Radioman970
Senior HTF Member
The game that just keeps on giving. Thanks for the heads up!
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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter joshEH
- Start date
Don Giro
Supporting Actor
I see many of you have played through several times! As for me, I've been playing the same game since it first came out. Haven't finished the main quest (don't even remember what it is), started Dragonborn a few weeks ago, and just started exploring Falskaar.
I've been experimenting with several new mods for the game over the past few weeks, and have been having a BLAST changing my avatar's looks with mods and the RaceMenu add-on:
I don't have any "before" pics of my Level 39 Nordic Archer in her "vanilla" form that I know of, but for the last few days, I took her from mousey pony-tailed, and "just-okay-looking" to this (screenshot in Raven Rock in Dragonborn):
In the third picture of her as a blonde, the "sweat" on her shoulder is thanks to a mod called something like "Sexy Sweat," and it looks really great. That effect got negated in the last pic where she's a brunette due to a mod I tried out called "GlossTech" that gives the skin a kind of "porn star shine." I used the gloss at it's LOWEST setting and she came out THAT shiny. I'm gonna disable that effect and have her go back to looking sweaty. In fact, I think I changed her eyes to a softer hazel color after I took the brunette screen shot to make her look less "icy..."
Then I decided I wanted her to be brunette again, so after some more tinkering, when last I left her, she looked like THIS:
As I said, she's a Level 39 Nordic Archer. Since I obviously have no problem playing through the game at a leisurely pace, she crouched through most of the world, which gives her a stealth advantage you would not believe. Her Stealth, Archery, and Leather Armor perk trees are maxed out. She's nearly invisible when she crouches: I had two Draugr Deathlords a mere INCH from her face last night (think Ripley in Aliens), and they didn't detect her at ALL...
I'd love to see screens from your games...
I've been experimenting with several new mods for the game over the past few weeks, and have been having a BLAST changing my avatar's looks with mods and the RaceMenu add-on:
I don't have any "before" pics of my Level 39 Nordic Archer in her "vanilla" form that I know of, but for the last few days, I took her from mousey pony-tailed, and "just-okay-looking" to this (screenshot in Raven Rock in Dragonborn):
In the third picture of her as a blonde, the "sweat" on her shoulder is thanks to a mod called something like "Sexy Sweat," and it looks really great. That effect got negated in the last pic where she's a brunette due to a mod I tried out called "GlossTech" that gives the skin a kind of "porn star shine." I used the gloss at it's LOWEST setting and she came out THAT shiny. I'm gonna disable that effect and have her go back to looking sweaty. In fact, I think I changed her eyes to a softer hazel color after I took the brunette screen shot to make her look less "icy..."
Then I decided I wanted her to be brunette again, so after some more tinkering, when last I left her, she looked like THIS:
As I said, she's a Level 39 Nordic Archer. Since I obviously have no problem playing through the game at a leisurely pace, she crouched through most of the world, which gives her a stealth advantage you would not believe. Her Stealth, Archery, and Leather Armor perk trees are maxed out. She's nearly invisible when she crouches: I had two Draugr Deathlords a mere INCH from her face last night (think Ripley in Aliens), and they didn't detect her at ALL...
I'd love to see screens from your games...
Jeff Cooper
Senior HTF Member
That outfit doesn't seem suited to combat..... 
Don Giro
Supporting Actor
Come to think of it, she DOES tend to bleed quite a bit when she gets hit...I may have to go back to her elven armor. Then again, she's rarely in hand-to-hand combat and the outfit is the same armor class as elven or glass armor...Jeff Cooper said:That outfit doesn't seem suited to combat.....
Don Giro
Supporting Actor
Sorry for not letting this thread die, but I imagine a few of you might still be playing...
I just started the Thieves Guild quests, and I let myself join the Dark Brotherhood, though I'll probably never follow that questline through to the end because I'm too much of a "goody-goody" in RPGs.
I pretty much abandoned the fan-made Falskaar mod because after that HUGE dungeon that incorporated elements of every single stand-alone dungeon in the game, the enemies just got too overwhelming and unbalanced for my tastes.
