I'll admit, these pictures have nothing to do with the rest of the article. I just wanted to share some of my screenshots.
Skyrim is a game about big things. Big dragons, big land masses, big mountains, big giants (as opposed to the other kind), and big ambitions. Amongst all this though, the game is blanketed with so many little details that are so easily lost in the grandeur of it all. So instead of talking about dragons some more, here are a bunch of little things you may have missed while playing the game. It goes without saying that some minor spoilers will be found below. Nothing quest related (I think) though. I haven’t had a chance to test all of these out, so let me know if any are inaccurate. Seeing as this is the internet, I’m sure asking people to point out inaccuracies is somewhat redundant. Anyway, Skyrim!
The simple joy of kill animations.
General Details
- During the load screens, you can manipulate the objects with your mouse or controller. Rotate and zoom and so on. Sure you can do this in your inventory as well, but can you do it with models of monsters and dragons?
- Flying insects like butterflies and moths and glow-bugs will run from you if you try to capture them. If you happen to be near spider webs, insects will get caught and are easily harvested.
- You can manually mine ore veins by equipping a pick-axe as a weapon and… attacking the ore. Duel wield to mine faster.
- You can purchase a war dog from a breeder.
- Purchased homes are equipped with shield-like wall mounts which can be used to hold your weapons. Mount a favorite sword, or a weapon rewarded by a Jarl to show off to all the NPCs that stop in to visit.
Oh that? Just the skeleton of the dragon we just killed. No big deal.
- The pots placed over fires can be used for cooking. Similar to smithing, enchanting, and so on, cooking is an odd ability with the main difference being that it doesn’t level any skills, but does produce meals you can eat to have long-lasting status effects.
- If you complete the Bard’s College quest line, you become a bard. This doesn’t have any real purpose, and you don’t learn to play instruments or anything like that, but people will randomly refer to you as a bard, and that’s really exciting to me.
- Environmental snow will melt depending on weather conditions. Also, fire. Fire melts snow. [Edit: After some testing, and two dragon attacks, I can not say this one is true. With the changing light, it can appear as though the ice is slowly melting/reforming, but it's not the real deal. If someone can prove otherwise, I would love to know about it.]
- At the top of the Throat of the World, you can find a “notched pickaxe.” Holding a pickaxe in a mine in first person view might evoke images of Minecraft, the ultra popular indie mining game created by Markus Persson, aka Notch. Get it? Notched pickaxe!
- M’aiq the Liar is back. For anyone unfamiliar with this Khajiit, he is a reoccurring character who has been in previous Elder Scrolls games Morrowind and Oblivion. His comments can be entertaining, as he speaks strange (somewhat 4th wall strange) truths and half-truths which reference game lore, changes from previous games, and other fun topics. Check out his wiki page for a full list with possible explanations.
- Moving from light to dark environments (or vice versa) results in momentary blindness as your eyes adjust.
- When buying goods from shop keepers who have said items on display in the store, the item will disappear from the shelf until they are later re-stocked.
- Many shop keepers also keep a weapon hidden away behind the counter, just in case.
- You can play tag with some of the kids.
- Jumping on furniture like beds while around children might result in them saying something like “I’m not allowed to jump on the furniture.”
- Bottles of mead will show which mead house they were made in; just take a look at their label.
- Unlike previous games, if you throw things around in someone’s home or shop, they will eventually clean it up. No more perma-mess!
- Do you keep seeing strange symbols and markings all over the place? These are coded messages placed by members of the Thieves Guild. Check out a book called Shadowmarks found in the guild hall to discover the symbols’ meanings.
- As you do mini-missions such as burglaries for the Thieves Guild, the dank old guild hall will slowly improve.
- You can inspect the little red and blue pins found in some military locations in either the Stormcloak or Empire strongholds, which will reveal the locations on your map. You won’t be able to fast travel to these locations until you properly “discover” them, but it helps to have some idea of where all the strongholds are located.
- Helping certain orcs will grant you a level of acceptance at orcish strongholds, allowing you to interact and trade with those orcs.
- The book Kolb and the Dragon is a mini choose-your-own-adventure book. This was such a fun little surprise.
- ANTS! (thanks spacebrony).
Combat, Magic, Shouts, and Stealth
- You can use arrows to distract enemies. Just shoot one while hiding, and the guards will go and inspect the place the arrow struck.
- You can remove torches from walls to help you sneak. Less light, less visibility.
- If a dragon is attacking you with fire or ice breath, you can use force shout, shield bash, and some other abilities to interrupt the deadly spew.
- The shout Become Ethereal is a great tool for getting off of high cliffs, mountains, and buildings. Just use the shout, and jump off. As long as you land while still ethereal, you won’t take any damage. It’s great if you need to make a quick escape from an ugly scene as well.
- The Clear Sky shout actually affects the weather! Now that’s power!
- When a raised zombie finally dies, it will utter phrases like, “Death at last.” So creepy.
- You can check status ailments like diseases in the Active Effects menu. That was harder to find than it should have been for me.
- You can use torches to attack people. Great against undead.
- You can shoot hawks out of the sky.
- If you kill a townie, their coffin will appear in the local crypt.
- If a dragon eats something or someone you were hoping to loot, kill the dragon (you were gonna do it anyway) and you’ll find all the eaten fella’s gear in the dragon’s belly. Well, not literally in the dragon’s belly, but you get the picture.
- As your arrows decrease in number, your quiver will reflect this. As the arrow count drops below six, you will see less and less arrows in the quiver.
- Sometimes, while fighting NPCs, they will say, “‘Tis but a scratch.” I don’t think I need to tell you the significance of that phrase.
These are just some of the details this game has to offer. Feel free to share any you’ve discovered, as I’m sure this is only scratching the surface.
