The other thread is over 200 posts so I decided to create this one (since Neil said he was going to leave us )

Talk what you want here, I vote for a no restriction competition

Link to the other http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1537780-did-competition-discussion-trash-talk-and-nonsense-part-2/

I want no restrictions (other than playing-field leveling stuff like no mods that give us advantages over console players etc, of course!) myself. Either that, or everyone (who wants to) should be allowed to pick one restriction that we all have to abide by (Subject to agreement, of course.)

I voted no restrictions for this round. I have been really enjoying the restricted rounds, but we have had a couple of fairly restricted rounds so I feel it is time for one with no restrictions.

I liked Rafur Darksun's idea for scoreing. I also liked Sah's idea for the scoring but found it slightly too restrictive. I'd rather see no level limit on completing BFB and no prohibition on carts.

I will repost my last post from the other thread, since it has more details about my thoughts on these issues. I was typing it as it hit post count and it belongs here.

I rarely use followers anyway, so I am okay with no followers. Either way is fine with me.


But I don't like the idea of level restrictions, like you must fight the first dragon by level 20 or at level 20 you must abandon all followers. If its no followers, then it should be that way from the beginning. And players should choose when they are ready to face those swinging blade traps in BFB, which are more terrifying and deadly than any dragon. If players score is based in large part on dragons killed, that is enough incentive for players to try to tackle those blade traps as early as possible. I could give a rats piss about facing a dragon, but I am not going to face those god damned blade traps until I am good and ready. Even a minor scraqe from those things are instant death for a low level character on legendary. Yes, I have a personal beef with those blade traps, since they killed a couple of my legendary DiD characters in the past.

I also object to no carts. No map based fast travel yes, but last time I did not carts, my game totally bugged out on me and became unplayable. I am convinced that no carts had something to do with it, which led to an unstable game (and the excessive alchemy picking may have also contributed). But with no carts, my character was dead in the water since the game froze every single time he tried to walk from one city to another. With carts, he could have continued, since he could get quite a ways from a city before freezing but there were barriers he just could not cross.

With those two relatively minor changes (no level requirement for facing the blade traps, and cart travel allowed) I would fully support Sah's proposed scoring system. And I will support whatever follower rule people want.

The problem with the no followers is that most people aren't used to playing Legendary (That includes me) and will want a follower to help them out (again, I'm included here). For example, mages. Mages are very fragile, you touch them with a fork and they die! On legendary, from what I've seen and read, is 30 times worse then on Master!

The thing is, enforced legendary is already going to favour those who are used to playing on Legendary, and no followers (or no followers after level 20, whatever) is going to favour those for whom that's their typical playstyle*. How about we have "everyone must use a follower, even if you hate followers and they just wind you up and get in your way. If you kill a follower, you must go and find another one within one game day. If you kill all available followers, you may continue without a follower."

*the way I play, I don't think my followers make things easier per se - I don't give them particularly good gear, I often have them using the 'wrong' weapon, etc, but it's still what I'm used to doing, and I like making up stories about my character and their friends/annoying hangers-on, etc. I like playing lonesome in Fallout, in Skyrim, not so much.

I voted no Restrictions.. other than the normal ones. I have kept an eye on the way Legendary is played.... and it suits those who play it all the time. It IS a style all on it's own. With it's own kind of rules for how you have to use a multi-skilled character and I don't mean like 5 or 6 skills ( crafts included) either...

I base my characters play style around my followers. Cade only ever "hid behind a pillar" long enough for Maya to distract the enemy before he went in for the kill-cam ( and yes, he got a bunch of them) http://i.imgur.com/hzEPxO7.jpg... http://i.imgur.com/icIb2PL.jpg.. http://i.imgur.com/oaFLvhM.jpg.. I could post many many more... no point though. The thing is, while some people do use their followers as meat shields, some of use are the meat shield. Cade was the meat shield, because that is my play style... Yes I will have to alter it for a Legendary play through, Master was hard enough. Even when he used a bow... he wasn't hiding more than the follower was... Lord know's Maya would run off if the boss was to strong for her ( AI I guess).

I have some other thoughts...but they come out way to witchy...with a capital B to post.

I voted No Restrictions. I actually prefer a heavily restricted game, but I realize that we've had two of those in a row, so it's only fair to open it up to ways that others prefer. My character won't last long anyway. I can usually get out of Helgen alive...

On the other hand, maybe we should put restrictions on all the players. Like, we all must wear spaghetti pots on our heads, just as Grits does.

hmmm would my dog's constantly jumping up, trying to get in my lap be a good reason to keep reloading a character, because they know what the spaghetti strainer is...and it usually means they get a noodle or 2....or 3.

