NAPALM13092

This is pretty awesome. To be entirely honest I would never convert my Skyrim like this as anything more than a joke, lore hound and all that, but to see these kinds of resources gives me hope for some really stellar mods that take us to the southern portions of Tamriel.

You have though. The Perk system has the potential to solve all the issues, without having to bring back the cumbersome, outdated and irrelivent attributes of yester-year. With the perks, you can easily set up classes, with pre-set levels for the beginners, and the ability to disable 'auto leveling' as people become more comfortable with the system, without the need for arbitrary attributes which, come level 30ish, are all maxed out anyway. The bone has very much been thrown, though i find a lot of people are ignoring it entirely. It remains to be seen, of course, if Bethesda is aware of the potential the Perk system has, and is willing to put the thought into developing it. I agree with you about the perk system. It was a fantastic addition that accommodated both styles of player. It is simple to understand yet allows complexity in character development. Even though it was more reminiscent of feats from D&D style games it was labeled as "perks". What other game has perks? Call of Duty does. Brilliant bit of marketing I must say. They add something old guard would like and label it as something that catches the new comers, "Bro, you see that new dragon slaying game? Pfft, that s*** is for nerds. No bro it has perks and s*** just like COD. No way, I wonder if it has commando pro or sitrep!". Boom, new with the old. That being said if you would claim the perk system alone was some harmonious marriage of new and old that appeased both players completely I would disagree. Nice touch and I commend them for it but I still feel as if more steps could have been taken. If I may go back for a moment and defend the idea of attributes. In implementation they have certainly left much to be desired but attempting to reiterate and improve a system would have been preferable to simply scraping it. The main element I feel it added to the game play experience was diversity that perks don't exhibit until much later in the game. At early levels everyone is a clean slate which is the core element of most role playing experiences. However in Skyrim that is taken to a level that diminishes the flavor different races can bring and the handful of situational racial abilities and the +5 "x" skill is no substitute in my opinion. Having a Nord or Orc feel brawnier than an Altmer or Bosmer, or a Khajiit feel more agile than an Imperial was a nice touch of that flavor attributes provided. In Skyrim every character feels like a carbon copy until you are a good portion into the game. There was a certain mystique to going against the grain and making a walking juggernaut out of a tiny Bosmer or a Arch Mage out of a 400lb Orc. I feel having a streamlined version of attributes that is less number crunchy for the common man in addition to perks would make for a richer experience. You would have easy to understand layers of game play mechanics that over time would add up to make for more diversity than any one system could on its own. I don't intend to make myself or players like me seem like victims because we certainly are not. We were still given a great game and I don't really hold any animosity towards Bethesda. I am simply stating that any idea or product has it's ups and downs and if you do not let a little bit of your cynic run free there is no hope for improvement through constructive criticism.

Its terrible that people play games to unwind after a stressful day and don't want to have to think too much about a game. Absolutely shocking, it should be illegal. I think this is a serious issue that a lot of the so called 'Old Hands' fail to respect. The 2000 odd, crotchety old bastards who think RPG's are all about numbers and stats and min-maxing hold little more than contempt for the so called 'casual' RPG player. And when you get rid of their beloved spreadsheets (anyone remember the leveling algorithm from Daggerfall? I sure as hell do) despite said not having a purpose anymore, they get grumpy. Stats, in the vien of Elder Scrolls games, were outdated. They got left behind, and rightly so. Some people, however, can't deal with change particularly well... Look at conservative america. But i digress, some changes suck. The constant handholding on quests, for instance. It's a hell of a lot better than running around asking random villagers where Arnold Buckham lives, just so i can kill the bat in the attic, but they had something that worked with Oblivion, there was no need to change it. All in all, though, it's not the 2000 number crunching complainers who make sure we get a new Elder Scrolls every 6 years. It's the 2,000,000 casual gamers who want to come home after work or school and adventure a bit, slay some monsters or rob people blind. AD&D is still around for those other people, but by and large i agree with Bethesda's choice to make the game more user friendly. I should clarify that I have no problem with the simplification of gameplay elements as I am well aware it is Little Timmy that puts food on Todd Howard's table. I only request the option to play in a more hardcore style should I so choose. Want to use a preset class, quest markers, fast travel, and casually breeze through some dungeons after work or school? I am all for that and endorse the growth of the fan base. I am not asking for excel spreadsheets and having my nuts twisted in a vice levels of difficulty, that went the way of the dodo bird for a reason. What I am asking for is being able to play without the hand holding, if I want to get nitty gritty with my characters stats let me do so, if I want to explore and find things out as I go rather than being given an in game instruction manual and schedule then let me do so, if I want to ask around and do some detective work to find a resolution then at least give me the option. I know the point you are trying to make and I would be inclined to agree with you, just know that there are a lot more than 2000 of us and we are willing to accommodate the new comers. We only ask to be thrown a bone once and a while.

