The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[MarketTantrik]

^^ Try messing with the Giants. Great way to improve your armor skills.

[Big Boss]

^^ Try messing with the Giants. Great way to improve your armor skills.

 

Tried the first time when I spotted them. I was 50 foot in the air in no time.

 

Any strategies to kill a giant? I am at level 7 with one handed at level 31, heavy armor at around 25. Should I take him on?

[sup bro?]

youtube.com/watch?v=kw9_M8w-N1c

 

Interesting. Fail comedy though.

 

 

 

I've spent a lot of idle time (after playing Morrowind) reading about Elder Scrolls and the lore. Here's a basic primer on it because a whole lot of you conveniently ignore all text beyond the shitty plot of the series. And, some of you believed that Oblivion is the greatest game in the series.

 

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The lore of TES series goes far beyond what most people are able to discern from the plot, which has sucked throughout the series. The most fascinating bit revolves around this god Vivec, his book 36 Lessons of Vivec and the Elder Scrolls themselves.

 

The Elder Scrolls basically consist of an unquantifiable number of magical scrolls. Unquantifiable because no one knows how many of these exists. There may be, say, 45 on a table, pick up one and there will be 70 or even 13 left. What makes them interesting is not that they are magical (boof magiks.. lololol), nor that they were written thousands of year ago by some prophet. They are the blueprints of the universe. They contain everything what has happened, what is happening and what will happen within them. They contain all choices, all outcomes and prophesies contained within them are many - all possible scenarios, all possible outcomes to a situation.

 

Now that is not even close to being interesting. the Elder Scrolls are the design documents of the series. Part of the mystery about these Elder Scrolls is that not even the creators themselves (Tod Howard and everyone at Bethesda) know what they contain and they have used this to define the properties of the scrolls. They could have prophesied about Dagoth Ur or Oblivion gates or the Dragons returning or the Skooma dope because that would be rad as f**k but they are incomprehensible to anyone else. They show how the wold is and reacts to thing because the designers want to show that. They are always breaking the fourth wall (Kojima can go f**k himself because breaking the fourth wall and uber-ballastica-meta weirdness gets even more dope from here).

 

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Now we move to Vivec who was not actually a god from birth. He was a thief who stole the divinity and used to to become the god. Most of his past is confusing because of the metaphors, his concept of duality and unclear text. His book, The 36 Lessons of Vivec' is THE MOST important book regarding the Elder Scrolls metaphysics. It talks about the nature of the universe or 'Chim'.

 

What the hell is Chim? The Elder Scrolls wikia describes it as

CHIM actually refers to the process of gaining godhood by becoming aware that you are the product of a contradiction/dream of the Godhead (very similar to the Lovecraftian idea of reality being the dream of Azathoth) without "zero-summing".

 

That's all you need to know of now.

 

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If you read the book, 36 Lessons of Vivec, you may read a lot of references pointing to a certain wheel and a tower.

 

Sermon 21:
The Spokes are the eight components of chaos, as yet solidified by the law of time: static change, if you will, something the lizard gods refer to as the Striking. That is the reptile wheel, coiled potential, ever-preamble to the never-action.
....
The spaces between the gift-limbs number sixteen, the signal shapes of the Demon Princedoms. It is the key and the lock, series and manticore.

 

The Wheel is basically 'Aurbis' or everything. It contains the entire cosmology and planes of existence of the series - including the plane of Oblivion, Void and everything else. The wheel has 8 spokes which are the Aedra (the 8 divines) and 16 spaces between the spokes which are the Daedra. At the center of the wheel is Nirn, the planet where all this crazy stuff takes place.

 

 

Look at the majesty sideways and all you see is the Tower, which our ancestors made idols from. Look at its center and all you see is the begotten hole, second serpent, womb-ready for the Right Reaching, exact and without enchantment.

 

If you turn The Wheel sideways, you see The Tower. The CHIM is a concept very much like, say, Nirvana. If the tower is everything then CHIM is the secret of everything in existence. So you achieve CHIM and you achieve a place within the Wheel and the Tower. You rise beyond and are no longer bound to your mortal life.

 

Most of this book talks about such philosophy but then there's also all the fourth wall breaking, self referential craziness.

 

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As per the Elder Scrolls cosmology the 'everything' is a vision or a dream of the Godhead. In his book, 36 Lessons of Vivec, Vivec has written that he realises that he is nothing but an aspect of the Godhead's dream. He has basically identified that he is a video game character. This does not end here, the entire sermon (and some others) talk about various actions in the game. From

 

Saving and reloading the game

The ruling king is armored head to toe in brilliant flame. He is redeemed by each act he undertakes. His death is only a diagram back to the waking world.

 

To

 

The Elder Scrolls Construction Set.

Vivec put on his armor and stepped into a non-spatial space filling to capacity with mortal interaction and information, a canvas-less cartography of every single mind it has ever known, an event that had developed some semblance of a divine spark.

 

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Anyway, it's getting way too much to type all this sh*t down. Some of the interesting bits can be read here.

 

Some more interesting links

 

1. 36 Lessons of Vivec

2. Some stuff by Michael Kirkbride (author of the above book.)

3. Something about CHIM

 

 

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FIN

Edited December 19, 2011 by Insider

[PS Fan]

For those who have played BF3 SP.

 

 

:roflroll:

[MarketTantrik]

Repped Insider. Awesome post.

[Tyler]

Any strategies to kill a giant? I am at level 7 with one handed at level 31, heavy armor at around 25. Should I take him on?

