Astaril

First play through is always nice, shiny and new when you have the element of not knowing what is going to happen in the story, but I tend to enjoy my second play through even more in some ways because I know what is going to happen, I can plan my role play better and work my characters story into the games story. I usually leave a few quests aside for my second playthrough so there is still something new to enjoy. I haven't done the main quest yet and will probably save this for my second character as now I have the jist of the game I can now create a story that will be compatible with the game mechanics and so on. I rarely play any game more than twise through because I take a VERY long time to play through just once! The only game I have played through more than twise is Shenmue ...its the classic lines and driving the forklift, it never gets old! :) For me though, story is essential! I like the fighting to feel good, I like my character to feel powerful but this is quite low down on my list of importantance. I didn't get on very well with the play style of Dragon Age, but it is one of my favourite games because of the story and the characters, there were so many dialogue options too and this really made the game for me. While I like Skyrim and am happy with so many elements of it, the random events, the world, play style there are so many things I like, but I am feeling (so far) a little disapointed by the characters and writting in this game, it seems rushed. I just completed the mages quest line and was quite shocked at how implausable this was. It doesn't work at all and I had such high hopes as I loved the studenty feel at the start of the quest. This is just one example but I am finding little details are missing, such as lack of finishing statements or comments that you would expect npcs to give after certain quests. I think something has gone wrong with the writting in Skyrim. Someone said that Bethesda were probably put under pressure to finish this game for the release date and I agree, I think they have rushed this game and it shows up all over the place. I think part of the problem Bethesda have is trying to cater to all gamers priorities, for some fast leveling and stats are all important, questing or fighting is key for others, some just like to explore the world, some view stories and roleplay as paramount. I think this is why a lot of people on this forum are disappointed with this game as PC gamers tend to be more Roleplay orientated (sorry for generalisation, I know there are exceptions!) and the game seems to have been nerfed in this area where as quests, fighting, exploration, stats etc have all recieved a huge boost. Another example of this - In Fallout and Oblivion I used to decorate and personalise my houses, I really enjoyed this it took ages but the placement worked really well and it was a neat little feature. I can't do this anymore in Skyrim because the gravity settings are all off, and the placement just doesn't work. Its really annoying and just another thing that obviously hasn't been important enough to them to do properly, but then why would they care when it is only a minority of people who bother to do this? I think its the same with the stories if they get wind of the idea that people skip through the dialogue and don't care about the story anyway, then they will not prioritise this area either... this is a big shame. I do see the OPs point that you need a good amount of quests to keep the action going but I do not agree in that (for me) the story is the most important part of any game and is what makes a game GREAT! Skyrim so far as I have played it, is pretty good, worth my money and time but sadly not great.

yeah right, posting alt tbfh.

