Laereal Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 (edited) I'm usually forgiving about the limitations of vanilla followers because of two things: my imagination runs wild with extending the stories of existing followers anyway, and that I try not to extend my mod list too much. This is the reason why I avoid basic followers that usually come up on the Nexus. Unless the creator for the mod already has a pre-written backstory about the follower that was really inspiring (recent ones that intrigued me were Liadys' releases), I see no real reason to get followers that has the vanilla follower functionality. If and when I do get a custom follower I will definitely be more attracted to followers with complexity either in the way they're managed, interact and integrate a complimentary story. This is the reason I'm looking into followers like Arissa and Rigmor of Bruma, as well as some of the followers that are featured in Interesting NPCs. Really looking forward to doing this when I upgrade parts of my computer so it can handle mods better, so yay! Edited June 13, 2015 by Laereal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vram1974 Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 [...] but personally I was always a little irked with how little personality Skyrim had for many of its characters. There are a few standouts but they only stand out for a little while before they succumb to bland Bethesda-itis. That and most of them just kind of exist only when you're there. The lack of sentience bothers me but that's normal because it's only a game and not real life. For instance, in the Interesting NPCs quest for Zora you find her sister in a coven and free from an evil witch. During the final battle with the evil witch I accidentally murdered Zora's sister. But since the quest was completed, Zora is literally standing over the blood soaked corpse of her sister thanking me for saving her sister. It also bothers me that most followers are really robotic to situations. I mean, Vilja and a few other followers are wise to your actions, but most don't care who you kill or what you do. And none of them understand stealth. One errant arrow and they start running out to aggro an entire army of bandits. I know this is all because of the limitations of technology but clearly the aesthetics have come so much farther than the storytelling. I find it odd people do the marriage quest (I've still never done it in thousands of hours of Skyrim) because to marry someone you'd have to kind of like their personality and grow attached to them in some way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jones177 Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 I use vanilla based followers. I think they & their creators are absolutely brilliant. I use lots of mods that add NPCs to the game. Some of the dungeons can be especially hard.A few weeks back I was in one of these dungeons with 4 vanilla followers. At the height of one of the battles, one follower was out in front slogging away, another is poised, ready for action but reluctant to joint. An other is crouched in a corner with hands over her head & the last had left the cell. To me that is the magic of a modded Bethesda game & the reason I have been playing this one all these years. I find that using Follower Commentary Overhaul helps a lot when it comes to follower location awareness. I am still hearing new(to me) dialog from followers in some areas & I have had the mod installed for over a year now. Like vram1974 I don't get the point of marriage. If it was to get a status like Yarl maybe. The two big disappointments in Skyrim for me was the follower ai & the horses. Oblivion CM based followers did more than the vanilla Skyrim follows. Only with mods are the followers comparable with the mods from an older game. The Oblivion horses were works of art in looks & animation. The Skyrim horses have bad conformation & would probably need to be put down in real life. If you are a horse fan play Witcher 3. Later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychoslaphead Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 [...] but personally I was always a little irked with how little personality Skyrim had for many of its characters. There are a few standouts but they only stand out for a little while before they succumb to bland Bethesda-itis. That and most of them just kind of exist only when you're there. The lack of sentience bothers me but that's normal because it's only a game and not real life. For instance, in the Interesting NPCs quest for Zora you find her sister in a coven and free from an evil witch. During the final battle with the evil witch I accidentally murdered Zora's sister. But since the quest was completed, Zora is literally standing over the blood soaked corpse of her sister thanking me for saving her sister. It also bothers me that most followers are really robotic to situations. I mean, Vilja and a few other followers are wise to your actions, but most don't care who you kill or what you do. And none of them understand stealth. One errant arrow and they start running out to aggro an entire army of bandits. I know this is all because of the limitations of technology but clearly the aesthetics have come so much farther than the storytelling. I find it odd