Today In Skyrim (Spoilerific), Like the other one, but with added spoilers!!! Options

[SubRosa]

Persephone and Serana cleared out the Soul Cairn today. They even found all ten pages of St. Juib's Opus without me having to look for their locations on the UESP Wiki. Now they are back in Tamriel, working their way down the coast toward Solitude.

[Renee]

I enjoyed the creativity of the Soul Cairn, but walking through that part of the questline (and the part when you are trying to find Auriel's Bow) is one of the few times I was glad once it was done, mostly because of all the walking it required. It's rare you'll hear me rant about walking in ES games, I usually enjoy it.

[SubRosa]

What I do not like about places like the Soul Cairn and Blackreach is the lack of the big map. The mini-map only shows the area immediately around you, even if you scroll it from side to side. So it is hard to tell where you have been and where have not. Sometimes it is hard to tell where you even are.

[SubRosa]

This afternoon the Dead Duo explorated the coast north of Solitude, knocking off places like Ravenscar Hollow, Broken Oar Grotto, and finally those pirates on the Dainty Sload who had been given a pass on the way to Castle Volkihar.

I decided to try something new, and made Persephone's Two-Handed skill Legendary. That gave me 9 perks back, and so far I only found homes for about half of them. Nothing really dramatic, just a few odds and ends like extending the range of her summonings (not that she summons Darryl much lately), a permanent Muffle so she does not have to cast the spell to be quiet, and the Light Step perk so I don't have to worry about stepping on things (unless someone is riding a horse in front of her ).

Mostly I wanted to try resetting her Two-Handed back down to 15. It has been more of a challenge, but no impossible so far. This ought to help make the game more interesting again. Her Enchanting and Smithing are both at 100 as well, but I don't think I'll bother making them Legendary. I don't know where I would put the extra perks to be honest, and I don't really feel like building either back up again. OTOH, with Two-Handed being Persephone's main fighting skill, it is something she will always be using.

[Renee]

I decided to try something new, and made Persephone's Two-Handed skill Legendary. That gave me 9 perks back, and so far I only found homes for about half of them. Nothing really dramatic, just a few odds and ends like extending the range of her summonings (not that she summons Darryl much lately), a permanent Muffle so she does not have to cast the spell to be quiet, and the Light Step perk so I don't have to worry about stepping on things (unless someone is riding a horse in front of her ).

Oh wow, so there are some good reasons to go Legendary. There's been so much confusion about this, what it actually does, how Legendary actually works. WOW a permanent Muffle spell? ... What do you mean by 'extending the range of her summonings?' ... Does this make them last longer? Or she can summon further away? Either way, it does indeed look like Legendary has some advantages. I'll have to try this.

Mych has the Light Step perk, yea that comes in handy for a vampire character who's supposed to be omnipresent. "Ow! Damn, another jaw trap!" I've never seen vamps get mauled by jaw traps in Hollywood.

[Grits]

I’ve never found all ten pages of St. Juib’s Opus. Congrats to the Dead Duo!

I made Jensa’s crafting skills Legendary in her PS3 game so I could fill in her combat perk trees. By then she didn’t need improved or enchanted gear, and she had enough potions to last for another 300 hours of play. She used One-Handed and Two-Handed as well as both Heavy and Light Armor depending on the situation, so she used most of the extra perks. She needed a lot of Block perks to make bashing with her greatsword worth the trouble.

[SubRosa]

I noticed something odd. When I made Persephone's Two-Handed Legendary it went down to 15. She did not level up again until she got it to 26, and that was after leveling up her Block by at least one point as well. Plus I think she had several skill increases toward leveling up before going Legendary. So it took over 12 Skill increases for her to level up once. I thought it was supposed to be 10 increases and you level? Maybe this is just a bug, I do not know.

Oh wow, so there are some good reasons to go Legendary. There's been so much confusion about this, what it actually does, how Legendary actually works. WOW a permanent Muffle spell? ... What do you mean by 'extending the range of her summonings?' ... Does this make them last longer? Or she can summon further away? Either way, it does indeed look like Legendary has some advantages. I'll have to try this.

Mych has the Light Step perk, yea that comes in handy for a vampire character who's supposed to be omnipresent. "Ow! Damn, another jaw trap!" I've never seen vamps get mauled by jaw traps in Hollywood.

It isn't really a spell, it is just the Muffle perk you can get in the Stealth perk tree. It acts the same as the spell is all. The same with extending the range of your summonings. That is a perk you can take twice in the Conjuring tree. It just lets you summon things farther away from where you are (your summoned creatures appear wherever you have your crosshair pointed).

I’ve never found all ten pages of St. Juib’s Opus. Congrats to the Dead Duo!

