did play skyrim first , then oblivion , then morrowind .
never actually make use of custom spell system in oblivion - just did not feel relevant , only unlock in post-game . but get hang of this for morrowind , actually really fun .
... and now back in skyrim , where no such system exist . :(
never actually make use of custom spell system in oblivion - just did not feel relevant , only unlock in post-game . but get hang of this for morrowind , actually really fun .
... and now back in skyrim , where no such system exist . :(
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Date: Feb. 16th, 2025 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Feb. 16th, 2025 10:57 pm (UTC)skyrim is fun for sheer amount of possibilities in base game , can do so many things even without mods or expansions . would say skyrim really make point to not lock player out of any skill or most quests - unless mutually exclusive by design , such as join dark brotherhood vs kill dark brotherhood - which can be good or bad depend on view . easy to make jack of all trade type characters and dip fingers in every pie , but that can be barrier to intentional , character-specific roleplay .
those possibilities can hamper in other ways , too - can find many strange interactions and glitches , and some parts did not get proper attention , or have to cut in order to hit release date and simply never expand since then .
but there is huge amount of mods , especially for special edition - some really high quality followers like lucien and inigo with unique quest lines , huge care and attention to detail . probably not for first playthrough , but great fun to have with those guys . quest expansions and fixes , silly wacky things , all sort of mods out there .
would say skyrim work best to approach as sort of canvas - not worst game ever , but at times miss out on some of greatest potential . some aspects of lore can be wonky in comparison to other entries of series , and not all of worldbuild is equal - will need to either lore dive on UESP , or just come up with personal ideas and expansions .
oblivion , have very personal bias to oblivion as this game get kossai through near death experience . shivering isles expansion is especially strong and beautiful - GOTY edition come with shivering isles and knights of the nine as part of main purchase .
quests in oblivion can take silly tone sometimes , but that can be nice . not everything can be so serious and grim always , and not everything is grand quest to bring family heirloom back home . bring potatoes back , save reckless mage from dream world , things that do not amount to huge change in world but still help and find friendship .
unlike skyrim - and like morrowind before - oblivion have athletics and acrobatics skills . as player walk and jump around world , will get faster and more agile , and feel like character actually physically improve through journey . these skills can also allow for shortcuts over difficult terrain , which is especially useful in oblivion gates .
funnily enough , during main quest of oblivion , player is not actually most important character - that would be martin , who player assist and escort - but people will still happily recognise and celebrate for accomplishments . as for shivering isles DLC ... to be honest , shivering isles could be 9 hours of nonstop gush - sheogorath and shivering isles is actually main focus of kossai in elder scrolls series , everything else is coincidental ;D
morrowind also have GOTY edition , which come with bloodmoon and tribunal expansions . would also recommend openMW engine - at least for kossai , find that base engine was weirdly stressful on computer . openMW support UI scale , font scale , and other really useful features .
due to technological limits , characters have no schedules or life outside of cell . without specific spells and exploits , most characters will never travel from one place to another .
characters also only have voices in overworld dialogue - dialogue take form of text , in sometimes very long trees . lots and lots of read for this game , if that might be strain on vision . as result of this limitation though , dialogue can easily get into deep dives and details on subjects , where oblivion and especially skyrim often limit answers to just two or three short sentences , and can not always ask what really want to know .
morrowind is especially great if love to think about lore and history , and implications of prophecy - most is specific to province of morrowind of course , but truly , character can deny role in prophecy , and even approach some of main objectives through alternate routes . oblivion and skyrim sure did not do that !
if character backstory and intentional roleplay is greatest preference , or even just general lore nerdery - there is lots of lore to explore for each province through UESP , and elder scrolls online especially add lore to places like valenwood and elsweyr , which do not appear in mainline games as of yet .
word of caution , though : elder scrolls online also retcon some of canon establishment , and at times sorely need more nuance and variation .
with all of these games , will want to limit to 60 fps , as series games can be very buggy above threshhold . skyrim above 60 fps , for example , will completely break intro and block progression ...
there is also potential for glitch in any of these games , of course , not just skyrim . sometimes will need console commands to fix things , or else lots of backup saves . UESP wiki have details on console commands for each game , as well as IDs of any item , quest , or character in any vanilla game and official DLC - but mods can be harder to find details , unless have access and ability to navigate construction set .
if happen to be on linux and choose oblivion , there is one more little technical thing - on some systems like linux mint , oblivion launcher might not properly register place of installation . kossai use this solution , which bypass launcher entirely . not ideal solution , but better to run game with no launcher than launcher with no game ! :D
hopefully this was helpful in some way , did not want to spoil much about main quests so focus on other aspects . :)
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Date: Feb. 23rd, 2025 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Feb. 23rd, 2025 11:00 pm (UTC)