 Malik
(12/5/11)Previously, I was thinking about how easy Skyrim became due to my character development (thief + enchanting + smithing = broken). I was wrong. Ever since the patch came along last week, the game has become harder. Actually, it's not that the game is more challenging as much as it is that the update had some less than cool glitches. I mean there's the glitches tied in to how I cannot select beyond the top three choices for soul gems to recharge my weapons (which never includes the rechargable The Black Star item), but it goes on from there. Bonuses to resistances and abilities tied in to armors don't seem to be working correctly after the patch. My lowest elemental resistance should be ~92% when I am using a bow (my shield adds another 46%, when I am going one-handed), but I seem to be taking massive damage from dragon breath weapons now when I previously laughed in the face of dragons. It only gets worse when my armor rating has now jumped to ~650 (with shield, due in park to light armor perks and light armor ability boosts from equipment) from a previous high of ~510 and I'm now taking more damage. Since I'm beyond level 50, when enemies are supposed to no longer scale, this seems like a glitch. The worst part is that my sneak skill seems to have suffered. I have 100 in sneak and all of the perks in the skill. I also have two items giving ~32 boost (per ring and necklace) to the skill and am now being detected by the most average of citizens. Apparently the town drunk in Whiterun has been taking some time to hone his perception between bottles of mead since he never could see me before and now spots me every damned time. Anyway, while I do appreciate a boost in the challenge, I'd rather have one that makes sense. Before the patch, I was thinking of going up in difficulty scale on the game, but now I just want to play the game with some idea of why I'm being hit so often and for so much damage. I should be able to understand my abilities and not left with some sick and twisted perception of reality in which my character apparently thinks he is so much better than he really is. I'll keep playing. I do want a new patch to unpatch the previous patch. However, for now I'm trying to clean out my journal of untouched quests. Of course, that brings another problem; the quests that I cannot finish but will remain in my quest log. I have the miscellaneous quest to bring an Amulet of Talos to a certain person in Windfeld and simply cannot finish the quest. He is no longer in the mood for this item (probably due to his family having a problem...no spoilers), but the quest is still active. The worst part is that all Amulet of Talos items are now quest items, so they are stuck in my inventory. I have six of them and cannot get rid of a single one. Each time I accidentally pick one up, I have a new non-removable item in my bag. I tried to use the console commands to hack this quest away, but that cannot happen since I cannot seem to local miscellaneous quests in the console commands. Oh well...beyond the few quests that will not die, I will keep up with the game. I will actually make progress in the main quest line now since I am starting to run low on the cool side quests. Even with a bugged quest system and a bugged patch, I cannot quit playing this game. Skyrim owns my soul and will not let me go. Malik |
|
Malik
(12/9/11) It's been another crazy week for me. I've been stuck in a fun loop of doing chores, dealing with a sick wife, and trying to avoid the sickness myself...all while trying to sneak in time for fun. That time for fun has been amounting to a few minutes each day, at best. Only one day was I able to squeeze out more than thirty minutes on Skyrim...and that was only enough time for me to get hooked and feel bad that the fun had to end so quickly. Anyway, I am now trying another round of minor PC upgrades. My system is running smooth with the new CPU, but now I'm thinking, "what would happen if I doubled my RAM?" Well, in the name of answering that, I ordered 4GB of DDR2 RAM (yes, I'm trying to keep an old but good gaming machine solid...DDR2, on the bright side, is cheap as hell since it is obsolete) from Newegg. I've always liked Newegg, but after seeing the tracking info in my email this morning, I'm loving them even more. Getting the cheapest shipping option, it looks like my package of RAM is at a local UPS location. I should add that I only ordered around 11AM yesterday. Cheap shipping and cheap price should not make for fast delivery, but I am not complaining. I'm only finding more happiness for Newegg. On a different note, I added the new 3DS update to my 3DS this morning. I'm actually excited about it. For the longest time, the only fun I could get from my 3DS was Face Raiders, Find Mii, and the Puzzle Swap. All built in "games" of sorts. Well, the new update is supposed to have more Puzzle Swap stuff and more Find Mii fun to go through. Well, naturally, I need to get my hands on some new Mii hats and some new puzzles, so I'm hooked without even having tried it out yet. It is sad that the best feature, for me, on the 3DS is some built-in mini-apps. However, Nintendo did a great job with these, so I will not be complaining if they want to add more. The only 3DS complaint I can even think of, beyond no good RPGs (yet) is that the year is almost done and we have not been hearing about the last round of free ambassador program games. This would be the 10 free GBA ports that Nintendo promised to all early adopters (suckers) of the 3DS. I sure want to know what other games are coming my way and I want to forgive Nintendo for making me feel like an idiot for buying the 3DS so early in its life. While they have done more than needed to make up for this (early adopters take the risks...it's a fact of gaming), by promising more free stuff in a given time frame, I want to see Nintendo stick to their words. Final subject change and then I'm out for the week... In week 17 of the previous NFL season, the most exciting game of the week was Seattle versus St. Louis. The game decided if the 8-8 Rams would move on in the playoffs with one of the best rookie QBs in a long time, or would Seattle be the first 7-9 team to see the post-season. Well, Seattle won in what was nothing short of an epic experience. This Monday, Seattle will host the Rams on Monday Night Football. This was supposed to be an epic rematch with major plot involved. Isn't it funny how times have changed. Seattle and St. Louis are both jokes this season (injuries got the Rams beat and Seattle is a team without a QB...well, a starting QB who looks worse than whoever the Texans manage to find on the street each week) with no reasonable chance in hell of seeing the post-season. I guess Seattle can still get a wild card spot with nothing but W's from here on out. Still, when they have to come out ahead of some real teams (like the Falcons and the Lions), Seattle doesn't have a prayer to see anything beyond week 17, except on TV with us Seattle fans. If Hank was still singing the opening for MNF, I don't think any of his rowdy friends would be showing up for this snoozer. I mean Seattle will win (the game is in Seattle), but I'd be surprised to see anything beyond a 17-9 final score...and I see Seattle winning with maybe even a lame 13-9 outcome. I think beyond a single touchdown from Lynch, Seattle and the Rams will both be testing out the ability of their offense to get close enough for the kickers to have the slightest chance in hell. If anything, this game may have one exciting feature when the record for distance for a field goal is repeatedly tested. Malik |
|
|
|
For Those Who Don't
Have Flash Plug-Ins...
Rested XP News Reviews Videos Features Forums Archives Search This Site Links Contact Us Disclaimer |