Skyrim is worse than Oblivion in every way

[Eyeball]

I did the same thing as you did, Draq. Went into the Barrows and ran like a bitch once I encountered Draugr. You might want to consult the Requiem readme. It gives you some tips on how to deal with different types of enemies. To deal with Draugr easily, for instance, you want to take a page out of Geralt's book and bring a backup silver sword, as they take very little damage from non-silver weapons and even less from blunt weapons or arrows. Vampires outright refuse to take damage from non-silver weapons, and I imagine that goes for werewolves too. For this reason, I HIGHLY recommend you do the first Companion quest before settlin out to do any serious adventuring. Farkas will accompany you to tank while you build your weapon skills flanking Draugr and the werewolf hunter guys drop the essential silver weapons you need.

I also urge you to fuck around with the optional files for a bit. I reenabled fast travel (because FUCK having to walk the same route ten times to sell your last load of diamond-encrusted dildos looted from some dungeon), turned off gold and arrows having weight and added +100 to my weight allowance since I love to lootwhore. I'm also considering toning down enemy spell damage. With 270 health, full heavy armour AND a 40% fire resistance shield, I still get motherfucking oneshotted by mages throwing fireballs, which move at the speed of light, by the way. The only way I have managed to deal with casters so far has been to dodge their spells around corners and shoot their unarmoured asses with a bow. 95% of my attempts to melee them have ended in comical failure. Might want to try replaying as a destruction caster later, just to see if magic is as retardedly powerful in player hands as for the NPCs.

Hit level 15, doing pretty well now. As a sword&board/heavy armour imperial, splatting groups of up to 4 regular bandits is no longer any trouble at all, and Draugr go down just as quickly with my backup silver sword. Also found several cool unique weapons with full an dsomewhat comical descriptions - my anti-heavy armour backup weapon is a mace called Bouncer which has huge knockdown effects, making armoured orcs easy pickings one on one, and I also found a unique hammer that does additional damage if you're drunk. Haven't bothered to trigger the dragon invasions yet as dragons are extremely derp in Skyrim, but I shudder to think of the buttrape I'm in for once I do.

Very nice mod, kingdom of oneshots.

 

[Gord]

By the way, there's this Alternate Start mod, which provides various possibilities to start a new game without having to do Helgen first.
Quite convenient if testing different overhauls, you can jump into the game much faster.
Some start options can pose some challenge if using a mod that de-levels encounter zones (like SkyRe or Requiem).

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

lol

What's the point? This game is not suited for avoiding being one shotted and Dark Souls combat maneuvers. SkyRe can be challenging at times, but this mod can only lead to abusing NPC pathfinding and savescumming in order to survive.

KidBoogie said: ↑

damn I wanted to play dragonborn for all the morrowind nostalgia but no tribunal and the strongest house is fucking redoran?​

Well, I'd assume Redoran is either regionally most powerful, or simply received the least rape from Argonians - Ashlands are most different from Black Marsh in terms of climate and terrain, and Redorans were the least engaged in slavery of all houses.

As for the Tribunal, two members are dead, one is gone, possibly dead, the whole Nerevarine shtick probably shaken the foundations of the temple a bit, and I'd imagine the city of Vivec getting bonked by Lie Rock, nuking the good part of the province, followed by Argonians steamrolling over everything left standing created quite a bit butthurt among the survivors.

Remainders of the temple reverting to daedra Worship that was never wholly abandoned in the golden days of the Tribunal (Anticipations) seems like a logical outcome.

Redoran (Morvayns) were actively engaged in helping victims of Red Year which gained them much clout and love of people. The power was around them.

Morrowind is apparently no longer an Imperial Province; Dunmer dislike the Empire ever since all of the Legions were withdrawn during the Oblivion Crisis, leaving Dunmer helpless.

For that, Hlaalu was shunned, kicked out of the Council and degraded to just "House". Telvanni don't give a fuck as usual + Argonian Invasion, Indoril is the clergy in New Temple, Dres... lol, Argonians. That leaves Great House Redoran.

The Red Year itself is described as the thing that strengthened the relationships between all Dunmer due to cooperation and compassion. Balmora and Vivec were rebuilt, but Vivec is similar to Riften in how it's a shadow of its former self, obviously.

Anticipations are now Reclamations (they reclaimed the true faith of Dunmer). Tribunal's falsehood is widely known; however, they are Saints, which satisfied the Indoril enough not to cause a schism.

EDIT: Oh yeah, the OB Crisis, Red Year and Argonians are believed to be a punishment for Tribunal Heresy.

 

[waywardOne]

took a dose of FUKITOL(TM), and decided to come back

Sorry to focus in on this tangent, but did you come up with "fukitol" or is it a known thing? I ask because I haven't seen that word since 1986 when I thought I was being clever and made a drug parody ad for art class.

