Comments on PaulCornell.com: The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Three. Skyrim Follies....

That's great!

2011-12-20T08:04:51.328Z

That's great!

I will try not to give away too much of a particul...

2011-12-19T17:22:10.474Z

I will try not to give away too much of a particular story line with my story. In on of the towns is a murder investigation. Part of the way through, you think for a bit that you have solved it, having discovered some clues in the murderer's house. Or at least I thought I had solved it and then went on about my business. Later, when I was allowed to buy property in that town, I was sold the murderer's house, made a Thane of the Jarl there, and given a Housecarl who moved in to guard the premises. For an entirely unrelated reason, I picked up the thread of the mission later and interrupted the killer in the middle of another dastardly dead. He then proceeds to flee to his/my house. When I walk in, there is my Housecarl sitting at the dinner table (and he continues to do so during the subsequent events) when the serial killer comes running out of the bedroom and the two of us engage in a knife fight in the middle of the room. By far the most amusing event that has happened to me in the game to this point.

This is the sort of stuff I like to hear!

2011-12-17T09:21:51.754Z

This is the sort of stuff I like to hear!

I too have been bitten by the Skyrim bug. My Lydi...

2011-12-16T20:51:06.602Z

I too have been bitten by the Skyrim bug.

My Lydia died too... and her corpse then magically gatecrashed my wedding to Aela the Huntress.

I've travelled a similar path to you Paul, I won't steal although it's annoying when you accidentally pick something up like a book that you were just intending to read and get 5 bounty. My wife sent me on a mission to kill a beast in someone's house but they'd thoughtfully locked it despite it being broad daylight and them being outside the premises, so I had to break and enter in order to get anywhere near it. I got carted off to jail after thwacking the creature with my sword a couple of times and had to come back after filling in my paperwork.

I've abandoned a couple of Daedric quests that are truly quit nasty (and have given the flesh eating fetishists a wide berth once I sussed their game).

I generally like being a werewolf but am sad that a) I can't feast on non sentient catches like a civilised lycanthrope and b) I can't frolic through the rolling tundra with Aela in beast form at the same time. I also wish she'd send me on some more totem missions but no joy.

I'm not talking to Delphine any more she's psychotic and I prefer my scaly bro to her anyway. I thought her request was bang out of order.

Among one of my most random moments was the time I ended up fighting a dragon on a mountainside and he just decided to randomly fall halfway down it and forget he could fly. He just sort of moonwalked into the rock and buried his head like an ostrich... nice easy kill.

My most random Elder Scrolls moment ever though was in Morrowind. I had equipped myself with an item that enabled me to levitate for a ridiculous amount of time. Armed with this I headed off to the final confrontation with Dagoth Ur. I killed his first incarnation but was quite badly hurt so levitated aboth the field of battle in Ash Mountain to heal. It was at this point that my enemy decided to respawn... in mid air. Lacking the power of flight, he screamed and plummeted to the bottom of the volcano below and ended up drowning in the roiling currents of boiling magma... I never saw him again and finishing the main quest was a doddle.

I love turning pirates into bunny rabbits with Wabberjack... not so much fun when you hit a skeever with it and it becomes a Daedric Lord!

TexFox: That's certainly fine by me! I look fo...

2011-12-16T08:17:01.007Z

TexFox: That's certainly fine by me! I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Great blog post, Paul. I'm still mourning the loss of my own Lydia courtesy of a double-dragon attack; an emotional journey for which the treatment seems to consist of copious amounts of more Skyrim in her honour. I'm not sure how my university work will survive if I suffer a similar bout of "grief" with the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic...

Thanks, everyone, I knew we'd get some great s...

2011-12-16T07:33:20.146Z

Thanks, everyone, I knew we'd get some great stories in the comments too! TenFox: that's up to Joseph Crowley. I've let him know you've asked, and he should be popping in to reply to you.

Also, in reference to blurring reality and fiction...

2011-12-16T06:05:49.223Z

Also, in reference to blurring reality and fiction... I work retail as my day job. I was in the store room the other day, and the HR came back there. In plain sight, I ducked down one of the bays and stood in shadow, thinking it all a joke. She walked past by about ten steps then said aloud to herself "Where did he go? He was just here..." I SWEAR I heard the sound of my sneak skill leveling up.

Cheers Paul! You mentioned the morality and ethic...

2011-12-16T05:59:48.399Z

Cheers Paul!

You mentioned the morality and ethics of the game, and I think it's one of the most interesting aspects. I have two playthroughs going for two very different purposes - one, a Khajiit cutpurse and assassin. Her only soft spot is for women in need.

