Wikipedia says "upon levelling fifty times, the player character can continue to level and earn perks, but the rate of levelling is slowed significantly", but it's source for that statement is an preview from February, and doesn't say anything about continuing past fifty.

I have used magic a few times, but I was very disappointed when I fired a stream of fire at a dried up old corpse that had got up and attacked me, only for the bloody fire to eventually go out. So I had to keep twatting it with a mace. I mean, shouldn't it have become an instant campfire?

I just got my ass majorly handed to me by a fucking giant. The cunt killed me with one swing from his hammer. Giants are dicks.

Well, fifty seems like a reasonable number, though still a bit low, probably. If it does work the way you quoted, then I'll be happier. It annoys me when all of a sudden I can't get any better.

By the way, the only reaosn i'm here posting this is because i had a crash to dektop. Anyone else had any such problems?

I had one, but I think that it was because I moved my mouse too far in a menu screen and effectively clicked in my second monitor, which took the focus back to the desktop, and Skyrim just disappeared.

The magic is awesome. I recommend using it. And you know how anti-magic I am. Put fire in both hands and then see how long motherfuckers last :Y

MrTrent: I tried backstabbing a giant just to see what happened (on a save, cos I wouldn't hurt giants, they're lovely). What happened was: he turned around and killed me in one hit.

Oh and we should do this. This is me. I am Drew the Wood Elf.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/132841/TESV%202011-11-10%2023-25-44-06.jpg

And here's me currently:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/132841/TESV%202011-11-11%2023-54-07-84.jpg

But but but... if I start putting perk points into magic, then how can I put them into sneaking and narrowing?

"narrowing" :?

The art of getting narrower, clearly.

Yes :Y

I'm a damned handsome Breton who currently seems hard as bloody nails. First impressions are: the world is beautifully realised as you would expect. Especially worthy of note are:

• water - just gorgeous
• much more organic and less obviously modular dungeons, buildings & towns
• Greater sense of individual purpose in NPCs (though not as much as Bethesda was bragging)
• Really nice light
• And the mammoths are bloody gorgeous. They and much of the other wildlife (a much greater diversity than in Oblivion) aren't that bothered about your presence, which I like. You can provoke them into a fight if you want, but if you don't they'll leave you alone

The contact of feet with the ground does suffer from Fallout's Flintstone physics - your character seems to slide to a halt, rather than stop. And more generally, the physics is still eccentric; I bumped into a cauldron & it flew around the alchemists shop like a beach ball.

But I've played it for about three hours non-stop, which has to be something of a recommendation.

Did you choose to be a skinhead, or is hair one of the things that is still depressingly shit?

I chose, basing it on my own No. 3 shave. There's about a dozen hairstyles, and a range of facial hair; though flowing locks are clumpy.

Ahaha, you look like a pirate :D

And yeah, agree with your comments. It's sumptuously rich, visually.

Just killed my first dragon.

The fight was, well, a bit dissapointing. Run around a bit avoiding the flame breath, wait for dragon to land, STAB, repeat.

Admittedly there was a group of NPC's shooting arrows at it, which may have been what caused it to land. Maybe when i start fighting them by myself it might get more exciting.

As much as i'm enjoying this game, and i am very much enjoying it, i'm feeling a bit weird at the moment.I don't think i'm really connecting with my character yet. I'm playing as a Redguard, mainly dual weilding swords but with destruction magic as a backup. The dual spells thing is awseome, but the novelty of the two swords wore off pretty quick. It doesn't seem all that effective, and not being able to block is a real pain.

I might actually restart as a heavy armour wearing, claymore wielding Orc. I like Orcs. My favourite Oblivion character was an Orc with red skin. He was fucking badass.

EDIT: It wouldn't let me give my Orc red skin and the hair options for the Orc are all rubbish. Now i really don't know what to do.

How far do you have to get into the main quest before dragons start turning up? I want dragons but I don't want to get too far into the main quest til I'm done with everything else.

If you want to block then aye it's either shields or two handed weapons.

Dual wielding is all about being fast and nimble. Wait for them to swing, dodge away, dart back in while they're still in the swing and stab stab stab stab stab and then dart out again before the next swing lands. i.e. be very mobile (so light armour (which finally makes sense as a skill)) and essentially just avoid getting hit and time your attacks and feints and stuff right. I'm really enjoying fighting with dual daggers.

Magic is very powerful this time though. I tend to resort to that or archery if I'm up against a caster. Lightning is good because it saps their magicka.

I've not done a successful backstab yet though. Sneaking is a lot harder than in previous games. Hard to get close.

But yeah, the combat is massively improved from Oblivion. Have to use the weapons sensibly for them to be effective. If you try to just bash away like in Oblivion then the person with the biggest weapon (i.e. Manthorp) will win.

In summary, fuck blocking.

(giggle)

Aye, pissed myself at that when I first saw it.

The coders must've been so proud when they made a system where sneaking actually works based on whether the NPC can see you or not. And then they see this video and go "oh... yeah :( ".

:')

I am tempted to buy it; I enjoy real world explorey games: in every GTA I've attempted a few missions, got bored, cheated and just wondered around stealing buses (the passengers still get on :D :$ ).