ooohhh la la

 

[jiminator]

all the horses can climb mountains. I don't bother with companions. One of the things I have found is that once you are told of a location the enemies are set at that level. So I am finally getting around to some of those locations and they are all very low level.

 

[sed8em]

This game is bugged as fuck. I have, on three separate occasions, quit out of a game with a recent autosave, quicksave and full save. Upon relaunching, all three have been broken and required me to roll back 3/4+ hours of gameplay.

I also have a 50/50 chance of coming out of an Enchanting table with my view stuck in first-person, fixed on the table, requiring a reload of a save.

More than half of the time, when talking to a companion or NPC, clicking dialogue options fucks up to the point that I have dismissed companions accidentally, when trying to look in their inventories. It doesn't track mouse movements accurately, and often doesn't track WASD/arrow momvements in dialogue at all. Every third NPC dialogue I have to tab out of and start again just to access the right dialogue option, because it wasn't selectable.

Every time I go into my Books sub-menu in the inventory I can scroll normally until I open and read a book, at which point it stops scrolling by each item and instead jumps to every third item, requiring yet another close/reopen of the inventory.

It's getting quite tedious, to be honest. I just went and started two new characters since my level 48/129.5 hours gameplay (holy shit where did I get the time to do that?) save would lock up on loading. I did the Faendal learn archery/take back gold from level 1 and was level 8 with an archer skill of 60 - only shot 4 wolves - in the space of 90 minutes.

Weird that you're having all those problems.
I am at level 33 and have only had one CTD and one freeze. No other problems to report.

 

[huxley]

People that have the game guide, do you think you are enjoying the game more or less with a good step by step guide? I am contemplating doing my next play through with the actual guide.....

 

[AmberClad]

This game is bugged as fuck. I have, on three separate occasions, quit out of a game with a recent autosave, quicksave and full save. Upon relaunching, all three have been broken and required me to roll back 3/4+ hours of gameplay.

Hmm, have never encountered corrupted saves myself.

I also have a 50/50 chance of coming out of an Enchanting table with my view stuck in first-person, fixed on the table, requiring a reload of a save.

I've run into this numerous times, and it's annoying as hell, but if you wait a bit (maybe 30 sec at most), you will get unstuck.

More than half of the time, when talking to a companion or NPC, clicking dialogue options fucks up to the point that I have dismissed companions accidentally, when trying to look in their inventories. It doesn't track mouse movements accurately, and often doesn't track WASD/arrow momvements in dialogue at all. Every third NPC dialogue I have to tab out of and start again just to access the right dialogue option, because it wasn't selectable.

Yeah the mouse interface (the inaccuracy) is pretty atrocious. Just last night, I was asking myself which game had a worse interface - Mass Effect, where all 150 items in your inventory are thrown into a single giant, completely unorganized list when you open a shop interface, with no option for filtering or sorting. Or Skyrim, where the damn game can't even recognize which dialog options you're clicking on.

 

[MavericK]

This game is bugged as fuck. I have, on three separate occasions, quit out of a game with a recent autosave, quicksave and full save. Upon relaunching, all three have been broken and required me to roll back 3/4+ hours of gameplay.

I also have a 50/50 chance of coming out of an Enchanting table with my view stuck in first-person, fixed on the table, requiring a reload of a save.

More than half of the time, when talking to a companion or NPC, clicking dialogue options fucks up to the point that I have dismissed companions accidentally, when trying to look in their inventories. It doesn't track mouse movements accurately, and often doesn't track WASD/arrow momvements in dialogue at all. Every third NPC dialogue I have to tab out of and start again just to access the right dialogue option, because it wasn't selectable.

Every time I go into my Books sub-menu in the inventory I can scroll normally until I open and read a book, at which point it stops scrolling by each item and instead jumps to every third item, requiring yet another close/reopen of the inventory.

It's getting quite tedious, to be honest. I just went and started two new characters since my level 48/129.5 hours gameplay (holy shit where did I get the time to do that?) save would lock up on loading. I did the Faendal learn archery/take back gold from level 1 and was level 8 with an archer skill of 60 - only shot 4 wolves - in the space of 90 minutes.

