Immersion Mods/Gameplay/Rants

[horynych]

"You would eventually have to introduce a button labeled "Surprise".

Because all perfectly known futures are past.

They have happened, virtually.

It's only the true future that is the surprise."

by Alan Watts

 

 

We have a couple of mods already: Frostfall, Realistic Needs, a couple of cooking mods, fighting overhaul mods like Requiem.

 

We have SexLab mods which we all already known, and using which is also an interesting way to add immersion and add a tiny bit of spice in it.

 

1. Let's try to make a world where we would be afraid of risking our life. Maybe we will get enslaved, or we just avoid any risky situations. Let's impose certain rules - no save-scumming, no cheating to avoid enslavement. So that every dangerous enemy is a dangerous enemy for us.

 

2. Now, when we are afraid of dying and afraid of pain - let us make the world as dangerous as it should be. We add Realistic Needs, we add Frostfall. Now we can starve, now we need clothes.

 

3. We add SexLab, because we need some spice. We add CD+ maybe, if we want still to have a chance to avoid death in a certain way... We put some sex in, some kinks, some aspects which we want to experience. Dangerous Nights. Pregnancy mods. These sort of things.

 

4. Adding a mod on fast travels, like Touring Carriages or the other one of that sort, something that would allow your journeys to be more realistic. Possibly a more realistic equipping system, like Equipping Overhaul.

 

 

Let's pause here for  a moment - we have a certain limit on how many mods we can install before all this stuff starts glitching, after all.

This is a point when we start considering what role should we take.

 

1) Hunting and Harvesting RP. This is probably the most simple solution for immersive RP. You would need mods that would make hunting both dangerous and less profitable. One of the possible mods of this sort is Hunterborn http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/33201/ . You go hunting, you do not kill people and do not clean the dungeons - this job is dangerous for you. You do hunting instead, you work on the similar quests...maybe sometimes you pick the jobs from the Jarls, but is it worth it really? Not sure.

 

As soon as you master the art of hunting you can try going into alchemy, leatherworks. You can see how much profit can you make with more rare potion ingredients - you can try making a long journey to hunt for a troll.

 

2) Farming / Private Business RP. Something like Heljarchen Farm: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50992/ . There must be other mods of this sort. This may work for people who are into owning slaves, in fact. Are there any mods for RPing a merchant, or a capitalist of some sort?... I wish there were more mods on this matter.

 

3) Adventuring... Sands of Time + Requiem MIGHT make it interesting. Maybe a certain magic mod too. Just remember - No Russian  you can't afford to die. Would it work? Well, if going down to the dungeons equals starting an expedition, with follower(s)? I am still a bit in doubt, but you can, yes. I have to test Sands of Time but I think it might be a good option for making journeys around the world more difficult.

 

4) War RP? I haven't seen many mods related to tweaking the war, unfortunately, even though wars mostly give an abundance of wonderful storylines. There IS a possibility to make a certain Civil War Mini Game where not only your own troops would advance, but your enemies would do the same. I am, in fact, surprised I have never heard about a mod like that. Maybe it's not that easy to do after all.

 

5) Relationships RP? There was a SexLab mod of that sort, but I have never tested it out. It can be interesting, if you combine relationships with RP something else, right?

 

6) Knowledge mining. For the Lore Fans - you can mine for knowledge and rare books, and still do it immersively. Or you can just read the books online. Your choice, huh. I would suggest trying the role of a wandering magician, though books are being distributed around the world chaotically and it's not that easy to find the PARTICULAR book... Maybe there are certain mods that add hints on where you can find some particular books too?

 

7) Anything else?

 

 

What mods are we definitely lacking? (or maybe I just do not know that they exist)

 

1) Random encounters. There were plenty of course - things like Sands of Time let your average game surprise you one more time. But what about the social characters? Random encounters in the taverns? Strangers to tell new stories to you? Oh well, there are random travelers and some of them could possible tell you something interesting as well.

 

2) The scourge of the whole RPG genre - something I do not see being fixed in the following 4 years at - this is a complete lack of socially interactive characters. You CANNOT live near them. They are just ragdolls - you have to come to the city to sell stuff, buy new stuff, get quests and depart. This is your average RPG philosophy. Yeah they at least tried to add economy, but not a single attempt to make people more dynamic. This lumberjack from the tavern finding himself a date? A young Jarl falling in love? A Thane purchasing himself a new house and moving there, leaving their parents alone? Guards stopping being random orphans but finally finding their family, or at least KNOWING about them and sharing this information with others? Ha! Maybe we will see it in TES VI, most likely in TEST VII, but not now.

 

I think SexLabs adds more to social interaction than anything we has had before, but it barely makes the cities less static. It does not seem to be that difficult, this part, but noone just gives a damn about it. Like, you want immersion of this sort - go play Dwarf Fortress. Well, sorry for this little rant. Maybe I will do it some day myself too - I hope I would~

 

 

Please share your thoughts, ideas, and list the mods which can make immersive RP more interesting or which would discover another possible facet of character development.