I loved that about the Imperial City. Also I have good news for you. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/14351/?tab=3&navtag=%2Fajax%2Fmodimages%2F%3Fuser%3D0%26id%3D14351 While not as extensive as the IC sewers were they do allow you to sneak around a few cities undetected and give alternate access points to several jails, buildings, and exterior grates. There are even some interesting things to be found in them.

Neutral Good Human Sorcerer (2nd Level) Ability Scores: Strength- 13 Dexterity- 12 Constitution- 12 Intelligence- 15 Wisdom- 13 Charisma- 12 Alignment: Neutral Good- A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment when it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable. Race: Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like. Class: Sorcerers- Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast. Personality: Tactician- A tactician's edge is his ability to anticipate and plan for the moves his enemy will likely make. The tactician trains both mind and body and is often an excellent physical specimen as well as being a tactical genius. The tactician values ingenuity and discipline. Color: Blue- I value knowledge, logic, and deceit. I love to pursue wisdom but also to manipulate and deceive. At my best, I am brilliant and progressive. At my worst, I am treacherous and cold. My symbol is the water droplet. My enemies are green and red. Fairly accurate considering my preference for flexible magic/stealth hybrid style characters in role playing games and heavy use of unorthodox "Art of War-esque" tactics in strategy games. I have a strong mentality that if you fight fair, you are doing it wrong.

Better Quest Objectives Yea, I have that mod. It is a godsend but the fact Bethesda doesn't do something like this to began with irritates me. Most of my gripes are not crazy new ideas but simply things they have done well in the past and for whatever reason abandoned.

