from the point of view of someone used to playing Baldur’s Gate-style fantasy roleplaying games. Yes, I’m still playing Skyrim. At this point I’ve spent quite a bit of time playing the game and I thought I’d offer some tips based on the things I’ve learned.
The first thing you should know when starting to play Skyrim is that Skyrim has no character classes. Skyrim has 18 skills and the maximum skill level you can accomplish in any one skill is 100. The skills include fighting skills like fighting with one-handed weapons, fighting with two-handed weapons (like a greatsword), archery, wearing light armor, and wearing heavy armor. It also includes thieving skills like sneaking or lockpicking, magic-using skills (in each of the five schools of magic), and crafting skills like smithing and making your own potions with alchemy.
As you advance in each skill you are awarded perks in a skill tree arrangement, i.e. individual perks may lead to some perks but not to others. The maximum total number of perks you can earn is 81. That corresponds to levels in other games of this type. Each time you level up you choose whether to increase your magicka (how much magic you can employ at any one time), stamina (how heavy a load you can carry, how easy it is for you to wield a weapon, etc.), and health.
One thing that’s very different about Skyrim is that, although Skyrim does have a main quest, it’s practically optional. You can enjoy playing Skyrim while ignoring the main quest completely.
You can choose to specialize. The last time I played through, for example, I played a sort of barbarian character—heavy weapon, light armor. A specialist like that maxes out at about level 50. No worries. A fighter specialist at level 50 is really at the top of the food chain in Skyrim. You can dispatch pretty much anything that comes at you with ease, even at the highest difficulty level.
Experience gets you nothing. Only cultivating skills can raise your character level.
Even if you decide to specialize I strongly recommend that you pick up some crafting skills. In Skyrim the strongest armor and weapons will probably be the ones you make yourself. The best potions are the ones you make yourself. With only a few exceptions the best enchanted gear is the stuff you’ll enchant yourself. It’s also handy for picking up some extra dough. Which brings me to my next tip.
In various towns around Skyrim you will encounter non-player characters who will offer to train you in various different skills. They charge for this training and training at higher levels costs more. You may purchase as many as five skill levels in training for each character level you achieve. Try to purchase all five each and every time you level up, particularly when you’re just starting out. Since skill levels increasing boosts character level, you will level up much faster that way. Note: not every trainer can train you at every skill level and to the best of my ability to determine no trainer can train you past skill level 75.
Next tip: even if you’re specializing as a fighter or magic-user, pick up some thieving skills. Your enjoyment of the game will be significantly greater if you have a bit of skill at sneaking and picking locks.
Right now I’m playing what will probably be my last run through the game. This time I’ve set myself an objective: I’m going to try to get all the way up to character level 81. I am playing as, essentially, a magic user and I am working very hard to practice all five schools of magic. That’s very counter-intuitive for me. I’m at character level 20 and I’m already at skill level 50 in picking pockets. That may seem like an odd choice for a magic user but at skill level 50 in picking pockets there’s a very useful perk: Big Pockets. That gives you the ability to carry more loot. The only other way to do that is to have high stamina or lots of Carry Weight potions. So far so good.
That all sounds pretty boring to me.
I’m talking to my demented mother-in-law right now. She’s 92.
“I can get ahold of Obama before I find my daughter.”
Nothing wrong with her wit.
We all Tennessee Williams down heah.
My demented mother-in-law will be 90 on her next birthday. The dementia set in in earnest about 8 years ago. We never believed she would live this long.
Tennessee Williams may have been born in Mississippi but he grew up in St. Louis. He was just a couple of years older than my dad. My dad probably never ran into him—Williams went to Soldan. Both my mom and dad went to Roosevelt.
Virginia Mayo went to Soldan but a few years later. A guy my mom dated (after my dad had been dead about 15 years) went to Soldan about the same time as Tennessee Williams did. I wonder if he knew him? Too late to ask now.
T. S. Eliot, on the other hand, went to Country Day—walking distance from where my mom lived albeit years earlier. Hoity-toity.
She had been showing signs for some years, but refused to take the medicine .
Lyman’s dad covered for her until he died at 90. Two years apart, the couple was. They’d been married nearly 68 years.
Tennessee, IIRC, was published at the literary magazine at LSU. Huey Long wan’t all bad.
I suspect that a spouse with less dementia covering for one with more is pretty common. I also suspect that the trauma of the death of a spouse accelerates the process. My mother-in-law went downhill pretty darned fast after my father-in-law died.
Her call reminded me. She needs more flowers.
Back on topic – Skyrim.
I am level 22 and I own the world. I have 8 skill points in Conjuration and 4 points in Illusion. I probably wasted the points in Illusion.
With 100 in conjuration you can have 2 Dremora Lords out at all times. Since the monsters level with you, but conjurations don’t, the 2 Lords are extremely overpowered at that level. Since I never do any damage directly the monsters ignore me once one of the Lords hit anything. If the Lords time out, or are on occasion are killed, you just summon 2 more.
The only purchases I have made were spells. I started with 5000 gold earned by chopping wood in the first town and have never found myself short since. I don;t loot anything except gold and stopped doing that quite a while ago.
Incidentally, I had about 250 hours in the game when I started this toon.