Bought it. Why Bethesda wants me to fail my finals, I'm not sure?

 

"Miirak has heavily trapped and defended his tomb. We should proceed with caution."

Oh, come on, how hard could it-

*eight Dragur Death Overlords run up from around the corner*

Oh.

 

Well, time to get Dawnguard finished in preparation. Also to get to 100 in smithing, because if I'm going to play a Dragonborn themed DLC, I want to be wielding a dragon's spine as an offensive weapon.

 

Holy fucking hell, that's not ominous as fuck all.

Yeah. If any of you were wondering whether or not this is really the Lovecraft DLC? It totally is.

Ask around about Miraak. It'll creep you the fuck out.

Go to Mirrak's temple. Get into the bottom most parts. You'll start to get creeped out even more. Dagon imagery all up in this bitch.

Then you go to Apocrypha. Oh sweet Jesus with a katana, then you go to Apocrypha.

THERE ARE MOTHERFUCKING SHOGGOTHS IN APOCRYPHA.

I'm sporting some kind of twisted fearection right now, and I don't think this train has any brakes.

This is perhaps one of the few times where I can say, with all seriousness, that I would have preferred to step off the boat into Innsmoth. At least there, there's only one set of things to worry about. There's like, fucking, five on this island. And they all seem to be working together. And that's terrifying.

---------- Post automerged at 10:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:08 PM ----------

Just a friendly note for those of you wanderers and explorers who, like me, like to be informed of the full picture before making a decision. You may not realize it, but you have a choice at Thirsk. To find that choice, go directly east of the hall.

You get to pick a side. The side you help, is the side that wins.

---------- Post automerged at 11:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:51 PM ----------

I bought Stalhrim Boots (Heavy) from the smith in Raven Rock.

And the Skall smith had a Stalhrim Light Helmet, which is Light Armor.

This can only mean one thing. The best possible dream scenario for me has come to pass.

Stalhrim has Light and Heavy variants.

 

I want an Xbox now.

EDIT: Right the fuck now.

 

Well, the werebears are most definitely real. There is a group of them at the Snowclad Ruins, northwest of Thirsk.

I thought they were bandits at first until I sniped one and the other two went all bearshit crazy on my thief. For some reason they struggle to climb the hills surrounding the ruins in bear form.

 

That's some god damn bullshit.

Dragonborn doesn't come out on the PC until some time in January.

 

Blame Microsoft for being dicks about 'exclusivity.'

Also, it's not like the console users aren't blatantly bug testers for the content. That's how it was with Dawnguard.

Shush, you. Xbox users get Dragonborn first, you can kill Tyrannosaurus Rexes on the plains of Whiterun with a lightsaber.

Seriously though, this is amazing. You're going to like everything about this DLC. I'm barely four hours in, and it's already blown the pants off of Dawnguard. Hell, this is the best DLC I've downloaded for any game in my recent memory. Not even in long-term memory, come to think of it. I can't name another one that's been this awesome. And I haven't even gotten to the part where I ride dragons and live in a giant mushroom tower.

Also, I'm going to tell you right now, while the Stalhrim armor and weapons look "pretty good," you're going to mess your pants over Carved Nordic. I mean holy shit. If there were any pictures of it, I would show them to you, but this is so new that there aren't any. It's sex. The armor and the weapons look like sex. You will be aroused when you look at them.



Also, I'm going to throw down some sidequest spoilers for Thirsk, to save some people some time. I found this out by save-scumming with a friend to get all the possible combinations, and we think we've seen everything. I will box this, so you don't have to read it if you don't want to be spoiled.


Space? SPAAAACE! GOTTA GO, GOTTA FLY, GOTTA GET UP THERE!

 

There are these things called spoiler tags. They begin with

Spoiler

and end with [ /spoiler], without the space.

Also, you get the content a month early. No amount of pretending to be Dresden riding Sue against a horde of skeletons and draugr on the plains of Whiterun is going to match up to a month of exclusivity. Ever.

I may in fact be using hyperbole.

 

Yeah? Try playing on a PS3.

 

The Dwemer Ballista things always stagger with every shot they land, and each shot has a chance to completely ignore all of your armor rating.

There are no brakes on this train. We can't even slow down.

---------- Post automerged at 12:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:39 PM ----------

Yeah. Those Shoggoth creatures that look like Ascended Sleepers but aren't? They can cast AoE spells, throw wave spells like Frost Storm, deploy shadow decoys of themselves to distract and absorb attacks, and they can turn invisible.

And there's a spellbook in Apocrypha that teaches you how to Conjure them.

I have no words.

---------- Post automerged at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:52 PM ----------

Yeah, about those perks?

I was wrong.

Spoiler

They don't work on each individual skill. They work like the Paarthanax meditations. One book gave me a choice between earning more skill points from reading skill books, getting more money from and dealing more damage to members of the opposite sex, and making all of my followers and companions completely immune to any friendly fire from my weapons, shouts, and spells.

I went with the last one.

Another one is even more insane. You get to choose modifications for your Conjuration. One makes it so that any Dremora Lord you summon can carry things for you (Dremora Servant). Another makes it so that any Dremora Lord you summon is also a merchant that can buy and sell things (Dremora Merchant). And the third one conjures a spectral pair of drums that follow you around and play music for you for 300 seconds, which, besides being impossibly pimp, also gives you and all of your followers and allies massive bonuses to stamina regeneration.

Tl;dr, this is fucking amazing.