As a disclaimer I will say I have liked every Elder Scrolls game with the exceptions of Battlespire, Shadowkey, and Redguard. I think Skyrim is still a fine game with many technical improvements but it has lost some luster the previous titles had. So if I may get on my soapbox for a moment... Attributes Being a long time RPG player I am fond of statistics that differentiate characters like strength or agility. Orcs should be stronger than Bosmer by default, etc. Removed Skills Even though many like acrobatics were sub par I liked having them on a RP basis. Spell Variety Elemental Shields, Reflect, Absorb, Fortify, Damage, Drain, etc. All gone, why, hell if I know. Summons 4 Daedra, 2 familliars, 3 Undead(Dawnguard), and 1 Resurrection spell is pathetic compared to 20+ summons we had in Oblivion like Xivilai, Hungers, Spider Daedra, and Liches. Spell Crafting Kinda goes without saying. Enemy Variety Elder Scrolls has wiki pages full of fascinating and strange creatures yet we get very little of that in Skyrim. I miss all the types of undead, daedra, and mythical creatures. Drauger while neat get old fast and I would kill to see some Minotaurs, Wraiths, Zombies, Scamps, Imps, Ogres, Goblins, Liches, etc. Linear Dungeons I really like that every dungeon has a written or implied story to it so this is a minor gripe overall. However I have to state that never getting lost or always without fail taking a secret backdoor to get out severely cheapens the experience. So much potential and so much done right with Skyrim's dungeons and then they botch the one thing that has never been a problem before. Large Cities Not that they have ever been massive, but the cities in Skyrim look like copy/pasted villages far too small to be the places we read about in lore. Triple the size even if it is copy/pasted buildings and you can make the districts different cells because of the toasters that are consoles. Population Skyrim has only 784 npcs compared to 3244 in Morrowind. Because of this most people are important to a quest and thus immortal and have a "requires key" house. I am not asking for 5000 fleshed out characters, even generated names, faces, and houses with phoned in "Arrow in the knee" dialogue would be nice so I at least got people to steal from or get a sense of "This is a large population center". If I can name every single NPC a town off the top of my head you are doing something wrong. Size Whether it be the forest of Falkreath Hold or the marshes of Hjaalmarch you never feel lost in the wilderness since a settlement is always in sight. I would have liked a world about 4 times the size but with the same amount of locations as vanilla. Not more content wise but simply more distance to give the areas some scale and adventure. I mean Movarth's Lair in like 100yards away from Morthal and we can see the ugly square edge of the map from atop Hrothgar. They could have at least added some non computing intensive, super low res water and land around the play area so you are not taken out of the immersion. Quest Hand Holding Want quest markers? That is fine with me, the Sherlock Holmes play style of Morrowind wasn't for everyone. However don't write your quest with the assumption that "They don't need any semblance of where they are going, the magic marker will show them". At least add something like "You need to save Dan. He is being held by necromancers in a lair along the northern cliffs of the Jerral Mountains by Falkreath." instead of "Save Dan" *insert mystical arrow*. I mean for f*#@s sake you are not breaking the forth wall at that point you are going through it like the Kool Aid Man and making the clairvoyance spell, which was an awesome idea, completely obsolete. I don't want to be "that guy" but I honestly believe most of these problems are due to consoles and the player base they incubate. Horse power wise the 360 and PS3 are holding back what an open world RPG could be and are likely the cause of a lot of the loop holes and what appears to be lazy design in the visuals department. Lastly, while this is a negative stereotype, it is still one I feel holds true from my own first hand experience that a very large portion of the console player base is young, impatient, or what I call Bro-Gamers. With games like Call of Duty perpetuating the market they want instant gratification and mouthbreathingly simple mechanics in games. Classics like Baldur's Gate or even Morrowind would never retain the complexity that made them great in todays day and age because the market share of gamers wouldn't be willing to commit the braincells to silly things like stats or riddles. So I don't end sounding like a Negative Nancy I will again state that I still think Skyrim is an awesome game and what it did commit to it did very well. It just dropped the ball on some key aspects that would have made it Bethesda's godly contribution to mankind.

@Enatiomorph It wasn't a literal meaning, more of a silly phase very loosely related that I just threw onto the rule to grab the eye like "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.." before the rule concerning character beauty or lack there of. @JanusForbeare No problem you made an awesome companion.

