Is there any way to make Skyrim... playable?

[loopie]

Hey.

 

Provoking title, I know.

 

I think I developed an unhealthy "love - hate" relationship with Skyrim -- although, it's more like a "motivation - disappointment - pissed off" kind of deal. 

 

For one, I never, ever finished the main story -- or any main quest, for that matter. I've been fooling around with mods. I've spent more time modding the game than playing, I guess this is something many of you can relate to. But I ended up only modding the game. Creating entire profiles around a certain build, having 150-220 mods per build, solving countless errors, setting things up, making sure I still have bearable FPS after all those mods.

 

Once all of those are fulfilled, and I am ready to "play", I test it, perhaps make an actual character, play about 20-30 minutes, and if it's still works without a crash and everything seems fine, I completely lose interest.

 

I move on to the next build idea on a new profile, I seek out mods, make them work together, if they don't, I swap some of them out for alternatives, compare them, watch reviews of them. If I can't get the game to work, I wipe all of them off and start over (usually setting up a rule that I won't go over, say, 50 mods, and only install the ones that are "actually necessary" -- of course, I haven't kept to this rule, not even once). When the new profile / build works, I move on to creating a new profile with a new build in mind. It is a never ending cycle.

 

Or, to be more precise: it usually ends when due to unexplainable error that occurs without me even touching the files since the last time they worked, I wipe off the entire game with all of its tools, mods, extensions, patches, etc.

 

The last time this happened was just yesterday. I'm still tempted to start over the whole thing, but finally I realized something. I think I got behind why I cannot enjoy the actual game, not even with the most masterfully crafted mods.

 

It is due to Skyrim itself. I always knew it had many flaws. As someone said, "Skyrim has the size of an ocean and the depth of a puddle". I realized what bothered me: that none of the player's decisions matter, that the world doesn't react to anything, that your decisions have no consequences, your skills and level don't matter due to the level scaling, and even if there wasn't level scaling, the enemies respawn for no good reason other than making it possible to be a "jack of all trades", the lack of internal consistency, the complete lack of roleplaying elements (dialogue based on player attributes, responsive world, consequences), that virtually every quest is about "the end of the world", as no other motivation can be justified if you want to stick to "total inclusion".

 

I won't even mention the dozens of missed out opportunities (Bethesda, hire this guy), and the cookie-cutter quests for no reason other than filling up the world with artificial content. The list goes on -- but all of these could either be forgivable or could be fixed with mods, except for the things in previous paragraph.

 

My question is:

 

Am I missing something? This is really it? A huge, beautiful, empty sandbox? 

And if so, is this unchangeable? Did someone create a mod trying to make Skyrim an RPG (besides Requiem, which as far as I know, didn't address the above issues)? Certainly, it would be a huge undertaking.

 

Or maybe, it is just time to move on.

 

There are many "main quests" in this game, and different mods provide them with completely different playthrough experiences. For example, have you tried a playthrough with full beastiality, full sex, rape, no BDSM (devious stuff) but Beastess, Cidha (forgot exact spelling) mine stuff, all the forsworn stuff, Old gods stuff in it, and done the entire Markath story ? Also, even in full enchanted armor etc. and followers following you, if you put your difficulty up it will end up being fairly balanced and you can still die plenty.

 

Or try a full set of vampire + sex mods, especially SLEN and Sexlab Solutions, and go for the Dark Brotherhood playthrough, then all else.

 

Then you can add content mods like Bruma etc. but be careful cause some are extra hard to set up with SL.

 

Have you solved the mystery and found out what really happened in Winterhold ? Obtained all the housecarls ?

 

With the new Win 10 update and the Vram limit lifted its a great time for another install and complete playthrough.

 

etc. etc.

 

Sooner or later of course, you will get bored of it just like any other game, take a break, I do. Come back when some mods get some major updates and some new stuff comes out.

[Veladarius]

 

your skills and level don't matter due to the level scaling, and even if there wasn't level scaling, the enemies respawn for no good reason other than making it possible to be a "jack of all trades", the lack of internal consistency, the complete lack of roleplaying elements (dialogue based on player attributes, responsive world, consequences), that virtually every quest is about "the end of the world", as no other motivation can be justified if you want to stick to "total inclusion".

