Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim announced

[Tyjenks]

My son has Skyrim for the XBox and I have it on Steam. Before he went to bed, he saw my horse and wished he had one (he plays a lot less being only 9), so I kind of gloated a little bit.

Shortly after he goes up, my horse and I travel along a river path headed to Windhelm when I see a lovely cabin. There is a garden of leeks on the outside, and all seems right. As I pass by the front, I see the front door is gone. I pop my head inside, while still on the horse, and I’m greeted by a bear! I’m a thief, and the bear has no pockets to pick, so I ride for my life along the river bank. Not being smart enough to go back the way I came, I soon discover that there is no more river bank to run along, only a massive waterfall. The bear was still breathing right behind my back, so I did the only thing I could, and try to get down the waterfall via the rocks that jutted out. I must admit that I NEARLY made it the whole way, but the last step was a doozy, and while I hit the ground hard, I survived. Sadly, my horse, that I did not own long enough to name, did not and crumpled into a ball.

Karma bit me in the ass for sure.

Awesome.

[Brian_Seiler]

Oh hell. Kat Bailey just had an idea in my ear that sounds like something I’m going to have to do. She figured out what all the stupid useless things you can pick up are for.

Somebody needs to make a hoarder house. I’m beginning to fear that that someone might be me.

[Chris_Nahr]

I have the hard bound guide, it’s gorgeous and comes with TWO book mark ribbons, which is a nice touch. Too bad they aren’t different colors though.

The content is incredibly rich and detailed, even well before you get to the spoilery/quest and map sections (which is only the back 400 pages with more than the first 100 pages dedicated to thoughts on perks, weapon and spell lists, and tons of information.

Probably what impresses me the most is the index in the back has so far had an entry for everything I’ve wanted to look up. Truly a marvel, even just for those who like to collect nice books.

Does anyone sell this awesome guide in Europe? I only see it bundled with the console versions, and I bought the PC version…

[Jupiter_Jones]

Wow, what an amazing game. I could follow the rivers and streams all day long and do nothing else. Does anyone know if there is way to fish? I got sidetracked from attacking bandits last night just to try my hand at hunting wholly mammoth (not successful).

[WarrenM]

I found a shallow water fall with salmon trying to jump up it. I was floored. I spent 5 minutes trying to grab one out of mid air…

[Giaddon]

Does anyone know if there is way to fish?

Jump in a river, look at a fish, and push “E.”

[Razgon]

Wow, what an amazing game. I could follow the rivers and streams all day long and do nothing else. Does anyone know if there is way to fish? I got sidetracked from attacking bandits last night just to try my hand at hunting wholly mammoth (not successful).

Real nords fish with their hands, meaning you jump in, and catch fish with your bare hands! (or, “E” ;-) )

[Aeon221]

You hold ALT to sprint, by the way. This also works on horses.

I’ve had a few, dragons tend to eat them.

[RichVR]

Yeah, I was crossing a river on foot and suddenly I see the prompt, [E] Harvest Salmon. So I did. I tell my wife, ‘Honey I caught a fish with my bare hands!’

She’s all, ‘Good for you dear.’

[JeffL]

I have the hard bound guide, it’s gorgeous and comes with TWO book mark ribbons, which is a nice touch. Too bad they aren’t different colors though.

The content is incredibly rich and detailed, even well before you get to the spoilery/quest and map sections (which is only the back 400 pages with more than the first 100 pages dedicated to thoughts on perks, weapon and spell lists, and tons of information.

Probably what impresses me the most is the index in the back has so far had an entry for everything I’ve wanted to look up. Truly a marvel, even just for those who like to collect nice books.

I looked for this on Amazon and it was $70.00!!! Is this the one you are referring to?

http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Skyrim-Collectors-Official/dp/0307891402/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321368813&sr=1-2

[Brian_Seiler]

I suspect that the price will go back down if and when they do a second printing. What you see right there is Skylanders-style, limited availability inflation. Not that I’m bitter about it or anything.

It sounds like it has identical content to the softcover, though, so if you just want what’s inside of it, those are out there. Just, you know, the binding might be an issue. I need to flop back and forth through it a few hundred times to see if pages start coming loose.

