On 1/24/2016 6:16 AM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> So just before Christmas, I bought Skyrim. You know, to see what all the
> fuss is about. Since this is apparently the best game that has ever been
> made in the history of human existence...
>
> In summary, Skyrim is identical to Fallout, except that instead of a
> boring post-apocalyptic wasteland, it's a somewhat less boring Norse
> wasteland. With dragons, for some reason.
>
> It's interesting the number of names that have to have "dragon" in them.
> It's like somebody is trying to be Tolkien, and failing. Dragonborn,
> dragonstone, dragonsreach... Do you realise, the Jarl of Whiterun
> employs a wizard named "Farengar Secret-Fire"? There's nothing more to
> say about *that*...
>
> The trouble with these mythical lands, much like Tolkien, is that all
> the nouns sound so utterly identical that it's *really hard* to follow
> what the *hell* is going on! Several times I wished there was some way
> to replay what some character said, because I can't remember what it
> was. (Or rather, I can't remember what the psuedo-Norse nouns were!)
>
> The currency of Fallout is bottle caps, and you will never, ever have
> even remotely enough of them. And even if you do, the stuff you want to
> buy won't be available to purchase anyway. The currency of Skyrim is
> gold coins. Now a *gold* coin sounds like it should be worth a hell of a
> lot... but apparently it isn't. I guess because they're so ubiquitous or
> something? Like, 1 apple is worth 1 gold coin. (Sometimes.)
>
> In Fallout, the problem is that you'll never find anything valuable to
> sell. In Skyrim, the problem is that you'll never find anybody who can
> afford to buy your stuff off you. Like, I found a magical staff that the
> game reckons is worth about 3,000 gold coins. I have yet to meet a
> merchant of any kind who has more than 500 gold coins in total. So this
> extremely valuable item appears to be totally illiquid.
>
> Trying to amass 5,000 gold to buy a house was... challenging. There's an
> achievement for managing to own 100,000 gold. From what I've seen so
> far, you would actually, like, *win* something IRL for that!
>
> Even just figuring out who to sell which items to is entirely
> nontrivial. In Fallout, there is (as far as I can tell) only one trading
> post in the entire world, and they buy and sell anything. In Whiterun
> alone, there's a general goods place, an alchemy place and a hunting
> supplies place. (There's also meant to be a blacksmith; I really need to
> find that guy...)
>
> One big difference between Fallout and Skyrim is that there are no guns.
> The only way to hurt somebody is to physically walk up to them and hit
> them with a mace. Apparently a lot of people have commented that combat
> sucks in Skyrim, and I kinda agree; it looks more like you're swiping
> air than actually doing damage, no matter what the health bar says.
>
> I have no idea what a "draugr" is, but Bleak Falls Barrow is full of
> them. And they're surprisingly hard to kill. It seems health
> spontaneously regenerates on its own, so you just need to stand around
> and suck your thumb for a while after you kill one. But if several
> attack you at once, you have a problem!
>
> Actually, it turns out there's quite a few caves and barrows scattered
> around the place where you can go underground and loot stuff. And
> they're almost all infested with draugrs. (Although I did manage to find
> one cave that was spiders and mages.)
>
> Trying to beat the draugr overlord of Bleak Falls Barrow was an exercise
> in frustration. He's just unkillable! If you get close enough to swing a
> mace at him, he'll cut you to bits before you can do anything to him.
> Eventually, in desperation, I tried using magic. I knew from early on in
> the game that magic existed, but I had assumed it would be extremely
> complex and fiddly to use, and utterly useless in combat. It turns out
> it's actually quite effective. To the point that I now no longer bother
> carrying any weapons at all; I just set people on fire from afar.
>
> None of that helps, of course, when you're occasionally required to kill
> a dragon. Now those critters really *are* unkillable! It seems the only
> way to harm them is with a bow and arrow - a weapon roughly as accurate
> as a paper aeroplane. And it does roughly the same damage as a small
> sheet of paper too. And has incredibly disappointing range. The dragon,
> of course, breathes fire. (Except the ones that breathe ice? Wuh?)
>
> So far, I've only managed to kill two in the entire game. Which is
> problematic, because apparently I need another dragon soul to complete
> the next step in one of the side-quests. That means it looks like I need
> to go purposely *find* a dragon and kill it - and that's just crazy
> talk. I don't know, maybe I just need to gather better gear or
> something... but I have *no idea* what would actually help at this
> point. Dragons are immune to just about everything except arrows, and
> nothing increases their damage, accuracy or range, so...
>
> Much like Fallout, it's quite hard to avoid all the people who dot the
> land. Which is a problem, since whenever you meet a person, there's a
> 50% chance they'll try to kill you on sight. At least it's harder to get
> lost in Skyrim; the scenery is much less repetitive.
>
> It seems there's still lots more to learn about the game. (Alchemy,
> enchantments, how to learn new spells, etc.) But for now, I've got two
> quests open, and they're both stalled. One requires me to use a new
> Thu'um I just learned, which apparently requires a dragon soul. (Yeah,
> like those are easy to find.) The other requires me to infiltrate a
> party somehow. Rather, I can get in, but then I need to create a
> distraction somehow, and I've got no clue. I also need to figure out
> what equipment I need to smuggle in, *before* I get there, so I don't
> know what I'll need yet. I suspect that picking the wrong stuff makes
> the quest impossible.
>
> Oh well. Let's go watch the sunset or something...

You should play Fallout New Vegas, not Fallout 3.

Also, a lot of people called Fallout 3 "Oblivion with Guns" when it was 
released, after the previous Elder Scrolls game.


Mike

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