Swoop away, you are right and thanks for not being a knob. If the general consensus is that piracy on consoles is just as big a problem as on PC then I concede to it, I don't know much about it, I just read/heard a few things on it and plonked this opinion here. As for the xbox thing all I can say is.... :facepalm: Sadly I think I have just been an excellent example of why you guys hate console players so much, because we don't know crap about computers. I played Oblivion on xbox, found this site and saw some of the mods and just thought they were so great that I bought the PC version too and used them on this. I really want to learn how to mod my own though as I am an artist (I paint and sell miniature pictures) so I really think I could do something quite creative with mods, the problem is that it is MUCH harder than I thought it would be as you really need to understand A LOT about computers to do it, so while I know the basics of computers I am waaay out of my league here with anything beyond that. I won't give up on this though but I have a lot to learn. So maybe until then I will keep my opinions on this to myself. :yes: just one more thing on this topic though.... In some sort of defense to console/wannabe modders, there is some elitism here. Lots of it in this thread! There shouldn't be this divide, its stupid really. Most console players (even if they are annoying 12 year olds) just play games by whatever means necessary, whatever console or computer they have in the house or their parents own. They don't really think about it in any serious way like "If I buy this I am contributing to the dumbing down of games" etc. They just pay their money and play the game. The fact that consoles are marketed better and dare I say easier to play on, dare I say again.. eek.. cheaper in the short term *ducks* you can't blame them! This is going to have a huge effect on the PC market and so it follows the way these games are made. Its not fair, but developers arn't in it for charity. BUT!... ...The one little gem you have, the one shining star you have that has probably saved PC gaming is the ability to personalise the games with mods. So what is really needed to boost PC gaming back into the forefront where game development is concerned is an easier way to modify games, one that is accessible to ex console noobs (like me) who like this idea. I am not going to get into the whole Steam debate on this (just for the record, I am not a fan it has caused me many problems) but there must be something that would make this area a bit more user friendly? Speaking in a language that your average noob would understand. I know there might be an argument that goes, well if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen in otherwords if you don't understand how computers work to make mods you clearly have no business being here and shouldn't be doing it, but this attitude is not going to help you bring in new people to modding and in the long term this will not help PC games. Thickos like me are everywhere and make up the majority. Where mods are concerned it must be better to dumb things down (a little) for us than to become part of some small elitist sect that grumbles about how stupid everyone is for not understanding how to do it and then wonder why everyone buys consoles. I am not very good at explaining things but in short what I am trying to say is Modding is the gem of PC gaming, if you want to see better PC games improve the modding system so the console noobs will become modding masters too then in 10 years time we will maybe have a thread "Why does everyone hate PC players" "They ruin xbox!! now the game is liek really complicated" etc.. ok unlikely but yu never know.

Don't worry about him, he hasn't taken his angry pills today. He had a pop at me earlier too, one of those aggressive I am waaaay too superior types. Sad really, as he is probably a frustrated genious who has wasted too much life playing World of Warcraft rather than getting a proper eduction. Woah! Actually that was a fine bit of Psychobabble there!!! maybe its me who's missed my calling! :psyduck: p.s. I play with laptop and xbox controller too, I agree its great!

YOu seem nice! You like to LOL... a lot!!! I am also a fan of the old !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you can NEVER have too many! I add you to friends, is this ok? :wub: But I will answer your questions first... I might be wrong here because I don't have your skilz but don't you need some kind of chip in the xbox to run a pirate game? I wonder if you had the figures for how many PC pirate copies were out there compared to xbox ones, what would one find? I wasn't very specific but I never said you could MAKE mods on the xbox. yeah... !¬!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111!!!! ( for emphasis) I know you can also transport your xbox made and leveled character to the PC and then mod her the same as you would if you had started her on the PC you need both copies of the game of course, which i lucky have. Some people have managed to mod their characters on the PC and then use them back on xbox. I don't know how this is done and haven't done it. We did make a fix like this though, I had the Abomb bug on my Xbox character, My BF transported the save game over to PC, fixed it with a programme, and then transported her back to xbox so I could complete the game. I'm not a computer expert and don't pretended to be but thanx for your maturness in letting me know gently how much I fail!11!!! LO~L I promise I will try harder to be more better in this skils like you ... friend! :thumbsup:

Not for a long time, since they would lose out on a great deal of money as long as broadband isn't the worldwide standard - rural aereas included. Ahh too true! Good.

Ok, i am being brutally honest (because i'm drunk as a skunk right now) ..... How could you possibly ruin one of the best gaming experiences by watering it down by playing it on a rancid pile of crap, also known as a console!!??!!? I hate, i hate, i hate console gamers, they are the sole reason why most games suck these days, they have lowered the expectations of games because they gobble up all the crap that feeds the developing companies, so they don't have to make anything good or unique anymore because console users are unintelligent morons. Ooooh pretty explosion .. bang bang ... "yeah these young kids will buy up all this crap, no need to advance anything, then port it to PC and they can deal with this s***" .. hate consoles, hate console gamers. Whoo! Bit harsh don't you think?

