Tell me about your longest or most favorite playthroughs

[BlutsaugerMedic]

Who was your character? What were the most memorable things you did and things you spent the most time doing with them? Did you think up a backstory for them or roleplay much? What mods did you use and how did they influence the experience? What was this version of the world/timeline like? What was the game like while playing with your load order and character? Did your character have favorite companions, marry anyone, or even just befriend an NPC? If so, what were the dynamics that formed between those characters? What about that playthrough in particular kept you engaged for so long or stuck out to you? Did you eventually lose interest, or did the playthrough fall to instability/technical issues or real life occurrences? Perhaps you are still playing it? Please go into as much detail as you see fit or feel like typing down. I would encourage posting a novel.

Edited March 8, 2024 by BlutsaugerMedic

[AaronOfMpls]

Well, I haven't been playing SE much in earnest yet.  I only got Mod Organizer working in Linux just this January, so I hadn't really played Skyrim at all since my old Windows PC's hard drive died.  And for now I'm still building a mod setup for SE before I really get into it, and still playing LE and other games.

On the other hand, I've been playing Oldrim/LE since 2012, so I have some long-played characters there.  To start with...

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Aldrik - level 43 - 222+ hours

(Flickr set - Nexus image)

Still my highest-level character, Aldrik of Helgen is a Nord barbarian.  Captured at the border near his old hometown, he was nearly executed by the Legion there before Alduin destroyed the place. 

When I last left Aldrik, he had defeated Alduin...

Spoiler

...won the Civil War for Ulfric, despite a dragon crashing the battle ...  (EDIT: or was it Odahviing helping Aldrik?  It's been a long time since I took these...)

Spoiler

...looked rather befuddled when he was made Archmage of Winterhold...

Spoiler

(He was rather more comfortable as Harbinger of the Companions. )

Spoiler

...married Ralof of Riverwood (thanks to either console commands, or this mod)...

Spoiler

...solved the Windhelm murder mystery and settled in Hjerim, and adopted Sophie the flower girl. 

Spoiler

He also did some other things like wipe out the Dark Brotherhood (which I might find pics of later ). 

Aldrik's biggest hopes for the future are that Sophie grow up well with him and Ralof.  And likely a Skyrim alliance with Hammerfell, with future cooperation with (what's left of) the Empire when the Second Great War inevitably happens. 

His biggest regret is deposing Balgruuf, a jarl he'd grown to like and respect.  In his own sad words when asked about it, "We were an inch apart ... across a roof ridge.  He fell one way, and I fell the other."

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IRL, it's hard to say what was most memorable with him.  He was my very first Elder Scrolls character ever, so the whole game was still new to me.  But still looming large is the Helgen attack (which I didn't take screenshots of with him, dammit!), and coming out of the cave with Ralof and gazing on a whole new world to explore. 

Spoiler

(from Nexus post Remembrance - Aldrik of Helgen)

Thanks to my then old-and-weak video card, that world didn't even have shadows or antialisasing yet.  And since I hadn't discovered the unofficial patches yet, it was probably as buggy as the Amazon.   Still, it was a fun start ... even if I did start other characters too not even halfway through it.

Currently, Aldrik has been parked on the Windhelm gate bridge for about a decade, riding off to gods-only-know-where now.  Having started him with zero mods or DLCs or unofficial patches, I'm kinda surprised his save still works at all.  Maybe I'll pick him up again someday (via an old MO profile specifically for my oldest saves like his), or maybe I'll reboot him in SE once I have my mod setup more finalized.

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Other characters might come in other posts -- like my first orc Rog gro-Borog, who I've posted Nexus pics of before.

Edited March 9, 2024 by AaronOfMpls

[BlutsaugerMedic]

I know I am a dork but I like that quote about Balgruuf and seeing Rog and Kolmar looking at the aurora got an "aww" out of me. I honestly did not know dragons could attack during civil war battles and I like the idea of that happening. I should really start taking screenshots myself even if they are not super "cinematic". The first time I played Skyrim was on an Xbox 360, so those saves are probably long gone, but that would be really cool to just be able to come back whenever you want. I also think roleplaying an allegiance with Hammerfell would be interesting and I am surprised that there do not seem to be many mods that would perpetuate something like that. Maybe some day Beyond Skyrim if their Hammerfell project works out well.

