I don't see that as being particularly spoilery, seeing how nobody complained about the Deathbrand Armor, which is also an optional, secret thing, but fine. Spoiled.

 

Right. Stuff.

We're going to talk shop for a bit, so nothing here will be spoiled. I will be talking about secrets later, which will be spoiled, but for now, nothing will be spoiler-tagged. Things will be quoted, mainly for organization's sake, and so the post doesn't look like a mess. If you feel that something has veered into the territory of spoilers, let me know, and I can just switch some quote tags to spoiler tags.


The unique scimitars:

Spoiler

The two unique scimitars are part of the quest that gets you the Deathbrand armor set. While the scimitars are not technically 'part' of the Deathbrand set, they are clearly associated with it (as the quest will indicate), and their powers depend on whether or not you are using both of them at the same time.

Soulrender: When wielded with Bloodscythe, absorbs 15 magicka and has a chance to dispel magical defenses.

Bloodscythe: When wielded with Soulrender, absorbs 15 health and has a chance to weaken enemy armor.

Their appearance is not unique (sadly), but they are of a palpably higher quality than regular scimitars. By my best estimate from the perspective of a character that has maxed out smithing and uses primarily one-handed weapons (making them right up my ally), they are somewhere at or slightly above Ebony in terms of quality. Once improved to (non-100+) Legendary status, both swords are effectively tied with a similarly-improved Dragonbane in terms of pure damage dealt, with a minor one or two point difference. Basically, while they cannot compete with the pure DPS of a Dragonbone Longsword, they are endgame-tier weapons, particularly if you primarily dual-wield.

Also, protip: Don't go after the scimitars before acquiring the full set of Deathbrand Armor. Normally, this isn't a problem, as the key to the barrow is in the last chest that you find, and the barrow has a "needs a key" lock. But, if for some reason, you were to get into the barrow early, or, for some equally odd reason, you decide to leave the armor pieces in the chests and just take the key, whatever armor you've 'skipped' will be removed from the game.

Basically, don't sequence break the quest, or you'll loose whatever it is you skipped over.

Staffs, enchanted and not:

Spoiler

Staves are craftable, but not in the sense that spells were craftable, once upon a time. Put simply, you acquire an unenchanted stave of [Insert School Here] (they only seem to be avaliable from a single specific vendor), then take it to a Staff Enchanter (of which only one seems to currently exist in the game at this point in time). There, you can choose to assemble the Staff of your choice from the unenchanted, school-associated stave and a number of other 'required' objects, as is typical of a crafting recipe. You cannot tweak the parameters of the spell going into the staff (sadly), and you are limited to the school of spells the stave you acquired was associated with. However, it does allow you to create a staff-equivalent of very nearly every spell you know, and you MUST know the spell yourself before you can craft a staff of that spell.

This allows you to quickly and easily create, for instance, a Staff of Fire Wall, or a Staff of Conjure Storm Atronach, or a Staff of Grand Healing, which would have been difficult and time-consuming to attempt to acquire otherwise.

I should note that while the requirement to know the spell before you can craft it does provide something of a block on giving warrior and stealth characters access to powerful magics, it does not actually stop it from happening. You can still create the staff; it's just that you need to know the spell. It doesn't seem to matter from where or how. My character has very poor Destruction, yet I was able to make a Staff of Inceneration, because I found an Inceneration Spellbook in some random loot. It would be possible for a warrior or thief character to use the Enchanting to essentially give themselves the ability to use high level magic; it's just that, since they don't actually have such a high level in it themselves, they would be forced to find the spellbooks at random, because vendors would not offer them for sale.

It should also be noted that you cannot create a staff that casts a Master Level spell of any sort, and certain specific spells seem to be unavaliable. In spite of being a Conjuration Master, I was unable to create a Staff of Dremora Lord. It is possible that staff creation is restricted only to staffs that already existed in the game beforehand. Or, in other words, that you cannot make a type of staff that did not exist before the Dragonborn DLC was released.