 

[roll-a-die]

http://www.fukitol.com/

Google is your friend.

 

[DraQ]

I did the same thing as you did, Draq. Went into the Barrows and ran like a bitch once I encountered Draugr. You might want to consult the Requiem readme. It gives you some tips on how to deal with different types of enemies. To deal with Draugr easily, for instance, you want to take a page out of Geralt's book and bring a backup silver sword

Indeed, but that assumes I had access to silver sword or options in general at that point in game.

I have levelled up, recruited Uthgerd, reclaimed Amren's sword, cleared Halted Stream Camp for bounty (Uthgerd died on the way in mysterious circumstances, body not found - note, set companions to essential with UFO, even with crawling around mode they are incompatible with Requiem, as attacks simpy do too much damage offing them outright and it's Daikatana all over again), levelled up again and managed to get some spells and perks. Went back to Bleak Falls Barrow and used summoned familiar as distraction while running from cover to cover - it wasn't exactly easy, but perfectly doable.

I also urge you to fuck around with the optional files for a bit. I reenabled fast travel (because FUCK having to walk the same route ten times to sell your last load of diamond-encrusted dildos looted from some dungeon)

Will have to do it as well, Skyrim's transport services are a bit lacking and you don't get scrolls of x intervention any more.

If there was transport at least to, if not from minor settlements it would be fine.

turned off gold and arrows having weight and added +100 to my weight allowance since I love to lootwhore. I'm also considering toning down enemy spell damage. With 270 health, full heavy armour AND a 40% fire resistance shield, I still get motherfucking oneshotted by mages throwing fireballs, which move at the speed of light, by the way.

Armour doesn't protect from magic AFAIK. And yeah, fireballs are RPG-7 now. This reminded me - I was recently surprise-fireballed by an altmer on a road. Ran away while burning intensely and hid behind a rock. Thankfully familiar did great job drawing his, heh, fire away from me and nomming his groin, so I closed in and administered some head-bashies to filthy piss-skinned elf.

Also found several cool unique weapons with full an dsomewhat comical descriptions - my anti-heavy armour backup weapon is a mace called Bouncer which has huge knockdown effects, making armoured orcs easy pickings one on one

I enchanted something like this in Morrowind once, will need to replay soon.

Haven't bothered to trigger the dragon invasions yet as dragons are extremely derp in Skyrim, but I shudder to think of the buttrape I'm in for once I do.

And just by the way I installed Mighty Dragons. Named dragons with unique tactics and abilities (both shouts and spells) replacing the generic one, also option to reduce their spawn rate up to 3 times.

Pretty cool, but don't stand on high outcrops or such, because some do unrelenting force precision bombing. Lethality ensues.

Also rape.

lol

What's the point? This game is not suited for avoiding being one shotted and Dark Souls combat maneuvers. SkyRe can be challenging at times, but this mod can only lead to abusing NPC pathfinding and savescumming in order to survive.

Well, savescumming is pretty necessary if you aren't about perfect, but the game provides enough control to make it work, it forces you to act tactically and it effectively removes HP bloat.

It just plays more like fantasy semi-realistic tactical shooter, and melee is hard as it relies on very precise timing and knowing what you're doing. Using wrong attack or being a 0.5s off = dead.

KidBoogie said: ↑

damn I wanted to play dragonborn for all the morrowind nostalgia but no tribunal and the strongest house is fucking redoran?​

Well, I'd assume Redoran is either regionally most powerful, or simply received the least rape from Argonians - Ashlands are most different from Black Marsh in terms of climate and terrain, and Redorans were the least engaged in slavery of all houses.

As for the Tribunal, two members are dead, one is gone, possibly dead, the whole Nerevarine shtick probably shaken the foundations of the temple a bit, and I'd imagine the city of Vivec getting bonked by Lie Rock, nuking the good part of the province, followed by Argonians steamrolling over everything left standing created quite a bit butthurt among the survivors.

Remainders of the temple reverting to daedra Worship that was never wholly abandoned in the golden days of the Tribunal (Anticipations) seems like a logical outcome.

Redoran (Morvayns) were actively engaged in helping victims of Red Year which gained them much clout and love of people. The power was around them.

Morrowind is apparently no longer an Imperial Province; Dunmer dislike the Empire ever since all of the Legions were withdrawn during the Oblivion Crisis, leaving Dunmer helpless.

It's not like Dunmer were ever particularly fond of the Empire, and it's not like it would matter much after Argonians trashed the place.

Also, .

Indoril is the clergy in New Temple

Plus they were already a shadow of their former selves during the Oblivious Crisis, so they are lucky to have survived at all.

Dres... lol, Argonians.

