Schattenu

Pretty sure. Only things that lock you off that I know of are if you join the Empire you can't join the Stormcloaks, and vice versa.

I'm pretty divided on it. I've played 50+ hours of the game so far, weighing both sides. Initially I would have said Stormcloaks without hesitation, because I was annoyed at that one Imperial that had me sent to the chopping block despite my name not being on the execution list. But as things went on, things changed. Particularly that point in the main quest where you have Ulfric and Tullius meet. At that point Ulfric just seemed to be an a**hole. I had to give Tullius some respect for acknowledging that if Alduin and the dragons won, the war would have meant about as much as a wet fart. But even after he and Esbern both brought that up, Ulfric just bitched about wanted Solitude. Still, the Empire is supporting the Thalmor on some level, and they're about the biggest assholes in the game so far. That makes me iffy. Probably end up with the Empire, though, as I've been on solid terms with them in Morrowind and Oblivion, and because despite all his speeches about freedom and Nordic honor, all I hear from Ulfric's mouth is a random bid for personal power. And I'm not a fan of his use of the Thu'um.

My only problem with Flame Atronachs is that I keep forgetting that they explode on death, and it keeps freaking me out lol. Otherwise yeah, flame ones if only because I think their movement animations are cool.

Now that's a cool idea, I'll gladly do it!

Guys, this only took me like five minutes to read, if that, it's not like War and Peace. No need to be put off by it. Anyway, I think this is reading a little too far into things. Yeah, Bethesda might be appealing to a wider audience, because nobody wants their company to lose money and potentially go out of business. It's kind of a necessary evil due to the economy issues nowadays. Still, I've retained a lot of respect for Bethesda, because while they are branching out to a wider audience, they are by no means "selling out." I've noticed over the past couple months that they seem to be still listening very closely to its fans. I'm of the pre-Oblivion group. I spent a ridiculous amount of time in Morrowind back in the day, and I spent just as much if not more time in Oblivion. I still missed a lot of Morrowind's general feel, but Oblivion kept me going because I hated Morrowind's combat (just not a fan of the dice-rolling type of stuff, that's why I can't play things like Final Fantasy). Oblivion's wasn't great, but I still found it better than Morrowind's, and considering how much other stuff was packed into the game, I could let it slide. Regardless, I don't think the gap between Oblivion and Morrowind players is quite as big as your article suggests, and Skyrim does seem to be promising a lot for both sides. I have a lot of faith in Bethesda, because like I said, while they are looking for money (it's a business, can't blame them), they're not ignoring its fans to make another Call of Duty-esque brainless game. They wouldn't have kept the Dark Brotherhood's return and reveal such a big secret if they didn't know that it had one of the most popular questlines in Oblivion, for example. And they've openly stated how much they learned from Shivering Isles and how much people liked it. I don't think we have all that much to worry about with Skyrim, I remain optimistic that it'll be awesome.

It's so biased it had to have been posted just to start debates. The guy sounds like he's just mad because Skyrim's getting more hype than his precious Dark Souls. Not to say Dark Souls is bad, but a lot of the "facts" he claims about Skyrim sounds like he pulled them out of his ass.

I'm going to have to disagree, I've been to several other websites not related to TES or Bethesda, and if Skyrim gets mentioned most people, while not really nerding out like we are, seem to be looking forward to it. I see comments like, "Man, that game looks pretty kickass" and "Can't wait for Skyrim, looks better than Oblivion."

So is the guys problem that he pays the same amount of money for a long game opposed to a short game? Does he realise he wrote a whole article in the same time it takes to complete some of these 'afternoon' games? No s*** hu? .. He seems to hate wasting his precious time and yet feels the need to write out huge posts online to people he doesn't know so they can all hear his opinion on the matter .. I mean .. I do the same thing all the time but I'm not whining about long videogames xD It's because Cracked pays him to do so, all of the columnists there are paid to write these things. Also, I think you guys need to remember that, while the majority of the articles on there have a mix of opinion and fact, Cracked is first and foremost a comedy site. And as a comedy site, you really shouldn't be taking this stuff all that seriously.

Now THAT I'm going to have to call out as BS. I don't know a single person under the age of 20 on Cracked. I actually think it's funny, reading this thread, that you guys are being extremely judgmental about how judgmental he is based on one small part of one article he wrote. Just because this doesn't apply to you personally doesn't mean he's full of it; he actually outright says in the majority of his articles that his stuff doesn't apply to everyone. But he is right -- I'm 21, single, no kids, no full-time job yet, but I still have a lot going on between college and several family issues, and while I do love longer games, I find that shorter ones fit better because I won't have as much to keep track of and muddle things up. The Elder Scrolls is pretty much the exception for me. Read his other stuff, he has several articles that involve the transition to adulthood and such, and most of the time he's right. There's a reason he's rapidly becoming a favorite columnist on there.

For generally being scary: In battle:

I think tattoos can look good if done right, and the Akatosh symbol is small yet pretty enough that it'll look good in a multitude of places. I just have to advise you to be 100% sure it's what you want, because tattoos are very permanent. I mean, they have ways of removing tattoos nowadays, but it's expensive and not very pleasant.