 

you pick the wrong mods

 

if you are level 50, and a bear have pc level mult, he gain 250 health (5*50)

and he have highter chance to resist turn undead and a few spell

that's all level scaling do, it doesn't change anything

 

Skyrim doesn't use level scaling, it just uses different enemies depending on your level. There are leveled lists of all the different bandits and creatures and as you go up in level it adds new enemies in (which is why there are different types of bandits and creatures variations that start showing up). All of these have their level preset and the highest tier of enemies is level 29 and overall there are only 5-6 different level sets. All of them use different leveled lists for their armor, weapons and loot so each has appropriate gear. Unless you use a mod to change the bandits then the further you get past level 29 the easier it gets.

 

Level scaling can make major changes to how enemies react depending on how they are set up. The bandits I have in CD are set so their level is 25% higher than you and it automatically adjusts their skills and stats.

 

Best thing I have found to make combat more challenging is mods that adjust their AI so they fight much more effectively (use shield bash, block your attacks and use cover or even run away).

[yatol]

 

 

if you are level 50, and a bear have pc level mult, he gain 250 health (5*50)

and he have highter chance to resist turn undead and a few spell

that's all level scaling do, it doesn't change anything

 

Skyrim doesn't use level scaling, it just uses different enemies depending on your level.

 

 

think i know that, it's in your quote of my post...

have edit that stuff

it was a waste to not use bandit redguard heads for those alikr

having to take the voice from the head npc is also a waste (if guard template was keeping voice maleguard, i could put argonians or darkelfs in that)

[RJLbwb]

meh. What a lot of people are defining as a "RPG" is what used to be called "Liner Plot Train"   As Bio Shock Infinity snarks about in the opening scene, there is no such thing a "choice" in that kind of game because the only real choices are "do what the devs scripted" or "exit the game". So it's "since you didn't press exit, you chose to act like idiot/ asshole" and then get punished by the game for doing what the devs forced you to do, that's more like a Medieval Morality play than role play. 

 

Skyrim is nice for the sandbox, and you have options, but If anything Skyrim is bit irritating because when does have a go at traditional computer RPing it's got a lot of quests that it forces on you that are take a ride on the plot train; take the Thieves Guild quest line - that Nord pimp force greats you and accuses you of being a thief and you have to go a long with it, not smash his face in like the lore makes clear a Nord would if someone insulted them like that.   After that lovely start you you have to ignore what  a pack of useless idiots the rest of the thieves, do some pretty vile things, for zero profit (nothing says thieving like charity), ignore how transparent Mercer is in his scheming only end up getting nearly murdered by Mercer is one of the stupidest cut scenes in gaming history,  (console locked, paralyzed and stabbed because you stepped threw door, feel the choices).Then to get Mercr, because it's the good thing to do as a thief, not because Mercer is a back stabbing twat who must die horribly, in world were it's clear you that have an immortal soul and very bad afterlife is quite possible, you are forced to sell your' soul to a she demon to spend the rest of eternity as a doorman, because shut up that's why again, oh then kill Mercer,  and that is widely considered the best written Skyrm quest line and during the quest line I can think of no choices the character makes of any significance, beyond will you fight you way threw a falmer nest or have one of the thieves argro the falmer by being clumsy while you are trying to sneak threw.

 

Good quests give you an objective and interesting NPCs  to interact with and leave it up to you how to go about it. That's rp. at lest as close as you can get with a solo game.

 

Anyhoot moders are revisiting the Vanilla quests and sneaking in more options like the mod Blood on the Ice Redux, and I think that's a really good thing.

 

 

 

[Lodakai]

That's a pretty good summery.  I think Bethesda just kinda copped out and said, meh we will put in some quests to demo the quest tools and let modders do the rest.  This is not necessarily a bad thing in the long run, as it has prompted many people to step up to fix glaring problems with the content portion of the game.  It is slightly immoral to outsource your game content to free labor however.

 

Still... at least we have that option with bethesda games.  You can't even mess with the vast majority of other games, they won't even give you nearly the same tools as we have with TES series.  So in that case, I think the model works for them overall... that is until they started embracing the concept of creation club.  But that is a different thread entirely.

