My thoughts - one week in

[Guest Donkey]

Oblivion without mods would have died a long time a go. So give skyrim a chance.

 

However the drm and silent patch is really trying my patience at the moment, if they do this what else is in store for us..

 

Right now i am more worried the longer they are delaying the modding tools. It is a bit strange, since all previous game had the modding tools released on the first day when this game hit the shelves. I am worried they would eventually not release any tools at all.

[dysfunkshunal]

You can't tell me nobody @ beth nor any of their outsourced playtesters (everyone outsources this) said "hey' date=' it would be nice if the NPCs weren't shouting at me every 2 seconds just because I'm standing nearby." Same goes for how poorly the menu and perks stuff behaves with the mouse. Actually, it applies to almost every one of my gripes.

[/quote']

 

Well, like I said, I encountered nearly all of those things you mentioned and they are annoying, but the sum of the parts equaling a concrete reaction of "it sucks" seemed drastic. But hey, to each his own.

 

I don't own, nor have I played, Fallout. But I know that the sex mods for that were pretty good from what I've heard. I myself am earning my MFA in Game Design and am experienced with a variety of 3D software applications. I had mentioned previously that I intend to create animations of all kinds for Skyrim back when we were still all playing modded Oblivion much earlier this year. I didn't want to even bother with the Oblivion mods since Skyrim was on the horizon, but I am anxious to 'raise the bar' so to speak on modded content and give people stuff that will really stand out. So maybe we'll meet on a future collaboration if you're planning on modding Skyrim. Just give me a shout.

[prideslayer]

You can't tell me nobody @ beth nor any of their outsourced playtesters (everyone outsources this) said "hey' date=' it would be nice if the NPCs weren't shouting at me every 2 seconds just because I'm standing nearby." Same goes for how poorly the menu and perks stuff behaves with the mouse. Actually, it applies to almost every one of my gripes.

[/quote']

 

Well, like I said, I encountered nearly all of those things you mentioned and they are annoying, but the sum of the parts equaling a concrete reaction of "it sucks" seemed drastic. But hey, to each his own.

 

I don't own, nor have I played, Fallout. But I know that the sex mods for that were pretty good from what I've heard. I myself am earning my MFA in Game Design and am experienced with a variety of 3D software applications. I had mentioned previously that I intend to create animations of all kinds for Skyrim back when we were still all playing modded Oblivion much earlier this year. I didn't want to even bother with the Oblivion mods since Skyrim was on the horizon, but I am anxious to 'raise the bar' so to speak on modded content and give people stuff that will really stand out. So maybe we'll meet on a future collaboration if you're planning on modding Skyrim. Just give me a shout.

 

You could get started now, and I'd certainly work with you on skyrim once the creation kit is out.

 

I need tons and tons more animations for Sexout AFAIK Skyrim is using the same formats (.NIF for models and .KF for IK) as new vegas, f3, obv, etc.

[dysfunkshunal]

I need tons and tons more animations for Sexout AFAIK Skyrim is using the same formats (.NIF for models and .KF for IK) as new vegas' date=' f3, obv, etc.[/quote']

Yeah, from what I've read they are still .nif, but how do the skeletons compare? Honestly I have no ambition to pick up Fallout 3. Right now I am downloading Batman: Arkham City (I got for free when I bought my new vidcard), and in the last month have bought Uncharted 3, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3... none of which I've played. I am taxed on my game devotion time until sometime next year, lol. Likely I'll finish up these games in time for Mass Effect 3 to drop in March. I also do erotic CG comics as a hobby, so my time is limited, but I committed to doing Skyrim mods and will stay true to my word. Sorry I can't help out with the Fallout stuff though.

 

 

[galgat]

I do wish the companions were a little less annoying, I would probably take one with me then, but in dungeons they make My sneaky style of play impossible. The dogs are the worst. the eye stays open all the time. so you can never know when you are in stealth.

 

The dialog interface, is very innovative, but is also disturbing when NPC walk behind you are something while supposedly talking to you.

 

But I know if they do not some how,( which looks likely ) restrict us from fixing these problems. Modders will make improvements. And right now I am happy, just looking at what will be possible with all the new wonderfully crafted items.

 

Right now I do not think all the Texture rebuilds are that necessary, I hate when people just up the res, hammer the frame rates and really don't truly make a new texture.

 

What I want it good erotic armor, and hopefully some major body improvements.