I imagine they got pretty much completely exterminated and ended as heads-on-sticks or something. Not only were they target of the most intense Argonian hatred, but they also took the entire initial brunt of the invasion.

So, yeah, .

The Red Year itself is described as the thing that strengthened the relationships between all Dunmer due to cooperation and compassion. Balmora and Vivec were rebuilt, but Vivec is similar to Riften in how it's a shadow of its former self, obviously.

Sounds reasonable, as for the Vivec, it probably had to be rebuilt from seabed up, given that it was the ground zero.

Anticipations are now Reclamations (they reclaimed the true faith of Dunmer). Tribunal's falsehood is widely known; however, they are Saints, which satisfied the Indoril enough not to cause a schism.

EDIT: Oh yeah, the OB Crisis, Red Year and Argonians are believed to be a punishment for Tribunal Heresy.

There is some truth to that, after all, was it not for the Tribunal, Baar Dau wouldn't be heading for the Vvardenfell (as Vivec City would probably not have existed or be completely different and named differently), it wouldn't have been put in stasis while retaining its momentum and Red Year wouldn't have occurred.

Without Red Year, there wouldn't be any invasion, or it wouldn't penetrate as deeply because the Dunmer Chimer wouldn't be crippled by the cataclysm.

As for the Oblivious Crisis, there was this piece about Towers written by MK post-oblivious or whatever, which indicates that unraveling Heart of Lorkhan's binding enchantements was one of the crucial factors allowing it to happen.

Sorry to focus in on this tangent, but did you come up with "fukitol" or is it a known thing?

Well, I *assumed* it was at least somewhat known.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

I also urge you to fuck around with the optional files for a bit. I reenabled fast travel (because FUCK having to walk the same route ten times to sell your last load of diamond-encrusted dildos looted from some dungeon)

Will have to do it as well, Skyrim's transport services are a bit lacking and you don't get scrolls of x intervention any more.

If there was transport at least to, if not from minor settlements it would be fine.

More Carriages (adds carriage to/from villages such as Dragon Bridge, Karthwasten etc.)

Handsx5 Divine Intervention transports to one out of 5 Aedric temples, the nearest one.

Also some Mark/Recall mod, and Almalexia's Grace/Impetus from Apocalypse Spells.

I will take a look in January to mod some small Silt Strider/Netch mount.

 

[Gord]

Will have to do it as well, Skyrim's transport services are a bit lacking and you don't get scrolls of x intervention any more.

If there was transport at least to, if not from minor settlements it would be fine.

I'm using this mod, it extends carriage service to and from minor holds and villages and provides ship transport between Solitude, Windhelm and Winterhold.
There's a minor issue with boat travel seemingly not taking any time, but otherwise it works nice.

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

As for the Oblivious Crisis, there was this piece about Towers written by MK post-oblivious or whatever, which indicates that unraveling Heart of Lorkhan's binding enchantements was one of the crucial factors allowing it to happen.

I remember lore debates between a number of folks on Bethesda's boards wondering if Azura knew all of this and saw it as a beneficial side-effect of the Nerevarine's actions. 'Loosen the barriers between Oblivion and Nirn? Spiffy!'

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you about one aspect, the "mandatory-DLC's-better-than-vanilla-LEWT"





















Cooldowns.





In their worst possible form.

Caster ignores 80% of all physical damage for 30 seconds. Single use, then must be reacquired at the Earth Stone.

Summon Karstaag to fight for you for 120 seconds.

You may only use this ability 3 times, and only while outdoors.

Spells cost no magicka for 30 seconds.

Mora's Boon: Fully restores your Health, Magicka, and Stamina.

 

[DraQ]

Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you about one aspect, the "mandatory-DLC's-better-than-vanilla-LEWT"





















Cooldowns.





In their worst possible form.

Caster ignores 80% of all physical damage for 30 seconds. Single use, then must be reacquired at the Earth Stone.

Summon Karstaag to fight for you for 120 seconds.

You may only use this ability 3 times, and only while outdoors.

Spells cost no magicka for 30 seconds.

Mora's Boon: Fully restores your Health, Magicka, and Stamina.

And where's the cooldown part?

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

1 day ofc.

 

[Carrion]

So birthsigns are cooldowns now too, along with pretty much all of Conjuration magic?

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

You get 5 Black Books of Hermaeus Mora, and you can choose 1 out of 3/5 out of 15 total effects from them, like aforementioned "spells cost no magicka" or "you take half damage" or "instant full heal" you can use once per day. Aside from that, there are All-Maker Stones, each giving you a ridiculous effect like "resist 80% of all damage" or huge overpowered explosion with the need to go back to the Stone to recharge it, in an attempt to balance things.

There's also the Dragon Aspect shout, which increases the strength of your blows, your defence and Shouts. You can use it one time per one day.

