Realism vs Cheat Mods

[Shadowhawk827]

I was originally going to post this as a straight rant against the massive amount of total cheat mods out there.  I'm speaking mainly of skyrim but I know it's true of most other games that have been modded also.  I figured it would be more productive to start a discussion on the merits of realism vs cheating mods though, or just how much realism you all prefer in your game.

 

Personally, I'm NOT a die hard realist.  Frostfall (as an example) adds so much realism it makes the game unplayable to me.  Realistic Needs and Diseases also takes all the fun out.  None the less, I really can't understand the massive amount of mods that literally make everything a giveaway in the game.  It seems like 75% of the (pardon my blunt opinion) crap on Steam and the Nexus is just a mod to give more gold, massively pump up perks, shout damage or spell damage, or another weapon with triple the damage of dragonbone gear.  Guess I forgot the OP armor too but you get the idea, lol.

 

But seriously...  Isn't the game easy enough???  I play it on master level, it's rarely a challenge and I'm a poor gamer skill wise.  Been playing Street Fighter since SF1 was out and I *STILL* can't consistantly get Ryu to throw a hadou ken.  O_O

 

I like some challenge to the games I play.  It makes winning all the more meaningful.  I love just enough realism to aid immersion too.  I do play with Climates of Tamriel and Wet & Cold.  Meh I'm getting incoherent, which tells me it's time for end of rant and time to let others voice an opinion.

[ToJKa]

Not a fan of cheat mods either. But i just avoid them, or if an item looks too good to pass up, i just edit their values/special effects/crafting recipes to something less cheaty myself. Usually equivalent to a vanilla item.

 

And as i keep saying, realism, lore or the i-word that i'm allergic to i couldn't care less about

 

And yes, playing a game that is no challenge is no fun. Alas BGS are quite bad at balancing their games, and as such i always use mods that increase the games' difficulty.

[Shadowhawk827]

Not a fan of cheat mods either. But i just avoid them, or if an item looks too good to pass up, i just edit their values/special effects/crafting recipes to something less cheaty myself. Usually equivalent to a vanilla item.

 

And as i keep saying, realism, lore or the i-word that i'm allergic to i couldn't care less about

 

And yes, playing a game that is no challenge is no fun. Alas BGS are quite bad at balancing their games, and as such i always use mods that increase the games' difficulty.

 

Yeah, I've popped open the CK and edited a few weapons down also.  The Azure Blade come to mind as one.  Gorgeous textures for a recolored glowing Draugr sword, but it was crazy overpowered.  Base dmage over 2x what daedric was.

[dje34]

Realism and cheats are to the appreciation of the player.

 

I do think realism means my PC can have a ring on each finger, also meaning each finger can have an enchantment and so it's kinda 'cheating' because the vanilla game made just one ring able to be equipped to balance the difficulty. But if my PC has 10 fingers, why can't he/she equip 10 rings ?

 

Then if I had to use this kind of mod with the realism as my credo I should only enchant one ring, and equip 9 unenchanted rings, but what's the point to equip 10 rings if only 1 is useful ?

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Then, as my final answer, I'd say play any RPG with roleplay, that will give you the right in any case to use any mod you like. 

[Guest Omega1084]

Now the real question is this.. "What is a cheat to you?"

I love adding new spells and powers to my game.

I love having different perks and classes to work with.

My biggest gameplay mods are Colorful Magic, and SPERG.

Some think they're cheat mods, I think they're awesome.

"Cheat" is arbitrary, my friend.

After playing the game for four years I can't stand JUST going through the motions of Vanilla Skyrim.

I HAVE to do something to spice it up, y'know?

Shit, right now I'm even using some random anime mods to fuck around with because it's fun.

It's a game, games are supposed to be fun, and fun is in the eye of the beholder.

A single true answer to your question is impossible because everyone thinks differently.

