Skyrim

ClockworkUniverse

You can mine for ore. There are mines for every type of ore, except Dwarven metal, which has to be melted down from items found in Dwemer ruins. There's also a transmute spell that lets you change iron ore into silver ore, or silver ore into gold ore.

Or you can buy it. I mostly just buy it.

Midgetsnowman

Once you're good enough at smithing., you can even turn a profit buying ingots and forging into armor to resell back to the vendors.

ClockworkUniverse

I've never taken the time to determine what was most cost-efficient, so I mostly just bought a shitload of iron and made daggers. The game hands out money like candy, so it's not too hard to do.

Forzare

Yeah, I've already earned enough to buy a house.

Crimson

So there are dedicated mines instead of random nodes of metal growing out of the ground like in WoW?

Good to know.

ClockworkUniverse

There are random ore veins in some places, but they're really hard to find.

glennmagusharvey

The series doesn't still have randomly-generated world maps the size of the UK, does it?

ClockworkUniverse

Nope. Sixteen square miles, but very well detailed.

It does have infinite randomly generated quests, though.

Crimson

^^That was just Daggerfall, and most of it was pretty empty anyway.

BlackHumor

No, the Empire isn't (quite) a Thalmor puppet. They are to the Thalmor as the Weimar Republic was to France. 

Here are the REAL advantages and disadvantages of joining each side, ideologically:

Empire:
+A unified empire is much more likely to be able to defeat the Thalmor in a second war than Skyrim alone
+The Empire cares about ALL its subjects
+Skyrim leaving after Hammerfell already did could cause High Rock and what's left of Morrowind to break off as well.
-Worship of Talos still banned, at least 'till the Second Great War.
-The Empire is distracted by keeping itself together; an independent Skyrim wouldn't be.
-The Empire shares a border with the Thamor; an independent Skyrim would not.
-The current Emperor is not legitimate in any real sense.
-They tried to execute you.

Stormcloaks:

+Hammerfell and Argonia already broke off, and they're doing fine.

+Skyrim is absolutely horrible terrain to invade on top of that.
+Ulfric "won" the title of High King from Torygg entirely fairly.
+Right of the Nords to self-determination
+Worship of Talos allowed again.
-The Stormcloaks, all of them including Ulfric, are QUITE racist, especially against mer.
-By starting the rebellion in the first place Ulfric has inadvertently helped the Thalmor.
-Independent Skyrim allows for the possibility of wars between it and another independent nation distracting from war against the Thalmor.
-Independent Skyrim will likely never be able to invade Thalmor lands.
-Ulfric, though he didn't formally cheat, broke the Way of the Voice by using a shout to win his dual with Torygg.
-Technically it's the Jarls that elect the High King; by conquering their holds for their votes Ulfric is ultimately no better than the Empire.

ClockworkUniverse

I don't buy that the Empire can take the Thalmor. Their attitude towards the Thalmor lately seems to be "pleasdonthurtuspleasedonthurtus."

Midgetsnowman

Well, destroying them fiurther probably wont make that work out any better. Besides, the emperor may be a puppet, but Tulius and Rikke are certainly decently honorable sorts.

MadassAlex

Another disadvantage of the Empire is their rampant, imperialistic expansionism. They're not racist, but "Empire = good, not Empire = bad" is hardly less fascist. Which was pretty much one of the main moral problems with the historical ancient Roman empire.

ClockworkUniverse

Tullius is fine. Too bad he's not calling the shots.

Did you do the Dark Brotherhood? It gives you a nice view of the state of Imperial politics.

IanExMachina

Another + point for the Empire.

'Age of Aggression' is the best bard song!

Forzare

This is the most adorable thing.



People don't want to be sword, indeed.

Saigyouji

My character seems to have an aura that makes even the simplest of tasks escalate into utterly ridiculous scenarios. I was doing the first 3 generic contracts for the Dark Brotherhood, and the following ensued:

1) No problems here, just a quick stab and run.

