Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

O.O
Damn
Dat
Is
SEXY

Anyway, I wish I had skyrim, but this would probably kill my computer.

Doesn't look that great to me, are my eyes damaged?

Don't see the point in running Skyrim mods. The base game is still fairly unrepeatable. Once you've done all the interesting quests once there's no real need to go back and do them again as a slightly different charector.

 Testify wrote:
Don't see the point in running Skyrim mods.

Yeah, you're kinda boring like that.

Skyrim is perfectly replayable. And if you're bored about quests, you know there are mods that add full quests out there.

I don't trust the average modder to make a decent quest at all, given that the ratio of decent quests in skyrim itself is so low.

I also have to invest serious personal time into searching for them and I am not willing to do that.

 Testify wrote:
the ratio of decent quests in skyrim itself is so low.

I find most of them quite enjoyable.

 Melissia wrote:

 Testify wrote:
the ratio of decent quests in skyrim itself is so low.

I find most of them quite enjoyable.

Yeah they are.
For once we agree.
The apocalypse is truly coming!

If you engage with Skyrim it's because you want to repeat the missions as different characters. I have stealthed them with daggers, stealthed them with bows, stealthed them non-lethally, charged in with a greatsword, etc . Everytime it was a vastly different experience.

If you just want to 'beat' a game as quickly as possibly it's no wonder you didnt like Skyrim. Trying to claim its 'unrepeatable' though? Laughable....

 purplefood wrote:
Some of them are very real.
Other ones are not so real...

Agreed, but it still looks gorgeous also a contender appears.

 Perkustin wrote:
stealthed them non-lethally

Can you really do that? Do you just let companions kill or something? What do you do about animals? Don't some of the quests require killing?

 Testify wrote:
Doesn't look that great to me, are my eyes damaged?

Don't see the point in running Skyrim mods. The base game is still fairly unrepeatable. Once you've done all the interesting quests once there's no real need to go back and do them again as a slightly different charector.

I'm replaying it right now. I put 100 hours into it on my first character, then set the game down for about 10 months. If I don't get ahold of myself, I'll probably put another hundred hours on before I stop again.

The game is perfectly replayable. I'm still finding things to do that I had no clue about the first time around. Today I found a prison where a plot by gaurds to drown the prisoners clashed with a prison break. There was nothing at all associated with it, no quest, no loot, just a cool little story that you peiced together as you sifted through the rubble.

 Perkustin wrote:
If you engage with Skyrim it's because you want to repeat the missions as different characters. I have stealthed them with daggers, stealthed them with bows, stealthed them non-lethally, charged in with a greatsword, etc . Everytime it was a vastly different experience.

Please don't make me out to be that sort of gamer. i mainly play paradox games, specifically Europa Universalis III and Darkhest Hour. I have also played through Baldur's Gate II dozens of times, if not over a hundred. I'm not exagerating, I've played that game extensively for *years*. I've also played and enjoyed Icewind Dale II, though not as much.

 Perkustin wrote:

If you just want to 'beat' a game as quickly as possibly it's no wonder you didnt like Skyrim. Trying to claim its 'unrepeatable' though? Laughable....

The intro is *really* long. Like far too long to be unskippable in this day and age.

Then you have to play through a tightly scripeted opening quest that's actually pretty dull and linear the second time onwards. You basically have to play through a tuturial every time.

You then have to trek for a damn long time to get anywhere interesting, and have to accept random quests despite not having a clue if they'll be a simple carrier mission or a long, awesome dungeon crawl with plenty of loot.

Oh and then you have to play for about 12 hours solid before you get any real power in the game. Before that you have to run around flinging pathetic spells and waving your weapons like a drunk. That's probably the kicker right here.

 Cheesecat wrote:

 purplefood wrote:
Some of them are very real.
Other ones are not so real...

Agreed, but it still looks gorgeous also a contender appears.

Good Lord!! My computer wanted to hang itself just looking at those

 djphranq wrote:
Can you really do that? Do you just let companions kill or something? What do you do about animals? Don't some of the quests require killing?

Yes but there are ways around killing the mobs (as in killing only those you have to kill). The most obvious is high sneak as you can just filter your way through a dungeon without being noticed to your objective and with high pickpocket you won't miss out on loot but random guard #4 is gonna be asked by his supervisor how he couldn't notice his armor had been slipped off him. There's also reverse pick pocketing poisons which is funny though gets old fast (bad ass though). Just make a horde of paralysis potions (works on frenzy which is really funny) and slip them into pockets but that's expensive to do without console commands.

Another method is use of ALOT of illusion magic which happens to be a really fun way to play the game once you have silent casting gives you numerous ways to avoid dealing directly with enemies when you don't have to.

Its an interesting way to play the game but takes some dedication and power leveling as a low level character can't do it.

