Game is too easy

[Maddy21]

This game is too easy for me.. is there anyways i can make the game harder.... I already use PISE.. I only get very little time after work so don't wanna waste time searching for it :(

[seanxx]

The one self restraint I practice is to either go into enchanting/smithing or alchemy, but I have to choose one, this run through its alchemy, wont touch an enchanting table and will only smith some fur bags/coats

[xlcr]

@seanxx, yep, seems to me the way Bethesda redesigned how leveled enemies are either spawned via predetermined scripted lists or

capped and go no higher becomes unbalanced way too quickly; especially, as your character levels up over time.

Try to get rid of any gear overpowering your character/followers so combat is challenging again.

If you haven't already, set your game to master difficulty.

Look into console command 'removeperk' to disable specific skills that are overpowering if used.

Try to disable mods that uncapped your character's skill levels or tweaks health/magicka/stamina points.

 

PISE Improved Skyrim Experience by Pluto is a great game overhaul mod as you noted - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=1269

Deadly Dragons by 3JIou is another popular mod that improves dragons/creatures - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=3829

[memlapse]

This discussion has been around a while. Still a good topic.

 

The game is as easy or as hard as you want it to be. With all the spawn and overhaul mods available, the combination of difficulty and play style are almost limitless. I have played through several times and in several ways. I've gone from mowing down everything in my path and look fabulous doing it, to vanilla scaling to "deadly frickin everything" where four skeevers can take down a mammoth and all you have is your dirty underwear and a shiv.

[thompsonar]

This game is too easy for me.. is there anyways i can make the game harder.... I already use PISE.. I only get very little time after work so don't wanna waste time searching for it :(

 

The the hard part of the game for you is finding mods that make the game harder in your limited time... are you up to the challenge???

 

Seriously though I'll throw out a couple but I'm not going to link to them because I have limited time.

 

Enhanced High Level Play

Unlevelled World (I guess this makes it harder if you're a low level)

Deadly Dragons (as has been said)

Frostfall

Imps more complex needs

Skyrim Monster Mod

Occupy Skyrim

Named Bosses in Skyrim

Warzones?

[RedRavyn]

I've been experimenting with the "self-restraint technique", which has already been mentioned, although I haven't been religious about it. Here's my recipe:

 

Beginning the Game: Use an alternate start that doesn't involve the Main Quest in any way. The Main Quest intersects with a lot of other quests, all of which will result in rapid leveling. You also get immediate access to Shouts, which can also be unbalancing.

 

Training: Don't. Leveling is your enemy in this game. Minimize it.

 

Smithing: Restrict yourself to only the first two Smithing perks, just up to allowing you to improve steel. I've concluded that anything above steel weapons and armor in this game is over-balancing. especially when they've been improved. I'll use anything the game drops, but I'm having second thoughts about my recently-acquired Ebony Bow, which seems to be over-powered, even for the enemies I'm seeing at level 30+. Basically, improve any steel armor/weapons, and any fur/leather armor you can find, but don't improve anything above those (Elven, Glass, Dwarven, Orcish, Ebony, or Daedric. In fact, don't use any armor above leather or any weapons above Elven or Dwarven. Do not craft or improve anything that you aren't going to use, yourself.

 

Enchanting: No Enchanting. Period. This is probably the single most over-balancing feature in Skyrim.

 

Alchemy: Create only potions that you're actually going to use. Grinding out potions will cause you to level up extremely rapidly. This is a Bad Thing if you're already finding the game too easy. This means, for instance, that you don't have to grab every single flower or butterfly that you see. After you've played the game you'll know what ingredients you need for the potions you require. It's fun just going on a personal quest to collect the ingredients to make up a batch of a particular type of potion/poison.

 

Bartering/Persuasion: Don't boost them, either with potions or gear. You probably aren't going to need the extra money, anyway, and the more slowly you progress in Persuasion, the better off you'll be if you want the game to remain challenging.

