dicere

I like sim city 2000 It's much more fun than the recent sim city, more options too

Not doomed exactly, but there has been a definite shift downwards in terms of quality since the launch of Skyrim. Bethesda probably never anticipated the success of Skyrim, and have been trying to re-create it ever since, rather than focusing on just making a good RPG. Their recent games have been underwhelming. Fallout 4 was merely average, Fallout 76 was an obvious cash grab with missing features from the start. Starfield was a convoluted mess of disjointed ideas, and it's almost as empty as fallout 76 in some ways. And they keep trying to push paid mods (creation club) on the community, despite all protests, and don't mind breaking everyone's mod lists repeatedly in the process. Bethesda are not good at listening to their community with empathy or understanding.

wish I was smart like you, I had the chance, wasted it!

It does feel that way. I had hoped the creation kit would be out by now, unfortunately that still seems a long way away. It feels like bethesda isn't pacing themselves well these days, firstly taking too long to release games, then taking too long to release new content.

avoid script heavy mods and massive texture overhauls

it's too many when you're more into modding than actually playing the damn game, lol

bethesda.. bethesda never changes. they just can't leave their old games alone

the top mods on nexus is a good place to start: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/top/

I'm on v1.5.97 and always will be. seriously WTF bethesda skyrim is not an endless cash cow for you to milk, it's a complete and finished project , let it go already, focus on fixing Starfield

That's a good question and it doesn't only apply to animal mods, there are a ton of mods on nexus that increase the difficulty and challenge of the game, very few that are on par with vanilla gameplay. Why is it so? I'm not really sure. Maybe mod authors just like a challenge, or are bored with the vanilla mechanics themselves so they want to change things up in their mods.

for me it's because I sometimes feel severe motion sickness when playing in first person, for the same reason I usually increase the FOV and turn off motion blur. I'm glad we have a choice though, I think from a story telling perspective, first person is more immersive, but not everyone can or wants to play that way

Bethesda really shot themselves in the foot when they decided to go for procedurally-generated samey looking locations rather than a smaller, tighter game filled with only individual handcrafted locations like in skyrim. They seem to not understand what made skyrim so successful , it was always the exploration, getting lost in a huge HAND CRAFTED world filled to the brim with UNIQUE things to explore. Starfield universe is far too boring, sterile, safe, and bland to really get lost in, and the repetitive environments just make things so much worse. I do think once the creation kit comes out things will get better, but whether it's enough to attract players back who have given up on the game? That remains to be seen. It's just such a shame because conceptually, on paper at least, the idea of a bethesda open world RPG set in space sounds absolutely awesome. I would not have believed bethesda could falter so badly, and it really makes me doubt the direction of the studio as a whole, and what is coming for ES6.

good list, I think at least no.26 (no local maps) will be fixed by bethesda in the next update

Probably. So much of this game feels unfinished and undercooked, which is strange given the lengthy development time.

I don't doubt the talent and dedication of experienced modders HOWEVER I believe this game really needs a complete rework, from the ground up. There are so many fundamental problems, not the least being the insane number of loading screens, the procedurally generated dungeons, the tedious npc dialogue and mediocre main story. Modders can only do so much, given the weak initial framework (and engine limitations). Besides modders should not have to fix fundamental flaws, mods should basically enhance and extend a fully developed game, not fix a broken one. If Bethesda really intended modders to fix their game from the onset, they should be embarrassed, this is not a small indie studio after all, and their track record speaks for itself. They had the time, resources and money to make something really great, and ultimately failed to do so.