Hard to say what gameplay/world-altering mods I want yet, since I haven't played the game. Mostly looking forward to what kind of new quests and stuff people will come up with, Heart of the Dead and The Lost Spires were better than Oblivion's main quest.

If we can't block, can we at least parry? Like swing one of your weapons in time to counter your enemy's?

Seems to me you're bashing anyone pointing out negative things about Skyrim. And how are you 'sorry' I'd rather have everything in your face than using imagination? Then you talk about character background story which is not what I meant by in your face. I mean an engaging storyline where your character can emotional link into, a world you immerse yourself in, nothing to do with background story for the character. You seem to be relying on mods. A game shouldn't be lacking of immersion requiring mods to patch it up. If you want to use your imagination go to bed and go dream. When you play an rpg you're suppose to have an engaging storyline you can immerse yourself in, not go imagining things. I mean seriously, what's the point in having a main quest or faction quests when you can simply wander round the game imagining everything? That sums up how you're viewing the game. No need for the tone, I wasn't bashing anyone. I'm not under the delusion that Skyrim will be pure perfection, there's plenty that I remain skeptical of. And believe me, I love me a good, engaging plot that draws me in and gives me some kind of emotional link, but what I love even more are ones that work the audience's imagination into it. So far, thanks to the incredible world Bethesda has created, Elder Scrolls games have always delivered on that (well, somewhat, Oblivion's main plot was kinda weak, I didn't feel that much of a connection when Martin died). Point is, the best storylines are the ones that are both engaging AND utilizes imagination. The Dark Brotherhood questline in Oblivion was plenty engaging, and allowed me to use my mind to think up all kinds of stuff. The mission where you murder the pirate captain? One of the ways to do it is to hide in a crate, but I chose to creep in from the cabin window, and allowed the two crew members to catch a quick glimpse of me, which made it even more fun. And that was the beauty of it, it was engaging, but was broad and unspecific enough for me to do things how I like. Also, not sure where you're getting the idea that I rely entirely on mods, I played Morrowind on and off for a few years before I even discovered mods, and even then I really didn't download many till Oblivion. And I have to say, since I think Heart of the Dead and The Lost Spires are vastly more entertaining than Oblivion's main quest, the mods are worth it. Besides, if Bethesda didn't worry about imagination, they wouldn't keep making the Construction Sets available.

Seems to me that you're pretty much looking for things just to bash about in the trailer. That being said, having watched the Witcher trailer you posted, I'm not impressed. The trailer itself was too sporadic. Extremely abrupt start, then calm talking, then slightly less calm talking, then BAM ACTION EXPLOSIONS and mild sex scene. Also, overuse of slow-mo Matrix stuff, those things should only really be used sparingly. You also have to realize that the Skyrim trailer came out several months ago, and Bethesda wasn't secret about the fact that they were still working on quite a bit of it. It's dangerous to show stuff in ads that you're not sure will make it into the final game. Also, I'm very sorry to hear that you'd rather have everything in your face and up front rather than using a tiny bit of imagination. But The Elder Scrolls have NEVER given your character any background story for why they're imprisoned at the start, so I'm not sure why you're acting like this is a new thing for Skyrim. I can tell you that from what I've seen here at least, people love using their own imagination to decide what kind of character they're playing, and since there's no picking from a list of birthsigns classes, etc., a lot of people are even more excited for this. But think of it this way: If nobody wanted to use their imagination and only wanted in-your-face things for the sake of immersion (which is funny, because that type of stuff hurts immersion for me, rather than helps it), we wouldn't have all the wonderful mods out there for Morrowind and Oblivion.

Isn't this a breton? http://images.uesp.net/5/5b/SR-WomanHall_wLegal.jpg

I was under the impression that this was a Breton.

I tend to like fairly simple but exotic names. I can guarantee my first and main character will be a Dark Elf named Scath. He'll be fairly well-rounded, but with an evil edge, battlemage with slightly more experience in sword combat than magic. My secondary character would probably be a female Breton, definitely evil and stealthy, relies heavily on the shadows, named Kira or Kirra.

I have to say, I love the design of that axe he uses toward the end.

*Fighting a giant* "Okay, just avoid the hammer, side-step, ready and spell, and -- JESUS CHRIST WTF WAS THAT!!!!!" Had I not watched that, this would have more than likely been my reaction to the stealth dragon that just hawk'd that giant.

I wonder what that is carved on their tusks. And more importantly, I wonder if I can ride one.

Yeah, as much as I love beer (Guinness <3), mead seems more appropriate for the Nordic setting and culture of Skyrim.

I actually just got done playing that quest a couple hours ago with my new evil character. It's been a long time since I played through the Dark Brotherhood, and I had forgotten how ridiculously fun it was. An earlier quest that involved sneaking through the Imperial sewers and prison was pretty fun, too. But manipulating those poor suckers in Summitmist Manor was thoroughly enjoyable, I whole-heartedly agree they should do something at least somewhat similar in Skyrim.

Well, I guess part of it depends on the definition of "ageless" in this context. Does that actually mean immortal, or just that his/her body doesn't show signs of age? You can simply not show the signs of age and still die when you get old. Otherwise, about the Dragon-born part, I suppose he/she could have been of the bloodline, but not necessarily the one you play in Skyrim.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Takatu/Weird/tumblrleq8j7yljy1qdd75u.jpg