That's probably what Turija meant by an insult. If it is, it's a stealth one, implying that modders somehow fundamentally alter the game in a negative way ("genuine playthrough", "not some completely different game.")

Not saying that the OP was trying to insult modders or anything: I'm willing to bet it might have been a poor choice of words.

Or just folks looking too much into everything.

It may have been just a poor choice of words. The poster who said he wanted to play the game "the way it was meant to be played" may not have meant insult either, but the implication of saying such things is that people who mod the game are not playing the game the way it was meant to be played, which is a bit of a slam on modders. The devs obviously meant for people to mod the game to suit their own individual tastes or they wouldn't release the CK.

"Best Skyrim is a vanilla Skyrim?"

NOPE...

Morrowind was the last TES I could play unmodded. After it TES games (like most AAA games) have been made too casual and easy for me to enjoy unmodded. Lack of brain use bores me. I hate forced handholding features that can't be turned off, and games treating me like I'm dumb and partly deaf or blind. I absolutely hate features like Quest Arrows and Enemy Dots in Compass. They make you not use your brain or senses. I also hate Undiscovered Location Markers. They take all excitement away from exploration. With them on you aren't an explorer, you're just a tourist on a guided GPS tour.

I wouldn't have bought Skyrim if it didn't have mod support.

for those playing skyrim on a PC claiming that the vanilla skyrim is better than any modded version , please be real or stop trolling

really , start to believe you either never used them or have no idea what to do with them

several people already pointed out the many mods that clearly improved the game far beyond what the developers didn t or couldn t do because of deadlines or memory limitations of connsoles

that you do not want to mod for any reasons ,your choice and i respect that but claiming that mods ruins the game or even the franchise is plain stupid

These are the main reasons I strongly dislike the game and most likely newer TES games as well. It's too bad that there's no mod that replaces quest markers with directions given in voiced dialogue that feels natural, so it's not really a problem with a good enough solution for me. Other thing I hate is level scaling and no hand-placed hidden loot, so at this point Skyrim is pretty much fundamentally not a game for me. The game has some good qualities, but too few and good enough to outweight all the problems I have.

I had Skyrim for a console at first, I pretty much finished the game as vanilla, and ended up hating the game. Requiem really changed the game better for me once I got it for PC. I enjoyed the game more in one playthrough than I did on countless ones playing vanilla. Requiem is what happens when you don't water down the experience to suit everyone's tastes. It's a hit or miss, but when it hits, it hits hard. The mod is so good I want to kiss it's creator right on his mouth, with fiery passion.

But even with Requiem, which does change the game experience a lot, there's still a need for more mods. Even if I liked vanilla, there's still need for mods, to fix all the stupid stuff in the game. Greeting line and guard dialogue nonsense, NPCs fleeing from dragons and vampires, a map with roads and better UI, detailed quest objectives, civil war overhaul, better dialogue controls, player headtracking, bigger bewbs for females etc. And a menu for options to customize your gaming experience, it would be a major improvement for the next game.

Designers didn't mean the game to be as it is, vanilla. It was the publisher's decision to rush out the game and release it unfinished. If you're playing vanilla, then that's what you're playing, not the designers vision of Skyrim.

There is a difference between what the devs really intended and what was actually ready to be shipped on the set deadline. Without mod support, there would be no Unofficial Patches, or Cutting Room Floor -Civil War Overhaul also fits here.

However: Above all else, Bethesda provides the editor, so that players who, besides changing existing elements, want to also add new ideas, to have the means to put them into the game and share them with others. If there was a question "To mod or not to mod?" I'd say you don't have to -the game is playable and enjoyable. But you're missing out on the results of the greatest celebration of player creativity I've ever seen -and the party isn't over yet.

could not have said it better

I think mods really do add to the flavor and while I'm on the 360 now I used to mod my PC version.

However, Skyrim lasted over a year on my HDD before I decided it was time to try some mods, unlike vanilla Oblivion which is far inferior (mostly b/c level scaling) in my opinion.

Finally, you put milk in the cup then add tea. There is no other way.

Your argument completely swayed me.

I have to disagree, I can't imagine playing anymore without mods. I played for a year on PS3 and almost every town in that save is a ghost town from dragons/vampires. With mods, people won't attack the Ancient Dragon right outside their doorstep, vampires won't slay everyone, the Dovahkiin has to eat and sleep, dragons can murder me in seconds, all that stuff that has made the game so much more fun for me.