But speaking of fan-made DLC, there's a bunch of folks out there who are very busy converting Morrowind for play as a mod for Skyrim. I abandoned Morrowind soon after I installed it more than a decade ago because I just hated the "dice-roll" combat, so when this mod is finally released, I'll be able to play an entire new GAME as a mod.
I usually take these ambitious add-ons as "yeah, they'll abandon the whole thing before it's finished," but they've made huge progress with the mod, so much so that you can download the entire work-in-progress and see the whole world for yourself, as well as report bugs, etc. There are no enemies in the game yet; all you can really do is walk around (I haven't downloaded it yet). You can play it as a mod for your existing Skyrim avatar, or as a standalone game with a new character. As for me, I'll play with my current gal because she's awesome, and I have no problem with the fact that the lower level enemies will make the early chapters far too easy. Because she's awesome. I know, I already said that...
You need to install the original Morrowind and expansions for the game to work. I threw mine out years ago, but you can get the whole shebang on Steam for $20, which will be a small price to pay for an undertaking of this size...
You can read all about it here
(They're doing the same thing with Morrowind using the Oblivion engine as well).
They're looking for help, too, so if you've got skillz or voice-acting talent...
There are plenty of YouTube videos showing the development as well. This is a good place to start.
I just started the Thieves Guild quests, and I let myself join the Dark Brotherhood, though I'll probably never follow that questline through to the end because I'm too much of a "goody-goody" in RPGs.
I pretty much abandoned the fan-made Falskaar mod because after that HUGE dungeon that incorporated elements of every single stand-alone dungeon in the game, the enemies just got too overwhelming and unbalanced for my tastes.
But speaking of fan-made DLC, there's a bunch of folks out there who are very busy converting Morrowind for play as a mod for Skyrim. I abandoned Morrowind soon after I installed it more than a decade ago because I just hated the "dice-roll" combat, so when this mod is finally released, I'll be able to play an entire new GAME as a mod.
I usually take these ambitious add-ons as "yeah, they'll abandon the whole thing before it's finished," but they've made huge progress with the mod, so much so that you can download the entire work-in-progress and see the whole world for yourself, as well as report bugs, etc. There are no enemies in the game yet; all you can really do is walk around (I haven't downloaded it yet). You can play it as a mod for your existing Skyrim avatar, or as a standalone game with a new character. As for me, I'll play with my current gal because she's awesome, and I have no problem with the fact that the lower level enemies will make the early chapters far too easy. Because she's awesome. I know, I already said that...
You need to install the original Morrowind and expansions for the game to work. I threw mine out years ago, but you can get the whole shebang on Steam for $20, which will be a small price to pay for an undertaking of this size...
You can read all about it here
(They're doing the same thing with Morrowind using the Oblivion engine as well).
They're looking for help, too, so if you've got skillz or voice-acting talent...
There are plenty of YouTube videos showing the development as well. This is a good place to start.
Radioman970
Senior HTF Member
Sounds like a winner.
My nephew has now beaten all the expansion packs and still plays. SO proud =)
Chuck Anstey
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Nov 10, 1998
- Messages
- 1,640
- Real Name
- Chuck Anstey
I know I'm about 2 years late to the Skyrim party but I got the Legendary Edition for Xmas on sale. Great game but I really really really miss the days before auto-scaling. I am so not a fan of it. It is nice to be able to run around after the main quest is complete, but to finish it off the whole purpose of your existence at only 25% of the level max and and only 15-20% of the available quests completed? For what purpose? All those side quests are supposed to build you up to being strong enough to take on the villain in one final massive showdown. Also I'm tired of being 2 shotted by an bandit archer at level 35 that I could kill at level 5.
Back in my day you could decide if you wanted to grind up and OP some of the later dungeons or not. Plus leaving the relative safety of the starting city until after leveling up a bit meant sure death. I took quite a while before you could walk around everywhere with impunity and you still had to earn your way into some dungeons. It felt like you were actually accomplishing something by leveling up. Now with auto-scale, level 10, level 50, whatever. It's always the same difficulty and it effectively nullifies the purpose of leveling. No dungeon is ever too tough and conversely you can never have a cakewalk. I just completed the main quest at level 46 (held off working on it for quite a while) after playing for 5-10 hours a day over vacation and my desire to continue has dropped like a stone. Without the main quest, what is the purpose of grinding out the fetch quests, especially with auto-scale? Also, when just getting to the final baddie boss is far harder than defeating him, there is something wrong.
