L4L those maps are not necessary and I don't think you get any credit for them. I guess the game makers just through them in for kicks. I've gotten all the maps and have found 3 of the treasures and to tell you the truth the treasures are not any better than what you find in normal chests around the game. I was just finding things to do to prolong the game etc.

I'm also finding additional side quests by visiting all the caves and sites that I haven't cleared yet. Doing all this before I continue with the main quest because this is my second go around.

Looney4labs, thank you very much. That video did help. But I have to confess that my brain was fried with all those mage spells. I can hit a fly with an arrow but my spellcasting can't hit a wall. One of the spells I was using was the wrong kind. Duh!

Rowan I'm still struggling to hit the broadside of a barn with my arrows but I'm decent with spells......we would make a good team.

I just made Archmage without ever wearing a robe and only using spells when it was part of a quest. What I wore and what I did in the various dungeons just wasn't any mage's business. My trusty bow did almost all of the work. My spellcasting is really embarrassing. I'm close to being in charge of the thieves but I just want to hang on to that unbreakable lockpick a little while longer.

Rowan, sounds as though you're blazing ahead.

I'm not even close to finishing a guild at this point. Though I'm done with the Thieves main quests, I still have some redecorating to do, apparently. And the Assassin's Guild goes on forever, it seems. Mages? Don't get me started.

I'm currently on a walkabout of the entire map. Found a couple of shouts way up in them thar hills, some very nasty undead that fill a black soul gem very nicely, and a whole lotta loot. I spend a lot of time crafting and enchanting, determined to get up to 100 in those skills in this game.

Level 52 and sticking - and not needing to advance any to keep the game engaging.

I finally settled on using the house in Solitude as my base of operations. I think it's the nicest house and I really like that it's three levels. The porch overlooking the water is a nice touch too.

I had to save up a fair amount to get it, which was a bit of a pain at 25,000 gold + all the upgrades on top of that.

I don't have any speech perks, so shops have limited gold and that took a bit of time to do.

I used the time to max my smithing to 100, as well as my enchanting to 100 though. I find the loot you get from various quests and just looking around to be somewhat lacking, so smithing + enchanting seems to be the way to go.

I also finally landed myself a wife. I only had to murder two people to win her favor too!

Sounds like you're having fun Templeton! I have to confess, I wanted that house in Solitude so much that I used the console to get a big amount of gold so I could buy it right away. I forced myself to not do that again for the others though, and oddly enough, i seem to like them better because I actually "earned" the money to get them! Although, I do think the Solutide one is gorgeous and I wish I could climb into the monitor and live there for real. SIGH!

btw--to all, I just had to share this. I went back to Riverwood for the first time in ages and the guy at Riverwood Traders said, "You and I are the only people around here that aren't complete fools". LOL! I just died laughing and now I'm wandering around other towns to see if anyone else says that to me.

Tracy

Tracy -- That awful Erikur says something similiar. Gives me the creeps everytime. I don't want to share anything with Erikur.

I've heard the occasional person complain that I have bad breath. Must be Namira's Ring that I am wearing.

Bad breath! I haven't had that one, but people have asked if that is fur coming out of my ears! And I'm no longer a werewolf!

Annie--eeww. I know---I can't stand Erikur. Or his resentful sister, "I'm Gisli, but you can call me Erikur's sister-everyone else does".

Nice family. LOL!

Tracy

Uhm, Annie, this bad breath issue, uhm, uh, maybe, has something to do with..uh, someone I ate.

Okay, I'm now absolutely going to get that house in Solitude, once I've passed the 100,000 gold achievement. How do you go about buying it? I can't seem to work out what quests I have to do first.

It'll take me a full day of real-time playing to upgrade and sell all the stuff I have in my Whiterun home, but I think it's time. There's a lot of junk sitting around in there, including a huge library and about 500 pounds of alchemical ingredients. Thre must be 50,000 gold worth of stuff in there, all told, what with the lovely elven armour I created but never used, not having the right enchantments.

hagatha, have you done that quest that Falk Firebeard gives you about taking care of necromancers in Wolfskull Cave? I think that's one of the big ones. The other quest that's essential for the house is given to you by the jarl, Elisif. You have to take her husband's war horn to the shrine of Talos.