 

I think the existing body's, can be enhance to do very well, I found it easy to place oily skins on my character, and even reduced the texture size in the process, and I think helped the depth of the Bump maps with My procedures.

 

I am mainly experimenting with little things right now, but it all looks promising. If they do not restrict us, however this last patch, which did not effect me, worries me.

 

How much control will they try to maintain, and how much freedom will modders have.

 

To early to tell I guess, we just have to watch and see.

[Presto]

I do wish the companions were a little less annoying' date=' I would probably take one with me then, but in dungeons they make My sneaky style of play impossible. The dogs are the worst. the eye stays open all the time. so you can never know when you are in stealth.

[/quote']

 

The companions need to be improved in this game. They are a great addition at first as a pack mule with a sword but once you start sneaking and trying to be a little more subtle with your battle tactics they stomp around and call attention to you when you least want it.

 

I also wish there was a way to check the stats of your companion. It would be nice to know what they are skilled at and what they could need a little help in (give them an enchanted item to make up for their lack of hp/mp/etc). Then of course there is dressing them which in the console version is tedious since they only tend to wear what has better armor and attack rating instead of something that may be enchanted better or more in line with what you want them to be using. I expect the pc version doesn't have this issue as much but it would still be a nice option to be able to dress them as you wish from a menu command.

[LordJerle]

I do wish the companions were a little less annoying' date=' I would probably take one with me then, but in dungeons they make My sneaky style of play impossible. The dogs are the worst. the eye stays open all the time. so you can never know when you are in stealth.

[/quote']

 

The companions need to be improved in this game. They are a great addition at first as a pack mule with a sword but once you start sneaking and trying to be a little more subtle with your battle tactics they stomp around and call attention to you when you least want it.

 

I also wish there was a way to check the stats of your companion. It would be nice to know what they are skilled at and what they could need a little help in (give them an enchanted item to make up for their lack of hp/mp/etc). Then of course there is dressing them which in the console version is tedious since they only tend to wear what has better armor and attack rating instead of something that may be enchanted better or more in line with what you want them to be using. I expect the pc version doesn't have this issue as much but it would still be a nice option to be able to dress them as you wish from a menu command.

 

You can give them armor and they'll wear it. You just can't steal their clothes and make them run around naked without the console.

 

There's a one eye chick I got after completing a cannibalism quest, she's actually really hot. Can't remember her name or the name of the quest, but yeah... CS needs to come out so sex mods can be made so I can have hot sex with her after sharing a meal of a broken corpse of a bandit with her. *nod nod*

Oh, and she's a pretty good mage companion too, doesn't heal, but has some wicked attack spells, and she's good at firing them off based on the weaknesses of the enemy.

[pandabear]

I've noticed some very bad textures on weapons and armor. The backside of shields look horrible. I'm looking forward to a high ress weapon and armor overhaul.

 

As for companions, I don't mind them much, but then again, I'm an Orc berserker. To me they're just mules. If anything, they move a little too slow, they always seem to lag far behind.

[Symon]

Right now I do not think all the Texture rebuilds are that necessary' date=' I hate when people just up the res, hammer the frame rates and really don't truly make a new texture. [/quote']

This is so true. There are far too many people out their who seem to think that a 256x256 texture is automatically improved just by taking it up to 2048x2048!

 

The best texture is a small as possible yet with excellent quality. I've lost count of the number of mods I've downloaded with insane 2048x2048 textures (and mipmaps of course), that were completely monochromatic!!! Why they didn't just make it 64x64 and have done with it amazes me. I've often resized such textures downwards with no effect on video quality.

[galgat]

Right now I do not think all the Texture rebuilds are that necessary' date=' I hate when people just up the res, hammer the frame rates and really don't truly make a new texture. [/quote']

This is so true. There are far too many people out their who seem to think that a 256x256 texture is automatically improved just by taking it up to 2048x2048!

 

The best texture is a small as possible yet with excellent quality. I've lost count of the number of mods I've downloaded with insane 2048x2048 textures (and mipmaps of course), that were completely monochromatic!!! Why they didn't just make it 64x64 and have done with it amazes me. I've often resized such textures downwards with no effect on video quality.

 

 

I do the same thing, ( reducing those ungodly high res, that serve no purpose ) and with proper normal or bump maps actually improved the texture.

