Quote from: Rincewind1;500914In Nordic mythology Giants were second to gods. Well, Frost Giants aka Jotuns if I remember correctly, but sssh.

Skyrim aren't Norse though, they resemble them but exist in a wider fantasy world with more strange things.

Quote from: Silverlion;500992Skyrim aren't Norse though, they resemble them but exist in a wider fantasy world with more strange things.

Oh, I know (that much) about Skyrim's setting . I just reckoned that it's a reason why giants are powerful in it - an inspiration from Scandinavian myths.

Giants are tough but I've usually found them somewhere near some kind of rough terrain, so I've gotten in the habit of finding rock or something to climb up on so they can't get to me in Melee. Dragons have that whole Dragon's Breath thing. Like I said before, I go out of my way to avoid Melee in Skyrim, you can get hurt like that. High Sneak+High Archery+ the right mix of Enchanted weapons is working for me. I just found a Dragon up in the mountains on the way to Riften last night and I got close enough to get in two arrow shots before he could even take off, the first one was while he was asleep.

Ok, someone needs to explain to me the basic gist of this "skyrim" thing. Is it basically the new WoW?

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;501153Ok, someone needs to explain to me the basic gist of this "skyrim" thing. Is it basically the new WoW?

RPGPundit

Skyrim is the 5th (8th if you count expansion games) game in the Elder Scrolls series which goes back to the mid '90s.  They're RPG/First-person-shooters.  With the exception of the first one, they span whole nations and continents and give you unlimited development and adventure potential.

They are - with one 4-player option in one of the early games - single player games, so they're definitely not WoW.  In fact, in Morrowind (the 3rd game, the one I started the series with), they took a poke at Everquest (and I guess all MMOs) when you could find a bit of inconsequential treasure on a sunken ship off the northwest coast of Vvardenfell (the main island the game is based on).  A fat lute.

The game is a series as mentioned that began in The Elder Scrolls: Arena, and continued with Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim. There were one offs using the world that were not First person CRPG's (or as of Morrowind, your choice of 3rd or First Person CRPGs.)


The other two games were BattleSpire (built as a shooter, yet with hack and slash weaponry instead of firearms) and Redguard which was a side scroller. Neither of which were as well received as the CRPG line.

The basics tend to be you are a prisoner for some deed, you are released due to ongoing circumstances and then can adventure in a fairly large sandbox area, doing quests, fighting monsters, exploring dungeons. Several of the line have won awards for their quality. (Daggerfall is the only one I recall you didn't necessarily start as a prisoner. Arena, Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, you do.)

Early games were class based, but with a spell creation system. Over the different iterations of the world they added class and magic item creation. However the last few games have reduced the options a bit. Making magic creation harder and disappearing completely as of Skyrim. As well as removing "classes" and leaving a skill system behind with "feat like" advantages.

One of the hallmarks of the series is that when they implemented skills you got better at them by using them. Not just "leveling up."

Since Arena (which focused on the whole world.) The other games have had you in a smaller region playing hero. You can buy houses, goods, horses and such. In some games you could buy boats. Some people in Daggerfall amused themselves by buying wagons and playing "traveling merchant" to make money. Though that option isn't in Skyrim.

Each game thrusts your hero into a great world saving adventure, that is not time sensitive, so the hero can spend his days doing whatever sandbox quests he wants.

The races are Wood Elves, High Elves, Dark Elves (from a volcanic land who have glowing red eyes--since its natural camoflauge.) Argonians (Swamp Dwelling Reptile men), Khaijit (Cat people) and humans from the Empire, Breton, Skyrim, and Red Guard.  Dwarves are noticeably absent having been wiped out by their own actions--but ghosts and bits remain.


Its an awesome game for my type of gaming when I can't tabletop. Siimply play how you want to play and do whatever be hero, be a bastard, explore places, fight monsters, get magic items. Whatever.

The skills are kind of like Runequest. They are percentile, and improve with use. There is also a perk system that you can select perks for each skill, with limits based upon how good you are at the skill.

Quote from: danbuter;501281The skills are kind of like Runequest. They are percentile, and improve with use. There is also a perk system that you can select perks for each skill, with limits based upon how good you are at the skill.

As soon as I got into it I decided it was the video game version of Pseudo's runequest pbp.

Quote from: Silverlion;501270The other two games were BattleSpire (built as a shooter, yet with hack and slash weaponry instead of firearms) and Redguard which was a side scroller. Neither of which were as well received as the CRPG line.

Redguard isn't a side-scroller.  It's a third-person action game with sandbox elements.  It's a go-anywhere/do-anything Tomb Raider set in the TES fantasy universe.

This topic needs more Fus Ro Dah. :rant:

Quote from: thedungeondelver;501372Redguard isn't a side-scroller.  It's a third-person action game with sandbox elements.  It's a go-anywhere/do-anything Tomb Raider set in the TES fantasy universe.

Ah. My mistake. Its the one game of  the line I never got because of its preview material looking side-scroller like, but this was before it was released. I wonder if they've released it like TES: Arena, and Daggerfall..

So is fucking everyone talking about Skyrim because its just what's hip for the next month, or is it somehow genre-changing or industry-changing?

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;501810So is fucking everyone talking about Skyrim because its just what's hip for the next month, or is it somehow genre-changing or industry-changing?

RPGPundit

It's well made and shiny, but it's no Dark Souls.

And the combat is souless.

Quote from: RPGPundit;501810So is fucking everyone talking about Skyrim because its just what's hip for the next month, or is it somehow genre-changing or industry-changing?

RPGPundit

It's a great game. In any case, this is a just a monster that you can use in your D&D game. Why are you so upset about it?

Quote from: danbuter;501821It's a great game. In any case, this is a just a monster that you can use in your D&D game. Why are you so upset about it?

Foul Ole Ron didn't make any new gaming theory, so maybe energy build - up?