The Elder Scrolls Megathread XV: A Song of Ice and Draugr - Games

So 50 mins left on the sale, is hearthfire worth the £1.47, I hear it can fuck up a bunch of mods and it doesn't seem to add anything groundbreaking.

[QUOTE=Atlascore;41418009]Hearthfire blows, just get one of those housing mods.[/QUOTE] Thanks, I was only considering it because of two interesting looking mods that use content from it but I can easily live without so if the actual DLC is crap I'll ignore it and buy a delicious sandwich with my £2 instead. In hindsight it's probably best not to further destabilize my skyrim.

[QUOTE=RearAdmiral;41417079]Because there's more to making a video game than scripting and using a toolkit. You have to factor in things like Modelling, Animating, Sound work, Writing, Mapping, QA and bug testing, and all the other stuff that goes into making a video game these days.[/QUOTE] Procedure for making a quest: 1. plan it 2. write it 3. develop the level (if necessary - at least 3 quests don't involve going into a dungeon) 4. Make NPCs, implement dialogue mechanics (including quest staging) [sp]if you've ever used the toolkit this part is a FUCKING MESS[/sp] 5. Wait for the VA team to record and implement voiceacting near the end of production (I'm not familiar with the procedure here but Oblivion had roughly the same number of acted lines) 6. QA 95% of Skyrim's quests do not involve new animations, models, or audio mechanics. The procedure for implementing content in Oblivion was pretty much exactly the same (minus the Radiant nonsense) except said content was of a much higher caliber because they had better writers, a better plan, more time, and more realistic goals. Medevilae's point was that making Skyrim content is harder than making Oblivion content - that's really not true.

So what would you guys say makes the perfect quest?

[QUOTE=Sector 7;41418119]Procedure for making a quest: 1. plan it 2. write it 3. develop the level (if necessary - at least 3 quests don't involve going into a dungeon) 4. Make NPCs, implement dialogue mechanics (including quest staging) [sp]if you've ever used the toolkit this part is a FUCKING MESS[/sp] 5. Wait for the VA team to record and implement voiceacting near the end of production (I'm not familiar with the procedure here but Oblivion had roughly the same number of acted lines) 6. QA 95% of Skyrim's quests do not involve new animations, models, or audio mechanics. The procedure for implementing content in Oblivion was pretty much exactly the same (minus the Radiant nonsense) except said content was of a much higher caliber because they had better writers, a better plan, more time, and more realistic goals. Medevilae's point was that making Skyrim content is harder than making Oblivion content - that's really not true.[/QUOTE] Most of Skyrim's quests were "go to X and kill/grab Y".

[QUOTE=Irespawnoften;41418234]So what would you guys say makes the perfect quest?[/QUOTE] Well, you've got memorable quests, like the one in Oblivion where you get sucked into the painting to fight art trolls. You've got fun gameplay mechanic quests, like the one in Skyrim where you fight through the cavern full of pirates after getting betrayed. You've got well-written quests, like Oblivion's 'Whodunit?' where you convince a group of partygoers that one of them is a murderer, or a lot of Esbern/Greybeard content in Skyrim... Ultimately, questlines should involve a variety of action, adventure, and storytelling quests with a central theme, meaningful characters, and a strong resolution. Identifying a bad quest is much easier: Anything that involves retrieving an object from a brown underground ruin. [QUOTE=JustGman;41418284]Most of Skyrim's quests were "go to X and kill/grab Y".[/QUOTE] And a lot of those were radiant quests too, so basically the level designer adds in a "quest box" and a "quest enemy spawnpoint" and the game just selects a random dungeon whenever the player needs to kill a thing/get a thing. Really fucking impersonal.

Replaying Morrowind. Orc or Dunmer? Hlallu or Redoran? Class?

Orc / Bard / Telvanni No but really if it's not your first playthrough then Dunmer / Agent or Thief / Hlaalu sounds good.

