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Armand said:
So far, I'm on my third character (yup). Played the first time with a dark elf spell sword like character. Flames in one hand, sword in another. Mostly did the main quest line there.
That's the character I'm building. I haven't looked into how to duel wield a spell and a sword yet. Do you have to up your duel wield? I guess I need to do a little research cause I can wield either a spell or a sword in my left hand but nothing in my right hand. I know the info is out there. I ordered the guide and will hopefully be looking it up soon.
Armand, the game came out 7 days ago and you have played it through twice? I'm so slow. I have about 4 hours of play in the last 4 days and am still in the first barrow.
As for that archer companion:
I think this was the order... talked to the bard, took his fake letter but didn't hand it off to the girl when I met her. After meeting the bard and then the girl I met the elf. I talked to the elf and showed him the bard's letter. The elf gave me his own letter and I gave that to the girl. (Hey, us dark elves have to stick together against the oppressive white male humans, right?) The next time I ran into the elf I told him I gave the letter to the girl. He thanked me and then I saw an option in the dialogue tree where he offered his help. I was about to head up to the barrow, so I accepted his help.
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Scout, I believe it just corresponds to the left and right mouse buttons (or triggers). Dual-wielding the same spell in both hands is a perk, I think.
It's a little confusing since LMB uses what's in your right hand and RMB what's in your left, to correspond with the classic "LMB=attack and all characters are right handed" thing. But you get used to it.
I'm enjoying shield bashing far too much to have anything else in my left hand - unless of course it's a bow, with which I hunt down mine enemies from afar.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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As far as duel wielding spell/sword, basically, you just do it. Easiest way to handle it is to add anything you want to use in your hands to your favorites list. You do that by hitting the F key (default) on an item in the items list. From there, while running around, hit Q to bring up your favorites. You can then hit a number key on any item to hot key it to that number (numpad doesn't work I think).
The game seems to automatically assign weapons to the right hand (left mouse) and spells to the left hand (right mouse). From there, it's mostly a matter of usage. The more you use say, a sword and some destruction magic spells, the more you level those skills. Duel wielding weapons (I think) are part of the one handed weapon skill tree, but otherwise, you can just level one handed weapons and individual spells. There is also a two-handed weapon skill tree, which shouldn't be confused for duel wield.
Don't know if that's too much info, but better safe than sorry...
As for the ridiculous amount of hours I've put in, I played almost non-stop during the 3 day weekend, and there have been many a late nights since then. I really, really like this game.
The quest lines and story telling have all been better than previous TES games, though I think FO3 had some more personality and character to it. Looking forward to when they release the construction set, and I can start adding proper mods to the game! Yayness!
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Also, I tried switching left and right mouse button to their respective in-game hands, but surprisingly it works better when they're crossed the way you get them defaulted.
Steerpike, do you have the skill perk to slow down time while shield blocking yet? Freakin' awesome! You get an extra second or two to bash someone while they're using their super attack.
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Thanks for the info guys. I've got the sword equipped in my right hand and a shield in my left for now. I finished up the Barrow quest, returned the Golden Claw to the innkeeper and just hit Whiterun, where to my surprise, I had a bounty on me. Guess someone saw me stealing cabbages. It was down to a sword strike either way with the boss in the barrow but I was pretty happy to see the little animation of me winning. Yesssss. Good thing I stole those cabbages earlier. I consumed every last health potion and veggie I had on me. I also still have the archer tagging along. I went back to where I left him and he was all healed up, or at least healed enough to run again. Plus I got to use him to carry all the loot so I don't have to go back and pick it up. I'm wondering if I level up slower with him picking off wolves and such along the trail which is fine as I always level up too fast in TES, at least since MW.
I see there is a horse and wagon for hire outside Whiterun. I remember in Daggerfall I had a horse and wagon parked outside every dungeon to haul away loot.
I'm liking this game a lot too. I'm just glad the characters got ramped up a little. Nothing near Fallout 3 or New Vegas but better than before.
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I'm not positive, but I think companions heal in between fights. At least, the story related ones seem to do so. I've only lost the more random companions, like the ones you pick up for doing favors, or one I paid $500 to tag along, only to lose her in the very first battle we encountered... directly after fast traveling from town. Seriously, she lasted all of about 2 minutes!
Leveling is solely based on your own actions (which can be disappointing after completing a big quest), so in a sense companions are taking your experience, but a lot of times they were pretty crucial in keeping me alive. Fights could get pretty hard on the normal difficulty. You also level pretty quickly in this game since levels are 1-50. I still haven't hit that though. My highest level character was in the mid 30's I think.
Anyhow, back to my warrior! [Image Can Not Be Found]
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Just for anyone who may be swapping computers midgame, the saves are not on steam's cloud. Nope, not. On your computer. The computer that may be 50 miles from the computer you are playing on for the next two days. [Image Can Not Be Found]
Build #2 is a High Elf, still fireballs & sword. Dark elves are just toooo ugly even though I rarely see myself unless curious enough to hit F. Still no further than level .5.
