Dawnguard is out on steam!

[beeblebub]

Been playing a couple more hours now, and it's really a lot bigger than you might think. Haters dont know what they're missing ;)

 

 

Also, full Dawnguard heavy armor combined with "Winter Is Coming"-mod is AWESOME stuff :D

 

 

http://i.minus.com/iQz0xcdv8qAGW.jpg

 

 

Woah, momma.

[Stemin]

It may be worth it from a standpoint of cost-to-benefit, but is it really worth it in terms of the time you spend dealing with Bethesda's trademark quantity over quality philosophy? There's no guarantee that we modders will fix all their bugs (I know I won't be).

 

It IS pretty buggy, but so far they've all been pretty minor ones. Characters not removing the armor from their character model after you loot the corpse, enemies spawning together that fight each other before you get there. Follower that doesn't always seem to get out of sneak mode properly. Little stuff like that.

 

Also, small tip for anyone who cares about the story and for all you immersion guys (rolling my eyes here) don't let Serana get too far behind you when you're doing the main quest because she calls out directions and comments on your locations when you're going through areas and you'll have trouble hearing it if she's lagging behind.

 

Been playing a couple more hours now, and it's really a lot bigger than you might think. Haters dont know what they're missing ;)

 

I was pretty disappointed in the story when it started out, particularly with the locations of things, but I've done nothing but play today and do laundry and house stuff, and I've got 13 hours in and I still don't have all the side quests and I don't know for sure since I didn't look it up, but I'd have to guess I'm halfway through the Dawnguard quests. There's also a new area I have yet to explore, but it showed up as a misc quest.

 

The sheer amount of content in this thing totally makes it worth it. And when I'm done I get to do it all over again and try the vampire side. I haven't even messed with the new perks even though I'm still a werewolf.

Edited August 4, 2012 by Stemin

[NomanPeopled]

Closing the rip in Magnus with an ES, seeing Jiub again and learning his fate, learning the real fate of the Snow Elves? Lore footnotes? WTF?

Keep in mind that I was, at the moment of writing the post, not yet in possession of the DLC. The major selling points in terms of pre-release promotion seemed to be hinging on vampires and ... crossbows.

What I meant (and yes, accordingly, should have written) is that vampires in the original release seem like a footnote. It just isn't the first choice of in-game content that would lend itself easily for expansion from a story-telling perspective - Skyrim is rising up against the Empire and half of itself, the Aldmeri Dominion is an ever-present threat to both, Forsworn are leading a local war against the hold with the largest reserves of silver.

You can kill the freaking emperor, for crying out loud.

Whereas the vampires just, sort of, exist.

In short, I think a mystery like the fate of the snow elves deserves a DLC centered around them and the Dwemer. And no, I still haven't played DG and may just change my tune entirely.

 

I should add that I bought the DLC largely in hopes that the only changes were not the advertised vampires and vampire killers so ... no spoilers please ;)

[Stemin]

Keep in mind that I was, at the moment of writing the post, not yet in possession of the DLC. The major selling points in terms of pre-release promotion seemed to be hinging on vampires and ... crossbows.

What I meant (and yes, accordingly, should have written) is that vampires in the original release seem like a footnote. It just isn't the first choice of in-game content that would lend itself easily for expansion from a story-telling perspective - Skyrim is rising up against the Empire and half of itself, the Aldmeri Dominion is an ever-present threat to both, Forsworn are leading a local war against the hold with the largest reserves of silver.

You can kill the freaking emperor, for crying out loud.

Whereas the vampires just, sort of, exist.

In short, I think a mystery like the fate of the snow elves deserves a DLC centered around them and the Dwemer. And no, I still haven't played DG and may just change my tune entirely.

 

I should add that I bought the DLC largely in hopes that the only changes were not the advertised vampires and vampire killers so ... no spoilers please ;)

 

So I want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding? You are saying that you didn't really think the DLC was worth the money because you didn't agree with the choice of a DLC centered around vampires? That kinda of reasoning I guess I can actually understand. One of the questions I asked and specifically started a thread about asking for a non spoiler explanation was if there was enough content for people who didn't enjoy vampire related stuff or werewolf related stuff. I was told there was.

