The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I just saw Borderlands 3 on sale for $15. It's tempting, but I'd want that Ultimate edition and haven't looked into it.

For me, I'm not feeling the "so many games to play..." but it's now they're starting to accumulate.

Did you get both season passes with it? I usually love DLC content, but sometimes I find it completely unnecessary and not worth paying for. Conan Exiles has multiple examples of this.

Speaking of the world of Borderlands, are you aware of Tiny Tina's Wonderland? Are you going to get it? Are you aware of the Borderlands movie starting Jamie Lee Curtis that's coming out eventually? Are you going to go see it?

(I don't care if this is off topic, this is my post so I get to choose to allow off topic discussion. LOL)

Thanks for answering my questions. I played the prequel as the Jack clone and realized it was DLC. Tiny Tina's game sounds interesting. I also found out about the DLC you mentioned as well. I think Vinny has Borderlands 3.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean about "film movies." The phrase sounds like a repetition of essentially the same thing. What other kinds of movies are there? Did you mean you have low expectations for all movies or perhaps ones that adapt video games? I can understand the latter for sure.

When you said, "until I see a trailer" reminded me of how I was aware of the two pieces of video game news I most recently posted, but I didn't write anything about it until I had more details (like a release date) and hopefully a trailer. Unfortunately, I didn't find a trailer for the Skyrim Anniversary Edition, but the one I included is hilarious.

I thought so. :) I understand the pessimism.

Here's some more info regarding the Anniversary Edition. It includes Creation Club content which includes 2 new quests, fishing, survival mode, some new gear, and other stuff. The article says owners of the Special Edition can buy the upgrade to the Anniversary Edition, but says a price hasn't been announced yet. I'm pretty sure the info I read before said it would be $60, but the price of the Special Edition would be deducted from that for those of us who own it. Steam currently lists the Special Edition at $40. I wouldn't mind paying $20 for the upgrade, even though my interest in Skyrim has pretty much dwindled. Steam still doesn't have any info about it yet, which comes as a surprise seeing as how 11/11/21 is 2 weeks away. I just hope they've fixed the bugs I ran into, they were really annoying. The funny thing at the end of the article includes a quote from Todd Howard regarding Skyrim, "[i]f you want us to stop releasing it, stop buying it."

This and the GTA Trilogy: Definitive Edition both come out on the same day and while 11/11/21 is numerically interesting, I thought it sounded familiar. 11/11 is Veteran's Day, so don't forget to thank a Veteran for their service, courage, and bravery, even if you're anti-war like me (I still greatly respect them for doing what I'd be to scared to do, plus my dad was in the Army, which allowed me to see much more of the world than others, hence my "world view").

Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/skyrim-10th-anniversary-edition-detailed-with-new-info-on-fishing-additional-quests-and-more/1100-6497550/

Here's an update on Skyrim Anniversary Edition. It's $50, but you can upgrade your Special Edition for $20. I don't see the option on Steam yet, though. I think I might be interested in paying $20 to see what's new and different. I don't really know the details of the Steam version, except for new content. I don't know if it's getting graphical updates, which I believe the current gen consoles are getting. From my memory, the game looked good enough for me, I just want them to fix the nasty bugs I ran into. Check the source for more details.

What about you? Is this something you're interested in? Are you going to get it? If so, when? I might get it right away, but I wouldn't play it for a while. JWE2 arrives on 11/9 so I'm not even sure if I'll jump into the GTA trilogy when it arrives on the 11th. This version of Skyrim could be the third in this list, I'd get to it after GTA.

Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/skyrim-anniversary-edition-and-upgrade-price-revealed/1100-6497764/

Cool. I tried Youngblood, but found it too difficult, so I stopped playing it. I may have spent an hour or so into it. I'm playing Ark's seasonal event now, but plan to switch to JWE2 on the 9th. I pre-ordered the GTA trilogy, but I might not play it until I'm done w/ JWE2, though I may drop in to take a look at it when it's out. I think I could see myself playing this version of Skyrim after that. I recently started replaying GTA4, but haven't finished. I got tired of gaming and took a break.

Wow, that's impressive that you've made it so far! Are you playing alone? I think the multiplayer thing was a turn off for me. I've definitely enjoyed multiplayer games, but I very rarely play with others. Have you tried multiplayer? Do you think it'd be better or if it's fine on your own?

