So I'm a seasoned DA:O player, have been since it's released but I though it was about time to give another game a go!

I've not played any of the Elder Scrolls games before but I can honestly say I think I've been missing out.

The wide open world almost makes this game feel like an MMORPG.

Me being me, within the first 5 minutes I had already made my first mistake - looting absolutely everything possible until I was moving at a snails pace!

I'm just having a play around at the moment to get a feel for the game (I'm using console commands esp. all spells)

I know we all hate tutorials because in the most part, games are not rocket science to figure out (In the most part).

BUT there is something I'd like help with... Various stations e.g. Alchemist. Where do you find recipes? And how can I best utilise these? I can imagine forges come in very handy later on in the game.

Recipes can very rarely be found or bought, don't rely on them. Mix random ingredients till you discover effects, or look it up on the wiki.

Great!

First, Welcome to the Boards! Here is a complimentary http://images.uesp.net/c/c4/Fishystick.jpg

Second, here is a website that has great information on Skyrim (and the other Elder Scrolls games): The http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Skyrim wiki.

About Alchemy... Some players contend that it is kind of intuitive. I have found that overall, not so much. Along the paths you take, there will be flowers, mushrooms, fish parts, animal parts, and other sundries. The "ingredients" can be mixed together at an Alchemy Lab (looks like a round table) to make different potions and poisons. To get started, you can "sample" the ingredients to discover the first effect. Then, when you find 2 ingredients with the sme effect, you try to make them into a potion. Just remember that each ingredient has 4 effects, so you may get more than just that first effect in your potions or poisons

Another thing is that many times (not always), 2 ingredients that you find close together can sometimers be combined. 3 main exceptions are the Mountain Flowers (Blue, Purple, and Red). Though these always grow close together, they do not combine together to make anything. They will, however, combine with other ingredients to make potions and poisons.

Alchemy is quite a "trial and error" process. You can find recipes in dungeons or on certain corpses (usually mage-types). These will let you know 2 ingredients that make a specific potion or poison.

One more thing. Are you playing on a console (X-Box or PS3) or a PC? Answers will differ and become varied if mods can be used

Welcome!

You can find one of the effects of an ingredient by eating it (just go into the items menu and then ingredients and press a). Mostly I learn new effects through trial and error by mixing different ingredients. It can be frustrating at first but you'll quickly gain a good base of potions you can make.

Thank you, and I'll treasure that Fishystick! Haha.

I am playing on PC, and that brings me to my next question - are there any "essential" mods you'd recommend? I've installed SkyUI.

I think on my first proper playthrough I will be focusing on being a Mage, irritating really as High Elves, which give you +50 Magicka are hideous! In all the games I've played, I don't think I've ever seen such ugly elves! (And because I've found I do prefer a third person view, I'd like a nice looking hero!)

And that leads on to yet another follow-up question: How best to set up a mage? Two offensive spells? Healing and offensive? A staff and spell? (This one is a little lazy, I know it's probably trial and error)

Thanks guys, I don't like to rely on Wikias for games too much, I feel it takes some of the excitement of discovery out of games (esp. RPGs)

Essential mods? Unofficial patches, nothing more.

I'm currently playing my first ever pure Mage, tough to begin with but as perks increased it's become somewhat easier. I use destruction in one hand and then choose alteration (stone flesh), conjugation (flame atronach) or restoration in the other. The alchemy you asked about earlier is very useful, I go through a lot of healing and restore magika potions. one thing I learnt to do with this character that I've rarely done before - against multiple opponents, "when the going gets tough, Kalendra gets going" fast and in the other direction. If she can separate them she turns and takes them on, then returns for the others. She's never not returned when things calm down, just uses a more subtle approach.

This is my style, I'm sure others will give you alternatives.

Enjoy the game.

Ok, so I've restarted and doing a proper playthrough now, I've already had something different... I am following a stormcloak soldier through the keep, rather than the guy you meet when getting off the cart (can't remember his name)

I'm reluctant to ask... Does this change the game?

Nope.

Both hadvar and ralof can be found again when you join their respective side.

And when the time comes to pick a side...

I'm sure I heard Ralof say "resistance" which reinforces my thought that the Stormcloaks are the 'goodies' and the Imperials are the 'badies' ??

Or am I just way off the mark?

There's a whole lot of stuff going on.

You were about to be executed because you crossed the border and were caught with Ulfric Stormcloak, who started the whole rebellion. He was captured because he killed the high king of Skyrim and attempted to claim the throne.

The high king of skyrim favored the empire(skyrim has been part of the empire for the longest time, and the empire was actually founded by a nord) and was willing to listen to Ulfric, but instead he challenged him to a duel because of some old rule that allowed the jarls to challenge the high king. The fight had just started and Ulfric killed the high king by shouting.

Basically, Ulfric is quite the jerk, and you were caught with him.

Wow! Maybe I should look more into the backstory!

Last question... I promise ( )

Is there anywhere in Riverwood to sell unwanted armour? Got it!

I LOVE THIS GAME!

