Topic: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

@Shellcore Yeah, the loading screens on the PS3 are horrible. They almost make it worth buying a newer version.

And yeah, I hear the loading screens are much faster on the Switch.

I’m really enjoying playing this on the Switch, which is just as well as it was the main reason I bought the switch! It plays really well in handheld mode. I think I’m enjoying the game more than ever, having played it on PC and PS3.

I’ve just become Arch Mage...

Skyrim on Switch is really amazing. I just hope it sells very well so we can get Fallout 4 as well!

@KirbyTheVampire Bear in mind I have always played Oblivion 200% good so I don't know if Dark brotherhood and / or thieves guild are done well or not. I would say everything I tried was extremely good except the main quest, but I only did Mages guild, Warriors guild and "common" sidequests, no Dark Brotherhood, no thieves and no Daedric quests. And also the main quest, the only thing that I regret lol

PS: I have almost completed Lakeview Manor, I just need one more safe and it's done!

@LuckyLand I haven't really tried those guilds, so maybe they're good. All I did was the first part of the Thieves Guild and most of the Brotherhood. The quests themselves were a lot of fun, it was just the characters that struck me as cartoonish. But I should still play the game. I know I would really like it.

@KirbyTheVampire the fondest memories I have of Oblivion are from the Mages guild and from the quest "A shadow over Hackdirt". I liked almost everything else too but really those "two" (mages guild is a group of many different sidequest actually, so it's more than just "two") things were the absolute best of that game for me.
Be sure to try "A shadow over Hackdirt", it is marvelous!!

@LuckyLand Thanks, I'll keep that in mind!

Also, does anyone know what the best and easiest way to mod Skyrim is? I think I'm ready to quit playing it on the vanilla PS3 version. I don't need anything crazy, just stuff like new weapons and armor and the option to turn into a werebear, or marry certain NPCs like Serana.

There are definitely a lot of things that make Oblivion seem less serious than Skyrim. I won't make excuses for the College of Winterhold questline, having replayed it recently, but the way assets in Oblivion were drawn feels much more cartoony than Morrowind and Skyrim. It definitely has something to do with how Cyrodiil was this bright green prairieland contrasted with the evil, hell-like Deadlands where the bad guys all wore red and black armor and there was lava.

And then on the NPC side just how close they got to your face and the round and yellowish look that most of them had, combined with the early 2000s video game voice acting, gave it sort of a campy vibe. Like how your character blankly stares at you when you're equipping armor. I'm not saying it doesn't have a serious story, but stuff like the Fighter's Guild questline could have used a flatter and less energetic read.

And this is only a little related, but I think it's very difficult to argue that Skyrim didn't have better designed armor. Not just better graphics, but better character/armor designs working in concert. Stuff like how tall the neck on the daedric armor is, how red the metal is, really changes how it appears.

@Haru17 Yes, exactly. I had just come off of Skyrim, and I was genuinely taken aback when I first talked to someone and it zoomed right in on their round face. The voice acting didn't help at all, either.

Again, I know it's a great game, and I enjoyed what I played, but the presentation isn't nearly as impressive as Skyrim's. The weapon degradation system got seriously frustrating too, but that was probably due to my ignorance on that part of the game. I did really like the Imperial City, though. I was very impressed by that. And the quests I did play were mostly a lot of fun.

@KirbyTheVampire im guessing your gonna play it pc? Personally i do my modding manual. Its basically copying the file to the skyrim directory and activating it via the launcher, but there are mod managers that you can download. But the easiest is if you bought it thru steam, you can use the steam workshop wich basically is just choosing the mod then it will automatically install

@KirbyTheVampire I don't think you can find anything easier than Steam to manage mods. Mods on Steam are quite limited compared to manually manage them as far as I know but for example I won't be able to mod it myself without Steam so if you want something easy use Steam.
However imo it's not worth it, every now and then you find something good but there are so many worthless mods, and so many mods that maybe are not worthless but they're not what you are looking for, that you completely lose the focus on the game. It is like when you waste time on internet searching for something and after a while even yourself can't remember what you were looking for.
I played one very good expansion mod, aside from that I never found anything else satisfying or even just barely interesting.

@Haru17 characters in Oblivion simply looked bad, it was not that they looked more cartoonish, they just looked like crap. Of course they look even worse now that we are used to much better looking things, but they were ugly even back then.
But the voice acting imo was great, I think it was far better than it is in Skyrim.

The college of Winterhold questline and the Dawnguard questline are the things I hate the most about Skyrim.

@LuckyLand modding manually is actually very easy, you just copy and paste the mod file to the data folder. Or you can downlad a mod manager to install it like steam workshop

@diwdiws @LuckyLand Alright, thanks! After some research, I might try Nexus first, but if I can't figure that out, I'll try Steam.

@LuckyLand so true, mods pretty much ruin the game and you completely lose focus. They really are best for when you have completed it. Even if you get one scenery mod, you start thinking, oh wud the it be great to have bird and insect sounds in the jungle so u get another, then it takes you forever to smith and you get a mod which gets you awesome weapons that ruin the game as it's too easy! Mods for me were a huge distraction from what skyrim really is.

So I finally broke down and got Skyrim Switch AND Skyrim VR......and can't decide which to play. I'm going to be playing a LOT of Skyrim, I think.....makes up for not playing it due to bugs on the X360.

@Haru17 the close zoom in and the hideously ugly faces were just biproducts of really bad design, honestly. It was kind of new to have characters talking right to you, and they did it in a creepy close-talker sort of way.... And their deformed faces was just the bad engine and their excessive overuse of "bloom" and what was called "HDR" at the time before "HDR" was "HDR", none of which is actually HDR in photography terms....

What was campy about 2000's voice acting though? Seems no different to me than any of the modern stuff. Same 2 voices for every character of the same race aside.

I still like exploring Oblivion's world best of all, though.

So I’m in Solstheim. Is this an expansion? Getting all kinds of Morrowind memories here.

@DarthNocturnal Thought so. Any advice on doing this sooner or later? It does feel kinda weird leaving Skyrim already... but... it’s also interesting.

@Spanjard Did you just happen upon the boat that takes you there, or did you get the quest before that? If you just got on the boat and didn't have a quest telling you to go there, you won't actually have unlocked the Dragonborn questline.

@KirbyTheVampire Thankfully I did!

I might just have to visit this place later. Three men approached me and seemed to bow before me... oh boy was I wrong. Lol