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I have a question regarding the skills/perks: since the way skill points are allocated now, how do you focus on stuff like stealth? Do you just sneak around and build up points that way? For someone who wants to do a stealth assassin, any tips for the opening game?

Say again? ... left-click = RH , right-click = LH??

Why is it back to front like that?

Shield (Right Mouse) in the left hand, sword (Left Mouse) in the right. Makes sense after you use it for a while.

It's easier to combo shield block+smash with it anyway.

Just fought my first random Dragon encounter. Not in the best place. I'd just fought through a small dungeon got outside and next thing the music kicked in and i wondered why that music suddenly played, next thing i'm on fire. I managed to stop myself from panicking and took my time and managed to kill him. During the fight i realised i had Rockjoint and knocked 25% off my melee attacks. I really wish other than the odd townsfolk saying i look sick. That they'd have an icon in the hud or something to let you know you have a status alignment.

Still loving the game, now i'm getting used to the mechanics again, i'm really starting to enjoy it. The first couple of hours were a nightmare.

I installed it on my SSD and it loads from double clicking the icon, to playing the game in about 20 seconds

From clicking "Play" to Bethesda logo ~2s, 2-3s from that to the main menu itself and 10-15s to load up my savegame (inside a large town) (2xSAS 10k drives in stripe)

Running mine off my 120GB Vertex 3, loading into the world and transitioning between different areas in the world takes just a few seconds, which is awesome but I can't read most of the hints since they appear and disappear too quickly. Looks like game developers will have to come up with a new way of providing game hints :p

I am currently level 10 playing a pure archer, using sneak and archery skills primarily. Really enjoying it, best part of the game for me so far

was finding the Kyne shout, just before I found it there is a room with about 10 graves, each skeleton rose up and I was hiding in the corner, took all of them down using my trusty bow with 1-2 shots. Loving the skeletons breaking into different pieces, especially when hits with an arrow some parts go flying.

Also enjoying shooting the wild life, unfortunately I fear I might be bringing about the extinction of the Wild Elk :D

I have ten shouts and five unused Dragon Souls, but all I want to know is how the **** the do I unlock the remaining words of power for the shouts I already have? I just want to unlock the last two words of the Fire, Breathe Fire shout but I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

I've been loving it so far on Xbox 360. Graphics are amazing for the platform, but I can tell by watching some YouTube videos that the PC version has a lot more potential visually.

Really loving how the world opens up more and more as you progress.

The load times suck (even after doing a game install). The shadows are also low quality on the 360. I'm not as critical on the games textures, but I'm also playing @ 720p.

My turn:

Is there any negative to wearing heavy armor as a mage??

I believe heavier armor slows you down, at least until you get high enough in that type of armor to get the right perk. Beyond that, robes generally have much better mage-type stats (spell cost reduction, magika regen, etc). Now if you go enchanting and can enchant heavy armor with equivalent robe stats, then there is little to no reason to not wear robes, other than the movement speed reduction and weight requirements.

That being said, I've been playing a thief based character so far, lvl 18 I believe, and its great and all to be able to kill enemies with sneak attacks in only a few hits (30x damage multiplier on sneak attacks from behind with daggers, with a 12 dmg dagger, thats 360 dmg, I don't even have 300 health myself, going mostly health with some stamina here and there), and at range, bows have a nice 3x multiplier (total of 60+ damage with my current bows). But in a straight fight, where I can't sneak attack, or sneak attacks don't 1-2 hit kill, they are freaking difficult to kill. I went through one part, where I killed a troll, followed by 2 boss fights in a row, and I use all my magika for the healing spell during the first fight, and all but 5 or so healing potions (saved from the beginning of the game, never bought or used until this point). The 2nd boss fight was significantly easier, but I still had to use 2-3 potions to get through.

One thing I really dislike so far, is how it forces you to craft a ton of weapons or enchant a ton of things if you want any decent gear better than what you get from the guilds. My thief and brotherhood armor is still leagues better than anything I've found anywhere, and I got it like 10 or more levels ago. Plus I can't even refine it because I haven't spent enough time crafting gear yet......it's a neat system, but it requires taking too much away from the story to get anywhere quickly with it.

All things aside though, I just started putting points into pickpocketing, and on normal items, I have around a 70-75% chance to pickpocket them with only 1 point into pickpocket. It's really nice to instantly see a payoff to pickpocketing NPCs, and with the speech option to bribe guards, you can get off pretty easy if you do get caught.

Started another playthrough with a mage though, and straight combat is much easier so far....summon fire atronach, sit back while it pwns things (shoots fireballs or does a melee attack that kills normal mobs in 2 hits, as well as passive fire damage to everything around it). If it keeps up, I think conjurer is going to be a bit OP when I can summon 2 of these things.

How long does the game take to load on a regular hard drive?

