David

I really, really enjoyed this game as well. All of the different "origin" stories of the different character classes and races makes replaying the game almost a must. Sadly the DA2 left the series with a sour taste. Also, I'll add that most of my characters in this game were mages. Yeah, they may be overpowered (as I was dealing 60-80% of all party damage combined with one character), but you FEEL like a mage, damn it. That's what they should be like IMO.

I must say, I've been a huge fan of Brad's posts the last few weeks. Not sure why.Though that current avvy must be getting dangerously close to the age cut-off, haha.

Assuming you plan on enchanting your armor for zero spell cost, I wouldn't put perks into any magic-related novice-apprentice-adept-etc tree besides novice ever. Novice only because that's required for other perks. There's just no point unless you're not going to go for -100% cost on your armor for roleplaying purposes.Your dual-wielding build looks pretty good. I would pick one type of one-handed weapon (e.g. axe only) instead of putting perks into both axe and mace boosting perks. With what you save, you can get the savage/paralyze strike tree. Again, it comes back to whether you're enchanting your armor or not. The same restoration/alteration spell cost reduction perk advice from earlier still applies, and those two trees are another place you *might* be able to cut back on, depending on what you're going for.Welcome to the site by the way, forgot to mention that earlier.

I personally disagree with the dual-casting. Conjuration dualcasting only increases duration, not strength. With dead thrall and the other one, they will be permanent anyway.Restoration, maybe, but I've never had a need for it myself. Avoid Death would probably be better, though it depends if you want to invest 2 perks to get it (since the one before it isn't very useful, as you said).Note that if you invest in Necromage (Restoration), you can dead thrall things that are a slightly higher level. Again, probably not the most worthwhile investment, but something to consider since you appear to be going the conjuration route.

Doesn't look too bad, though I'll jot down what I noticed. [*]You have an awful lot of perks in block, which would make me believe you intend to primarily use one-handed weapons. However, you only invested 2 perks in One-Handed. I would recommend taking some out of Block, Restoration, or Conjuration (will get to this in a minute) and put some more in one-handed (if that's going to be your main method of combat). [*]For conjuration and restoration, I noticed you put a lot of perks into the Apprentice->Adept->etc trees. I'm not a huge fan of this since you can enchant your armor to get 100% spell cost reduction on two schools of magic, which is how many you invested in. You're going to have to do this with Conjuration regardless if you want to use high-cost spells like Dead Thrall anyway. That will free up four perks right there. [*]Conjuration: Not a huge fan of the bound perks, but that's a personal preference since they're generally not as necessary at high levels (or with high smithing). [*]Restoration: Noticed you invested in respite, which is a good move. Alternatively if you wanted to shy away from block, you could use a healing spell in one hand and one-handed weapon in the other, which would restore stamina + health while you are attacking, which makes you pretty unkillable. I'd be able to be more specific if you included details on what your intended method of combat/support/etc was.

Would never have thought to do any of that with Fortify Restoration. I'll have to test this tomorrow. I sure wouldn't mind at least one pair of never-over-encumbered boots.

I don't believe I've heard of such a thing, so I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Dark Souls, Uncharted 3, or L.A. Noire

As Blexun... Uniquely... said, unless you play on the PC you're likely out of luck.

I think the next TES game should be set in Renaissance-era Florence. Then we can truly appreciate the integration of the crossbow.We can also scrap the TES: Online idea and have the Dragonborn assassinate Templars as Ezio Auditore's first born son (Ezio + a Dragon, obviously). Imagine it: Warriors of Romulus fighting Dragon children. Seems like we're already half-way to Skyrim.

I'm not writing this off yet, but I personally don't want to see anything else based on Vampires. Seems to be overdone and is featured in several quests already. I'm more interested in seeing the Thalmor conflict become directly involved in the game instead of the current background-story role it currently serves.The Vampire thing is like a good 40% of quests.

One thing worth mentioning is the landscape West/South-west of Riften is amazing. The actual city isn't anything out of this world (though the center elevated over the harbor thing is cool), but the area around it is some of the most interesting in the game. Not the usual snowy tundra look at all.

Fantastic deal if it was for II alone, which was one of my favorite games. Assassins Creed 1 and 2 - $9.99

Release/Information [*]Specific details will be released during E3 on June 5-7th. [*]Will be released thus summer on 360; PC/PS3 will get it a month later. What will this entail? [*]Notice the eyes in the poster. [*]THERE IS A QUIVER OF ARROWS. Speculation [*]Something to do with Dawnstawr. [*]Motherfucking crossbows and vampires. [*]Snow elves

Sadly this is not a troll link to HEYYEAHAYEAH.TES Goes MMO: TES OnlineAnd all the single player purists that have fought the "MMO LOLZ" masses for years....http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s

I finally got around to making TRR and ES new logos. Clear your cache if you still see the old ones. Didn't know how "busy" it should be, and we need new threads... So here's a poll. If any of you have talent with photoshop I'll also let people submit them.

The axe thing demonstrates the intentions of the other leader. If they keep the axe, it means they are still at peace. If the axe is given back, it means that they are considered to be at a state of war. The message was the same in both playthroughs, it was just who SENT the axe that changed, which kind of downplayed Ulfrics role as the aggressor in the case of the Stormcloak line. Though he still says, "If he keeps the axe I will bide my time." or something like that.You're correct that the legion also gives you a task to prove yourself, but in their case they accept you into the legion before giving you the task. The Stormcloaks won't even acknowledge you as one of them until you kill the ice wraith.