With Hearthfire I did spend many hours trying out different house configurations seeing which one I like best. I wanted a house where I could do enchanting, alchemy, smelting, smithing, improving, and tanning all without having to go through a door to another area but that option wasn't available so I settled on bedroom, storage (for the nice deck), and a kitchen in my main house. I really wish they had 1) movers for hire to move all my crap from Whiterun to my Lakeside Manor and 2) the ability to build a town or full service manor with an inn, pub, smithy, and retailer. Instead I got offered the "bottom 40" in the middle of nowhere in each kingdom. Ah, well. My hope is that Fallout 5's main purpose will be to (re)build a town and civilize the area with the moral choice of slaver, neutral, or good.
I think I will spend some time looking at all those great mods for the game that have come out over the past 2 years. I held off in case I mucked up the game and would have to start over. The game is great and the detail is quite amazing. When looking at the books, I always wondered if there was some boss who told one or more employees "I need you to write 20 6-page books each day for the next week. Here are the topics."
One final thought on the game. As massive as the game is, it needs to have mutually exclusive choices like you can choose to join the Dark Brotherhood or the Brotherhood of Do-gooders but not both and their quests are not simply mirror images of each other. None of this Dark Brotherhood: "You need to kill the smithy" Do-gooders: "You need to prevent the assassination of the smithy." And the choices have lasting effects on the game. This way each play through could be a unique experience. I'm not quite sure why the compulsion to set up these type of games so that you can do every single possible quest in one play through. I just hope they can add the level of impact actions have in Fallout: NV to the next version.
Back in my day you could decide if you wanted to grind up and OP some of the later dungeons or not. Plus leaving the relative safety of the starting city until after leveling up a bit meant sure death. I took quite a while before you could walk around everywhere with impunity and you still had to earn your way into some dungeons. It felt like you were actually accomplishing something by leveling up. Now with auto-scale, level 10, level 50, whatever. It's always the same difficulty and it effectively nullifies the purpose of leveling. No dungeon is ever too tough and conversely you can never have a cakewalk. I just completed the main quest at level 46 (held off working on it for quite a while) after playing for 5-10 hours a day over vacation and my desire to continue has dropped like a stone. Without the main quest, what is the purpose of grinding out the fetch quests, especially with auto-scale? Also, when just getting to the final baddie boss is far harder than defeating him, there is something wrong.
With Hearthfire I did spend many hours trying out different house configurations seeing which one I like best. I wanted a house where I could do enchanting, alchemy, smelting, smithing, improving, and tanning all without having to go through a door to another area but that option wasn't available so I settled on bedroom, storage (for the nice deck), and a kitchen in my main house. I really wish they had 1) movers for hire to move all my crap from Whiterun to my Lakeside Manor and 2) the ability to build a town or full service manor with an inn, pub, smithy, and retailer. Instead I got offered the "bottom 40" in the middle of nowhere in each kingdom. Ah, well. My hope is that Fallout 5's main purpose will be to (re)build a town and civilize the area with the moral choice of slaver, neutral, or good.
I think I will spend some time looking at all those great mods for the game that have come out over the past 2 years. I held off in case I mucked up the game and would have to start over. The game is great and the detail is quite amazing. When looking at the books, I always wondered if there was some boss who told one or more employees "I need you to write 20 6-page books each day for the next week. Here are the topics."
One final thought on the game. As massive as the game is, it needs to have mutually exclusive choices like you can choose to join the Dark Brotherhood or the Brotherhood of Do-gooders but not both and their quests are not simply mirror images of each other. None of this Dark Brotherhood: "You need to kill the smithy" Do-gooders: "You need to prevent the assassination of the smithy." And the choices have lasting effects on the game. This way each play through could be a unique experience. I'm not quite sure why the compulsion to set up these type of games so that you can do every single possible quest in one play through. I just hope they can add the level of impact actions have in Fallout: NV to the next version.