people do the marriage quest (I've still never done it in thousands of hours of Skyrim) because to marry someone you'd have to kind of like their personality and grow attached to them in some way. No real reason for the AI issues. My GPU runs at 100% (I run high res textures at 4k screen resolution), but my cpu cores just loaf along no matter what. They aren't being given much to do. So it would seem that there is plenty of room for more AI routines. Maybe it's from using ancient game engines, or in the case of Skyrim, being a console port. I just wish there was a way for custom voiced followers to NOT talk over other NPCs - only reason I'm not using any of them (well, TBH some of the flat voicing and marginal sound mastering makes me cringe a little). Sofia in particular was a real pack horse, helped me get rich at the start of my last game carrying loot - but then I cut her loose. I just get a real horse later on to do the same thing without the same lines over and over. She was funny and entertaining at first, annoying later. NOT at all being critical of the mod or modders, the work that went into the story types is fantastic and inspiring, it's just endemic to what the game can and can't do. If I need a follower, I just make a vanilla script and quest based one that compliments my play style of the moment. If I play as a sword slinger, I bring along a couple of mages. Mage type - I have a melee and bow slinger type along. They pretty much just stay out of my way until needed. And yeah, totally guilty of making eye candy, because I don't like to look at ugly textures and meshes on a high definition big screen, and a bunch of great modders shared the tools to make things the way I want. That's just MY preference, others feel differently (take a look at the D/L stats) and I totally respect that. I also share my work in case anyone else can use them - if so, that's great, if not, then that's fine too. You'd have to be married in real life to understand the perks...cooking is not one of my strong suits. And the Lover's Comfort perk, well, let's just say that in real life it has more benefits than in the game :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vram1974 Posted June 17, 2015 Author Share Posted June 17, 2015 And the Lover's Comfort perk, well, let's just say that in real life it has more benefits than in the game :-) You obviously haven't been married as long as me. :P Congrats on the hot files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoaty6666 Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 I have no problems with a sexy, beautiful follower if she's a good character otherwise. ...But if they're wearing the skimpiest armor, for their sake it's best they don't come to battle with me. Tbh I'd rather have more NPCs that you can get involved with, quest-wise. So far the only NPCs I'm even remotely close to and care about are Farkas, Vilkas, and Aela. I'll take your word for it and download this character and see how I like her; have you got any more recommendations? Thanks! yes you will fall in love with Mrissi. she's good to use on a new character because she takes you all over Skyrim in her quest. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/34794/? Ahh, I'll wait til I get Dawnguard to download her! Looks cool. Thank you :smile: have to ask mate what is that house mod picture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satalica Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 I see the mods locked a recent topic about the proliferation of female followers in the hot files. And I get why he did that but I do think it's an interesting topic so allow me to present my thoughts. Yes, there does seem to be an overload of attractive female followers and yes people are upvoting these to the hot files. It's not a huge surprise though. Making a follower is literally the easiest modding a person can do, especially if you keep the vanilla scripting and just add your favorite ADEC, CBBE, 7Base etc body and whatever snazzy clothing you like with a customized pretty face. And let's be honest, if you have a choice between looking at a vanilla Skyrim face and a face like Hikari you're going to choose the latter every. single. time. A better question might be why are so few people making good storyline followers? Simple answer? It's hard. Yes, it takes work. But those who have invested significant time and energy have greatly enriched the Skyrim modding community. Rigmor of Bruma, uploaded last April, might just be the first "feminist" follower mod ever done for Skyrim. The story is about her and not you and there are no attempts to make her sexy, skimpy: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53068/? Rigmor of Bruma is a stand alone, custom voiced follower for Skyrim, she is a no messing, cynical, traumatized character of very few words. Rigmor does not want to talk, she does not want to marry you, she is not interested in your quests or your ego. She does not wash, she does not shave (only her head) she is a no messing two handed berserk warrior in the true sense, battle scars et al. Whenever silly anime/sexy followers in the hot files annoy you, remember that great mods like this also exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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