My first two septims on a DiD thread:

I generally avoid DiD play, but Skyrim is stable enough I feel like giving it a try (no getting rammed by whales going through gates like in X3:TC). I don't expect to last long on legendary. Hell, I'll probably knock myself down to novice if I keep having to restart a level lower, or do we stay at expert? Competitions are always fun for a change of pace, too

Anyway, if it's no restrictions, then I vote for no restrictions (other than mods and stuff like that). Make the points reward actually playing the game and everything should work out.

Sorry folks, didn't mean to just abandon you all. The threads running over the post count didn't even occur to me...

awwwe not a problem.

Welcome, mouser9169!

I voted no restrictions. As much as I loved last round, let’s mix it up a little.

Hello there mouser9169 !

Its okay Neil, I'm assuming you don't want to host the next competition so I'm taking the liberty to see what people want and well, yeah

So poor Akemmi ( test) is getting rather abused in BFB... Poor girl is a crash test dummy atm... I figured out that she can get through the swinging axes taking one hit IF she changed into found heavy armor, with her ring + 20 and amulet of Arkay +10 health... giving her 130 over all health. She downed a potion of regenerate health and venison stew, just in case. She won't take 2 hits though. But I have figured out a couple of things that will help to keep her alive. btw I generally don't even get hit walking through those axes, but I like to know if the character can make it IF they get hit. It's a Timing thing... I walked my Nekkid Nord through... on adept though, with no armor and no hits taken. I could also have cast Oak Flesh, but I was not sure her "other self" would have that spell yet.

It's a matter of I have to decide which spells I should buy 1st and what other skills in what order. ...it's like trying to figure out which Jelly Belly bean flavor you want 1st. Oh and before I actually start, remove the "economic mod" that I have... it works great with Immersive jewelry to keep that stuff from making one a zillionaire before one gets to lvl 10...but vanilla... ouch, Septiums have weight... and not a credit card in sight....lol.

Yeah, I svck at the timing required to make it through unscathed. Some people scoot through each blade one at a time, but I also svck at the depth perception necessary to do that. It's like Oblivion lockpicking. Some people can do it easily, others never quite get the hang of it. I have heard of people being able to pick very hard Oblivion locks with 5 skill and just a few picks, but I always struggle with the timing required to do that.

I generally can make it through the blades about 50% of the time unscathed, and since there are two traps and the second one is harder, that means that about 75% of the time I get clipped by at least one of the traps, which so far has always been instant death on legendary, but not on master. On master I can make it through no problem, since the damage is so much less on master than legendary, I can survive getting clipped. On legendary, even with 200 health and a full suit of light armor, my character died instantly in those blade traps. I would be afraid to try it in heavy armor because the movement penalty in heavy armor is substantial.

I'm the same, Turija, in 2D games I used to be okay at those types of traps after a bit of practice, but bring depth perception into it and nope. Can't do Oblivion locks without a lot of wasted picks and tears, either. Not looking forward to those traps.

Doing a practice of a possible character (can't remember if I said so already and posting on phone so can't check easily, sorry if I'm repeating myself), not DiD, but on Legendary. It's not going too badly, he's level four and a half, just cleared Embershard on his own with only one death (his first) when I decided against a tactical withdrawal while the third bandit was looking for him and his health was still low. I did manage to kill two of the bandits with one blow (after hitting them both a few times already) which was fun. Got a kill cam and panicked because I KNEW there were two bandits very close to me, so I expected the other one to finish me off while I was kill camming his mate.

BFB scythe trap in burial chamber two. It's real mean. Discussed it with Turija a while ago, sometimes they all swing in unison making a quick sprint easy, but often they swing very out of phase.....so running through the first ok, will get you killed on blade two or three. My method for desynchronised blades is step through the first, then time the dash through the last two. A slight snick won't take more than about two thirds of you health . The difficult is that the stupid third person camera keep zooming in and out due to the blade swing behind you. I really think the out of phase setting was unintentional by Bethesda. The second scythe trap in the sanctum ALWAYS swings in unison leaving a sprintable gap.

I know it's DiD an all.....but some people have a real problem with those first scythes.....by concensus it COULD be agreed that a free pass be given to get through if doing it at a low an vulnerable level. Save before attempting and reload at that point if killed by scythes without penalty. Don't shoot, ok.....jus saying it might give some folk a fair chance to get into the game. After all WE make the rules....we can y'know, CHOOSE to make an exception. Personally.....I don't mind. I have a good chance of getting through them ( but never say never, they are always a risk).

I think there should be some slight restriction as follows.......