[Emberheart]

I don't like cheat items in my game, then again I'm a lore-o-holic and I loathe crossovers of any kind, let alone lorebreakers like guns and anime related stuff in my Skyrim. MY Skyrim. Ahem sorry.

 

Anyway, if there is a cheat-like power, I ballance it out to make it fun again. In example, I had a Dremora female who had the vampiric grip sort of attack drawing people in Darth Vader style and hurling them around. I added the trade-off that she cannot use potions and does not heal at day, so she had to be careful or she'd die. Suddenly I was using the skill to keep enemies at bay instead of hurling them around for fun. It got boring fast though.

[ratrace]

ATM I'm playing Oblivion again, and surely I'm done with leveling my char up. What I do after a lot of playthroughs is starting from a higher level - done with the Levelers Shack cheat - and go from there. Because I did it all a hundred times. I want more options now right form the beginning, that's it.

 

What I however wouldn't do is playing a new game with cheats. But after x playthoughs - c'mon, let's not be childish. What is fun is up to the player, as Omega already said.

 

One reason there are many cheat mods out there may be that most of them are easy to make. Making a one hit kill spell in the CK or CS takes a minute or so.

[azazil]

​i remember the words of my friend which a gamer said while we are in striptease club, if in virtual world you are still cheating , you must be loser in real world , wherever realm you go youre still a loser  like unmarked graves, you can find them in online gaming community in virtual world they boast like a master politician that come to save our virtual world and bla bla bla whereas when they play the online games they act like them corrupt cheater till they mastered all dirty thing they absorb those asshole as their powerfull skill  ,well is not happening in real world there will be disaster doom and revolt everyday :-V

[Mord Sif]

Well, other than wearing an outfit that consists of about 20 different items (leading to a pretty high armour rating) the only real cheat item I have is a useable archmage enchantment. I restrict myself to only using it on one or two pieces. It makes sense for my character's backstory that she starts out with a good magicka pool and regen rate. But the main reason I use it is for fun. I have more fun playing the game if I'm not constantly running out of power for spells, and I bump the difficulty up to compensate.

 

Talking of difficulty: that varies quite a bit for me in games, too. Sometimes it's all part of the experience and you want a real challenge. Sometimes the challenge can actually get in the way of enjoyment. Depends entirely on the game, for me. Same goes for realism. Things like Frostfall and RND are impressive, but I agree, they get in the way of the fun a bit too much and turn playing into a bit of a chore. I still make my character eat, drink and sleep regularly most of the time. I find it preferable to just keep on top of that myself and roleplay it, rather than have a mod keep telling me when it's time.

[afa]

Well you have to address the balancing of the vanilla game at this point, which depending on the player the discussion might go one way or another.

 

If the vanilla game is too easy/hard are you cheating for playing it the way it is? Are you cheating for bumping down the difficulty?

 

Is it cheating if you use Live and other life and get a house right in the beginning filled with items?

Is it cheating to use sex mod so dying doesn't really mean dying? Or is it actually more challenging because all dying means is a quick button press away from reloading in vanilla?

 

Then we have armor and weapon, the vanilla game has 4 slots for armor most of the time. But to give players the freedom to customized their look that number has at least triple with each piece carrying its own armor rating and enchantment options.

Weapon wise does it make sense to have a custom weapon that you download because it looks good, but yet weaker than what you can get in vanilla therefore you will, from a tactical stand point, not use it.

 

Now to flip it around, if the play wants challenge then why not make every enemy much stronger, or the PC much weaker. Stack on penalty and debuff makes "living" in the world a total chore and PC can get kill from almost anything. But then is that really fun? I mean I am sure there are people who like that but is that what challenge means?

[Symon]

These are role-playing games. It isn't possible to cheat, same as it isn't possible to 'beat the game'. You aren't competing with anyone or anything so who or what is there to cheat? The aim is to enjoy yourself. If a mod enhances your enjoyment, it's good. If it doesn't, take it off your load list.

 

You have a computer, not a console, so make the game yours.