Thanks for the advice! I'm questioning whether or not I knew about stats and weapon upgrades. I think I remember the former, but not the latter.

I hope you do write about it. I'll look forward to reading it.

Ok, if you have SE on Steam, you can find AE under it's DLC for $20. An easy way to find it is to search for "Skyrim" in the store and you'll see AE in the search results. I didn't even have to complete typing "Skyrim" before it showed up first in the list.

I remember getting wrecked in the beginning, too, when I first played. Getting the quest to go see the Greybeards is one of the first. If you go up that hill, you'll get attacked by two or three trolls and they'll kick your ass! I remember the first time I tried and they beat the crap out of me. I read that it's good to be at least level 10 when you go. In my game now, I have just gone up there and I am level 40+ with a full set of Legendary Daedric armor and weapons. Those trolls didn't stand a chance against me.

As for crafting, I think I enjoyed it more in Skyrim than Fallout 4. It's much simpler in Skyrim. Fallout 4 gives you tons of options, which just caused me anxiety. Basically, you need to level up your Smithy skill, by making things. Then you can spend your perk points and are able to craft more, better things. You can also upgrade them. A Blacksmith Elixir will let you increase things by 50% for 30 seconds. I was able to do that for my Daedric gear and it's so sweet!

Oh and Jon, one way I leveled my Smithing skill has been to make jewelry. Whenever I find gold or silver, I grab my precious stones and make the most expensive jewelry I can and then sell it. Also, building a house w/ Hearthfire helps out a lot since you have to make nails, hinges, and locks.

As for the beginning of the game and leveling up so you won't get your ass handed to you, I'm not too sure. There are a lot of quests in the game and a good variety of ways to obtain them. This time around, I was headed to join the Imperials before going to White Run, but I ended up going to White Run anyway and have not yet joined the Imperials (or Stormcloaks for that matter). Still, I've never adjusted the difficulty in Skyrim, but I did have to lower it in Fallout 4.

While playing this game again, I've thought about writing a review on Steam. Pretty much my main thought is that it's a fantastic game, but it's not perfect. There are bugs, many of them, which is sad for a AAA game. Since I've run into a few of them that I couldn't resolve with the command console, I've decided to use another mod, the unofficial patch. Luckily, there's a version that works with SE.

The amount of bugs in this game is also having me think about a difference between AAA and Early Access games, a topic I'm thinking about creating in our forums section. Basically, I think it's assumed that AAA developers have a QA team to squash almost all of the bugs, but Early Access games have a community to help them find bugs.

Also, @Jon, I'm wondering what kind of character you played as. What race and weapon/armor specialization did you go for? I recently watched a video regarding a part of the game showing off a different decision than the one I had made at the time. The player was using a Khajiit and I thought it was interesting watching a Khajiit use Shouts.

It would be cool to see and hear a female using Shouts.

I haven't checked out any mods for any TES game. I do realize Skywind won't exactly be Morrowind or even a visually upgraded version, but I'm still hoping it gets completed and looking forward to it. The only TES games I've played are Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim and I think Morrowind is the more difficult one. I ended up buying armor at the beginning and it lasted me for quite a while. I was hoping and expecting to find something better. I can't really recall which races I've played because I've tried a few different ones at least. Some of the quests need certain skills, which I thought made it more difficult. I imagine eventually I'll try again.

I'm glad to see you and others (in other posts) rave about Morrowind and therefore have a strong like for it. Unfortunately, I don't like it as much as Oblivion and Skyrim (both of which I love absolutely). Perhaps that's because I started out on Skyrim. When I play Morrowind it's like I'm looking backwards at an older game with dated graphics. It's kind of like my Diablo experience. I started with D3:Reaper of Souls. I found the D2 Battle Chest at KMart a year or more ago for about $2. I picked it up and tried to play it, but came across that same "dated" hurdle. Of course, I don't believe every game has to have awesome graphics like Skyrim and I know those older games were/are great for the time they were released.

Ok, I'll have to check that out, hopefully I'll remember. Thank you very much for the mod suggestion. I'm running a year old Alienware PC, which I paid a lot for. So, I can play Skyrim on ultra settings.