I haven't had quite that many issues, but I have encountered most of the ones you listed at one point or another. It is annoying but I don't get them with the apparent frequency that you do.

Just hit level 50 and still going strong. Using magic now is making me level up like crazy for those skills (like 5 Firebolts hitting a guy and I level up in Destruction, etc.).

 

[Parmenides]

I just use Shadowmere (death horse) for that. It cannot be killed and when knocked down you can store unlimited amount of items on it. It also will allow you to walk up mountain sides you cannot on foot.

woah, didn't know about the pack horse loot trick. How do you knock it down without it wanting to kill you?

I think I killed mine once by accidental fire ball spammage in the midst of fighting some guys that took us by surprise. Not sure how it died but I loaded.

 

[MavericK]

People that have the game guide, do you think you are enjoying the game more or less with a good step by step guide? I am contemplating doing my next play through with the actual guide.....

So far I've just been using it as a reference if I get stuck or want to look for a particular item. Personally I think it beats trying to alt-tab to look at the Skyrim Wiki, so that's my main reason for getting it. Plus you can read it while you're not on the computer...

 

[stop!theradio]

So I was at the Markarth stables and some guy had a "War Dog" for sale. I figured what the hell - I've never had a dog as a companion in any game in TES series - I'd try it out.

Damned dog was dead 5 seconds into the first battle he experienced I was going to ~ resurrect him but decided it would be more trouble than it's worth having to do that every 5 seconds, so I let him just be dead.

 

[MavericK]

So I was at the Markarth stables and some guy had a "War Dog" for sale. I figured what the hell - I've never had a dog as a companion in any game in TES series - I'd try it out.

Damned dog was dead 5 seconds into the first battle he experienced I was going to ~ resurrect him but decided it would be more trouble than it's worth having to do that every 5 seconds, so I let him just be dead.

You could always make them "essential" if you don't want to worry about them dying.

I've been considering letting Lydia go since she's often more of a nuisance than anything. But she does carry a lot of shit...hmm.

 

[UtopiA]

I hate how everyone uses Lydia just because she's the first companion you get in the game.
Fuck Lydia, she's a dumb sarcastic bitch and there are a dozen other companions who are BETTER than her, and actually respect your character.

There are several housecarl companions in Skyrim and they're all douchey.

 

[limitedaccess]

I'm going to try running around with a small army. 2 summons, follower, and a dog. Buff with Rally. Although Rally kind of sucks, should buff damage somehow.

Although I wonder how strong a NPC I can raise from the dead with the permanent thrall spell.

 

[Forceman]

I hate how everyone uses Lydia just because she's the first companion you get in the game.
Fuck Lydia, she's a dumb sarcastic bitch and there are a dozen other companions who are BETTER than her, and actually respect your character.

There are several housecarl companions in Skyrim and they're all douchey.

Not everyone has encountered other companions yet.

Personally, I can't wait for the inevitable saddle bags mod. Seems stupid that my horse can't carry anything.

 

[MavericK]

I hate how everyone uses Lydia just because she's the first companion you get in the game.
Fuck Lydia, she's a dumb sarcastic bitch and there are a dozen other companions who are BETTER than her, and actually respect your character.

There are several housecarl companions in Skyrim and they're all douchey.

"Better" is subjective, but yeah, I am a little tired of her saying "I am sworn to carry your burdens" in that sarcastic tone. Hey bitch, I was actually going to upgrade your armor, but now you can just take a sword up the ass.

I ended up marrying that Riverwood chick who stays in my Whiterun cottage and makes me money and food, but I run around with Lydia all day...lol.

 

[|Tch0rT|]

I hate how everyone uses Lydia just because she's the first companion you get in the game.
Fuck Lydia, she's a dumb sarcastic bitch and there are a dozen other companions who are BETTER than her, and actually respect your character.

There are several housecarl companions in Skyrim and they're all douchey.

See I'm an asshole. I like dragging Lydia everywhere because she doesn't like it. Despite that I treat her good and give her weapons and armor but it amuses me that she's sworn to carry my burdens. I use her for aggro. It seems like my enemies swarm her, so I let them beat on her while I shoot them with arrows.