The other is a Breton hero, but when I say hero, think Namor. I pushed Faendal under a bus, then took Sven on a quest and got him killed, all so that I could claim Camilla Valerius as my own. I steal when I need money, I kill when I see fit, and I do it all in the name of the greater good. I mean, I'm the mother lovin' Dragonborn! Whatever brings me honor, glory, and mirth is a fair compromise for the well being of all Skyrim, right?

Several hours into Skyrim I came across my first d...

2011-12-16T02:29:45.912Z

Several hours into Skyrim I came across my first dragon. What the hell? I thought and proceded to fire every arrow I had into the thing. It laughed at me, I swear. Almost dead and out of arrows I quickly unequipped my bow and went running towards the dragon with (i thought) my sword in hand. Except I forgot to equip my sword so what I actually did was run up and punch it in the nose. And it died! How awesome am I that I punched my very first dragon to death?

A single dandelion repeatedly grows out of the sid...

2011-12-15T22:39:56.973Z

A single dandelion repeatedly grows out of the side of our front door step, ignoring our efforts at gardening. Every time I saw this flowerless, big leafed weed my instincts would tell me "Nirnroot".

The addition of a theme tune for it in Skyrim has not helped.

My turn, my turn! Like you, I had an incident I c...

2011-12-15T20:59:58.091Z

My turn, my turn!

Like you, I had an incident I couldn't get past, and used a scroll of firestorm. Firestorm is... big and deadly. Killed the three thugs and Lydia. I felt bad, but didn't want to fight the thugs again, and looted her and went in to sell her stuff. When I came out, a courier ran up to me and said she'd left me in her will, handed me 300 gold, and ran off.

That's when I felt guilty. Also, wondered if I could get other followers and then off them too.

Currently I'm traveling with that elf dude, and he teaches me archery, and I pay him, then go into his inventory and take the gold back. He doesn't mind that, but he gets really pissed when I set him on fire accidentally, then he runs after me with his axe- the one *I* gave him. I kill him, we laugh, I reload, and we do it again.

I wandered over here from a tweet by Chuck Wendig....

2011-12-15T19:59:11.975Z

I wandered over here from a tweet by Chuck Wendig. How awesome to stumble into people who are fellow writers AND fellow Skyrim addicts. (I laughed out loud at your remarks about harvesting plants. How many times have I accidentally said, "OMG, a nirnroot!" Out loud. In real life.

And as far as reality goes... I still get a sick, puckered feeling when I'm falling, falling, falling.

They are masters of the game, no doubt.

I really like Skyrim. At the moment I have so many...

2011-12-15T19:39:37.545Z

I really like Skyrim. At the moment I have so many quests stacked up that I'm refusing to talk to new people until I clear a few down.

I enjoy having a follower around and I generally alternate between Lydia and Aela. I do find it a little creepy everytime I come home after an adventure with Aela that Lydia is sitting on a chair looking at my empty bed. In fact once I woke up and both Lydia and Barbus were just staring at me.

I thought I had encountered a talking horse, but i...

2011-12-15T19:25:46.324Z

I thought I had encountered a talking horse, but it turned out it was a horse owned by a Noble who had been rendered as something like a mudcrab overlaid with a Noble texture. Still having nightmares.

The perk the mean you don't trigger pressure plates is no good when the Sybil of Dibella is right behind you.

Love this post! I was just wondering if it would...

2011-12-15T18:39:15.128Z

Love this post!

I was just wondering if it would be alright if we used the words from the 12 days of Skyrim to actually make a song.

You can send me an email at tenfoxproductions@gmail.com

Thanks!

lmfao throughout, causing my little one to join is...

2011-12-15T17:35:16.279Z

lmfao throughout, causing my little one to join is, questioningly :D

I haven't played Skyrim myself, but fellow gam...

2011-12-15T17:19:54.857Z

I haven't played Skyrim myself, but fellow gamers have reported the following:

"I've now been killed seven times by butterflies."
"...?"
"Six times looking up at them and walking off a cliff, and once tripping over a snow leopard."

Loved this too! I am also battling an addiction to...

2011-12-15T17:18:52.887Z

Loved this too! I am also battling an addiction to Skyrim - if my day job was still writing soul-sucking SEO press releases I would be failing at it. Luckily I'm now paid to write fiction, and so I find it easier to resist. Phew!

Your words about carrying the game experience out into the real world with you resonated with me. On several occasions I've found myself looking at a beautiful sunset or amazing sky of freakish clouds and thinking "Wow, that's really well rendered." How sad is that?

Shame your Lydia died. I'm quite fond of mine now, I lavish her with gifts of epic armor and the like, and I like talking to her as we go through the various dungeons together. e.g "Watch where you step Lydia, there's a trap there." THOCK. "You stupid woman, what's wrong with you... Awww, you okay?"

Mad I tell you....