D. GEMINI'S USER PAGEEdit
Quote of the Month"There are many things given to us in this life, for the wrong reasons. What we do with such blessings, that is the true test of a man." -Spartacus |
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About MeEdit
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D. Gemini wishes to greet his fellow Elder Scrolls players and UESP contributorsEdit
I thought I'd tell everyone a little bit about myself before talking about The Elder Scrolls, but if you don't care about my real life then by all means, scroll down to my Oblivion section. First off, I'm in my 20's and living in Southern California. I've always had a passion for fantasy and adventure movies, books and games, especially those that contain a medieval setting with swords, magic, creatures and a deep story with interesting lore. My favorite games are RPGs because of this, and my favorite game is still Final Fantasy VI (III in the US). To me the story in that game will always seem epic and if they ever remade it I could die a happy man. I also loved FFIX, FFVII, Chrono Trigger, Secret Of Mana, almost all Breath Of Fire games and of course, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I can't wait until 11-11-11 for TESV:Skyrim to come out, although I wish I had a good PC to play it on. Sadly, I only have a cheap Windows laptop. My Mac Pro however is Intel-based so I guess I could partition some of my hard drive and run Windows on it, but I'm scared to do that as my computer is my life. So I guess I will buy the game on the PS3 again, and hope that I don't get the short end of the stick again like I feel us PS3 users received with the previous adventures in Tamriel. I'm also currently reading the "Sword of Truth" series by Terry Goodkind, which I'm enjoying a lot so far. I could list more fantasy movies, tv shows and books that I like but that would take some time and precious user page space. The world which man has created is false, material things and money became the dominant factors in this time, when in fact being human is so much more.
On top of fantasy-based stories, I also like to sink my brain into some good science fiction. My favorite sci-fi shows are Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, Star Trek: Enterprise/The Next Generation and Farscape. Sometimes I have a hard time deciding which I love more, fantasy or sci-fi, so I tend to spend a few weeks indulging in one and then a few weeks in the other and so on. The real world can be so boring, the true adventure awaits you in the mind. Speaking of the brain, I believe if a soul does exist that it would dwell in the mind. There are more neurons in a cubic millimeter of brain matter than there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Energy can never cease to exist, it only transfers from one place to another, so the electricity/souls in our brains must go somewhere. As far as religion though, I don't necessarily believe in just one God. So I think the ancients were on to something worshipping multiple deities. I like how The Elder Scrolls universe employs such a belief system with the majority of Nirn's populace worshipping the Nine Divines. I do believe there is a God above all others, but if you want to make a connection with Him/Her, you can do so without a church. I'm a Transcendentalist, meaning that I believe examining nature is the best way to connect to the spirit world, not sitting in a chapel. Ralph Waldo Emerson was the leading exponent of Transcendentalism, and other notable followers were Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman. Anyways, I could go on about crazy stuff like this forever, and this is why every few weeks, some good sci-fi helps my train of thought return to the "what if's" of reality.
I also have my own little music studio I put together in my room where I produce my own hip-hop music. However I tend to sit down and make interesting pieces of fantasy type melodies with no drum kits quite often just for fun. I'm currently writing three different books with one being fantasy, one science fiction and the other a horror story. I'm always changing my mind of what I should be doing with my life or which project I should work on next. I went to college and took many classes on art like digital design, 3D Modeling and Animation classes, Figure Drawing, Acrylic Painting, Ceramics, among a few others. I was one class away from getting a certificate in 3D Modeling and Animation, and just a few away from a similar degree. I know, I should of finished. I have a hard time finishing anything in my life and I'm always hoping one day that will change somehow.
