Don’t let this post about being stealthy in Skyrim sneak by you

I haven’t touched The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in a couple of weeks now, but I did put some solid hours into the beast right before Christmas hit. Hey, I had time off of work, and well, I didn’t really know what to do with myself so I just plopped down and teleported away for a bit. From that spree, I was able to finish off the Thieves Guild questline–not counting restoring it to its former glory, which is based around doing a thousand and five miscellaneous tasks for Vex and Delvin–went to jail and then escaped, and polished off a sidequest called The Man Who Cried Wolf, which had the Dovahkiin investigating a cave after rumors of disappearances and strange lights. Also, I got my first skill up to the cap of 100. See here:

Skill Master (40G): Get a skill to 100

Now I’m sure you’re all chomping at the bit to guess which skill I raised to one hundred first. Was it Smithing? Nope. How about Heavy Armor? Um, no. Two-handed Weapons? Unicorn Riding? General Economics? Get real, kids. It was…

SNEAK

Duuuuuuuh. This really should come as no surprsie to anyone that’s been following Grinding Down now and/or for some decent length of time. I love being stealthy in videogames (except when they punish me for going the stealth route ::ahem:: Deus Ex: Human Revolution ::cough::), and since I’ve never been great at swinging swords, blocking with shields, or casting crazy magic spells, I built my character around the battle-plan of creeping through dark dungeons and loosing arrows from afar, hiding in shadows when caught. This works out pretty well except for when I have to fight a dragon or get spotted and then have to deal with a draugr right up in my face.

From what I can gather, the sneak skill increases in a couple of ways. You boost it by literally sneaking around people unnoticed, whether out in the woods or in a cave or potentially inside the hall of some great jarl. The other way is to kill enemies (or animals in the wrong place at the wrong time) without being detected. With an enchanted bow and the perks to zoom in and slow down time, this becomes a piece of sweetroll. And thanks to finishing off the Thieves Guild quests, I now possess the special ability to turn invisible for a significant length of time, useable once per day. Nobody is ever going to see me coming.

There are some downsides to being a sneak master though. I previously mentioned that once you are spotted it can be pretty difficult to defend yourself, especially if there’s more than one foe coming at you. The best tactic I have is to skate backwards and hide in a corner in hopes of them giving up after a few minutes. Because I like to be quiet and not alert everybody to my presence, I can’t bring along companions. I had a companion once; her name was Lydia, and she was loud as all gets, and sadly, something killed her so that I didn’t have to, and missions where I have to team up with someone never work well as they constantly run forward into rooms to say hi to everyone. And lastly, because of my OCD to creep and inch my way forward, going through a single cave can sometimes take up to an hour or more, whereas a warrior-like character would just charge through, smash everything with a mace, scoff at traps, and loot all chests before the fifteen minute mark.

But yeah, I’ve topped Sneak. Haven’t bought the 100 level perk for it yet though, and I’m not sure if I need it exactly, but we’ll see. I kind of like saving my perk points. My next closest skill to 100 is Archery, and after that I need to work on Light Armor or Pick-pocketing. Then nothing will be out of Lohgahn’s reach. And at some point I’ll pick a side (Imperial or Stormcloaks), but if it hasn’t turned out to be a rush after 70 hours or gaming, it probably won’t ever be.

Achievements of the Week – The Wanted Ghost Buster Saving My Quarters Edition

Hey, long time, no Achievements talk! Yeah, my bad. The last iteration of Achievements of the Week was back on December 9, 2011, and I totally planned to continue doing it all through the month, but then a drunk driver hit me as I was driving home and the holidays were in full swing and my depression surfaced with extreme tenacity. But I’m back, yo. I swears it. And I have plenty to report. Again, I’m not listing all the Achievements I unlocked over the last, um, three to four weeks, but some of the ones I liked the most.

And we’re off!

From The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim…

Wanted (10G): Escape from jail

Well, to be honest, this wasn’t as amazing as I thought it might be. I stole something in public, did not resist the guards, was taken to jail, picked the lock with ease, grabbed my gear, and left the Whiterun prison without a single soul aware I was even on the loose. And that’s it.

Darkness Returns (10G): Complete “Darkness Returns”

Finished the Thieves Guild questline…sort of. Seems like to return it to its former glory, I have to do an inane number of miscellaneous quests, which involve a lot of fast traveling, which also means a lot of loading screens. It’s on my to-do list, but not a priority just yet.

From LEGO Harry Potter, Years 5-7…

Shedding Skin (10): Complete “In Grave Danger”

Tara was able to wrap some Scotch tape around my second Xbox 360 controller’s faulty wire, and that seems to have solved the problem of it cutting in and out…for now. This has allowed us to play some co-op again.

From Rage…

Ghost Buster (10G): Complete Ghost Hideout in the Campaign

Waste Management (10G): Complete Wasted Garage in the Campaign

I haven’t played too much of Rage yet, but it’s not bad. Very pretty at times, and very ugly at times in terms of textures not loading. And no, I’m not going to instal 157 gigs onto my hard drive to make the game run better. But yeah, it’s okay. I do hope to play more of it, but I gotta remember to stock up on ammo like woah. Always running out of bullets because I’m terrible at aiming. Also, John Goodman for the win.

From Saints Row: The Third…

I previously shared some Achievements earlier this week, but here’s a another I got just the other day that makes me smile. It sure makes hijacking cars fun and fast.

Bo-Duke-En (10G): 50 quick vehicle hijacks, the Dukes would be proud.

From Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds…

Need a Healing Factor (10G): Win a match without blocking. (Arcade/Xbox LIVE only)

Saving My Quarters (20G): Beat Arcade mode without using any continues.

Female Flyers (15G): Make a team composed of women who can fly, and win a match. (Arcade/Xbox LIVE only)

In total, I’ve pinged 16 out of 47 Achievements already in MVC3, and while there’s a handful of others that are attainable, the majority are not. Just like in Street Fighter IV, most of the Achievements require skill, endurance, and grinding. Not really for me, but it’s a nice edition to the collection for those times when Tara and I want to just mash buttons and have seizure-inducing images flash on screen.

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Whew. Told you there would be a lot of ’em. But how about you? What cool Achievements have you pinged since last we met here? Share ’em below in the comments section, folks.