All players must....
Be on Legendary 'natch
Be Nord
Wear only light armour
Use a bow and dagger only
No helmets
No Fast Travel of any sort
No selling home brewed potions/poisons
No buying metals from Blacksmiths ( regular merchants are ok)
Take realistic five hour minimum sleep breaks....daily or as soon after a dungeon crawl as possible.
No looting of fallen soldiers or Draugr or urns (honoured dead) bandits maybe rifled for loose coin, gems, jewellery
And oh yeah....no followers


That should provide some decent challenge.....unless someone already plays that way

Maybe we could have a list of "major restrictions" and everyone has to pick a set number from the list (or rather, a minimum - if you want more restrictions, go for it) but the catch is at least two or three have to be completely different to how you usually play. You never take a follower because they are crap and get your way? Your restriction could be you must always have a follower, if one dies then you need to grab the next available one (going to Riften? Get Marcurio, even if he drives you bonkers.) You always play sneaky archers? You can still shoot, but you must stand up in plain sight to do it... You never play beast races? Congratulations, here is your complementary beaker of Hist sap. Always grind crafting so you can have great gear asap? Enjoy only using gear you found or bought.

Like I say, have a list, and, say, everyone has to pick at least two they're okay with and one that's "outside the comfort zone".

The last round, my character was completely not my usual type, I've never, ever played a conjurer before, and never played a character with no direct offensive skill (until I got shouts I couldn't even start a fight myself, without trying to use that awful "I need you to do something" "command state"), so far outside my comfort zone it was practically on another continent, and she was great fun.

the Bleak Fall barrow Blades are no issue to get through.....just a simple matter of timing.............if blades are out of sync........the will balance out after 2- 3min

stand as close to the first blade as you can, when the blades cross right in front of you that's when you start your sprint (must be sprint)..............you clear all 3 blades like that..............its a matter of timing & works 100% of the time

for the second set of blades..................TIP

once you enter this level from the doors....2nd part of BFB... start running right away. Start your run down the corridor & keep running strait to the blades, don't stop & you will run right through the second set of blades.......... your timing will be perfect!

every trap in the game has a solution & even that massive one with the 50 swinging blades in Dragonborn.

as for traps it is recommended to use a perk in the sneak skill tree.......called Light Foot, you can walk over pressure plates & traps using this perk

Being on Legendary is not a "slight" restriction ... at least not for me. Pretty much this is a "stealth" play through on Legendary. Cause dagger's and bow only... meaning no magic? Light armor...

I can do that....except the Legendary and No followers. But I thought we were going to do a Legendary unrestricted...

Turija, I was always good at the Oblivion locks... Half the time if my mages could not get the lock open with magic, cause it was to high a lock, I could get it with one or two picks. The swinging blades are the same... but even on my regular play throughs I always save right in front of them, mostly cause followers do dumb things. I have had a character shoved into them, in the middle of a swing..

Wait, I thought we were going with an "unrestricted" round, with the main restriction being legendary play, which most of us don't normally do . . . now folks are talking about adding a bunch of restrictions? That said, I am up for whatever restrictions people want to live with, as long as they are the same restrictions for everybody. I don't like the idea of combining "play a type of character that is not your usual method of play" with legendary difficulty. If we want to play a round where everybody picks restrictions to take them out of their comfort zone, I'd rather that be in some other round than the legendary difficulty round.

I'd be good with that. From my perspective, it seems arbitrary and anti-climatic to have a character beaten by those traps. Other traps in the game can be avoided but those stand in the way of activating dragons/shouts. Boiling your whole game down to whether you have the timing to get through those traps doesn't seem right. So, I'd be good with your proposed solution.

Says you. That never works for me 100% of the time. Its more like 50% of the time. What can I say. I've got bad timing. Also, I can't line up "as close to the blades as I can" because I end up either being too far or getting clipped and killed by getting too close. Again, its a lack of depth perception and timing. But I don't think a character's entire life should be judged by bad timing and depth perception on two unavoidable traps.

I am the opposite. I svck at Oblivion's locks and those swinging blades, but I can pick Skyrim's locks with ease because timing has nothing to do with it picking Skyrim's locks. My ability to time things has always suffered. I could never play baseball as a kid since I had no timing for swinging the bat at the moving ball. So, I played football instead.

well we all have our strengths and weaknesses. I used to do https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyU7z73ddMY when I was younger, not on that lvl... but it's all about ques and timing, so ( well training too * I picked that video cause it was short) I also played fast pitch softball and did western riding... gymnastics...etc...

I thought we were doing Legendary unrestricted... cause while I don't mind restrictions, I want to pick the difficulty I think I have a chance to live at, if their are going to be a lot.

Heh, heh, I have no timing for dancing, tried learning to dance a few times and never quite could get the hang of it, especially could not learn the timing of any steps that required alternation between slow and quick steps.

Could not imagine being able to do that on horseback. But I did grow up on horses and could ride bareback with only a halter made out of an old piece of bailing twine, but never got to the point of being able to do any tricks, just general recreational riding.

Yeah, legendary unrestricted is what I voted for, but then people started adding suggestions for restrictions. I'd rather just keep it unrestricted if we are doing a legendary round.

EDIT: Fast pitch softball is also impressive. I've seen those fast underhanded pitches. They are fun to watch.