Honestly, I can't say which I love more, Skyrim or Oblivion. Those games were love at first play for me. I can agree with you about Morrowind being a sandbox, since it has a construction set. Skyrim seems to fit that as well since you can craft houses. It seems to me that Morrowind was a bit more open-world and therefore the completion of quests seemed more open. Skyrim and Oblivion seemed to have more of a story to them and were more focused on those main quests, even though you could still run away from the main quest line and do others.

Thanks for understanding my point of view on those older games. I'm sure I probably would have appreciated them (Morrowind, Diablo 2, and others) if I had played them closer to their release dates. I'm also aware that Morrowind came out on the original XBox, which I have, so that is tempting to try. Many years ago a friend gave me set of CDs that came with something he got. Morrowind was included in that set (along with the construction set), but I didn't play it for a long time (less than 100 hours I'm sure). It was still a bit dated when I received it, I think. I did decide to get the game on Steam because I was missing the expansion packs.

Morrowind is kind of funny, in a way, because of one of the attribute that increases by jumping. So, when I play the game, I tend to jump all the time until that skill is maxed. Hahaha. I also spent a lot of time on the wiki researching how to complete many of the quests.

What is your favorite kind of character to play in Morrowind (race/class). I pretty much go with some kind of warrior type. However, it seems that this isn't a great idea in Morrowind because many of the quests seem to require magical skills. Since playing Oblivion, I've decided to play Imperial characters. Although, my first Skyrim character, on the PS3, was a Nord. My second, on the PC, was an Imperial and I therefore played the game differently than I had on the PS3 (meaning I allied with a different side).

I'm glad we're having this conversation and I hope others join in. Thanks for the comments!

I just got MSGO 3.0 installed and the game looks so much better! Thanks!

That sounds like a good idea, going with a Dark Elf. I've tried that race before in Morrowind. It seems like a good one since many of the quests in the game require magic. That was an issue I ran into a few times. Since I got the mod installed and tested, I'll jump back in and play as much of it as I can.

You do see the trend! =) I did finish Diablo 3 as a Crusader as well.

I lost my companion, Lydia. I think we were separated by my death. Luckily using Fast Travel got her teleported to me. We did stumble upon Labyrinth and were attacked by a Frost Troll. I defeated it since Lydia was fighting it. The second one near by killed me though. I just recently completed the quest to find Red Eagle's sword. Afterwards, we stumbled upon a Bandit's Den and cleared them out. Then I was killed by a dragon. I think I'm level 7, so I'm still going to do more quests to level up before fighting the Frost Troll on the mountain on the way to the Greybeards again.

This post is ugly! I think I should be more like Jon and others and include pictures in my posts. That makes posts look much better. I may see if I can edit this one to add it in.

Off-subject, Vinny might not go to his Mom's this summer. So, I'm going to make sure we have a fun summer and I'm going to order a Wii U. Why order it? Because my Gamestop does not that the bundle that comes with two games (a Mario and a Luigi game http://www.amazon.com/NINTENDO-Console-Black-Deluxe-WUPSKAFP-u/dp/B00GD62JIQ/ref=lp_3075116011_1_6?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1400627705&sr=1-6). I may also order Star Wars on Blu-Ray since he's never seen it before.

Ordered! Star Wars will actually get here before the Wii U in a couple of days. There are other Blu-Ray editions I want like The Matrix, Harry Potter, and Jurassic Park. Vinny's already familiar with Star Wars, but he's never seen any of the movies. I actually didn't see the original three until I was in high school. They are good movies (I even like Episodes I-III) and I'm sure he'll enjoy them. I was trying to clear his confusion today when he said that Anakin is Darth Vadar's son.

Back on topic, briefly....Finding the pic I added to the top of this post was easy. I'm so delighted that I actually found a Legendary Edition pic. Also, the fact that I only had to copy the URL (from Steam) and paste it in this post was very helpful, it makes adding a pic so easy. So, I am going to start following that practice, since I believe it makes posts look so much better!

=) It only took me almost half a year to realize that. Hahahaha

Thanks, Adym! I agree with you on play types, I like something similar. Usually healing is all the magic I use, with occasional others as they are useful. In Morrowind, I found it hard to stick to this type as other spells were needed, such as levitation. Still, I like doing doing as much damage as possible and I also like my defense to be high as well (hence the use of heavy armor).

That's cool that you're playing a thief-type. There are many ways to play, which is cool, but I liked what I originally went with so I decided to stick with it. What do you mean about instead of daggers your casting is silent?