So you can just pop every single cooldown to steamroll through everything and wait a day when there's nothing left to fight. If that's not a horrible cooldown abuse, I don't know what is.

You can also make everyone your bitch with a Bend Will shout. I wonder what the next DLCs will introduce.

 

[Stabwound]

The ES games are basically all god simulators anyway unless you intentionally hold back. I don't see what the big deal is.

 

[abnaxus]

You can enchant so that spells no longer cast magicka.

There's Dragon Skin spell that gives maximum damage protection for 30 seconds.

You can summon two Dremora Lords that rape everything.

Those Black Book powers are pretty lame, really.

And most high level character will go into Solstheim carrying weapons and armour with "over 9000" stats, rendering any new crap you find completely obsolete.

There's no reason to play the DLC aside for those curious how Bethesda re-created Bloodmoon's Solstheim and for Morrowind nostalgiacs.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

I gimp myself by using sub-par weapons and armour in Skyrim. The game is much more fun that way. Besides, the high level armour looks like shit.

 

[ohWOW]

I gimp myself by not playing this shit game.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

The problem with those cooldowns is they will break the SkyRe as well, which handles the balance pretty well.

Making perfect sense in DLC mostly abusing Morrowind nostalgia, the most "Morrowind-esque" armor, Bonemold; has to be of course the shittiest armor in Solstheim, coming in Heavy Armor version only that's only a bit better than Steel, with its Improved version that's craftable only when you'll do a side quest for the Thieves Guild, which of course thrives on Heavy Armor.

I'll expect a good time with SkyRe though.

 

[abnaxus]

Bonemold was shit in Morrowind too.

 

[Wyrmlord]

You can enchant so that spells no longer cast magicka.

Yes, if you have 100 in Enchantment.

And enchantment is the most difficult skill to grind, even with endless Fortify Sneak rings. The effort of getting zero spellcasting cost is so much that it is simply better to play the game normally.

It's those really dedicated people already having spent 200 hours on Skyrim who would have accumulated enough Black Soul Gems to grind their Enchantment that high. But by then, why bother, since you are already quite strong?

 

[DraQ]

1 day ofc.

Cooldowns that are too long (like 1 day) or too short to practically cycle through abilities until they run out are much less of a nuissance and mis-design than moderate length ones that pretty much force such cycling, because they don't run into main problem of cooldowns (aforementioned cycling) and are necessarily less arbitrary (there are ways to justify 1 day cooldowns on abilities that need it, and cooldowns shorter than several seconds generally don't need explicit justification).

Or is Vancian memorization a cooldown too?

The problem with those cooldowns is they will break the SkyRe as well, which handles the balance pretty well.

As if SkyRe didn't use cooldowns itself (on combat TK spells).


The most annoying cooldowns too - around 30s or so of pointless running before you can use your Force Push/Pull again.
Fucking yay.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

Yeah, the problem is they're the temporary "I win" buttons because you are invincible after setting them off. Having any sort of cooldown doesn't matter when the shit already happened and you've steamrolled through everything. It could've been a month, or 30 seconds, of a setback, it doesn't matter when you even the strongest enemies can't touch you for their duration.

 

[Gord]

Yeah, the problem is they're the temporary "I win" buttons because you are invincible after setting them off. Having any sort of cooldown doesn't matter when the shit already happened and you've steamrolled through everything. It could've been a month, or 30 seconds, of a setback, it doesn't matter when you even the strongest enemies can't touch you for their duration.

Well, let's see:

Caster ignores 80% of all physical damage for 30 seconds. Single use, then must be reacquired at the Earth Stone.

30s is not very long. Might be enough in a fight against a strong opponent or to soften up a fight against multiple targets, though. Also it won't work against casters, which are often more dangerous than enemies dealing physical damage.
Balancing it by needing to re-acquire it is probably not a bad idea.

Summon Karstaag to fight for you for 120 seconds.
You may only use this ability 3 times, and only while outdoors.

Don't know how dangerous this guy will be. Most special ability summons in Skyrim are no "win buttons", though.

Spells cost no magicka for 30 seconds.

Again, 30s is not that long, and given the fast mana regen at higher levels and abundance of potions, it's no big deal probably.

Mora's Boon: Fully restores your Health, Magicka, and Stamina.

Now this can be a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card if you manage to get into a tough situation, but only if you won't be in the exact same situation 10s later - you still have to get rid of the enemies somehow, which might or might not work.

Overall, I don't think that any of these powers are particularly unbalancing. Becoming a god of war is not difficult in TES games anyway and these abilities don't seem much worse than the other stuff that's in the game already.
As for overhauls like SkyRe - we will see what they do with it, there's nothing preventing them from changing it.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

I gimp myself by not playing this shit game.

I gimp myself by not trying to earn Codex Cool Points through false edginess.