While this addition is moderately useful for high level wizards (who will know the best spells, and thus make the most of these options), I find that it is more useful to craft these staffs for your followers, and give the staffs to them for their use. Serana is a middling mage at best when you're endgame, reanimating mid-tier undead and throwing around moderately powerful Destruction spells. But given a Staff of Storm Atronach and a high level Destruction Staff of one sort or another, and she can cut a bloody swath through enemies.

Some Lore:

Spoiler

There is an apparent contradiction in the Elder Scrolls lore present in the DLC. When questioning Iron-Shaper in the Skaal village about smithing Stalhrim, he notes that the techniques are "remarkably similar to Ebony," and after pondering it for a bit, says "yes, I think if you could work Ebony, you would already know everything you needed to work with Stalhrim." This is a fairly unsubtle clue that Stalhrim crafting is unlocked by and connected to the Ebony crafting perk. However, this directly contradicts lore in Bloodmoon, which states that Stalhrim crafting techniques are exceedingly difficult, exotic, and unlike any other crafting method, and that the only way someone unfamiliar with the substance could possibly forge it was through considerable trial and error, which would waste a great deal of Stalhrim, and may not produce any decent results at all.

Take that as you will.

Also, Iron-Shaper claims that you need to use his forge if you want to make Stalhrim items, as you require "special tools" to craft it. This is in line with the lore. However, you can make Stalhrim from any forge once you learn how, making his statement completely untrue. This is jarringly juxtaposed to the various crossbows of Dawnguard, which can only be crafted at the Dawnguard smithy, in spite of the fact that, once you knew the patterns and schematics, you should be able to make them yourself anywhere you pleased.

 

Can we put the spoilery stuff, in, you know, spoiler tags instead of quote tags? I don't mind, but I'm sure others would appreciate it.

 

I'll just mark everything as spoiler, then, just to be sure.

General DLC stuff follows.


Werewolves:

Spoiler

The pack is located on Frostmoon Crag. Sadly, they do not offer to turn a non-werewolf into a werewolf. However, they are by far the friendliest werewolves this side of the Companions, in that they don't automatically aggro on you, and if you are not a werewolf, tell you to please leave, as you have no business there.

However, if you are a werewolf, they offer a unique service: they sell enchanted rings that can only be acquired through them, which buff your werewolf form.

Ring of Bloodlust: While in Beast form, your attacks deal 50% more damage, but you also take 50% more damage.

Ring of Instinct: When you enter Beast form, the world around you seems to slow for 20 seconds.

Ring of the Hunt: Your health regenerates while in Beast form.

Ring of the Moon: Increases the duration of your howls by 25%.

The Ring of Instinct and the Hunt are both particularly powerful. The time slowdown granted by Instinct can allow you to clear most of a room before they even have a chance to react, and anyone who has spent any serious time in combat as a Werewolf is aware of the value of having a constant health regeneration active.

Sadly, this seems to be all the content for the pack thus far. They do not offer any quests, nor do they ever ask you to join their pack (in spite of saying that they are the last true pack on the island), so they do not offer a Serana-like service for Werewolves. The rings, however, are extremely valuable to any Werewolf character.

Thirsk:

Spoiler

Is a big disappointment in my opinion. After the initial story quest, nothing else seems to happen. Unlike the original Bloodmoon Thirsk, where you followed a sequence of events surrounding it, nothing seems to happen after the issue of leadership is solved. Should you go the "good" route of saying you will lie and then telling the truth, she will be exiled from Thirsk to wander the wilds and regain her honor. . . only to never be seen again. The quest never progresses, you never run into her, and nothing new comes up. She walks the wilds forever, or possibly gets eaten by a werebear five minutes outside the front door, and nobody gives a shit. Life in Thirsk goes on, there is no revisit of the Uderfrykte, and nothing new happens, ever.

