MidevalGuy

Hi, Thanks, for answering me :) I had a feeling it was more coincidence than something inherently coded into the game, but that's why I asked.

http://www.skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/topalltime/?adult=2 Tell me again how that's "garbage"? I know I am new and not a Premium member, but judging by the condescending and arrogant tone it looks like "EnaiSiaion" has a very high opinion of him/herself and an obvious agenda to promote their mod. It didn't take long, did it? :wink:

I agree 100%. However, you wrote it yourself when you stated it's a trade off between quantity vs. quality. This may sound sad, but I will take Bethesda quantity over quality in this case because that is what allows for such an open-ended game, ironically. The story, good or bad, and how quests are presented are just tools for the player to craft their own adventure. It's not so much the why, but the how that gives Skyrim and TES games their freedom. We also aren't at the point yet where we have true, dynamic AI that can adapt to whatever a player does. That would be the ultimate in RPGs, but we just aren't there yet due to technological and more importantly budgetary reasons.

Does the game engine read what core class and skills you focus on and "help" you by generating the appropriate loot? I've done multiple character play throughs, and each time it seemed I would find gear that would help my character outside of specialized gear that can only be obtained through certain quests. I played through as an archer/thief character (with Warrior stone) and most of the gear I found were things like "Helmet of Eminent Archery" that improved bow damage 35%; "Hide Boots of Sneaking" that improves stealth 25%, etc. Same thing happened with a Mage play though. I found a lot of Mage-type gear (enchanted robes, hoods, circlets, etc.) in my travels even before I entered the College of Winterhold. This could have all been coincidence, but it happened more than once, so this leads me to believe it may not be coincidence after all? Does anybody have insight on this? Maybe some modders can chime in about game mechanics that might effect this?

One word: Freedom. A lot of games promise this, but none have delivered the way TES games do. Not even GTA is as open as they claim, regardless of how big the area(s) are. Freedom also extends to the PC version, obviously, with the infinite amount of mods that turn the game into anything you want.

BOSS is a stand-alone application, so just install/extract it anywhere. It automatically (or you can set the path) finds your Skyrim installation via registry settings in Windows. All it does is to make sure your mods are compatible and sets a proper load order based on master (prerequisite) files and tells you where any incompatibilities may lie. Note, just because it says something is not recommended doesn't mean you can't use it; Mods come out every day and the master list it downloads can't keep up. Use BOSS if you are getting CTD on loading the game to pinpoint what mod(s) might be conflicting. Usually is because they are missing a master file that you skipped over when downloading and/or might be in the wrong load order (below it when it should be above). As for mod recommendations... Not only the top Nexus files, but Skyrim G.E.M.S. is a must bookmark site for those new to mods and PC Skyrim: http://www.skyrimgems.com/ The best part of this site is it organizes the top mods into logical categories (cities, NPC, characters, weapons, etc.), so you can locate the type of mod you are looking for very fast and with little hassle (the site itself is laser fast and doesn't have a lot of fancy java, or flash elements which is a plus). Now, for some recommended "must have" mods: -The Unofficial Skyrim and Unofficial DLC patches. This is something you MUST have because all the game breaking bugs you read about on the net and see in videos just do not exist with these unofficial patches installed. I have played the game through multiple times and never had a single quest break, or not be able to be completed like the Xbox, PS3 and unpatched PC versions. There will still be little bugs, of course, but they won't be game breaking like before. -Brawl Bugs Patch Some of the radiant side-quests require you to brawl with someone to get information and/or intimidate them and if you don't have this installed, the brawl turns into a full-on fight, guards attack, you get a bounty and subsequently fail the quest objective. You also have to brawl in order to get certain followers, too, so it's a must have fix. -Acquisitive Soul Gem fix This makes it so that the appropriate soul is captured in the right soul gem e.g. A Petty Soul is stored in a Petty Soul gem and not a Grand Soul gem if you have these two in your inventory, etc. -Any Mod That Overhauls the Magic System Magic and spell casting is broken in vanilla Skyrim. Damage doesn't scale with the player as he/she levels up and cost reduction for spells doesn't go down, either. Spells deal more damage, but they cost the same (more or less) they did when they were a Novice even at Master level and with the appropriate perks. -Mods That Slow Down Leveling & Rework the Perk Trees This is strictly a personal preference, but having played the game enough times, I think this is one of the reasons a lot of people claim Skyrim is "dumbed down" aside from shotty AI and other things. Leveling (perks) is meant to reward players, but most of the vanilla perks are useless, or redundant. So, as the player evolves they can feel weaker (along with the level scaling) and not stronger like in traditional RPGs. -Mods That Remove Enemy Level Scaling Once again, personal preference, but like I wrote above as the player evolves so do his/her enemies. So, there is no sense of going from "zero to hero" like in most games. You don't want the game to be easy, but at the same time there is a point of diminishing returns all RPG player characters hit where they should be Gods and be able to take on almost anything. That doesn't happen in Skyrim because of enemies always being at, or slightly above the players level, so you never feel confident (forget God-like) if you can take on enemies because you never know if they are going be above, or below your level (where certain enemies like Bandits should be toward the end of the game, but aren't because they keep leveling with you).