Also, Morrowind Overhaul is a given, right? Any other mods I should grab? Is there one that makes running not eat up stamina? For the years that I've had it I've been playing vanilla so this is new to me :v:

MGO isn't a given--it changes just a bit too much for me-- but it's the fastest way to get Morrowind looking good. And [URL="http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/"]TR_Mainland[/URL], duh.

Morrowind overhaul is quick dirty and easy and yields a perfectly fine result. Considering Morrowing modding is normally slow, filthy and hard and will occasionally yield a completely fucked result, I heartily recommend MO. I love tinkering with ES games but even I have my limits.

[QUOTE=Kommodore;41418564]MGO isn't a given--it changes just a bit too much for me-- but it's the fastest way to get Morrowind looking good.[/QUOTE] What changes don't you like out of curiosity?

Someone here once pointed out that with slightly lower poly and lower res stuff, you can't quite make out what it[I] is[/I], which is the only reason some of the things in Morrowind retain their oddity. Namely, clothing and armor. Some of the actual world textures in MGO were a bit abrasive. It's subjective. Also vurt tends to go overboard with some of his vegetation overhauls and I removed particular things I didn't like.

just reinstalled morrowind and some mods. are there any great quest mods that i should get? i have horror mod, clockwork city expanded, and the tamriel rebuilt maps so far. [editline]12th July 2013[/editline] also dungeons or anything else filled with preferably very high level end game content for after beating all the normal shit in morrowind. [editline]12th July 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Skyward;41418421]Replaying Morrowind. Orc or Dunmer? Hlallu or Redoran? Class?[/QUOTE] make an orc mage in house redoran

[QUOTE=Atlascore;41418009]Hearthfire blows, just get one of those housing mods.[/QUOTE] As someone who's attempted to mod Hearthifres... Just don't. Stay away from that piece of shit.

[QUOTE=Irespawnoften;41418234]So what would you guys say makes the perfect quest?[/QUOTE] As I'm playing through Morrowind I can see why many people think Skyrim was dumbed down. The most interesting thing about Morrowind was that each quest was unique in it's own way. And there were a lot of quests. The characters were fairly interesting and I think that's one of the benefits of text speech in games; the fact that your mind can make a voice for them. Other simple mechanics made the game too, like the fact that you could barter with people, how people had the disposition system, and you could make your own spells. In Skyrim, many quests felt the same (kill somebody or find an item). Sure there were quests like that in Morrowind too but not enough to be part of the large portion. What I didn't like in Skyrim was the lack of how you can influence people; like prices were static unless you have the right perks and people didn't treat you much differently after helping them. That doesn't mean Skyrim is down played. It's still a great game with excellent replay-ability but looking from Morrowind and Oblivion, it just seems like they traded game mechanics with video and audio quality.

[QUOTE=cdr248;41416447]I can see why it isn't being "dumbed down" but there is a severe lack of features and complexity in Skyrim that were in the previous games.[/QUOTE] That video is massive, too massive for me to want to watch I still have to get around to making the video I wanted to do. My problem with elderscrolls isn't that its being "dumbed down" (which is a stupid phrase that I hate), but that the focus is being shifted in the wrong direction, most likely without the developers realizing what they are doing - away from the world (and legitimizing the world as a deep, interesting place as the most important aspect of the game) and more into doing "action game stuff" like constant questing and item rewards and stuff that simply isn't fulfilling to play in a long term. [editline]12th July 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Skyward;41418689]What changes don't you like out of curiosity?[/QUOTE] Last I checked the stuff that adds trees is totally silly and completely changes the ecosystem/enviornments of some places. Compare: [img]http://www.soulmeld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Balmora-Morrowind-Overhaul-1.jpg[/img] [img]http://images.wikia.com/elderscrolls/ru/images/c/c7/%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0.jpg[/img]

IMO I think it looks better because it's more vibrant like that. And yeah I guess when people say "dumbing down" they mean that the direction Skyrim took is to appeal to wider audience and therefore work down to the lowest common denominator.