They didn't even bother to put in the obvious last reference to the story of Grendel. First Grendel (Uderfrykte), then Grendel's mother (Uderfrykte Matron), and now, obviously, the DRAGON. But in spite of this being The Elder Scrolls Game About Dragons, there is no goddamn dragon. There isn't even an Uderfrykte wandering around the island, at least, not that anyone has managed to find. And that's just disappointing.

If you had asked me what I thought would happen? I would have said that you would resolve the matter of leader, and then leave. Then, later, you would return, only to find that the hall had been attacked and ransacked again. Then, you would either have to find Bujold in the wreckage or find her in the wilds, and go out to slay whatever was responsible (obviously, if she died in the Barrow because you refused to lie, she wouldn't be here now). Then you would either track down an even larger Uderfrykte (patriarch?), or you'd find out that a dragon was responsible (along the lines of Grendel). You fight it, you win, become Chief of Thirsk, ect.

But no. Nothing like that happens. You just do that one quest, and then you're done. And if you didn't lie to keep Bujold in power, you never see or hear from her again.

Considering how weak she was, she's probably dead in a ditch somewhere.

Or, you know. Werebears.

On Dwemer Ruins:

Spoiler

Probably the best in the game so far. The only thing that tops the ones in this DLC is Blackreach, and that's because nothing beats Blackreach. The puzzles are diabolical, the visages are incredible, and one of the Dwemer ruins is confirmed to have been a mobile transforming superbase.

Yes, the Dwemer made a Steampunk Arcana Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Yes, they apparently really are that OP.

Kagrumez is also the Skyrim version of the Pit of 100 trials. Gradually escalating tests and stacked-against-you battles for gradually escalating loot. And each new level is unlocked by finding more Kagrumez Resonance Crystals, which are scattered across the island. By the total end count, you will have, in addition to a wide assortment of loot, the ability to acquire a Dwemer Spider and Dwemer Sphere as 'pets' that follow you around (and respawn from pipes in Kagrumez if they are destroyed), and a new Artifact weapon. A Dwarven bow, colored lacquer black, appropriately called the Dwarven Black Bow of Fate (50% chance for each attribute to absorb 25 points of Health, Stamina, and/or Magicka).

Yes. Dwarven constructs as pets, and an artifact that's a walking Hobbit reference.

There's also another new unique item in the game, courtesy of the Dwemer ruins. A Dwemer helm called the Visage of Mzund, it gives you a new Power when worn, which gives you the Centurion Master's Steam Breath attack. It can be used as often and as long as you like, but it costs stamina to blow the steam.

---------- Post automerged at 03:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:35 PM ----------

On Werewolves again:

Spoiler

I take that back. Standing around too long can cause the person guarding the camp to aggro you. This naturally causes the entire camp to aggro you, at which point you either flee or kill them all.

So much for the last true pack of Werewolves on Skyrim.

Apparently, when you get the quest marker that prompts you to "go see the Hunters" from asking about rumors, the game is trying to steer you into this. Either you are a Werewolf, and you find this new service, or you aren't, and they will (eventually) attack you. I know they are on some level meant to be killed, because once they are all dead, you hear the 'ta-da' sound effect from clearing an area. So the game is apparently either counting on you getting their service or killing them all. Peaceful coexistence does not seem to be possible if you aren't a werewolf yourself, unless you simply avoid them and let that "go see the Hunters" misc quest tag stay in your quest list forever.

tl;dr, if you aren't a werewolf and poke your head in to say hi, leave immediately afterwards. Unless you want to kill them.

---------- Post automerged at 03:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:48 PM ----------

Holy Shit Time:

Spoiler

There is another Dragonborn.

 

Holy shit snacks, that last one.

Spoiler

That actually ties in well to an idea I have for my fic. It's nice to have canonical indications of simultaneous instances of Dragonborns.

 

I should note that

Spoiler

it is never outright said that he is. However, he has access to third-tier shouts when you fight him, so there's nothing else he could be.

