Improving Skyrim / Recommended Mods thread (Mostly about Requiem)

[hell bovine]

I guess I'll just make a nexus account. Although I heard they got hacked a while ago.

Wait... apparently this REQUIRES the Dawnguard DLC? Uh... why? So much for that. Any alternatives?

Get Dongguard?

I'd say that Requiem alone makes it worth it.

It does, although I did like those floating tentacles in DB, it was a much more interesting evil guy/girl/tentacle than the actual boss you fight. Pity they've never expanded the role, because pursuit of knowledge at any cost makes for a much more interesting evil motivation than the standard I am going to destroy/conquer the world.

 

[Luzur]

If you already want to play Skyrim I see no reason not to get the DG and DB.
Many mods need improved scripting support and DB is actually a far better expansion than BM ever was.

Lul what.

Maybe to the blind, deaf, and stupid.

Honestly, Skyrim feels like the game that should have come after morrowind, but instead they made a disappointing sequel(Oblivion) and then resorted to a bunch of nostalgia tripping for the next one and it's DLC(Remember how much you wanted to see DRAGONS in Daggerfall, well fuck HERE'S TONNES OF THEM. Remember that lore about Skyrim and the throat singing siege engine wielders of the voice basically imprisoned on top of a mountain because their very words form magic so powerful it tears towns asunder, remember these people so very rarely mentioned in the tomes in Morrowind and Daggerfall, you'll find out so much they'll be boring.), to cover the deficiencies in story, gameplay, and aesthetic that had and have still been lost since Daggerfall.

DB has half the content. 1/3 the quality and a poor amount of variety compared to BM. More than that, BM wasn't a radical departure from the typical stories and menageries of Morrowind. It was however a radical departure in terms of visuals and aesthetics from Morrowind. It was something that we hadn't seen before, and focused on a people that hadn't been focused on before. Something that DB didn't manage. BM managed to keep things like the Draugr a mystery because they had to be. To make any kind of sense at least. You don't tell everyone that these are ancient undead servants of dragons, bound so far into servitude that their corruption remains beyond death, you can hint at it, but don't deliberately tell us that. Hell, even Oblivion did the whole Elder Scroll plot point thing better. God damn, I'm just so fucking sick of people saying Skyrim and it's DLC are fucking jesus juice, and to hear it here. Even to hear those people deriding better games in terms of aesthetic, story and intention as being worse than something obviously inferior.

Hell, BM may be the approximate size, of DB, but fuck, if it wasn't a hell of a lot better in terms of story, mythos and just general aesthetics, like almost everything in Morrowind was.

Skyrim's plot is derp, but miles better then Oblivion's, thats for sure.

Also you some stuff could have been turning down abit, like the Dragons, Draugr and the Elder Scrolls.

and fun fact about the last thing, I have 3 Elder Scrolls on my character atm.

3 ELDER SCROLLS.

the most important scrolls in the entire ES universe are just given to me throughout different ways and i have not been hunted down yet by imperial legions under command of Moth Priests that really want to get ahold of these scrolls they hold in very, very high regard.

For Oblivion, I will say the main plot, is FAR and AWAY worse than Skyrims. It's repetitive, it's overall short and unsatisfying, and it's very poorly written. However, for faction quest lines, Oblivion, quite surely outshines Skyrim. In Skyrim, every faction quest has basically the same goddamn plotpoints. "You're a recruit, lets test you." "Sudden plot twist"(Werewolves, The Ruins Scene in the Uni quests, Betrayal by what's his face in the Thieves Guild.) "You're super duper special now"(A werewolf is you. Suddenly Archmage, and the skeleton key+(moon thief, was it? Night Thief?) sequences in the thieves guild.) "A random dungeon crawl to anticlimactically end the quest line"

I mean fuck, Oblivion at least can say all of it's quest lines are pretty much different. The legion and storm cloaks campaigns are almost EXACTLY the same. More than that, each factional quest line in Oblivion, kept with the themes of them. You generally did things that required you to be a big brutish bastard in the fighters guild. In the mages guild you do magey things at least at first. And in the fucking god damn thieves guild, you couldn't fight your way through every mission.