 

PS. Three more economical mods:

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/16106/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/21686/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/42980/? - True Medieval Prices and Wages

[Guest]

 

 

2) The scourge of the whole RPG genre - something I do not see being fixed in the following 4 years at - this is a complete lack of socially interactive characters. 

It would be nice to have a simulation of life I suppose but I wouldn't personally describe the absence of it a "scourge" to RPGs. I've been playing the genre almost exclusively since i was little and I can't say I've ever felt particularly moved to know the ins and outs of the lumberjack's love life or what the guard chats to his wife about over evening supper. There are many other things that can make RPGs fun, and modded Skyrim covers most of it rather well.

 

I have mine set up with lots of NPCs, they have very rudimentary lives that cause us to cross paths in interesting ways now and again, but unless they have something significant to contribute to my character's fate, well then they're just scenery and  I'd rather the engine didn't have a stroke trying to simulate the minutiae of lives that matter not one whit. 

[horynych]

 

 

 

2) The scourge of the whole RPG genre - something I do not see being fixed in the following 4 years at - this is a complete lack of socially interactive characters. 

It would be nice to have a simulation of life I suppose but I wouldn't personally describe the absence of it a "scourge" to RPGs. I've been playing the genre almost exclusively since i was little and I can't say I've ever felt particularly moved to know the ins and outs of the lumberjack's love life or what the guard chats to his wife about over evening supper. There are many other things that can make RPGs fun, and modded Skyrim covers most of it rather well.

 

I have mine set up with lots of NPCs, they have very rudimentary lives that cause us to cross paths in interesting ways now and again, but unless they have something significant to contribute to my character's fate, well then they're just scenery and  I'd rather the engine didn't have a stroke trying to simulate the minutiae of lives that matter not one whit. 

 

It does not seem like a problem when you are a foreigner in the city, but once I settle in I feel a bit bothered that that guy has NO NAME AT ALL. You know. This sort of things.

[Guest]

 

 

 

 

2) The scourge of the whole RPG genre - something I do not see being fixed in the following 4 years at - this is a complete lack of socially interactive characters. 

It would be nice to have a simulation of life I suppose but I wouldn't personally describe the absence of it a "scourge" to RPGs. I've been playing the genre almost exclusively since i was little and I can't say I've ever felt particularly moved to know the ins and outs of the lumberjack's love life or what the guard chats to his wife about over evening supper. There are many other things that can make RPGs fun, and modded Skyrim covers most of it rather well.

 

I have mine set up with lots of NPCs, they have very rudimentary lives that cause us to cross paths in interesting ways now and again, but unless they have something significant to contribute to my character's fate, well then they're just scenery and  I'd rather the engine didn't have a stroke trying to simulate the minutiae of lives that matter not one whit. 

 

It does not seem like a problem when you are a foreigner in the city, but once I settle in I feel a bit bothered that that guy has NO NAME AT ALL. You know. This sort of things.

 

I grew up in a town on the Firth of Clyde in Scotland where if I walked down the street with my hair dyed green folk would still be referring to the event years later.I currently live in a populous city on the south coast of England and  I doubt I could tell you the names of 90% of the other tenants in my apartment building let alone the street. In 7 years, apart from pals from uni and work colleagues I know hardly anybody well enough to do more than say "morning!" to.

 

I get where you're coming from and I think there's a balance to be struck, but I actually like surrounding myself with anonymous NPCs who appear to live their rather mundane lives completely oblivious to my existence unless I happen to do something to upset it, that's the sort of immersion I'm personally looking for. Knowing everybody's business is part of that whole 'master of the universe' problem a lot of us are trying to get away from.

 

Where I think the game could do a lot better is in giving you feedback about the things you have done, however small they might be in the greater scheme. Like a sort of dynamic biography that's being written as you go and provides npcs with appropriate dialogue cues. It does do a few things like npcs referring to certain faction events or sometimes a guard will treat you with suspicion when a body's found. What I'd like is for villagers to idly gossip about things they heard about that you actually did, tavern talk about how so and so from village x  was murdered or merchants reacting to you trying to fence them stolen goods  - "this jeweled brooch looks just like the one Fanny up the road was wearing" , or people treating you with suspicion because they think you're a shady looking sort strutting about with your hood on and your twin daggers. 

 

That's the sort of stuff I hope for in the future. 

[horynych]

 

It does not seem like a problem when you are a foreigner in the city, but once I settle in I feel a bit bothered that that guy has NO NAME AT ALL. You know. This sort of things.

 

 

I grew up in a town on the Firth of Clyde in Scotland where if I walked down the street with my hair dyed green folk would still be referring to the event years later.I currently live in a populous city on the south coast of England and  I doubt I could tell you the names of 90% of the other tenants in my apartment building let alone the street. In 7 years, apart from pals from uni and work colleagues I know hardly anybody well enough to do more than say "morning!" to.

 

I get where you're coming from and I think there's a balance to be struck, but I actually like surrounding myself with anonymous NPCs who appear to live their rather mundane lives completely oblivious to my existence unless I happen to do something to upset it, that's the sort of immersion I'm personally looking for. Knowing everybody's business is part of that whole 'master of the universe' problem a lot of us are trying to get away from.