Basically, what happens is, you need to hit the level cap, which is 81. Once you have, a warrior will approach you, wearing full Ebony armor. His name is the Ebony Warrior, and he has the following exchange with you:

Ebony Warrior: The time has come.
PC: It has? What do you mean?
Ebony Warrior: I have done all that can be done. There is nothing left. No quests to be undertaken. No villains to be slain. No challenges to face. Except for you. You are my last challenge. Only you can send me to Sovengarde with honor. Make your preparations. When you are ready, come find me at my last vigil.

At this point, your map will be updated with a new location: Last Vigil.

When you go there, the Ebony Warrior is waiting for you. He then politely asks you to fight him, and, much like Dagoth Ur, allows you to make the first move (i.e. he doesn't aggro you, you get to attack first).

This is the same general spiel that the Old Orc gave you, but the Ebony Warrior is infinitely more dangerous than he ever was. He hits like a freight train, has miles of health and stamina, and has potions of Ultimate Healing on him which he will use when you get him down to around a third of his total health. He is also a Redguard, and unlike most characters in the game, he will make use of his racial power in this fight.

He is legitimately the most dangerous thing in the game up until this point. People who have killed Kaarstag, who is a legitimate, no-shit raid boss, have reported that, when summoning him to help fight against the Ebony Warrior, the Warrior will typically dispatch Kaarstag before Kaarstag can do more than half damage to him, unless the PC intervenes to distract the Warrior and keep Kaarstag alive.

But, what is perhaps most important from a lore perspective, is the fact that the Ebony Warrior has access to the full three words of Fus-Ro-Dah, and people on forums and wikis have reported him as using other Shouts as well. Since he is not a Greybeard, the only way this could be possible is if the Ebony Warrior was, in fact, another Dragonborn.

So yeah. No outright confirmation, but the only possible explanation that makes sense is that he is another Dragonborn. You aren't the only one.

Also, making the fight even harder is what the Ebony Warrior has on him. In addition to the potions he will use, he also has the following items on his person when he is finally slain:

Ebony Shield of Fire Suppression: Increases Fire Resistance by 50%

Ebony Armor of Health Regeneration: Health regenerates 40% faster

Ebony Gauntlets of Extreme Wielding: One-handed attacks do 35% more damage.

Ebony Boots of Frost Suppression: Increases Frost Resistance by 50%

Ebony Helmet of Waterbreathing: Can breathe underwater without drowning.

Ebony Sword of the Vampire: Absorb 25 points of health per strike.

Ring of Peerless Wielding: One handed attacks do 40% more damage.

Necklace of Shock Suppression: Increases Shock Resistance by 50%

Leveled restoration potions
Human Heart
Flawless Sapphire
Flawless Ruby
Flawless Garnet
Flawless Emerald
Flawless Amethyst
Flawless Diamond
Daedra Heart
Daedric Arrows
Black Soul Gem

He gains the full benefits of his armor for your fight, which, in practical terms, means he has 50% resistance to all elements, +75% damage with one handed attacks, a health-absorbing Ebony Longsword and constant health regeneration. He will also make use of the potions in his inventory, will activate Adrenaline Rush to restore his stamina if it runs low, and will make use of the Thuum, typically a full-tier Fus-Ro-Dah. Althout it does not appear to be in his inventory when he dies, he also possesses an Ebony Bow, which he will use to fire Daedric Arrows at you, and also possesses an arsenal of Destruction and Alteration magic, which he will use to buff himself (primarily Elemental Cloaks and Alteration to add more armor).

While he is defeatable, he is also insanely, stupidly powerful. The vast majority of the YouTube videos of people fighting him are an almost comedic sequence of Monty Python-esque clips of people getting oneshotted by him, either in melee or at range, until they finally manage to get him to zero health without getting hit once.

