Skyrim Noob (spoilers)

[Hasbinbad]

I played skyrim on a friends computer back when it first came out, but spoiled it because he told me about the console code for a couple things and I got hooked on that. I basically figured out how to make the best suit of nightingale armor, and went out in search of dragons. I never finished any storyline, but rather had a few hours of cheat happy fun.

So I just bought the legendary edition the other week, and have finished the main storyline and am currently in the twilight sepulchre section of the TG line. I haven't used any cheats this time around and only very light spoiling when looking for a solutions to headdesking problems.

What I do know about Skyrim tho (and getting to the point of this post) is that some things are time sensitive or otherwise of a limited opportunity nature. The skeleton key is one of these things, right? Once I give it back, you can't ever get it again without console or an exploit?

My question to you, the community, is:

What are some things I should make sure to do? What are some features of Skyrim sort of like the skeleton key or whatever that you can attain without cheats or exploits that I might be missing, having walked by it several times? I don't want to pour over the relevant websites because they don't filter "what's neat" from "what's cheat" very well, and I would rather have your personal recommendations than TEH LEETEST ITEM U KILL ALL DWAGIN. I haven't explored any of the expansion stuff yet at all..

Please don't give unnecessary plot spoilers, but this thread is warned, so if you need to in order to tell me about an item/feature, do so with taste please.

[this user was banned]

SPOILER: He didn't really take an arrow to the knee, he's just a pussy like you

[Samoht]

people still play skyrim?

[SamwiseRed]

dark souls > skyrim

[justin2090]

1. Enchanting - Max it out so you can do 2 enchants per item
2. Blacksmithing - Max it out and get the Daedric armor cause it looks pimp
3. Alchemy - Max it out so you can make potions that make chanting / bs better.
4. Enchant a suit of armor that gives bonuses to alchemy and blacksmithing

Use potions and wear your smithing armor to make high quality daedric armor
Use potions to enchant this high quality daedric armor
Use this high quality daedric armor to slay everything in your wake

Repeat process for weapons...

*Note* Once you've done this nothing you find will be even remotely close in effectiveness. So it kinda ruins the loot for the rest of the game.

[Ahldagor]

max all magics.
get your own fireworks and dremora minions.
explore all of the dwarven underground
marry the girl from the first town, the shopkeepers sister, and she'll cook for you and give you money from the shop she opens if you move to a city.
go north of winterhold and find the hermit (so worth it)

[Kagatob]

I think he's asking what unique things there are to do out there, not how to build your character to be one of the broken (AKA invincible/boring) archetypes.

[Auvdar]

The skeleton key you mentioned is the only thing I can think of / remember. Might be a few others.

However I will tell you one thing. Wont spoil it, but if you play the Dragonborn DLC that came out, make a few back up saves before even going into the final dungeon (you will know when you go into it..).. Unless it got fixed, there is a huge game breaking bug during the last fight that can get you stuck. and afaik you can't /console kill him either, since it's all scripted and you basically get stuck. I had to turn all mods off (which included the armor and weapons) which got the fight to work, then had to turn on God mode just so I could actually kill him (since I was naked).

There is another bug like this with Dawnguard, where a NPC you need to follow you goes aggroe and won't break (and you need him to further on the story, so you can't kill him. He just comes back aggro..)

[Kagatob]

There are a few 'one or the other' questlines where there's a decision you make that forks the quest and you end up with one of two possible rewards and can't get both. The only two that I can think of off the top of my head are Azura's Star (Both rewards are similar enough anyway) and the Dark Brotherhood questline.

If you don't want spoilers I'd suggest saving your game before starting the quests and playing them through twice continuing the file with the item you greater desire.

I personally wipe out the dark brotherhood any chance I get in any incarnation of the Elder Scrolls and I'm just fine with those results. I know I'm the minority there though.