Buy her some flowers!!! :wub:

That's just one of the many excuses being used by the industry. The truth is, it's easier to develop for the console, since there are only three hardware configurations to consider. And since the console is often used by a younger audience, they're easier to satisfy as long as you include enough crash/boom/bang material. Also there's more money to be made, since the console industry was very successful in their campaign to present their products as trendy and a must have for every welf respecting kid. Peer pressure does the same wonders as with the mobile phones and certain fashion brands. Pitrates crack the console versions just as easily as the PC versions. Truth is, every copy protection so far is useless. It's only there for legal reasons, since unprotected files would be open for legal debate. I don't know much about the other reasons to be honest this was just something I heard or read about once, but I imagine it must be easier to pirate PC games over Xbox ones? I am no expert though, I confess. Either way I guess streaming games in a pay to play kind of way might become the future of the PC gaming, not good.

I blame the Pirates because it is making it harder for games developers to make money from PC games, thats why we have Steam now and even tht didn't work properly. Apparently its getting pretty bad just hope it doesn't get to the point where they just cut out the PC entirely. 1) I played Oblivion on xbox, until I bought it on PC and this site has the best forums for game info. 2) You can also use mods on the xbox now, last year microsoft updated so you can use USB sticks, so you can put an xbox save game onto the PC. My partner fixed my xbox Abomb bug this way.

I have an acer too, its quite old but I can do Skyrim medium settings just fine, (I am not very computer lit) but I think yours is much better so should at least handle high settings. If you want to compare mine is Aspire 5739G IntelCore 2 Duo processor NVIDIA Geforce GT 130M Up to 2286MB TurboCache 4GB Mem 500GB HDD I play plugged into a television with an xbox controller which has been really great! Edit: Oops I just realised mine is a laptop, and you have a PC doh!

:ohmy: I love your ideas here! Especially the severe weather one and needing like a fur cloak to recover, I can imagine dashing to the nearest inn or shelter in blizzard conditions that would be so cool. Maybe you should email it to that guy who has done the food mod to see if he can impliment it some how.

Newbie to mods here and just seen your "Scripting for beginners guide" ninja that! but I want to try some new mage robes, and then maybe a little house in the woods. :)

I don't know if this is one of the parts you are missing on the war, but at the Inn in Riverwood on top of the wardrobe in the room you can rent, there is quite a long story which fills you in on a lot of the things that happened between the Oblivion Crisis to Skyrim. I Think it is called "The Great War". I am not sure if this is what you meant though?

I do like some of these retextures, but being specific the things I would like to see more of are new mages robes, RP outfits (not always skimpy), some cool original looking armour sets (not always badass), some hair mods that don't look like I have just opened playboy or been imported to Japan, faces that are nice looking but not always perfect, so keeping some character, this especially on elves! Although this last one is difficult as beauty is in the eye of the beholder etc... new player houses in nice areas of Skyrim. Is this kjind of thing hard to do in mods? I honestly don't know, so I could be being really unfair to expect it. I would like to have a go at creating some of the things I have mentioned above, I literally have no idea of how hard this is though. So would need to start at the most basic level, I wondered if maybe I should start by doing something in Oblivion to get the hang of it first as there are a few guides specific to Oblivion? I don't know how different it is to modding in Skyrim though, do you find modding Skyrim easier?

Just for the record they are definitely NOT Dutch, There is the Arnold voice which is probably Austrian and I am 90% sure the lady is Russian. Anyway offering an English accent over here, I can do posh, normal English and will try a" blimey govener" type if ya like! :thumbsup:

LOL! YOU know what I meant!!! :) and I did say take out the textures and recolours! Skimpy would have been better word than porn granted though :tongue: I use these but still don't find anything I want, maybe because the ones I don't want are so popular! :wallbash: I think I am just going to have to learn to do my own, don't suppose you know of any good starter guides applicable to Skyrim do you? I read some for Oblvion but will it be a different method for Skyrim? Should I wait for the creation kit to come out?