The whole point of unique items e.g. dragon masks, Daedric artifacts, etc. is that they are unique to the world in Skyrim, so you shouldn't be able to take those enchantments and put them on anything you want. I know this is a single-player game and you can play however you want with mods, but this is a case where Bethesda probably doesn't want you to lore break certain things for the sake of immersion. I haven't tried breaking down Dawnbreaker, for example, but I am pretty sure the game won't let you because of its unique enchantments and even if you did, you need high enchanting/alchemy (which I know is not a problem for most players) because once you try to re-enchant another item with Dawnbreakers properties it probably won't have the same amount of potency and/or be missing the second component even if you use dual enchant perks. I can't confirm this, but I have a feeling this is a safeguard against players taking the unique items and just crafting God-like items even beyond what can already be crafted/enchanted out of vanilla weapons, apparel, etc. However, there are a few mods that may, or may not be what the OP is asking for (this thread dating back almost two years now): http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/31967/? <-- Disenchatment Font (Fountain) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=87947408 <-- Disenchanted Unique Items e.g. Dawnbreaker, Mehrunes Razor, etc. I know this isn't exactly what the OP and others want, but you might try contacting the mod authors (if still active) of these two mods and finding out if what the OP wants can actually be done and/or how to go about doing it if they don't want to.

I agree better AI and more features (like custom Spell casting) are never a bad thing, but here is what is fundamentally wrong with Skyrim if you guys really want to get into it: The vanilla version is unbalanced & broken on fundamental levels. I'm sure this has been rehashed a thousand times in the two years since the game was released, so forgive me for doing it again just so we are all on the same page: -Magic is so nerfed (damage doesn't scale as you level up) that playing a mage is not fun, or even worth it in the vanilla game. Sure, you have all these players exploiting Alchemy and Enchanting to get magicka cost reductions down to zero, but we all know this probably was not how Bethesda intended for the vanilla Mage class to be played. This backs up my first post on this forum where I claimed Bethesda put the emphais on warrior class characters since melee is much easier to understand from both a game play and mathematical point of view of the average (non-gamer) player. Higher AR (Armor Rating) means less damage and higher DR (Damage Rating) per weapon means hit harder.. At least, in theory. This leads me to... -The armor rating and damage reduction systems in vanilla Skyrim are screwed up because they are inversely related. So, players don't even need to go beyond Steel to max out the armor rating and damage reduction caps before a tenth of the game e.g. the main quest is even finished. This makes higher level armor and weapons like Glass and Daedric pointless unless players (once again!) resort to crafting and enchanting exploits just so they can feel like they are "Gods" when this is something the game should have done automatically if its core crafting and armor mechanics were implemented properly. This leads me to... -The whole game seems like it is built almost exclusively around smithing since players can craft and enchant weapons and armor that are statistically higher than vanilla Deadric artifacts that are supposed to be quest rewards & the most powerful items in the game. This is just bad game design and only encourages exploits because playing normally doesn't yield the type of rewards relative to the time invested in completing the quests. This also demonstrates a point I made in a previous post about playing a spread sheet instead of playing a game. If getting the best gear just means grinding smithing and not going out and adventuring then what is the point? I want to play an adventure game, not an assembly line simulator. -The biggest problem with Skyrim is probably how the world scales with the player. I realize this is to allow total freedom... Which itself is an illusion because every dungeon/quest has a minimum player level regardless... But this is precisely why players complain about feeling weaker the longer they play. The only time you feel like you are growing as a character is during the main quest because that is a controlled experience built around traditional story telling (introduction, conflict, climax, resolution), but most players finish the quest around level 20, or even the late teens as far as levels go, so the rest of the game doesn't feel as rewarding because some fights actually get harder instead of easier due to the level scaling in place. It's not as bad as Oblivion where everything scaled directly and there was almost no sense of progress e.g. Bandits would be decked out in Glass and Daedric armor, but it's still bad game design if the player doesn't feel like they can handle themselves in the world even after defeating the main boss of the game, Aludin. So, even though I like Skyrim, I can't ignore some of the fundamentally bad game design choices it has because they reveal how limited... not lazy... Bethesda was when creating the game.