I tried playing the "monk" method before. It was rather tough. As in, you cant kill ANYTHING. So you use 2 spells pretty much constantly. I cant remember what they were though as its been such a long time....man I miss my skyrim....... Anywho, one spell would calm the enemy and the other one would......I dont remember

Hand to hand combat actually got alot better in Skyrim when heavy armor gauntlets became a weapon through a perk in the skill tree. The downside is that you don't block for much, reach is limited, and there's no sneak attack bonus.

Sneak Magicians I think as a play style took a hit in Skyrim with the removal of abilities like telekinesis and the fact that spells don't scale at all in game. The big advantage though is that they gain silent casting which while it doesn't help combat sneak mages at all, was a huge boon to sneak mages trying to avoid combat. Calm will last long enough on most enemies that they'll forget they ever saw you and when it doesn't just get the last skill in sneak and disappear into the shadows again

Granted once you have invisibility that should never happen. Ever

Well, spells do scale in skyrim, just not enough.

Or rather, destruction spells scale in entirely the wrong way. Illusion spells scale in exactly the RIGHT way.

At high level destruction, I can cast destruction spells all day long without draining my mana much if at all... but they're no more powerful than when I learned them. So against high level enemies I'm better off using an enchanted greatsword or something.

Crysis still looks amazing. I am also wondering what kinda Framerate he's getting with all those post processing effects. Skyrim seems to really suffer performance wise when you add the mods.



OT: I'll admit you have to kill a few people to fulfill quests, but alot can just be pickpocketed. As Lord of hats correctly said Illusion is sort of a must. I dont like companions, they suck at sneak.

I did have to powerlevel illusion and Pickpocket but Sneak kinda Powerlevels itself. It increases Waaaayyy to fast in that game, ludicrously fast if you have the thief stone. The pickpocket poisoner method isnt at all viable unfortunately, poisons simply dont do enough damage and why paralyse when you can calm/pacify?

 Melissia wrote:
Well, spells do scale in skyrim, just not enough.

Or rather, destruction spells scale in entirely the wrong way. Illusion spells scale in exactly the RIGHT way.

At high level destruction, I can cast destruction spells all day long without draining my mana much if at all... but they're no more powerful than when I learned them. So against high level enemies I'm better off using an enchanted greatsword or something.

There was no point to any destruction spell other than Firebolt, dual-casted. The higher leveled once did a lot less damage for a lot more mana. It was so stupid.

Mods fix that you know

There's actually a really really well done overhaul of the magic system as well as a lighter rebalancing mod.

I dont like companions, they suck at sneak.

Lets just preempt all further comments with "If there's something in a Bethesda game you don't like there's a mod that fixes it." For this issue try Better Followers which gives all followers the sneak perk that prevents them from triggering traps (as well as overhauls their atrocious level scaling and messed up skills).

Hence why no one should ever buy these games on console if they can manage it on a PC.

Yeah, mods can literally fix every single thing that has been complained about so far. I use the Alternate Start mod, which lets you pick from about nine different starting points - such as being a stormcloak/legionaire, vampire, landowner, new member of any of the 'guilds', bandit in the woods, robbed and left for dead, necromancer, caught in a shipwreck, and a few more I can't remember. Totally skips the intro, and gives you a quest to check out the rumors of war around helgen, which will start you on the main quest if you so choose.

I have 3 or so different spell mods - one that adds a separate necromancer perk tree, one that scales magic better, and one that adds a bunch of new spells that you have to collect rare ingredients from around the world to use. I have a mod that makes followers better - the one mentioned before that gives them sneak, as well as giving them a character based special ability. I have a mod that turns off friendly fire, so one errant fireball won't turn my housecarl against me. I have several graphical enhancements including enhanced distance terrain, and ones that make the forests denser and towns more highly decorated.

I have ones that change character creation to have permanent birthsigns, dynamic skill progression and a starting 'class' that gives you tagged skills, as well as changing racial skill bonuses to what they used to be. I have ones that make the lighting more realistic - ie, unless its a fullish moon or you're a khajit, traveling at night sucks, and seeing in dungeons can be pretty tough. I have one that enhances smithing, making you able to craft just about everything in the game. I have one that makes the UI about five times better. I have one that lets me kill the generals at the military camps. I have one that adds a bunch of new versions of the weapons, and one that adds new killmoves.

I even have one that stretches the level range of monsters, and creates new high level versions of some common monster types, so the game is more interesting at high levels. In the past I've used ones that have enhanced certain aspects of the story - when I was playing a thief based character, I used one that added patrolling guards to many stores at night, and hidden tunnels underneath cities. I've used ones that added new areas to the college of winterhold and the town of winterhold itself while I was playing a mage based out of there. I've used ones that allow you to set up camps in the wilderness, and created perks and more interesting loot from animals so you could play a hunter. It's insane the different stuff you can do, and doubly insane how easy it is with the steam workshop. If you can't find replayability in this game, it's because you aren't looking for it.