I haven't found out how to use magic in the PC version of Skyrim. I'm going to see if that's a different key to press. Shouts use the Z key. It may be something I may need to use with the Favorite option. I already have my bow and my warhammer as Favorites so that I can switch between them easily. This was useful when I was in a cave and saw some lanterns hanging above some oil on the ground, which I shot down with my bow from a distance to kill the enemies that were coming at me. It was very effective. I also use the bow against dragons while they're flying, although dragons are currently killing me.

Oh, ok, that's cool, I understand now. That does sound pretty handy for a thief. How are you playing with a controller? What kind of controller? Did you find it difficult to remap the configuration to work with it?

Wow, Adam, that simple, huh?! As I mentioned, I had some difficulty getting the PS3 controller working on the old PC and I decided against using it. I had to run a program (can't recall it's name at the moment) to emulate the PS3 controller as an XBox 360 controller. Then setting up the configuration was a hassle, I guess because I'm not all that familiar with all the axis configurations.

Jon, did you have the same experience as Adym in using that controller?

I found out that P opens the Magic Menu, which doesn't make much sense because it's on the other side of the keyboard from the other keys primarily used. Like I pretty much said, using a keyboard and mouse is much more complicated than using a controller. I admire the simplicity of using a controller.

My son, Vinny, decided he wanted to play Skyrim, too, so he's playing on the PS3 as I'm playing on the PC. Luckily, I created a profile for him on the PS3, so he doesn't have mess with my saved game. As I'm looking at the TV and then my monitor and comparing the visuals of Skyrim, some how it just seems to me that the PC looks better and is much smoother.

Earlier I mentioned objects and their weird behavior, in which I thought the PC had fewer issues, but I may have been wrong. One of the last times I entered Dragonsreach, a plate went flying across the room and other objects are scattered on the floor. Maybe the characters decided to have a food fight.

I almost defeated the last dragon that attacked me.....I said, "almost." Hahahaha Well, at least Breezehome is mine, although not yet fully furnished.

Vinny's only 10, so he's lucky I'm letting him play Skyrim. I don't have a problem with it, but he's been wanting to play GTA and I won't let him. It's not really the violence that I'm shielding him away from, but the language.

Hm, well if it worked that simply for you two, maybe it would work for me, too. Maybe I should give it another try.

Yeah, that makes sense, Travis. The PS3's hardware is much older, obviously and is a bit more limited, I suppose. Thanks for the recommendation. "No remapping necessary," that's awesome!

Travis and I have mentioned how we play Skyrim and I'm curious about how the rest of you play, like what kind of character.

Jon, I saw you playing Skyrim earlier and thought maybe I inspired that game play. Hahaha. Then I saw you were playing Fez. I still want to play Starbound some more, but I tend to play one game at a time.

I'm thinking about playing Oblivion on the PC, too. I've only played it through once, last Fall. I enjoyed it, although I wished I cleared more Oblivion portals than I did. Maybe on my second play through I'll clear them all before completing their final destruction. One of my friends said he thinks Oblivion was harder than Skyrim and I agree with him. One big difference is that you have to repair your equipment in Oblivion, but not so in Skyrim. Eventually, this didn't become much of an issue. Visually, Skyrim seems to be much darker, while Oblivion is bright with vibrant colors, which I thought was beautiful. One thing I didn't like about Oblivion was that if you go towards the south, there was a very small portion of the map that you could traverse (shaped like a bottle neck). I thought that was strange. The only real issue I had in the game was with a glitch in which a character I needed to (optionally) talk to ended up some how dying while he crossed a bridge. The game would tell me his location, but I couldn't even find his body. I found out that this is a known glitch. Perhaps I'll be able to provide more details in the future when I play again.

Back to Skyrim, I tried chasing a ghost, a headless horseman, but I wasn't able to catch up to it on foot. I don't recall seeing it previously. Also, I enjoyed having a dog running around with me and my companion, Lydia, but it often got in my way, either blocking my movement or jumping in front of me as I was attacking an enemy. It died once and I reloaded from the last save so I wouldn't lose it. However, it got killed during the Honningbrew Meadery quest and I decided to let it stay dead. It was the second dog I found during this game play.

