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Skills comparison between Merawen and Alarrah
Folks who follow me on social media have already seen these videos on my Facebook and Twitter feeds, but for those of you who read my blog or who follow me on Dreamwidth, here’s a post doing some skills comparison between the two Skyrim runs I’ve done so far!
This gets a separate post from Merawen’s main playthrough posts, because it’s not directly related to Merawen’s playthrough actions. But she did just hit level 62, and I wanted to take the chance to call that out. Because level 62 is where I got with Alarrah when I decided to retire the character.
And Merawen is not yet done with Dragonborn-related content. Nor has she finished the main plot. So I feel like I’ve got at least a couple more weeks of play time with her before I get to the point of retiring her.
Because of this, I thought it’d be interesting to compare where her skills are at now vs. where Alarrah’s were when I stopped playing that run!
(Stats geekery and a couple of videos behind the fold.)
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How the Dawnguard plot should have ended
I’m not actually done playing the Dawnguard plot in Skyrim yet, but I did read ahead a bit on the wiki and I know what’s coming, in regards to certain important characters I’m about to meet and the origins of the prophecy that drives the whole plot to begin with.
And I have some opinions on how this should have impacted the end of this plot. Here, have a modified version of what I posted to my Discord earlier today! Credit to Dara for helping me think of this. <3
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Speaking of the Low Admissions Standards for the Bards College
Brief Twitter thread from 5/21/2021, in which I have some thoughts about the Bard’s College being a disappointing play experience. Particularly if you’re a musically inclined player.
Also, speaking of the low admissions standards for the Bards College in Skyrim, I’d like to take a moment as a musically inclined person to be kind of disappointed in that.
— Angela Korra’ti (@annathepiper) May 21, 2021Note
This post was written on 3/18/2022, but is backdated to the time of the tweet thread for organizational purposes.
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There Once Was a Sword, It is Said
Twitter thread from 5/21/2021, in which Alarrah’s player composes a limerick in honor of Dawnbreaker.
There once was a sword, it is said
— Angela Korra'ti (@annathepiper) May 21, 2021
That packed a punch ‘gainst the undead
In the name of Meridia
And my darling Lydia
I’ll use it to cut off your head.
— Alarrah the Dragonborn, to the next draugr she seesNote
This post was written on 3/18/2022, but is backdated to the time of the tweet thread for organizational purposes.
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In Which the Dragonborn and Her Housecarl Set Out on Another Road Trip
Twitter thread from 5/17/2021, in which Alarrah and Lydia do another road trip, this time to Solitude; in which Alarrah slays a dragon at the Western Watchtower, and battles multiple bandits; and in which she witnesses the execution of Roggvir in Solitude.
And also in which Alarrah’s player learns why it’s necessary to be careful when you’re reading books in a location you don’t own!
In Which the Dragonborn and Her Housecarl Set Out on Another Road Trip, Destination: Solitude
— Angela Korra'ti (@annathepiper) May 17, 2021
1. Setting up all the furnishings in Breezehome in Whiterun pretty much blew away my entire stock of gold, so it was therefore time for a new road trip!Notes
- I didn’t realize this at the time, but what very likely happened when I read that book in the Winking Skeever was that I hit (A) without realizing it, after I opened the book to read it. And the game counted that as stealing. Which I still think is kind of bullshit, just because I could argue that you’re not actually stealing the book if you don’t take it out of the inn with you! But I suppose that’d be harder to code than just checking to see if you’ve picked up an item that isn’t actually free to take. 😉
- This post was written on 3/18/2022, but is backdated to the time of the tweet thread for organizational purposes.
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Actual detailed travelogue list to follow
Twitter thread from 5/11/2021, in which I am not amused by the tail end of the hunt through Ustengrav for the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller.
Actual detailed travelogue list to follow, but for now I’ll say that tonight I hit the first thing so far in Skyrim that actively pissed me off.
10:53 PM · May 11, 2021Any player who, long before me, made it to the end of the hunt for the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller only to go MOTHERFUCKER will know exactly what I’m talking about here.
10:53 PM · May 11, 2021Narratively speaking I get why it was done, I get that it opens up the next chain of quest events, but from a enjoyability of gameplay experience, I _really_, _really_ didn’t like that I had to slog through a dungeon with no payoff to get to that point.
10:54 PM · May 11, 2021And there was loot to be had. But I also kind of feel like there wasn’t sufficiently awesome loot to make up for not getting the thing I slogged down through there for to begin with.
10:54 PM · May 11, 2021It also didn’t help that I really didn’t enjoy trying to get through the sequence of gates that required me to have to use the Whirlwind Sprint shout. Comma, the shout I had trouble with up on High Hrothgar.
10:54 PM · May 11, 2021More experienced players than me may have dealt with that just fine, but for me, so far, the combo of keys necessary to deal with that Shout is still awkward and annoying, particularly in conjunction with a puzzle that requires timing before it resets.
10:55 PM · May 11, 2021And then to have the quest not actually _deliver the payoff_, and have the quest marked as “Failed” in my quests list, didn’t help my enjoyment in the slightest.
10:55 PM · May 11, 2021I kept playing for a while after that, just to get to a point where I could in fact accomplish something–killing the next dragon. Because being actively pissed off is NOT what I started playing the game for, and I wanted to not end on that note.
10:56 PM · May 11, 2021So I did at least get to a point of closure for that part of the plot, and I ended on a point of success.
10:56 PM · May 11, 2021Notes
- This post was written on 3/17/2022, but backdated to the time of the tweet thread for organizational purposes.
- Post updated on 12/28/2022 to reconstruct the original Twitter thread in the body of the post, and to remove links to Twitter.