Oh, and some of them

Spoiler

Modify your shouts by giving you different things you can use them for, essentially making them more versatile by giving them added effects.

 

Lydia won't be making me reload every five seconds on my mage?!

 

Not after you get this, no. Cast away.

 

So I never even realized I could get people to follow me around and help me kill things. Finished 70% of the game (All main quests + a lot of the side ones) after playing as four different characters and two different races. All without ever having a companion.

 

I now know what all of the videos for this DLC are going to be. I know now. It's not going to be people talking about the new enemy types, or the new armor, or the validity of dragon riding as a mechanic.

No. It is going to be videos of people throwing spiders at hapless civilians.

"What the fuck," you ask? "What the hell do you mean," Lord Raine?

White Ridge Barrow. There is a machine in there. It allows you to manufacture spiders as weapons. You create them using gemstones, alchemical ingredients, and spider pods. They are throwing weapons. You THROW them at people. THERE IS A MACHINE IN THIS CAVE THAT MAKES SPIDERS THAT YOU THEN THROW AT PEOPLE.

I know what the Youtube videos of this DLC are going to be.

Jesus Christ I'm covered in spiders send help.

---------- Post automerged Dec 6th, 2012 at 03:13 AM ---------- Previous post was Dec 5th, 2012 at 10:46 PM ----------

I'm not going to tell you where it is. I'm not going to tell you what it's called. It's connected to a quest, so if you bother to do them all, you'll find it eventually. It's not like you need a road map and Christopher Columbus to find it.

All I will tell you is this: There is a two-handed greatsword somewhere on the island. It is unenchanted, but it has a special power. That power is that it shoots energy blades out on a power attack.

Yes. You read that right. Razor wind-ing, beam-sword-ing, however you want to call it. Getsuga Tenshou, Wind Scar, it's been called a lot of things. Final Fantasy does it so much that it probably counts as some sort of problem that FF should seek counseling for.

What it basically boils down to is that you're throwing a cut at somebody, and it's all glowy and stuff. Melee attacks at range, with style.

That's now a thing.


Also, random Werebear attack out of nowhere just wandering around in the wilderness. There were three of them. They tore apart my dual-conjured Dremora Lords before they could even start dealing damage, and they shredded my Heavy Armor Conjuror so quickly that popping Potions of Ultimate Healing could not heal me fast enough to stay alive. Their damage output literally exceeded my ability to heal myself with potions. As in, I take a potion, but I still die, because they're doing damage to me faster than the potions can heal it.

And I should point out, this Conjuror is basically a Warrior who knows some magic. This is a traditional TES Conjuror that specializes in tanking. And that's how fast I died.

So yeah. Werewolves are officially pussies now.

 

Werebears.

The Traveller is scared beyond all reasoning now.

 

Oh, /r/skyrim. <3

 

Well, I now know what my first mod is going to be. Throwing spiders ... that return to you.

Boomerachnids.

 

There are already spiders that explode when you throw them, so maybe "returnarachnids" would be better.

And they aren't smaller Frostbite spiders, either. These things look like fucking facehuggers. It's terrifying.


Also, I suppose it was inevitable that there would be at least one disappointing thing in this DLC. And lo, there is.

Morag Tong Assassin armor is unenchanted, retextured Chitin armor. It's just Chitin, but darker and more muted. And that makes me a sad panda.

---------- Post automerged at 05:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:33 PM ----------

Basic information:

- Bonemold is unlocked by talking to the Raven Rock smith about Bonemold. It has normal and guard variants.

- Chitin is (apparently) unlocked via the Advanced Armors perk in Light Armor. It comes in light and heavy variants.

- Carved Nordic is also (apparently) unlocked via the Advanced Armors perk in Light Armor. It is purely Heavy, but provides armor and weapons.

Chitin and Bonemold require Netch Leather, Chitin Plating, Leather, and Bonemeal to manufacture.

The primary material used in Carved Nordic is actually Quicksilver. So you actually have a reason to acquire it in large quantities now, which would be great, if it actually existed in large quantities, which it does not.


In my personal opinion, this makes Advanced Armors kind of overpowered, as it gives you around four different armor types you can make with it, and one of those can be made light or heavy, so it's technically five. And you can make very decent weapons with it as well (Carved Nordic weapons).

It also makes my Conjuror sad. He did all the Heavy Armor perks.

---------- Post automerged at 07:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:02 PM ----------

I feel the need to clarify something. Them belonging to Advanced Armors is a guess on my part. A friend of mine, who I am playing parallel with, has run Light Armor smithing, while my character is heavy. We each have access to the armors that the other does not. So at some point, you get them somewhere from the Smithing line, even though the perk descriptions have not changed to indicate that.

---------- Post automerged at 10:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:11 PM ----------

Spend time in Cthulhu's Library, and you can find some pretty interesting things.

Spoiler

Dragonborn Force: Your Unrelenting Force Shout does more damage and may disintegrate enemies.

Dragonborn Flame: When your Fire Breath Shout kills an enemy, a fire wyrm emerges from their corpse to fight for you for sixty seconds.

Dragonborn Frost: Your Frost Breath Shout encases foes in ice.

I picked the second one. The first is probably the most practical, and the third is pretty much two Shouts for the price of one, but I really want to see what the second option looks like.

 

Is there any actual downside to spending time in Apocrypha, or taking knowledge from it?

I was hoping it would have some sort of adverse effect, to simulate the experience of the scholar in Doors of Oblivion.