Avoiding Impossible Quests/Opponents

[HappyFaceClown]

For starters, whenever your given a "letter from a friend" by a courior avoid those quests at all costs untill your at least in the 20 level range, those quests are totally random for various shouts and pay no attention to your current level so its very easy to walk into a death trap with those. Also i would avoid any and every foresworn stronghold untill your level 20 to 30.

 

[Nighthiker77]

I would agree with avoiding Hagravens, Forsworn, dragon priests, and word walls until 20 or so, but i always try to find an isolated or outlying forsworn archer or 2 for their bows around level 10. It is a huge step up from a hunting or ancient nord bow.

 

[cantgobacknow]

The game seems to scale pretty good for me until late game when things get a little weird and it becomes harder to maintain a balance.

I find most things are reasonable, but some things impossible. The quest I cited for example, the boss is hitting me for nearly 85% of my health PER hit (not an exaggeration). That's just not reasonable.

 

[cantgobacknow]

activate god mode, problem solved

No challenge for me would be a very boring game.

 

[cantgobacknow]

So, is the game designed that you WILL die unless you already have pre-knowledge about what quests to avoid and what not to fight?

I mean intelligence and craftiness doesn't even factor in. Either you have past knowledge about what to avoid until a given level, or you will run into something that will clobber you no matter how cleverly you play.

 

[cantgobacknow]

Not speaking for him but I agree that mods really aren't for me either despite the obvious enhancements they provide and some of the annoyances I'd like to fix. For me, they are just another level of work that I'm not interested in. Skyrim with all the DLC's just doesn't leave me wanting to spend any time 'fixing' it. It's easier to just ignore or avoid my pet peeves. I'd rather just play it as is and do other stuff with my free time other than shop for mods, troubleshoot the issues the mods could create, whatever upkeep is necessary, etc. I think it's totally cool that Bethesda has created a game that can be so modified for people that are so inclined, and I enjoy looking at the screenshots, but you guys can have it.

I install mods to fix bugs, greatly enhance the graphic quality of the game, and to fix a broken User Interface (skyui is SO much better than the default UI).

I'd not using any mod to add items or anything though.

With Steam and Nexus Mod Manager and Steam installing and keep mods up to date is very easy. With the exception of finding the ones you want to use, the rest is all automated.

On Skyui, it allows you to sort items in chests, allows you to setup keys to equip sets of items (and you can choose whether the same key will unequip if hit twice), filtering of inventory, sorting of inventory display by weight, name, cost, etc. I really love it.

 

[Dagmar]

I find most things are reasonable, but some things impossible. The quest I cited for example, the boss is hitting me for nearly 85% of my health PER hit (not an exaggeration). That's just not reasonable.

Dragon Priests are level 50 regardless of your level. It also sounds like you have no resist magic or resist elemental damage effects running which is a gaping hole in your defense. I always recommend getting the Agent of Mara power as early as possible by completing the quest The Book of Love for Dinya Balu at the Temple of Mara in Riften. It's a very easy non-combat oriented quest that simply requires a lot of traveling and the power gives you magic resistance of 15%. I also recommend activating the Lord Stone for another 25% magic resistance (you'll also get 50 armor rating points).

You can identify the level of hostile NPC's by their title.

Bandits - Outlaw (5), Thug (9), Highwayman (14), Plunderer (19), Marauder (25)
Draugr - Restless (6), Overlord (7), Wight (13), Wight Lord (15), Scourge (21), Scourge Lord (24), Deathlord (30 and 40), Death Overlord (34 and 45)
Falmer - Skulker (15), Gloomlurker (22), Nightprowler (30), Shadowmaster (38)
Forsworn - Forager (6), Looter (14), Pillageer (24), Ravager (34)
Pyromancer/Cryomancer/Electromancer (46)
Vampire - Blooded (12), Mistwalker (20), Nightstalker (28), Ancient (38), Volkihar (48)
Warlocks - Mage Apprentice (6), Mage Adept (12), Mage (19), Wizard (27), Pyromancer/Cryomancer/Electromancer (36), Arch Pyromancer/Cryomancer/Electromancer (46)
Vampire - Blooded (12), Mistwalker (20), Nightstalker (28), Ancient (38), Volkihar (48)

 

[cantgobacknow]

You can identify the level of hostile NPC's by their title.

Bandits - Outlaw (5), Thug (9), Highwayman (14), Plunderer (19), Marauder (25)
Draugr - Restless (6), Overlord (7), Wight (13), Wight Lord (15), Scourge (21), Scourge Lord (24), Deathlord (30 and 40), Death Overlord (34 and 45)
Falmer - Skulker (15), Gloomlurker (22), Nightprowler (30), Shadowmaster (38)
Forsworn - Forager (6), Looter (14), Pillageer (24), Ravager (34)
Pyromancer/Cryomancer/Electromancer (46)
Vampire - Blooded (12), Mistwalker (20), Nightstalker (28), Ancient (38), Volkihar (48)
Warlocks - Mage Apprentice (6), Mage Adept (12), Mage (19), Wizard (27), Pyromancer/Cryomancer/Electromancer (36), Arch Pyromancer/Cryomancer/Electromancer (46)
Vampire - Blooded (12), Mistwalker (20), Nightstalker (28), Ancient (38), Volkihar (48)

Right, but you giving me this information is meta knowledge right.

