how much do you consider cheating?

[Rooker75]

I do quite a bit of cheating, tbh.

 

The TES games do lockpicking right. The Fallout games do it wrong. TES (well, Oblivion and Skyrim anyway) lets you attempt any lock, regardless of your skill. Fallout refuses to even allow you to try if you're one point below the requirement. So when I play Fallout 3 or NV, I unlock things in the console if my skill is still too low, just because the whole mechanic annoys me. That is cheating, but *care*. Don't even get me started on the computer hacking minigame (ugh).

 

Things like toggling god mode or killing overly tough enemies in the console is too much for me, but some game mechanics are just unfun grinding that takes away from the fun of playing the game. I console thousands of gold/caps to merchants because I get sick of carrying loot that nobody has the money to buy. I don't consider that cheating, but giving myself those same thousands of gold/caps definitely would be.

 

I get sick of constantly running out of ammo, so I console thousands of rounds of whatever I'm using to a merchant and buy them. When I decide to replay Operation Anchorage, I console the ammo to myself, since there's nobody to buy it from. Those stupid ammo refill things... Terrible. Just terrible. Frankly, I wish game devs would understand that desperately hunting for ammo so I can continue to play the game is not fun. I just want to get on with playing the game.

 

The master Marksman trainer in Oblivion refuses to train me unless I'm carrying an Elven bow. Excuse me woman, but I have an enchanted Daedric bow that does 10x the damage of an Elven bow. Shut up and train me. So I console myself an Elven bow, then console it away after talking to her.

 

It's a singleplayer game. Nobody but the NPCs get hurt if you cheat.

[Gornek]

I consider any console command that lvs u up gives gold and so as cheating so i dont use them. I only use the advantages the game offers.

[IceBox]

So many cheaters around here ;D

 

But as many said it's a single player game who cares.

 

I do use the console to fix things like setting quest stages if they're stuck or screwups on my side when I get myself stuck.

 

I consider fast travel somewhat cheating but also it makes you miss a lot of dungeons and encounters you would have missed by using a carriage/FT.

Sometimes I do fast travel though when a new quest step just sends me back where I came from after running 10 minutes but that's just how Skyrim is designed I guess.

Not really cheating but I also "hoard" quests so I can do multiples when I'm walking to a certain region.

I'm using Skyrim Redone by T3nd0 which adds the Wayfarer perk tree which actually encourages travelling by foot.

 

Powerleveling skills by buying materials I do not really consider cheating unless you abuse the merchants (kill + reload) or you cheat gold.

 

I enjoy a "hard" game (Dark Souls was really fun) and I even like to spice things up with mods like Frostfall and Realistic Needs and Diseases. Go try wipe out a cave of bandits with a full blown Rock Joint and praying to a Talos Shrine wont fix it :D

 

tl;dr:

 

If you're having fun while playing in god mode or having unlimited money go ahead, I like my games hard :)

[rattlehead5000]

It's your game so play it how you want.

 

Generally I don't cheat. I do sometimes just wait 48 hours or so before going back to a merchant. Technically, I should go and sleep and return to the merchant without doing this, but it's such a bother sometimes.

 

Otherwise, no. I don't fast travel and if a companion dies (all my companions are set to killable status thanks to AFT) then they stay dead.

It's a bit heartbreaking sometimes though, and more than once I have considered reloading a game because a companion died. I did this once with Vilja because well...I couldn't stand to not have her around. Some other followers that I've downloaded haven't even lasted a day before dying, so it's kinda not cool sometimes. But, that is the way I've chosen to play my game.

 

I find restricting myself with immersion or realism mods or mods that make creatures harder more fun, to be honest. If a companion is struggling in a fight I know I have to heal them or they could die. It's a challenge and it adds depth to my game.