A less than happy mod experience

[majikmonkee]

I recently finished playing one of the first mods I really can not recommend to anyone. Out of respect to the hard work that went in to it, I won't mention this mod by name, but I will point out a few things that really flawed the experience for me for the sake of newer modders looking for things not to do (remember, I myself am just a player, not a modder):

 

- Not so subtle hints at the "secret" plot to the mod right from the beginning cued me in that my quest wasn't on the up and up. I new that my "good" character was being forced to perform a quest that was somehow going to aid the forces of evil, and it wasn't a good feeling, plus, too many hints feel a little insulting.

 

- Unlikeable characters. Each and every NPC I was forced to interact with irritated me somehow, despite my best efforts to get to like them. In fact, I literally cheered aloud when one of them who I think I was supposed to like was killed during the course of the plot. I don't think that's really a good sign.

 

- Terrible voice over. I've played a lot of mods I liked that didn't do actual voices at all. This would have been preferable here. The quality of the voices kept changing, and it sounded like people with very thick accents trying hard to disguise them. Plus, the NPC's kept YELLING AT ME. Expressing emotion is fine, but it can be done without YELLING. I get enough of that at home from my wife.

 

- Noticeable graphic issues. Right near the beginning, a fort I was meant to enter had a huge rip where the ground mesh seemed to have been pulled up by a giant hand, and I could see the empty nothingness underground. This was just the beginning, there were some bothersome issues later as well.

 

Sad thing about this mod is it seems like an enourmous amount of work went into creating new armors, weapons, and especially environments. These little issues just killed the experience for me though, in face, I didn't even return to the site of the main quest when I was finished to claim my reward (which apparently was pretty substantial, but I wanted to get as far away from all reminders of the mod as possible when I was finished).

[majikmonkee]

I forgot the worst part...after I more or less achieved the main goal of the mod, credits started rolling after a cutscene. The ruined any sense of immersion the mod had achieved to that point.

[Shadowfen]

I forgot the worst part...after I more or less achieved the main goal of the mod, credits started rolling after a cutscene. The ruined any sense of immersion the mod had achieved to that point.

 

All good points, but I have to say that the land tear near the fort you went to was the result of a conflict with another mod that you have. If I've guessed the mod's identity correctly, it does conflict with a number of other mods that want to change the land.

 

One thing that I strongly recommend that you get is a utility called LandMagic - it is a program which reads all of your mods and tries to detect and repair such land rips - creating a LandMagic.esp based on what it found in your other mods. It is wonderful!!

[majikmonkee]

I'll have to check that out, thanks. I figured the mod might sound familiar to some, it was actually on a recommended mod page.

[Smooth613]

I'm not sure why you won't just state what the name of the mod is? Or better yet why not post this on the actual mod page for the author to see? Any decent modder is looking for exactly this kind of feedback to better themselves and create material the community enjoys. So what if you don't like the mod? Even if you're the minority if you're going to make your opinions known at least make them known to the right people, like the author.

[majikmonkee]

Well my intent was to describe some things casual mod players may dislike. I might post on the mod page too but my intent was just to share an experience with the community.

[TheSwedishPancake]

Nothing is more disappointing than downloading an unsatisfactory mod. Don't get me wrong; everyone has to start somewhere in their modding career, but that doesn't mean that they should show it to the world with no disclaimer as to the quality of the content. The right thing to do would be to include such a disclaimer and directly ask for feedback about what could be done to improve the mod, as well as any future mods.

 

I know you don't want to draw attention to the person who made the mod, but could you slip me the name of the mod in a PM, just so I can test it out? I want to see what you really meant by all your points in the first post. Thanks.

[majikmonkee]

Done. I'd be interested to hear if you feel the same about it, it's not very long really. I forgot to mention one other issue:

 

- Lots of events where control is taken away from the player and you are forced to stand still while something happens. There were many of these, and bad npc pathfinding wound up getting me stuck in these sequences about 75% of the time and I had to reload.

[chakaru11]

Please don't take this post the wrong way, I am not flaming or trolling. Just thinking the points you listed over.

 

- Hints to an "evil" quest...

Well... quite frankly... most mods give that away in the description. You can't download dark themed mods and expect everything to be sparkly and dandy. I usually don't download those mods from the get go, unless I am currently playing an evil character.

 

- "Unlikeable" characters

Wow. That's something that is totally based on personal taste. I have played quite a few mods from here and found that most NPCs had something about them that I liked. And of corse there are NPCs that trigger the "Oh my GOD I hate you, go die in a corner" feeling. But most of the time, that's intentional! If you had said "annoying", ok. That's debatable. But likeable? That's your side of things.

 

- Terrible voice over

Meh. I am not a fan of voiceovers at all, I am more a fan of subtext. But I usually have a deep respect for people who actually tackle the hurdle of creatings voice overs, how "terrible" they might be. I would never dare to do that. I can live with them, because they are optional. You don't like it? Delete the sound files.

 

 

- Huge Land tear

Well, like it was already stated, the land tear was most likely the fault of your modded game. Most of the time the creators of huge mods mention possible conflicts in the description. A lot of mods out there conflict with landscape overhauls like UL - so before downloading a mod that adds huge new location, it's on YOU to check if there are any conflicts. No mod creator can foresee how many mods you have.

 

All in all I never like to call a mod "terrible", because every mod has hours of work behind it. And unless it is completely ripping my game to pieces, I deal or I uncheck it in the mod list, done. No harm, no foul.

 

There are a few things I do not like about mods. That doesn't make them "terrible" in my oppinion, just not as good as others.

[majikmonkee]

Well like you said, my post was opinion based so there's really no right or wrong to it, I was just recounting an experience I had with this mod. I realize these things take work, which is why I didn't include its name in this post, my intent was not to influence other peoples opinion of it. I did want to clarify though, there is nothing in the mod readme or backstory describing it as anything but a heroic quest, and I don't even mind my character having to engage in morally ambiguous behavior to achieve a goal, but they gave away an important plot point right away that i'd have enjoyed being surprised by when the time came to reveal it. Once again, all preference and opinion, so take it for what it's worth. I've definitely said my share about the mod already.