If I didn't already know what to avoid, is there any way to acquire that knowledge, in-game only, without dying to find out?

 

[Dagmar]

You can let them hit you and say "pl*** that really f***fing hurt" as you run away.

Seriously though there's a shout you can get early in the game to bail after confronting an enemy that's too high level for you. Ironbound Barrow is a small Nordic Ruin and you get two additional NPC's on top of your follower to help you clear it out and get the Become Ethereal shout and a very useful enchanted weapon. The shout will buy you time to run away without getting hurt more.

In general the further you travel out from Whiterun the more likely it is that you'll find an encounter area where the minimum level of the things inside is defaulted to a higher level and the outdoor world encounters will spawn tougher encounters (Valthume is pretty far from Whiterun). That's why there are only Wolves around the immediate areas of Whiterun, and then Sabre Cats, and then Bears, and then Trolls (Giants and Mammoths don't count since they aren't hostile on sight).

 

[Nighthiker77]

I cant remember if a guard told me or I read it in game in a book, but it said that the higher up you go in the mountains, the more dangerous it is, and to stick to the lowlands until I was stronger.

It seems like it could have been the guard in Whiterun that tells you to avoid brittleshin pass.

 

[Dawn]

So, is the game designed that you WILL die unless you already have pre-knowledge about what quests to avoid and what not to fight?

I mean intelligence and craftiness doesn't even factor in. Either you have past knowledge about what to avoid until a given level, or you will run into something that will clobber you no matter how cleverly you play.

To me, Skyrim is all about the journey and growth of a character, which in turn is gained by venturing out into the unknown, overcoming various challenges and obstacles, and gaining experience along the way.

Just like in real life, intelligence and craftiness can carry one far, but will not replace real experience.

So to answer your question, without meta knowledge, a fresh character will most likely run across enemies they cannot overcome until they gain more experience.

Which is what I would expect.

An experienced character who has spent months overcoming challenges throughout Skyrim should be able to handle enemies that a fresh off the turnip truck character could not.

I do like the way you are trying to play by not using meta knowledge and just using in-game information with a first character.

Just take any deaths as a lesson learned and know that as your character continues their journey, they will gain experience which will allow them to overcome the more difficult challenges that lie ahead.

 

[khazan99]

Right, but you giving me this information is meta knowledge right.

If I didn't already know what to avoid, is there any way to acquire that knowledge, in-game only, without dying to find out?

I totally understand this situation, and here's what I tried to do with my character in terms of 'realistically' thinking about this sort of thing (grab a cup of tea, I'm gonna ramble on here):

Your character is an above-ground dwelling, living creature probably from a town/city/settlement, right? So anytime he/she wanders through the Vast Wilderness beyond his/her comfort zone (towns/settlements), then there are bound to be risks. That's certainly well understood by your character - bandits ravage the Wild beyond the walls of towns and fences of pleasant settlements. Animals have big claws and teeth and your character is quite tasty to them. And now, there are Dragons! Maybe he/she has lost friends to things in the Wild, maybe heard lots of rumors and stories of this Wild place. Your character can assume that because these people or creatures dwell and roam through the Wild, they will probably have a fairly high Degree of Danger (TM).

Now let's suppose that your character follows a mysterious letter or treasure map or someone's verbal directions to a location rumored to contain the Loot of Much Awesomeness; your character should assume even MORE risk, right? Places named Ice Fang Burrow won't have balloons and puppies, after all. Places that have to be searched for have probably been long-forgotten or even deliberately hidden, which implies Something Bad.

And when your character arrives at said location of Deep Undying Malice, and it's a crumbling, ancient, shadowy ruin or cave entrance, where whispered sounds rise from ominous and dark twisting underground passages, then he/she can assume that there's probably going to be creepy, non-living, underground dwelling THINGS that want to devour him or her, both body AND soul. The stuff of nightmares, the stuff that sucks marrow from bones and all that sort of thing. A far cry from Uncle Orri's turnip farm and the comfort of the Bannered Mare.


All of this of course is pretty obvious, but the point is that your question is asking about meta-knowledge versus your character's in-game (life) knowledge. I'm not sure if the 2 coincide because in a way, you choose between how you want to play the game - either you learn all about the mechanics of the game's NPCs/mobs and base your gameplay off of this info, or, if you don't want to 'meta-game', then you learn as little as possible about the nuts and bolts of these enemies and let your character organically learn about the dangers of the Wild and the Caves of Ancient Tentacled Undead or whatever.

This second option will result in lots of panicked running away and dying. Lots and lots. It can either be aggravating or hilariously pathetic to watch your character get chewed up by a Sabrecat or rag-dolled by Draugr Overlords (I tend to choose the latter), but I think ultimately it's dependent on how you base your gameplay in regards to this meta-knowledge versus character RP progression.

Thanks for indulging my rambling thoughts on this matter - I hope it helps a little bit