 

Hunting: Don't. Unless you need leather to craft or improve your own armor. Defend yourself from the local wildlife, but don't go looking for trouble that you don't need. Better yet, just buy whatever leather you need, or buy pelts and craft them into leather.

 

Skill Books: Don't read them. I even installed a mod that gives me the option to either use or store away a skill book, so I don't automatically get a level-up with the skill just because I happen to click on the damned thing and don't recognize it for what it is.

 

Primary Questlines: This refers to Daedric quests and "guild" factions. Be picky about Daedric quests. Choose one of the guild factions and stick with it. Refuse to do any of the others, however enticing they may be. OK, the Bard's College is pretty lame, so do it with any of the others, but decide on Mage, Companion, Thief, or Assassin, and just play that role. I don't see much of an issue with doing both the Thieves Guild and Dark Brother questlines with a single character, just as long as you remember not to use the magical gear you get with them. Or, better still, just wear ordinary leather armor and trade out ONE piece at a time for the other stuff as you need it. If you go with the Companions, keep the Werewolf form and use Skyforge steel. If you go with the College of Winterhold, then I think it's probably a good idea to wear whatever is the best gear you're offered at any point in the questline. When you do the Bards College don't do the side quests (collecting the flute, lute, and drum). Your reward for doing all these is to level up in every single one of your skills. This is what you should be trying to minimize.

 

Loadout: I played my current game with no enchanted armor or weapons until I got my first set of Thieves Guild armor. That was around level 20. Even now, at level 30+ I still use non-enchanted weapons. I did install a mod that spawns dragons, even though I don't have the Main Quest engaged, just to throw in some additional challenges, and I killed my first Blood Dragon with no enchanted gear at all just a few days ago. Speak softly and carry a small stick -- just know how to use it.

 

Skills and Perks: Concentrate. This is how you can stay competitive with the competition at higher levels, even with the above restrictions. I have perks for light armor, archery, and sneak, which defines the role I'm playing with this character, and my intent is to mostly fill-out those perk trees. I've put two skill points into Smithing and Alchemy, each. I'll probably boost Alchemy some more, since I concentrate on poisons, more than other kinds of potions.

 

Mods: I'm guessing that if you install mods that increase the difficulty or number of your enemies you'll find yourself leveling up even faster. Since leveling is one of the main balance issues in Skyrim this would seem to be self-defeating. If there's a mod which actually properly balances enemies up to the vanilla level-cap, I'd personally like to know what it is. If it doesn't do anything else but that, I'd consider it a "keeper". The problem is that most game overhaul mods wind up changing a lot of things that I don't want changed, which is why I'm not using any of them.

 

I probably left some things out. I'll add them in later if I think of any, but even that "recipe" should keep the game challenging into at least mid-levels.

[thefinn]

If you're finding "levelling too fast" to be an issue.

 

Try the "Guardian Stones Overhaul" mod on for size - I find it a "must have" mod personally..

 

For difficulty, try the "deadly combat" mod, I find that rather challenging, also the "Tougher Traps", "Subliminal Traps", "Skyrim Monster Mod", "Better Fast Travel - Carriages and ships" also has an "Expensive Carriages" option for whittling down your money, "Arrow Tweaks", "AI Archery Range Increase" also cool.

 

"Deadly Dragons" of course..

 

There's also some surprisingly difficult starting options to "Alternate Start - Live another Life".

 

Grab "Immersive HUD" and switch everything off - even crosshairs - apart from your compass which I leave on a toggle - that can bring back the archery challenge ;)

 

"Frostfall" - just throws in a few additional ways to die lol

 

I use all those mods in conjunction..

Edited May 24, 2012 by thefinn

[RedRavyn]

The problem with Guardian Stones Overhaul is that the bonuses the stones give with that mod make the game easier -- not harder. You give up one problem (fast leveling) and acquire another (easier game). If you're looking for a more challenging game it's best to ignore the Standing Stones (and the various Shrines to the Divines) completely. Anything which gives you a long-term bonus to anything will make the game easier.

