BC Leyawiin vs. Leyawiin Reborn, Friends & Lovers, etc.

[snowdevil86]

This is just a fluff discussion started out of boredom, no troubleshooting or major issues.

 

1) Just curious as to how many people prefer Leyawiin Reborn over the Better Cities version of Leyawiin. I personally prefer Reborn, as it makes Leyawiin a bigger, more distinguished place, as well as elevating it high over the river and placing the castle against a magnificent forest backdrop. The BC version is closer to the original and retains its vanilla slum quality, but floods the city, adds more houses, and even kicks in a few extra spots of recruitment in the form of the new Ranger's Guild & the Trade Depot (forgot the actual name). Only problem is, neither of those new buildings has a department head, or anything of real interest behind the front door. The Trade Depot seems fully staffed until you head upstairs to an empty desk where the person in charge should be - and he never returns to his desk, ever. The Ranger's Guild has members roaming around the interior, but no quests or any way to join. If I remember correctly, though, the beds are free to sleep in, so you could roleplay that your character belongs to the guild and simply does his own thing. As for the new docks, both versions add them. Reborn's docks are pretty massive, with a winding stone walkway leading down from the castle, and several travellers roaming about at all hours. What it adds in coolness, though, it lacks in functionality - which BC's version provides in spades. With the Cyrodiil Transportation Network and Alternative Start by Ship mods, Leyawiin's docks become a place you can travel to and from. You can begin your character's journey coming off the docks in Leyawiin Harbor, and frequently use them to hop a ride on a ship heading for other parts of Tamriel, and return by ship when ready. As far as I know, this functionality is not compatible with Leyawiin Reborn's docks, though I guess I could be wrong (if anyone's tried it, let me know). One problem in both versions, however, is a general lack of NPCs. It's somewhat cool to have a smaller, slummish city alternative to Bravil with relatively few occupants, but it's immersion-breaking when you're using the grander-than-grand Reborn version and you can't find more than 3 people on the road at any given time. This can only really be fixed with an Extended Leyawiin, but for now we'll just have to deal with the Queen City of Tamriel being home to a handful of lowly beast races instead of the bustling metropolis, nearly rivaling IC, it should be. What do you guys think? Which version do you prefer, and what do you like/dislike about it?

 

2) Friends & Lovers...does anyone here use this? It's an adult-themed mod, very buggy and unintuitive but nevertheless hilarious IMO. You can basically shag anyone off the road as long as they like you well enough. With the mod active, I paid Jensine a visit at Good As New (hey, don't give me that look...I've got TNR & some hotness textures, so she's definitely shaggable!) and warmed her up to the idea. She left shop unattended and followed me into one of BC IC's deserted alleyways. When prompting her again, she declined, stating that the Market District was too crowded for that kind of thing (who'd have thought), and that we should go somewhere more private. So, being the gentleman I am, I escorted her to the Merchant's Inn down the street and bought us a room. Upstairs and inside with the door closed, I prompt her one final time, and she inquires, "Who of whom, will have fun?"...eh, okay. Onward to the position selection screen, and my character chooses "I want from behind". Good man. Jensine tells me to "keep my hands", and we're off! I'm drawn into an awkward body-camera mode not unlike the FFP view in Unnecessary Violence, looking down at Jensine and listening to her pant & moan. The camera has the potential to get extremely wonky here, to the point of possibly forcing you to restart your game after the act is finished due to the camera never returning to your body (despite using the tfc ommand, which is largely ignored in this mod). Pressing the assigned hotkey repeatedly will wrap things up, sending your character into a pumping frenzy until finally you stand and she kneels, and a magical aura sweeps over both (literally). Jensine proclaims that "every little bit helps" (hilarious), and then will randomly either hang around for round two or leave the way she came. The mod actually gives you a diary to keep track of all your exploits, some of which can get a little fuzzy in the morality department. For instance, tapping the hotkey when brushing past a female Khajiit passerby will tear her clothes off and automatically drop her onto your lap, with her calling out to guards and screaming, "such violence!" all the while. This counts as a rape in your diary, but occasionally you'll have the tables turned and get raped yourself, with a strapon! This doesn't alert the guards, and she'll usually spout some snide remark when she walks away, leaving you thoroughly humiliated. Another funny thing with the dairy is that it has a 'favorite boy/girl' entry, so you can actually have a regular fb in Oblivion! All joking aside, though, it has one big problem that will break any thief character's game for good. Thieving at night becomes impossible, because...well, no one is sleeping. Everyone is randy and going at it, with a bedmate or themselves. I can't begin to describe the utter disgust at breaking into a Leyawiin house at 3am and hearing moaning coming from upstairs, only to discover a Khajiit pounding away at his Argonian lover. The hilarious thing is that when you're discovered breaking in (which you always will be, because they're not asleep), the dominant male will stand up and start screaming about his privacy. "Can't a man have a little privacy?! Get out!" he'll yell, and then just as you're leaving, the moaning will start up again. Truly disgusting.