 

LOL placing a 2048x2048 or even worse a 4096x4096 on a little skin that automatically reduces it anyway ( and chucks out all the extra pixels) just so it will fit on the character. Which might only be inside a 1600x1200 screen or 1900x1200..think about it just how many pixels do you think you will actually see on the little character in the middle of the screen...

 

It is just not logical.

 

I do blow them up real big to do detailed work on them, but then I reduce them back down. to as small as i feel I can go.. and still keep a reasonable detail.

 

[oblivioner]

Quick note:

 

-The companions wandering off after you told them to stay put? That isn't a bug. It gives you a little message if you make them do that and there are bad guys around.

 

I found this out the hard way when I first entered winterhold. While I was in the middle of the ward tutorial, Lydia got bored of waiting(as I got a little message to that effect) and decided that the thalmor guy needed to die(and after she got up, the teacher). Thus prompting the whole damn school to wail on her.

 

I'm not sure if the on-one-knee pose's aggro-clearing abilities are a bug or not. It's obvious that the same pose is used to toggle mercy in friendly fights. I'm thinking it's possibly a carryover of that.

 

On the modding tools: They're just postponing the mod tools for a very simple reason. Remember Oblivion, when it launched? It had an issue that almost ballooned out on how the original models' bras were apparently separate models from the body and easily removed?

 

After that media circus, Bethesda waits a few months to release the mod tools on their big games, I vaguely remember them hinting as such when we had to wait for fallout3's GECK.

 

 

While I don't really want to come to the defense of steam...

I was one of you once, I had to get steam to play a game, and my steam username still reflects said displeasure.

 

Valve, if anything is more pro-modding and pro-indie gaming than Bethesda. These are the guys who are in the habit of hiring on mod teams after all. They're not Activision, firing Infinity's Ward's bosses because they didn't want to give out the multi-million dollar bonuses.

 

Steam could be a hell of a lot worse, imagine if Ubisoft, Activision, or EA owned Steam? Or worse, if EB/gamestop got their filthy hands on it.

 

Also, I know very well that steam doesn't scan your system.

[stgmilleralive]

If you have a sense of sanity you'll stay away from companions. That's the only advice I have.

 

So far, Skyrim has really lived up to the hype for me, even the dragons have gotten better since I met my first Ancient. Now that was an asshole out to fuck some shit up.

 

The only compliant I have has to be some of the endings to the guild quests. The College in particular vexed me in places until I learned there was still more to do instead of just using the guild as a cash cow.

 

The bugs are there of course, but I stay silent on that, I've complained enough about bugs in Bethesda games to the point where I just expect them.

[Rogue13]

An hour into Skyrim and the console type interface is pissing me off. It's awkward and does not work well with the mouse and it's much less than I expected Bethesda would do for the PC (yes I know consoles are Beth's target market). If Bethesda put so little effort into something as simple, yet essential, as the PC UI, then I fear for many other aspects of the game.

 

Okay, now that I've vented I will try to get beyond the UI and enjoy the game.

[Woohoo]

If you're complaning about the mouse and the interface' date=' I'm wondering why you're even bothering using the mouse for the interface.[/quote']

 

Well, I'm not right now, because using the mouse is slow and impractical. But it shouldn't be.

 

The mouse is now, and has been for a while, the standard method of interacting with a computer. Lacking a compelling reason to map a function to the keyboard, it should default to the mouse. The keyboard obviously does a lot but when I want to start a program, check a bookmarked website in Firefox, whack an enemy in Skyrim or open a new document in Notepad++, I won't be using a keyboard to do it. Unless you have a good reason for doing so (making a console port on the cheap doesn't qualify!), you shouldn't design something like Skyrim's inventory system or magic menu around the keyboard.

 

Also, you can't effectively navigate the skill tree with the keyboard.

 

Keyboard's faster, has been for ALL TES games, and it's less likely to glitch anyway.

 

All TES games? The mouse was the primary method of interacting with the menus in Daggerfall and Morrowind. The latter's UI, by the way, had everything I wanted to see on one screen. I could rearrange and customize it to my heart's content.

[Guest Donkey]

My thought after some time.. I love this game..

 

How can you not love this great looking game..

 

Maybe we should make a contest footage.. of how the gameplay really looks likes..

[saddad]

Some people like to attribute their own problems to Bethesda;

 

Some people's conceit makes them believe their problems are everyone else's problems;

 

Some people like to play while bitching.