First Playthough (Well Kind Of) ~ Mods or Vanilla?

[Jerosai]

Hello

I just recently pick up this lovely game again, I haven't played In quite some time.
I was wondering If I should go ahead and play with mods or play vanilla game again?

I know that there are mods out there that fix a lot of things, but wouldn't It be better to play vanilla again?. That way when I start using mods, I can tell the differences for future playthoughs?





Thanks In Advance




Jerosai

Edited July 29, 2017 by Jerosai

[Thandal]

Vanilla. Definitely. No question. :thumbsup:

[mckatsims]

I second what Thandal said. Vanilla first, then mod future playthroughs. :D

[ebonmort]

I disagree. It's a mountainous project to play all the way thru the game. An enjoyable one... but long. Don't handicap yourself with bugs, deficiencies, etc. I'd say start by adding Quinn's Fixpack, but don't stop there. Use the mods that improve texturing. And, just read down the list. If something sounds like it'll make the journey more fun, go for it. Why spend 40-50 hours plodding thru the vanilla version when so many people have put in so much time and effort to make the journey sweeter?

[Thandal]

As I stated in another similar topic, I agree that if you absolutely must employ an "improvement" mod, then Qwinn's (the gold standard for fixing dialogue and plot bugs) and GasTank's (game mechanics bugs) "Fix Packs" are the ones to use. :thumbsup:

 

But I disagree in general with using mods the first time through. There are ZERO "game-breaking" bugs in the vanilla game. There are plenty of mods that improve (or "fix", if you prefer) this-or-that aspect of the game (e.g. "textures") but in order to know which ones you might want to use, you have to know what the starting point is.

 

DA:O is one of that very small number of games in my library that I've enjoyed re-playing (over two-dozen times now.) The writing is that good, the characters that engaging, the variations available based on the player's decisions that numerous, and the few "appearance improvements" I employ were chosen specifically after several runs played without any at all.