Well thats something Bethesda doesnt seem to get good on, guild quests, and the for me derpy situation of you being head honcho of all the guilds of the world, they should have put some limiters there, like, if you join the Fighters guild the Mage guild locks their gates for you (maybe you are allowed the basic stuff) and vice versa, that is some choice and consequence i want.

Also the fact you are kinda forced into the mage guild since you kinda have to enter it to get ahead in the vampire reading elderscrolls quest, now that was just trolling by bethesda, i even tried to ressurect the Arch-Mage with console so they wont autoelect me as Arch-Mage when he died, but to no avail.

 

[Metro]

If you already want to play Skyrim I see no reason not to get the DG and DB.
Many mods need improved scripting support and DB is actually a far better expansion than BM ever was.

Because I don't feel like paying $10 for it. They don't discount the individual DLC past 50% off and I paid $10 for Skyrim years ago. Game is okay enough for me to install a mod. Game is not okay enough for me to buy a DLC that adds almost nothing just to play said mod.

 

[bloodlover]

a DLC that adds almost nothing just to play said mod.

From your post I'll just assume you have no idea what each DLC brings.

 

[Metro]

a DLC that adds almost nothing just to play said mod.

From your post I'll just assume you have no idea what each DLC brings.

Irony.

Dawnguard adds... what? The vampire and werewolf shit? Crossbows!!!! A couple of new locations and maybe four or so hours of content? So I'll assume it is you who have no idea or are just easily impressed by a pittance of content.

 

[bloodlover]

Well they don't really compare to Morrowind's expansions but you do get more than a shitty horse armor. You get to play a vampire, some weapons, building a house, a new area etc. Like I said, not much compared to the a real expansion but at this point they are dirt cheap and most mods require them in order to work. Oh and you NEED mods to play this game, otherwise you might as well not install it.

 

[Metro]

Like I said, I bought it less than a year after it came out during a glitch sale for $10. Had I not I'm sure I'd pick up the bundle edition for that price but as of right now I don't feel like rebuying it for $15ish just for the DLC. The mods certainly make the game more challenging/interesting but the overall content is still the same and fairly dull on the second playthrough.

I'd rather buy a kwa-lity title like Watch_Dongs instead.

 

[DraQ]

DB is actually a far better expansion than BM ever was.

Lul what.

Maybe to the blind, deaf, and stupid.

(...)

DB has half the content. 1/3 the quality and a poor amount of variety compared to BM. More than that, BM wasn't a radical departure from the typical stories and menageries of Morrowind. It was however a radical departure in terms of visuals and aesthetics from Morrowind. It was something that we hadn't seen before, and focused on a people that hadn't been focused on before.

So much for not wearing rose tinted nostalgia goggles.

Yes, BM was a departure from Morrowind in terms of aesthetics (it wasn't even all that new - you had plenty of snow and pines in Daggerfall in winter, bears too) - it was the main thing that was good in it other than lycanthropy and some MQ locations (Castle Karstaag, Hircine's murderlabyrinth). Ok, I also liked Aeslip, there are far too few interesting undead in fantasy. I liked building up Raven Rock too.

BM also paved way for Oblivion and its many awful aspects:

• It switched to flat-ish, easily negotiable terrain with barely any natural obstacles that made hiking in OB so awfully unexciting
  don't take my word for it, look

  
• It departed from Morrowind's quest logic that allowed sequence breaking and making the content your bitch by slapping unpickable lock on every quest dungeon and container. Including booze cabinet in Frostmoth.
• It played fast and loose with content customization much like Oblivion did - bookshelves containing large and orderly blocks of copies of the same book, characters missing less visible pieces of apparel (where did Mirisa's shoes go?), etc.
• All this so abundant and high quality content consisted of locations as diverse (again, you don't need to take my word for it) as all those different barrows and shit.
• Them new and unique people were actually rather incongruent with preexisting mythos

Hell, it even paved the path for Oblivion in a more literal sense:

When the dragon dies, the Empire dies.
Where is the lost dragon's blood, the Empire's sire?
And from the womb of the void, who shall stem the blood tide?
So long as the Blood of the Dragon Prince runs strong in her rulers, the glory of the Empire shall extend in unbroken years.
His heart's blood bleeds in darkness
For once the portals are opened, who shall shut them upon the rising tide?
For Lord Dagon forever reborn in blood and fire from the waters of Oblivion.
Find him... and close shut the marble jaws of Oblivion.