 

Aldrik was a resident of Helgen prior to the events of the game? I wonder if he knew Haming's family, or even Ralof all the way back then. And you gotta wonder how he ended up joining the College of Winterhold. X)

[AaronOfMpls]

2 hours ago, BlutsaugerMedic said:

I know I am a dork but I like that quote about Balgruuf and seeing Rog and Kolmar looking at the aurora got an "aww" out of me.

Aww, thanks @BlutsaugerMedic!  

2 hours ago, BlutsaugerMedic said:

I honestly did not know dragons could attack during civil war battles and I like the idea of that happening.

To be honest, with as long ago as that was, I might be misremembering.  (I'd half-forgotten about it until I was going through my old screenshots for the that post.)  Given the skin color, it could well be Odahviing helping Aldrik, rather than a dragon attacking everyone.

2 hours ago, BlutsaugerMedic said:

I should really start taking screenshots myself even if they are not super "cinematic".

I take plenty every playthrough -- often using console commands to hide the UI (tm -- "toggle menus") and to freeze the action and move the camera (tfc 1 -- "toggle fly cam and pause").

2 hours ago, BlutsaugerMedic said:

I also think roleplaying an allegiance with Hammerfell would be interesting and I am surprised that there do not seem to be many mods that would perpetuate something like that. Maybe some day Beyond Skyrim if their Hammerfell project works out well.

That would be interesting!  For now though, it might have to just be in our heads.  ...Or we can mod in a Hammerfell Ambassador at Ulfric's palace, to be enabled after the Stormcloaks win the war.   (Though since most of my characters side with the Empire, I doubt I'd use it much.)

2 hours ago, BlutsaugerMedic said:

Aldrik was a resident of Helgen prior to the events of the game? I wonder if he knew Haming's family, or even Ralof all the way back then. And you gotta wonder how he ended up joining the College of Winterhold. X)

Yup, that's my headcanon for him.  He was coming home after a long absence, and got caught at just the right/wrong moment.  So yah, he probably knows most of those Helgans lost in the intro, at least in passing.

...Hmm, maybe I'll play him through the Helgen Reborn mod someday, if he can bear to stick around there again after what happened.

Edited March 9, 2024 by AaronOfMpls

[ghowriter]

Sioned (custom race not specifying), she was transported to skyrim by magic means and dumped uncerimoniously... found by imperials taken to helgen to execution for appearing to ne daedra... she was against the imperials and would have sided with ulfric had he not called her a criminal... she refuses to help either side in the civil war and hopes both bigoted sides destroy each other... she destroyed the dark brotherhood after being abducted and taken to the shak and told to murder one of the three (she killed the assassin instead leaving the resd tied up to die or live if they were smart enough to escape); she hasn't yet confronted alduin but will likey destroy the fiend... she's about to confron the thieves guild and i have not decided which way she will go...

[BlutsaugerMedic]

She is from a plane of Oblivion or another universe or somewhere else entirely? Does she have any desire to go back there or is she happy in Skyrim? I find Oblivion and all the different planes there really interesting, but now that I think about it it would be hard to find people in Skyrim who trust you at all as someone from there or appearing to be from there. Maybe it is not something you intended, but I love the storytelling theme of "I am lonely and want to find somewhere I belong, but I would rather take on the whole universe alone than have shitty friends or tolerate people doing screwed up crap to others", though I hope she does find decent people who accept her somewhere in the end! I usually make up some silly excuse to at least temporarily join every faction and do every questline even if it does not fit my character just for the extra game content, though I have also roleplayed more "isolated/hermit" characters in Fallout 4 before and that can also be fun.

[Moksha8088]

Quest mods and companion mods with quests make for the most enjoyable playthroughs.  Quest mods like Interesting NPCs and story-driven mods like the Rigmor trilogy will greatly add to your playing enjoyment.  Almost everyone enjoys Inigo as a companion and the new Serana Dialogue Addon will give a greater dimension to the standard game.

We are lucky that there are so many great mods available for Skyrim.