And remember: these are level 81 characters. ALL their shit is maxed out. They are rocking capped armor levels, fully enchanted armor sets, and most of them are also using buffs like Dragon Aspect. And they are dying in a single hit. I've watched videos of the burliest Nord motherfuckers you can imagine getting oneshotted by his archery like Baby's First Dragur Deathlord With a Bow.

For those of you who are bored with Skyrim because there's nothing left to do, congratulations. There's another guy with the same problem, and he can hand you your ass faster than you can pick yourself back up from when he knocks you over with his Thuum.

And, of course, for those lorefags like myself, this has huge implications, because it's blatantly implying that you aren't the only Dragonborn alive right now. And that's kind of a big deal.

 

Spoiler

Looks like it's just a matter of getting lucky enough, as this guy rolled an Ebony Bow of Winter (skip to 10:50).

 

Just one thing - you do know you can use a controller on a PC, don't you? One of my flatmates plays things like Just Cause 2 with a 360 controller on his computer. If you have the option, you can also connect your computer to your TV and enjoy the console perks of big screen and comfy couch with your PC.

 

While yes it is possible to use a 360 controller on the PC, the controls are not nearly as smooth as on the console. I'll admit that the last time I used a 360 controller on the PC was when I tried to play Elder Scrolls Oblivion, so things may have improved since then, but back then the controls were very jerky. To be honest, it was a bitch to get my guy to move around and do what I wanted him to. I eventually gave up because it was making battles practically impossible. I assumed this was because the PC version of Oblivion was not meant to be played with a controller, so the system was not designed to be able to integrate a 360 controller setup as well as a console does.

 

You're making zero sense, bro. Nil. Zilch. Nada. None.

 

Let me put this bluntly then. I went out and bought a PC compatible Xbox controller so I could use it with my PC version of Elder Scrolls Oblivion and the controls sucked. I would try walking around and my character wouldn't even turn left or right without jerking around. Whatever the technical reason why may have been, the fact remains that the game did not work right with an Xbox controller.

 

Sounds more like an issue with the hardware rather than any fault with the game, TBH. I've used my wired XBox 360 controller to play Skyrim once or twice (the keyboard and mouse combo with a few key remaps is much more comfortable for me to play with), but I've never encountered any issues like you're describing. I'm curious as to whether you've tested that controller on other PC games at all.

EDIT: Also, ignoring technical reasons on a computer related issue? Not to rain on your parade, but that's downright idiotic.

 

So you are saying that when playing Skyrim on the PC with a 360 controller that you do not notice any difference than if you were playing on the console? If that is the case then I would be willing to give it another try with a newer game than Oblivion was. I just don't want to waste my money and run into the same issue.

As for the technical reasoning for the problem I had, I did not simply ignore it. I spent many hours online researching what may be the problem and I was far from the only one that was having the same issue. The general consensus for why it was happening was pretty much the reason I gave in my first post. The PC version of Oblivion was not designed to work with a controller. The best solution I was able to find out were instructions on how to tweak the controller settings so things were a bit less jerky, and while it did help a little, the controls were still nowhere close to the smoothness on the console.

 

I wouldn't want to play a ranged character with a controller, but a melee carachter works fine. You still have to use the keyboard to quick save though. Also given that skyrim seems to of been designed primarily for the console market...

 

I love playing (almost) all of my games with a controller. Specifically my PS3 controller with a bluetooth dongle....

Edit: You know what? I'll just make a thread instead. Eventually...

 

Relevant.



Totally relevant.

---------- Post automerged 12-19-2012 at 11:14 AM ---------- Previous post was 12-18-2012 at 10:00 PM ----------



So. Who else wants to do this?

 

Only if I can take Meeko with me.

I believe I can fly~ I believe I can touch the sky~

Also, Lorefaggotry?

Lorefaggotry.

Specifically, Great House Lorefaggotry.

Spoiler

The Telvanni are even worse off than we might have suspected. Mostly because when I say "Telvanni," I'm referring to "one guy." There is 'a' Telvanni left. As in singular. As in, it's one wizard and his servants, plus his singular apprentice.

