LE [REQ/IDEA] Things to do in Skyrim

[Iluf]

(Crosspost with beth forums.)

 

Okay, so I like Skyrim. And I like the level of realism one can reach in a game like this by using certain combat mods and things like Frostfall and Basic Needs. However, at its core, Skyrim remains the same old hack and slash game about killing monsters and bandits, completing fetch quests and accumulating gear.

All of that in a land with a civil war raging, fortresses being captured, razed and re-captured, dragons flying in the sky, stuff like that. Meanwhile, peaceful life goes on, with all these farms and little villages and big cities with their guilds and shops and whatever.

 

So maybe I don't want to spend all my time clearing dungeons from draugr. Maybe I've acquired an initial sum of gold through adventuring and want to run a shop now, you know, the way it usually happens with the adventurers who get tired of adventuring or take an arrow to a knee. Or, being a thane, I want to take a fort for my own (or build a new one for myself) and reinforce it with a small personal army of mine. Or I want to start a trading guild and run goods-filled caravans from Markarth to Riften.

 

The game already allows the player to buy houses and marry someone who then opens a shop. But that's it, this spouse vendor is barely different from any other vendor out there, and after you're finished upgrading your house there's nothing else you can do with it bar stashing all your hard-earned loot.

 

What I want is a (global, really) modification that allows the Dovahkiin to do regular things that the NPCs in the world do and affect the world in ways different than simply killing things, as described in the paragraph above. It'll probably also involve a complete overhaul of the economy system of the game (because seriously, buying a house in vanilla game after clearing two dungeons and a bandit camp ending at level 5 isn't very realistic or immersive, and neither is finding an iron helmet and 50 gold coins in a treasure chest deep inside a high-level dungeon... you know, the usual leveled loot quirks).

 

That said, I understand that all this stuff is hard to get going. Maybe I'll see something of this sort in some total conversion of the game which will be released in 2014, I don't know. I'm already seeing mods like "plant your own tree and see it grow" appear on Steam though so I guess at least it's not impossible to make these changes. So this is a call for any willing modder out there. I'll be happy to generate some more ideas, too! Or maybe someone is already working on a mod with similar concepts in mind, then I'll be happy to follow on the development progress.

 

Thank you for your attention dear readers, hopefully the read wasn't too long or boring.

[Citrus872]

This is a fault of the basic design of the game, since it's a faux open world that in reality revolves completely around the player being special. This kind of a "live in Skyrim as a regular person" mod would really have to be an overhaul of not only the player>world and player>NPC interactions, but NPC>NPC and NPC>world interactions too, because everything the NPCs do would have to be expanded so that the player is less "special", and so would everything the player does.

 

That said, it would obviously make it a much better game.

[tiy991]

OP, maybe something like these?

 

http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=38049

http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=36922

[Iluf]

@Citrus872

This is a fault of the basic design of the game, since it's a faux open world that in reality revolves completely around the player being special. This kind of a "live in Skyrim as a regular person" mod would really have to be an overhaul of not only the player>world and player>NPC interactions, but NPC>NPC and NPC>world interactions too, because everything the NPCs do would have to be expanded so that the player is less "special", and so would everything the player does.

 

That said, it would obviously make it a much better game.

Yeah, I understand of course. That's why I liked Alexandrox' work with his WiS - Heroes and Villains mod - I even suggested for him to concentrate his work on this area which is, I think, far more innovative for Skyrim than just a regular monster/spawn point overhaul that WiS was initially. But that's just heroes and villains, doesn't stop the already present NPCs from being two-liner dummies, etc.

 

@tiy991

OP, maybe something like these?

 

http://newvegas.nexu...le.php?id=38049

http://newvegas.nexu...le.php?id=36922

Sort of yeah, if the authors decide to make something similar for Skyrim.

What I don't really want though is adding something like actual strategy game elements to the game (you know, point and click). It's still supposed to be an RPG. Just the possible roles are expanded from the regular formula of "thief/mage/warrior guy" to also include things like "merchant", "crafter", "landlord" and so on. It'd actually even make skills like Speech useful for role-playing reasons.

Edited April 16, 2012 by Iluf

[Thoragoros]

From Morrowind, the entire Elder Scrolls series has been rapidly scaled back from its original Role Play design in favor of an action-rpg 'experience' that forces the entire world to revolve around the player, and quests that involve very little beyond killing things in a random dungeon.

 

-- Example 1,

 

Take for instance, the Companions, within less than 10 very minor, very short quests, you are somehow 'promoted' to being the Harbinger, and if you read Kodlak's journal, you learn that he had actually 'dreamt' of your coming.

 

This entirely removes the possibility of fairly climbing the ranks as 'just another member.'

 

This means, for instance, that there is really no way to 'just be a companion' unless you purposely choose not to advance the quest line, in which case Jorrvaskr becomes useless since the only way you can access the raidant quests at the end is to finish the quest line.

 

-- Example 2,

 

The Dark Brotherhood is also very similar in this regard. You join the Dark Brotherhood, and within a handful of 'kills,' the Night Mother has -- for no apparent reason -- 'chosen' the player to be the 'special' Listener that will magically restore the Dark Brotherhood to its former glory.

 

This entirely removes any sense of accomplishment, as somehow everything was 'written in the stars' for the player.

 

In short, there is no way to 'fairly' do anything in Skyrim, since in every guild, and every faction, the player is somehow 'special' or 'chosen.

Edited April 16, 2012 by Thoragoros

[Iluf]

@Thoragoros

I think I saw a mod somewhere that increased the number of missions required to advance through Companions stages, which would already make things a bit better. Probably the same can be done for every other guild out there as well.

I suppose the additions I'm talking about are easier to introduce in a total conversion indeed. Well, one can hope. :P