I was in the same spot, but I was able to RP my way over to the Empire’s side
spoiler
following completion of the Dark Brotherhood questline.
Well you know, I haven’t heard any of this racist talk about the entirely affable Companions, and the grand reward for finishing their quest line happens to be a weapon designed for killing elves. So I think we might need to just sit down and hammer out the rules of Tamriel racism after all.
Pogo
5383
It is kinda cool to see what it’s like to approach that beginning from both sides.
DeepT
5384
With regard to the storm cloak racism thing, talk to the NPC in their home town. Also if you win as the rebels, go back and talk to various NPCs asking what they think about the storm cloak victory. It is pretty clear they are racist bastards.
Skipper
5385
And yet … there are elves living in that city, still. Every side here has a flaw. Every. One. I would highly recommend reading the books you find on or around any Stormcloak, Imperial, or Thalmor, including anything in Windhelm or Solitude.
The entire war is convoluted and manipulated, and the factions themselves are being played against each other. I think Bethesda made both sides of that war deliberately tarnished in some way.
Regarding racism in Tameriel: The Dunmer are incredible dicks.
I had read some of the books in Morrowind and some in Oblivion, but until this ePub collection of Skyrim books came out, I hadn’t sat down and read them all. Some of them are actually pretty good reads, especially the ones written like excerpts from an Elder Scrolls tie-in book that never got published.
Yeah, my first inclination in any empire vs. rebels thing in a game is to side with the underdog rebels, but Bethesda have done a really good job here. After talking to people and reading books, I’m still not sure who I want to throw in with, if anybody. I’ve gone to both Solitude and Windhelm at different times determined to join up and then thought “Well I don’t know…” Very well done, I think.
kerzain
5388
Racism is rampant in Windhelm, and the place is a segregated cesspit for it. There is a common theme among Dunmer in the Windhelm region who have been accepted by the Stormcloaks and other Windhelm citizens, one of subservience and hard work being the only way to earn a pass. Each and every one of the ‘accepted few’ takes the time to explain this when asked.
Uncle Tom seems to be the corollary they were aiming for here, from local Dunmer farmers still allowed to till their own land, to Windhelm’s better-to-do Dunmer citizens, they all same pretty much echo the same sentiment: work hard, do your best to get along, and watch your acceptance rise. My guess is the moment one of them decides to stand up for something the locals don’t agree with they’d just end up paying the price in much the same way Uncle Tom did.
The fact that such efforts would be needed to help mitigate some of the blatant outpouring of hatred towards their people (lest they start being forced to live in the gray quarter, the local slums where the rest of the Dunmer are forced to live), makes the racism plain to see for those who have talked to the city’s people. But the Dunmer don’t even have the worst of it in this city, Argonians aren’t even permitted within the city gates (your character is an exception if you just happen to be of the scale and tail variety), and are instead forced to live in cages down at the docks where they work (the only place they’re even allowed to work any more in Windhelm). They’re also a bit unwilling to talk much, for fear of reprisal, some just want to be left alone to deal with the misery on their own. Conversations with the Argonians at the docks will reveal that the Ka’jit in the area don’t fare any better. They are treated like beasts of burden.
When first entering Windhelm it’s common to see an argument taking place between a Dunmer and a gang of aggressors. It isn’t even so much of an argument as a round of bullying the Dunmer is forced to undergo, by a group of hate-mongering ne’er-do-wells. How does the bullied Dunmer respond when asked about the situation in the city? By expressing her feelings that the Rebellion, and Jarl Ulfric in particular, couldn’t give two shits about her or the rest of her kind, we’re informed that problems like this are routinely overlooked by the Nord-promotiing local hierarchy.
Does this blatant racism play a part in the rebellion questline at all? I don’t know, but even if it doesn’t, one need only talk with the local citizens to get an understanding about the current state of affairs in Windhelm, and the neglect the Stormcloaks have so far shown Windhelm & Skyrim citizens who aren’t Nord, especially if those same people are of the Dunmer, Argonian, and Ka’jit variety.
Pogo
5389
Why don’t they just move?
So you’re OK with their decision to instead turn them into punching bags? A lot of the dragon awesome evaporated for me when I discovered bears and sabre cats posed tougher challenges early on. It makes no sense that people in the game are worried about the return of the dragons when most of them can be swatted down like houseflies.
Gunny
5391
Just hit level 12 with my imperial whatever. I started as a 2-hander, but around level 4-5 I reverted back to my typical TES build; a sneaky, bow-using, sometimes-using-illusion, light armored, relying on daggers as a melee fallback, assassin.