[Hasbinbad]

yeah i had daedric armor in the before time so i know it looks cool, and i know about the smithing / alchemy / enchanting increasing returns "feature" .. i'm still toying with whether or not to go that route..

as far as bugs, ty for that info .. i had to search google for the dragon who allows you to find alduin, coz i accidentally attacked it while it was prone, which makes it aggro you when free so i couldnt continue for like 2 hours .. struggling every which way to make it work without bitching out and googling.. so part of this is trying to avoid THAT bullshit while at the same time not spoiling TOO much

as far as character build, i've gone polymath, wearing light / heavy armors, sneaking around using a poisoned lifesteal 2hb and magic and shouts under thief sign to max up my lockpicking asap..

i've given the LSD dwemer hermit up north his thing, and got the reply letter, but haven't been back yet

[Hasbinbad]

dark souls > skyrim
so is kingdoms of amalur. rip 38 studios. burn in hell curt schilling.

[Hasbinbad]

dark souls > skyrim
lol a fucking consoler? gtfo.

but is it tight? is the pc version going to be better?

[Hasbinbad]

i dont own any fucking consoles lol that shit is for white people

i used to have a gamecast

[Kagatob]

i used to have a gamecast

Can't play GTA on a Gamecast though. :(

[Hasbinbad]

http://i.imgur.com/yISV0n4.png

[Decad]

I played skyrim on a friends computer back when it first came out, but spoiled it because he told me about the console code for a couple things and I got hooked on that. I basically figured out how to make the best suit of nightingale armor, and went out in search of dragons. I never finished any storyline, but rather had a few hours of cheat happy fun.

So I just bought the legendary edition the other week, and have finished the main storyline and am currently in the twilight sepulchre section of the TG line. I haven't used any cheats this time around and only very light spoiling when looking for a solutions to headdesking problems.

What I do know about Skyrim tho (and getting to the point of this post) is that some things are time sensitive or otherwise of a limited opportunity nature. The skeleton key is one of these things, right? Once I give it back, you can't ever get it again without console or an exploit?

My question to you, the community, is:

What are some things I should make sure to do? What are some features of Skyrim sort of like the skeleton key or whatever that you can attain without cheats or exploits that I might be missing, having walked by it several times? I don't want to pour over the relevant websites because they don't filter "what's neat" from "what's cheat" very well, and I would rather have your personal recommendations than TEH LEETEST ITEM U KILL ALL DWAGIN. I haven't explored any of the expansion stuff yet at all..

Please don't give unnecessary plot spoilers, but this thread is warned, so if you need to in order to tell me about an item/feature, do so with taste please.

There are quite a few unique items in several storylines that is very powerful and can win you the game even if you do not go the enchanting/blacksmith/alchemy easy Iwin route.

Items like Azura Star, Spellbreaker and all the dragon masks are very powerful.

I finished Skyrim once without doing the above Iwin route and using purely artifacts available in game.

Note that the Skeleton key and some other artifacts will not be available and/or you will lose it later if you made some choices that affects the game

[Hasbinbad]

Note that the Skeleton key and some other artifacts will not be available and/or you will lose it later if you made some choices that affects the game
Yes. That is the point of the OP.

Can you please be a bit more specific? :P

Are the "dragon masks" the high stat headgear that drops from these liches that like to unexpectedly pop up? I haven't seen any lore on them yet.

[Hasbinbad]

They look stupid as hell but i always wear one of the two I have unless im trying to get better prices.

[Kagatob]

Are the "dragon masks" the high stat headgear that drops from these liches that like to unexpectedly pop up? I haven't seen any lore on them yet.

They look stupid as hell but i always wear one of the two I have unless im trying to get better prices.

Yep, I combed through the entire game (no expansions) and didn't find anything to replace them playing a dedicated caster/archer.

[Hasbinbad]

so as far as grinding .. level goes up indefinitely, as long as there is a skill to raise, and the 1.9 patch makes skills resettable, so that you can regrind a skill to get more levels?

[Kagatob]

so as far as grinding .. level goes up indefinitely, as long as there is a skill to raise, and the 1.9 patch makes skills resettable, so that you can regrind a skill to get more levels?

Don't know about specific patches, haven't touched the game in a year, but the well known method to break the 'soft' level cap was to go to prison, you lower skills without losing lvl/perks.