I installed it on my SSD and it loads from double clicking the icon, to playing the game in about 20 seconds

From double-clicking of the icon to finished loading a saved game it takes about 10-15 seconds. Definately have no SSD, just a SATA II 640GB HDD (7200RPM). If you have not perhaps a defrag is in order, the game itself was a lot slower until after I did one so I can at least say it helps.

Is anyone playing this with a GTX 260? If so, how does it perform and what settings are you using? Undecided if I should play it on PC (GTX 260, Q9550) or 360.

I can run it on max settings but its a tad laggy so I turn off AA (Anti-Aliasing) and AF (Antistrophic-Filtering). I have an EVGA SuperClocked 896MB GTX 260 :)

Say again? ... left-click = RH , right-click = LH??

Why is it back to front like that?

Primary click = primary hand, secondary click = secondary hand. It makes sense from a functionality standpoint, but it can be a bit confusing at first.

I have ten shouts and five unused Dragon Souls, but all I want to know is how the **** the do I unlock the remaining words of power for the shouts I already have? I just want to unlock the last two words of the Fire, Breathe Fire shout but I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

You have to find them.

The graphics are ok. Not Blown away. I have everything set to ultra on an ati 4780. Graphics are good but not OMG.

Huh... I have a 4870 and can't run "Ultra" in any setting. In fact, there is no Ultra, only high. And even then, I can't run them all at high. Textures are High, radial blur is medium, and the decal option is "none". Maybe because I have the 512mb version of the card. Either way it still looks okay and runs fine.

Honestly I wasn't enjoying the game too much until I had my first wild dragon battle. I'm traveling in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm with Lydia, and all of a sudden the ground shakes. "???"...then the scary music....AND OH SHOOT A DRAGON FJDSLKFJDSLKDF. I was only level 5 and thought there was no way I could kill it. Good thing I somehow managed to pick a master lock earlier in the game with only novice skill and obtained a cool Conjuration spell. So me, my ghost wolf conjure, and lydia started fighting the dragon. We were losing and then....DUN DUN-DADA! To the rescue, a mammoth and a giant troll. We all teamed up and took the dragon out.

I thought giants were enemies, but apparently not. Or they were just defending their turf. Whatever the case, the sense of teamwork was so cool. "I Just beat up a dragon with the help of a ghost wolf, a mammoth, a troll, and lydia".

The most frustrating things are the omnipotent all-knowing NPCs / Guards. Accidentally hit someone inside of their home and the entire town comes after me. I really don't like that.

Having a heck of a time getting Feralda to let me in to the Mages College in Winterhold.

I see where alot of people get asked to cast something easy like flame atronach. She asked me to cast Fear..so I bought it off her..and cast it, and the game tells me she is too powerful to be feared. Wow. Really? Lol, this after I just spent 10 minutes in front of her killing a freaking Dragon. Think maybe that would give her the idea I was a badass...but nooooo lmao. Anyone know a way I can get accepted?

Having a heck of a time getting Feralda to let me in to the Mages College in Winterhold.

I see where alot of people get asked to cast something easy like flame atronach. She asked me to cast Fear..so I bought it off her..and cast it, and the game tells me she is too powerful to be feared. Wow. Really? Lol, this after I just spent 10 minutes in front of her killing a freaking Dragon. Think maybe that would give her the idea I was a badass...but nooooo lmao. Anyone know a way I can get accepted?

isn't that the part you cast fear on the rune on the ground...not actually on her?

isn't that the part you cast fear on the rune on the ground...not actually on her?

Thanks for the reply...lmao...I guess I should go try that....I didnt even notice what was on the ground ...>< doh I'll come back if it doesnt work...if it does...thanks :)!

Huh... I have a 4870 and can't run "Ultra" in any setting. In fact, there is no Ultra, only high. And even then, I can't run them all at high. Textures are High, radial blur is medium, and the decal option is "none". Maybe because I have the 512mb version of the card. Either way it still looks okay and runs fine.

Either something is wrong or it's your CPU. It seems the game is mostly CPU depended - not suprising seeing the engines a few years old now.

I'm running on a measly 512mb 4850 and I am always above 30fps with everything on high with 8x AA and 16x AF.

Game seems ok so far. More like an oblivion expansion than a new a true sequal though. The graphics are a little underwhelming after all the hype. An upgraded lighting engine would do the world wonders. I suppose consoles are to blame for this.

Worst part is the menus though! They are absolutely abysmil!!! Even switching between equipment is a chore and that's just the start. Seriously how the **** did this happen. For me the menus take the game from a 9/10 down to an 8/10 easily...

Think i'm gonna start Skyward Sword tonight and probably will end up not even touching Skyrim again untill after I finish that.

Just finished making full Dragon Scale armor (legendary quality) Now i just need to find/make replacements for my Glass sword and Bow :(, Not sure what is better yet though, need to level up a few more times so that i can do dwarven and ebony stuff.

