SureAI's new project: Enderal - The Shards of Order (Mostly about Enderal SE now)

[volklore]

The names are pretty dumb. That said, been playing this with the EMW wabbjack modlist and it's been a pleasure so far-I think I am hitting mid-late game, lvl 30 sword and board, and I think I am halfway through the MQ. I always thought the praise enderal got was the standard TES modding scene auto-fellatio like it did for big skyrim mods like Falskaar (which were big but shit) so I skipped it. I was really wrong. The game looks and plays well, environments are stellar, and the story/characters are really promising. The PB style world design is the best thing about the game so far and the EGO mod really, really makes the skyrim hp bloat combat a lot more enjoyable.

Oh, also the economy is really fucking good in Enderal (which I assume is helped by EGO tweaks) - I always feel broke because leveling skills is so expensive, buying new gear, magic resist potions, ambrosia really is an invstment which keeps the resource management aspect of the early game still very much present well into the midgame.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Oh, also the economy is really fucking good in Enderal (which I assume is helped by EGO tweaks) - I always feel broke because leveling skills is so expensive, buying new gear, magic resist potions, ambrosia really is an invstment which keeps the resource management aspect of the early game still very much present well into the midgame.

It's this way in the base mod too.

 

[Siveon]

Playing with gameplay mods on your first playthrough is dumb.

 

[volklore]

Playing with gameplay mods on your first playthrough is dumb.

meh, I played skyrim before, I was only able to enjoy skyrim with requiem. I would rather not waste this time with enderal. Enderal is still skyrim under the hood even with all the upgrades and changes

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Playing with gameplay mods on your first playthrough is dumb.

meh, I played skyrim before, I was only able to enjoy skyrim with requiem. I would rather not waste this time with enderal. Enderal is still skyrim under the hood even with all the upgrades and changes

Wouldn't go so far as to say the gameplay is the same level as requiem, but it's there.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Been fucking around with this for the first* time and I'm enjoying it fairly well. The biggest knock against it is that it still feels very Skyrim, and even though I like Skyrim more than a lot of the Codex I've kinda had my fill. Helping liven things up by playing a dick-ass thief though which even though stealth archers are a TES meme, in TES games I always play paladins waddling around in heavy armor with a bit of healing and ignore stealth/lockpicking/most magic entirely. Enderal's perks are kinda fun too, been increasing the archery and lockpicking line and being able to pull fire arrows out of my ass helped spruce up my character a hell of a lot. The dialog is surprisingly well done so far (Voice acting being pretty good considering it's a mod, but more specifically the flow of dialog feels decent despite being in Skyrim) and the world/area design's great, just still feels very Skyrim. Not running any sub-mods on top of it so I don't doubt that you could spruce things up even more, but I can't be bothered to install rape mods then I sure as hell can't be bothered to install combat mods. Still not 100% sure if I'll stick with it and keep playing but I am quite impressed regardless.

*Technically not the first time since I took a really short look at it some years back before they released it as a major mod on Steam, and certainly before the Special Edition version. At that point I only ran out of the tutorial and got to town and promptly quit because killing wolves was giving me Skyrim PTSD, but since I've had a few more Skyrim-less years since then I'm able to enjoy it more.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I recommend everyone playing this game for the first time to at least continue playing it until you arrive in Ark, the biggest and capital city of the game. The game really only opens up at that point in my opinion.

Will do. Sunk more time in this evening and I seem to have most stuff wrapped up in newbie town so Ark's on the agenda soon. Oddly enough the thing grating on me even more than the combat currently is the music. The music's pretty decent but there's nowhere near enough of it so it feels like the same 2 songs have been on endless loop. May end up muting it and either doing without or just running the Morrowind soundtrack in the background or something, though it is nice to have the music change to tell me that a bear is trying to maul me or whatever.

Sometimes you just know.

 

[Nikanuur]

Been fucking around with this for the first* time and I'm enjoying it fairly well. The biggest knock against it is that it still feels very Skyrim, and even though I like Skyrim more than a lot of the Codex I've kinda had my fill. Helping liven things up by playing a dick-ass thief though which even though stealth archers are a TES meme, in TES games I always play paladins waddling around in heavy armor with a bit of healing and ignore stealth/lockpicking/most magic entirely. Enderal's perks are kinda fun too, been increasing the archery and lockpicking line and being able to pull fire arrows out of my ass helped spruce up my character a hell of a lot. The dialog is surprisingly well done so far (Voice acting being pretty good considering it's a mod, but more specifically the flow of dialog feels decent despite being in Skyrim) and the world/area design's great, just still feels very Skyrim. Not running any sub-mods on top of it so I don't doubt that you could spruce things up even more, but I can't be bothered to install rape mods then I sure as hell can't be bothered to install combat mods. Still not 100% sure if I'll stick with it and keep playing but I am quite impressed regardless.