So yeah. Out of all the great houses? Telvanni took it worst in the shorts by far. And he isn't even very well liked, either. On the one small spot left in Morrowind that isn't covered in ash (so yes, there are still livable cities on Morrowind, they're just limited in size), he is not well-liked at all. In fact, he has a great many enemies, apparently, which is why he's living on Solstheim to begin with, and not in Blacklight, where he should be.

That's the bad news. The good news is that, by the end of the quests related to him and his household, he adopts you into his family, making you a Telvanni by name and blood. When asked what the significance of this is, he admits that, at the moment, it's basically nothing. "We'll keep a bed for you here, and maybe a chest, but that's about it." However, he also goes on to say that, when he finally gets around to returning to Blacklight, it will make you Morrowind royalty.

So even if the Dragonborn somehow doesn't ultimately wind up being the High King of Skyrim and/or the Emperor, they'll still be walking pimp in Morrowind as 50% of one of the Great Houses.

Also, the reason the Dunmer aren't huge fans of the Empire actually has to do with Oblivion, and not the more recent eruption of Red Mountain. Because apparently, when the Oblivion crisis happened, those portals started opening all across Tamriel. However, the Empire pulled the Imperial Legionaries back to protect the heartland and the Imperial City, leaving providences like Morrowind up shit creek, and unable to defend themselves from the marauding hordes of Daedra. The only reason Morrowind wasn't wiped off the map entirely is because House Redoran engaged in a massive military buildup to try and protect the people of Vvardenfell on their own. And they actually succeeded, becoming the military power of the area in the process. At the same time, Hlaluu fell rapidly, because everyone scapegoated them over the Empire abandoning them.

Also, the Redoran army is apparently the only reason the Argonian invasion didn't sweep the entire island. Redoran was actually able to hold them off, and even drive them back in some places. This was where Telvanni got raped into near-oblivion.

And thus we arrive at the situation as it stands today. The Dunmer haven't forgotten the Empire abandoning them to the demonic hordes, Hlaluu isn't even considered a Great House anymore because everyone hates them (and they are total dicks now, too. Seriously. You will meet them, and you will have no sympathy for them), and the Telvanni are one guy squatting in a mushroom and you, but apparently not for long, and your character will allegedly be swimming in Dark Elf bitches soon.

The new capital of Morrowind is Blacklight, and it is said to equal Mournhold at it's peak. House Redoran is based out of there, now that Vvardenfell is covered in ash, zombies, and ash zombies.

---------- Post automerged Dec 19th, 2012 at 02:23 PM ---------- Previous post was Dec 18th, 2012 at 09:43 PM ----------

So. The time has come for us to sit down, and speak of many things. Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings.

There is a new Elder Scrolls DLC. Is it worth buying? What are the pros and cons?

I will be frank. Dragonborn is not all good. There are cons.

1.) Dragonriding sucks. It does. I'm sorry, but it does. The cinematic feel wears off after the climax of Dragonborn’s main quest, and you’re left with the harsh reality of unsteerable flying lizards that are half tractor-trailer-truck-skidding-on-the-ice, half distilled physicsderp. If Skyrim was a dragon riding game (like that one Xbox 360 launch game that everybody forgot about), I would give it a U Wot M8 out of 10. The only fun you can possibly have doing this, since they won’t let you actually fly the dragons anywhere, is if you tame a dragon, then fast-travel them to a Foresworn camp or something, and troll the fuck out of them. And even that isn’t as great as you would think, because the dragons seem to attract arrows and spells like a rare earth magnet when you’re riding them, and because the DPS the dragon can dish out while you're directing it is, actually, abysmal. It is actually more efficient, and far more effective, to slave the dragon and then stay on the ground while it backs you up using its own AI. And the only time that would ever become a thing is if you were fighting a large enemy encampment, outdoors, against enemies lacking in Dragon-rape tier firepower, and a dragon just so happened to spawn in and attack as a third party. And that doesn’t happen very often.