 

3) CM Partners vs. Toaster's Share & Recruit. Both are awesome, but they each have their set of drawbacks for me. CM Partners is a little more realistic, with pre-set adventurers hanging around bars, shops, & inns throughout Tamriel, waiting for you to come make them an offer to team up. It's more immersive than Toaster's in the fact that adventurers will be willing to join up with you, but shopkeeps and farmers will not. This is something I always found a bit odd with Toaster's - I can head over to Jensine's and scoop her up for a night of troll-slaying, and she'll gladly leave her shop unattended, donning my choice armor and whupping ass until I allow her to go back to her normal working life. She'll also continue to wear that armor forever once she's back behind the counter, which is odd. On the other hand, it's cool to imagine my character having the ability to persuade a lowly Argonian traveller to work some adventuring into his boring existence by joining up with me for a dungeon raid or two (I would've had to persuade him over a few drinks at The Feed Bag, of course). The main drawback with CM Partners though, for me, is the fact that the newly-placed NPCs have no life of their own, they just idle away in their assigned bar for eternity until I go pick them up. Even after parting ways, they'll continue to lurk in the same area you left them. This is a huge immersion-breaker for me, because I start to count on them being in certain bars whenever I stop by their town. And while it's cool to have constant activity in the bars & inns for a change, it can get extremely crowded with extra CMs, making you wish the bars were just a little bigger for realism. Another thing is that the idling AI for many of the included CM companions doesn't seem to be...well, sane. They randomly whip out their swords and hack at walls indoors, or draw out their bows and fire past the barkeep. It'd probably be impossible to script them to appear randomly near or inside dungeons, but I wish they'd at least wander around the town so I'd have to explore a bit to find fellow adventurers. One thing I love about CM, though, is adding racial diversity to Tamriel. It makes it a lot more realistic when there are at least a couple other Ainmhi travellers in IC, or a handful of Aquamer to help you out in dungeon raids. You're no longer the sole celebrity visitor from another world, and it makes for a much more satisfying roleplaying experience. As it stands, though, I use both CM & Toaster's together. I just refrain from dragging guards or shopkeeps out into dungeons with me, and I limit the number of CMs placed in bars for a slightly more realistic game. How do you guys do it? Which mod do you prefer, and which companions do you like to use? Stories would be cool, too.

[Baronfuming]

Well, I don't use the first two, but I have chosen Toaster's, simply because you can recruit most NPC's. Seems less intrusive, and there is a lot of versatility in the behavior of your companions.

[TodaY]

Friends and lovers was uploaded on this site, and removed because of it's content. I dont know which that is, but im not sure discussion is legal. I suggest you remove it from your post.

As for my reply to the others, I used BC Leywiin, and didn't like the look, eventhough they did an amazing job. I havent tried reborn yet. I use CM Partners, havent tried toaster's yet.

[Captainscar]

I Have used Both of the BC Leyawiin and Leyawiin Reborn OC version and I personally Like the BC version more.

I Like the CM partner and the Companion Share And recruit because you can recruit yourself if you clone yourself. Yes i know a bit overpowered but its like having your twin fighting with you. Very good for RP in my view

CM Partners... I like it for the reason you can get fellow Mages to come with you on Mages Guild quests.

 

Edit: I do Suggest Removing Friends and Lovers.

BEcause little kiddies could find this and have "Fun" Over it