Ever wanted to Fight like Dovahkiin? Well now you can, with the Video Game Combat Guide: Sword and Shield!
Hi guys! Sorry it's been so long! I've missed all of you :( My
life is, as always, busy, but I missed writing and I have etched out
time and found inspiration to continue! Yay!
So, where were we? Oh yeah, we were on Dovahkiin, the nord/redguard/orc/breton/argonian/khajiit/dunmer/falmer/altmer star of
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
He/she is a moldable, malleable character, and has honestly been a bit
of a challenge to write for in our normal format. So! Let's look at
the (possible) skills of Dovahkiin!
- Swords, maces, axes, bows, and pointy things.(no fists perk tree ;-; )
- Shields, armor, and protecty things.
- Blacksmithing, enchanting, alchemy, and crafty things.
- Sneaking, stealing, lockpicking, and subterfuge-y things.
- Fireballs, lightning, invisibility, mind control, and magic-y things
So, some or all of these things are approachable. I'm going to
touch a bit on the things we haven't in a bit, but first I want to
highlight Skyrim's leveling mechanic. If you've played any elder
scrolls game, you know where I'm going with this. If you haven't, then
let me enlighten you. Elder Scrolls games emulate real life in that,
the more you use something, the better you get at it, skill-wise. Other
games are starting to do this now, but the ES series is kind of the
hipster of the crowd. They were, in fact, doing it before it was cool.
How
does this apply to you? Well, like I said, they are attempting to
emulate real life. When you do things more often, you get better at
them. This should seem pretty straightforward, but a lot of people
don't know or think that it applies to everything. Natural talent can
help, sometimes, but it's no substitute for hard work, even for things
like
art. And this applies to EVERYTHING. Not good at talking to the opposite sex? Practice(even on something like
Chatroullette [warning,
Chatroullette may contain penises]). It's said it takes 10,000 hours
of practice to become a master at something. In martial arts, we say
you have to perform a move 10,000 times before it becomes yours. So if
you want to get good at something, do it, even if you suck! Getting
better will come with time.
Now, that said, let's take a look at Skyrim's skill offerings.
Swords, maces, axes, bows, point things:
This is something we've covered before. Look into finding a local
historical fencing/stage combat organization. Purchase or make a bow,
get a target, and go practice in your backyard. Get a couple PVC pipes,
wrap them in foam, and challenge your friends to duels! The most
important thing is to get out there and
do.
Shield, armor, protective things:
Harder to do on the armor part, but if you can find a good rennaissance
organization, or stage combat organization, they can help! Barring
that, strap a belt on a piece of plywood and pair it up with your PVC
foam boffers and, again, challenge your friends to combat!
Blacksmithing, enchanting, alchemy, crafting things: Ooh, this is fun. I recommend
Instructables
as a starting place. Blacksmithing at home is actually more possible
than you think, and probably cheaper than you think, too. Enchanting is
kind of difficult, as magic-by-the-bethesda-definition doesn't exactly
exist in the real world, but I'll bet if you pick an "effect" you'd like
your object to have, you can figure out a way to do it with some
Instructables! If you're more the alchemy type, you can look into
herbal medicine and wild plant identification for the more holistic
potion side. I like
First Ways: An Urban Foraging Blog
as a good starting point for this sort of thing. If you're more the
pure science type, then maybe you should start experimenting with
chemistry in your spare time!
Here's a
couple links.
Sneaking, stealing, lockpicking, and subterfuge-y things:
I am not one to encourage illegal activities, but learning to be
stealthy is fun without illegal rewards required! Practice sneaking up
on wild animals, that's really hard. Or practice sneaking up on family
members, if you want to be creepy.
Here's the Army Field Manual appendix on being a sneaky person. Lockpicking is also fun and harmless, if you choose for it to be! The awesome people over at lifehacker have this
nifty guide. There's also the
Greg Miller site, for a more comprehensive look! For pickpocketing...well, I wouldn't
condone such a thing, but I've heard tales of pickpockets hanging
strings on bags and extracting wallets from them without ringing the
bells. Not that I would encourage such a thing. If you do decide to
take this course of action, remember that in the real world, your
actions have consequences, and jail time doesn't just pass in a day.
Fireballs, lightning, invisibility, mind control, and magic-y things: This
is the more difficult of things to emulate in the real world, for
previously mentioned non-real-magic reasons. However, for fireballs,
lightning, and even invisibility, you can probably resort to nifty
gadgets, many of which you can find on the previously mentioned
Instructables. For mind control, your best bet is probably
learning body language.
There's lots of resources online for how to do this. Also, look up the
book titled, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." It was written
a while ago, but is FAR from outdated. The principles outlined within
it will go far for increasing your people skills, and your ability to
bend others to your will(mwahaha).
The
bottom line, is, again, practice. Pick a skill, and GO FOR IT! And
try to focus on just one to start, it will make your life much easier in
the long run(don't worry, you have plenty of time to master anything
you'd like).
So that's it for today. It's good to be
back, folks. I'm not sure what kind of update schedule I'm going to be
on for the time being, so I suggest you keep an eye on the
Facebook page and my
Twitter so you know when the next update goes out!
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