Hagatha, I don't remember a specific quest but if you visit the jarl of Solitude he will give you a problem to solve. Then you have to do 3 additional smaller quests/favours for local residents to gain further recognition. Then you will be recognized as thane and given the opportunity to buy a house. You will then have to talk to the jarl's bodyguard to buy it.

Rowan -- Oh dear! Could I, um er, ask if they tasted, you know, um, like chicken?

Tracy -- The way Erikur behaved at the party at the Embassy! Male Chauvinist Oinker!

It should be in order:

1) Talk to Falk Firebeard in the Blue Palace. He'll give you a quest called "The Man Who Cried Wolf". Which invovles investigating a cave. Note: there is a second part to this, but you don't have to do it right away to get the house.

2) Talk to Jarl Elisif the Fair after completing "The Man Who Cried Wolf". She should give you a quest called "Elisif's Tribute".

3) After completing "Elisif's Tribute". You will be told you also need to Assist the People of Haafingar. You need to assist 5 people. In all likelihood you've probably already done this if you've been questing at all in the area.

4) At that point you can buy the house from Falk Firebeard and become a Thane of Haafingar.

Annie--You got that right! What a pig. I'd like to kill him, except I think he's set as "essential". LOL

Thanks for the house buying tips. I know what the special item is -- I peeked, of course, because I'm a completist and had to have them all, quest or no.

I seem to have lost the point in this game, but I'm sure having fun. Now I have 100 in Enchant and Blacksmithing and with potions and enchantments am creating some pretty neat stuff. Some of my Morrowind/Oblivion games have been like that, too - where I spend most of my time making stuff and carting things all over hell's half acre looking for merchants with money. Forgot the plot. Next time I can maybe focus on quests a little bit.

I don't make Ebony armour, though, and I am still -- still - looking for ebony boots to complete Lydia's set. At level 55 you'd think I would have come across one lousy pair of ebony boots, wouldn't you?

Hagatha, I think the point of the game is to have fun, and you are

Hagatha, have you done the quest called Boethia's Calling?

Well, I finally loaded Skyrim this evening and played for a little bit. It took me forever to decide what I wanted to look like, lol.

So far I'm a female Imperial and all I've done is run around and got into the keep. I'm going to spend the rest of the evening looking at the skimpy little manual so I can have an idea of where the controls are.

JeanK-hope you have fun with the game!

And, everyone and anyone else, I need help! I'm doing a miscelleous quest for someone in the Riften prison and after I went to get their item and returned, every time I try to open the prison door to enter the prison, I get booted out of the game completely back to the desktop. GRRRRR!! I guess this is a bug or something but it's driving me crazy so I thought I'd find out if anyone else has run into it, and how you got past it.

Since I was just playing Morrowind right before Skyrim came out, this quest was kind of meaningful to me and I'd really like to finish it if possible! (hope that's not a spoiler! lol)

Thanks so much you guys,
Tracy, who alogn with this quest is STILL wishing for more dialog with everyone in the game. I'm so bored with the same old stuff! lol

Tracy, I haven't been to Riften yet.

JeanK, if you're playing on a PC the game interface is quite easy. Hit J for the journal and in-game stats, hit I or Tab for your inventory, Hit tab to level up or select spells, inventory items, etc.

Rowan, I haven't finished that quest. I'm on quest cleanup right now, so it won't be long. I'm not taking an Ebony Armour skill just so that Lydia can have matching boots. She can use her Orcish boots. Speaking of Lydia, her favourite fighting style is two magic staffs. No matter what else I give her, she always chooses the two staffs. Now who would have guessed? Anyway, she's pretty hard on dragons, as long as I remember to recharge her stuff.

Tracy, I haven't had that problem so I can't help, unfortunately. My Dark Brotherhood quests seem to be bugged, though.

I finally have my house in Solitude and am ferrying all my stuff from Whiterun. Such a lot of stuff I have. Too bad there aren't any rich merchants around