So, I'm currently working on the Thieves Guild quests. I'm really doing it because I want that Skeleton Key. When I had it on the PS3, I some how forgot that I was supposed to give it to someone to complete a quest. I finally did give it back. This time giving it back is probably one of the very last things I'll do in the game.

Oh and I'm also thinking about getting Fallout 3 and it's DLC for the PC. Unfortunately, I ran into major issues with some of the DLC on the PS3 and my hope is that the PC won't have the same issues. I remember I was unable to finish The Pitt and Broken Steel. The PS3 version seriously lagged on these and I was unable to complete them. As for Fallout: New Vegas DLC, I ran into a bit of the same issue, but it wasn't as bad and I was able to complete them.

(This post was edited to comply with the 3,000 character limitation for comments. Haha.)

That's cool, Travis. So, Katie got it to work? It certainly sounds like a simple fix. As I said, I couldn't complete some of the DLC for it, which was disappointing. I was able to finish the game, though. I think I only saw two different endings. I played it once, but saved near the end so that I could select a different end-game option.

Yeah, I found that out (about PS3 Bethesda titles) the hard way. That's awesome that she got it to work simply.

I defeated Alduin in Sovngarde at level 23. That's about half the level I was when I did it the first time on the PS3.

Actually, I think I was level 24 or 25. Being able to defeat him so easily and quickly in the game kind of defeats the necessity to level up. I still have plenty of quests to complete. I've only spent 45 hours in the game. Lydia is still my companion and I am still neither a werewolf nor a vampire (I really don't want to be either one). Leveling up is likely to get more difficult soon since I'm nearing level 100 on my Heavy Armor and Two-Handed skills. I haven't messed with any other skills. I did spent a perk or two on Smithing, but that's about it. I might have about 5 points to spend on perks and I'm waiting on my two major skills to level up.

Well, I just got the Magus Staff from Morokei. When I fought him on the PS3 it took quite a few attempts to defeat him. This time, he didn't even harm me. Maybe it's because of my level, but I'm not sure. I can't recall what level I was when I fought him on the PS3. My Heavy Armor skill level is 78 (I believe) and my Two-Handed skill is level 99. I haven't been smithing or enchanting like I did during my first play through on the PS3.

Dragonscale gear was cool, but Daedra is better. Hahaha. I'm wearing a mix of Blades and Steel gear at the moment.

Wow that's a high level! The highest leveled character I've had was 40 something, that was my first character. I didn't play very long on the second one. The one on the PC is technically my third.

I've only found a few instances where I thought the game was hard. What kind of character do you play? I haven't spent much time smithing on this PC character of mine, but I did a lot of it on the PS3 character I had (the first one). I just now made some jewelry and increased my smithing skill, but I need to do more because I want the Daedra gear. Jon, have you played Oblivion? I think that game is harder than Skyrim.

I'm not sure that's happened to me, I think I made it to a shrine quick enough to remove the disease. I just started my Dawngaurd missions, so here's to hoping I'm not turned into a vampire.

Luckily I'm carrying some Cure Disease potions. I've already used one. I also refused to become a vampire when given a choice. Honestly, I don't want to be a vampire or a werewolf. It'd be cool if I could turn into a dragon though. LOL

LOL Yeah. I've been asked by a few random people if I'm sick. Sure enough, I had a disease I didn't know about, so I visited the local shrine. This has happened to me at least twice.

So, you didn't answer my question... what kind of character do you play in Skyrim?

One-handed swords? Where was that wall of difficulty you hit? The first one I faced was the Frost Troll on the way to High Hrothgar, but I leveled up a little bit and was able to defeat it. That sucks that it didn't peak your interest, it is an awesome game. As I've mentioned above (when talking to Travis), I'm planning on getting Fallout 3 for the PC when I'm done with Skyrim. I had issues with the DLC on the PS3 and I'm sure that I either won't have the same issues or I'll be able to fix them. I'm also wanting to play Oblivion again, but on the PC this time. I'm really enjoying this new PC! =)

Yeah, that Frost Troll is a pain, but be glad it's not a Frost Giant, those things are much tougher! I read online that the Frost Troll doesn't reflect your level like dragons do, so it's a bit easier at level 10 or so. It's also weak against fire.

