I know most of you guys out there are modders, I get it, I am too. But when it comes to Skyrim, I just can't bring myself to mod it. I want to play Skyrim the way the devs made it. I want to play a genuine playthrough. I want to play Skyrim, not some completely different game on the same engine.

Who enjoys playing Skyrim vanilla? Am I the only one?

Hell no.

I'm never going back to vanilla. Never. I despise vanilla. Even something as simple as the Unofficial Skyrim Patch improves the game by a lot.

The game is far too borked to play without unofficial patches, Run for Your Lives, and When Vampires Attack. There's other mods I always use, but those are the must-haves.

It's funny, I too prefer a mostly vanilla experience - much of the time. My wife & I played Skyrim since Dec. 2011 and for at least 6 months were entirely mod-free. Then we picked up a few things here & there, and eventually got a big overhaul mod (Requiem). While we enjoyed that, I found that I missed some things about vanilla: the freedom of character creation, the ability to be a badass right out of the gate.

I've now got Mod Organizer, which allows us to have different profiles and essentially play a different game depending on our mood for that particular character. We switch between profiles that offer substantial changes to gameplay (such as Requiem, Frostfall, iNeed, etc.) and profiles that are entirely vanilla, or vanilla plus one or two little things.

The majority of my playthroughs these days make use of just a few mods, notably SkyUI (pretty much essential for a magic-user who doesn't want to count the seconds until his spell expires, plus just a nicer layout) and Warburg's parchment-style world map.

I am not that crazy about vanilla Skyrim and have no issues with modding the game extensively. Bringing back all the stuff they cut, adding an immersive HUD, etc.

They released the CK for a reason. I don't really understand the "don't want to change the developer's vision" mentality. Part of that vision is that the user will use the CK to change the vision of the game.

Somewhere in the middle, lightly modded TES games are always the best IMO.

No games perfect

The developers have time constraints and budgets

Even if they didn't what makes a perfect game for one person won't for another

I am happy to use mods to make the game what I want and have enough confidence in my own judgement to believe I know whats right for my game better than anyone else

Pretty much this, never going back to vanilla, ever.

This, exactly.

I just got the game recently, and the first thing I did before I even started it up was add "SkyUI" and "More Hotkeys Please" because I know being designed with consoles in mind, that those two areas are not going to cut it on my PC. After that I'll have to wait and see how the game works out. But I certainly won't hesitate to add a mod if I come across something that bugs me. Oh yes, I also added the unofficial patch because I know there's likely going to be a lot of small bugs in the game

I prefer to stick pretty close to vanilla, but that doesn't mean there's no room for improvement. My primary mods are SkyUI (because the vanilla UI is a console interface), the unofficial patches (bug fixes that don't really change the fundamental vanilla game all that much), and a few cosmetic only graphics mods. High resolution textures, a different body mesh, things of that nature. I don't much care for mods that alter the game mechanics. Especially the ones that basically just inject some form of God Mode into the game.

I prefer Vanilla, even the best of mods just feel out of place..

its a great game, but I want to play it the way it was meant to be played..

(and to those who say "TES Games are Great because of Mods, you can't play without them", i suggest you give http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comicsandcosplay/comics/critical-miss/12061-Skyrim-Cabbage-Rocket)

Completely ignoring the fact that Critical Miss tends to have terrible opinions on video games, what exactly are we supposed to gain from this? That Skyrim is a terrible RPG? (Chances are that many people who mod the game agree with that...)

The fact that the developers go out of their way to make sure that their games are mod-friendly is an undeniable strong point of Bethesda games.

Honestly, when I look for mods it's usually just for fun gear; new weapons, armor, enchantments and such. Normally I'd give any kind of overhaul a pass, but from what I've heard of mod organizer, I'd be willing to try it.

My PC being what it is, for now I play on console. Things look fine, nothing's broken in the game, and the vanilla experience is cutting it just fine.

Aside from the USKPs fixing an absolute plethora of issues, mods offer an endless amount of customization. I have a distinctive way I want to play varied characters and by the availability of mods, I can do just that.

Not to mention the ones created that rival the official mods from Bethesda.

A slightly modded Skyrim is the best
Let's think...

A mod to have NPCs to flee into their homes during attacks and some other fixes.
Some performance mods.
SkyUI
iHUD
Frostfall
Some mods to improve some features, like mannequins.
Some nice quests
A new abode that fits your new character.

That's should be it right?

RPGs aren't a passive medium like a book or a film where you just appreciate the author's vision. They are an interactive medium where we get to tell our own stories. Maybe not always great or original stories but ours, not just the developers.

Agreed. Bethesda makes the best modding platforms around.

Not sure what that silly comic was supposed to prove.

I don't get it, Beth goes out of their way to provide us with the tools to make mods. I always felt that they give us a sandbox and we are able to mold that sandbox to our liking.

Absolutely not.

While Skyrim doesn't need many mods (unlike Oblivion), it still has features that are either broken or otherwise crippling. The UI is a cluster**** of epic proportions, the very worst I've seen in any game. Then there's the suicidal AI which makes NPCs attack dragons and vampires and getting themselves killed in seconds.

Any PC player who doesn't use Unofficial Patches at least must be completely mental.

You're right about a lot of mods feeling out of place. A good mod is one where you're not sure if something is added by a mod or part of the vanilla game. There are however a few good reasons to mod and keep the vanilla gameplay mostly intact.

1. Graphics, when the game was released it looked so bad, the first time I saw a snow surface I thought my videocard died. The atmosphere is great but the textures and lighting are very low quality, even for 2011 standards. With mods, you get high res textures (there is a "vanilla" high res DLC) and things like ENBs which bring the graphics up to par for a 2014 game

2. Immersion, I like to hide the HUD, use a more gothic type font, etc.

3. Bugs, Bethesda is notorious for releasing and ending a title with (gamebreaking) bugs. Playing without the unofficial patches is just torturing yourself and the inventory system is afwul without a mod like SkyUI.

Yes, that was a truly well informed critique all right.

Personally I feel too many mods are out of place, so I stick with just using the unofficial skyrim patch.

But a few of the best mods also give Bethesda ideas for content the community likes and want to see in the next game release. So the mod-ability is definitely a good thing for the game.

Sorry, no. A good mod is one the mod user enjoys. That is the only possible workable definition of a good mod.

On 11-12-11, I went South from Helgen, after noticing the blocky nose Textures and being bothered enough to see if it was just My Game. I encountered an Ice Cave, with a Wolf, and then read a Skill Book. My character headed further into the Cave and I had My first CTD in Skyrim.

When I got over My exploration kick and decided to actually play the Main Quest, My character read the Elder Scroll at the Time Wound and Nothing happened. I just filled out a report when the second Official Patch began being installed onto My PC.

Dawngaurd depopulation....

Mirakulously I had no problems with Dragonborn on the part of Bethesda.

I remember Dragons flying backwards. I had a stable Modded Game before Patch 1.9.

When I first entered Labrynthian I thought I was having Graphics Problems because of the "unique" Blue Draugr.

I have over 6500 Hours logged into Skyrim on Steam, but I can not return to Vanilla after having Caramel, Mixed Nuts, and Chocolate Syrup with the Sprinkles.