I've been editing articles on this wiki for over a year now, but I just made an account finally on August 26th, 2011. Now I can have my own page and sign my stuff on the talk pages and feel all important and stuff haha... I'm still trying to get the hang of all the coding I can use here especially for later additions to this page. Most of my edits on this wiki have been re-wording things and grammatical corrections, although I have found a few things like gameplay mistakes/glitches, and I've added missing information on various articles as well. Anyways, I'll go and sign some of the things I've written on some talk pages now if I can find any. I can't wait to see the UESP grow after Skyrim is released and will be making contributions when I can. I'm glad to be a part of the team on this great website and hope many adventures await us all in the future! And please, try to lay off the Skooma... :P
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* * * * * * * * * † ···•• AND NOW, ENOUGH ABOUT ME... ON TO MORROWIND ••··· † * * * * * * * * * |
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Edit
Things I DO in VvardenfellEdit
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Things I DON'T do in VvardenfellEdit
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My Obsession With Morrowind Begins...Edit
So I just started playing Morrowind for the first time in September 2011, and I'm so glad that I finally gave this awesome game a chance. I was always hearing how so many people thought it was better than Oblivion and now I know why. I'm having so much fun exploring the world that I haven't even wanted to continue playing Oblivion since I created my Dunmer. Now mind you I HAVE installed over 100 mods so far, and they are making the game even better, but I was enjoying it without any mods for a couple weeks first. A Bug Fix Patch and some good texture packs for the landscapes (Visual Pack XT), creatures (Darknut), NPCs (Better Bodies and Heads), weapons, armor and clothing (Darknut again) are all a great place to start out, along with Better Bodies, Better Clothes and Better Heads. After that I suggest a grass mod and Vurt's Tree Replacers. That is all you need really, but as many of you know when it comes to modding, why stop there? =) The Creatures X mod is great for more creatures/wildlife, while Abot's Water Life and Where Are All Birds Going add even more life to the waters and skies. Animated Morrowind and Children of Morrowind are also great for adding more NPCs to the world. Windows Glow is always great as well for making towns feel more alive at night. I could go on and on but for now I'll leave it at that. Aren't you jealous I get to play such a great game for the first time? =) Everything is new to me and yet familiar because I've put almost 300 hours into Oblivion. I honestly wish I would have spent that time in Morrowind but oh well... Now back to Vvardenfell I will be back here soon... (Under Construction...)
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* * * * * * * * * † ···•• AND NOW, WE SHALL MOVE ON TO OBLIVION ••··· † * * * * * * * * * |
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Edit
Things I DO in CyrodiilEdit
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Things I DON'T do in CyrodiilEdit
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My Oblivion Character (Last Update: September 13, 2011)Edit
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Name: Cyrus SolairEdit
Race: Redguard (Although I was born with a light complexion and became an outcast because of it.)
Birthsign: The Mage (I always knew I had a power waiting to be harnessed from within.)
Class: Warrior (My first task was to grow in the skills of a true warrior.)
Current Level: 16
Health: 311 (Just enough to survive a tough fight.)
Magicka: 164 (I wish my Magicka regenerated faster.)
Specialities: Blade, Blunt, Marksman, Heavy & Light Armor, Block, Destruction, Sneak
Days Passed: 173 (I'm still searching all of Cyrodill for clues which will lead me to Emperor Uriel Septim's illegitimate son, Martin.)
Active Quests: 15
Quests Completed: 41
Fame: 32
Infamy: 1
Creatures Killed: 515
People Killed: 84 (Only people who attacked me first.)
Oblivion Gates Shut: 0 (I haven't been to Kvatch yet.)
Houses Owned: 8 (My favorite three houses in order are: Skingrad, Chorrol, Cheydinhal.)
Active Quest: Join The Mages Guild - "I have received recommendations from all the local guild halls in Cyrodiil. I must now travel to the Arcane University, and speak with Raminus Polus." (I've never been to the Arcane University. At this point in time I may begin doing quests for any of the guilds because I haven't really started any of them. I think I will become an apprentice mage first however, so that I may strengthen my magick skills for the long journey ahead of me.)
Last Completed Quest: Anvil Recommendation - "I have completed my task for Carahil." (This was my favorite Recommendation Quest because I loved the help I got on the Gold Road, just east of Brina Cross Inn to rid the area of the murderous thief Caminalda.)
Back StoryEdit
Cyrus is a Redguard with an almost non-existent past. At east that's what he thought when he woke up in the Imperial City Dungeon with no recollection of how he ended up in that dismal place. It was a dark and dirty place, with a foul stench of what seemed to be a mixture of skooma and Orc defecation. Then someone in the cell across from him whispered, "Psst! Hey Redguard. Who'd you kill to end up in here?". Cyrus reluctantly responded in a stutter, "K-k-kill? I didn't kill anyone!". At the same time he said this, in his mind he thought to himself, "...or did I?". His thoughts interrupted, "Yeah right...", said the prisoner, "then who's blood is that all over your hands?". Cyrus looked down at his hands and saw the dried up blood all over them as well as his clothing, and at that exact moment he had a flashback of how it got there.
