I refer to the Vanilla game plus HD textures and SkyUI. That is how I’m playing and judging the game.
Daagar
3302
That’s fine, but the point of having a game so moddable is to mod it when you find things you don’t enjoy. Otherwise, disable SkyUI too :)
I had my first encounter with a Dragon today that wasn’t totally epic. In fact, it was completely underwhelming. The dragon attacked Lydia, and she killed him. I’m afraid I’ve created a monster. You see, I often use Lydia as my mule, and she picks up all kinds of loot for me, and when she sees something she likes, she uses it.
So by this point in the game, she’s decked out in armor that makes her look like a messenger of death. She uses a staff to freeze monsters and then finishes them off with melee weapons.
What good is being on Master difficulty and having the game be so tough when I’ve got a sidekick who is Diablo incarnate?
I might have to server her papers. This relationship just isn’t working out.
Scuzz
3304
Staffs being used by a follower are easily the most deadly objects in the game. I no longer let a follower carry them and the one follower who was a mage was way to powerful (IMHO) to use. He killed everything before you could get to it.
What’s always killed my interest in every Elder Scrolls game has been the lack of challenge. It happened after about 50 hours in Morrowind. It happened after about 100 hours in Oblivion (luckily I’d experienced many multiple of those 100 hours by watching friends play other types of characters, but it was about 100 for my character personally), and looks like it might be happening after about 200 hours in Skyrim.
I want to avoid it at all costs. So first I’ll try telling Lydia she’s fired. Then if it’s still easy, then I’ll have to switch to a new character. That’s the only way I can think of to maintain interest. If it’s not challenging, an Elder Scrolls game doesn’t maintain interest for me.
The bad part about creating a new character this time though: I don’t really want to try the alternate I’d created earlier: A Nord Sword and Board character. I’d much rather use stealth and bow and magic. It presents much more interesting tactical moves, including being able to roll, set traps, and more.
Maybe I’ll go with that Nord Sword & Board character, but add archery and magic and stealth to this repertoire.
Daagar
3306
Why the insistence on not using Deadly Dragons/Deadly Monsters? That would more than likely fix your issue. You could go even more hardcore and use SkyRe or Requiem.
Rock8man, can’t you set your difficulty on the fly? Are you already playing it on the hardest setting?
I’m running around with two followers currently (both leveled with me thanks to the UFO mod) and I’m starting to feel that it’s unbalanced as well. I’m at level 18 or 19 now. On the other hand I sometimes feel that I’d stand no chance against some mobs if fighting alone. Lydia is a freaking maniac now–she kicks all kinds of melee ass.
I’m already on the hardest difficulty, yeah. I’ve been on Master since the beginning, and it’s been perfect until now. I suspect it will still be really challenging if I get rid of Lydia.
Daagar: I’m playing on the 360, so I can’t mod it. I’ll buy it on the PC next year when I can get the GOTY edition with all the DLC. That’s if my PC still works by then. Just for the record, the game has been awesome without mods so far. The first Elder Scrolls game to have discrete difficulty levels like this, and the first one to get difficulty right without any mods.
Soloing is definitely harder, yes. ‘Getting rid of Lydia’ is a challenge in itself though, at least if you take that literally and you own a house. She will stay in your house and sulk about you not taking her along, for ever, no mather what you do… And boy can she sulk. I always loved the tone with which she says ‘I’m sworn to carry your burden…’. You can almost hear here think: 'oh god, what does this bastard want me to carry for him thís time, sigh…! ;-)
JeffL
3310
I’m at 53, and I have been lax with saving games recently as I feel I can win most encounters. But every once in a while I’ll run into a tough situation. For example, for some reason if I run into a camp of Forsworn, they give me trouble because their archers can kill me with just a few hits. Not sure why, as their bows and arrows don’t seem that powerful.
Also, I married Mjoll, we had a wonderful time exploring Skyrim together, but now she is “retired” and stays in our house I build outside of Falkreath, with our daughter. Though she still likes a fight - last time I came home she was fighting a couple of thieves who made the mistake of trying to mess with our home (she made quick work of them. ;) )
Forsworn are indeed a pain, and Falmer even more… Combined with that damn snow lion, they are responsible for 80 % of my deads I think…
Trolls are my bane. They usually kill me in short order. And I’m playing on whatever the equivalent of normal is, I’m pretty sure.
Daagar
3313
Doh! Fair enough. And upon re-reading, I failed to realize you were not who I was responding to before (ie., not someone who it had already been suggested check out Deadly Whatever mods).
Scuzz
3314
If the game is easy and you have two followers, quit using the followers except as pack mules. I have yet to fight a fight that I didn’t win as a solo warrior. True, you die sometimes. But you re-load, change you tactics and try again.
And 200 hours is pretty damn good with a game.
Kelan
3315
Yeah, I must admit that Lydia in my game is getting pretty tough too. I should probably up the difficulty level or leave her home sometimes. I have her outfitted in double enchanted high-end armor that I made complete with resist jewelry. I still have seen her go down a few times, though, and I have to be careful not to stealth crit her with my bow or I can kill her sometimes. I may have set her up to be mostly defensive with the enchantments as with the tougher creatures she doesn’t do damage too well and I need to still do most of the killing, but she can take quite a lot of punishment.
Scuzz
3316
I had a funny incident yesterday in Riften. I killed a dragon outside of the town and thought maybe the blacksmith in Riften would buy the scales. So I took them into town and when he didn’t want them I just dropped them near the wood cutter. A few minutes later a fight broke out between Mjoll and some woman over the scales that only ended when Mjoll killed her.
Then, the next day a courier caught up to me with news that I had inherited money, from the woman Mjoll had killed. WTF?
OK, can someone please enlighten me as to how to bind two things to the same number key (for instance, two magic spells, or two different swords) so you can access one or the other depending on how many times you tap the key? I think it’s possible, but it’s hardly obvious, and I don’t think the manual explains it.
Talking about Lydia (;-)): did they patch her or something? Yesterday I let her into my party for a second just to store some stuff (I play solo), and instead of her usual annoyed ‘I’m sworn to carry your burden’ she now said ‘how can I help you my liege?’, or something like that…? I didn’t realize it until a bit later when I had already dropped her from the party and had gone outside again, and what with the loading times on xbox I didn’t feel like going in again, so I haven’t tested. But has anyone else noticed this? Or did she say that all along and did I just miss it?
As I recall she’s always had that as one of her lines.
Really? Amazing. I must have heard the annoyed / bored version so many times that I assumed there wasn’t any other line. Still: nice to see that the game can still surprise me, even after all those hours of play…!