I made Jensa’s crafting skills Legendary in her PS3 game so I could fill in her combat perk trees. By then she didn’t need improved or enchanted gear, and she had enough potions to last for another 300 hours of play. She used One-Handed and Two-Handed as well as both Heavy and Light Armor depending on the situation, so she used most of the extra perks. She needed a lot of Block perks to make bashing with her greatsword worth the trouble.

I am in much the same place with Persephone. She ignores all but the Ultimate level potions she finds, anything less is just not worth carrying. She has so many of those that she tried to sell a dozen of them in Windhelm, but the alchemist did not have enough money to buy them! She doesn't need buffed up gear anymore either. She would probably do just fine without any armor at all (I already tried that with Inanna and found it works). But she likes how her Eisen White looks. She stopped using her summoned sword Malediction a long time ago, as it was just too powerful. Her Steel Greatsword has a frost enchantment (the chill of the grave), which I have found is probably the least useful of all the elemental damaging ones, since half the things in the game are resistant to it. That is why I use it!

I think the only Block perk you really need is the one that slows down time when an enemy power attacks you. That makes a big difference. Otherwise it is just a matter of timing your bashes. I have found that if you bash to stagger your opponent and attack in the right rhythm, you will never get hit at all.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: May 26 2014, 07:12 PM

[Renee]

SR: Oh I see. I'm pretty sure Mych has a couple of skills rated at 100, and I know Lord Haaf-Mersey does. I should go back to LHM and do a little experimenting perhaps.

[SubRosa]

The Dead Duo took a boat to Windhelm, where they got involved with the East Empire Company and their problem with pirate attacks. After a quick trip to Dawnstar and back, Persephone led the attack on the secret pirate base. For some reason the game would not let Serana come. But she still had Darryl to back her up when needed. When all was said and done, the sealanes were safe again, and Persephone was reunited with Serana again. When last I left them, they had just walked into Fort Dawnguard with all the Elder Scrolls they had been sent after. Next it is time to talk to Dexy's Midnight Runners Dexion.

[Renee]

That happened with Lord Haaf-Mersey too when he was traveling with Serana and Rayya the Overkiller. Sometimes Serana could come along, sometimes not. Same with Rayya, too.

Are you annoyed to have Serana as a follower? I know you don't like NPC followers in general.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: May 27 2014, 02:42 PM

[SubRosa]

She often gets annoying. All followers do. They always stand in the doorway I want to walk through, and only budge after constantly shoving. I am always getting shot in the back. I am tired of constantly hearing "Yes, what did you need?"

This post has been edited by SubRosa: May 31 2014, 05:05 AM

[ghastley]

I always found Serana's most annoying trait was resurrecting the goats, skeevers, mudcrabs, and any other relatively innocuous creatures that had died any where near you. Usually they'd been killed by the same area destruction spell that you were busy healing from, and which she'd cast just after you'd killed your target.

It appears that any follower who can do the same will do so, but Serana has those spells with the player giving her a staff or anything. I made that mistake with Kharjo, but I just took the staff back, and that fixed it. Any mage follower does the AoE spell thing, though, and doorways attract them all.

The worst case of door-blocking I've had was my ridable bear chasing a Forsworn into Broken Tower Redoubt and not being able to get around the corner. That blocked the only route in or out, and my usual means of resetting the bear (fast travel to current location) wasn't available because enemies were near. I managed to get in somehow, but I couldn't get out until I'd cleared the whole location - solo, as my follower was blocked out, too.

I'm currently doing Thieves Guild improvement quests with a Khajiit archer/thief. She's the reason I recruited Kharjo this time round, and I'm finding him one of the least annoying followers in the game. Relatively taciturn, and what he does say is agreeable, unlike Serana's whining about the weather.

[Acadian]

It is interesting seeing what folks think about the followers. Buffy hired Jenassa, then later hired Eric the Slayer. Both were okay, but she let them go. She just seems to do better by herself.

Buffy has hit it off quite well with Jarl Elisif, as both are young widows - and she is well on her way to becoming a thane of Haafingar. She's already bought the house. I guess the housecarl she'll get is Jordis. Is Jordis a pretty good follower? I know she's a heavy metal girl.

[SubRosa]

I think I had one character buy Proudspire, but I never had Jordis tag along with them. I imagine she would be the same as Lydia, or any of the other melee-weapon oriented followers.

I always found Serana's most annoying trait was resurrecting the goats, skeevers, mudcrabs, and any other relatively innocuous creatures that had died any where near you. Usually they'd been killed by the same area destruction spell that you were busy healing from, and which she'd cast just after you'd killed your target.

That drove me nuts too. It seemed that every time I went to loot a body, it would get up and start moaning before I could get their money! Now I use a mod that prevents her from raising any dead.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: May 27 2014, 07:16 PM

[ghastley]

... Is Jordis a pretty good follower? I know she's a heavy metal girl.