[QUOTE=Sgt-NiallR;41416216][video=youtube;LEI4yS7sFEw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEI4yS7sFEw[/video] [video=youtube;KHa8c2EPFNY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHa8c2EPFNY[/video] Hmm.[/QUOTE] His first point is garbage. Because AI can die to things like Dragons, other NPCs, and Cliffs the player shouldn't be able to kill him. Just make it so they can only take damage from Players, not that silly.

[QUOTE=MadPro119;41420449]His first point is garbage. Because AI can die to things like Dragons, other NPCs, and Cliffs the player shouldn't be able to kill him. Just make it so they can only take damage from Players, not that silly.[/QUOTE] It's quite funny actually. There is a semi essential setting in the Creation kit, that allows only the player to kill the NPC, everyone else basically will knock the semi essential NPC into that "bleed-out" state on one knee thingie. [url]http://www.creationkit.com/Category:Actor[/url] [quote]Protected: Protected actors are treated as essential to all damage except that delivered by the player. The player is the only one allowed to kill a Protected actor.[/quote]

That whole video series was made as a reaction to the dumbing down one-- which itself wasn't perfect. It's a stupid argument. Mainly because it's patently obvious that the games have been successively iterated to be more comfortable and sellable and therefore less complex. I don't like it. Some people do. The latter are the people who are going to inherit TES. Some developers are committed to the principles of their game design; Bethesda isn't. That's why we (or at least I) make fun of them. Rockstar keeps the GTA formula fresh, CD Projekt are as committed to adapting their franchise as they are to keeping it serious and smart, and some old school or indie developers mortgage their house to publish a game that will appeal to 1% of consumers to get their product on the market without compromising. Bethesda is the dockyard whore of the lot.

[QUOTE=KorJax;41419706] [t]http://www.soulmeld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Balmora-Morrowind-Overhaul-1.jpg[/t] [t]http://images.wikia.com/elderscrolls/ru/images/c/c7/%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] To be fair its a place between a swamp and farmlands, it makes sense to have a lush ecosystem there. It may seem like it should more barren lore-wise, but the only reason is because there's a foyada nearby which is just a area of volcanic run off from red mountain- not really representative of the nearby ecosystem. I'd imagine if it weren't for the limitations of the time the vanilla version would have more vegetation. That said I'll probably turn it off. I was looking more for a graphical overhaul, not re-imagining.

It's also optional in the MGO installer.

Now I want Morrowind.

Its worth it. Its 40% off at the moment, and it may go even lower as the sale goes on.

I'll wait a few days and see if it goes lower, definitely will buy though.

Does anyone have a link to that dismemberment mod i saw on here a while ago for Skyrim?

I should probably get around to playing through Morrowind some time. After all, I still have the original CD in the jewel case it came in, in a slot on my CD rack. Strangely enough when I first played oblivion I didn't realize they were related, because I was a kid when I played morrowind and I never noticed the "elder scrolls" title.

[QUOTE=Excalibuurr;41421703][url]http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/34917[/url] Keep in mind it's not compatible with your CBBE armor and clothing replacer.[/QUOTE] I finally got it working and now all that happens is they become a naked torso and their lower half dissappears with some boots lying on the ground. No clue how to fix it so i just left it and said fuck it.

[QUOTE=Fenriswolf;41421413]I'll wait a few days and see if it goes lower, definitely will buy though.[/QUOTE] Sorry to jump the gun, but before you invariably ask about the combat (and to others who buy morrowind during the sale), start yourself off with good weapon skills and a race that has a weapon skill bonus for that skill you want to use. If you have 30+ agility and 50+ weapon skill for the weapon you're using then you shouldn't really have much difficulty when starting. [I]Also, don't go into combat with no stamina[/I]