 

There is no cheat, only enjoyment or not

[nonusnomeni]

after you beat game 5-6 times without cheating i see no reason to be ashamed for using cheats just to totally explore game

and as omega was say: It's a game, games are supposed to be fun, and fun is in the eye of the beholder.

 

 

must edit

​i consider every mod a sort of cheating sry

[Prometeus5879]

These are role-playing games. It isn't possible to cheat, same as it isn't possible to 'beat the game'. You aren't competing with anyone or anything so who or what is there to cheat? The aim is to enjoy yourself. If a mod enhances your enjoyment, it's good. If it doesn't, take it off your load list.

 

You have a computer, not a console, so make the game yours.

 

There is no cheat, only enjoyment or not

 

^this. In a single player game everyone is free to do what she or he wants. It's all about the fun you get out of it.

[Rayblue]

If a character gets pretty much overpowered in terms of attack, either downgrade to a lower weapon, run SPERG, or use a bunch of realism mods, or nerf the stats.

 

There's a lot of stuff in-game that doesn't get much use, that becomes clutter as you gain higher levels.

 

Ah, well... I remember saying this phrase many years ago, when I was starting on MMOs: you are what you play.

[Guest Omega1084]

To be honest I've had times where I used the console to make myself overpowered and simply enjoy the story of the games.

Did it in NV and in Skyrim. Separate save files just to fuck around and have fun.

[FallenWarrior]

To be honest I've had times where I used the console to make myself overpowered and simply enjoy the story of the games.

Did it in NV and in Skyrim. Separate save files just to fuck around and have fun.

 

That's why I never finish playing those games, including Oblivion and Fallout 3.

 

[Guest Omega1084]

 

To be honest I've had times where I used the console to make myself overpowered and simply enjoy the story of the games.

Did it in NV and in Skyrim. Separate save files just to fuck around and have fun.

 

That's why I never finish playing those games, including Oblivion and Fallout 3.

 

Why? xD

[FallenWarrior]

 

 

To be honest I've had times where I used the console to make myself overpowered and simply enjoy the story of the games.

Did it in NV and in Skyrim. Separate save files just to fuck around and have fun.

 

That's why I never finish playing those games, including Oblivion and Fallout 3.

 

Why? xD

 

 

I tend to explore way more instead and just have fun.

 

[Guest Omega1084]

I tend to explore way more instead and just have fun.

Well, that's a good thing.

Sometimes I don't bother with quests and simply go to every cave I find while walking in a general direction.

That's the point of open-world gaming, bro :v

[Juanwayne]

I dunno, I use SPERG and a few others to pump up difficulty reasonably and its pretty damn hard for me. I also play by the hardcore rule, which essentially means no save loads if you die. You have one life to live! It makes the game much more fun for me because the element of danger is always there. What I wont do however, is use a bunch of lore-unfriendly mods. If I can see something in game that very obviously couldn't exist in vanilla skyrim; Then I usually tend to stay away from it. I'm pretty happy with my game right now and I think its fairly balanced (seeing as how I have gone through like 6 characters in the past 2 weeks), even with 240+ mods active. The only thing that I really wish skyrim had was more character depth, with specific regards to followers and the npcs. I killed a dragon once and Lydia was just like , she wasn't at all impressed. And the parents in falkreath who were burying their savagely murdered daughter were all stricken with grief, and then happy as a clam as soon as I asked them about the city. Maybe I am asking for too much, but in regards to the thread, I would probably have to agree with Omega, even though I really dislike anything remotely anime in skyrim.

[dje34]

 

I tend to explore way more instead and just have fun.

Well, that's a good thing.

Sometimes I don't bother with quests and simply go to every cave I find while walking in a general direction.

That's the point of open-world gaming, bro :v

 

 

Well said, sista !

 

But to be completely right Skyrim is not a true open-world, because of loading when opening doors and entering caves and all... That said, most enemies can follow you when you use these said doors and enter these said caves, and even friendly NPCs when they are talking to you, kinda 'teleport to annoy you some more' super power. 