It was the night before, Cyrus had been traveling for hours across the border of Hammerfell into Cyrodiil towards the town of Chorrol. He had never been to Cyrodiil, and he wasn't there by choice. You see, just hours before he had been banished from his village, which was just west of the city of Elinhir in North-Eastern Hammerfell, near the border of Cyrodiil. One afternoon, the ruler of the region's men rode by the small farm town in a small caravan, and saw Cyrus plowing a field for his aunt, who had just recently buried her husband. The reason Cyrus got singled out by these men, is because they saw the pigment of the young man's skin. As most Redguards have a dark brown complexion, Cyrus had skin that was just as pale as that of an Imperial, the race many Redguards disliked so much. In fact, many Imperials have been banished from almost all the desert settlements in Hammerfell. And that's exactly what would happen to Cyrus that fateful day. He was put into a locked stagecoach like an animal for the slaughter, and taken up into the mountains near the borders of North-Eastern Hammerfell and Cyrodiil.
As he was taken, his aunt, crying frantically, wasn't even allowed to say goodbye properly to her nephew whom she relied on so much. Through the small window he watched, as his aunt tried to stop them and ran towards the men pleading for her nephew to be released. They warned her to stay back, but she was defiant, and it was at that moment one of the men unsheathed his longsword, and thrust it through her fragile stomach. "Let that be a lesson to anyone here!' shouted the rider, showing no remorse for what he had just done, "White demons are not allowed in the region! You all know this! Harboring of such filth will and must have penalty! From this day forth this man is an outcast, banished from this village and any other in the region!" Cyrus screamed as he saw his aunt fall to the ground, knowing she would never survive the mortal wound. As the caravan passed through the small wooden gate to the village, he heard his aunt say the last thing he would ever hear from the last of his family's bloodline. "Follow the light Cyrus! Your mother was right! You must believe it! You must... fulfill your destiny!". Cyrus screamed so loud it sounded like a battle cry. It was so piercing it could be heard echoing as far as the mountains to the east, and all the birds flew from the trees, startled from the sound of utter rage and despair. He wanted to kill the men that did this to him, it was all he could think about as he saw his village get further and further away, until it disappeared down in the foggy valley, the sun setting one last time over the farm he knew he would never see again. During the bumpy and most uncomfortable journey the riders were calling Cyrus all kinds of names like "white skin", "half breed", "Imperial filth", amongst many other derogatory words which cut him deeply. He laid down on his side, hands bound by rope, and closed his tear-filled eyes, trying to figure out how this all came to be.
When Cyrus was but a boy he remembers clearly his parents, before they we're killed by mauraders, telling him he was special, and that Anu had blessed him in the womb, and that it was for this reason he was born with a light that shone from within so bright it turned his skin almost white. His mother Marduin would often sing him a song before tucking him in his bed at night, running her gentle hands down his cheek as he drifted off into sleep, she would sing, "My brave little Cyrus, so strong and so true, honest and holy and blessed by Anu. You have a great calling so let fate lead you, a knight from the stars, destiny born anew." He had always believed his mother, believed in her visions, up until the day the Nine Divines took her and his father away from him, it was at that time he started to distance himself from the church. He was at the age of 15 when his aunt Luzia took him in as her own, and taught him to run his uncle's farm. After running the farm almost single-handedly on his own for many years, at the age of 23, his uncle got sick and passed away. The young Redguard was starting to feel like he was really alone in this world.
As he heard his captors talk of arriving at their destination, and that nobody would know if their prisoner even made it to the border, they talked of throwing him down a steep cliff to rid the Nirn of another pale skin demon. Hearing this he snapped out of his memories quickly and got ready for what was to come... (To be continued...)
Interesting CoincidenceEdit
I had no idea the main character in the game, The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard was named Cyrus. I had never heard of that game, and in fact I have been naming almost all my characters in games Cyrus since the SNES came out in 1991, seven years before Redguard even came out. I don't consider my character to be the same person or a descendant of the Cyrus in that game, but still it's an interesting coincidence don't you think? If anyone likes my story so far or has any criticism please feel free to write me a post on my Talk page. =)
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* * * * * * * * * † ···•• AND NOW, ON TO SKYRIM ••··· † * * * * * * * * * |
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Edit
My First Impression Of SkyrimEdit
First of all, I would like to say I am very excited for the next installment in this enthralling series. TESV: Skyrim, is shaping out to be an amazing looking game and a huge step up from previous Elder Scrolls games. Of course they did have many many years to decide on the direction they wanted to go with gameplay, story and art. I can't believe it's almost out, and although I most likely won't pre-order, I will buy it within the first few weeks of it's release. I will almost definitely be a Nord for my first play through and because the game is so massive, it might be the only character I actually beat the main story with. I am tempted to be an Argonian for the simple fact they look so awesome this time. Now, because of my mostly German, Irish, Norwegian and Spaniard heritage, if I wanted a character to be the most like me, I guess I kind of have my pick between Nords, Bretons or Imperials. I have light brown hair with a hint of red in my beard so I think playing a Nord is the best true-to-life option. I thought about creating another Redguard, but I've spent over 250 hours as one already in Oblivion, so I think I'll try something different.
