Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;489751My one complaint is that the game occasionally tells you that it's autosaving when, so far as I can tell, it is not. Certainly, if you die, you don't go back to the "autosave" point, you go back to the entrance or exit of the last building you entered / exited. This has made the journey to Riften a bit frustrating, as I like to zig-zag from compass icon to compass icon as I go, and I keep on getting killed and having to repeat the whole thing over.

It auto-saves when you enter/exit buildings. Never seen it mention auto-saving elsewise, outside of the prologue.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;489757I find the difficulty spikes just make the game impossible.
Trying to fight dragons is way too hard. I must have a build that the game wasn't optimised for. Archery is shit, just shit. Takes forever to switch back to your bow (and the menus system is fucking poor), trying to shoot them is next to impossible in the sky. When they land, whever you are and however you move, their firebreath tracks perfectly - even with that whirlwind sprint. So you cannot avoid getting immolated. I've tried stocking up on resist fire potions, but there aren't any and even the few in stock are not powerful enough. Switching between magic and bows to heal myself is again not quick enough.
It just feels there is soemthing that isn't quite right in the game; you just come across mobs that are really overpowered. I have no idea what level you are meant to be to take down mobs or what perks you need because the game gives no clue as to how to build a character or what level you need to be for a given quest or task. Frankly it's just frustrating.

Go Here and ask for help making your bow dude more optimized. You should be able to get some help.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;489757I find the difficulty spikes just make the game impossible.
Trying to fight dragons is way too hard. I must have a build that the game wasn't optimised for. Archery is shit, just shit. Takes forever to switch back to your bow (and the menus system is fucking poor), trying to shoot them is next to impossible in the sky. When they land, whever you are and however you move, their firebreath tracks perfectly - even with that whirlwind sprint. So you cannot avoid getting immolated. I've tried stocking up on resist fire potions, but there aren't any and even the few in stock are not powerful enough. Switching between magic and bows to heal myself is again not quick enough.
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Weird, I hit the 'escape' or 'tab' keys, and can instantly do whatever I want. I drink potions mid-combat with no risk, and same for changing weapons. Heck, I've taken to sneaking around in no armor, and slapping on the plate armor instantaneously once melee begins, with no consequence.

I'm also an archer, and hardly optimized (Breton, I've put one skill point into it for some bonus damage). It's weak I guess--I'm not expecting much at low level with no optimization--but you deal double if you're successfully sneaking, that's been enough to take out most things, or at least wound them greatly while they're getting close enough to club. Both dragons I've slain went down eventually with arrows.

The menus system suxxors, and I've only recently figured out how to do things smoothly. "Favorite" the items you intend to use (weapons and spells for me so far, haven't even used a shout in combat). You can activate your favorites menu with "q" (I haven't remapped anything, or, heck, even looked at the rulebook, assuming there is one somewhere in the download), and that saves alot of button-presses.

I *think* I saw a way to get the game to auto-save every half hour or whatever...but I just compulsively hit f5 (quicksave) every minute or three, accepting the risk of messing up a quest or character badly in exchange for never having to redo a quest or whatever.

I play on the 360 and having to constantly pause to change weapons as the situation demands, or assign magic likewise, is a pain. It's just awkward.
wood elves start with an aptitude for sneaking archery and restoration magic and i think destruction. They start with healing and flames, but when you're being immolated by a dragon it's very difficult to know what to do. Swapping between healing and attack is just awkward and slow, and only an optimised healer type can maintain enough magicka to keep up with the dragopn's damage output as it's attack tracks you constantly. I don't know how you can outmanoeuvre them. It just feels like this class is stuck between warrior thief and mage. Archery I feel should have been optimised for thief rather than a straight combat skill.

I just perma-save regularly. It's a habit I got into long ago.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;489757I find the difficulty spikes just make the game impossible.
Trying to fight dragons is way too hard. I must have a build that the game wasn't optimised for. Archery is shit, just shit. Takes forever to switch back to your bow (and the menus system is fucking poor), trying to shoot them is next to impossible in the sky. When they land, whever you are and however you move, their firebreath tracks perfectly - even with that whirlwind sprint. So you cannot avoid getting immolated. I've tried stocking up on resist fire potions, but there aren't any and even the few in stock are not powerful enough. Switching between magic and bows to heal myself is again not quick enough.
It just feels there is soemthing that isn't quite right in the game; you just come across mobs that are really overpowered. I have no idea what level you are meant to be to take down mobs or what perks you need because the game gives no clue as to how to build a character or what level you need to be for a given quest or task. Frankly it's just frustrating.

Dragons stop breathing fire when you charge them and get close. Then they start trying to slap you with their tail and bite you. If you stick on their side, they can't turn as easily to get you , and you can take them out pretty easily with 20-30 strikes. I personally use Unrelenting Force to stagger them while I approach, but the Whirlwind Sprint would be useful to cover the distance instead.

Archery is useful if you build around it. You want light armour and high stamina so you move quickly. You want to max out your sneak and archery trees so that you can attack while hidden, and you want invis potions and spells (Muffle and Invisibility in particular) so you can stay hidden. Arrows go in an arc, and you will have better luck if you set up a shot at distance and aim a little high.

If you want to kill dragons as an archer, what you have to do is pick terrain that will give you the advantage, not them. Specifically, you need a pillar or other central obstruction that you can use for cover from the flame breath that you can kite the dragon around. Those old watchtowers all over the place are ideal for this, though they're usually inhabited. Use your Unrelenting Force shout to plaster the dragon when he lands and starts chasing you.

