Skyrim
Main parent category for all posts about playing Skyrim
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In Which Finds-The-Way Slays a Thalmor Assassin and a Cruel Headmistress
Double session post for Finds-The-Way! Main action here: meeting Paarthurnax; running Volunruud; committing some light thievery in both Whiterun and Solitude; taking out J’datharr the Thalmor assassin; taking out Evethra the mad mage; acquiring the greatsword Shadowrend; showing up for a fishing contest and taking out the bandits who tried to ambush her; acquiring the hammer Nerveshatter; slaying Grelod the Kind at the Riften orphanage; and slaying Crowstooth and Alvasorr the Rat at Arcwind Point.
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Surprise, there’s a new Skyrim update!
Got up this morning to the news that Bethesda has dropped a new significant update to Skyrim. The main point of this appears to be an enhancement to the Creation Club functionality, which they’re merging with the game’s previous in-game “Mods” menu. The idea here appears to be to enhance the ability of mod/creation authors to get their work out into the hands of other players.
However, there are also substantial bug fixes, mostly for PC players, but with a small number of fixes on consoles as well. I found a full list of patch notes on Bethesda’s Help site.
I see a bunch of fixes in there I’ve personally observed in my playthroughs, notably:
- Not being able to summon Arvak in the Forgotten Vale
- The extra Emerald Paragon holder in Bloodchill Manor
- The creation of Trueflame being broken on the Switch
- Not being able to sell Dwarven Scrap Metal
Of the fixes, I think the one I’m actually most happy about is the ability to summon Arvak in the Forgotten Vale and the Deadlands! This will certainly help me out when running the Vale in particular, since I do tend to get super overloaded running that part of the Dawnguard quest line.
What I do not see in this announcement, though, is any sign of when this patch will show up on the Switch. Fixing the creation of Trueflame is really nice, but there are also other significant bugs in Solstheim on the Switch in particular. I did check my Switch this morning and can confirm that there’s no sign of any update to Skyrim on that device. So for now, my recommendation for Switch owners still stands: do not run the full Anniversary Edition on that device if you can avoid it. Run the base Special Edition instead. You should still have access to Survival Mode, Fishing, Rare Curios, and Saints and Seducers if you do that.
I have also now done a sweep through my various load orders to check the status of my mods. The Skyrim Script Extender has dropped an update. So you should be able to pull that down from skse.silverlock.org or directly off of Nexus.
Likewise, the Address Library for SKSE Plugins has also updated. It is now on version 9.
However, both of my major modded playthroughs, Elessir and Kendeshel, are currently not loadable. A bunch of mods on their lists are now bitching at me about version mismatches with the SKSE. Notably, RaceMenu and moreHUD are unhappy. So a bunch more updates to mods need to come in before I can resume playing those characters.
I can however load my last Skyrim Together Reborn save. So the slow playthrough I’m doing with Dara and Mel on that should be able to proceed, we were hoping to play this weekend, more to come on whether that is successful!
And until more of my current load orders update, I’m going to focus probably for the rest of this week on playing Finds-The-Way. With possible diversions to Morrowind or Oblivion, and also additional ESO activity as well. I have plenty of things to play while I wait for the mods to all get caught up!
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In Which Finds-The-Way Recovers Her Stray Dog
This is not a proper session post, since it’s too late for me to actually do some serious playing tonight as I write this. But since I did finish up all my playthrough posting, I did want to go ahead and try out whether I could recover Finds-The-Way’s lost Stray Dog!
Answer: yes! And I learned a couple things in the process. This is a post to write that up, for the benefit of any other Skyrim players who may run into a similar issue.
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In Which Kendeshel Battles a Dragon on Wyrmstooth
And now, the very last playthrough post I need to do before my queue is entirely clear and I resume my playthrough activity! This one’s Kendeshel, and this features her finishing off the main plot of the Wyrmstooth mod. So by definition, this post contains major spoilers for that mod’s plot. Read with caution if you’re not already familiar with it!
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In Which Finds-The-Way Raids the Thalmor Embassy and Visits Alduin’s Wall
Closing in on the home stretch, I’m almost caught up on all my playthrough posts, y’all! Here’s the most recent one for Finds-The-Way, and this’ll be a short-ish one. This is mostly all Main Quest stuff, which I’ve covered in depth on earlier playthroughs. So most of the content here will be German language geekery. But a little side action with buggy dog adoption!
Main action covered: raiding the Thalmor Embassy, rescuing Esbern from the Ratway, meeting Delphine and Esbern at Karthspire and running Sky Haven Temple, and running the Crypt of the Heart quest.
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In Which Elessir Opens an Oblivion Gate and Joins the Dawnguard
Short-ish post for Elessir’s Skyrim run, just because nothing terribly new here. But I do as always have some commentary!
Main action here: finishing running The Cause; getting the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal and the sword Bloodthirst; a bit of Thieves Guild shenanigans; and finally joining the Dawnguard.
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In Which Kendeshel Becomes Thane of Eastmarch and Haafingar, and Goes to Wyrmstooth
Now back to Kendeshel! This is a mix of vanilla Skyrim content as well as modded stuff. Vanilla action includes some side questing, but also running Blood on the Ice in Windhelm; buying Hjerim; becoming thane of Eastmarch; taking out the Thalmor assassin threatening Malborn; clearing Lost Knife Hideout and getting the Headman’s Cleaver; retrieving the White Phial in Forsaken Cave; slaying Potema; buying Proudspire Manor; and becoming thane of Haafingar.
This post contains spoilers for three of the mods I’m running in this playthrough: major spoilers for Legacy of the Dragonborn and Wyrmstooth, and minor post-plot spoilers for Moon and Star. Legacy spoilers are specific to the Excavation of Windcaller Pass quest, and Wyrmstooth’s spoilers are for the beginning of its overall plot. Read with caution if you’re not already familiar with these mods.
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In Which Finds-The-Way Slays Mercer Frey and Adopts Some Daughters
Back to Finds-The-Way in Skyrim, now! In this run, primary action was getting my Nightingale on: taking out Mercer Frey in Irkngthand, and then returning the Skeleton Key to the Twilight Sepulcher. And also, I adopted both Lucia and Sofie!
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In Which Elessir Acquires Mehrunes’ Razor and Quests Through Rielle
Continuing my hard push through getting caught up on my backlog of playthrough posts, here’s the next one for Elessir in Skyrim! Main action here: reforging the Gauldur amulet; acquiring Mehrunes’ Razor; taking out Aesrael and acquiring the Elven Hunter armor; slaying Crowstooth and acquiring the dragonplate armor; clearing Arcwind Point; and last but not least, questing into Rielle to see what the Mythic Dawn cultists are seeking in its depths.
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In Which Kendeshel Meets a Dragon and Begins an Excavation
Time for catchup with Kendeshel and Legacy of the Dragonborn! Main Skyrim action covered here: clearing Kolskeggr Mine of the Forsworn; meeting up with Delphine and Esbern at Karthspire, and in parallel, running the Crypt of the Heart quest; going to High Hrothgar and meeting Paarthurnax; rescuing Gogh the goblin; running Wolfskull Cave for the Potema quest; helping out the Hall of the Dead in Markarth with a cannibal problem; and running Dead Man’s Dread.
Also significant spoilers in this post for the Legacy of the Dragonborn Skyrim mod, including location of the last two members of the Explorers Society that I needed to recruit; further action with the Shattered Legacy quest; and the first part of running the quest The Excavation of Windcaller Pass.