[Tekmon_Xonic]

I'm not a big fan of realism. Realism kills it for me. But cheat mods are a lot of fun to play with. Like spells to instantly remove clothes, or make npcs fall down like rag dolls.

[...0...]

It's a solo game lol.

 

There is no cheating there will always be mods that make it easy Skyrim is made for that or realism hardcore it make no difference IT'S A SOLO GAME.

 

Luckly in solo game i make the rule i play how i want with a million cheat mods or not nobody will say to me what i should do or not or whats right or worng.

 

Multiplayer or MMO is complete different story im zealot agains cheaters I HATE CHEATERS with a passion in multiplayer and MMO.

 

But solo games specially games like skyrim with thousends of mods i don't care at all what others do if they cheat i would never say anything thats there business.

 

And OP why you complain about cheating and play game in easy mode if you yourself play in master mode and its easy.

 

I play in legendary and i have mods installed that make it even alot harder with dragons mod ENHANCED MIGHTY DRAGONS on nightmare lvl.

 

Believe me if you play on lv i play you tear your hair out so hardcore then comeback and complain about master mode.

[Shadowhawk827]

Now the real question is this.. "What is a cheat to you?"

I love adding new spells and powers to my game.

I love having different perks and classes to work with.

My biggest gameplay mods are Colorful Magic, and SPERG.

Some think they're cheat mods, I think they're awesome.

"Cheat" is arbitrary, my friend.

After playing the game for four years I can't stand JUST going through the motions of Vanilla Skyrim.

I HAVE to do something to spice it up, y'know?

Shit, right now I'm even using some random anime mods to fuck around with because it's fun.

It's a game, games are supposed to be fun, and fun is in the eye of the beholder.

A single true answer to your question is impossible because everyone thinks differently.

 

Oh I know there's no one answer.  The beauty of 54,000 mods on the Nexus alone is there's something for everybody.

 

New spells, weapons, etc...  I use a TON of them myself.  What I personally look for in a mod is "does it fundementally screw up the game balance?".  New spells are freaking awesome.  The vanilla ones are boring and unimaginative.  You'll never catch me using a mod that adds a novice level spell that hits for 100 points of damage though.  Not much of an exageration either in terms of what's out there.

 

Anime mods, Tropical Skyrim...  Completely lore unfriendly, but who cares if you've beaten the game multiple times and want to add a twist to it.  Again what I'd look for there is does it screw up the game balance?

 

So I'd argue that "cheat" isn't TOO arbitrary.  It can be defined as anything that makes the game overly easy to play.  That's why god mode in any game is known as cheat mode to old school gamers.  Working one's butt off for the gold to buy and upgrade Breezehome is what makes getting it meaningful.  There's a sense of accomplishment when you walk in after it's finally done, and you say "wow I did it".  It's meaningless when you just player.additem 0000000f 50,000 and take it.

 

[Shadowhawk827]

These are role-playing games. It isn't possible to cheat, same as it isn't possible to 'beat the game'. You aren't competing with anyone or anything so who or what is there to cheat? The aim is to enjoy yourself. If a mod enhances your enjoyment, it's good. If it doesn't, take it off your load list.

 

You have a computer, not a console, so make the game yours.

 

There is no cheat, only enjoyment or not

 

That's not valid though.  A single player game, RPG or not, you're competeing against the game itself and your previous personal best.  Go look at the YouTube video for the Dagger of Crap  that does ONE MILLION points of damage a hit and tell me that's not cheating.  Extreme example, but it makes my point.

 

The flip side is that it certainly CAN be argued that people have the right to cheat.  You pay for the game, they give us the option to mod it, etc...  THAT part I would never dispute.

 

When I play a game though or do anything IRL, I'm pushing myself to improve on what I've done before.  Hence while I wont deny people the option to cheat, it's a foreign mindset to me in a game that's already a give away at novice difficulty.