Along with that death cult in Tribunal.

Meanwhile DB:

• Admittedly played a bit loosely with Solstheim's geography (conserving general layout and relative locations of most landmarks, but altering terrain to be far more harsh and montainous, allowing for bodies of water at different levels, and using Skyrim/Morrowind style geography liberally using impassable terrain to make getting around more difficult), but it ended up being for the better (some landmarks could also have moved over time - stones could be transfered by Skaal as their old locations got destroyed in the aftermath of the eruption, Skaal Village and Thirsk could also have been transfered and rebuilt in stabler locations)
  
• Simultaneously managed to conserve the original layout and look (Kolbjorn, Gyldenhul, Bloodskal barrows, Altar of Thrond, Brodir Grove, Frostmoth) where applicable and make it interesting and non repetitive which was no small feat given how fucking repetitive the respective locations were in BM - so barrows earned hidden passages (Kolbjorn, Gyldenhul, Bloodskal) and freshly unearthed exterior sections (Bloodskal) in addition to their original layouts, Frostmoth had exactly the same exterior layout as in BM (except with round instead of rectangular towers, but I can cope with that given asset reuse) - it would have been perfectly excusable to just shit on BM and its grorious barrows for the sake of making content that wasn't shitty copypasta, but no DB actually managed to do both - stay true to the original and shit on its repetitiveness.
• Gave us some of the coolest environs ever in the form of Apocrypha - the actual content could have been more groundbreaking and locations could have been more than just isolated, mostly linear sections but it still worked pretty fucking well especially with all those shifting corridors and damaging darkness.
• Brought us some Morrowind nostalgia in the form of freshly formed ashlands, Redoran and a considerably mellowed out Neloth with his Telvanni 'shroom tower (I chalk up unelitist levitation shaft to the need for someone to bring him his fucking tea)
• DB actually managed to flesh out aformentioned new and unique people and give them more context
• DB introduced new dungeons and locations in a way that didn't make their prior nonexistence glaring (for example Dwemer ruins being sunken below ground or actually having mechanisms to submerge under the sea), and removed some preexisting ones in similar fashion.

TL;DR

DB not only shat on BM but it did it from great height and with superhuman grace.

Overall both Skyrim as general content (adjusted for the amount of content) and DB alone as an expansion beat the living crap of both Morrowind expansions (not Morrowind itself, obviously).

God damn, I'm just so fucking sick of people saying Skyrim and it's DLC are fucking jesus juice, and to hear it here.

Anyone here does?

Morrowind was already a flawed gem (but a gem nevertheless, among the most precious ones in the existence too).
Skyrim and expansions (especially in unmodded state) are the very definition of "good for what they are", but, yep, they beat the fuck out of MW expansions that are only excused of most of their rather glaring flaws because they expand fucking Morrowind.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

and fun fact about the last thing, I have 3 Elder Scrolls on my character atm.

3 ELDER SCROLLS.

the most important scrolls in the entire ES universe are just given to me throughout different ways and i have not been hunted down yet by imperial legions under command of Moth Priests that really want to get ahold of these scrolls they hold in very, very high regard.

I was wondering why my carry weight was always maxed

Did you...did you drop the Elder Scroll? You know you need that, right?

wat

The fact he seems clueless about dropping the elder scroll makes this so much better

I've been killing and slaying all the game - I never knew that shit was important.

It's... it's the title of the game...

Well be that as it may, I am an idiot.

Maybe he just spawned it and this is all a great ruse

bonus: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/25192/

 

[DraQ]

For Oblivion, I will say the main plot, is FAR and AWAY worse than Skyrims. It's repetitive, it's overall short and unsatisfying, and it's very poorly written.

Most definitely true.