2) I go to Dawnstar, and as I'm looking for my target, a dragon decides to take residence on top of White Hall, causing half the town to start attacking it. Sadly, I still had to kill my target myself.

3) ...Hoo boy. After killing my target in Ivarstead, I decided to do some light pickpocketing. Eventually, someone caught me, and a guard came running up to me. Now, I was carrying a not so insignificant amount of potions and jewellery that fell off the back of a Nord, so to speak. As such, I was less than willing to go along with the guard's demands. After choosing to fight, I ran away, and escaped by leaping off a waterfall. At this point, I wasn't in the Thieves Guild, so I decided to go to Riften. Now, the problem here is that Riften is part of The Rift in terms of bounty, so I had to murder the back gate guard, enter through that gate, murder another  guard, and start sneaking around the city avoiding and killing guards until I beat the quest that lets you join. (Having already done the first quest earlier.)

Nyarly

Have you looked into smithing? It's kind of the god skill.

Oh yeah. I never really did any crafting in games where you can craft, but Skyrim is different. I pretty much don't buy my gear anymore, just materials to make my own. I got the dwarf equipment perk, but I should grind more so I can make orc, ebony and maybe sometime even dragon equipment.

I also noticed that making new stuff gives quite a lot of points (compared to merely enhancing items).

I think I should start mining myself. I already have a pickaxe, which I traded with a bandit in exchange for a blade. In his face.

IanExMachina

I really like Illusion Magic.

I mean frenzy stuff is funny (I never knew deer had attack animations) and calming/fearing stuff in battle if great for regening mana or preparing to kill someone more thoroughly or letting my Atronachs/zombies do the killing.

DonZabu

I just got attacked by some random guy simply named Imperial, who held two weapons and wore that silly upside-down horn helmet. This happen to anyone else?

ClockworkUniverse

It's a radiant story event. A person with no name but his or her race and a random build will run out of nowhere and attack.

IanExMachina

Nyarly

IJBM: The Blades


Esbern: Blood is necessary to open the gate.

Me: Lydia!

Esbern: Your blood, Dragonborn.

Me: lolwut

---

Delphine: You have the honor to enter the temple first.

Me: Finally I get some respect here!

Esbern: Nobody knows what awaits us in here.

Me: ... So, that's why you send me in first...

(Translated freely from the German version, since I don't know what the dialogue is in the original version.)


God, the Blades turned into a nearly backstabbing bunch of pseudo-allies. And considering what Delphine told me, that they are supposed to protect the Dragonborn, they should do the dirty work for me, instead of the other way round.

Also, in the German version "Dragonborn" was translated with "Drachenblut" ("Dragonblood" or "Dragon-blooded"), which made the "You have to give your blood" line a bit strange- and somewhat redundant-sounding.

ClockworkUniverse

Huh. I was expecting you to have actually reached the point where the Blades start really acting like dicks before saying that.

As for the "Dragonblood" translation, I'd argue that that's not even quite accurate; the way being dragonborn works is that you're a mortal with an Aedric soul.

Forzare

It feels way too rewarding to successfully sneak up on a guy in a dungeon and slit their throat.

ClockworkUniverse

I got through the penultimate thieves' guild dungeon without interacting with the enemies (except of course the boss) at all.

Forzare

I wouldn't be able to resist. It's way too fun to put an arrow through a dude's head from across the room without anyone knowing what's up or creeping up and silently slitting their throat.

ClockworkUniverse

Well, see, I tried fighting an early enemy in that dungeon, and it proved remarkably resilient, then whipped out a bow and took off half my health in one attack.

Then I reloaded and stealthed through the entire dungeon.

gentlemanorcus

So I just got married. It was a bit... anticlimactic. Even though it was oddly sweet that Faendal walked all the way from Riverwood to see the wedding even though I dumped his ass after I got to Whiterun.

ClockworkUniverse

Marriage was kinda an afterthought in this game.