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    • 7 Days: SPECS for $2,195, Firefox Nova 2026, first AI arts museum, and iPhone price hike by Aditya Tiwari 7 Days is a weekly roundup of picks of what's been happening in the world of technology - written with a dash of humor, a hint of exasperation, and an endless supply of (black) coffee. This week's highlights include Linux 7.1 stable release, Samsung pulling the plug on its VPN, and Microsoft Edge bringing the sign-in with Google experience. Let's get started. You can check out the recent issues of the 7 Days weekly roundup. Mozilla highlights Firefox Nova Mozilla showed off a new Firefox roadmap highlighting the browser's upcoming features and the Nova 2026 redesign. Interested users and enthusiasts can check out what's cooking and share feedback on the upcoming additions. Besides this, Firefox 152 brought Tab Groups to Android as one of its biggest additions, along with a redesigned Settings experience. 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With EA Advertising, brands will be able to inject their products into games in real-time via dynamic placement, in places like stadium signage in sports games. Sign in with Google: Microsoft Edge browser is finally getting direct Google account sign-in support from the profile menu and the Edge sign-in screen, allowing users to sync browser data without an MSA. Rufus 4.15 beta: The latest Rufus update is out with important fixes for "silent" Windows 11 installation, patches for ARM-based PCs, and more. Rufus 4.15 beta is now available to download from its official GitHub repository. NVIDIA 610.62: GeForce hardware owners can get their hands on the new WHQL-certified 610.62 Game Ready driver, which carries a lot of bug fixes and support for the fast-paced 6v6 movement shooter Empulse. Zed 1.7.2: The latest update adds "/compact" AI chat summarization, new models, settings kill management, git graph commands, and UI improvements. This week in hardware news Image: Snap Inc. 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Because of the negative dark energy, it could stop expanding and collapse into a "big crunch" in 20 billion years. The impact of traffic: Researchers found that urban traffic pollution, specifically nitrogen oxides and fine particles, quickly alters the atmospheric electric field measurably in urban areas. This indicates that atmospheric electricity could become a valuable tool to monitor urban air quality and activity. The light of life: A study revealed that living organisms emit a faint, invisible glow called ultraweek photon emission. This natural light significantly decreases after death and increases during stress, offering a highly promising new method for noninvasive medical health diagnosis. Mysteries of time: A new study suggests that the direction of time is not fixed in certain quantum systems. Standard equations of energy loss remain time-symmetric, which means laws can theoretically run backward or forward. 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That said, here are some more stories from the gaming world: Rockstar gives last-gen GTA V players free upgrades tomorrow Major Xbox layoffs may claim South of Midnight developer Compulsion entirely Steam Next Fest returns with thousands of new demos to try out Forza Horizon 6 gets another hotfix for one of the game's online modes Major Xbox layoffs may claim South of Midnight developer Compulsion entirely From the review corner This week, Steven got his hands on the Creative Sound Blaster AE-X internal PCIe sound card, primarily intended for headphone wearers. In the list of pros, it comes with a high-quality headphone amp, low-latency communication enhancements via ASIO v2.3, offers 256-times the audio quality of CDs via DSD256, and has great build quality. On the other hand, it's a bit on the pricier side, only offers stereo output over speakers, and has no EMI shielding. More price drops! We got you covered with some hot tech deals all week. For some reason, if you missed out on a great discount, here is a summary of some recent deals that are still alive: GEEKOM X16 Pro at GEEKOM - $1,119.67 (17% off) Acer 4K Webcam for PC/Mac with All-Metal Unibody Sculpted - $59.99 (14% off) Samsung 990 PRO SSD 2TB - $369.99 (42% off) Nothing Ear Wireless Earbuds Bluetooth - $73.15 (51% off) PowerColor Reaper AMD Radeon RX 9070 16GB - $579.99 (17% off) To view all of our recent deals, click here. So, these were some of the biggest tech news and other updates from this week. There will be more issues of our 7 Days series in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned. You can also support Neowin by registering for a free member account or subscribing to extra member benefits, along with an ad-free tier option. Have a great weekend!
    • It certainly is a waste of time clicking it if you're not interested in Windows 11's development. If that were the case for you, you could easily ignore the headline and move on given the headline makes it clear that's what the article is about. Instead, you're contradicting yourself here calling it a waste of time yet clicking on the headline and commenting... If it were a totally different topic being presented than what's stated in the headline, then you'd certainly have a point, 'cause that's totally deceptive and unavoidable if not actually interested. However here, you can totally avoid it if you're truly not interested.
    • No, it did not work. I did not read the article. I saw the title in my Feedly feed and came to continue putting pressure about such titles on a website I used to love. In fact, based on your reply, it seems you think it's fine to visit click bait title articles to find out what it's about, to waste people's time. That's up to you, mate. I remember when news websites had pride in their content and therefore didn't need to resort to cheap tactics.
    • Nothing misleading nor deceptive about it, just sensationalized and catchy to grab reader's attention, and it's clearly working...
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