[ghowriter]

On 3/9/2024 at 6:30 PM, BlutsaugerMedic said:

She is from a plane of Oblivion or another universe or somewhere else entirely? Does she have any desire to go back there or is she happy in Skyrim? I find Oblivion and all the different planes there really interesting, but now that I think about it it would be hard to find people in Skyrim who trust you at all as someone from there or appearing to be from there. Maybe it is not something you intended, but I love the storytelling theme of "I am lonely and want to find somewhere I belong, but I would rather take on the whole universe alone than have shitty friends or tolerate people doing screwed up crap to others", though I hope she does find decent people who accept her somewhere in the end! I usually make up some silly excuse to at least temporarily join every faction and do every questline even if it does not fit my character just for the extra game content, though I have also roleplayed more "isolated/hermit" characters in Fallout 4 before and that can also be fun.

she's from Toril (Faerun) game world.... i find it hard to play her because I am incapable of making her appear as she should which negates the roleplay... as for the belonging, i'll say this, after killing the dragon by the western tower and returning to balgruf and he made her thane she wanted to scream... he called her a criminal then askes her to get the dragonstone then asks for her protection then makes her thane... this doesnt say much for skyrim if someone they consider a crminial can achieve elevated status... then there is lydia and her "it's a position of honor" crap... i gave her the axe of whiterun and left her in the castle -- let her be thane

[melvinius]

I'll start with my general Skyrim SE install information and then get into the course of my playthrough.

I've been modding since Morrowind, and we're talking BIG builds. Early on I figured out that you could just rename and swap in the game folder and have several installs at once. Mod Organizer 2 simplified the process in the last few years. Anyways, after many years of modding and mod testing, I put together what was intended to be the Skyrim SE build to end all builds a few years ago and I've been playing it ever since.  Just checked my save.... 320+ hours with one character, probably about 4000+ mods, very very stable install.  I don't get crashes unless I enable a few experimental projectile tracking mods.

BTW, the three worst mods for crashes are the following. It's possible that recent fixes have solved these crashes and these are fantastic mods, but the vast majority of previous builds' instability was traced to these.  Horse on Patrol (navmesh errors), Wet and Cold, and Wearable Lanterns.  There are alternatives to ALL the features offered in these mods and after ceasing to use them I don't get random CTDs or freezes, despite having 500+ actual plugins and 3 or 4 different DLL loaders/dozens of SKSE mods, etc.  I'm also running Mantella now (since early this year) which I added and while it introduces a little bit of stutter occasionally I find it's perfectly stable. I often start conversations with NPC followers and leave the convo going on for hours while adventuring.

My original intention with this build was content, specifically questlines and new lands.  I've got Legacy of the Dragonborn, Wyrmstooth, Falskaar, Midwood Isle, The Forgotten City, The Sea of Ghosts, BS Bruma, The Grey Cowl of Nocturnal, Moonpath to Elseweyr, Darkend, Chanterelle, The Isles of Teia, VIGILANT, UNSLAAD, GLENMORIL, Maelstrom, Beyond Reach, Moon and Star, Helgen Reborn, Pit Fighter, Ravensgate, Summerset, Project AHO, And The Realms of Daedra, and several CW mods including The Second Great War. Some of these were ported to SE already, others I ported myself for my own use. I've also got Interesting NPCs and Anna NPCs running as well. Obviously a ton of NPC overhauls, world overhauls to make everything look pretty, and lore friendly follower mods. This was a serious gameplay build not an adult playground build (or maybe adolescant playground build is what I mean, judging from the nexus), so I tried to keep it all lore friendly.

My character in my current playthrough is based on myself and my previous experiences in Elder Scrolls games. Jonas Melvinius is an Imperial of mixed heritage with some Nord and Breton blood. Melvinius is a jack-of-all-trades but would probably classify as a spellbow, using a mix of magic, blades, and especially ranged weapons. Magic schools of preference tend to be destruction and a little restoration, illusion, and alteration. Melvinius also uses axes and spears, generally with a shield or spell in the offhand.

Jonas Melvinius is lean but muscular and naturally athletic. His hair is short-cropped in a legionnaire fashion and he sometimes wears a neat beard and sometimes goes shaven, depending on current endeavors or campaigns. Melvinius has the mindset of a paladin, generally law abiding but willing to work outside the confines of the law if that is the only way that justice can be dispensed and evildoers punished. He did kill Grelod but also wiped out the Dark Brotherhood. Other criminals, predators, and evildoers were slowly "disappeared" from out of Skyrim as the opportunity presented itself, including many members of the Blackbriar family and corrupt members of courts. The Thieves' Guild was infiltrated from within with the express purpose of sowing mayhem and destruction inside the organization. Thalmor were exterminated with extreme prejudice wherever they could be found, regardless of whether they were invited guests of the hold in particular or no. A cannibal cult, corrupt bureaucrats, and most of the city guard of Markarth were weighed in the balance and found wanting, with the end result being a largely empty city that is still seeking to replenish its guard ranks.