Walter Kittel
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 1998
- Messages
- 9,801
While I see Chuck's point about the auto-scaling in this game, you can still make the game very difficult if that is your goal by adopting a more immersive play style Skyrim is a big sandbox and to reduce the feeling of grinding through the game, just follow your nose and see what happens without taking an explicit mission oriented approach. From a design standpoint it feels like some of the choices should be mutually exclusive, but the game doesn't force you to do anything. If you hate the Dark Brotherhood then kill Astrid. If you don't want to experience everything with one character then don't. Play as a mage or a thief or a barbarian (the obvious cliched choices I'll admit. ) Play a character that uses minimal magic skills (the Nords are suspicious of magic based on their in-game comments. ) Play a ranger type of character who uses light armor and bows as his/her specialities. As an aside, I hate the Eltrys mission involving the Forsworn so I never read his note. Sometimes I take a side in the Civil War and sometimes I minimize my presence around both sides. When I play as a Nord I usually take Ulfric's side since I hate those snotty Thalmor pricks.
I played the game for a long time on an Xbox and recently put together a gaming PC so that I could experience the game with the mods. They address some of Chuck's concerns. I was frustrated with the housing choices in the game and in Hearthfire as well. I've saved the world and all I get for it is random bandit and giant attacks on my homestead? I really disliked the attacks when returning from somewhere and losing my horse or livestock to an attack. The mods address this in two ways. Some of the player homes are noticeably safer from attacks than the Hearthfire homes. I'm particularly fond of Elysium Estate near Whiterun. In addition to being safer it also is more inline from a luxury standpoint with my station in the game; namely the individual who defeated Alduin. If you want a compound there is a mod for Lakeview Manor that turns it into a fully staffed compound. Acquire Lakeview Manor, build it to your specifications and then install/enable the Lakeview Manor mod (from Skyrim Nexus). There are a lot of nice player homes on Skyrim Nexus and Steam and you just have to find one that fits your needs (aesthetics, layout in the interior / exterior, and location - for instance). On the other hand some of these player homes break immersion since they have very little in the way of ownership requirements. (Just pretend that a rich relative died and left you the place. ) Personally, I like the farm house homes with livestock in the yard - Bridge Farm, Candle Pond and Aspen Manor to name several - as it breathes a little bit more life into the environment.
One of my other big frustrations with the vanilla game was the horses. They were just too aggressive and were in constant danger of death from bandits, creatures, or in some cases friendly fire. The Convenient Horse mod (on Skyrim Nexus) takes all of those concerns away. Big, big improvements in horse behavior with this mod. You can make horses cowardly and you improve their speed and durability including making them essential or invulnerable.
If you want to get more out of Skyrim I highly endorse a decent PC gaming rig and a modded experience. Nexus Mod Manager makes the experimentation process pretty painless. Just remember to save your game often (always a good idea with Skyrim) when experimenting.
- Walter.
) Play a character that uses minimal magic skills (the Nords are suspicious of magic based on their in-game comments. ) Play a ranger type of character who uses light armor and bows as his/her specialities. As an aside, I hate the Eltrys mission involving the Forsworn so I never read his note. Sometimes I take a side in the Civil War and sometimes I minimize my presence around both sides. When I play as a Nord I usually take Ulfric's side since I hate those snotty Thalmor pricks.I played the game for a long time on an Xbox and recently put together a gaming PC so that I could experience the game with the mods. They address some of Chuck's concerns. I was frustrated with the housing choices in the game and in Hearthfire as well. I've saved the world and all I get for it is random bandit and giant attacks on my homestead? I really disliked the attacks when returning from somewhere and losing my horse or livestock to an attack. The mods address this in two ways. Some of the player homes are noticeably safer from attacks than the Hearthfire homes. I'm particularly fond of Elysium Estate near Whiterun. In addition to being safer it also is more inline from a luxury standpoint with my station in the game; namely the individual who defeated Alduin. If you want a compound there is a mod for Lakeview Manor that turns it into a fully staffed compound. Acquire Lakeview Manor, build it to your specifications and then install/enable the Lakeview Manor mod (from Skyrim Nexus). There are a lot of nice player homes on Skyrim Nexus and Steam and you just have to find one that fits your needs (aesthetics, layout in the interior / exterior, and location - for instance). On the other hand some of these player homes break immersion since they have very little in the way of ownership requirements. (Just pretend that a rich relative died and left you the place.