First person, or third person?

Controllers may have less buttons, but that doesn't make them (or those who use controllers) any less than those who play with a keyboard & mouse... Especially for people who don't like playing games with mouse & keyboard, or who physically can't play hunched over a mouse and keyboard for whatever reason. I sure as Hell don't like using a mouse & keyboard for games since I work with a m&k all day long, so I want a game to feel like a "game" when i sit down and play it, not like I am doing more work once I get home. Something related to this I forgot to mention in my last post is... The games industry is similar to a lot of industries where concepts often exceed technology and this has everything to do with what defines a traditional RPG. I will make an educated guess if we had better gaming technology (not just consoles) Bethesda could probably make a game that is more in line with what their overall vision of what an RPG should be like. As another poster wrote, you can tell they are trying new things, but they just aren't there yet and a lot of it has to do with technological limitations more so than vision, IMO.

This is something I touched on in another thread about how RPGs (as a genre) seem to be stagnating compared to other games because many of them are still using old school methods that define them as RPGs, ironically. Stats and leveling up is a defining characteristic of the genre, but how these elements are executed and even communicated to the player is still stuck in the days of table top D&D for a lot of RPGs. My guess is Bethesda knew this and is at least trying to make more modern RPGs where stats and leveling are still integral part of the game play, but streamlining and making it so stats and leveling a.k.a. power gaming isn't the only thing players have to be concerned with, IMO. I don't want to play a spread sheet when I play a video game. This goes double for an RPG. I still want to level up and build the character I want, but I want to do it in the most painless way possible. This is why I use mods like SPERG that put the emphasis back on just playing the game and not meta-gaming a spread sheet. For example, run around in heavy armor and your heavy armor skill increases slightly. Become proficient with bows and you gain a Hunter's Insight that makes woodland characters less hostile toward you. This system is logical and gives logical perks and rewards, but most of all it puts the emphasis on just playing the game versus having to obsess about every little stat and skill point that may, or may not even effect your current character build. This is the part I think a lot of people are confused about and use to claim Skyrim is "dumbed down". Making something accessible and/or elimiating clutter is not dumbing down. It's streamlining and streamlining is not inherently bad if it is done in moderation... Which I believe they did very well in Skyrim. Where I think Bethesda is lazy is with the melee combat. This is a core game mechanic that needs a serious overhaul, IMO. I'm not asking for hardcore realism like some of the PC mods provide, but something that feels more weighted and requires more skill (block timing, perrying, etc.) than what we currently have. This is another thing detractors use to proclaim "those filthy casual (console) gamers caused TES to be dumbed down" when in fact melee combat in ALL The Elder Scrolls games has been a means to a method (leveling up) more than the main attraction.

