Just starting

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I'm just starting this game, at least partly since a number of my students are playing it, but also because of all the good reviews I've read. So far, I have to say it is quite addictive!

I will say that I had a lot of trouble getting into it. I read Bombur's thread, and I watched ILlusioN's video, which was very helpful. Even though I could hear what the guy was saying, I couldn't figure out how to jump "through the roof" from where I was, so seeing where he actually jumped to was very useful. I also don't really care for the fact that, at the beginning, you can't switch to a third person viewpoint. I guess that's because you haven't created the character, so the computer doesn't know what you look like. Still, I find that I'm a little lost if I can't see my avatar. Naturally, as soon as I can, I start mousewheeling to see, although it would probably be better for me to get used to first person. Oh well, why get frustrated if I don't have to be?

I've already started over once because I started the Bleak Falls Barrow quest too early. I found out from chat on how to use the healing spell, so that was solved. I'm pretty bad at targeting, but since I have the difficulty set to the easiest setting, I am at least not dying all the time. I haven't figured out how to use items (like potions) in the middle of combat, either.

When I was first playing, I got distracted by all the action and yelling. It made me feel like I needed to do everything immediately. But I soon came to realize that the people I need to find are still there even if you aren't that fast. I also found that I can pause (not for attacking, but for catching my own breath!) by pressing the map key, so that helps a lot.

I'm currently playing a Khajiit. I'm leaning towards a stealth-based approach with healing spells. I've followed the advice to avoid looking at too many of the character type threads because I do want to have a fresh playthrough. So, we'll see how it goes! I really like how they do lockpicking. I wish I was better at stealth, though: it seems enemies still always see me before I attack, so I haven't gotten any stealth-enhanced combat points. And I also haven't been able to completely sneak past any enemies, which is one of the reasons I usually like playing stealthy characters--I don't have to fight as much.

Currently, I've made it to Whiterun for the first time. I bought a horse, and am in the middle of the Bleak Falls Barrow quests (Golden Claw and Dragonstone). I tried breaking into the Battle-Borns' house, but that didn't turn out so well, so I guess I need to level a bit first.

 

Looking forward to hearing more from you! Whatever character you play one important tip is to level a combat skill and don't let other skills run away too far from where your combat skill is. If you play on easiest it may not matter but I don't think you will stay there for long when you have started to figure things out.

 

Good point Joacqin. Some skills (like sneaking and smithing) are very easy to level up and if you ignore skills that are more useful in combat you may end up having a much harder time defeating your enemies.

 

That's useful. Thank you!

 

Well, that or you can just train your combat skills 5 times every time you level up. You can train 5 times for about 2,000 gold in the early going, and it's not long after that the increased training costs are relatively low compared to the amount of money you'll be making. I highly advocate training 5 times every level.

 

Yeah. My combat skills are lacking. I'm also struggling with MY (i.e. me as the player) combat skills. I'm still terrible at targeting. I like having a dagger in the right hand and a healing spell in the left, but I also like archery. I'm a lot better at archery, but that uses both hands and gets clunky once the characters are in close range. I find it a real pain to switch back from the bow to the other two, since I'm usually in combat and get my left and right confused (it doesn't help that the RIGHT mouse button is labeled L on the selection screen and vice versa, even though I know it's corresponding to the character's arm, not my mouse). So, I end up putting both on the right or both on the left . . . not too much of a problem as a Khajiit, since at least I have claws, but it's still frustrating.

I went from Whiterun to Windhelm by horse, but got stopped at that bandit tower (can't remember the name offhand). I couldn't figure out how to get my horse across. I also had to redo it several times since I kept dying. I finally left the top of the tower to the bandits and just went across the bridge. Then, I went by foot the rest of the way, since my horse was back across the river. I'm glad it at least was there for me in Windhelm.

Then, after doing some things in Windhelm, I went to Riften because I'm interested in the Thieves' Guild. I've read it's best to avoid fast travel in order to get the full experience, but I admit, the road to Windhelm was more tense than I think I'd like. I took a carriage to Riften.

Anyway - any ideas on how to improve?

 

My first trip to Windhelm was quite exciting too. I died many times. My pure mage was no match for a roadblock of what must have been purer mages cause they fried so fast.

You can use archery in close range as well, you don't have to switch. If you like sneak you can dispose of quite a lot of hit points with the initial sneak attack.

I fast travel as much as humanly possible, if you really play the game and do most quests pretty much every single location will be the target of one quest or another so there is no need to free range explore except for your own personal pleasure.

 

With regards to combat... been a while since I've played, but from memory, you can add weapons and spells to a list of favourites by hitting F when you've highlighted a weapon and you're at your inventory screen (or a spell on spells screen).
Exit inventory, then hit Q to bring up this list of favourites. From there you can assign a number to a weapon I think by selecting a weapon and hitting 1-0, e.g. 1 for bow, 2 for sword, 3 for heal.
Hope this helps make combat less complicated/clunky.