Travis, here's what I just read on the page about Dragon Armor:
"Daedric armor has a higher armor rating than Dragonplate Armor at its base value and retains its higher rating even when both armors have been upgraded to Legendary status (but just by a small margin). However, with its lower weight, Dragon Armor is the more suitable choice when lacking proper heavy armor perks." http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Armor

Here's what the Daedric Armor page says at the bottom: "Daedric Armor has the highest heavy armor rating in the game. This makes the Dragon Armor perk somewhat inferior in terms of protection." http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Daedric_Armor_(Skyrim)

As for the Warhammers, the Dragonbone Warhammer appears to be only slightly better than the Daedric Warhammer.
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Weapons_(Skyrim)

I'm definitely playing the game a bit differently this time. The first time, on the PS3, I pretty much went through most of the gear sets. This time, I have a mix of things and I didn't really mess with smithing until a bit recently. I now have Exquisite gear. I've started trying to smith some things to get that skill up. I also started to pay for smithing training. Right now that skill is at or about level 50. With that first character I had I had plenty of stuff, so I made gear for me and my companion. I haven't really worried with my companion's gear this time.

Ok, I just found out about Legendary skills. Once you get a skill to level 100, you're given an option to turn it into a Legendary skill. That means that the skill reverts back to level 15 and you get your perks back that you spent. This is helpful for leveling up your character, since leveling up skills is how to level up your character. I did this to my Two-Handed skill, which I find to be very useful since I only use two-handed weapons. This will help me level up my smithing skill since you can only get 5 skills levels per character level when paying for skill training from a NPC.

I'm now living with poverty in Skyrim. I remember the first time I played the game and wanted to purchase some property and couldn't afford it. Eventually, I had so much gold that I was able to buy every property. However, since I've been paying for Smithing training, I'm poor again. My Smithing skill is level about 86. I'm waiting for it to hit level 90 so I can start making my Daedric heavy armor set.

I feel about mostly finished with the game. I've already defeated Alduin and I joined the Imperial and defeated the Stormcloaks. I've only just begun my Dark Brotherhood missions. I still haven't visited Solstheim, so I have those missions to do as well. The only properties I own are Breezehome (in Whiterun) and Lakeview Manor (near Falkreath). Lakeview Manor is the one you have to buy land for and build. Right now, that house is very basic and hardly has a thing in it other than a work bench and a chest.

Oh and I married Lydia, my first companion. I did this only so that I can earn more gold. I've also been trying to sell stuff like a bunch of jewelry that I've made or collected. Right now, it costs a little over 4,000 gold to train my Smithing skill. I'm inching my way to getting that skill up to level 90. I don't intend to stop there as I want to be able to make a dragon warhammer.

I've also collected all of the Stones of Barenziah except for the one located in Proudspire Manor (in Solitude). I can't afford the 25,000 gold that it costs to purchase that property. Right now leveling up my Smithing skill is more important.

Yes, Jon, I got the Legendary Edition from Steam that includes all the DLC for only $40. I correctly assumed that Lakeview Manor is part of the Hearthfire DLC, which is the only DLC I did not get for the PS3. I didn't really see much value in it since I already owned every house in the game and didn't need another. This time around, I kind of stumbled upon it as I was completing some quests in Falkreath, which is where I was able to buy the land for Lakeview Manor. After purchasing the land, I went to the location (as it appears as a quest) and found a work bench and a chest with some building materials. After putting up some walls, I had to go get some wood, which I was able to purchase from a local saw mill. I ran out of iron ingots (which is used for nails), so I haven't been able to fully build and furnish Lakeview Manor.

Adopting children seems to become available after you kill the lady at the orphanage in Riften. Doing so also seems to be how you get started with the Dark Brotherhood. Well, after you kill her and then go to sleep, you wake up in an old shack with Astrid telling you that you pretty much stole their contract for that kill. As you speak to a Jarl's Steward about purchasing rooms for your house, one of the options is a children's room. However, since I don't plan to adopt any children, I have not purchased a room for them.

I'm not sure why or how, but I got the possibly incorrect impression that you would have to defend your home from giants, which is something I didn't want to have to deal with, so that's another reason I did not get the Hearthfire DLC on the PS3. Building a house isn't hard at all. At a work bench, you see pieces of the house that you can craft and the materials for each piece. Once you craft a piece the game places it for you. So really, by building a house, you're just crafting the pieces such as walls, doors, etc.

Looking online (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Hearthfire) at the details of the DLC, there is more to it than just simply being able to purchase land, build a house, and adopt children. Perhaps some time I may spend more time building my home at Lakeview Manor.