*Technically not the first time since I took a really short look at it some years back before they released it as a major mod on Steam, and certainly before the Special Edition version. At that point I only ran out of the tutorial and got to town and promptly quit because killing wolves was giving me Skyrim PTSD, but since I've had a few more Skyrim-less years since then I'm able to enjoy it more.

I don't know if my feeling has been based on the similar grounds, but I did have the same. That is, until I had reached the first village and started questing. And the feeling totally went away with reaching the Ark, and thus geting into the open world. As Phos hinted.

Sure, if you look closer, you will recognise the similar building blocks to Skyrim, un-moded combat is the same way clunky etc. etc. but the whole feeling is from a totally different world. Different atmosphere, different ways of things, different RPG approach, deleveled world... and the writing... oh boy, Enderal is on par with the glory of the old Bioware. Even better I'd say, because it's not tons of texts everywhere, only hundreds of kilos :3 and well placed. This game has made it to the piedestal of the best games I've ever played. To put it into a perspective - I am 43, and I have played since the beginning of the PC platform tens of hours per week.

I like Skyrim enough, but not to an extend I 'd glorify it. It's "only" a pretty good RPG experience. Enderal is something else. Enderal is a revelation of a game. Made me not wanting to play anything else for a loooong time. I couldn't believe my eyes it was an indie project.

Little advice, do install some mods. E.G.O. and TK Dodge for starters.

 

[Nikanuur]

Playing with gameplay mods on your first playthrough is dumb.

meh, I played skyrim before, I was only able to enjoy skyrim with requiem. I would rather not waste this time with enderal. Enderal is still skyrim under the hood even with all the upgrades and changes

Wouldn't go so far as to say the gameplay is the same level as requiem, but it's there.

I have six words for you. E.G.O. mod

And yes, I can't count, a rat has just bitten my leg off. That has got also some mental debuffs you know. What was I thinking donning a heavy armor and a big sword without the skill to wear these?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

E.G.O. mod

Nix, I intend to play it without mods at least the first time around

 

[Nikanuur]

E.G.O. mod

Nix, I intend to play it without mods at least the first time around

By all means, do what you will, it's best to do one's decisions for themselves.

I just wished to state, that if Requiem made Skyrim playable for you, you'd very likely do yourself a disservice of playing Enderal without E.G.O (and TK Dodge) mods.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I just wished to state, that if Requiem made Skyrim playable for you, you'd very likely do yourself a disservice of playing Enderal without E.G.O (and TK Dodge) mods

Gotcha, thanks

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I don't know if my feeling has been based on the similar grounds, but I did have the same. That is, until I had reached the first village and started questing. And the feeling totally went away with reaching the Ark, and thus geting into the open world. As Phos hinted.

Got to Ark tonight and initial impressions are kinda cool. Limiting myself a bit so I don't get swamped by quests too bad, barely stuck my nose into town and already picked up 3 quests from random shitheads. Admittedly I already finished one quest (Troll fucking the horses) and another quest is on the back-burner for a while (Dude wanting me to investigate his grandfather's lab, sounds like that will involve some travel and head to a dangerous area so I'll get to that later) but if I only keep a few quests on my plate at any given time I'm more likely to remember what the hell I'm supposed to be doing and the context for everything.

Also gotta say the trip to Ark was nice. Enderal's got some nice looking locations. Found a monster-door being guarded by some bandits and it's barricaded on the monster's side of things apparently, almost want to ignore questing and go explore the other side of the mountains to find the opposite side of that door just 'cause that'll be eating at me until I see what's on the other side.

 

[Nikanuur]

Playing with gameplay mods on your first playthrough is dumb.

So is saying that

I don't know if my feeling has been based on the similar grounds, but I did have the same. That is, until I had reached the first village and started questing. And the feeling totally went away with reaching the Ark, and thus geting into the open world. As Phos hinted.

