What is most important to you?

[Khet]

I'm not making this a poll, since I want everyone's answers to be their own, rather than choosing from a list. As I near the completion of the main quest of my mod, I begin to wonder... what is most important to other people when they play a mod? Storyline? Voice acting? Side quests? Think of anything and everything, and as many things as you can. Would you prefer to have a companion tag along in some of the quests, or would you rather solo them/bring your current companions? Do you enjoy mods that add a ton of side quests, or would you rather just have one long main quest? Or would you rather see a ton of custom models, animations, and textures?

 

Lend me your minds, and in return, I shall lend you my ears.

[Pineapplerum]

I'm not making this a poll, since I want everyone's answers to be their own, rather than choosing from a list. As I near the completion of the main quest of my mod, I begin to wonder... what is most important to other people when they play a mod? Storyline? Voice acting? Side quests? Think of anything and everything, and as many things as you can. Would you prefer to have a companion tag along in some of the quests, or would you rather solo them/bring your current companions? Do you enjoy mods that add a ton of side quests, or would you rather just have one long main quest? Or would you rather see a ton of custom models, animations, and textures?

 

Lend me your minds, and in return, I shall lend you my ears.

 

I like scenery and the quest itself. I think those two are the most important. Especially scenery. I like pretty places to visit. Unique and creative.

[TodaY]

I think combat is important... I hate quests that dont let you kill anything >;] but storyline is important too. Models and textures are nice, but not important... And I hate compagnions too - they stalk you - make me paranoid >.<""

[razorpony]

I agree about disliking companions. They always get in the way when I'm fighting, and since I usually play a stealth/assassin character they always give away my position when I'm stalking an enemy. I also agree about interesting places. I liike mods that add cool places to visit and really show off what's possible with this game. Even though there are no quests, the UL mods are some of my favorites. Just walking or riding across country checking out the sights. As for quest type mods, storyline is way more important to me than anything else. Give me something cool to do, make me think a bit, get me emotionally involved with what I'm doing. That's the way to make it memorable and replayable. Voice acting isn't always necesary and if done poorly can detract from the overall feel. Remember Morrowind? No voice acting but in depth lore/storytelling. That's what I like.

 

-Razorpony

[Eshenaleros]

Beyond all, story is key. I can grow to love a horrible game as far as graphics and controls are concerned if it has a good story. Of course, I do play a lot of games for the combat and looking pretty never hurt, but they're not as important.

 

Nearly silent companions? no. just no. If nothing else, they'll either die when I slash them across the back because they got in my way or I'll leave them somewhere for doing so and not dieing. If it's got a quest attached to it? hell yes. but I drop them once the quest is over, for the stated reason

[JCP768]

Story/characters. I want the NPCs involved to be more than just ones and zeros on a screen forming an image and saying random crap. That doesn't mean voice acting though, because voice acting often severely limits dialogue. A seductive accent doesn't make up for the fact that some woman just fell madly in love with me to the point of willing to do anything for me after... a bunch of banal spurted out comments and small discussions. Take for instance Dragon Age. People like Lelliana(sp?) and Zevran were massively lacking in dialogue.It's like you had to mentally fill in the blanks ("Okay I'm going to pretend that over our travels, during our battles, and in the camps/inns we've talked a lot more that I as the player never saw/heard)

 

It's not just romances though there's also the one dimensional quest givers who cease to be more than a prop who just stands around after giving you the quest of "going to <blank> and getting me <blank>.", or "going to <blank> and doing <blank> to <blank>!"

 

Character can be made up a number of ways:

Being able to ask about their background

 

overheard conversations( though I don't think Oblivion can do these very well)

 

Interesting/unique schedules (no boring: wake up, wander around, eat, sleep type setup)

 

Taking an actual interest. ("Goblins attacked me and stole my <blank>!" "Are you okay? do you have any family/friends/work you can stay at if they attack again?) *Yes I know about the 38 character limit, it'd need to be shortened.*

 

Interesting eccentricities or ticks. (Koind of like Skrivva's "The Hunter" thing, or the Argonian/Khajiit speach patterns in particular.)

 

Generally just more dialogue ( I mean just whatever you want , or the character would want to speak about... going off into rants about politics, scholars willing to answer whatever questions you might have about their studies,general strong opinions stuff like that.)

 

Also don't Abandon the NPC! A good example of this is Ursurane(sp?) Loche. Her husband diesand then she spends THE REST OF HER LIFE! telling everyone "Please, I need some time for myself." How about a damn funeral after a month? or getting back out there after a couple months... looking for a job to keep that house, or getting kicked out and becoming a bum.

[Pushkatu]

I'd like more freedom and more options when it comes to quests. Not everyone wants to be the good guy, at least not all the time. I'd like to have the option to say NO to a quest, but to still be able to move on within the guild.

[Khet]

So overall, it appears as if Storyline and Characters (grouping them together) is the most important to people, followed by uniqueness of locations. Thanks for the input guys. If you've anything else to add please, let me know! And I'm glad that folk don't mind a lack of voice acting. Though personally it can be jarring to hear voice acting and then silence, but I suppose if a whole mod is silent it's not that big of a difference.

 

Though I'd like to expand upon a point by Eshenaleros. (S)he said that quest-based companions are okay. That is, someone who tags along for a quest or two, then drops off and goes on their own merry way. Anyone else agree or disagree with this?

[LHammonds]

what is most important to other people when they play a mod? Storyline? Voice acting? Side quests?

That is really a loaded question.

 

Why? Because I think you are really asking what people would like to see in a mod...not what they are actually expecting when they play a mod. The 1st is easy to answer and will vary from person to person...you won't be able to make everyone happy here.

 

The 2nd is completely dependent upon the "mod" we downloaded. If I download an NPC mod, I don't give 2 septiums about scenery, armor, weapons, creatures, etc. I am looking for this particular mod to provide an NPC which requires an NPC, dialog and a reason for the NPC to exist (storyline) and a reason to interact with the NPC (storyline, quest, vendor, etc.) If I download a scenery mod, it will all be about location, aesthetics, etc. Each mod I play will have its own set of criteria based on what I was looking for and what the mod describes that it can deliver.

 

To answer your question in terms of the 1st scenario based on any kind of mod I would ever want, the most important aspect has to be the fun-factor. Doesn't matter if the mod lasts 5 minutes or 15 hours. It has to be fun.

 

LHammonds

[Eshenaleros]

To answer your question in terms of the 1st scenario based on any kind of mod I would ever want, the most important aspect has to be the fun-factor. Doesn't matter if the mod lasts 5 minutes or 15 hours. It has to be fun.

 

LHammonds

LHammonds Knows what he's talking about