The greatest practical use that the full-tier Bend Will shout has in vanilla, and indeed what I seem to end up using it most for, is in deflecting undesired dragon attacks (such as on towns) by telling the dragon to calm its tits.

Tl;dr, unmodded Dragonriding is shit, and I’m only willing to give Bethesda a pass on it because it’s an accessory reward in a DLC. If this had been in the main game, I would have seriously dinged them, because it needs work. And by work, I of course mean mods, because they’re probably not going to fix it themselves.

2.) Dragonborn, while being far more stable than unpatched Dawnguard ever was, still introduces new and annoying glitches, like dungeon cells stopping when halfway loaded, so you’ll just be walking along, and then suddenly you are confronted by a yawning plutonic chasm of utter void. I’m trying to justify it in my head as being dickery from Mora, but you can only stretch the metalogic so far before it starts screaming in the voices of the infinite unborn.

There are also glitches with drawing and equipping weapons and spells that I have seen, including moments where the game just ‘locks up,’ and won’t let you attack or interact with anything for a few seconds, which is fucking amazing when you’ve just been ambushed by a pack of werebears.

Then, of course, there’s just lag in general, which has become much worse of a problem than it used to be. To me, that implies either sloppy coding or an excesses of processes being run at once, but either way, it’s annoying. Seriously. There are points where the game will randomly drop down to what has to be one or two frames per second, for several seconds, for no readily apparent reason whatsoever. It’s not entering a new cell or suddenly bandits or anything like that. It just decides to timewarp you, and there’s nothing you can do but grab on to something and wait it out.

There are also issues that are not mechanical in nature. The Morag Tong were something of a disappointment, and don’t seem to have the same legality that they once did. Thirsk in general is a huge letdown, as you expect there to be more, but the quests associated with it just sort of stop, and leave you hanging. There is no Uderfrike, or any similar creature, nor did they choose to go with the (in my opinion) obvious next step and have a dragon involved, because Beowulf. And fans of House Hlaalu are going to be disappointed.

So yes. There are problems, and there are definitely cons.

Pros?

Literally. Everything. Else. New shouts, new enemies, new items, new artifacts. New armors and weapons, some of which are added to the general pools, and not just the Dragonborn Enemy loot tables (the first set of Carved Nordic I ever saw was on a Bandit Chieftain that I killed on the road on the way to Windhelm to get on the boat to go to Solthsheim). There are two new optional endgame bosses for endgame characters, one of which is a Raid Boss and can be fought at any level, and the other of which can only be encountered when a character has capped out. There is a Pit of 100 Trials dungeon, all of the dwemer ruins are awesome, there are new crafting options, new Followers, and new magic spells. The DLC adds an area slightly larger than the western quarter of the Skyrim map for you to explore, complete with new dungeons, enemies, fortresses, ruins, and encounters. Pirates show up, and are a big deal. There are a lot of hooks in the DLC for possible future DLCs to take advantage of, like Blacklight and the Morag Tong (who are not dead, and are apparently back in business, though sadly, their insanely pimp enchanted armor can’t be found. Or at least, hasn’t been found yet).

There are a zillion tiny things that they got oh-so-right, like using the Morrowind soundtrack for the island, ash yams, the Skaal and their culture, and the steampunk nomad gypsy feel of Vvardenfell and the Ashlanders, which was preserved in the aesthetics of the Chitin and Bonemold Armors, as well as the new Dunmer clothing and the aesthetics of Raven Rock. Practical scarves and sandstorm goggles for everybody. Netches can be seen drifting around in the forests and coastlines. The Ashspawn remind you why Ghostfence made you piss yourself. There are isolated pirate coves populated by Reavers and treasure hunters alike, and an actual no-shit pirate horde waiting to be found on the island, complete with a treasure map and some SPOILERS. It’s like Morrowind with better graphics and no Cliffracers.