However, for faction quest lines, Oblivion, quite surely outshines Skyrim.

Can't agree. Sure, you identified the worst flaws in Skyrim's guild questlines correctly, but Oblivion questlines are plain awful, Skyrim's (comparatively, there is still plenty of derp here and there), are merely horribly paced.

I mean fuck, Oblivion at least can say all of it's quest lines are pretty much different. The legion and storm cloaks campaigns are almost EXACTLY the same. More than that, each factional quest line in Oblivion, kept with the themes of them. You generally did things that required you to be a big brutish bastard in the fighters guild. In the mages guild you do magey things at least at first. And in the fucking god damn thieves guild, you couldn't fight your way through every mission.

Well, yeah, no.

Both MG and FG were basically about fighting durpy enemy faction that defied characterization beyond "lolevil". Magey things? Not really, you could just swing your burrburrian axe through the entire questline and become archmage. The one time you did need to cast something you were given everything you needed on scrolls. Similarly with FG - you might as well do it as mage zapping shit or assassin sneaking around and stabbing people in the dick. At least in Skyrim you had functional entry tests (that didn't do much in vanilla, but it merely took mechanical mods to make them form actual entry barriers). Also, both factions were terminally boring in OB, at least both the Companion and College vestigal questlines in Skyrim had stuff happening in them (sometimes even causally related stuff - rather than just casually retarded - not the College though, the most charitable interpretation here was that Psijjjics were incompetent and bureaucratic), College also had a whole bunch of side content.
DB in OB had decent quests and, surprisingly, didn't introduce derpy external enemy fackshun, but it was populated by edgy dysfunctional morons and forced you to run with idiot ball for half the questline.
TG was almost good (although you could brute force it, you'd just need to play the bloodprice), although it ran out of steam near the end where they clearly ran out of ideas and/or art assets (for no reason).
Oh, there was also the Arena.

As for the Stormcloaks and Imperials, at least there was an actual choice involved - that's more that could be said about the entirety of OB.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

 

[Luzur]

If you already want to play Skyrim I see no reason not to get the DG and DB.
Many mods need improved scripting support and DB is actually a far better expansion than BM ever was.

Because I don't feel like paying $10 for it. They don't discount the individual DLC past 50% off and I paid $10 for Skyrim years ago. Game is okay enough for me to install a mod. Game is not okay enough for me to buy a DLC that adds almost nothing just to play said mod.

Ya know that piratebay always has excellent offers on DLC's and games, right? 100% off all the time!

 

[Metro]

I'm with Interpol and you're under arrest.

 

[Luzur]

I'm with Interpol and you're under arrest.

You could atleast show up here at my doorstep and arrest me, posting a comment on Codex isnt really helping your arrest, since i am DL'ing a movie as i type this.

ROFLES

 

[Clockwork Knight]

So is the only place to get Requiem from nexus mods?

AFAIK.

Requiem is too big to fit on Steam Whoreshop Workshop.

Speaking of that, just found this...

Skyrim Workshop File Size Restrictions Removed — March 2, 2015

In a surprise update to their three-year-old title, Bethesda has announced an update to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the PC. The update will unshackle the Steam Workshop from its standing 100MB file size restriction, allowing for mods of any size to be uploaded and managed through Steam. Additionally, the game launcher will no longer need to be open to download mods from the workshop, with downloads now being handled by the Steam Client; the game launcher will still be responsible for patches.

Before the update is officially rolled out, a short, weeklong beta test is currently open to any willing participants. To join the beta for the game, all you need to do is open up Steam, go into the game tab, right click on Skyrim, select "Properties" from the bottom of the list, click on the "Beta" tab, then opt into the Skyrim beta. To join the beta for the Creation Kit, you must first go to the "Tools" section of the library, the drop down list for the different sections can be found next to the library's search option, go to the Creation Kit, and repeat the same steps as before.

Still not keen on it because the autoupdating sounds like a compatibility hell for anyone using a lot of mods.

 

[Metro]

Wait... Bethesda was the one restricting the file sizes on the workshop? That's moronic.

 

[turul]

a DLC that adds almost nothing just to play said mod.