Got to Ark tonight and initial impressions are kinda cool. Limiting myself a bit so I don't get swamped by quests too bad, barely stuck my nose into town and already picked up 3 quests from random shitheads. Admittedly I already finished one quest (Troll fucking the horses) and another quest is on the back-burner for a while (Dude wanting me to investigate his grandfather's lab, sounds like that will involve some travel and head to a dangerous area so I'll get to that later) but if I only keep a few quests on my plate at any given time I'm more likely to remember what the hell I'm supposed to be doing and the context for everything.

Also gotta say the trip to Ark was nice. Enderal's got some nice looking locations. Found a monster-door being guarded by some bandits and it's barricaded on the monster's side of things apparently, almost want to ignore questing and go explore the other side of the mountains to find the opposite side of that door just 'cause that'll be eating at me until I see what's on the other side.

Aaaaaargh, that particular door had haunted me for quite some time. As for the questing:
1) Totally, don't get yourself swamped.
2) Enderal is kinda smart in this, if you let the main line go on, it will take you through the parts of Ark itself. You'll explore it and memorize its location inadvertendly due to this. You may, but totally don't need to do it as a chore beforehand.
3) Abandoning questing and go on exploring for some time... do it! It's a huge world with many mysteries and surprises.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

So is saying that

I'd certainly agree that playing Skyrim unmodded is an ill advised endeavor. Enderal did remove the chief irritants that I felt trivialized any challenge, so maybe it's worth a vanilla run.

 

[Yosharian]

Enderal My Way is just Enderal but better. It doesn't make any massive changes, just improvements all around. I mean there are some changes but they are small ones.

That said it is being actively bugfixed/developed right now so maybe play vanilla Enderal atm

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I recommend everyone playing this game for the first time to at least continue playing it until you arrive in Ark, the biggest and capital city of the game. The game really only opens up at that point in my opinion.

Will do. Sunk more time in this evening and I seem to have most stuff wrapped up in newbie town so Ark's on the agenda soon. Oddly enough the thing grating on me even more than the combat currently is the music. The music's pretty decent but there's nowhere near enough of it so it feels like the same 2 songs have been on endless loop. May end up muting it and either doing without or just running the Morrowind soundtrack in the background or something, though it is nice to have the music change to tell me that a bear is trying to maul me or whatever.

Sometimes you just know.

white women...

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

1) Totally, don't get yourself swamped.
2) Enderal is kinda smart in this, if you let the main line go on, it will take you through the parts of Ark itself. You'll explore it and memorize its location inadvertendly due to this. You may, but totally don't need to do it as a chore beforehand.
3) Abandoning questing and go on exploring for some time... do it! It's a huge world with many mysteries and surprises.

Thanks for the tip on following the main quest to learn Ark. Actually felt kinda silly since I had been slightly ignoring the main quest in favor of side-questing, and once I finished up all the quests in that little town I figured it was time to head out, and the damn goofy bastard Jespar gave me a selection of skill books after I'd already maxed my most immediately relevant skills to the 25 point cutoff. It's definitely nice that the main quest tries to ease you into the game, just wasn't really expecting it. Not massively important since apprentice-tier skill books are cheap, but still!

Yeah, you should definitely ignore this quest for the time being as you'd have to visit two locations in two different, far off regions (first Fogville Harbor in the Dark Valley region and then Fortress Fogwatch in the Whisperwood region). Furthermore, the Fortress is packed full with relatively high level enemies which is why the quest is rated hard by the game itself (three out of fours quest stars).

Also thanks for these tips! Having arcane fever easier to manage would be nice, though fortunately I've only had to slam back potions once. Was checking out a pirate cave and entered a cabin that as it turned out had a higher level bandit in it with a magical life draining sword. Bad news for my archer dork, but fire arrows and emergency healing potions got me through. I do end up raising arcane fever due to magical "Radiation" fairly often though, so if it helps with that that'll be really handy. The penalty for it isn't that bad at whatever rank it's at for me (IIRC it just reduces my carrying capacity) but the less I need ambrosia the better.

Did notice the teleport scrolls! Quite reasonably priced too, strikes a good balance between the convenience of Oblivion/Skyrim fast travel while retaining enough feeling of setting off for adventure. Can't just warp to any random-ass dungeon you've tagged but it cuts down on the travel for when you're wrapping things up and heading to town.