 

Ooh, I didn't know about the numbering thing. That's definitely useful. So, if for example, the bow was #3 and the dagger #1 and the healing spell #2, if I selected 1 and 2 would it automatically put them in the correct hands because of their number?

I also didn't know you could put spells in favorites, so I've been going back to the main menu for the healing spell, which probably hinders my ability to remember which hand I put the dagger into.

And good point on the attacking from stealth: in the Ratway, I died the first time because I was listening to the 2 thieves in the beginning and tried to hide from them, but then they killed Lydia and I wasn't able to take on both of them. When I tried again, I shot the first guy from stealth and killed him right away, which made the battle much easier. Those sneak attacks really do work!

Currently I'm in Whiterun to level one-handed. I didn't have enough money, so I'm going to have to go chop some wood. I like that it's so easy to make money. By the way, I heard that you can change the length of the day. I'd really like a longer day - it seems just when I think it's finally daytime, it's night again. How do you do that? Is it a mod? Or something I missed in settings?

 

Yes, one-handed weapons go into your main hand as default, while spells go to the off-hand. With the configuration you listed, you'll just need to push '3' whenever you want sniper mode, and quick '1' followed by '2' to get back to dagger + heal combo.

For the record, I find that a shield deserves a separate quick key just so that you can do fast (as in real-life fast) switching to whatever spells you wish to use and resume wearing a shield.

It's only when you want to have spells in your main hand or one-handed weapons in your off-hand that it really gets clunky.

 

Here's an update. I am really loving this game! I still have things I need to figure out, but I love how you can just wander around and do stuff.

Travel is interesting, too. I had read a guide/personal essay from someone who said he never used fast travel, and preferred carriages instead, for roleplay purposes. I find I really dislike carriages because their convenience means I can travel to any city, even if I've never been there before. I prefer fast travel because it means I have to walk there first, and there are always interesting things and surprises along the way. I wish I didn't keep killing horses and companions (!) due to those surprises, but it's still fun and interesting.

Currently, I'm in Winterhold, mainly because it was an easy stop after finding out information about Brand Shei at sea, and also near the Shrine of Azura, which I still need to visit. I'm level 17, I think.

I had a weird issue where when I leveled up to 17, I immediately went to the archery and one-handed trainers, but the one-hand guy said I had already maxed my leveling that level (?). Not sure how that was possible, since this was right after leveling.

I don't really have any questions, though. I'm just describing where I'm at and what's going on. I'm glad that leveling gets harder and that it goes all the way to 252 (which I probably will never reach) because I feel like I haven't even touched the tip of the iceberg yet. I'm glad I gave it the patience it deserves.

 

Okay, I've run into a couple of problems:

1. I've turned into a vampire, which isn't a problem in itself (fits my character), but because of the feeding, I told my follower Kharjo to stay somewhere and now I can't find him. Will he eventually show up somewhere, or do I need to keep looking for him? I'm assuming the latter, but I feel I've looked everywhere already. I even tried to find his original Khajiiti caravan, but I don't remember where it is, either (though I could and will look it up, especially if that's where he is).

2. I've been trying to follow Aldeth's advice to train combat 5 times every level, and I find that all I do now is chop wood, pay for training, level up, chop more wood, pay for more training . . . it's getting boring and I'm really sick of chopping wood. At this point, I need to get up to around 25,000 septims each time, which is several days of chopping wood. If I go do quests instead, I level up sooner, and still don't have enough money for training. I am thinking of stopping: I'm currently level 33 with 79 One-Handed and 81 Archery. Sneak is at 88. They're getting close enough to 100 and I don't feel like I'm lacking in combat as much: the sneak attack is really useful. That said, I don't want to be completely demolished. Would 1-2 trainings per level keep me competitive?

Oh, I also found out that I do NOT need to select 1 and 2 to get dagger and healing. When I switch from 3 (bow) to 1 (dagger), it automatically puts my #2 heal in my offhand. Very convenient!

 

If it is your first game screw the powerlevelling and just go explore and quest. There is nothing in the game that you need to powerlevel for the only reason to do it is the satisfaction you get from optimizing your character.

I never bothered with that on any character and on most it didn't take very long before even draugrlords were a bit too easy even on the highest difficulty. On my first character my pure mage I struggled a bit but lowering the difficulty solved that and didn't detract from my fun. Grind if you want to but don't do it if you don't feel like it.

 

Thanks joacqin!

That's what I figured. I think at this point, even though my combat skills are not as high as my Sneak skill, they're high enough. There are some fights I cannot win, but the main one (Malyn Varren in the Star of Azura) I think I actually need to level my magical skills instead. It's too hard to get close with the dagger, and if I'm using the bow, I can't heal. There is also no way to sneak. So, I've decided to come back when my magical skills are stronger. I haven't had much problem with other combat situations.

Still worried about Kharjo, though . . . I think he's lost for good