Thanks for reading and joining in on this discussion. I thought about creating a new post, but then decided to just continue the discussion here. That's something I enjoy about Cheerful Ghost, being able to write about what I've been doing in the game, not just simply writing a review.

Success! My Smithing skill finally reached 90 and I was able to make my Daedric armor and warhammer. I had to do some mining for ebony, but that was easy enough. Now my Smithing skill is level 94. It seems I can't purchase training for it any more. I believe the NPC I was using to do so can only train me to a certain point. So, I'm going to have to continue to make some things to increase that level so I can make my Dragon warhammer. I have plenty of Dragon bones and scales.

I also finished a major Dark Brotherhood contract and received 20,000 gold. I was finally able to purchase Proudspire Manor in Solitude and obtain the final Stone of Barenziah. Now I'm going to go complete that quest.

There is still plenty for me to do in the game, although I probably won't bother with radiant quests (quests that are randomized and constantly repeat).

One more thing, something I really enjoy about Steam is that I can use a web browser while in-game. This has been very helpful for me in finding things or information.

Before I went to Solstheim, I decided to speak to Arngeir in High Hrothgar and find words for Dragon Shouts that I was missing. Oddly, I got the last one he told me about, but the quest is still in my Journal and the pointer still points to the wall where I found it. Skyrim has quite a few of these little nuances.

After doing some missions in Solstheim, I had plenty of gold. I decided to get the new Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary fully furnished. I also decided to fully furnish Poudspire Manor. In doing so, a Children's Bedroom was available for me to purchase along with all other rooms. I decided to get it and since I did, I decided to adopt a child. There are apparently plenty of things you can do with your child like playing games and giving them an allowance. This will give you some "blessings." I haven't done any of that though, nor do I plan to. Although, I didn't plan to adopt any children and I did it anyway. Haha. When you tell the person in charge of the orphanage that you want to adopt, you get to talk to the available children and choose which one to adopt. I chose the only girl there because she was the only girl. She tells you that the boys pick on her all the time. So, I adopted her, but I have not yet visited her in our new home. I should mention that adoption does not seem to cost anything other than the purchase of a Children's Bedroom. I believe you can only adopt a maximum of two children. I also believe that you can only put one child in a bedroom. I don't know if I'll adopt another child.

I've completed some side quests in Solstheim. I now have my own property, which was given to me after I killed the criminal inhabitants. Unfortunately, the dead bodies are still there. I guess it doesn't really matter because I pretty much just use my properties to store all the stuff I find.

When I'm done with Solstheim, I'm planning to go to all of the places that I have not yet visited. I know there is an achievement for visiting so many places, which I've already achieved. I guess I just want to fully explore the world within the game. I believe I did this when I played the game on the PS3.

Oh! Remember when I said I didn't want to become a vampire or a werewolf and I thought it'd be cooler to be a dragon? Well, there's a Shout that allows you to do just that. I haven't tried it out yet, though. The Dragonborn DLC also allows you to train a dragon after obtaining the proper Shout. I haven't done this on the PC yet and I can't recall if I tried it out on the PS3.

I finally reached Smithing level 100! I then created a Dragonbone Warhammer and upgrade it to Legendary (my Daedric Armor is also Legendary). This warhammer is definitely better than the Daedric one, but it's a bit uglier. One thing that I found very helpful in getting my Smithing skill leveled up was to create jewlery and Stalhrim gear. Crafting more expensive items seems to help level up Smithing more than other items.

I have also just finished the main quest in the Dragonborn DLC. I still have a quest I'm working on. I don't believe I will gather all of the East Empire Company Pendants. I think when I'm done with the quest that I'm working on, I'm going to go explore more of Skyrim and visit those areas that I have not yet visited. I have already gotten achievements for exploring areas in Skyrim and Solstheim.

Also, during the final Dragonborn quest, you have to tame and ride a dragon. It's not very difficult to do so, though.

Oh! I last mentioned the property I received in Solstheim after completing the quest in which I killed the inhabitants. I mentioned that the bodies weren't removed. I ended up storing some items in them that I wanted to sell. After completing a quest, I came back to my house to find the bodies were removed, which means I lost all those items I had stored in them to be sold. So, I reverted to an earlier save and chose a different place to store items I wanted to sell.