Yeah It really is almost like Bethesda expects the mod community to clean up their messes considering the massive number of glaring errors in Skyrim.

Examples:

-Orc War Axes are technically Iron weapons according to the game.
-Massive amounts of clipping issues with default hair and hoods as well as armor in general.
-(Favorites right here) Vilkas is skilled in two handed but uses one handers. Aela is skilled in light armor but wears heavy armor. Farkas is the only member of the circle not wearing Wolf Armor.
-Sapphire has all the dialogue options to be marriageable but can't be married.
-Most oddly, the Ebony Blade despite being a two handed weapon uses one handed perks.

I can't even think of all the specific ones. There's just so many overlooked mistakes.

 LordofHats wrote:
Yeah It really is almost like Bethesda expects the mod community to clean up their messes considering the massive number of glaring errors in Skyrim.

Examples:

-Orc War Axes are technically Iron weapons according to the game.
-Massive amounts of clipping issues with default hair and hoods as well as armor in general.
-(Favorites right here) Vilkas is skilled in two handed but uses one handers. Aela is skilled in light armor but wears heavy armor. Farkas is the only member of the circle not wearing Wolf Armor.
-Sapphire has all the dialogue options to be marriageable but can't be married.
-Most oddly, the Ebony Blade despite being a two handed weapon uses one handed perks.

I can't even think of all the specific ones. There's just so many overlooked mistakes.

Yeah, it does seem that way, but I prefer that set up to a more polished less mod friendly game.

 Testify wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
Well, spells do scale in skyrim, just not enough.

Or rather, destruction spells scale in entirely the wrong way. Illusion spells scale in exactly the RIGHT way.

At high level destruction, I can cast destruction spells all day long without draining my mana much if at all... but they're no more powerful than when I learned them. So against high level enemies I'm better off using an enchanted greatsword or something.

There was no point to any destruction spell other than Firebolt, dual-casted.

Or lightning bolt against higher level casters, or the ice one against warriors with two handed weapons (to prevent them from staggering you all the time). Or the lightning/fire/ice cloak that punishes enemies for getting close to you and leaving you able to continue casting other spells in the mean time. Or the rune spells, in preparation for a big room or with the silent casting perk... hell, with spell cost reduction enchantments, chain lightning or fireball empty rooms faster than anything else. And with the ethereal shout, the master-tier lightning spell is great against any high level spellcaster.


... you really suck at this game if you think that firebolt was the only worthwhile destruction spell.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Bromsy wrote:
I have 3 or so different spell mods - one that adds a separate necromancer perk tree, one that scales magic better, and one that adds a bunch of new spells that you have to collect rare ingredients from around the world to use[...]I have one that enhances smithing, making you able to craft just about everything in the game.

Oooh, mind pointing me at them?

I'm also looking to reinstall the crafting meltdown mod I think, so I can more easily get materials to level up smithing again.

Bromsy wrote: I have ones that make the lighting more realistic - ie, unless its a fullish moon or you're a khajit, traveling at night sucks, and seeing in dungeons can be pretty tough.

I think I have the same one, and I love it. I always carry a torch now for travelling at night and exploring dark dungeons. Really adds to the immersion, not to mention the challenge.

I might get Skyrim for the PC just to muck around with mods for it.

An awesome mod would be a "cartoon graphics" mod that has multiple options-from looking exactly the same as before, but with cel shaded graphics, to completely changing the graphics into different styles, such as anime/manga style, American comic book style, Gary Larson cartoon style (now that would be awesome...The Eldar Scrolls: The Far Side) Okami esque Ukeio-e style, and so on.

 Squigsquasher wrote:
I might get Skyrim for the PC just to muck around with mods for it.

An awesome mod would be a "cartoon graphics" mod that has multiple options-from looking exactly the same as before, but with cel shaded graphics, to completely changing the graphics into different styles, such as anime/manga style, American comic book style, Gary Larson cartoon style (now that would be awesome...The Eldar Scrolls: The Far Side) Okami esque Ukeio-e style, and so on.

That would be awesome. I'd download that mod in a heartbeat.

Mel, I use Psikotic's Ultimate Necromancy Mod, Midas Magic, and Magic Scaling.

Thanks, I'll look for them later today, when I get free time.

Its a shame mod authors for skyrim have trouble with animations. I know they are an Absolute pain in the butt but alot of my gripes with Skyrim would require new animations. I have already found ways to get around alot of the bugs/omissions in the core game mechanics.

Oh btw i play skyrim on the Xbox but take an interest in the mods. I was considering investing in a PC just to play modded Skyrim but tbh was not really impressed with the Output. So i am content with the Xbox version simply because most the mods i see wouldnt add to my enjoyment. Bar some new quests but only a handful of quest mods look worthwhile.

OT: funny thing about smithing is, with the patch the quickest way to level it up is to make jewelry. I like the image of the dragonborn making all these fancy necklaces.