playing through Skyrim for the first time in 2021

I usually have a hard time finishing open world games but I figured I owed it to myself now that I have a good gaming PC to play this the way it was meant to be played.

Very VERY surprised at how well it holds up. The world seems extremely lived in, I'm enjoying myself with the lore, and the variety of choices you have is very impressive. Games like RDR2, MGSV, and BOTW give you a lot of "options" but I feel like they're shallow compared to the choices for playstyles Skyrim gives you.

I'm playing an unarmed Khajiit named Garfield von Fisticuffs. Thus far I have punched three dragons to death.

It seems like everyone suggests to do Alchemy Enchanting and Smithing but I was kind of already going that route coz Heavy Armor works best for my punch cat.

Also leveling restoration because being able to heal myself is vital.

I wish there was a lock-on mechanic (is there?) for fights so that I wasn't just swinging wildly in my brawls with bandits and such but right now I'm strong enough that very few non Trolls/Dragons have taken more than two punches to kill lol

I never do enchanting or smithing, personally. You can make some really broken equipment if you stack the effects of all three together, after making alchemy potions that improve your alchemy, etc, but I never felt like the game was so hard that this was important. In fact, quite the opposite -- the game doesn't directly level with you like Oblivion, but there are things that get more challenging as you level and if you work on the crafting skills and don't get more powerful from them (or any other skill for that matter) it can leave you feeling incredibly challenged. Because they did away with stats in this game, which I thought was an incredibly dumb move, generalists really suffer in Skyrim. That said, an unarmed Khajiit doesn't really use a weapon skill. You just use the one perk in...heavy armor, I think? And it looks like you've already got that covered.

If you're working on alchemy, you could just craft healing potions. I wasn't terribly impressed with restoration in Skyrim. The basic heal is really slow later, and fast healing seemed to blow through mana much faster than it was worth. But I also wasn't playing an actual caster, so I didn't want to invest my level-ups into magicka.

There's no lock-on mechanic, but fight mechanics are pretty basic to begin with. The only thing I miss having something like that for is that a lock-on sometimes helps you find enemies. It's not uncommon in a group to lose one enemy completely and have to go hunting all over to find the red dot. Or simply not be able to fast travel.

How are you playing through the world? The first time I played, I ignored the suggestion to head north and just went from map marker to map marker. I ended up exploring most of the Falkreath area before ever getting to Whiterun. (And then I got all kinds of confused when a certain quest instantly took me to Markarth because I didn't know where anything was or even how to use the wagons outside town.)

I read up where to go in order to build up my alchemy and enchanting so I used the stable cart to take me to Riften, Solitude, Markarth, and Dawnstar thus far.

I'm going to take the rest of the exploration slower though coz I feel like I short changed myself a little bit as far as experiencing all the hidden stuff Skyrim has.

And yeah I like the punch build because I won't ADHD the fuck out of what weapons I want to use like I do in BOTW.

ExThaNemesis posted...

t seems like everyone suggests to do Alchemy Enchanting and Smithing

Who did? Lol I guess if you want to exploit the game, but for a first time player this is a really weird suggestion

punching stuff is rad

I wouldn't feel bad about taking the cart to other towns; that's literally what it's for. Wandering just looking for caves to explore is fine, but in general I like following the quests more.

Wandering is great but you need the UI hide mod and a lot of graphics enhancements to make it worth it

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Who did? Lol I guess if you want to exploit the game, but for a first time player this is a really weird suggestion

man how many times you want me to play this thing, i played it once as min max as possible

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Who did? Lol I guess if you want to exploit the game, but for a first time player this is a really weird suggestion

Every Punch Cat build guide I looked at was like Alchemy Enchanting Smithing lol

Honestly the game is so easy I don't understand wanting to min/max it but to each their own

I find it a little strange you'd do research on build guides for this game, but I dismissed it as wanting to see how to make a niche character idea work at first. Just how many guides did you read?

I booted the game up for the first time in almost a decade recently

I saw that my character was already an
optimally leveled stealth archer, and anything i did was going to make me weaker

That felt really silly, so i didn't play for very long

azuarc posted...

I find it a little strange you'd do research on build guides for this game, but I dismissed it as wanting to see how to make a niche character idea work at first. Just how many guides did you read?

Really just the original "I Punch Giants" guide that made it into a meme that put it on my radar in the first place, and a really well done youtube guide. I've kind of branched away from it and am leveling what I want to now though.

Any thoughts I had of me being overpowered were well and truly put to bed on my way up to High Hrothgar when I tried to fight some Wispmother thing in the woods and of course that Frost Troll on the mountain.

I've been leveling Alchemy and Enchanting too much and Heavy Armor not enough!

Also I ran into a Giant camp on the way to High Hrothgar and was surprised to see that they weren't hostile like everything else in the game. The one giant gave me a bunch of warning to fuck off and only attacked once I got up in its grill.

Are all of them like that? Coz I don't wanna kill them if they're only confrontational in self defense :(

Yeah theyre not aggressive to you, but sometimes NPCs aggro them and then all bets are off.

Aecioo posted...

Honestly the game is so easy I don't understand wanting to min/max it but to each their own

yeah, i play games to min max, them being easy is irrelevant to me. the idea that i may be playing a game sub optimally makes me want to tear all my skin off and jump in a vat of acid.