 

I figure potions don't fall into this category, since you can choose when to use them. I just started a new playthrough, deciding to stick with my own "recipe" (above) to the hilt, and that means avoiding the Guardian Stones and only making potions when I have need of them. My first perk point was put into Smithing so I could improve a steel war axe and an Imperial shield, and I crafted leather armor (I already found the other parts of the set), and improved all four parts. That's actually so that these items don't stack with other identical items in my inventory. There's a bug in the game in which the favorites feature chokes when you have multiple versions of something assigned, so doing this is mostly to keep "my" stuff distinct from stuff I'm going to sell. At a low level of Smithing the bonus you get doesn't really matter very much. I generally even improve my pickaxe and wood cutter's axe, just to keep them separate from any others I pick up. This is it for smithing for a long time.

[thefinn]

The problem with Guardian Stones Overhaul is that the bonuses the stones give with that mod make the game easier -- not harder. You give up one problem (fast leveling) and acquire another (easier game). If you're looking for a more challenging game it's best to ignore the Standing Stones (and the various Shrines to the Divines) completely. Anything which gives you a long-term bonus to anything will make the game easier.

 

I figure potions don't fall into this category, since you can choose when to use them. I just started a new playthrough, deciding to stick with my own "recipe" (above) to the hilt, and that means avoiding the Guardian Stones and only making potions when I have need of them. My first perk point was put into Smithing so I could improve a steel war axe and an Imperial shield, and I crafted leather armor (I already found the other parts of the set), and improved all four parts. That's actually so that these items don't stack with other identical items in my inventory. There's a bug in the game in which the favorites feature chokes when you have multiple versions of something assigned, so doing this is mostly to keep "my" stuff distinct from stuff I'm going to sell. At a low level of Smithing the bonus you get doesn't really matter very much. I generally even improve my pickaxe and wood cutter's axe, just to keep them separate from any others I pick up. This is it for smithing for a long time.

 

It makes it easier for the low levels - more specifically things like pickpocket and mana regen - which depending on your alternate life could be just the vanilla mana regen with clothes anyhow...

 

Put stuff like deadly combat on and the weapon damage doesn't matter a whole lot anyhow because everything will pretty much 1 hit you, or you 1 hit them, all about getting the drop on someone.

 

Install all those mods together, i assure you, you will die.

Edited May 24, 2012 by thefinn

[RedRavyn]

It makes it easier for the low levels - more specifically things like pickpocket and mana regen - which depending on your alternate life could be just the vanilla mana regen with clothes anyhow...

 

True, and this is something you have to consider, depending upon your priorities. I'm so accustomed to hitting either the Thief or Warrior Stone the first time I come across these that I mistakenly did this in my current playthrough. It was a true "Oh, S***!" moment, because I specifically did NOT want to do this, when I just automatically tagged the Warrior Stone without thinking. I wound up using the console to remove the effect.

 

The problem with doing this early in the game is that once you've tagged a Standing Stone you'll always have that effect with you. The only way to get rid of it, without resorting to the console, is to tag another one, and then you have THAT effect with you permanently. I consider this a game design flaw, because it's possible that, at some point, some player (like me, for instance) might not want any Standing Stone in effect, but the vanilla game doesn't give you the option of getting rid of any current one.

 

This is why I suggested to avoid them altogether. Yes, they can be quite helpful early in the game. The Guardian Stones (Mage, Thief, and Warrior) and the Lover Stone all give bonuses to leveling up. The others deal with more specific buffs, none of which is really unbalancing, but ignoring them entirely will force you to use your own unaided skills and wits to overcome your challenges, rather than making the game easier. On the other hand, using some of them might actually marginally decrease the speed at which you level up, so judicious use of those effects (like invisibility, for instance) can work for you if you're trying to avoid leveling some of your skills.