) Personally, I like the farm house homes with livestock in the yard - Bridge Farm, Candle Pond and Aspen Manor to name several - as it breathes a little bit more life into the environment.One of my other big frustrations with the vanilla game was the horses. They were just too aggressive and were in constant danger of death from bandits, creatures, or in some cases friendly fire.
The Convenient Horse mod (on Skyrim Nexus) takes all of those concerns away. Big, big improvements in horse behavior with this mod. You can make horses cowardly and you improve their speed and durability including making them essential or invulnerable. If you want to get more out of Skyrim I highly endorse a decent PC gaming rig and a modded experience. Nexus Mod Manager makes the experimentation process pretty painless. Just remember to save your game often (always a good idea with Skyrim) when experimenting.
- Walter.
Chuck Anstey
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Nov 10, 1998
- Messages
- 1,640
- Real Name
- Chuck Anstey
I don't want to make the game more difficult overall, just relatively fixed level dungeons/quests and Alduin should be level 65-81 autoscaled when the player reaches the end quest to prevent requiring maxing out. At the end of the day all these games have are fetch and loot quests. Only Fallout: NV actually added some diplomacy quests that have a real lasting impact on the rest of the game to the mostly fetch quests. Sure getting what I am asking for means requiring grinding out many/most of these simple quests but at least I have a purpose; level and loot up to face the OP villain. Instead now I have grinding out these simple quests for no purpose as the main bad guy is dead and I'm just a mercenary/cop/FedEx driver and no matter my level every remaining quest is always equally easy/difficult and the loot is auto-leveled. No finding that incredible "Mace of Unwanton Destruction" and being 10 levels too low to use it. And what is it with people losing stuff all the way across the entire map? "You lost what where? It is dangerous out there and not to be blunt, but you wouldn't survive a mile away from the city, let alone all the way across the world in the high mountains." Doesn't anyone lose or need something locally?
I don't know. It seemed like Might and Magic 1 - 4 had really long main quests but it didn't feel like there were arbitrary hurdles because the main quest was somewhat of a mystery that you only got a hint of around level 20, like the name of the bad guy but nothing about what to do or where to go to defeat him. In Skyrim, FarCry 3 and some others, it is spelled out right from the start and I feel like the next step is just going to be some stupid hurdle just to make the quest longer. Okay, I got the magic knife to kill the bad guy. Oops, you first need to charge it at the Waters of Victory. Then it got stolen and you have to get it back. Oh and then you need to find the Staff of Finding to located the villain's lair. Oh and then you'll need the Key of Opening, which is broken and you need to find the Blacksmith of Legend, who needs the Ancient Dwarven Metal...
I guess it feels more organic and drives exploration if you don't have someone leading you by the nose to the exact goal of the quest from start to finish and instead you find bits of information and piece together what it would take to defeat the bad guy. As in you find out about the Elder Scroll and how to use it from snippets in books and people talking of legends and not "Go here and ask this guy for the scroll and then come back here and use it to view what happened 1000 years ago and now go trap a dragon." Exploration should be required, not completely optional. So today's games have world that is open but not a mystery. I want both open and a mystery. If everything has fallen into legend, I shouldn't be able to find 10 people that know all about it and could have saved me a lot of time if they just spelled it out from the start. Let me explore for information as well as loot and experience.
I just started getting into modding yesterday and wow, there is a lot to learn about it and there are some amazing mods. First thing I did was get SkyUI. Freaking console ports that assume everyone uses a controller rather than the superior mouse/keyboard.
I don't know. It seemed like Might and Magic 1 - 4 had really long main quests but it didn't feel like there were arbitrary hurdles because the main quest was somewhat of a mystery that you only got a hint of around level 20, like the name of the bad guy but nothing about what to do or where to go to defeat him. In Skyrim, FarCry 3 and some others, it is spelled out right from the start and I feel like the next step is just going to be some stupid hurdle just to make the quest longer. Okay, I got the magic knife to kill the bad guy. Oops, you first need to charge it at the Waters of Victory. Then it got stolen and you have to get it back. Oh and then you need to find the Staff of Finding to located the villain's lair. Oh and then you'll need the Key of Opening, which is broken and you need to find the Blacksmith of Legend, who needs the Ancient Dwarven Metal...