 

Don't even think about it. You need high health, access to some powerful shouts (slow time, ice form) and/or high destruction skills to take on a giant.

 

However if you have Whirlwind sprint you can try to kite the giant and use spells. It will take a long time (considering your level) but it might work. The idea is to stay away and avoid getting hit while pelting it with magic. I don't recommend it though. Once you're leveled up enough you can kill them with ease. I can take on an entire giant camp (two giants, three mammoths) easily at this point.

[PS Fan]

Tyler

I have completed all the Guilds quest,Civil war quest,Deadric quest and main quest. ..Is there anything else worth checking in the game?..

[Tyler]

^^ What about the city based side quests? Have you become a Thane of every hold?

Edited December 19, 2011 by Tyler

[PS Fan]

City based quests?

[Tyler]

City based quests?

 

The quests which Jarl's usually give or ones that start when you reach a city. For example the Forsworn Conspiracy at Markarth or the quest involving the burned down house at Morthal. Get it?

 

Some of these are essential to work your way towards becoming a Thane.

Edited December 19, 2011 by Tyler

[PS Fan]

ok..

[Big Boss]

Once you're leveled up enough you can kill them with ease. I can take on an entire giant camp (two giants, three mammoths) easily at this point.

 

I think I will wait for this. When this happens, the satisfaction will be immense. No giant/mammoth will be spared

[MarketTantrik]

Try to visit and 'discover' as many areas as you can when you are at a low level. The enemies there will be locked at that level for the rest of the game. Makes destroying everything in your path a lot easier as you level up.

[Big Boss]

The enemies there will be locked at that level for the rest of the game. Makes destroying everything in your path a lot easier as you level up.

 

Oh didn't know this. Fast travel is a no-go then.

[Tyler]

Try to visit and 'discover' as many areas as you can when you are at a low level. The enemies there will be locked at that level for the rest of the game. Makes destroying everything in your path a lot easier as you level up.

 

You're really obsessed with making the game piss easy, aren't you?

 

I'd recommend against that because it's really no fun one-shotting enemies once you're leveled up. Not only will you be steamrolling through everything (which gets boring fast) but you won't get a chance to level up your offensive skills as well.

 

That said I'd recommend against a lot of fast traveling as well - at least early on. Yes it's handy if you want to quick get somewhere but it also robs you of the wonderful exploration element this game has. Don't just rush through quests, take in the sights and sounds. Get lost in the world. That's the whole point of Bethesda's RPGs.

Edited December 19, 2011 by Tyler

[Big Boss]

Oh didn't think about it that way. Yesterday I killed 5 Frost Trolls (one by one in quick succession), that was fun and intense.

[Tyler]

Yeah combat at lower levels is far more interesting. I still remember the parts where I wandered into a dungeon with Falmer and Chaurus and basically had to haul my a*s out of there somehow. Or when I had to fight spriggans and their bears for the first time. I literally had to run back and lure enemies one by one and pray that I get enough hits in before I get attacked. Now it's all a little too easy. Cast spells and melee when someone gets close. That's about it. Every once in a while a boss enemy provides a challenge but for the most part normal enemies are a piece of cake.

 

I'd also recommend getting a companion along. They're glitchy and can die or get lost but they can definitely help while fighting multiple enemies.

 

PS: Make sure you make a hard save before entering a dungeon.

Edited December 19, 2011 by Tyler

[spindoctor]

^^ What about the city based side quests? Have you become a Thane of every hold?

 

2 problems with the thane quests... firstly, they are obscure. it's very easy to miss the quests required to do it. for example, i bought the house in solitude and the jarl told me i was one step closer to becoming the thane. now i don't know what to do. i've talked to her and everyone in her court and no one is giving me any quest. even the wikis are woefully inadequate when it comes to the thane quests so i don't know what to do. maybe i should look in the guide and see if it's mentioned there. the second problem is that the thane quests are full of filler. go and collect 5 ore for this person, go and find 10 fire salts for that person, go and find 3 flawless rubies for another person and so on. that sh*t is just tedious, which is why i gave up on the quest lines after experiencing this in solitude and riften. i'm the thane of whiterun and i doubt i'll do anything more in that particular set of quests.

 

You're really obsessed with making the game piss easy, aren't you?

 

I'd recommend against that because it's really no fun one-shotting enemies once you're leveled up. Not only will you be steamrolling through everything (which gets boring fast) but you won't get a chance to level up your offensive skills as well.

 

 

yea, the game already struggles to maintain any level of difficulty without the player gaming the system to become easier. near the end i was in full daedric armor without using any exploits and i still breezed through the last part of the main quest. parts of it were too easy in fact... when you have a shadow priest going down in 3-4 arrows, the challenge of the game is basically gone.

[Big Boss]

I'd also recommend getting a companion along. They're glitchy and can die or get lost but they can definitely help while fighting multiple enemies

 

I am planning to play this solo, possible? Because on one quest my companion just vanished out of nowhere and reappeared back when I reached my objective. I thought she was gone for good.

 

And speaking about glitches, an elf fell from sky in Riverwood twice when I visited the town. There is nothing in the sky, no dragon or anything. He just falls out of nowhere and is dead. Funny stuff

[spindoctor]

Any strategies to kill a giant? I am at level 7 with one handed at level 31, heavy armor at around 25. Should I take him on?

 

at level 48 with legendary daedric armor, a giant could kill me in 4 hits. you need to stay the f**k away from them for a long, long time.

Edited December 19, 2011 by spindoctor