All-knowing Armand? (how convenient to have you in this thread) The elf-guy companion with the bow. When I gave him a pile 'o' stuff to carry, he equipped everything with the best stats. But I wanted him to stay ranged with a bow (I'm assuming his archery is high if he's a trainer). I could *not* get him to equip the bow if a 2h humongous warhammer was in his inventory. I was so losing patience with him (in that dungeon following the golden horn), that I didn't bother to check that he probably equipped heavy armor too.
Is the only way to give him just a bow & carry all other weapons myself? And same with heavy armor? If so, that makes him a nearly worthless pack mule.
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Though they generally default to the best armor/weapons you give them, they also will switch between melee and ranged as the situation warrants. He may have started carrying the hammer, but he'll also switch to the bow and arrows as needed, which I think is AWESOME! In that sense, it's actually a good idea to give them both so they can be more versatile. Of course, if you want them to only play as ranged, you will have to take their stronger melee weapons away. Also, make sure they have enough arrows, as they will switch to a weaker melee weapon once they run out of ammo.
As for your save, if you have someone around your other computer, you could always have them email you the latest save file. Save files are only about 5 megs and located in your Documents/My Games/Skyrim/Saves folder.
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Dark elves are not ugly but cool, esp. when they wear helmets with eye-holes that glow red in the dark. I don't like the pretty-pretty races in TES, myself. It's like playing Gweynth Paltrow with an axe...a scary thought, actually. Though high elves have their charm in a gangly, twee way.
I took all the stuff from my dark elf archer and sold it so he only has his bow and dagger. Haven't had him start swinging an axe yet cause I sell everything immediately and only keep enchanted stuff around. I too noticed he will switch to a bow or to a dagger when warranted. I suspect he won't be valuable for very long unless he levels up as well. He has already taken a knee in the very first cave with weak foes. I did notice that you can place him in spots in the landscape though. Click on the "Do you have something for me to do" line in the dialogue tree and then click on the place where you want him to stand. I haven't tried it yet though. I assume he will hold that place though. It' looks like an awkward implementation of party management, something I've never seen in a TES game before.
Yapette, that sucks you don't have your save, though I can see why they don't keep them on the cloud.
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Yeah, scout I was bummed bigtime. And thanks, Armand, for excellent info. At least I could play the tutorial slightly differently by following the rebel guy instead of the soldier. However, here I am as Build#2 doing the same things again in Riverivenhood.
As the blacksmith is no longer my bff, I talked to him about crafting & now I'm stuck – how in hell does one craft a leather helmet? Straps I can make, other stuff improve, but no where can I find option to create a helmet (or maybe he's asking helm). Not that I want to craft leather or metal, but it bugs me to have a forever pending quest in my journel. [Image Can Not Be Found]
In other news I have tweaked – a lot! This video card is a 5850 which isn't as good as the 6870 at home; neither terrific. So far I've installed (& must duplicate at home without error, a task fraught with anxiety):
No Blocky Faces
Detailed Faces
Large Address Aware (supposedly allows game to use more than 2gb of ram)
Lockpick Pro ([Image Can Not Be Found] graphically marks sweet spot – I loathe lockpicking)
Tweaks for mouse lag & acceleration, tree shadows & FOV
FXAA Injector w/ 1st option & that further tweaked w/ Pogo's settings from Quarter to Three forum
Everything looks gorgeous despite running a lesser card than at home. I'm going to attempt to stick with this & make *no* further graphical tweaks.
Edit: just to assure that I am not without ignorance about what I'm doing, in the tutorial where we fight a buncha enemies near running water? I noticed an ominous sign: purple in the very bloodied ground. Looked like oil slicks in water. *I* on the other hand know just enough to know that purple can indicate missing <something: texture? mesh?> files. [Image Can Not Be Found]
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There are oil slicks on the ground in the game. [Image Can Not Be Found]
Usually, they'll have a lamp above them you can shoot with a bow, or cast a fire spell into them and they light up and burn anyone standing in it. Great way to take down a lot of guys.
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Whew, thanks! They really did look like oil slicks but I've had previous EXP with purple place-holders for missing files. Legitimate placeholders…not like the time I freaked out over purple flames in braziers at the Mage Guild. Until Pokey assured me it was normal. Or when I met wolves that growled, attacked & killed me but remained invisible until I installed a dog mod (thank heavens for mod making animal lovers).
In other news: Big Thanks to you & your post plus BnBGaming! I visited the twitter page, registered and activated a code for SW:TOR testing. Now I'm going to help my husband do one. [Image Can Not Be Found]
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After various hard drive problems I'm back up and running. Just visited Solitude, a place I haven't been to since the first Arena.
It's less... solitudinous than I thought it would be. Actually it's quite a beautiful city. Far nicer than Windhelm, which should be called Gloomy Gloomburgville.
I have so many tasks on my dance card, I think I'm gonna just spend a few hours clearing them. Just did a quest in the mind of a madman. Kinda cool.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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Sounds like everyone is going swimmingly. Yap, I think you make the leather helmet at the Forge (as opposed to the Tanning Rack), if that helps. Should be under the 'Hide' option, I think. I'll have a look when I get home and let you know. I have my Smithing up at 88 at the moment - thanks Iron Daggers! Oh, and oil slicks are bad for a spell slinger. Very bad.