I agree 100%. Those rose colored glasses of nostalgia are powerful, aren't they? Maybe even more powerful than Beer Goggles :wink: I understand people don't like change, but Skyrim is not a casual game, regardless of what the self-appointed game gurus proclaim. Casual games do not have 400+ page official game guides. Casual games don't have entire internet wikis with hundreds of pages dedicated the the game itself, all the items, characters, locations, walkthroughs, etc. associated with the game and the lore it is built around. Casual games don't have infinite replay-ability beyond their core game mechanics like TES and Skyrim does. In other words... -Angry Birds is a casual game! -Fruit Ninja is a casual game! Skyrim (and RPGs in general) is so far beyond a casual game it baffles me how somebody could proclaim it one unless they A) Don't know what they are talking about, or B) are just immature and insecure and need something to "hate" on to make themselves feel better about playing the game of choice I.E. Oblivion, Morrowind, etc. Also, casual gamers aren't 12-year olds who are not sophisticated enough to play on PC. Casual gamers are actually older gamers with full-time jobs, families and real social lives & commitments outside of playing video games, but you would never know that because the term is now used as a pejorative against anybody who doesn't play, or like a game somebody else likes. I apologize for the OT rant, but Skyrim seems to be a rallying point for all those who say games are getting dumber and dumber when that is clearly not the case, IMO. As for the original question... No. I don't think Bethesda is getting lazy, but when making games for a mass audience they have to make it as accessible as possible. So, this meant shifting the focus onto something more people can easily get into in a Fantasy RPG and that is hack & slash, sword and shield play versus the more tactical "Glass Cannon" Mage, Archer or Thief characters who require a lot more planning and patience. This would not be a problem except the emphasis on warrior classes (and having to grind smithing to get the best gear) effected Skyrim's core game design to the point the magic system was completely broken upon release. Luckily, PC modders were able to correct this huge oversight, but if we're going to be perfectly honest the majority of "casual players" could probably care less and just want to go stab dragons in the face and make Bandits explode in balls of fire. There is nothing wrong with this, but it comes back to the issue of balance like another poster wrote above. Bethesda can't please everybody all the time, but they need to make sure TES VI has all character play styles functioning and balanced on release as well as improve things that need improving like a better combat system in general, etc.

I had an answer ready to go last night, but after thinking about it some more here is my stance: It's a single-player game. Cheat as much (or as little) as you want. You aren't hurting anybody except maybe your own satisfaction of doing things how they are meant to be done e.g. leveling up, etc. Even if you have played through the game multiple times that's the whole point of a game like Skyrim: The process of creating your own character and his/her own unique story. Far be it from me to judge, but it baffles me why people do things like tie rubber bands around controller triggers to level up a certain skill, etc. They are free to play however they want, but this almost defeats the purpose of playing the game, let alone buying it, IMO. It's not cheating per say, but it's not taking advantage of what the game has to offer (improving skills through adventure) even if the game itself is far from perfect. On a related note... A lot of mods for the PC version can be considered cheats as well, and I don't mean the obvious ones like Lock Pick Pro. For example, being able to have more than one (non-scripted) follower at any time and turn your game into an old school party RPG when dungeon raiding, exploring, etc. Or what about mods like "Convenient Horses" that gives unlimited follower horses for free since the player only has to buy their initial horse and the rest spawn out of thin air? They way I see it, mods like these aren't cheats because they give more choices and "fix" (add) features that weren't in the original game and should have been in a lot of players opinions e.g. followers not riding horses in vanilla Skyrim just bad game design no matter how you slice it. Not only does it break immersion (realism), but followers can't keep up, so by the time you may need their help they are a mile away still trying to catch up! My own personal rule is I don't use console commands unless I have no choice. This is because of bugs and other Bethesda VooDoo that happens during the course of the game. Mods, on the other hand, I am totally down with because they make TES V a better game than was initially released. I like mods that take the grinding/exploiting out of the game and just let me play the game however I want, but... Still allow me have the same (and possibly better) experience the developers originally intended but fell short of because of being hamstrung by conventional RPG elements e.g. grinding smithing so you can have the best armor, etc. I don't mind playing a game the way it's "meant" to be played, but when it is obvious some of the design choices are imbalanced and/or promote boring grinding/exploiting then it ceases to be fun and that is what games should always be about, IMO.