Elder Scrolls V - Part 6

[Samwise Gamgee]

I'm planning on buying Dawnguard but I'm not sure if I should finish most of the original content quests first. My concern is that Dawnguard will create vampires that roam around and kill quest giving or quest essential NPCs. Is anyone having any problems with this?

 

[James]

Did you kill him?

I admired his tenacity. I swam across the entire width of the bay by Solitude, through the swap lands, across some snowy mountains, through more swaps. The dude managed to track me that entire way, he must have been the most bad ass guard in Solitude, if not all Skyrim. Eventually I stopped long enough at a shack where I killed a single bandit (with a steel dagger I'd pick pocketed off a guard) and the T1000 guard showed up, sword at the ready. I had mad respect for that guard -but yes, I cleaved him in twain.

I'm planning on buying Dawnguard but I'm not sure if I should finish most of the original content quests first. My concern is that Dawnguard will create vampires that roam around and kill quest giving or quest essential NPCs. Is anyone having any problems with this?

All quest-essential NPC's are invincible. Some become killable after their respective quests are complete, others remain that way even once they're no longer significant.

In my experience, the vampires don't tend to make it much further than the city gates anyway. Between yourself and the guards, you should usually be able to take them down before they do any real damage. They will attack small towns as well, but they don't tend to go inside the buildings as far as I know.

 

[Super Kal]

is there any way of changing the clothes of followers?... im tired of Lydia's armor, and would rather have her be a steward and wear a dress at the same time. is there any way to do this on the 360?

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

Yo James...as promised, here are a couple screenshots from the Falkreath mansion. It's still not done, i haven't build the tower yet.I'll take more screenshot from the inside as well next time.

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

is there any way of changing the clothes of followers?... im tired of Lydia's armor, and would rather have her be a steward and wear a dress at the same time. is there any way to do this on the 360?

Try to pick pocket her armor...

If it works, she'll be in her birthday suit...then you can make her wear any dress,armor etc..

It worked on FO3.I don't know about Skyrim.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

I know if you give her any heavy armor with better stats than steel, she'll equip it.

 

[Super Kal]

tried pick-pocketing her with a modded gamesave... apparently, these NPCs have very high roll-modifiers for pick-pocketing, and from what research I've done, default equipped items can't be taken off, and even if they are, if you go to another section that needs to be loaded, she will reload with their default clothes

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

I know if you give her any heavy armor with better stats than steel, she'll equip it.

I think she wants Lydia to wear a dress

 

[Super Kal]

I'm a he, paladin... not a she

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

Ooops..sorry!think igot you mixed up with some other user...sorry

Anyway about Lydia...have you tried pick pocketing her before you recruited her?

 

[Super Kal]

Ooops..sorry!think igot you mixed up with some other user...sorry

Anyway about Lydia...have you tried pick pocketing her before you recruited her?

yeah, tried that too, didn't work... such a great game, but so many wasted opportunities for the console

 

[James]

That house looks pretty sweet 'Hoss. I definitely plan on buying the other two plots of land once my character is more financially comfortable. Whether I build on them or not, I don't know.

Does Lydia even have a back story? I know Bethesda seriously dropped the ball when it came to fleshing out follower's characters in Skyrim, but Lydia seems to be the most popular one. If any follower had a decent origin, you'd think it'd be her. Heck, even Uthgurd (sp?) tells you that little story about how she got kicked out/wasn't allowed into The Companions.

 

[Quasimod0]

Is the hearthfire dlc worth getting?

 

[James]

Is the hearthfire dlc worth getting?

That depends entirely on what you're looking to get out of the game. If all you want to do is quests and slice up bad guys, then Hearthfire will probably bore you to death. If (like me) you're into the Role Playing aspect of the game, then it's definitely worth it. I've been pretty impressed with how much detail they put into it, building the house, gathering materials, adopting the kids, etc. I enjoy having my own home to protect and furnish, it all suits my character very well.

 

[Quasimod0]

Thanks james.

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

That house looks pretty sweet 'Hoss. I definitely plan on buying the other two plots of land once my character is more financially comfortable. Whether I build on them or not, I don't know.

Does Lydia even have a back story? I know Bethesda seriously dropped the ball when it came to fleshing out follower's characters in Skyrim, but Lydia seems to be the most popular one. If any follower had a decent origin, you'd think it'd be her. Heck, even Uthgurd (sp?) tells you that little story about how she got kicked out/wasn't allowed into The Companions.

Lydia is kinda like Clover and Charon from from FO3, a HUGE wasted opportunity from Bethesda to create a unique follower. I like Ldya because, unlike all the others housecarls, she doesn't seems to like being your pack mule She's the only housecarl companions which seems to actually have a personality.

Like you said, she's arguably the most popular companion.

But thankfully, Beth seems to learn from their mistake if Serana is any indications.

 

[James]

Yeah, Serana definitely seemed to be be Bethesda saying "Okay! Okay! *This* is what we should have done!" I wonder if the new DLC will have a new follower or two.