Decided to head straight to Bleak Falls Temple. Took me a good 5 minutes to realise in one room... This game has puzzles, all be it a very very easy one, I'm sure they'll get more challenging?

(But what are Skeevers? They look like a Dog/Rat crossbreed!)

There are two places to sell armor in Riverwood... but what happened to discovery?

BTW, the Ulfric story unfolds as you talk to people, read books, and do a couple of missions. There's even more to it, and Ulfric's role can be interepreted in a few ways.

I did discover it! (hence the strikethrough)

Just beaten a Necromancer and got a Staff of Familiar, I've over used it. I haven't noticed it with any of the non-magic weapons I have but it seems this staff (not that I'll be using it) only has so many uses before it needs recharging, which I presume only happens over time.

I've also acquired a spell written in what looks likes a cross between Korean and Ancient Cuneiform? Strange. Anyway, dragon souls that's what I need! Presumable at level 3 I am not quite ready to become a dragon hunter! Looking forward to setting some on fire!

It wont recharge on its own, you need a soul gem filled with a soul. i warn you they are expensive to buy.

Don't discount the wiki, because it does have information that you may need to get "unstuck".

A longer version of the What are the "must" have mods. I think everyone can agree on all The unoffical patches, after that... well it's really up to you.

Here's my err short list:

http://skse.silverlock.org needed for many, many mod's

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29624/? their are others, this is my peference

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/9557/? again their are others, this one is my preference.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23906/? well the title almost says it all.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/28235/? again...the title almost says it all

Those are my..."must haves"... and I think I owe a certain person a great big hug... cause.. dang it, my must have's seem to mostly be his creations...lol Could I play without those, well yes, I did a quick vanilla run through, then added all the Unoffical patches, then the one's I had "tracked" til I got a pc that would run Skyrim period. Plus I played Skyrim "vanilla" on the 360 since 11/11 til just over a month ago. So while I could play without them.. why?

I don't have as many mod's as some and less than others. It's all in what your PC can handle and what your preferences are. There are many more mod's that I would prefer not playing without... and some I have downloaded and decided were not really for me.. that is an "each to their own" thing.

Thanks Megamasher

And Areial, those mods look awsome! Too bad I've already started, maybe on my next playthrough.

Is there a mod to make the cursor behave, it's far to "floaty" for me, I prefer a much more precise one. Plus my windows cursor is also showing, is there a way to hide this, I'm constantly getting confuse why my clicks aren't working!

Your welcome.. and I don't know about the mouse thing. I'm a very bad pc gamer, after hitting all the wrong key's through my first playthrough and dieing I don't know how many times, because I hit the wrong key. I went out an bought a 360 controller for pc...

To be honest, I think a controller for this game would be better, I don't feel like it's truly "made for PC"

WRT your double cursor issue, that happens to me when I alt-tab out of Skyrim (or when Skyrim spontaneously minimizes on me due to some extraneous program). Skyrim and Windows don't seem to play nice together... Typically, I just save, quit, restart, and the Windows cursor is gone. I haven't used the following mod, but it might help:
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/40706/?

I couldn't help with the floaty cursor. There's an option in the Settings menu (hit Esc while in game) to change "look sensitivity," but I don't know if that affects the menu cursor.

Since we're there in the Settings menu, I'd also recommend disabling some of the autosave options. I don't know if it's still true, but there used to be an issue where Skyrim would crash on autosaves. Personally, I've turned off "Save on Rest," "Save on Wait," and "Save on Character Menu;" that last one in particular really helped the stability of my game.

Hmmm, regarding seeing both windows and game cursor, are you playing in windowed mode? Seems to me I recall early on back in 2011 that windowed mode was less than optimal for Skyrim and it was better NOT to play it that way. I play full screen mode and have never had mouse issues. Also, you can set mouse sensitivity in the game settings. Not sure if that will fix the "floatiness" of your mosue but worth a try. Happy spelunking!

lmao ninja'd by the Other Ted

Sorry...

Good point about windowed mode, though - not even sure why it exists, to be honest.

No need to be sorry in the least, very valid points you made. I too have had the alt-tab issue (royal PITA if ever there was one). I couldn't help think about Ted and Ted2 when I saw your post, I'm a little that way! Cheers!

Adding to what others have said about mods, best advice is to play the game until you run into some feature you find annoying and once you know what you want to change, find a mod to fix it. If you start adding mods before you have played vanilla enough you may inadvertently change some feature of the vanilla that you like without knowing what you changed.

It only took me five minutes to be annoyed by the HUD and map. So my essential mod list includes iHUD, Less Intrusive HUD (you need both to fully customize your HUD) and Warburgs Paper Map. Others like A Quality World Map. If you find yourself annoyed by the HUD or the map, there is no reason to suffer one more minute.

Thanks guys, I always play full screen mode, but I am an Alt+Tab fiend! I guess I'll have to live with a floaty cursor!

Yeah, HUD isn't great, also the speed of horses... OK, so to have them full stop is a bonus but they are so slow!