[Hasbinbad]

also i just heard taking an arrow to the knee is a euphemism for marriage .. lol

[Kagatob]

That's the rumor yes. I've yet to hear the game designers confirm such though. They could of known the phrase but not understood it's deeper meaning and stuck it there to be literal. In the end it changes nothing though.

[Swish]

Also bought the Legendary Edition for PS3 last week. Was great to pick back up, though I have to admit I haven't looked at any expansion content as of yet.

Hit level 64 last night, my lizard stealthy thief/archer has got to the point where he's maxed everything that's useful so I'm having to run around shooting shitty low level fireballs and throwing light beacons everywhere to do the magic skills :D

Great game though, pisses all over Fallout: New Vegas.

[Hasbinbad]

Yeah? I have been thinking about picking up fallout as well, but you're the third or fourth person i've heard say skyrim ruins it.

[Ahldagor]

how many dragon masks do you have?

[MrSparkle001]

Level alchemy and enchanting and you can do crazy things like this:

http://imageshack.us/a/img819/5856/screenshot8fh.jpg

Not that that makes the game any more fun. Completely breaks the game.

And level conjuring so you can have bandit chief and bandit marauder permanent zombies to do your bidding, plus Aranea as a kickass mage follower if you don't go the pussy route and get the black Azura's Star.

http://imageshack.us/a/img823/1596/screenshot13yu.jpg

I haven't played Skyrim over a year now.

(holy shit those screenshots are huge. I forgot)

[Sirken]

Saguine Rose is awesome, but beware, after all its petals fall off, it dies. (every time u recharge this, it loses a bit of its max recharge. after many recharges it will be useless.


also,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpRu4qMvRAU&feature=player_embedded

and http://www.gamefront.com/skyrim-best-weapons/

[Ahldagor]

WABBAJACK!

[Decad]

Yes. That is the point of the OP.

Can you please be a bit more specific? :P

Are the "dragon masks" the high stat headgear that drops from these liches that like to unexpectedly pop up? I haven't seen any lore on them yet.

Yes.

There are 8 in original Skyrim and 4 in expansion.

They are all ridiculously powerful. All are magical monsters and are ridiculously vulnerable to close range melee combat. Most (not all) of them can be killed abusing sneak attacks.

As for your original post, you can either have the Azure Star or the Black Star.

You will lose the skeleton key if you decide to be the leader of the thieves guild..you can of course ignore the quest and continue holding onto the key but opening locks is easy enough with or without the skeleton key =P.

One of the daedric quests rewards you with a powerful helmet or powerful axe as well as a follower that will never die. You can simply hide in some corner and go AFK and that follower will plough through dragons for you. To obtain the former requires you to complete the quest while the latter no.

To power up the ebony blade requires you to kill people you know. The easiest way to do this is to obtain the blade prior to doing any Imperial or Stormcloak quests as well as the thieves guild quests. This way you are essentially killing people "you know" even though they are your enemies. Another really cheap way to do so is to finish miscellaneous quests and then kill the NPCs there or be friendly with innkeepers at some wilderness prior to sending them to paradise. =P

It is advisable in Skyrim to be at least the Archmage as well as the leader of the Dark Brotherhood as both NPCs sells a rather good deal of items.

If you are a melee character that enjoys using 2 handed weapons you will want to finish the Companions quest line as the axe obtained does disgusting damage to Falmer monsters even if you do not improve/refine it.

Some dragonshouts are abuse-able, especially if you dont mind not having treasure. It helps a GREAT deal =P

If you are playing the Dawnguard expansion as well you MUST have Auriel Bow as well as Zephyr, the 2 bows turns any wimp into a ranged killing machine

If you are a light armor wearer, Ancient Shrouded Armor is the best light armor hands down in the game unless u dont like to be sneaky. But then again, if you are not sneaky you wont be wearing light armor.

If you are a vampire, you will want a homebound spouse who will sleep at your home or her home that you can access freely. Absolutely nothing wrong in feeding on your spouse blood =P

If you are a normal married person, choose a follower that can fight to marry. You can sleep with him/her anywhere and get the lover buff which helps a great deal with skills.

That is all for now. Cheers