Is there really anyway to roleplay a character?

[InDarkestNight]

I used to like to roleplay, giving my character an actual story. However, I've noticed that I haven't really done that in a LONG time. I rarely bother to come up with a story justification; normally I just focus on the build I'm going to run.

Thinking about it, there are multiple things that get in the way. For one, you have no way to predict what might happen. For instance, one game I was playing a paladin with Sofia installed. She randomly aggroed some people while we were walking down the road, and I helped kill them thinking they were bandits or something. When I got to whiterun, a guard arrested me for killing those npcs. When I got out, I dismissed Sofia for getting him in trouble. I also tried to do that quest in the whiterun's hall of the dead. The undead in there were more than I could handle, so I tried to flee. They followed me out of the catacombs AND KILLED THE PRIEST. Seriously. So now my 'paladin' was a murderer, and his own ineptitude got a priest killed. I abandoned the character because I didn't like the way his story was going.

Admittedly, maybe I could fix this by just not pre-planning a story and instead just making up my character's backstory. That's now the only problem though.

The biggest problem really, is that outside of your build, every playthrough is the same. There's not too many dialogue options, and more often than not you're only given one thing to say. How are you supposed to roleplay different characters when you're always saying the same thing to npcs? Also, I find I just do the same set of quests every time. If I'm a stealth character, they're doing both the DB and TG. If I'm a warrior, I do the companions guild. If I'm a mage, CoW. If I'm a good character, the main questline and dawnguard. You get the idea. I just rotate between these sets of quest. I've tried to install quest mods, but honestly I find it hard to force myself to do more than one playthrough of any quest mod, outside of Undeath which essentially is a faction mod.

Also, how many builds can you do? Fudgemuppet straight stopped doing builds for years after they ran out of ideas. The last several dozen were getting obviously repetitive too. I've tried to play with perk overhaul mods to either mix up old builds or allow new ones, but I've never really liked any of them since they all seem to be boring or make you OP.

Given all this, how can you really roleplay a character in this game? Yeah, I still enjoy realism mods, but that doesn't really require you to have a story. What can I do to fix all these things? There's no mod that increases the variety of dialogue options. More quests would do, or maybe do something to make the combat in this game actually fun. I don't know.

I've been thinking about this mainly trying to come up with a justification to do the civil war quest. I rarely do it, because I like neither the empire or the stormcloaks. As many have complained about in the past, there's just nothing likable about either. I've thought maybe a way to fix this problem is not to come up with a reason why I would join them, but come up with a reason my fictional character would. Maybe like Balgruf they're just interested in betraying anyone, for any reason, or maybe they're a racist and thus support Ulfric, or perhaps they just don't acknowledge it, or simply want Talos worship back. Who knows.

However, as I said its hard to roleplay in this game. You don't know how things are really going to turn out, there's only so many builds you can do, there's no real choice in how you interact with npcs. Also, the game just gets boring after you've done all the quests. I've never explored the map in its entirety, and I've found there's A LOT of side quests I had no idea even existed. I just quit after I've done all the questlines I had planned. The reason for that is obviously because this game is just boring. Once you've re-read all the stories, there's nothing else to do that's fun. Doing dungeons gets old really fast. This is why I think overhauling the combat in some way may help fix things. Doesn't help with most of the other issues though.

[anjenthedog]

My opinion? Perhaps a forced roleplay, ie write a story and act it out using your player and NPCs (kudos if you can pull that off, hain't the first idear how m'self) . Other than that? idk.  Skyrim's "world" is stunning (at least mine is configured for a stunning world). But Skyrim's economy, people, creatures, etc are (imo) hollow (even the best of the best followers become repetitive eventually). So I'm  not sure if anything approaching true role play can be achieved, although I'm sure some pull it off.  Best I can pull off is the role of "uninvolved scenery chaser and badguy whack-a-mole".  

edit: and dedicated fox resuscitator

PS> If you haven't and are getting a little bored with "Skyrim vanilla", check out the Chanterelle expansion. Massive land. You might even be able to pull off a hunter roleplay

PPS> Heh... Sofia is a murderpsycho. When I had her installed, she'd attack anything that twitched. Between that and her alcoholism, I permanently banished her to my archive folders.

[zixi]

I've been using the alternate starts and playing until I die... Sometimes the games are extremely short... but the alternate starts can be played randomly as well so you don't quite know where you will find yourself. I really enjoy them. One of the modders here has recently added some new ones and I find them seriously exciting... 

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/57554?tab=files

There are others though which I've been using for some time. Once I find where I am, I take a few moments to give myself a backstory... I don't save until the end of the session and then decide if I'll continue with that game next time or start anew. And no, role playing it isn't an issue for me but I've been confined to base since the Covid outbreaks so perhaps it's a coping strategy... 

[InDarkestNight]

On 12/14/2023 at 11:14 AM, anjenthedog said:

PPS> Heh... Sofia is a murderpsycho. When I had her installed, she'd attack anything that twitched. Between that and her alcoholism, I permanently banished her to my archive folders.

Uh, that's normal behavior for Sofia? I didn't know what happened when she picked a fight with those people. I can't even remember what they actually were (imperial soldiers maybe?) I wasn't expecting to get charged with murder upon reaching Whiterun.

Lately, I've been thinking of actually playing with follower mods. I want to gradually add mods until I get the LotD load order I was working on again. I was thinking of using this opportunity to finally play through the followers I have with quests. Of course, a problem with that is half of their quests end with you marrying the npc, and it would be a bit weird to play a polygamist even if the system did allow it.

[anjenthedog]

46 minutes ago, InDarkestNight said:

Lately, I've been thinking of actually playing with follower mods.

well, considering that that IS their ostensible designated purpose for being in the game (irrespective of any other reason or purposes), probably a good idea to do that once and a while... Especially for followers like Sofia imo, who was afaik designed specifically to travel and quest with the player..

 

[zixi]

1 hour ago, InDarkestNight said:

Lately, I've been thinking of actually playing with follower mods

There's a wonderful mod which drops the Nerevar into Skyrim

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/54869

He really is a lot of fun especially if you know Morrowind. He is constantly commenting on stuff and telling you things. I quite often take him along. I don't much like followers much - apart from Meeko and Serana. 

[InDarkestNight]

I've never played Morrowind actually, even though I did buy it on steam years ago. I have encountered the 'nerevarin' in another mod, though one that doesn't make him a follower.

[zixi]

It's a wonderful game. It's worth putting it on your list to play just to see what all the fuss is about. Graphics are awful by today's standards but the story is captivating. Someone here recommended OpenMW to me and I'd forgotten I'd played it. I've just gone back to OpenMW and it's amazing what they've done. 

[Daelyn]

I believe that there is a way to roleplay any game. Though doing it on your own as you are playing, especially with bugs or character deaths can throw a bit of a wrench into it. What I personally do, and this scratches all my roleplaying itches, is to have a YouTube channel, and write out/voice act your character. This also allows other people to watch your work and enjoy it. I have many videos attached to my profile, and these are the ones I have been working on just since 2020. Feel free to see what I do, and maybe it will help inspire you. I get a lot of people telling me that because of my videos, they are inspired to create a new character on a certain game and roleplay. 

Just keep in mind that what I do is a lot of work, and is very time consuming. So for me, it's my job and not just a hobby. 

[zixi]

9 hours ago, Daelyn said:

This also allows other people to watch your work and enjoy it.

I couldn't do the watching thing. I can't watch sport either. I have to do it all. But I bet doing this and seeing that it makes other people happy is very rewarding.