A Brief Foreword *

f you are looking for a certain quest, just use Ctrl + F and then type in the

quest. If I've covered the quest then you'll go right to it, unless I typed

it wrong, and if nothing pops up then I haven't gotten there yet :(

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* 1. A Brief Foreword *

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To put is simply, Skyrim is nearly a flawless game. It's not perfect because

of the flawed combat, long and numerous loading screens, or the endless

amount of glitches; it is perfect in that you will have at least a month of

your life taken away if you want to actually achieve what may be called

"completing Skyrim". That is to say, you finished all the quests you could,

conquered every dungeon, saw every notable location, and fulfilled as many of

the talent trees as possible. I believe they say level 81 is the level cap,

which means all the skills are at max level and you can no longer gain XP.

So just like Oblivion which claimed several months of my life, Skyrim and

the surely upcoming expansion(s) will claim almost as much. I say almost

because with my background in Oblivion and Warcraft, this game is very easy

to wrap my head around. It's in my ball park.

This game makes the short list of best games ever. Sure, Mario and Pong make

the nostalgia list, but you old school guys can have those all you want - this

game is better. This game is better than Oblivion just because the Oblivion

realms were no fun and didn't look appealing. Admit it, you only fondly

remember everything else about Oblivion too... That's what everyone did,

replayed the game and NEVER resumed the Oblivion main quest again, LOL!

TheGum

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* 2. Starter Tips ( TIPS222 ) *

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The trick to buying and selling is to buy stuff from the vendor, even if you

don't need it, just to give him more gold to work with. Plan it right and you

can walk away with all his gold, less crap in your bags, and a few extra

goodies you may want to disenchant or sell right back. Mark-up is a heck of a

thing.

The wizard at Dragonsreach in Whiterun will have a wide selection of spells,

from conjuring to healing others, you can find anything useful from any of the

schools of magic. Feel free to pick up a few when you have the coin for it.

1000 gold will get you a nice handful of new spells.

If you didn't realize it, you can retrieve some arrows that did not stick to

an enemy. However, other than the really powerful ones I would not suggest

combing floors to find each one.

If you have the patience for it, past level 20 or so you can throw an enchant

on regular jewelry and it will be worth so much more. You'll need to find the

merchants to buy them, but this is a great way to earn money with your throw-

away jewelry and gems.

Swords, maces, and axes swing for different power and speeds.

You have a shield bash; just hold up your shield and press attack.

You can dual-wield magic, 1H weapons, and mix the two. Try flames and a shield

and see if that works. You can do whatever.

There are raw minerals to harvest in the land from rock formations, but you

need a pickaxe to retrieve them. Very useful for blacksmiths.

Don't forget to use your leathers and materials to improve your armor and

weapons at grindstones and workbenches.

Save anything with an effect and disenchant it at an enchanting table.

Save often. Make a minimum of five save slots per character, and I mean

aside from the auto-saves.

Choose light armor or heavy armor and stick with it. Or switch to the other

very quickly if you don't like how the game plays in one kind.

In the early game, stuff is not worth the base value. It may say 25 gold, but

you probably only get 6 or so out of it, so don't sweat

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