Melvinius' background is somewhat as follows. A former decorated legionary who served in parts of Morrowind and Cyrodiil, Melvinius ran afoul of the Thalmor and sought to flee their grasp to the relative safety of Skyrim's wilds. Caught crossing the border illegally and unable to reveal his identity, Melvinius was sentenced to summary execution at Helgen but escaped during Alduin's attack on the city, which was likely a result of the World-Eater sensing the presence of the Dragonborn there.  Feeling his duty to serve the Empire once more during the Dragon Crisis and the Civil War, Melvinius joined the Imperial Legion and successfully aided in defeating the dragons and the Stormcloak rebels. Later, he was instrumental in negotiating an alliance with the Stormcloaks as the Thalmor war machine attempted a mass invasion of the Skyrim province. The Thalmor were exterminated and a shaky peace remains, but with some fighting between the Legion and splinter Stormcloak guerillas remaining. Melvinius ended a curse on Solsheim and hunted down an ancient dragon on Wyrmstooth on behalf of the Legion and the East Empire Company. Upon honorable separation from the Imperial Legion, Melvinius serves on the board of the Dragonborn Museum while also destroying threats to the people of Skyrim and the tenuous peace. He destroyed a clan of Volkihar vampires and currently is heading a new splinter faction of the Order of Stendar, a faction willing to use daedric power against the daedra and with a higher emphasis on actual combat competence and ruthless efficiency.

(So currently I'm partway through VIGILANT, having finished all of the main game content and expansions. I've also finished Midwood Isle.  So you can see I've got a lot of content to go, though I've played a lot of these other mods before in other previous builds and playthroughs.)

One thing I did this playthrough is I found follower mods and made my own "Dovahkinder/Children grown up" mods for the adopted kids. I adopted Hroar, Alesan, Runa, Lucia, and Sofie and raised them during the Civil War era, then disabled them in the console and activated my "grown-up" follower version mods of them. Got them all set up in Mantella with backstories, etc. I put Melvinius at early 40's right now, and his adopted kids at late teens/early 20's. Slowly Mel is teaching them magic and how to fight and even hunt a stray dragon here and there.

Does Mel have a significant other/spouse? Well... that's a tough one. I've actually never done the marriage thing in ANY playthrough ever. Mel currently has a LOT of friends and goes on adventures with a few of them at a time (parties of maybe 2-3 followers). I'd say the female characters that come off the best in Mantella are Aviendha, Serana, Lydia, Auri, and... Callista Electra (admittedly not the most lore friendly but her combat and custom spells made her a must have in my load order). I made Callista's personality in Mantella a bit too rotten to be a good wife (she's one of the best spellcasters on the continent and she knows it, very self-absorbed and arrogant but absolutely hilarious in Mantella conversation). Auri just isn't good wife material either due to her cultural view towards monogamy. Serana... great and well rounded character in Mantella conversations but you know, she's a vampire. Just not into that, ew. I don't know how it turned out this way but Aviendha is really interesting in Mantella conversations and have had some long, very philosophical conversations with her. Lydia is great, have a complete overhaul of her and found a voice that matches. Mel hasn't spent a lot of time with her, though, since I just still have that vanilla first impression of her and it's hard to overcome. So Mel is single right now, but he's got options at least.

[BlutsaugerMedic]

That sounds really fun! And close to the sort of thing I like. If it was not obvious, I really like having followers and trying to make them more relevant to both combat and the story. And it makes sense for Melvinius to be good with squad tactics and teamwork I think, so I like how that is kind of a thematic thing too. Do you still play Morrowind or Oblivion sometimes? I hear they are difficult to mod and not nearly as supported. I also like how he has lore-justification to know some of the things you know about Morrowind and Cyrodiil, and I am curious if those experiences actually come into play often. I really hope nothing will get in the way of keeping that Skyrim playthrough for a long time, and I am surprised Mantella is working so well for you. I loved the idea but it seemed a little too experimental and ambitious for me. A mod that adds a female companion who is not completely a thot for once is a rare gem to find, which is partly why I have been interested in The Knight of the Void, I also just love that character's aesthetic, but I am still on the fence about using it myself and don't know much besides what is on the modpage, but hmm I wonder if they have much in common with your character and they might fit better for more grimdark adventures like Vigilant and Beyond Reach maybe.