If I may ask, what Balance are we talking about? Dont get me wrong, you did make your point carefully and articulated in a civilized manner and I thank you for that but what Balance are we talking about here? Is it the Balance on the Nexus? Do you think that Animebased mods outweigh Lorebased mods? to what extend? is it 60/40 or even steeper 90/10? Lets assume, in a Year from Now there is (wildly speculating here) 100000 Mods (not considering Savegames :) ). In a worst case Scenario, "only" 10000 of them are Lore Friendly mods and the other 90000 are Dancing Anime Chicks. Two questions; 10000 mods are not enough for you? and do you really think the creators of the other 90000 "pron" Anime Dancing chicks would go on and create lore friendly mods if, lets say, they were not allowed to create "pron" Anime chickmods? Look, I modded Oblivion and by now there are tons of mods with sometimes ridiculous content. There are many of them I dont like and I dont even wanna see but if I really stumble upon them I just go like "meh" and go on without needing to go into the Forum and rant about their existence. This is simple rational thinking. Mods are free, mods can be created by anyone and everyone who is capable, mods dont necessarily follow rules (dont misunderstand this, publishing sites have rules not mods), mods are not controlled by a central place otherwise they would be called DLCs. There is a stupendous amount of things in the Internet I dont like but others do. As long as they are just "tasteless" (not criminal or harmful or another extreme) in my opinion and avoidable I can coexist with them. Let me ask you a final Question! would you want to live in somebody elses "Paradise"? Edit: How is that the problem of the modder? There is actually a great sorting system on the Nexus. Are you seriously asking Anime mods to disappear so you can find the mods you like faster? how selfish would that be? Well, What I mean to say is that if you leave texture and colour changing mods out of the equation here because there are lots of these and some are very good like the jewellery one. Now ignoring these, go to files, categories, click on say armour or clothing my seach seems to go something like this... Dark Brotherhood Porn Porn Dark Brotherhood Porn Zelda Porn Dark Brotherhood Porn, Porn, Porn, Porn,Porn,Porn, Anime sheild Assassin's Creed Porn, Dark Brotherhood, Porn, Dark Brotherhood, Porn. Don't get me wrong, its not about being a lore nazi, I like a laugh, I think the spiderman, and superman costume are funny... but these are rare one offs. I probably wouldn't like them if there were hundreds of them though, but what I am disapointed about is that there are SO few classic fantasy items, by that I mean things that fit in with the realistic Elder Scrolls world. I am really having trouble finding anything good! I hear what you are saying but how would you feel if you couldn't find anything YOU liked along side all the tastless stuff? Would you stop looking at the internet, and be disapointed? I guess that is what I am trying to say, there is a lack of mods to suit those who like a more realistic feel. This is Selfish yes! but even knowing this I can't help feeling dispointed and so I had a little rant about it. I think I am a premature ranter though as I think in time the good ones (imo) will come out later on (hope), so will keep checking back.

Yeah, but you sure do have to sift through a lot of trash to get to the good ones. It makes for a long laborious search.

Ok, I might open myself up for flames here, but meh.. While I can understand that everyone has their own personal taste and mods are great for those to create the game of there choosing and of there own imagination. Seeing these just makes me feel... a little sad. I don't know why because its not like I have to use them but it just seems like an abomination against some of the most beautiful game graphics ever done. If I was a Bethesda game artist I wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry! I am new to this modding community, I played Oblivion mostly on the xbox at first and then bought the PC version and used a few mods on it, which were so great it made me determined to play Skyrim completely on the PC. I have to admit though that I am a bit disapointed, as most of the mods so far are just not what I had hoped for. They seem to be really tacky like making all the characters look like porn stars, with anime hair, big pounty rubber lips and huge balloon boobs, I don't want my character to look like Katie Price! Most outfits are either very black for the shady types or something I would put on my character if I was RPing a hooker. I dont' know how difficult it is to make mods, I really want to try it eventually but I imagine it is quite difficult and you have to be quite hardcore computer literate? Which I am not :( So I have to take my pick from the ones on Nexus and at the moment apart from some clever UI and texture ones they are a bit trashy looking. I am really really sorry to dis modders hard work here but really wish there could be a better balance in classic fantasy as oppose to porn fantasy. But then I guess these mods might not be so popular...

Well according to a lot of people in this thread you are CLEARLY a lesbian! but seriously I admire that imagination of yours, I can't do it! I tried once to be a bloke with a wow character but I just couldn't pull it off RP wise. Yet most men seem to RP woman really well. I didn't have any problem playing Ryo Hazuki in Shenmue though but I guess its kind of different game.