From your post I'll just assume you have no idea what each DLC brings.

From technical point of view, each dlc consist a bunch of models, files and scripts. So there is a new land, new characters, swords and quests.

From gamer's point of view, they added more of the same (a few hour of a new campaign, radial quests, dungeons), but didn't bother to fix some of the more serious bugs (bugged shadows has been flagged since day 1 release) or somehow build on the game to make it better (skyui and unoffficial patch still the top mods after 3 years) and expand it gameplay-wise.
There are 100s of things they could have done to improve the game, but instead they decided, that it's good enough, let's pile on more stuff to get more $$$$. There are many games, that added content in a way, that the entire experience of the original game benefits. So it's not just, "hey here is more room to walk around and here are more enemies to kill with this new sword!"
If there is a pile of shit and I add more shit to it, it's not getting better, it's just becoming a bigger pile of shit.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Anyone try the Pirates of Skyrim mod? How is it? Currently playing the PotC: New Horizons mod and finding it a bit too hardcore (but brilliantly done) and might like to take a break with something light & simple. I'm looking for a reason to get back into Skyrim, having abandoned it only about a quarter of the way through playing the vanilla campaign. All those side-quests burned me out and the mistaken belief that I'd have to join one of the two asshole factions to complete the game.

 

[DraQ]

Regarding Dongguard:
it's probably best to consider mods you want that are dependent on a DLC as part of this DLC as far as value estimate goes.
Requiem alone has such a massive impact on the game that it's hard to not justify the DLC price. It also integrates the crossbows into normal content and gives them some unique mechanics (they pierce armor).

If anyone thinks that mod vs actual DLC value ratio is unfavorable, they can always 7-seas the DLC (without removing it from an inventory).

 

[Metro]

Regarding Dongguard:
it's probably best to consider mods you want that are dependent on a DLC as part of this DLC as far as value estimate goes.
Requiem alone has such a massive impact on the game that it's hard to not justify the DLC price. It also integrates the crossbows into normal content and gives them some unique mechanics (they pierce armor).

If anyone thinks that mod vs actual DLC value ratio is unfavorable, they can always 7-seas the DLC (without removing it from an inventory).

That would be a decent argument if the money went to the mod makers.

 

[DraQ]

Regarding Dongguard:
it's probably best to consider mods you want that are dependent on a DLC as part of this DLC as far as value estimate goes.
Requiem alone has such a massive impact on the game that it's hard to not justify the DLC price. It also integrates the crossbows into normal content and gives them some unique mechanics (they pierce armor).

If anyone thinks that mod vs actual DLC value ratio is unfavorable, they can always 7-seas the DLC (without removing it from an inventory).

That would be a decent argument if the money went to the mod makers.

Read the last line.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I presume Metro wants to play his legit copy from Steam and isn't comfortable with not removing the expansions from an inventory. But they are just files you drop on the game's folder, so it should be okay...they will probably be cheap on the Easter sale, though.

 

[opium fiend]

How would you rate Falskaar's writing and story compared to Skyrim's?

Sorry if this has been asked and answered

 

[DraQ]

I presume Metro wants to play his legit copy from Steam and isn't comfortable with not removing the expansions from an inventory. But they are just files you drop on the game's folder, so it should be okay...they will probably be cheap on the Easter sale, though.

Then he either shouldn't be a cheap-ass and accept the fact that expansions containing scripting improvements and significant resources are bound to become required for serious mods, play it vanilla or go play something else.

How would you rate Falskaar's writing and story compared to Skyrim's?

Sorry if this has been asked and answered

I don't know, the only time I did anything with Falskaar was when I looked at the map/aerial shots, saw uniform elevation areas (as in "flat like fucking board") with trees bordered by uniform mountain fences and decided to fuk dis shit (as in ).
The geography is too awful to be salvageable as far as FPP RPGs hiking sims go.

 

[btbgfel]

How would you rate Falskaar's writing and story compared to Skyrim's?

Sorry if this has been asked and answered

I played Skyrim's MQ last year, I rememberd how bland it is. I played Falskaar last year, I totally forgot what it is about. Hope that answers your question.