 

Where I think the game could do a lot better is in giving you feedback about the things you have done, however small they might be in the greater scheme. Like a sort of dynamic biography that's being written as you go and provides npcs with appropriate dialogue cues. It does do a few things like npcs referring to certain faction events or sometimes a guard will treat you with suspicion when a body's found. What I'd like is for villagers to idly gossip about things they heard about that you actually did, tavern talk about how so and so from village x  was murdered or merchants reacting to you trying to fence them stolen goods  - "this jeweled brooch looks just like the one Fanny up the road was wearing" , or people treating you with suspicion because they think you're a shady looking sort strutting about with your hood on and your twin daggers. 

 

That's the sort of stuff I hope for in the future. 

 

 

Aww I see what you mean about knowing noone. But again it's not like I strive to know everything, it's just if you settle down in a tiny town you can expect this sort of thing. The paradoxical things about social interaction - it does not seem to be difficult, yet I know very little games which have it implemented. Except Sims.

 

It's still natural we want to live in an interactive virtual world, not in the dead one. And when it comes to "living a different life" than what Bethesda originally planned you to live - this lack of details exposes itself. Like, it's not even hard. People talk over a limited amount of things. A limited amount of things can happen in the universe at all - but there is a complete lack of any interactive mechanisms. Maybe we will see it coming...later. 

[Beagle2]

I find your suggestions for playing a certain role interesting, but the world of skyrim would ignore all this actions. This is what keeps me from doing non-quest things in Skyrim. For example, you could spent countless hours collecting all the books and text fragments in the game, nobody in the game would ever care. And random comments from guards, like they exist in the game for some players achivements. cannot fix this for me. Comments about my achievements, or the developement of my character, really mean nothing to me when coming from random guards, that I probably never met before.

 

Such comments do mean something, when they come from NPC that I care about (sadly there are none in skyrim), and/or know my character for a while, because knowing my character from an earlier time actually qualifies them to make remarks about my development. (this is almost impossible however in a TES game, since the character design is completely open, it cannot easily include people that knew the player character from an earlier time).

 

Well, I find it difficult to find real immersion in Skyrim. To me playing it is like being Neo in the Matrix, where you no longer see the actual world and hear the NPC speak, instead you think about the scripts that trigger events, and the numbers behind it.

[Sadomaschist]

Personally people ignore each other due to superstitious ways back then.But people are forced to interact to make a civilization to survive. Most people put aside certain superstitious ways to interact with the lords and others and even to marry procreate and not to mention razing a village and raping the women. Now depending on what type of interaction one wants be it Highlander based or the posh life of a british noble.  B3ast1e has his/her own opinion on what they love about skyrim. Sometimes not having much  npcs in skyrim is nice. But I do wish the Male npcs would be a little more hateful to female fighters. And that their is a little bit more npcs in the wilds as well as some more childern. And have a high risk were if you have a child that they can catch a disease and die from it.

[Veladarius]

I think the reason no one has done it in Skyrim is the amount of work that is needed to do it. The AI packages that control npc's don't allow for a lot of things to happen, mostly just "go here and do this". Setting up anything more detailed requires building scenes and dialogue which I doubt they wanted to spend time doing seeing as there are so many other things that were unfinished in the game. I think the big thing missing is actual interaction between the npc's as it is just the same dialogue bits and actions every day.

[Taskmaster]

My post is going to be sort of general, not really specific.

 

Check out mods from this user on nexus: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/6292794/? Mimithealchemist.

 

She has mods where you can become a skooma dealer, barter with other NPCs, and even become a skill trainer and train others in the skills your character is proficient in.

 

Mods from Grimy: https://sites.google.com/site/grimyskyrim/my-mods/skytweak

 

Specifically Skytweak and SkyAI. These two mods are essential everytime I play.

 

SkyTweak is basically like 50 mods wrapped into one. All of those little mods like reducing carry weight, turning dragon souls into perk points, increasing/decreasing jump height, damage, health, regen, all of it. It's all there. Everything. It even scans the other mods you have running and creates the base from those settings and then you can adjust from there. The only downside to this mod is that one might not be the type of user that wants to take the time to adjust everything(and it can be a pain if you reroll a lot). 

 

SkyAI there is no need for any combat mod(outside of the ones that actually add new attacks and things like Ultimate Combat), on Grimy's page he talks about exactly what the other combat mod overhauls do. You can then download his SkyAI mod with the Duke Patrick preset, or get into specifics for your own playthrough. Want bears to run away from you like foxes and rabbits do? You can set it up that way, etc. SkyAI could be very key for a hunting RP style, as you can personally tweak animal behaviors to how you believe they would truly react in reality, to your character in general, or just for thrill of the hunt.

 

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Lastly Arissa The Wandering Rogue is probably one of the best follower mods I've ever played with. One of the mod's best feature is that you can split up in town and part ways until you leave town, and she even gets into thievery at night and shares what she looted. It feels good to be able to do that, instead your follower following behind you the whole damn time.

 

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Here on LL, I like Sexlab Submit. As with that mod you can capture bandits and walk them all the way back to the nearest town for better payout.