That Skyrim thing...

Once you get to a certain stage of a game, when you are familiar with the way it works, you can start to take advantage of it.  I’m doing just that with Xcom and Skyrim, two games I’ve been getting back into.

I really enjoy the part of the game that see's your character(s) at the best that can be. Usually its at the end of a game and that is a pity. So much time is played reaching that end game gear. It should last longer.

The main joy of getting back into single player and turn based games is the pause… cup of tea ready, no problem… hit escape.

I found it so strange the first time I did that with wow.. walking down the middle of a road.. cup of tea ready, hit escape.. oh yeah, its “persistant”. Hence the safe spot is important. Every-one has those moments.

Skyrim:

The Old me

Over time I've seen my character developed and progress getting great gear and spells, to both get through any encounter and endure any dungeon.

It’s a big game! There are so many side quests/encounters and things to do that it has taken far longer than a normal play-through doing the main quest line. I like to clear as much of these as I can. I did it with Oblivion and I’m doing it with Skyrim.

It’s about enjoying the journey. Am sure I’ve said that before…

Right now I only have a few things left to do and that’s before the main quest. I do not have any of the expansions: Dawnguard, Hearthfire or Dragonborn. I'm not sure the second counts as a real expansion...

At the beginning I was looting and grabbing anything I could get to either sell or use. I’m at a stage now where I am selectively looting as I have so much gold it no longer matters. And have multiple sets of gear depending on the mood and methods needed to complete quests.

My current look

I think my character has some great gear. Very heavy handed smash stuff in the face with a mace kind of guy with a handful of flame in the other.

A chest in the main home of my character  ( with his wife and pet dog ) contains one of every armour/weapon + enchanted specials. Another with foods and materials for alchemy/enchanting.

In a bedside chest I have the best armour/specials and one off items.

I’ve not read up any recent guides, I had downloaded so many when the game came out I found it started to spoil the game. I'll only look stuff up if I'm really stuck with what needs to be done or where to find a specific item that's been eluding me for a long time.

I like the addition of the housecarl, the live in home security.
But don’t use the housecarl’s as quest buddies. But tend to use the other random people who can tag along or you can hire.

The last of these was a certain flesh eating “buddy” you get from a quest line. But as I needed to sacrifice a “buddy” for another quest … she was the obvious choice, and made me feel better after having done a few things to get her to the “buddy” stage… I don’t think I spoiled anything there…

I have super equipped my “main” house’s housecarl. But it’s a pity the armour doen’t show up once she is in default house mode. Maybe there is a mod for that….

Merc for Hire

I’ve not used any mods other than the hi-res texture pack that was done by the makers of the game. I found that there were too many conflicts with adding on more and more add-ons, but it’s great to have a game that allows it. I made good use of it in Oblivion.

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I've since gone back and completed a few more bits. And have to eat my words as the end of the mage side of things has seen me reload saves a few times. It's been hard going to kill certain new creatures. Guess I jinxed it!
I've also started to ignore people who start giving extra options where you can help them. That type of automated mini side-quest distraction I can do without. They dont' affect anything besides getting you gold.
I should have a good bit more cleared this weekend. Only when that's all done will I see about the expansions.

Some quests just have to be laughed at.