Regarding Lydia, I treated her pretty ****** because of her attitude for a long, long time. My first character left her in the castle and just used her as a storage unit. My second character used her as pack horse to move house and then left her sitting around Breezehome for months with nothing to do. After all that though, I did come to realize she's been the most frequent and 'loyal' follower in the game, so I made her the Steward once Hearthfire rolled around.

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

^^Given how Serana has become wildly popular-even amongst modders- insuch a short time, i'm betting that we'll get a new follower with Dragonborn.

It's kinda funny how even in FO3,beth seemed to give more thoughts into temporary followers than the regular ones. Sydney was the only follower with any kind of backstory and real personality, and she's only a temporary follower. They missed a HUGE opportunity to have great companions with great origins with Charon and Clover IMO.

I don't know if you noticed all the little things with those two, like how Charon reacted if you brought him to Paradise falls and to the slave pens,how he'll turn hostile if you kill any female slaves.And Clover...she'll goes nuts immidiately if you steal the vault 77 jumpsuit...which was the home of capital wasteland serial killer that scares even the slavers.Man...the stories you could've tell with those two.

And in Skyrim...you could kind of guess Lydia story.She seems to be very proud to being a housecarl, but doesn't like you abusing her position by making her your human luggage. She even reacts differently if you bumps into her accidently. In that way, she's different than the rest of the housecarls, which kind of makes you wonder what her story is...

...Or maybe i'm just RP-ing too much hehe

 

[James]

Lydia definitely crosses me as the type of person who's all about her duty. She's obviously a good warrior, intelligent and could probably be quite successful at whatever she put her mind to, but she's "sworn" to being a housecarl and, as you say, seems to take great pride in it.

One thing that really blows my mind about the lack of characterization of followers in Skyrim, is that it followed New Vegas. Now, I know that wasn't Bethesda directly, but surely the guys who developed Skyrim played New Vegas at some point. Why such a huge step backwards? If anything the followers in Skyrim should have been at least as interesting as the New Vegas ones, if not more so.

On a completely off topic moment of hilarity: I got a kill cam where my Stormcloak character cleaved an Imperial soldier's head off. In beautiful slow motion, the fellow I had just rescued threw a punch at the solider, but because the guy's head was no long there the prisoner's fist passed through the air where the head had been a half second before. I wish I had a recording of it.

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

I used to create backstories for all my companions back when i was playing FO3.If you could create a back story for Lydia, what would it be?

Housecarls are obviously pretty much like today's celebrity's bodyguards. They are obviously higly trained individuals, moreso than your average guards. My take on Lydia,she's obviously takes great pride in being a housecarls, but given her attitude, there's definitely something about it that she doesn't like. Perhaps there has been previous Thane and she's got bad experiences with them...

And my off topic moment of hilarity, i saw Belethor kicked a vampire's ass...which took me completely by surprise! dude's was ducking and weaving and summoning fire Atronach to boot!

 

[Balthus Dire]

So, I recently started another playthrough after the DLC sale and I'm going through the Thieves Guild quest line and I'm almost done but I had a question about the Skeleton Key...

Spoiler

I read that Skyrim was patched so that you couldn't get experience from the Skeleton Key anymore if you keep it, but I tested it on two separate locks and I definitely got experience in both Lockpick and general level progress.

So, my question is: does it still work for experience, then? Or does it stop working eventually or something?

 

[ProjectPat2280]

But thankfully, Beth seems to learn from their mistake if Serana is any indications.

Wish they would of included a marriage option for her. I really liked that character, even tho she was a dirty vampire.

 

[James]

After Dawnguard I seem to remember you [BLACKOUT]can convince her to turn human. I haven't been back to see her yet, so I don't know if she does turn into a human or not, but I assume she does. [/BLACKOUT]

I had a bit of a panic today when I saw a dragon circling my house. I immediately told the kids to run inside and took off up the hill to try and draw it away from the house (armed with only a wood axe and regular clothing for armor). Oddly, it never attacked. I eventually worked out that even though the 'shout meter' had long since run out, it was my friend Durnehviir still flying around. I guess when I went in the house, somehow, he managed to remain in Skyrim longer than usual.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

After Dawnguard I seem to remember you [BLACKOUT]can convince her to turn human. I haven't been back to see her yet, so I don't know if she does turn into a human or not, but I assume she does. [/BLACKOUT]

I had a bit of a panic today when I saw a dragon circling my house. I immediately told the kids to run inside and took off up the hill to try and draw it away from the house (armed with only a wood axe and regular clothing for armor). Oddly, it never attacked. I eventually worked out that even though the 'shout meter' had long since run out, it was my friend Durnehviir still flying around. I guess when I went in the house, somehow, he managed to remain in Skyrim longer than usual.

Hah that same thing has happened to me. I was outside of my house just doing random chores and a dragon flew overhead. I thought hed land but never did. Just kept cruisn by.

As for Serana, yea iv completed Dawnguard but every time i bring up that subject, she gets pissy. Not sure what i gotta do to open up that convo branch.

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

Wish they would of included a marriage option for her. I really liked that character, even tho she was a dirty vampire.

LOL! you and almost every Skyrim fans.There was even a petition to make her a marriage candidate on one of those gamers site awhile ago.