I guess it feels more organic and drives exploration if you don't have someone leading you by the nose to the exact goal of the quest from start to finish and instead you find bits of information and piece together what it would take to defeat the bad guy. As in you find out about the Elder Scroll and how to use it from snippets in books and people talking of legends and not "Go here and ask this guy for the scroll and then come back here and use it to view what happened 1000 years ago and now go trap a dragon." Exploration should be required, not completely optional. So today's games have world that is open but not a mystery. I want both open and a mystery. If everything has fallen into legend, I shouldn't be able to find 10 people that know all about it and could have saved me a lot of time if they just spelled it out from the start. Let me explore for information as well as loot and experience.
I just started getting into modding yesterday and wow, there is a lot to learn about it and there are some amazing mods. First thing I did was get SkyUI. Freaking console ports that assume everyone uses a controller rather than the superior mouse/keyboard.
Aaron Silverman
Senior HTF Member
Totally agree with Chuck about the autoscaling. It's just silly.
You guys saw this mess right?http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/09/skyrim-coming-to-ps4-and-xbox-one
Walter Kittel
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 1998
- Messages
- 9,801
Sam, I'm not sure if I would be interested in another console version after playing with the mods. They improve the game so much and add so much extensibility to the game that the 'static' versions feel inadequate. Perhaps if the rumored next generation version retained the setting and had all new content, maybe.
- Walter.
- Walter.
Don Giro
Supporting Actor
I mentioned somewhere in this thread that I have long forgotten what the main quest is in Skyrim, and I'm still immensely enjoying the game. I have played for a total of 264 hours (according to Steam), and there still so much I need to do. That's the beauty of the game to me. I'm not forced to do anything I don't want to do, the stuff I'm required to do has no time constraints, and there's little to no grinding.
I agree about the auto-scaling. A spider I killed when I was Level 1 should flee from me in terror at Level 40. I'm also not a fan of "dungeon respawning," because when I clear out a cave, everything in there should stay dead. There's PLENTY to kill in Skyrim for grinding purposes, if that's your bag.
I also agree that there should be tougher choices between being a do-gooder and a villain. I tend to be a goody-goody in games, so many of the Dark Brotherhood quests are "off limits" to me (although I DID join). I'm so "good" that I resided myself to the idea that I'd never finish the main quest, because there was NO WAY that I would ever kill Parthunaax. Thanks to the modding community, I'll never have to. I'm finding that the Thief quests are fun. I STILL haven't chosen a side in the silly civil war. I have a bunch of quest mods I haven't installed yet (I'm waiting to buy a new PC soon).
It's all about exploration for me. A lot of the game takes place in my head, in a game world where I have yet to convince myself that I can make up "cover stories" for my archer goddess that could one day have her complete the Dark B. quests without feeling like she's a "baddie." . Once minute I imagine her being all stoic and awesome as she enters a cave or ruin, picking off baddies with her bow almost invisibly while the main villain inside suddenly realizes that if she enters the room, it's all over. The next minute, her voice in my head is like a bratty Brooklyn Noo Yawk girl as she says "'Scuse me for a minute, I gotta go shoot the f**k out of those pr**k skeletons over there..."
Speaking of her voice (pun not intended), one thing I think Bethesda should have included with the game was actual speaking parts for our avatars. While not necessary of course, it'd be nice to carry on a conversation with an NPC where I'm not mute. I think reading the dozens of books scattered throughout the world would be even more fun if they were "read to me..."
I agree about the auto-scaling. A spider I killed when I was Level 1 should flee from me in terror at Level 40. I'm also not a fan of "dungeon respawning," because when I clear out a cave, everything in there should stay dead. There's PLENTY to kill in Skyrim for grinding purposes, if that's your bag.
I also agree that there should be tougher choices between being a do-gooder and a villain. I tend to be a goody-goody in games, so many of the Dark Brotherhood quests are "off limits" to me (although I DID join). I'm so "good" that I resided myself to the idea that I'd never finish the main quest, because there was NO WAY that I would ever kill Parthunaax. Thanks to the modding community, I'll never have to. I'm finding that the Thief quests are fun. I STILL haven't chosen a side in the silly civil war. I have a bunch of quest mods I haven't installed yet (I'm waiting to buy a new PC soon).