I've become the Arch-Mage of the College, after many quests and hundreds of deaths, and have finally figured out how to use some of my spells effectively. I suck in combat a lot, putting most of my skills into Enchanting, Smithing, Sneak - and I can cast a mean Destruction spell, thanks to point going into it as well. With a perk, double-casting most Destruction spells staggers the target, which helps no end. I am, however, having a lot of trouble Soul Trapping my conjured creatures, and am wondering if it is even possible. Oh, and tough bosses beat the living shit out of me regularly, and I've had to become a master of hit-and-run tactics to take them out.
I have some lovely Apparel at the moment, and with my items combined regenerate Magicka at 225%. Which is lovely. I've killed 10+ dragons - about 4 at the College, and another 3 at Whiterun - they seem to pop up where you spend the most time. I only have 3 shout powers, so I'm saving the other Dragon Souls for more shouts when I get them. I have two Glass Swords that I've Enchanted myself (one I Smith'ed), for those very rare occastions that I close in with an enemy.
I'm not too sure what quests I'll do next, maybe join the Thieves Guild. I still have a couple of random College quests to do, so I should probably finish them off first.
A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war, wide awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. – The Teachings of Don Juan
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Am I missing something? I kill a Dragon, I get a soul, and none of my shouts unlock. I've got five or six of them, but only two work, despite the fact that I've killed… I think five dragons. Do I have to go back to High Hrdfrdmenjensen? Are they lurking somewhere in my inventory?
I want to shout, shout, let it all out.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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After you get your shout power, you have to go to the shout page in your spell inventory, and click 'unlock' or something like that. I think it is the square button on the PS3. Then you select which unlocked one you want to use, in much the same fashion as spells.
These are not the things we can do without.
A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war, wide awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. – The Teachings of Don Juan
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I got my first shout today after pitching in at Whiterun and helping kill the first dragon at the west tower. I keep forgetting to use it though as I'm a sword and shield guy at the moment. I joined the Companions. The king of Whiterun gave me my Lydia so that helps. Ran into some thugs who had a contract out on me for some theft I don't remember. Way too hard for me (I'm at level 5) so I had to scamper back to the Companion HQ where the cleaning lady and a couple of minons took them out fast. It's humbling to see the maid kill a dangerous thug with her bare hands.
I'm was wandering the valley outside of Whiterun with Lydia and ran into my first dragon in the wild. I tried my shout on it to no avail. Then shot arrows at it for a while to further no avail. Finally it flew down and fried me. I reloaded but haven't seen it since. I did notice that it seemed attracted to prey like elk and wolf and even mammoths. I think I need to up my ranged spells some though I have the feeling a fireball won't do much on a fire dragon. I have a little frost damage on my sword but wasn't able to get close enough to do much good. Hopefully I can avoid them by running and hiding until I'm more beefy.
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Thanks, Jarrod, I finally tried making a leather (hide) helmet at the forge. Sorry Bethesda, in my logical world, forging over a blazing fire is for metal - not leather!
About your soul trapping....I *think* I read one cannot soul trap a summoned creature (wasn't soul-trapping a summoned Golden Saint the quick & dirty way in MW to fill a soul gem large enough for a Constant Effect?). Which makes sense - you can't trap souls of entities that don't have one like undead or an Atronach. Sorry, I've looked but can't find where I read this.
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@ Scout - you want to get in close with a dragon to test your sword's frost damage? Good luck with that, can I have your boots? I usually just try a spell or shout or two to get the dragon's attention, then I wait for it to land. Having a flame atronarch helps get the attention of dragons as well. Also, I try to make the dragon other people's problems too... like giants, bandits, guards and the like. Share the workload.
@ Yap - damnit! That Golden Saint trick was exactly what I was trying to replicate... If I had of known that, I would have made my Azura's Gem the bad version which puts people's souls in it rather than creatures' souls. I tend not to get close enough to creatures to try Soul Trap. People are another matter...
A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war, wide awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. – The Teachings of Don Juan
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Yapette said:
Thanks, Jarrod, I finally tried making a leather (hide) helmet at the forge. Sorry Bethesda, in my logical world, forging over a blazing fire is for metal – not leather!
About your soul trapping….I *think* I read one cannot soul trap a summoned creature (wasn't soul-trapping a summoned Golden Saint the quick & dirty way in MW to fill a soul gem large enough for a Constant Effect?). Which makes sense – you can't trap souls of entities that don't have one like undead or an Atronach. Sorry, I've looked but can't find where I read this.
I can attest to leather not responding well to fire. Hiking all day in the snow [Image Can Not Be Found] + drying boots too close to campfire [Image Can Not Be Found]+ not watching boots [Image Can Not Be Found] = scorched leather [Image Can Not Be Found]. I don't think you want those boots, Jarrod.
Yes, I think pulling the dragon into a nearby congested area is the way to go. I just need to not clear out the site first, I guess. Pesky dragons. And I have 50% resistance to fire, being a dark elf.
That was what I was thinking too about trapping summoned souls. I used the Summon Golden Saint in MW a lot to make Constant Effect items.
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