Did grab all the bounties in Riverville, and haven't seen a notice board in Ark yet but I'll definitely grab those too. And being generous to beggars, eh? My gut feeling would be ignore them since I'm playing a thief, but I did change my mind and pass out some pennies just in case they end up leading me to a thieves' guild or something. Undercity's absolutely on the agenda for that reason too. Don't know if there are actual thief quests in Enderal but it does seem like there's some good shit on characters. The mayor of Riverville's got a 400+ zorkmid crown and I assume there are good pickings in Ark. The tavern I hit up in Ark has a master locked door in it that I'm itching to check out but I need another level or two to reach that perk.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Pro tip: Keep checking your status/condition on a regular basis. You can check it by pressing the P button (I think). It should open up the tab with your spells. The last tab (the one on the far right) shows all your temporary and permanent bonuses/penalties. Keep checking it, because you can and will catch illnesses/hexes/etc. during battles without noticing. There's a short notification in form of a small text message in the top left corner, but it can be very easily missed during the chaos of a battle.

Use the potion "Cure Illness" (or something like that - I don't remember the exact name anymore) to get rid of the negative effects (reduced HP, reduced MP, reduced damage, reduced armor, reduced carry weight, etc.).

Yep, been keeping an eye on that. It's how I knew the arcane fever wasn't too detrimental yet, and I've got a disease of some sort but it only impacts melee damage so I'll just keep my STD for now since it doesn't hurt me.

Mark and recall are in Enderal, eh? I've been avoiding using magic just for LARP reasons (Same reason I tend to limit my characters in TES games too. I'll more freely cheese and abuse stuff within an archetype but won't go outside of it much if at all) but I might use those just for convenience. Maybe spectral chest too, though so far I haven't felt like I've left too much valuable loot behind. Don't doubt that'll change as I hit fancier places.

Magical lockpicking might be great but since I'm dumb with my LARPing it's more satisfying to pick stuff rather than casting knock spells. One weird thing with Enderal is it appears that you either want to raise your lockpicking skill OR take the perks, but there's little reason for both. Apparently higher levels of the skill allows you to pick higher tier locks but taking those perks (All of which are required except the master-tier perk on the archery line) also lets you pick higher tiers. I guess your picks may not break as fast is you raise your skill too, but it doesn't seem worth it. Much rather have rhetoric, sleight of hand, or maybe alchemy for "Craft" skills since the perks basically cover lockpicking. Did spend some books on that before it dawned on me but it's not such a huge investment I should be fine. Guess there's the general crafting skill too but I might skip that even though the loading screens have mentioned some of the best gear can only be crafted.

 

[Nikanuur]

Pro tip: Keep checking your status/condition on a regular basis. You can check it by pressing the P button (I think). It should open up the tab with your spells. The last tab (the one on the far right) shows all your temporary and permanent bonuses/penalties. Keep checking it, because you can and will catch illnesses/hexes/etc. during battles without noticing. There's a short notification in form of a small text message in the top left corner, but it can be very easily missed during the chaos of a battle.

Use the potion "Cure Illness" (or something like that - I don't remember the exact name anymore) to get rid of the negative effects (reduced HP, reduced MP, reduced damage, reduced armor, reduced carry weight, etc.).

Yep, been keeping an eye on that. It's how I knew the arcane fever wasn't too detrimental yet, and I've got a disease of some sort but it only impacts melee damage so I'll just keep my STD for now since it doesn't hurt me.

Mark and recall are in Enderal, eh? I've been avoiding using magic just for LARP reasons (Same reason I tend to limit my characters in TES games too. I'll more freely cheese and abuse stuff within an archetype but won't go outside of it much if at all) but I might use those just for convenience. Maybe spectral chest too, though so far I haven't felt like I've left too much valuable loot behind. Don't doubt that'll change as I hit fancier places.

Magical lockpicking might be great but since I'm dumb with my LARPing it's more satisfying to pick stuff rather than casting knock spells. One weird thing with Enderal is it appears that you either want to raise your lockpicking skill OR take the perks, but there's little reason for both. Apparently higher levels of the skill allows you to pick higher tier locks but taking those perks (All of which are required except the master-tier perk on the archery line) also lets you pick higher tiers. I guess your picks may not break as fast is you raise your skill too, but it doesn't seem worth it. Much rather have rhetoric, sleight of hand, or maybe alchemy for "Craft" skills since the perks basically cover lockpicking. Did spend some books on that before it dawned on me but it's not such a huge investment I should be fine. Guess there's the general crafting skill too but I might skip that even though the loading screens have mentioned some of the best gear can only be crafted.

