Elder Scrolls V

[Fire Me Boy!]

So the guys at Bethesda let it slip a few months ago that Elder Scrolls V was in the works for 2010, and a friend said he read a possible release in 2009... I'm looking for the article, but I'm friggin' STOKED about a new Elder Scrolls game coming out in the next 12-18 months!!!

I think they can learn a lot with the successes and failures of their previous landmark releases like Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout 3 and make ESV an absolute KICK ASS game!

[QuikSsurfer]

Originally Posted by frazod

Holy crap. I'll have to check that out. I never use horses because you have to dismount to attack anything.

BTW, you can kill Shadowmere if you dragon shout him off a cliff. I kind of regret doing that now.

lol WHY????

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by QuikSsurfer

lol WHY????

He jumped in front of me as I was dragon shouting an attacker and went over the cliff with it. I figured he just materialize the next time I fast traveled somewhere but he didn't. Went back and found his corpse at the base of the cliff.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by frazod

He jumped in front of me as I was dragon shouting an attacker and went over the cliff with it. I figured he just materialize the next time I fast traveled somewhere but he didn't. Went back and found his corpse at the base of the cliff.

I have resurrected countless steeds through console commands.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Fine Uncut Meat

I have resurrected countless steeds through console commands.

I never use horses. Don't like the view limitation when riding, don't like dismounting for combat, don't like the way they get in the way during combat. I'll fast travel somewhere and he'll be there, but I just wander off and leave him.

[whoman69]

Originally Posted by frazod

I never use horses. Don't like the view limitation when riding, don't like dismounting for combat, don't like the way they get in the way during combat. I'll fast travel somewhere and he'll be there, but I just wander off and leave him.

I use horses to fast travel to a safe location and then go off on foot where I need. That way I get there faster in game time.

[Frazod]

BTW, the horse combat thing is already in the game - I guess it was part of some automatic upgrade. Very cool, especially for hunting stuff that will typically outrun you on foot.

[Huffmeister]

My characters is a level 35 thief-assassin. I've been putting most of my perks into Sneak and Archery, although I've been having to wait for my Archery level to raise up so that I can put in perks.

Anyway, I've noticed that the Archery perk that slows time while aiming doesn't seem to work anymore. This makes it pretty difficult when trying to hit moving targets. Anyone know why it would stop working? I suppose it could be mod related. Tonight I'll try to disable all the mods and see if it's still broken.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Anyone pick up Dawnguard today? Watching my wife play as I type this...

[QuikSsurfer]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

Anyone pick up Dawnguard today? Watching my wife play as I type this...

I will in 30 days... stupid ****ing timed exclusives.

[ReynardMuldrake]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

Anyone pick up Dawnguard today? Watching my wife play as I type this...

I like it so far. Haven't played it much yet though.

[Fire Me Boy!]

http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/28/th...view/view-all/

Dawnguard finally brings a sense of urgency to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (review)



The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an amazing role-playing game, but it sometimes lacks cohesiveness in its storytelling. Killing dragons and consuming their souls in effort to thwart an all-out fire (or ice) lizard takeover is a fine premise for an epic adventure, but I often found myself ignoring the main story in favor of rooting out dangerous enchanted artifacts and exploring Dwarven ruins.

That isn’t to say that Skyrim is boring. If it was, I wouldn’t have logged nearly 200 hours playing the game. It’s just that Skyrim’s main quest doesn’t have a real sense of urgency. Sure, you can work diligently to uncover why all the long-dead dragons are coming back, but you have very little incentive to see this plotline through the moment you stumble across a talking dog who wants you to help his demonic master.

Dawnguard, the first piece of downloadable content for Skyrim, takes a different approach to storytelling than the main game. Harkon, a powerful vampire lord, wants to find a set of Elder Scrolls and use its power to end the tyranny of the sun. Since the Dragonborn is Skyrim’s resident hunter of baddies who want to change the world to suit themselves, you can join the Dawnguard guild of vampire hunters.

Or, if you’re feeling particularly evil, you can sign up with the vampires.

Either way, terrible, sun-ending villainy is going down, and you’re caught in the middle.



WHAT YOU’LL LIKE

A sense of urgency

Perhaps it’s because the DLC revolves around a clearly stated premise, but the related quests simply feel much more connected and important than many in the main storyline. When your character reaches level 10, guards and townsfolk throughout Skyrim will make mention of people assembling a Dawnguard, or group of vampire slayers. The hunters will take just about anyone who wants to join, so you can travel to a hidden keep outside Riften to trigger the related quests.

Quickly, you find out that a powerful clan of vampires is growing increasingly more active and that the Dawnguard might be the only defense against whatever it’s planning.

What Dawnguard does particularly well is tying itself into the rest of the world by adding new threads to existing side quests. Unlocking items and conversations pertaining to the new content often means exploring easily overlooked dungeons already in Skyrim. This gives the threat against the sun a much larger presence and fleshes out a few odd-ball missions that felt a bit rushed before.

Everything simply feels connected, and a sense of urgency rises from wanting to see how the origin of the blind snow elves, vampires, and a Daedric Prince are all involved in the threat against sunlight.



Vampire and werewolf perks

Before Dawnguard, contracting lycanthropy or sanguinare vampiris was often more of an annoyance than a potentially useful gameplay mechanic. As a vampire, the longer you go without feeding on humans, the more horrifying you look. While you also get more powerful, advanced vampirism turns pretty much everyone hostile when they see you. Being a werewolf comes with the awesome bonus of turning into a massive killing machine, but it also takes away any bonuses you get from sleeping and can only be activated once a day.