Today's a bit of a write-off for me playing. I'm playing Swords and Wizardry this evening until around midnight, but I might get some late-night Skyrim in.

Quote from: Narf the Mouse;489772It auto-saves when you enter/exit buildings. Never seen it mention auto-saving elsewise, outside of the prologue.

It crops up from time to time when I open my character menu, especially if there's been a status change or quest completion.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;489823It crops up from time to time when I open my character menu, especially if there's been a status change or quest completion.

Fair enough - Nobody can be an expert yet.

I've concentrated on Archery. I have the score in the mid 40's at level 14 and all the perks i can afford. But I find there are some situations where some mob will appear that completely outguns you. The foresworn ice mage was one, while trying to find the red eagle sword. The rest of her allies were easy enough, but she could kill me (and did) in one hit! I couldn't do her enough damage at all using anything, and I have fairly decent gear (not enchanted as i don't have any filled soul gems).
It's situations like this that leave me complete scratching my head. I can't find a synergy with any of the things my character can do or starts with, having tried to play to his strengths. Aside from sneak i don't do much with most of the thief skills other than sneak and light armour and, despite it's ineffectiveness, alchemy. I don't really need to upgrade lockpicking, speech is easy enough to increase, and i haven't done much pickpocketing.
With magic i have started increasing restoration but even that will reach a platuea because unless i concentrate on increasing magicka (which means at the expense of stamina) i will only be able to use low level spells. After a while that's going to render them ineffectual as i face more tough mobs.
On the one hand the game gives you the freedom to choose how you play and level up accordingly, but on the other it seems to penalise you for not levelling up differently. You assume that you should focus on a few skills or a certain style, but then something appears that completely mullers you.

Also how do companions work if you ride a horse? Do they manifest one as well?

In my limited experience, the game also provides ways around tough enemies. For example, my character died several times against one particular set of bandits; through some tactics and brute force, I finally managed to kill them...

...Afterwards, I realized two of them had been standing in a pool of cast-off oil from a mammoth corpse and, if I had simply lit it on fire, I'd have only had to face the bandit chef, not his two luetenants as well.

A second time, the game gave me a 75-damage fire burst scroll, just before I encountered a giant spider I would have a deal of difficulty defeating on my own.

Granted, the second may have been random loot. But, if you're having trouble, take a look around; check out what resources/traps are near that might help you.

Yes, the game punishes you for being lazy, stupid and incurious. This is not a problem with the game.

Quote from: DoomAnyone else have the huscarl girl following you around? She's been a great pack-mule, but it's weird nobody else has mentioned her, seems like she's an unavoidable consequence of the first quest.

A troll killed mine. Or I did with that fireball scroll. I'm not entirely sure.

I'm liking this game overall though. I like the alchemy system and all the random trial and error that goes with it.

EDIT:

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;489789I play on the 360 and having to constantly pause to change weapons as the situation demands, or assign magic likewise, is a pain. It's just awkward.
wood elves start with an aptitude for sneaking archery and restoration magic and i think destruction. They start with healing and flames, but when you're being immolated by a dragon it's very difficult to know what to do. Swapping between healing and attack is just awkward and slow, and only an optimised healer type can maintain enough magicka to keep up with the dragopn's damage output as it's attack tracks you constantly. I don't know how you can outmanoeuvre them. It just feels like this class is stuck between warrior thief and mage. Archery I feel should have been optimised for thief rather than a straight combat skill.

Cover can work very very well against dragons. My girlfriend beat a pretty tough fight using cover, a summon (to draw the dragon's attention), and frost magic on the dragon's backside when it landed (slowing the dragon a little so she and the summon could hurt it more). When it flew or she wasn't ready, she'd hide behind the pillar and recover her health and magicka. This with no healing optimization. The pillar didn't block all the flames, but it reduced the damage significantly.

I agree on the pause-fu being a bit tedious. I like big, near-impossible battles to have the strategic component, but I haven't learned the "favorites" system yet. There's actually been fairly little guidance on how to play the game in there. I figured out how to sprint in the start>help menu, for example, and I still don't know how to power attack or why I end up shield bashing sometimes.

The combat in this game hasn't convinced me at all. 1st person melee has never worked and the archery is dire. There's only a few moves anyway;quick attack or slow heavy attack. Stamina regeneration is completely borked as well. There are some cool things in the game, and there are also some immersion breaking misfires.

It's not the game it's just you.  Much like every other game pretty much.  You should probably just quit now and save yourself the money and us having to read of your complaints.

Quote from: Narf the Mouse;489926Granted, the second may have been random loot. But, if you're having trouble, take a look around; check out what resources/traps are near that might help you.

Indeed. I just *love* luring monsters into dungeon traps, to the point that I fear I'm losing valuable skill increases just for the pleasure of watching big spiky walls smash bad guys.

My archery is like 30 (just got the eagle eye zoom in skill), and I'm pretty satisfied with it. I've yet to even bother using poison on my weapons (assuming I can), and have one-shotted many a critter with my ancient nord bow (enhanced 1 point). Seems like I found an archery trainer, too, shame I can't recall where.

Am I the only guy who likes heavy armor? It's all I've been wearing, although I don't like how the "heavy armor weighs nothing" skill is buried behind a couple of skills I don't want, wish there was a way to build a branch or two in that tree.