Yes, there are. Idk how soon though, I actually haven't used mark and recall until very late in game. I suppose that with all the scrolls of town teleportation freely found and sold, it felt more adventurous to just get to the settlement near to the point of interest, and then trek to the desired place, memorizing the countryside in the process.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Yes, there are. Idk how soon though, I actually haven't used mark and recall until very late in game. I suppose that with all the scrolls of town teleportation freely found and sold, it felt more adventurous to just get to the settlement near to the point of interest, and then trek to the desired place, memorizing the countryside in the process.

That does seem like a nice way of doing it. Did have a moment this evening where I wished I'd had a spectral chest, got filled up on loot when I went and got my arcane fever "Cured" and then snagged a bounty in the area too. Bunch of decently valuable pieces of equipment and some enchanted stuff. Made it back to town and got to around 4,500 ducats and then promptly spent it all on training books for adept-tier archery, sneak, and sleight of hand. Then I used my new sneakery and pick pocketing ability (Boosted some by getting a set bonus that was increasing stealth, as well as the cooldown on the assassin power for brief super-sneaks) to pick the pockets of a bunch of random merchants as well as mercilessly plunder the bank. Oddly enough I didn't find a vault inside the bank so I got fuck-all cash, but I did steal a bunch of expensive gems/goblets/clothing/etc. Now I just gotta find a fence so I can hock all my pricey stolen goods, which I assume will be in the undercity which is where I'll be headed next anyway for both a bounty and to try to find that book merchant's sister.

It's kinda weird but the more I play Enderal the more I'm enjoying it. Started off struggling to ignore the Skyrim feeling and now 15 hours into it I'm really enjoying the story and lore for the setting, general exploration, questing, advancing my character, pretty much everything. Even the combat's feeling better since things are pretty lethal both to me and to enemies. Which might be due to my character since everything's peachy if I'm raining arrows on someone but as soon as a wizard starts blasting me and I can't aim at him through the particle effects shit gets dicey in a hurry. Similarly packs of wolves can still pose a threat if they catch me unawares just because I'll shoot one and 2+ more will be chewing my face off. And as I've mentioned before in other threads I basically always love when a RPG ties character skills to money so cash always feels valuable. Enderal's definitely reached good game status and if it keeps up I can definitely see why you guys love it.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Enter the bank, go to the counter, open up a bank account and get a key for your safe deposit box. Enter the three storied side building of the bank (the door to your right from the counter) where all the safe deposit boxes and one vault room filled with gold bars are located and start looting . Most boxes can't be picked though, but can only be opened with keys.

Damn! I figured I probably should've done that. I opened up an account (As soon as he mentioned my money generating interest I felt a little foolish that I'd spent everything on books before checking the bank out, but such is life. Need some Might and Magic interest on my loot!) and he gave me a key but I didn't ask after that since I thought fuck it, I'll see if I can rob the bank with my current skills. Looted everything behind the front desk and the upper floor last night, broke into a few of the vaults this evening after reading your post. Still might need to raise lockpicking a little (Even with the master perk it's extremely difficult to pick master and expert locks, go through a lot of picks) but yoinked a decent stack of cash out of it.

The opening is kind of rough. I understand some of the general feelings behind it, keeping things more linear to ease the players into the game, but at the same time presumably anyone playing it has already at least played Skyrim so they probably could've dropped you into the meat of the game a little faster. And like you mentioned, the dream sequence I still know absolutely jack shit about other than some of the NPCs thinking it's a bit weird. Might've been nice to have a shorter on-rails portion of the early game but a few more quests to spruce up Riverville and the suncoast. Not chucking a new player into the deep end with Ark immediately but showing a smaller scale of what's to come. Maybe the dream sequence really pays off down the line though, if it's just "Now that makes sense" I'd say it wouldn't be worth it, but maybe it'll be some massive reveal that clicks all the pieces into place.

Also went and did a bunch of undercity wandering. Found a few fences and was able to sell off my stolen loot easily. Also found that merchant's sister and continued his quest which led me into the crypts accidentally (I saw the crypts while I was bounty hunting but I ignored them when I was coming at it from the corpse pit. When I saw an entrance into the crypts from the main city I figured the crypts probably wouldn't be that big and I could just use it as a shortcut. Turns out I was wrong, they were actually pretty large and I got a few levels mowing down a bunch of undead including a lich and walked out with armfuls of treasure) and had a bunch of wild adventure. Undercity's impressively large and a super cool area. That's true of basically all of Enderal but it still impresses me all the time. Does seem odd that the undercity is lit with big fucking spotlights while in Ark-proper there isn't much tech to be seen other than a few cannons.