[Scotch_Lufkin]

I looked for this on Amazon and it was $70.00!!! Is this the one you are referring to?

http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Skyrim-Collectors-Official/dp/0307891402/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321368813&sr=1-2

Yeah, that’s the one. I’m sorry to see it’s so hard to get, I went through this just a month ago when I really wanted the hard bound Dark Souls guide. :(

[Enidigm]

Hurray hardcover manual! Thick, very thick.

A few interesting points re: character generation:

No difference between genders (as there are no longer attribute points).
Bretons have highest Conjuration skill. High Elves have highest Illusion skill. Dark Elves have the highest Destruction.
Breton racial active absorbs 50% of magic received. No natural mana increase
High Elves racial passive is +50 mana. Racial active is a 10x increase in mana regen for 60 seconds.
Imperial racial passive is a small random gold treasure bonus. Active is an AoE Voice of the Emperor.
Khajit have a 4x multiplier in unarmored hand-to-hand. OTOH, hand-to-hand doesn’t increase any skill (this, honestly, seems like they built the bonus when hand-to-hand was still a skill tree, only later to have it removed, but leaving the bonus intact).
Orc Bezerk is 2x damage dealt, 1/2 damage received for 60 seconds. Pretty decent.

… and skill increases:

Skills do NOT increase by repetition out of combat. This includes Conjuration.
Speechcraft only increases by trading and by succeeding at Persuasion or Intimidation checks.
Skills increase according to damage dealt. 5 swings for 20 points of damage level the same as 20 swings for 5 points of damage. This works for archery and magic (as i understand) as well.

[Vesper]

It was really easy to get - if you preordered ($23).

Shit, now I sound like a Gamestop employee.

[Telefrog]

Skills do NOT increase by repetition out of combat. This includes Conjuration.

Shit. Well, I guess that explains why my Restoration skill was never going up. I keep using it after combat to bring myself up to full health instead of during combat.

[Giaddon]

Hey, people with the guide! Can you tell me what the highest level you can attain is? That info is hard to find a definite answer on.

RE: Skills outside combat, there is a bit of a grace period. If I see an enemy, and then cast an oakskin on myself in anticipation of the battle nothing happens, but once the enemy starts attacking I get an alteration level up. I think healing after a battle should have the same effect? If not, lame, 'cause healing during battle is trickier. But overall the system seems to work well. I think it’s a good decision to make mindless spam outside combat not help.

[Brian_Seiler]

Shit. Well, I guess that explains why my Restoration skill was never going up. I keep using it after combat to bring myself up to full health instead of during combat.

Hurm. That sounds unpleasant. How am I going to cheese all my skills to maximum skillfulness now? Particularly Restoration, which I will never use in combat with my play style but will use all the diggity damn time outside of it. I guess I’ll be buying hella training? I still have to read the hundred page dissertation on how the game works at the front of the book, so I’m not sure how far you can ride that particular pony.

[JeffL]

So, skills do not increase by repetition, but do increase by damage delivered? So as long as my arrows hit, it should eventually increase? My archery skill has really stalled (and I’m only level 8) other than finding a trainer.

[Erik_J]

Hurm. That sounds unpleasant. How am I going to cheese all my skills to maximum skillfulness now? Particularly Restoration, which I will never use in combat with my play style but will use all the diggity damn time outside of it. I guess I’ll be buying hella training? I still have to read the hundred page dissertation on how the game works at the front of the book, so I’m not sure how far you can ride that particular pony.

Hopefully just because a guy isn’t in your grill doesn’t mean you’re not in combat. I’ve had to tactically withdraw a couple times to heal. I can’t remember if I leveled up restoration then, but I think I did, even though the guy coming after me was a room or two away.

[Scotch_Lufkin]

Shit. Well, I guess that explains why my Restoration skill was never going up. I keep using it after combat to bring myself up to full health instead of during combat.

This still works. He worded that a little wrong, skills level when they are having an efffect. Running a Ward spell out of combat does nothing, the ward reducing incoming damage DOES level up Resto.

Healing while at full health? Nothing. Healing UP TO full health? I’ve leveled my own Resto up doing just that many times. It’s much slower than doing it in combat though, I believe, or maybe just using Wards IN combat is faster. Not sure.