Should I become a Skyrim n00b?

[Emily]

it's hard to say whether you should play skyrim or not.

Skyrim Lore Content, particular stories, character & quest connected to with Morrowind and Oblivion quest.

It'll hard to appreciate Skyrim story writing if you haven't experience previous game before.

 

Like maillamea said, better complete the vanilla straight before modding the game.

[jbezorg]

It's a great game and you don't need to know TES lore. Half the fun is finding out all the history.

 

Play vanilla first. See if you like the core game. Two reasons. First, no sense of going through all the trouble of getting a bunch of mods installed only to discover you don't like the core game. Second, if a mod turns out to be a tricky install you could spend more time trying to fix the mod than playing. That isn't fun and it will ruin the experience.

 

 

 

 

[cereburn]

So, yeah...pulled two all nighters this week playing this damn game.  I have installed the hi res pack from bethesda, along with pure water, SkyUI, a portable player home(that I haven't found yet) and I was talked into installing convenient horses.  That was about 15 levels ago, I've now installed the Static Mesh Improvements and got pissed after having to drop good loot(cause I haven't found the portable player home) so I installed a carry weight extender.  I'm now level 22 and trying not to pull another all nighter clearing out some of the Foresworn baddies.  We'll see.  OH!  I almost forgot, I also installed the glowing ore mod, couldn't resist when I found it looking for static mesh improvement.

[cereburn]

Well, got my first crash today, funny - no error messages though, not even in event log.

 

 

[cereburn]

So, I've finished the main, vanilla, quest line as a Nord, captured Solitude and got Ulfric's nifty sword.

I don't have Dawnguard or Dragonborn DLC's yet. 

Any recommendations on what to do next before starting a new play through?

[formel]

Have you encountered all 16 deadric lords? Can you call yourself head of all guilds? Have you cawled in every tomb, dwemer ruin etc which come often with liitle quest, a small story of their own? In other words enjoy the open world and do as you like thats the core of all TES-Games.

[aljustineg]

The Dragonborn Cultists don't start showing up until after you do the quest to get the horn from a dungeon for the grey beards if I remember right.

 

the  cultist show to me when i atempt to take the horn in the dungeun (i forgot the name) but the horn is already taken 

then i decided to go to riverwood to get it from delp 

 

i play skyrim without mods until i knew everything about the features about crafting enchanting...ETC    then i started using mods 

and also i have never finish skyrim since im use to downloading new mods then start a new  game to play a new game style 

[Monsto Brukes]

I would recommend interface mods ONLY on the first play thru...

 

0) install skse

1) SkyUI (requires skse) for generic inventory improvements.

2) QD Inventory for spell and other interface improvements.

3) RaceMenu (requires skse) for a better character setup in the beginning.

4) Main Font Replacement to make the game NOT feel like fallout thanks to the fonts.

5) maybe install Interface Hard Coded Key Tweaks so that you can use Numpad 1-8 keys.

 

These are interface suggestions only, they will have Zero Percent effect on gameplay or npc interaction but will make for a better experience.

 

I believe that you should play at least 2 storylines thru before introducing content mods. If you know bethesda games, you know what I mean by "2 story lines" . . . you can easily play 20-40 hours without tapping the main story line. I believe you should try to do that.

 

 

[Siegehead]

The only mod I can't live without is an ENBseries profile. Without one, the game just doesn't look appealing (imo).

 

I use True Vision ENB: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/15983/? — Cinematic preset with the letterbox bars manually removed by following instructions in the mod's description tab. It's pretty saturated, but if you want a visual style that's more in line with what Bethesda was originally going for with their artwork, there are many other ENBs out there to choose from. Some people don't like depth of field, but I believe that can be removed by tweaking a variable.

 

ENB profiles do impact performance, some more than others, so you will see a drop in your framerate.

 

 

Skyrim's gameplay is solid enough as it is, so, in that regard, you can have a perfectly enjoyable experience in vanilla. There is, however, a very cool monster mod that adds tons of new creatures to fight. It used to be up on TESnexus, but the author got banned.

 

Skyrim Monster Mod: http://www.vgunetwork.com/files/file/1028-skymomod-v12/

 

Maybe save that one for after you think you've seen all the critters there is to see in vanilla. Being able to recognize that you're fighting something that wasn't included in the original game adds to the experience.

[Riceball]

Come on! it is better to commit seppuku than play Skyrim without mods.