 

[Nikanuur]

Yes, there are. Idk how soon though, I actually haven't used mark and recall until very late in game. I suppose that with all the scrolls of town teleportation freely found and sold, it felt more adventurous to just get to the settlement near to the point of interest, and then trek to the desired place, memorizing the countryside in the process.

That does seem like a nice way of doing it. Did have a moment this evening where I wished I'd had a spectral chest, got filled up on loot when I went and got my arcane fever "Cured" and then snagged a bounty in the area too. Bunch of decently valuable pieces of equipment and some enchanted stuff. Made it back to town and got to around 4,500 ducats and then promptly spent it all on training books for adept-tier archery, sneak, and sleight of hand. Then I used my new sneakery and pick pocketing ability (Boosted some by getting a set bonus that was increasing stealth, as well as the cooldown on the assassin power for brief super-sneaks) to pick the pockets of a bunch of random merchants as well as mercilessly plunder the bank. Oddly enough I didn't find a vault inside the bank so I got fuck-all cash, but I did steal a bunch of expensive gems/goblets/clothing/etc. Now I just gotta find a fence so I can hock all my pricey stolen goods, which I assume will be in the undercity which is where I'll be headed next anyway for both a bounty and to try to find that book merchant's sister.

It's kinda weird but the more I play Enderal the more I'm enjoying it. Started off struggling to ignore the Skyrim feeling and now 15 hours into it I'm really enjoying the story and lore for the setting, general exploration, questing, advancing my character, pretty much everything. Even the combat's feeling better since things are pretty lethal both to me and to enemies. Which might be due to my character since everything's peachy if I'm raining arrows on someone but as soon as a wizard starts blasting me and I can't aim at him through the particle effects shit gets dicey in a hurry. Similarly packs of wolves can still pose a threat if they catch me unawares just because I'll shoot one and 2+ more will be chewing my face off. And as I've mentioned before in other threads I basically always love when a RPG ties character skills to money so cash always feels valuable. Enderal's definitely reached good game status and if it keeps up I can definitely see why you guys love it.

Those prices on skill books, right... :D I totally feel you. And good thinking about the fence etc. because yeah, Enderal is well-aligned with the generaly-known RPG practices.
---
As for the wolves - I've said it many times by now, so I hope it's not a bother, but install TK Dodge mod. The ability to dodge is a beyond-awsome improvement to the combat (of both Skyrim and Enderal). And it doesn't come cheaply - it has a pretty small time-frame of invincibility, so it needs to be practiced, and it costs some stamina.

 

[Nikanuur]

Enter the bank, go to the counter, open up a bank account and get a key for your safe deposit box. Enter the three storied side building of the bank (the door to your right from the counter) where all the safe deposit boxes and one vault room filled with gold bars are located and start looting . Most boxes can't be picked though, but can only be opened with keys.

Damn! I figured I probably should've done that. I opened up an account (As soon as he mentioned my money generating interest I felt a little foolish that I'd spent everything on books before checking the bank out, but such is life. Need some Might and Magic interest on my loot!) and he gave me a key but I didn't ask after that since I thought fuck it, I'll see if I can rob the bank with my current skills. Looted everything behind the front desk and the upper floor last night, broke into a few of the vaults this evening after reading your post. Still might need to raise lockpicking a little (Even with the master perk it's extremely difficult to pick master and expert locks, go through a lot of picks) but yoinked a decent stack of cash out of it.

The opening is kind of rough. I understand some of the general feelings behind it, keeping things more linear to ease the players into the game, but at the same time presumably anyone playing it has already at least played Skyrim so they probably could've dropped you into the meat of the game a little faster. And like you mentioned, the dream sequence I still know absolutely jack shit about other than some of the NPCs thinking it's a bit weird. Might've been nice to have a shorter on-rails portion of the early game but a few more quests to spruce up Riverville and the suncoast. Not chucking a new player into the deep end with Ark immediately but showing a smaller scale of what's to come. Maybe the dream sequence really pays off down the line though, if it's just "Now that makes sense" I'd say it wouldn't be worth it, but maybe it'll be some massive reveal that clicks all the pieces into place.

