Posted by zeroinitiate on Jan 21, 2012 in Commentary |

Let me clarify that this isn’t really the last day of the character in-game. I will continue to play her until I can get her crafting skills maxed, at which point I’ll probably succumb to the temptation of exploits. From experience level 30 is where things go out of control; the Banish enchantment becomes available and you’ll be swimming in money because of it. Maxed skills follow shortly.

So while my playthrough is exploit-free I’m going to declare this post the final day of the series. I’ve reached the point wherein I can comfortably say that I have a good grasp of how to play the game on Master (until the next dragon  rips me in half, of course). And when that so-called grasp fails there’s always the quicksave to load. Anyway, what follows are the things I learned during this experiment:

• Sneaking is still very powerful. At level 30, 1/5 is enough to let you sneak up on enemies. You can save your points for the rest of perks in the tree.
• Muffled Movement is a must. Go get it. Footwear enchanted with the Muffle spell helps a lot too.
• Assassin’s Blade continues to overpower everything.
• Joining the Dark Brotherhood is a good idea if you like playing stealthy characters. Their armor provides useful buffs.
• Conjuration is still a very useful skill. Your summons have enough health and damage to deal with most threats they’ll face. They also act as excellent distractions when you need to get foes off your back.
• Illusion continues to be very fun to play. You’ll have to get a couple of perks to make it effective though.
• Flames was a handy spell during the early levels, but not powerful enough to convince me to spend points in Destruction.
• I still use Archery a lot, but since I was avoiding exploiting it was leveling slower than usual. With that said, I often had to chip away at the health of my foes. I did this by sneaking, aiming, shooting then backing away. Given the right distance most targets won’t be able to detect your presence immediately when they get hit. Once I was hidden again I’d repeat the process.
• Since I’m wearing light armor and don’t use shields, kiting, taking cover and using terrain have been my defensive options. If everything fails I drop a summon on my foes and run like hell. Live to fight another day, I say.

That’s all I can think of for now. It’s been an enjoyable ride so far. I think future playthroughs will be started under Master difficulty.

Posted by zeroinitiate on Jan 18, 2012 in Commentary |

This is a series of blog posts about playing Skyrim on Master, the highest difficulty setting. At this level the only thing that changes is damage: player characters deal only half of it while receiving double the usual amount.

I admit that I only decided to head up to High Hrothgar after finding out that I was losing direction. The thing about Skyrim is that it offers so much gameplay it’s often difficult to prioritize. Getting a full-powered Unrelenting Force seemed like a good idea so that’s what I set out to do.

I fast traveled to Helgen, turned around and made my way down the mountain. Previous playthroughs have taught me that this was the fastest way to Ivarstead. They also showed me that this was a safer path in general. Encounters were rare and, in the cases that they did happen, usually involved weak enemies.

Posted by zeroinitiate on Jan 16, 2012 in Commentary |

This is a series of blog posts about playing Skyrim on Master, the highest difficulty setting. At this level the only thing that changes is damage: player characters deal only half of it while receiving double the usual amount.

I have to admit that after defeating the dragon I was at a loss as to what to do next. I knew that the next logical step was to head to High Hrothgar to answer the summons of the Greybeards. Getting level 3 Unrelenting Force would be a great addition to my arsenal, especially considering that I needed all the help I can get. But doing that felt tedious. The trek up the mountain, the inevitable ice troll encounter and all the dialogue I’d have to sit through again sounded a bit too much.

These were my thoughts as I made my way back to Whiterun. A quick glance of the compass showed that I was near a giant camp. Hey, why not? I thought. I snuck my way to the camp, took out my bow, aimed at a giant standing next to a tree and fired. As usual, the damage I did was miniscule. He turned and lumbered his way to me.

Posted by zeroinitiate on Jan 14, 2012 in Commentary |

This is a series of blog posts about playing Skyrim on Master, the highest difficulty setting. At this level the only thing that changes is damage: player characters deal only half of it while receiving double the usual amount.

I entered Whiterun with a sense of dread. I knew that the first dragon fight was coming and I didn’t know if I was ready for it. At least I wasn’t going to take it on alone, I thought. Irileth and her cohorts were going to be there, as well as whatever was left of the tower’s defenders. They could at least distract the dragon long enough for me to get it down to half of its life. Maybe. I didn’t really have a solid plan as to how I was going to fight it.

I reported back to Farengar, gave him the Dragonstone and let the sequence run its course. As we were heading to the broken tower I still didn’t have a plan. When the dragon arrived I made sure cover was nearby. If my previous fights were any indication I knew that none of this was going to be easy. Our group managed to get a third of its health out before it bit down on some hapless guard and tossed it aside like a rag doll.

We carried on. I shot it with arrows, Brelyn alternated with bolts of fire and lightning while Irileth yelled commands over and over. It was intense yet funny at the same time. After all, I’ve done this fight at least five times since I first started playing this game. But I have to admit that every one of those encounters paled in comparison to what I was doing right then. It was tedious, frustrating yet strangely exciting at the same time. When the dragon died I felt like I actually earned that kill. Well, we all did. It wasn’t a solo effort. Still, a thought lingered. I just hope I didn’t open a can of worms by engaging this first dragon fight. I’m not looking forward to the next one just yet.