I am sorry if I offended but it was not intended. I mearly answered the OPs question about which side to choose. It is hard to communicate your humour and intention over text sometimes but I meant my answer to sound more like a campaign to persuade people why they should choose the Imperials over the Stormcloaks. I did not mean it to sound too serious and it was meant to be biased towards the Imperials, deliberately black and white. I certainly did not mean that PLAYERS who choose to do the Stormcloaks quests are stupid, I intend to do the Stormcloak questline with one of my characters, so I would only be calling myself stupid there! Having said this, I do stand by my opinion that in lore The Imperials are the lesser of the two evils, and your arguments have not persuaded me otherwise, while I recognise that the Empire is far from perfect I think it is a better cause than that of The Stormcloaks which is a rather weak one. The Empire did once bring peace and prosperity to the nations of Tamriel and it could do so again. If The Stormcloaks were to succeed, there would be only one winner "The Thalmor" . Ulfric is not a strong leader, he is a coward a cheat, a liar and a .. fleer (if that is a word) a horrible bully who will kill anyone who doesn't agree with him, if he were to win there would just be another civil war against the none Nordic population as he would drive them out, and then who knows what? What province would trade with Skyrim after this? It would only lead to a huge economic down turn and then probably famine and extreme poverty. This is when the Thalmor would strike! Ulfric win = disaster for Skyrim! Imperial win = not perfect but some hope for Skyrim!

This is the most sensible post! to sum up... It's ok if you are a man playing a woman, you are not gay or weird. It's ok if you are a man playing a man equally you are not gay or weird. It's also ok to be gay and weird if you want to be and if you are its ok to play either sex, apart from argonian as this just doesn't work anatomically and is therfore forbidden! it's just a thing you have called "personal choice".... nb: not applicable to argonians. :no:

I wouldn't want to see abuse of anyone. I tend to draw the line where violence and sex come together. yeah sorry I didn't make that point very clear, I also find this very disturbing. I know some games include this kind of thing, although I haven't played them. What I was trying to express (badly) is that I think there is a limit to what should be including in games and developers need to be careful not to step over the line and special care must be taken where children are concerned. I am open to new boundries being smashed in the way that I think its fine to include normal sexual content, and same sex relationships etc... in adult games of course! I don't know if you have heard about it but there is this really horrible game where the player goes around killing all these cute looking teddy bears, its set in a childs world and its really sick, it got panned in reviews for being depraved, thank fully! but this is the thing I can't stand and worries me.

Wow! I would find this really hard to do. I am a girl and have always played a female character in virtually all games where there is a choice, RPGs tend to bring out my girly side (playing with dolls and all that) and I like the outfits and decorating my home etc, however thinking about this it also must bring out another side of me as I like to have a powerful feeling character, and although I usually play my first character as a good girl, I usually do a second character who is a naughty one. :biggrin: With her I will usually be a sneaky thief type and join DB and Thieves guild. Can't say as yet which one I enjoy the most ... hmm. As for guys playing as girls, when I first played WoW I used to find it really odd that guys played female characters but in a short time realised that its just the way some men are. It certainly doesn't make them gay or weird in anyway, (not that there is anything wrong in being either gay or weird in my book!) but just that "men will be men" and they like to look at women. I had so many normal heterosexual friends who played female characters and I asked one of them why and they said (as many others have said on this thread) that they like to look at a female ass over a male one, kind of understandable really. Although I think it is different for most female players as although I am not a lesbian I prefer to look at a female character too. I think it is horses for courses as some might say. What I did find a little harder to open my mind too was two female characters, RPing lesbians, being played by men, cybering each other. This blew my mind! Having said this though I agree with what others have said in earlier posts how stupid it is that we get all prudish over mild sex in games yet accept willingly some of the extreme violence and gore. I am open to most boundries being smashed in games but strongly think in all cases the line has to be drawn where children are concerned. Its just not right. I do not want to see mods that involve violence or abuse to children. Its just too depraved ... a step too far, and yes even if they do have annoying voices!