The leveling system in this game was totally hard to adjust to for me, but I grew to embrace it. The perks just ‘work’. They actually make leveling exciting and affect growth in a noticeable way.
Loving the writing and graphics and having a blast. Deus Ex 3 and L.A. Noire were in contention for my GotY, but this has completely shaken up the decision.
I have been playing TES games since Arena and this is honestly my favorite iteration. By far. I thought Fallout 3 ‘out-TES’ed’ TES, but this has built upon the winning formula, learned lessons from Oblivion, gained insight from FO3, and become the absolute awesome RPG monster it deserves to be.
Hey, watch it there you filthy Nord.
Gunny
5393
Sorry for possible double-post, guys. I just noticed this post.
Anyhoo, I have never, ever understood the constant ‘FOV is shit, game is unable to be enjoyed default’ argument. However, for the first time ever, I found myself ‘getting it’. I noticed it being a bit narrow. I feel with a 50 inch Samsung HDTV that I should have a wider view on the world. I have 3 tvs I have played it on in my house: the aforementioned 50’, a 32’ Vizio in the bedroom, and a 27’ CRT SDTV in the spare bedroom. All leave me with the same feeling. That my field of view is simply so narrow as to feel somewhat stifling.
Sucks, as being a former PC-only gamer who grew frustrated with the state if PC gaming and ran for 360, never looking back, I am finding myself limited to what FOV they stick me with and have zero options to alter it.
One last thing, I patched my ver. and have none of the problems with dragons and whatnot.
Digital Foundry takes Bethesda to task for the PS3 version of the game: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-vs-ps3-skyrim-lag
It’s the first time our performance analysis tools have ever recorded a 0FPS reading.
Of course, playing the PS3 version in short 30 minute bursts and rebooting is unacceptable as is expecting players to fork out for another version after investing so much time into their existing purchase. Ultimately, it appears the only way forward for now is to leave feedback for Bethesda, detailing where the problems crop up most in your game. It’s a position paying customers shouldn’t find themselves in and the implication that the game was released without proper testing is troubling, but the sooner the problem can be isolated, the better for everyone.
Ha, that’s the truth. I did go along with him, and that turned out the right thing to do – he leads you right to his sister, giving you some backstory and showing those “class” stones along the way. That talk about “splitting up” was just the typical random Bethesda NPC chatter, I got another dose when we were walking to the sister’s house. He kept wishing me good luck on my way to the next town… every five steps of the way. Oh well.
Finished the first dungeon, too. Pretty awesome for a starter dungeon I must say. Had the bard at the local tavern play two songs for me and got a page full of side quests. I think I’ll be busy for the next couple of months!
I’m curious what your build was. I played most of the game as two-handed weapon/heavy armor guy, and the “balance” was satisfying for me all the way to the end. Out of about 20 or so dragon fights, I did run into one or two that went down once I swatted them with a one-handed axe a couple times. But definitely not “most.”
The majority for me were just tense enough to be interesting but not so difficult that I got frustrated. And even with magic resistances, if I stayed in the path of their shout they could take me from full health to near-death in a second, so I had to make some (admittedly simple) tactical decisions. And that’s just the random dragons. The ones that were story-driven would take me multiple attempts to get through.
Meanwhile, I could take down saber cats, bears, and trolls without any problem. And the revolution quest line was a joke, since I waited so long to do them that I could one-shot everyone without their even making a dent in my health.
Stealth archer, which is fairly OP later on, but I’ve had only a few dragon fights that were any trouble at all since starting out. As stated, an ancient dragons still put up a good fight. I wish most were like that instead of most being relatively easy.
Marcin
5398
Has anyone taken a destromage into late game and been satisfied with the experience? I’m about to respec my awful (literally a point in nearly everything) early choices and planning on destro/conjure focus.
Zepo1a
5399
They are either full of shit or their PS3 is about to break. I have a 160 hour game that has none of the issues they are talking about.
It’s Digital Foundry. I really doubt they are full of shit. There are PS3 posters on the official boards posting about similar issues, so I’d say it doesn’t look unique to just DF’s machine.
The technical reason why this issue exists was explained earlier with Fallout: NV. http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1303536-new-vegas-developer-comments-on-ps3-lag-issues/
tl;dr - All versions have the issue, but the PS3 more easily reaches the breaking point due to the split memory configuration. Gamers on PC and 360 would have to play for a very long time on a single character in an unusually long play session to get to the same point.
