This is a series of blog posts about playing Skyrim on Master, the highest difficulty setting. At this level the only thing that changes is damage: player characters deal only half of it while receiving double the usual amount.

I entered Whiterun with a sense of dread. I knew that the first dragon fight was coming and I didn’t know if I was ready for it. At least I wasn’t going to take it on alone, I thought. Irileth and her cohorts were going to be there, as well as whatever was left of the tower’s defenders. They could at least distract the dragon long enough for me to get it down to half of its life. Maybe. I didn’t really have a solid plan as to how I was going to fight it.

I reported back to Farengar, gave him the Dragonstone and let the sequence run its course. As we were heading to the broken tower I still didn’t have a plan. When the dragon arrived I made sure cover was nearby. If my previous fights were any indication I knew that none of this was going to be easy. Our group managed to get a third of its health out before it bit down on some hapless guard and tossed it aside like a rag doll.

We carried on. I shot it with arrows, Brelyn alternated with bolts of fire and lightning while Irileth yelled commands over and over. It was intense yet funny at the same time. After all, I’ve done this fight at least five times since I first started playing this game. But I have to admit that every one of those encounters paled in comparison to what I was doing right then. It was tedious, frustrating yet strangely exciting at the same time. When the dragon died I felt like I actually earned that kill. Well, we all did. It wasn’t a solo effort. Still, a thought lingered. I just hope I didn’t open a can of worms by engaging this first dragon fight. I’m not looking forward to the next one just yet.

This is a series of blog posts about playing Skyrim on Master, the highest difficulty setting. At this level the only thing that changes is damage: player characters deal only half of it while receiving double the usual amount.

Considering what I was trying to do, I thought that having a follower would help. They were never seriously part of my dungeon romps back when I was playing on Adept but I figured that I might need them this time around. I wanted a mage, a conjurer specifically, thinking that the summoned creature would be beneficial.

After going through the list of followers who were conjurers, I picked Brelyna. It looked like she was the easiest to recruit, requiring just finishing Saarthal and then allowing her to test spells on you. Now, about the dungeon itself, I found out that the toughest part about Saarthal is Jyrik Gauldurson, the draugr NPC at the end who is a part of the Forbidden Legend quest line. Fortunately, he’s easy to kite. When things got too hairy I had the option to backtrack to the gate prior to his area and close it, preventing him from getting to me. This is going to sound lame, but I also found out that with the right distance you can rest for an hour to regain your health, mana and stamina then re-engage him. His health should not regenerate.

Once I had Brelyna I headed to Bleak Falls Barrow. She proved to be more than capable of handling herself, casting fire bolts and shooting lighting from her staff. When the charges on the staff were depleted she switched to a bow. She was a glass cannon, able to dish out punishment to take foes out before I could even draw my weapon but was unable to withstand a lot of damage herself. Also, the downside of having her around was that I couldn’t sneak as much as I wanted to. I had to micromanage her a bit to get past that problem. Having her around made the dungeon uneventful. I just had to make sure we weren’t dealing with multiple opponents.

After Bleak Falls Barrow I turned in my quests, first to Riverwood to return the claw then to Whiterun to deliver the Dragonstone. I knew what was going to come next: my first fight with a dragon. Will I survive and succeed or will the fight prove to be too much for me to handle?

The Macho Dragons mod seeks to solve Skyrim’s biggest problem: the distinct lack of Randy Savage. Need I say anything else?

Macho Dragons Mod [Skyrim Nexus]

This is a series of blog posts about playing Skyrim on Master, the highest difficulty setting. The only thing that difficulty affects is damage. On Master level player characters deal only half damage while receiving double the usual amount.

After escaping Helgen my first task was to find out if what I planned to do was sustainable. I don’t have a lot of patience and, if you read my recent post on Uncharted 3, I’m not exactly fond of higher difficulties either. However Skyrim seemed like it was at least worth a try. I decided to get my answer by doing a quick run of Embershard Mine. It’s a cave populated by bandits that’s near where you exit Helgen, reachable through one of the branching paths that you take as you make your way to Riverwood.

The run turned out to be everything but quick. I took my time, sneaking my way through the cave, sniping with my bow, backtracking I was fully hidden then repeating the process. When I had no choice but to engage in melee I found my damage to be pitiful. I mean, I knew it was halved, but it was still tough to accept, especially when I found myself comparing the pain I was doing against what I was receiving.

Power attacks became the equalizer. At base (100) stamina the most I could do was two power attacks while dual-wielding iron swords. I had to make them count. Doing that along with sneaking and sniping allowed me to complete my run of the mine. I knew then that I’d end up doing the same thing over and over until I got better gear.

Do I want to do this? I found myself asking that question, already thinking of Bleak Falls Barrow, the site that I consider to be the game’s first major dungeon. It’s where you get Unrelenting Force, after all. Will this style of play be enough to conquer it?

Microsoft’s Flight Simulator is going to be re-launched this spring with Microsoft Flight.

“Microsoft’s Flight Simulator series, which was in dormant state until now, will see a re-launch this spring and that too for free. The name of this series will be simply Flight, and players will have free access to the digital sky with this simulator. In other words, it will be available as a free download; however, the user would need to buy additional content to enhance their experience. The content that can be purchased includes aircraft as well as new environments. Microsoft states that the most amazing part of this game is the user can experience some real life locations like Big Island of Hawaii along with ‘region-specific weather patterns, foliage, terrain and landmarks.’”

[Source]

I bit the bullet yesterday and bought a mechanical keyboard. I didn’t need one because the Logitech G15 I’ve been using is still working perfectly. But I’ve been curious since I first heard about mechanical keyboards so I figured that I should get one while the funds are still flexible. I also thought that getting one fits as sort of an acknowledgment for the blog for having an interesting year.

So there it is, a Razer Blackwidow, one of the cheaper models out there because I didn’t want to gamble too much. The material I found on it said it’s a solid model and so far it has yet to disappoint. Not that I’m hoping for that to happen, mind you, but like I said it’s a gamble. I like the old school feel, from the texture of the individual keys to the sound they make. Naturally, I’ve had some thoughts about using this in the office and came to the conclusion that it won’t be a good idea. First, the noise will likely drive my co-workers crazy. Second, anyone in the nearby vicinity will be able to tell if you’re typing or not, giving them a clear indication about your productivity. Or, more importantly, the lack of it.

While it’s certainly a lot of fun to type with, I’m still holding off on whether it will actually help my gaming. I don’t really think so, but we’ll see. It’s probably too early to tell, but I like it so far.

Okay, this one of those “I’m late to the party” posts but here it is anyway. Last week I managed to get my hands on Bastion, an action RPG by Supergiant Games. It turned out to be so much fun to play the said hands refused to let go until it was over.

Like most indie titles Bastion is a short game. It took me less than a day total to finish it. But don’t let the length stop you. It has so much depth that I think it deserves to be played through more than once. What I like about it is that it allows quite a bit of customization. You can choose which weapons to bring, tweak them accordingly (for example, do you want a shotgun with more range or a wider spread?) and even make the game tougher but also more rewarding.

The clip shows me playing it on New Game Plus, using the Dueling Pistols and Scrap Musket. “Who Knows Where” is the game’s equivalent of a non-randomly generated, gauntlet dungeon.