Play styles

[greyday01]

How do you play? Completionist (find all locations, get every unique item, ect), Dead is Dead, Roleplay (only actions compatible with your character), or have you tried all in various playthroughs? Which do you like most? I like to have at least one completionist run, usually the first, then do roleplay runs.

[Karna5]

I use no armor at all and play pure stealth. I also use Acheron so that if I do get killed it's not game over. At worst I respawn outside the dungeon and have to work my way back to where I died.

I use mods which punish illegal activity if caught (prison alternatives which may actually kill me in horrible ways or may hang me and have me try to snap the rope after the guards leave to survive).

I explore randomly and in general ignore main quests unless I feel the desire to repeat one (as I've played many, many characters and started over several times).

Mostly, though, I look for cool areas and scenes which might make a good film. Then I write a poem, turn it into music, film raw footage and then edit it into a film.

Other people play Skyrim for screen archery. I play it (and other games like it) for film making.

p.s. I can't really link any examples here as by Nexus Mods rules my films are only suitable for the Supporter image share, even though they rarely have any nudity.

[CryptsOfTheDead]

I play stealth characters, but don't use a bow much; mostly daggers.

Always light armor. Vamp Armor I love, or a thief armor mod. 

I use mods, but not many, and the ones I do add realism, armor and immersion.

I play Imperials the most as I am a loyal supporter of the Empire.

I do lots of exploring and love collecting things, especially books and jewelry.

As far as completion run... not really. I start over too much to do that. lol

Last but not least... I am a hardcore player. If I die, it's game over. 

[anjenthedog]

Before the game broke irretrievably due to a major Steam feckup a month or so ago, pretty much Like a God's realm tourist. I got tired of the game dictating my play probably six months in in late 2019, after completing the main and many other questlines. So lots of wandering throughout the various realms (Also installed many of the landmass addons) and quests when I want.

[wfandrews]

If you play with LOTD there are almost a limitless number of goals you can play for.  This is besides all the cc quests and other random quests in the game.

That is one of the things I love about this game, there is always some other goal you can set for yourself.

I have been playing TES5 since 2011 and have completed all the major DLCs and the main quest a few times But with the addition of SSE and AE and then LOTD I can see myself playing well into the future.

I play the GOG version so Steam screwup's  don't affect me.

[melvinius]

My play style changes from character to character.

• My main character is an Imperial/Nord/Breton Jonas Melvinius.  I started this character using the LOTD Relic Hunter origin story, and this is kind of a completionist/roleplay character.  So Melvinius will tackle questlines like the Thieves' Guild or the Dark Brotherhood, but his own way.  Wiped out the DB, infiltrated the Thieves' Guild on behalf of the Legion with the intention of bringing it down from the inside, etc.  I've got a lot of Civil War mods that I used for Mel as well as the Second Great War since he's a paladin/hero type.  That being said, I allow some "utilitarian" concessions for the sake of experience.  I made Heimskr disappear because he annoys me. I'm about to make the good Farmer Shoal disappear because I gave Mel Shoal's Rest Farm in addition to his Relic Hunter origin, but the farm has a spammy "collect your weekly earnings quest" that has been driving me crazy lately.  These "adjustments" I write off as "Oops, looks like Heimskr got hit by a catapult missile," or "Oops, looks like bandits got the good Farmer Shoal!" instead of attributing those kills to Melvinius.
• I'm about to start a female Khajiit thief build.  Miao'rissa is going to primarily be a Thieves' Guild playthrough with an emphasis on infiltration and nonviolence as much as possible.  But she's going to get in all manner of larcenous trouble.  Whereas Mel has rarely seen the inside of a jail cell, I expect Miao'rissa is basically going to live in one until her skills develop.
• I'll sometimes do fun builds that aren't too serious and more or less unconstrained.  What happens, happens.  Planning a male Khajiit build, R'rendarro, who is going to be a big black deranged Khajiit who came to Skyrim to join the Companions.  I expect he'll be completely mad by the time he becomes a werewolf.  Werecat?  Catdogman?  Mandogcat?  Anyways, I've got a lot of werewolf overhaul mods so I'm looking forward to eating everyone on Solstheim.
• I used to play hardcore with extreme difficulty mods.  My most memorable was a mod that made spiders something like 10x faster.  If they even noticed you, you were probably going to die.  But now I generally play with TIM constantly on so my characters cannot die, I just can't be bothered to keep reloading the game.

[greyday01]

Ever done a playthrough where you are head of every guild, got every house and most of the unique items, finished every quest except those that never leave your journal?

Ever tried a dead is dead game?

Ever did a game where your character followed strict roleplay, only did what such a character would do.  Like a barbarian would not join the mages college and a weedy academic would not join the companions or a paladin not the thieves or dark brotherhood?

[Karna5]

7 hours ago, greyday01 said:

where your character followed strict roleplay, only did what such a character would do.  Like a barbarian would not join the mages college and a weedy academic would not join the companions or a paladin not the thieves or dark brotherhood?

That doesn't seem like strict role play to me. In real life, scientists and scholars can take martial arts and become experts and firearms and vice versa. I see no reason the head of the mage college couldn't also be a ninja assassin, a dragon born leader, an expert archer and a blacksmith.

In addition, my favorite books are those where the main characters learn to do everything. Off the top of my head, the "Tower" series by Seth Ring are very enjoyable, and the main character delights in learning how to do everything from runes to magic to combat.

So I guess in answer, yes, I play strict role playing by trying to learn to do everything, though if I don't like a faction, I generally try to slaughter them all if the game allows it (sadly in Skyrim that is often blocked. For instance, I can't slaughter the head of the thieves' guild when he's rude to me).

[melvinius]

On 11/30/2024 at 12:04 AM, Karna5 said:

That doesn't seem like strict role play to me. In real life, scientists and scholars can take martial arts and become experts and firearms and vice versa. I see no reason the head of the mage college couldn't also be a ninja assassin, a dragon born leader, an expert archer and a blacksmith.

In addition, my favorite books are those where the main characters learn to do everything. Off the top of my head, the "Tower" series by Seth Ring are very enjoyable, and the main character delights in learning how to do everything from runes to magic to combat.

So I guess in answer, yes, I play strict role playing by trying to learn to do everything, though if I don't like a faction, I generally try to slaughter them all if the game allows it (sadly in Skyrim that is often blocked. For instance, I can't slaughter the head of the thieves' guild when he's rude to me).

I ported SM Essential Kills to Skyrim SE for myself.  Mod works flawlessly.  You can kill anyone by hitting them three times when they are in bleedout.  There is a thunder crash if they are essential, to let you know you just killed a potential quest NPC, then they die.  Sometimes for technical reasons when they die they are replaced with a pouch containing their items, I think this is for characters that would otherwise bug the game if their bodies are lying around.  The mod has spells that allow you to change NPCs to nonessential too, but I've literally never had to use them because the mod's features are so well implemented.