 

Like I said in my other post... Initially I was disappointed when I first started playing... and now, like 15 hours into it I have to say I disagree... so far it's mostly vampire related stuff. BUT, there's enough stuff going on in each area that it doesn't feel like it's all about vampires and the areas are actually pretty good. The changes they made are pretty good. There are a lot more graphical changes than I expected... I lot of little details like changings they made to certain creatures that were already in Skyrim, armors they added to each faction... just little stuff.

 

 

I also remembering reading a lot of people talking before the DLC was announced that they needed a DLC based on the Vigiliants of Stendarr, and this one actually does mention them in the beginning. But it's a pretty cheap retcon where something just happens and you're told about it without even being around for it. Feels like a cheap story tie in and then you never really hear much about the Vigiliants after.

 

Edited August 5, 2012 by Stemin

[Blu02]

Vampires aside, this should also be very interesting for any necromancers. Lots of new stuff and places for those types of characters to explore. My next character for the vampire-quests will definitely start out as a necromancer :D Fits perfectly.

 

I also get a sense of that the new NPC's move around a lot more when it comes to animations, like when they're talking and being idle. Tons of new dialogue as well with new voices for everyone. So it feels like they really put some more work into the characters this time, compared to original game.

 

What I'm still missing though is melee weapons for Dawnguards. Might show up later, but so far I'm matching my heavy armor with a silver sword instead :P Not using crossbow so much yet as I'm not an archer.

 

Gah, really cant get enough of this!

[Stemin]

I also get a sense of that the new NPC's move around a lot more when it comes to animations, like when they're talking and being idle. Tons of new dialogue as well with new voices for everyone. So it feels like they really put some more work into the characters this time, compared to original game.

 

 

Serana definitely moves around while she's with you. It's pretty amusing sometimes, but she'll do all the regular NPC idle movements.. alchemy stations, sit in a chair, hands on a desk, running the smithy, etc. while you're standing around. I don't use companions often and I'm afraid that by recruiting one I might loser her as a follower, besides the fact that I'm level 81.5, I don't NEED two companions, so I'm not sure if it's something they upgraded for all followers, or if it's a Serana thing exclusively.

 

I did try to dead thrall a vale cat because they're so damn cool looking, but it didn't work, nor did I really think it would. Dead Thrall seems limited to mer or men.

 

Edited August 5, 2012 by Stemin

[Anich]

Well how cool is this, it seems that they've got their very own rates of exchange. US citizens pay 20$ whereas we in Europe pay 20€ which is around 25$, woohoo! Gently caress you Steam again, I'm not going for this anymore :dry:

[Blu02]

Woha, been playing a couple of hours more, through the "falmer"-part. This DLC is seriously huge, more like an expansion imo. Contains so much more than I thought it would.

[NomanPeopled]

So I want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding? You are saying that you didn't really think the DLC was worth the money because you didn't agree with the choice of a DLC centered around vampires? That kinda of reasoning I guess I can actually understand.

Basically. I feel like some subjects could have been handled more broadly from a story-telling perspective. I guess I wrongly expected too much of what I, personally, would have liked.

 

However, I'm currently in the process of leveling a lvl 1 char to a 100 in everything without assigning perks, solving quests, or triggering map markings in the wilderness (on Master difficulty, obviously) - so I'll reserve any further judgment until I can actually start the DLC questline.

So far, it's been pretty hard to resist (especially since those ####### death hounds killed my trusty steed and - worse - killed two random mages who were busy keeping my healing spells charged), but the challenge that's really keeping me occupied is levelling armor skills without adequate life regeneration or fortify restoration ;) I did find that you can kill some undead near the vampire bastion without officially discovering the place, though ...

Edited August 6, 2012 by NomanPeopled

[beeblebub]

check steam forums fella's, there's a 25% off voucher for skyrim via green man gaming.