Maybe I was overreacting

I just get tired of this argument and the usual slurs about people using mods to just make the game easier or add skimpy armour.

Well, I haven't noticed any sort of backlash against modders or those who use mods in this community... quite the opposite in fact: modders and mods get routinely praised to the skies. As they should be. I'm immensely grateful to the people to devote their time expecting no financial compensation, with the goal of making something others may enjoy.

I guess I don't see 'genuine' as a slur. While I love many mods out there, I often find it's nice to get back to the way it was when I played Skyrim for the first time. Partly it's nostalgia, I guess. Partly it's that I have 3 small children and don't always feel like the 'hardcoe' options some (great) mods introduce.

I have. There is a great deal of ignorance in certain quarters about modding. Some people believe, categorically, that the use of any mod, for any purpose, is cheating. Not just some mods, mind you, but all mods. Those of us who have had to put up with being called "cheaters" simply because we use mods can get a little thin-skinned about it.

Well in a multiplayer environment, especially one with PvP, they're pretty much right on the money. Just about any kind of mod can be used for cheating and it's impossible to sort out the ones that aren't from the ones that are. But single player? You could only legitimately be considered cheating if the mod alters game play in such a way as to make it much easier. Even then it's still single player, so who gives a damn if a total stranger in the middle of Kansas adds a million damage sword to his game?

Thing is that Elder Scrolls is and always has been single player. So much so that Elder Scrolls Online has its own seperate forum to discuss it and its PvP issues, rather than combining it under the umbrella of the Elder Scrolls forum.

Yet, many players try to introduce such competitive aspects into Elder Scrolls by competing for achievements and bragging about their twitch skills. This seems to be more of a "thing" in Skyrim than prior games. Morrowind didn't even have "trophies".

On top of that, most people around here who use mods tend to make their games harder, not easier. Just look at some of the most popular Skyrim mods on Nexus, like Requiem and Frostfall, and tell me those make the game easier. Or go back to Oblivion and look at well known mods like Obscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, Martigans Monster Mod, and FCOM. Such mods make the game orders of magnitude harder.

But like you said, even if some one wants to use mods that make their game easier, who cares? It's a single player game designed to be played the way the player wants to play.

No, I didnt mean "genuine" as an insult. I meant genuine as in original. I said from the start that I am a modder myself, and that I understand. Please stop trying to knit pick and start problems.


Now back on the subject .... Skyrim looks just fine on its own. Textures are nice, models are sharp. I dont mind the view distance ... What can I complain about? Games perfect in its own right. Im glad I can enjoy it in its most pure form.

Was just asking if I was the only one who appreciates skyrim naked.

Don't accuse others of trying to nit pick and start problems. It was your poor choice of words and others talking about the way the game was "meant to be played" that started the problems. We can get back to discussing vanilla Skyrim but don't be so accusatory about it.

You want to know what people think about the vanilla graphics? When I first started playing Skyrim I thought they were great, but after a few years I have gotten tired of them. I would mod the graphics, but I do that in all the Elder Scrolls games eventually.

Yes, textures in Skyrim are sharp for a game released on Xbox, but the shadows are pixilated. Something that I think was introduced by one of the patches to deal with lag issues.

They're good, but as with all things artistic there is always room for improvement. As long as your setup can handle it, there's really no reason not to use different graphic mods if you like them.

Agreed. Plus, Skyrim's engine can better handle mods, including graphical mods than prior 32 bit games like Morrowind and Oblivion. The LAA patch will only take those older games so far, why not enjoy all that Skyrim mods have to offer?

Yikes...

Well, I've been around these forums for some time - not as long as many - and haven't recalled seeing *any* "cheater' accusations. I don't doubt it happened, which is unfortunate.

It seems clear to me that's not what the OP was about, at any rate. It's as if I were to start a thread asking "Who here thinks dogs are the best?" and had a bunch of cat people claim I was being inflammatory. Is it possible to state and ask about preferences anymore without offending people? Probably not.

You're not alone. I play it on my PS3 mod free

No you are not the only one. I still enjoy vanilla Skyrim; played it just yesterday matter of fact. That said, I am ready for some mods, after 3 years and 13 days, I am looking forward to Skyrim on PC. But I am glad I got to play the vanilla game thoroughly first.

Been playing it on PS3 since release, so mod - free. But I would love to try out some mods and such. There's many that look very cool in regards to character building. Perks and such.