Video game education

Another family occasion and I ended up watching Bratus Major playing Oblivion on his Xbox while we both chatted to his mates via headset. He was getting bored with the game as getting tedious, I had the same thought when I played it until I created the chameleon suit. 100%+ undetectable; just fun to go wild in. There are some prerequisite quests first though and he was stuck on a Mage's Quest one; he needed a particular spell and couldn't find it.

"I've tried all the Mage's Guilds" he told me
I furrowed my brow in thought "Have you tried the University?" I asked
"No"


He fast travelled over, entered the first door he came to, spoke to the first person he saw, who had on offer the exact spell he was after. But he couldn't learn it as his skill level was too low.

"Just create a low level spell of the same level and keep casting it" I told him
"Create a spell?" he looked puzzled
So I sent him into another building to the spell creation lectern where he did just that - Fortify Fatigue strength 3 duration 1.
"Of course if you've got the gold and the spells you can create a multi-spell of different schools (i.e. skills) and you'll be levelling them all up at the same time"

Sadly not enough gold; an online conversation ensued about the best place to pick up gold quickly with some poor directions. Annoyance ensued and we gave up and the conversation turned to Assassin's Creed 2 (because I'd spotted the game case) and how I'd discovered a good way to get the No Hitter achievement which Major currently lacked.

He started scrabbling around "Where's the box?"
I reached over and picked it up, opened it and offered him the disc inside - a Sherlock Holmes DVD. He then picked up the Sherlock Holmes set and opened it to see if the AC2 disc was inside - it wasn't. We then went through his other cases. Nope.

He then went to the outside cupboard "Mom took a load of games" he said as he came back with an armful
"Took or do you mean confiscated?" I queried
He grinned "She came into my room and just took them" he replied
"Took or confiscated?" I tried again
He just grinned and went through them. No success.

"Okay we'll try Fallout3 instead" He loads it up
"Good or bad?" I asked
"Good" he replied. "Because I wanted him" points at Fawkes on the screen. This informs me he is near the end of the main quest and when he brings up the stats screen I see he's at the maximum level of 20 (minus add-ons).

"How do you like the Dart-gun?" I ask
"Haven't got it" he replies
"What, you've got to have the Dart gun it's the best weapon in the game!"

Essentially it's one you build out of spare parts so you don't have to spend any money repairing it; it's silent so if you miss it won't alert anyone, if you hit it still barely alerts anyone; it's poisoned so it slowly saps the target's health, and it cripple their legs so they can't run towards you. It's my default weapon while roaming around.

He's built-up a load of parts all stored at his Megaton House; so he builds it.
"I stick it on Quick-slot 2" I tell him, which is up on the d-pad
"I don't use the quick select" He replies.
Oh dear. He allocates a few items to the four cardinal points including a poor melee weapon.
"Haven't you got the Shishkebab?" I ask
"No"
Ah he's a handbrake away from building it.
"Where can I get one of those?" he asks me.
I think for a moment "Where's the location with the mine field?"
"Minefield"
"Hah yeah, there's some lawnmowers there"
"But I've got the lawnmower blade"
"Yes but you tend to find they cluster the parts so there's some motorcycle bits there too"
One quick travel later and he builds that as well; draws it and his eyes light up at the Flaming Sword he's now carrying.
"Just don't carry it around in gas-filled room" I tell him
"I guessed that" he replies as he swipes it around his room

The Shishkebab is a good melee weapon, decent damage on it's own; plus it can set the target on fire for more damage, which in turn lights them up which is good in dark places; and it's got a decent reach meaning you can often hit other creatures without them being in range to hit you.

He brings up the Dart Gun - he has 13 darts.
"Have you been ignoring the darts?" I ask him
"No I've been selling them"
"Ah"

He heads out and kills a few Enclave soldiers, nicks their armour to repair his own.
"Went for the Energy Weapon boost over the Radiation resistance eh?"
Puzzled look
"The Tesla armour over the prototype Power Armour"
Puzzled look
"You haven't seen that power armour?"
"No I haven't!"
"You'll be telling me next you haven't visited the crashed UFO"
I receive a you're-making-this-up snarky grin
"No seriously - you can pick up an alien blaster there"

I know the site's in the North, but he's not been up there so he fast-travels as close as possible and walks. We still can't find it so I point him the Fallout wikia page. He fiddles with some connectors to bring up the computer.
"Doesn't the XBox have an internet browser?" I ask
"No it doesn't"
"Oh, the Playstation does"
Grumpy look.
Turns out his father has installed some protection on the system a white list in affect; he can visit sites it just blocks out any image not on the list of 'good sites'. It also screws up the CSS; needless to say we can't find it on the Wikia; but amusingly find the picture on Google and use it's thumbnail system to located both the UFO and Rockopolis which he's also missing.

So one extended trip later and we visit that site, and then we try to find Rockopolis.
"It's in a defile around here" I tell him
"A what?"
"Bring up your local map"
The map appears and there in the corner is a marker labelled Rockopolis.
"Always handy especially with those radio stashes"
"What radio stashes?"
"You know those transmitters you can turn on and get a radio signal"
"Yeah they just go beep, beep"
"Well they lead you to underground stashes of loot etc."
Exasperated look.

More travelling and an encounter in which he uses the Fat Man nuclear warhead launcher; he then located a wandering repair merchant, but the price to repair it is too high.

"Yeah that's the problem with the Fat Man, you need to find more of them to repair it otherwise it costs the earth. I suppose it's better than the Experimental version that fires off eight rounds at a time"
Stunned look
"You haven't found that either have you?"
"No I haven't! I think I'm going to start again it seems there's so much I've missed"

Hah I can still teach these young whippersnappers a thing or too :-P