Also went and did a bunch of undercity wandering. Found a few fences and was able to sell off my stolen loot easily. Also found that merchant's sister and continued his quest which led me into the crypts accidentally (I saw the crypts while I was bounty hunting but I ignored them when I was coming at it from the corpse pit. When I saw an entrance into the crypts from the main city I figured the crypts probably wouldn't be that big and I could just use it as a shortcut. Turns out I was wrong, they were actually pretty large and I got a few levels mowing down a bunch of undead including a lich and walked out with armfuls of treasure) and had a bunch of wild adventure. Undercity's impressively large and a super cool area. That's true of basically all of Enderal but it still impresses me all the time. Does seem odd that the undercity is lit with big fucking spotlights while in Ark-proper there isn't much tech to be seen other than a few cannons.

The Undercity caverns system is a place that can easily promote feelings of misery and horror to the player. I loved it :D

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Those prices on skill books, right... :D I totally feel you.

Fortunately there is a solution for ALL MONEY RELATED WOES!


Not sure if Enderal's got level scaling or if I'm just naturally hitting some higher level areas and enemies now. I'm finding some noticeably better equipped and stronger enemies but I THINK it might just be natural since I still find the occasional shitty bandit too. Got my archery up to a natural 50 now so further advancement will be even more expensive. Fire arrows aren't the I win button they once were but I'm still holding together. Some kinda story-spoilery adventuring below:

Spoiler

Toughest area thus far was the dude's secret sex dungeon. The lightning elementals were bastards, and the giant mud elemental wasn't terribly damaging (Though I had to chug a bunch of healing) but it had such high regeneration that it took forever to kill. Found his notes on dream flowers and dream potions and such. Little weird that I haven't seen the option to tell anyone about any of that yet, I had my big talk about the emissaries and cycles which is interesting. Making me wonder if that's going to be more directly connected to the game's magic system. Especially given the stuff with the dream-whatever potions. Just another case of Enderal being pretty cool.

You should have just put some points into Rhetoric. At your starting value (I think 15?), a Master learning book costs something like 1200-1300 gold pieces. With max. Rhetoric it's only something like 800. Plus, you get all those extra dialogue options.

Damn, that's a pretty sizable discount! Been raising my rhetoric skill but I'm kinda torn between bumping that and alchemy at the moment for my craft-skills. One big knock against alchemy is I'm not sure if I can stack my fire arrow ability with poisoned arrows since the fire arrows kinda count as an alternative ammo. I could dip a regular arrow and fire it and THEN activate fire but that might only be worthwhile against bosses and stuff. Possibly if I apply poison AFTER I've activated fire arrows it'll work. Was going to be arrows and alchemy but I'm having second thoughts. And sure the interest is only 250 a day at max, but that's still not too shabby. Could outright abuse it by just advancing time a bunch (Since I would doubt there are timed quests since that's relatively rare in RPGs) but I just sleep semi-regularly. Even if I'm gone for a couple days off on some adventure another 500 in the bank isn't too bad. Plus I'm balancing my money, keeping thousands in the bank to generate money and spending what I get while adventuring on more learning books so theoretically by the time when I'm wanting expert/master books I'll have a big chunk of change accumulated in the bank.

As for your other stuff:

Spoiler

I had been thinking about that because rather than just being named archetypes or Skyrim-constellations or whatever, the terminology of memory points and unlocking memories along certain named trees is fairly specific. After hearing about the cycles and the emissaries that makes a bit more sense too, though it still doesn't explain why as the "Prophet" I can learn things easier than other emissaries. Apparently. If I'm being told the truth. I don't particularly trust the head of the order but given everyone's going nuts and murder-happy it's worth it to stick with him for now anyway. I'm still in the dark as to the lady on the boat that zapped me with magical whatsits. Not sure if she was another emissary kicking off this nonsense by zapping me or what. Despite the fact that my character has told 3-4 people his story now (Jespar, the wizard, the other wizard, and the head of the order) none of them have commented on the robed chick floating me in the air in the hold of the ship. Everyone talks about it like the trauma of being chucked overboard tied to my dead buddy is what started my magical nonsense and the robed figure isn't even mentioned. Though all the tellings of my story are "Fade to black" so it's possible my character isn't mentioning her, but I have to assume he is.