Has anyone beaten the game on Master with no deaths?

[gofortheko]

If I use enchanting and smithing I usually roll without a companion, to make it tougher. I also never enchant my weapons, and have been killed in melee with deathlords and bandit chiefs, even dragons. Dragon Priests are just absurd on any level.

[zyg0tic]

I can record my next attempt at it (not dying) but even then people might not believe it because I could have just edited out the deaths :D

 

I also dont use companion (except horse maybe), and also my enchants are lesser than some of the gear I find from store bought gear.

 

I should list all the self-imposed rules I follow as they do make the game more interesting/challenging.

Edited December 3, 2011 by zyg0tic

[Levgre]

I think it would actually be pretty easy to do so if you knew what you were doing. When you create a strong enough buffer of health, resist, and armor, and have potions always available for an instant health refill, it becomes pretty darn hard to die. It would be earlier in the game where you are more likely to screw up and get a random death.

 

Some of the core rules would be...

 

Always have a companion

Always have potions

Always choose health when leveling (may be viable mage builds that don't, this is usually best however)

Do quests that give you great gear fast (like Daedra quests, being able to summon Dremora with a rechargeable staff really helps with tougher battles)

Max your gear as much as possible

NO unneeded skills, at least early on

Edited December 3, 2011 by Levgre

[zyg0tic]

I have somewhat good news... I was ALMOST able to do this in my latest attempt!

 

I only died twice! No uber enchants or game-breaking stuff either - although I did get some equipment to tip the scales in my favor, I did constantly feel challenged.

 

First death was because I was stupidly wearing cloth armor and a Thalmor warrior one-shotted me with a BS outta-nowhere unblockable instakill move when I had full HP. I declared that death to be BS (which it was) and decided to keep playing.

The second was fighting Ohdaving, which was stupid thing to do given you dont really need to fight him up close. He snapped me with his jaws while I had just under half hp and wiped me out. I wasnt expecting it at all given that dragons hadnt been much of a problem previously. Id gotten so far at that point that I decided to play on. You dont HAVE to fight Ohdaving so I figured it wasnt worthy of being counted as a death. Agree or disagree?

 

Although technically I cant say I had no deaths whatsoever, I think it was a good effort and the deaths I did have were not significant enough to warrant a restart.

 

How I managed to stay alive? A huge reason for my success was alchemy, both for trading and making useful potions. I didnt use enchanting until much later on, when I started to feel like my equipment wasnt enough to handle the challenge ahead of me. I eventually made a set of ebony weapons - paralysis sword, soul capture sword (my main weapon), absorb health sword and fire bow. I used Blades armor and only improved it so it was a little better than standard dragonbone.

 

Basic rules I followed:

No/limited fast travel - only using fast travel very rarely, like the game crashed so I reloaded and fast-travelled to the point of progress, or I forgot to do something in the place I just left, etc. It got pretty boring running/riding everywhere.

No game-breaking uber-enchanting/smithing - I did use smithing improve gear, but I bought/found it all. The only expection is that before the final mission I used a +50% improve potion and upgraded all my gear. It wasnt daedric or dragon armor tho, just ebony and Blades gear. I found the final mission still very difficult and tense, especially when I began to run out of potions.

Avoid relying on companions - I took companions when it was appropriate and story-related, but mostly travelled alone. I did most of the most challenging portions alone, such as Blackreach.

 

Any questions about tactics, strategy, skills etc are welcome. I recorded the whole thing and hope to produce a good series of videos with the boring bits chopped out.

 

I really enjoyed it for the most part. It was great seeing my character go from humble, insecure and fearful beginnings to amassing wealth and power and becoming known across Skyrim... and it all coming to a head at the final showdown with Alduin, in which I came really close to death... the triumph and sense of relief was breathtaking.

Edited December 12, 2011 by zyg0tic