Dawnguard introduces a new perk system that rewards you for using your monster powers and allows for modest customization. As you claw and feast your way through opponents, you’ll unlock skill points to use in a separate perks tree. If you follow the new Vampire Lord ability also added in Dawnguard, you gain the power to turn into a hulking half-bat creature capable of using blood magic.

Having a separate perk tree is great for players who might have maxed out their character’s experience level (Skyrim’s cap is still at 50) or others who are just looking for a new set of skills to work with. You can only access to the new system if you are a werewolf or vampire and turn into your alternate form. Right now, the only way to become a vampire lord is to follow a related quest in Dawnguard — much like how completing a few companion missions grants you access to lycanthropy.



Crossbows

Archery is a very useful skill for many play styles, but bows aren’t majorly powerful. The crossbow, which is the weapon of choice for the Dawnguard, adds a major kick to the archery perk. If your character is highly skilled in stealth and ranged attacks, the crossbow gives you a dangerous edge when taking down groups of enemies covertly. It makes much more noise than a bow and takes a lot longer to reload, but it also hits way harder. But since the crossbow takes advantage of all such archery kills, it is possible to speed up the reload time.

The only downside is that crossbows require special bolts, and you’ll probably have to make your own to keep a steady supply going. Other than that, crossbows can provide a critical edge when clearing out dens of vampires and subterranean creatures known as Falmer.

WHAT YOU WON’T LIKE

Cross-country questing

Dawnguard likes to make you travel. While the game takes place in Skyrim’s northern regions, you’ll be exploring pretty much all of the most grueling and mountainous terrain available. Since the DLC also adds several new locations to the world map, you’ll be making those journeys on foot most times.

On several occasions, you’ll travel from the island regions to the northwest of Solitude to another island region east of the Mage College in Winterhold. Even if you fast travel to the nearest known location, you have a fair bit of mountain climbing to do, which is hardly an easy task.

Admittedly, the only way I’ve ever overcome mountains is to buy a horse and use its supernatural ability to break the game’s physics programming by shakily climbing previously inaccessible terrain. Well, nothing’s changed, so be sure to acquire a horse while on your Dawnguard expedition.



A new follower

Without getting into too many spoilers, Dawnguard also has a couple of new followers for you to choose from. One of them is a vampire named Serana. She is the most vengeance-filled follower you’ll ever see and gleefully murders anything and anyone who isn’t you. Previous companions were also a bit kill-happy, but Serana takes it to another level by perpetually striking first.

When she isn’t hacking away at vital, quest-related, non-player characters, she’s milling around aimlessly during your conversations and even trapping you in narrow passages until you force her out of your way. She’s reliable and helpful in many ways, but her penchant for massacring everything that could potentially go hostile makes her a dangerous companion if you’ve followed the Vampire Lord plotline.

Her constant milling around can also force NPCs off their designated paths, which can delay a quest’s completion or force you to restart from the beginning.

Serana also has a raise dead spell that is often laughably terrible. Nothing strikes fear in the hearts of vampire hunters like an undead deer prancing toward them.

CONCLUSION

Dawnguard feels like a part of Skyrim in a way that many DLC expansions rarely achieve. Bethesda went the extra mile to tweak existing quests in order to fully integrate the experience, and their effort shows. The constant treks across Skyrim do get a bit old after a while, but the wealth of new powers, information, and intrigue you’ll find along the way more than makes up for the long walks.

The best part of Dawnguard is honestly how much of Skyrim’s lore it explores. Who knew that one crazy vampire’s plan to blot out the sun would reveal so many mysteries and hidden locations?

Score: 85/100

[Fire Me Boy!]

These are some excepts from a review, some things I haven't seen before and haven't encountered yet. I started a new character a week or so ago and am only level 15 right now.

http://www.theouthousers.com/index.p...lc-review.html

Werewolves have their own perk tree, too

Anyone following the promos before the DLC was released knows that they were adding the Vampire Master beastform to the game. Some fans missed that they were also making improvements to the existing Werewolf as well. Both will have their own perk trees (accessed while in beast form only) that level up while you make kills and feed in that form - they do not use the normal level up system. Players that have already maxed out their characters have nothing to fear. You can also continue to be neither if you wish, though you cannot be both. protip: If you have cured your lycanthropy see Aela about getting it again now.

You can now smith arrows and dragon weapons (crossbow bolts, too)

Speaking of new toys, the Dawnguard DLC adds a bunch of them. Let's start with non-plot specific add-ons: Dragonbone weapons are added to the game and they look good. Some fans say the modded versions available to PC users are better looking, I disagree myself but it's not like 1. They can't keep using them and 2. console users really get a choice in the matter. Another small addition that seems huge is the ability to craft arrows has finally been added to the game.

New shouts

New magic and new shouts have been added to the game as well. A couple are vampire/Dawnguard specific spells and I'm sure there are still some left to discover that xBox users are digging for. Mostly it seems that several new summoning spells are added so you can call various creatures to fight for you.

[RustShack]

Ghey that I have to wait for PS3.

[whoman69]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/28/th...view/view-all/

I find the fault that there is no sense of urgency in Skyrim, is part of every Elder Scrolls game. All of the games are set to your own pace. Otherwise the game would play the same for every character you would run and there would be no variety.

[Dave Lane]