I don't think there's any significant difference between any of the female Nord housecarls. Lydia, Iona, and Jordis are all steel-armored, one-handed, archery, block. They level-cap at the same point, and probably have the same dialog, and annoying habits. It's hard not to have experienced Lydia, so you already know them all.

The Proudspire house is the one I prefer for a family, as there are a lot of other kids in Solitude to play with. So I generally leave Jordis as house-keeper. Maybe I'll use the CK to give her a more domestic outfit for the next game.

This post has been edited by ghastley: May 27 2014, 08:34 PM

[Renee]

I enjoy followers, it all depends which character I'm with though. Mycharonna prefers solitude, for instance. But yeah, they do some annoying things for sure.

I always found Serana's most annoying trait was resurrecting the goats, skeevers, mudcrabs, and any other relatively innocuous creatures that had died any where near you.

See I found this hilarious! ... I dunno, it just cracks me up that Serana seems to have no boundaries when it comes to her revivals. Who the heck would revive a chicken? I get a kick out of it.


UPDATE: Mycharonna got to the part where she gets to kill Cicero, and the game gives a choice whether or not she'll let him live. It's one of the rare times I paused a game to have a look at UESP > if we let him live, does the DB questline not move forward anymore?

Turns out, it does move forward. That's great. She doesn't want to kill Cicero. Cicero. I know Cicero is annoying. You'd probably hate my game SR and ghastley; I like followers, and I like Cicero.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: May 28 2014, 01:22 AM

[Grits]

Jordis is my favorite of the female Housecarls. They’re all pretty much the same, but I think Jordis has the most pleasing voice. Iona gets on my nerves. Rayya of Falkreath has the same voice as Iona. Ugh.

Also Proudspire is a big house so Jordis does not sit around chewing in your ear the whole time you’re home (Iona) or watching you sleep (Lydia). Jordis still keeps a seat warm much of the time, but she’s out of the way. Plus, blonde.

The biggest drawback I find with the Housecarls is that they are not good at sneaking. On the PS3 Argis with a summoning staff and a frost staff made a pretty convincing Jerric. Constant mayhem. Not very stealthy.

Erik the Slayer with a zombie staff is one of my favorite followers. He seems sweet and not overly bright, so “Erik the Slayer’s Mudcrab” just makes me laugh. Besides, mudcrabs are fierce!

Bannor has gotten hopelessly stuck behind his summoned sabre cat a few times. The big fella likes to flop down and rest when there’s no immediate action. Bannor is small. He often has to re-summon the cat (I’m not sure if it’s official but his name might be “Dammit”) so that he can get out of a corner. NPC Jerric was worse than the cat. He would pin Bannor behind a door and then stand there smiling. Of course they both save Bannor’s narrow backside on a regular basis, so he does not complain.

Renee, I’m so glad Mycharonna spared Cicero! I was biting my tongue so as not to spoil it. I’m still biting my tongue.

[Acadian]

Thanks all, for the thoughts on Jordis. Well, Buffy's now a Thane of Haafingar! She likes Jordis alot; like Buffy, Jordis seems simple and kind in her manner and that is mostly what Buffy needs. When Jordis said she would protect anything of Buffy's with her life, Buffy said, let's go! Then the two of them went straight to the stable and Buffy bought a beautiful heavy palimino for Buffy to ride and Jordis to protect.

Then it was off on the road toward Markarth to see if we could make the horse work. It takes some getting used to. Buffy is used to slinking along the roads, casting detect life often. Now she is riding, and relying on Heavy Metal Jordis to protect both horse and elf. So far so good. Jordis seems to do pretty well at pinning foes in place so Buffy can maneuver to protect the horse and get a couple mounted shots in.

Naturally, Jordis stays outside dungeons protecting the horse while Buffy ventures inside. If we can make the horse thing work, I know I'll have a very happy elf!

We had a wonderfully 'atmospheric' half hour or so yesterday in the Winking Skeever (Solitude). Buffy just sat by the fire sipping wine while watching and listening to Lisette sing. Wonderful.

Edit: The girls got safely from Solitude to Markarth on their 'horse' test run. Jordis was awesome and Buffy's learning to manage and shoot from the horse.

This post has been edited by Acadian: May 28 2014, 09:15 PM

[SubRosa]

Thanks all, for the thoughts on Jordis. Well, Buffy's now a Thane of Haafingar!

Thane of Half finger? Hopefully some day she will move up to be a Full-fingered thane...

Fingers or not, it is good to hear that the Buffster is having a good time with her four-legged friends.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: May 28 2014, 05:08 PM

[SubRosa]

Yesterday the Dead Duo took Dexy's advice and went to Ancestor Glade to have the moths read the Elder Scrolls. After fighting off the inevitable vampire attack, they were on their way to Darkfall Cave. Lots of Falmer slayage ensued. Now they are standing in the Forgotten Vale, admiring its icy, pristine beauty.