[SmedleyDButler]

Yeah, I appreciate the mods that offer real choice such as the one that lets you tell Molag Bal to fuck off instead of being forced to beat an old man to death several times, just because you agreed to help a vigilant investigate a haunted house (though I wish the curse from Molag Bal was more severe and a bit harder to get rid of). What sadist at Bethesda decided THAT was the way to write a quest... geez. 

 

Or the lighthouse quest! Once you talk to the Argonian, you're just stuck with this quest, unless of course you decide to go ahead and murder a boat full of people. There's a mod where you can turn him in (or kill him? I forget...).

[Lodakai]

You bring up a good point SmedleyDButler...  you know the quest system is bad when you actively avoid talking to people because they might send you off to the other side of the continent to retrieve the golden nosehair from some long dead troll or the entire city will die, while you are trying to simply return balgruufs sword because it weights too damn much and apparently had superglue applied to it before being handed to you.   

 

And the vanilla followers are just plain ridiculous..  maybe with the exception of Serana, but even that could have been improved significantly with little effort.  You look at companions from other games like dragon age or the witcher, and you can clearly see they are intricately tied to the world and your actions.  Skyrim followers, meh.. not so much.

[yatol]

You bring up a good point SmedleyDButler...  you know the quest system is bad when you actively avoid talking to people because they might send you off to the other side of the continent to retrieve the golden nosehair from some long dead troll or the entire city will die, while you are trying to simply return balgruufs sword because it weights too damn much and apparently had superglue applied to it before being handed to you.  

 

quests items weight 0 in your inventory

if you don't want to do a quest, don't accept it...

and serana is the worst vanilla follower

dawnguards will come say hello in 20 levels

serena crap script is already checking every x seconds if it can make serena do something (doesn't matter if she is here or not)

 

and it's nothing complicated to get some challenge in tamriel

 

 

oh, some fighting

i was just passing by...

bet that's the stormcloak prisoner, and the mages are civilwar imperials that took too much from head leveled list

guard, save my ass

whiterun is with imperials, ulfric was right, even i didn't saw him yet

that courrier it's rambo

need gear to kill wolves

and special gear to damage trolls, undeads, vampires...

if you get hit once, you are dead

the powerless dragonborn can't even kill an elk, rushing the main quest for low level easy mode? bad idea

that horker did well against an undead

 

so it's normal that vampire just run around like a dumbass

 

 

[Lodakai]

 

You bring up a good point SmedleyDButler...  you know the quest system is bad when you actively avoid talking to people because they might send you off to the other side of the continent to retrieve the golden nosehair from some long dead troll or the entire city will die, while you are trying to simply return balgruufs sword because it weights too damn much and apparently had superglue applied to it before being handed to you.  

 

quests items weight 0 in your inventory

 

 

 

Pff Tell that to my dragonstone =p

[lewd123]

 

 

You bring up a good point SmedleyDButler...  you know the quest system is bad when you actively avoid talking to people because they might send you off to the other side of the continent to retrieve the golden nosehair from some long dead troll or the entire city will die, while you are trying to simply return balgruufs sword because it weights too damn much and apparently had superglue applied to it before being handed to you.  

 

quests items weight 0 in your inventory

 

 

 

Pff Tell that to my dragonstone =p

 

I don't have to. It works the same way. It displays a weight, but it doesn't actually have it. Anything tagged as a quest item doesn't contribute to the calculation.

[Lodakai]

Well that's good to know =) 

it always bothered me for no reason then sheesh!  I still hate having junk stuck in my inventory... especially the berenzia crap eef.  

[Captain Cobra]

Bethesda just needs to straight up do a 1 to 1 copy of Mount and Blade's combat system for their next game.

[yatol]

I still hate having junk stuck in my inventory... especially the berenzia crap eef.  

 

you delete the misc item name, and like skinnaked, weapon unarmed and the rest, it doesn't appear in inventory

 

all those custom armors you have to have in your inventory

 

 

 

there's something called uilist that was made some years ago

there's also something called skse that was made some years ago, for those color problems with helmet hairs, pube, beards...