Yeah, it doesn't necessarily need to be the Dragonborn or even happen in this timeframe. That's why it's going to be interesting to see where they go with this "big" DLC, though, since that will probably reveal a lot more. The Thalmor conflict is referenced waaaaaaay to much (constantly in every quest practically) to not even have any role whatsoever in Skyrim (directly anyways). It's just odd how it stands now.

So I've just finished my playthrough of both the Imperial and Stormcloak questlines back to back. Though I feel like I have a lot more to add to the Imperial v. Stormcloak debate, I'll leave that to another thread and just focus on the quests. Imperial Questline Legate Rikke is horribly under-developed. With her background story as a Nord fighting against her own country, she has the potential to steal the show of the entire quest line. Unfortunately, she's not developed whatsoever (outside of 2-3 lines of optional dialogue) and is instead a horribly boring and lifeless character opposite of the interesting, at the very least, Galmor Stone Fist.General Tullius clearly doesn't understand or particularly care about Skyrim's traditions, but he does take them into account when told of them and plans accordingly. Although serious, he was much more "likeable" than I had first anticipated.Stormcloaks Again, like Rikke, Stone Fist is underdeveloped. The difference here is that he is an interesting character that has a unique atmosphere and voice actor about him.Ulfric Stormcloak is kind of a fool, and relies completely upon Galmor to accomplish anything. He has a great voice and knack for speaches, but from all indications won't be the best leader for Skyrim. He clearly seems to be in the whole ordeal for himself, having committed murder of a young "boy" who according to Elisif agreed with his stance anyways. What does it say about him when he's willing to kill someone that is on his side for the sake of a symbolic power-grab?Elisif, if you talk to her, really sheds insight on how horrible Ulfric can act and how he's not exactly what he proclaims to be. She explains that her husband would have likely sided with his cause, had he asked. Ulfric clearly just wanted his title and fights not for Skyrim.Jarl Balgruuf RECEIVES the axe of Ulfric Stormcloak, and then sends it back and indicates he's against him. Complete reversal from the Imperial line, though Ulfric is still the aggressor who attacks.They're obviously racist. My poor elf character was turned away and barred from entry into the Stormcloaks at first, and was sent on some ridiculous "Kill an Ice Wraith" task in literally the middle of nowhere. It really seemed like an attempt to get rid of me either by my loss of resolve or death. Not sure if this happens with Nord characters, but I don't think it was a mistake either way since the Imperials accept you right away.​General Thoughts The Civil War questline, I'm sorry to say, is horribly boring. Especially when played twice back to back. Go capture this fort, go capture that fort... etc, etc. There's really no emotion or variety. How hard would it have been to showcase a family torn apart by members fighting on opposite sides, or having someone unknowingly kill a friend of the opposing faction? It's all very detached and lifeless, and if it wasn't for Ulfric's constant jabbering you wouldn't even realize it's a Civil War.Jarl Balgruuf's complete different role with the axe in both quest lines confused me. The stormcloak questline clearly tried to downplay the fact that Ulfric is the one who attacks Whiterun with the whole axe switch, and it really made me wonder why the developers did it.Jarl Balgruuf wants nothing to do with the Imperials, nor the Stormcloaks. He sends Ulfric his axe hoping for peace.

People often wonder how exactly the role of the player in this questline is going to play into lore. Every TES game features a main series of events that the player is involved in that is afterwards inserted into canon and the official storyline of the TES universe. How then, can two paths with such drastically different outcomes be made to be the same in the next game? I've read a lot on it, and these are my thoughts.The original Emperor, Septim, was a dragonborn who united Tamriel into the Empire as it has been known in the last several TES games. In Skyrim, the player arises as the next dragonborn. The Emperor is killed during the Dark Brotherhood questline. The Empire is in ruins following the Great War, and the Thalmor are clearly ready to invade a second time.Taking all of this into consideration, perhaps it really doesn't matter who wins the civil war in Skyrim. The stage is set for the Dragonborn to continue on and unite the Empire all over again and defeat the Thalmor. Regardless of who is victorious in Skyrim, the inevitable war with the Thalmor is clearly going to overshadow and render the whole conflict moot. Skyrim and the rest of the provinces will either be forcibly split from the dissolved Empire or be forced to unite to defeat the Dominion.I'm writing two threads at once and lost my train of thought... meh. Will add more later.Main point: nothing done in the Civil War quest line is going to matter two shits.

I would PM a Leader (or me) about it first, these things are usually easy to resolve. If someone has wronged you it will be dealt with.

So today, I discovered the long sought-after truth behind what, exactly, fast traveling is. Blexun has sarcastically claimed that fast traveling involves flying. I didn't give that thought much credit, until it happened to me...Fast traveling from Dragon Bridge to the Hjaalmarch Stormcloack camp in my game answered the question for me. It begins just like any other fast travel... A quick look at the world map and then a long loading screen. However, after I regain consciousness I find myself hurtling downward towards the camp from thousands of feet up in the air. I just have a few seconds to admire the scenery before I plummet to my death. I repeated this several times after I returned from my previous save in Dragon Bridge. I then waited a bit before fast traveling, and found myself harmlessly falling 5-10ft in the air and landing in the camp safely.So, it appears fast traveling has been answered. What caused my character to suddenly forget how to fly mid-flight? Perhaps some day we will know.