I do have a few gripes about the races preset images I've seen, and hopefully some of them will be fixed or not so obvious in the final product. If you look at the noses (click here and scroll down to see races) of the Bretons, Imperials, Nords, Redguards and Orcs, you will see a jagged pixelated effect on each of them. It seems to be the worst on the females of a given race, especially Bretons. This is caused by a lack of the proper amount of polygons comprising the nose itself. If you look at the rest of the models' heads you can see it's very organic and their mesh's have plenty of polygons, so when it comes to the noses, I don't see why they didn't have the amount needed to make the tips and nostrils look round instead of jagged, which in my opinion lowers the quality of the model altogether. It doesn't make much sense also if you consider the Mer Races (Altmer, Bosmer and Dunmer) don't really suffer from this nosey artifact. My other big gripe, and probably an even more noticeable one, is the way the female Kahjiit's necks look. They are way to long and skinny and just don't look very proportionate to me, considering their male counterparts. I hope they fix the "jagged noses" and Kahjiit "Muppet Neck Syndrome" before release, but those are visual gripes and I can live with them.
As far as gameplay goes there's a few things that are a little unnerving that I've heard about. For one, if you drop an item on the ground there's a good chance NPCs around you will go for them and perhaps even fight over them. That just seems a little silly, unless the items have to be there for a while before they feel the urge to take your stuff. The reason it scares me is I don't want people dying for seemingly unimportant reasons. I do hope more NPCs are essential this time around. Another thing that scares me is that dragons can attack towns. And for the same reason as the fighting over dropped items I hope more people are essential. I would hate a town to become almost deserted 200 hours into the game just because dragons keep randomly killing people off. I think dragons attacking towns is a cool idea on paper, but I think it would be better if they only attacked during a cinematic story sequence or if a caravan full of worthless NPCs that were involved in no quests and sold nothing were the targets. I did hear that if a non-essential merchant dies, that sometimes someone else like a family member may take over their shop though, which is very cool. I just hope that the person who takes over the shop is essential. I guess I just want more people to be essential haha...
I do also have a problem with the new menu system, not necessarily how it works, but how it looks. The menus in Skyrim are just plain black boxes with very modern futuristic looking white font. I know I will miss the menus from Oblivion and the way they were made to look like old parchments and canvas with a brown calligraphy style font, which suits the game world perfectly. The new plain white font on pitch black menus look boring and like something you would see in a science fiction game, not a fantasy. I know it will bug me and that everythime I open my menu, (which is every 5 minutes) I will be taken out of my immersion in the world a little bit. Hopefully I'll get used to it, but the only thing that says "fantasy" in the menus will be the item names and renderings of the items themselves. I know someone will probably make a mod for PC users to change the look of the menus, but sadly I'll be playing on my PS3. Ugh... so these are the things that are really bothering me so far about what I've seen and heard about Skyrim. However, I can live with all of these things as long as the story and game mechanics are well designed, and if there aren't so many bugs/glitches like those that plagued Oblivion, especially on the console versions with no mods. I will also be upset if the PS3 gets the least amount of content again because that's my system of choice, and I feel I should get at least everything the 360 gets as far as add-ons for the next installment of the Elder Scrolls games. However life isn't fair, and life rarely goes in the direction you thought it would. Fate is a web blowing on the wind, and while it may lead you to where your headed, the currents change, and the choice is yours to try again to catch the wind, or stay caught in the place your web gets tangled.
The good is outweighing the bad however which is a good thing...
Things that make Skyrim better than OblivionEdit
- Third person view looks great
- Environments look even more realistic
- Textures have been overhauled from the ground up
- No face zooming and background freezing when speaking to an NPC
- More wildlife and insects
- Some females actually look attractive and you can get married, although most have dirt all over their bodies, and most older people look too pretty
- You can marry someone along with buying multiple properties
- Many dragons will come back (respawn) after some time, so you will never be a jobless dragon hunter
- Dragons!
- Horses look much better although seem a little short
- Duel-wielding weapons and spells for different moves and damage amount
- Shadows now play a bigger role for a thief although they move every 10 seconds or so in little steps lick a clock, and they're pretty blocky, and on PS3 they glitch out and flash a lot
- Weapon specific "finishing moves"
- People with jobs (i.e. Cook) will now actually do them instead of just standing around
- More ways to make money
- More voice actors, although many NPCs say only 2 or 3 lines of dialog
- Dragons!