Rule #1 Beam me up Scotty! Never fast travel unless by carriage or boat, I have a mod that adds more carriages and make ports reachable by sea, because it kills the immersion of the journey so to speak. Just as there was a real sense of distance and development in fantasy movies and novels like Lord of the Rings, I also enjoy seeing how my character grows reacting to situations on the way from one destination to the other. Rule #2 Jack of all trades, master of none. I like the idea that my character is a specialist and not an infallible killing machine of 97 different forms of Kung Fu. Perhaps I am a skilled hunter but have limited combat experience and tend to flail and swing wildly in melee combat. Perhaps I am a street rat on the run and couldn't tell the difference between a welkynd stone and a soul gem. I don't like my characters to be too perfect. Weakness creates a richer experience. Rule #3 El Presidente of all the cartels! I think we all know how silly it is to be the Listener, Nightingale, Harbinger, etc. all in the same go. Being Dragonborn I feel doesn't entitle me to be "Archbishop of the Entire Freaking Universe" and so I tend to stick to one faction per character and maybe one other that seems like it wouldn't impede with the other like Stormcloak and Companion for example. Even within a single faction I do not like that I become their holy prophet over night so I tend to use mods to make a more believable scenario such as Tolfdir being the new Archmage rather than me. Rule #4 My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard... While I do use mods to make the characters better looking and have no beef with things like prostitution, as it would occur in a medieval social environment such as Skyrim, I do keep it within the realms of what my personal taste perceives as realistic for the setting. People in those conditions would look fairly haggard and dirty. The characters look better as far as texture resolution goes but there are no supermodels with conditioned hair and mascara in my game and most people look like they live a fairly harsh and violent life. Rule #5 You can't fix stupid! The follower AI in Skyrim makes Todd Akin look like Issac Newton. I cannot use a follower for more than 10 minutes without them doing something retarded, killing the immersion for me. Some followers are much better like Atvir Dres but those characters and few and far between so I tend to run solo. Rule #6 Do you even lift? Even though the game allows me to carry a midsized sedan and a few small boulders I tend to keep to what one would rationally carry with a little bit of wiggle room. I usually only carry one set of armor, some cloths, weapons, potions, reagents, misc tools, etc, that one would be expected to have. As far as loot goes, I tend to only pick up low weight high value things like gems or very expensive weapons as walking around with 16 iron helmets and 96 cast iron pots from a bandit camp is fairly unlikely. Rule #7 No, Bear Grylls, I am not drinking THAT. I tend to sleep at night, kinda have to with how dark it gets with mods, and wear armor and clothes conducive to that environment such as fur cloak in the snowy mountains as oppose to a latex g-string and mantassles. I also eat to regain health outside of combat and make potions that are over time rather than instant never die fizzy lifting drinks. I more or less survive as one would be expected to within the realms of being at least somewhat convenient and making use of magic and what not.

Bretons - Anglo/Gallic people of Northern France and Southern Britain (Caucasians with rounded features and a feudal culture similar that of Western Europe in the middle ages. Their names also tend to be British or French in origin.) Nords - Viking people of Scandinavia and North Central Europe (Tall Caucasians with pale skin and a Viking like culture. They have Nordic names commonly used in Scandinavian nations like Sweden and Denmark.) Imperials - Romans of the Western Roman Empire (Caucasians with pronounced features typical of Italian origin with Latin names and a military and government doctrine identical to Rome after the Republic.) Redguards (Ra Gada) - Desert cultures of North Africa and the Middle East (Dark skinned people with a desert culture, style of combat, attire, and names similar to those of the Numidians, Moors, Hittites, and Persians.) Wood Elves (Bosmer) - Native American Tribes of Appalachia and the Eastern United States (Subsistence living people with deep attachment to the land and a reclusive and slightly barbaric lifestyle.) Dark Elves (Dunmer) - Japanese after the Sengoku Jidai (Alien culture resisting and adapting western ideologies while struggling with internal strife that challenges long held tradition.) High Elves (Altmer) - Ancient Imperial Chinese of the Tang Dynasty (Historic and powerful culture with a strong sense of dominance over its own and its neighbors.) Orcs (Orsimer) - Mongols from the steppes of Central Asia (Nomadic barbarians with strong communal ties within tribes. Appear aggressive and savage to outsiders and relentless in battle.) Argonians (Saxhleel) - Aztecs and Mayans of Central America and Mexico (Mysterious spiritual culture practiced in a dark dense environment dangerous to outsiders. People are vulnerable to slavery by more advanced cultures.) Khajiit - Peoples of Eastern and Southern Africa from the badlands of Ethiopia through the savannas of Kenya to the Kalahari Desert (Culture based in semi arid to arid region with little unity and cooperation. People vulnerable to slavery and political influence from other cultures.)

double post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMI01Af-UTs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUz_dGunyXg

Top track from each respective game that I have played.

http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/19.jpg http://www.wizards.com/magic/images/whatcolor_isblue.jpg Chaotic Neutral Human Ranger/Sorcerer