It's all about exploration for me. A lot of the game takes place in my head, in a game world where I have yet to convince myself that I can make up "cover stories" for my archer goddess that could one day have her complete the Dark B. quests without feeling like she's a "baddie." . Once minute I imagine her being all stoic and awesome as she enters a cave or ruin, picking off baddies with her bow almost invisibly while the main villain inside suddenly realizes that if she enters the room, it's all over. The next minute, her voice in my head is like a bratty Brooklyn Noo Yawk girl as she says "'Scuse me for a minute, I gotta go shoot the f**k out of those pr**k skeletons over there..."
Speaking of her voice (pun not intended), one thing I think Bethesda should have included with the game was actual speaking parts for our avatars. While not necessary of course, it'd be nice to carry on a conversation with an NPC where I'm not mute. I think reading the dozens of books scattered throughout the world would be even more fun if they were "read to me..."
Chuck Anstey
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Nov 10, 1998
- Messages
- 1,640
- Real Name
- Chuck Anstey
I've started over and I have fully realized that Skyrim is not open but a fully closed world. All your choices are false choices. You have the option of choosing fetch quest A or A or A or A or A or A etc. and then after completing it you can choose A or A or A or A or A etc. It is only an open world where I can choose my destiny if my choices actually have an impact on the game that change my available future choices. With no impact on possible future choices no matter what I choose now, there is no real choice. Fallout 3 suffers from this because you cannot side with the Enclave. No matter what you do, all is forgiven when it is required in the main quest. Fallout: NV also has a reset but it is a one time offer and it makes logical sense since at that point you have something everyone wants and they are quite willing to overlook previous transgressions if it means their side wins and you can only pick one side going forward.
To me the definition of "open world" is a decision tree rather than a cyclical graph. Choose A or B or C and then choose D or E or F and not simply choose the order in which you do A, B, C, D, E, and F. And then auto-scaling negates the difference of the order A-F. The game overrides trying to make A and B easier by choosing C first to obtain an artifact by making A and B harder since you did C first.
To me the definition of "open world" is a decision tree rather than a cyclical graph. Choose A or B or C and then choose D or E or F and not simply choose the order in which you do A, B, C, D, E, and F. And then auto-scaling negates the difference of the order A-F. The game overrides trying to make A and B easier by choosing C first to obtain an artifact by making A and B harder since you did C first.
Jeff Cooper
Senior HTF Member
Sounds like 'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt' may be the game you're looking for. From the game description:Chuck Anstey said:
[*]The story is drawn based on players decisions. Each action will have consequences which change the story and the game world. NPCs, communities, monsters and locations all change, based on player choice.
[*]The player can resolve quests and main story threads in any order or complete them in a parallel fashion. The combination of an intriguing story with a free roaming gameplay style allows the players to craft the story to suit individual preferences.
[*]Advanced character interactions - believable characters can be approached by the player in different ways. Each character has his or her own motivations and ambitions. The player can decide what actions to undertake, from romances to rivalries, or from friendships to feuds, the mature story brings consequences to NPC interaction.
[/list]
Aaron Silverman
Senior HTF Member
FWIW, there's a Witcher board game coming soon.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/147116/the-witcher-adventure-game
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/147116/the-witcher-adventure-game
Don Giro
Supporting Actor
I tried "The Witcher 2" a while back. I just couldn't get a hang of the combat...
Walter Kittel
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 1998
- Messages
- 9,801
I really wish that I had gotten into the modded version of Skyrim sooner. I am really impressed with the depth and diversity of mods that address various areas of the game.
Case in point - While I enjoy the Dawnguard DLC, I hated the groaning zombies when Serana would perform necromancy on vanquished opponents. Search on Nexus led me to Quiet Zombies which silences them. A small thing, but it makes running around Tamriel with Serana a much better experience.
- Walter.
Case in point - While I enjoy the Dawnguard DLC, I hated the groaning zombies when Serana would perform necromancy on vanquished opponents. Search on Nexus led me to Quiet Zombies which silences them. A small thing, but it makes running around Tamriel with Serana a much better experience.
- Walter.
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