And when I say horde? I mean horde. I won’t spoil it for you, but it makes the Great House vaults in Morrowind look like a poorhouse.

And that’s not even half of it. I could stand here all day and throw things at you. Two sets of ‘legendary’ endgame armor, a new armor for the thieves guild (I was wrong, it’s not an update to the current armor. It’s new fucking armor). New weapons, including some unique ones that are just amazing. A new endgame-tier dragon that’s more powerful than any that are currently in the game is added to bump the cap up on dragonslaying, and it looks like a motherfucking Fellbeast.

And then, of course, there’s the obvious Lovecraftian influence. Hermaus Mora is essentially Demon God Cthulhu, tentacles and all, there are a zillion references to the mythos from black waters and skittering voids to sunken libraries, devouring shadows, plutonic fires, and forbidden knowledge, all of which you get to experience and visit first hand. Dagon imagery is everywhere, in the form of twisted statuary and horrible deep-sea monstrosities, and Deep Ones and Shoggoths both make their cameo appearances.

Remember that one episode of Doctor Who? When the shadows deepen, don’t leave the light.

I’m not going to tell you that they did a good job of it, but I will tell you that, in a void, I couldn’t tell the difference between Hermaus Mora and any other Great Old One.

It just goes on, and on, and on. So much was done right, that the things that were done wrong don’t even hardly matter anymore.

So, is it worth it? Is Dragonborn worth the price of admission?

I feel that I got my money’s worth in the first thirty minutes of downloading it. Not the first thirty minutes of being on the island. The first thirty minutes after starting up the game.

This isn’t just the best DLC they’ve released for Skyrim. This is the best DLC they’ve released in a long, long time.

And if you’re PC? You have even less of an excuse. I am, for the moment, a console gamer. You PC gamers can download mods to fix all the shit that I’m going to have to live with. And I still think it’s the best thing since the Words of Power mechanic. You’re going to get mods that will fix all the bugs, and will make actual, actual dragonriding a thing. You can run things like Skyrim Civil War, and bring a dragon into a warzone and just laugh as you pretend to be one of the Nazgul.

This DLC is worth it. This DLC is more than worth it. This DLC is better than Dawnguard and Hearthfire combined. Do not pirate this DLC. Buy it. Pay Bethesda for it, because they have earned it, and because it is worth every penny.

[/OPINIONS]

 

The nice thing about being a fan of the Elder Scrolls is that, when it inevitably turns out that TESO is a pile of shit, we can just say it was an aborted dream-construct of Magnus, and move on.

Or that it all took place in Coldharbour, all the PCs are shapeshifted Daedra, all the NPCs are souls of the dead stolen from other places, and the 'why' is because Molag Bal is a sadistic bastard.

And because I'd feel guilty if this post was completely pointless, the rumor going around is that the DLC will drop for PC users some time this month. Supposedly.

I'm going to preemptively tell you to go fuck yourselves with your Dragonriding-fixing Mods. That way, I don't forget to do it later.

Every time, I go back and tame another dragon, thinking "it can't have been that terrible. You get to ride a dragon! I'm just jaded from disappointments in other games." And then I do it, and go home dragon, you are drunk.

 

It's been a month since the 360 release of Dragonborn today, and still no announcement of a release date on the PC, which suggests to me that we'll be waiting a while yet. This is frustrating as hell, considering I'm looking forward to Dragonborn more than any other game, film, etc. in 2013.

Could it really be so difficult to port the game over from 360 to PC? Bethesda should have more than enough experience with such a process by now.

Bah.

 

I imagine that any delay of the PC version, now that Microsoft's month has passed - if the rumour that they demanded exclusivity for Dragonborn on grounds of Hearthfire not being a 'real DLC' is true - has more to do with Bethesda attempting to release it for the PC and PS3 simultaneously than difficulties porting it to the PC.

They've learned that if they don't release them together, there will be a massive bitchfest of sulking users.