I'd like to get back into Skyrim, but I'm looking for an overhaul mod as I had found the game lacking in many areas (which areas exactly, I forgot, as it's been a couple of years, but magic, quests, combat, loot stand out). So I've been doing some research and "Requiem" and "Skyrim Redone" seem to stand out.

I'm looking for pros/cons by people who have used them; any critique and/or other mod suggestions are welcome. This should help me come to a decision.

PS: I own the legendary edition. No mods currently.

Thanks!

Perkus maximus is a newer upgraded version of redone. It also has very active support for lots of mods.

You could give YASH a try. I like it, is has a lot of built in features (like lock bashing and stuff like that), it comes in 2 version, a complete one and an optional one.

link: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/32562/?

edit: it's lightweight (less than 3mb to download) as well

The Nexus page for both SkyRe and Requiem have links to a series of Brodoul videos reviewing the main aspects of both SkyRe and Requiem. I'd recommend you watch these if you are indecisive. I recently debated between SkyRe and Requiem myself and I opted for Requiem after watching the Brodoul videos of both. I have not been disappointed.

I like Requiem for its combination of completely de-leveled world and old school game mechanics. SkyRe (and its progeny PerkMa) seem to focus more on perks, while Requiem seems to be more of a total overhaul. Introducing all sorts of improvements from arrow weight, to stopping random vampire attacks from Dawnguard, to casting penalties from armor. Another thing I liked about Requiem is that heavy armor drains stamina just by wearing it if you don't take a perk in it. Many skills are like that in Requiem in that you need to take at least one perk to make use of the skill at all. Quite a bit of it is customizable in the MCM.

Requiem has racial bonuses that matter, attributes reintroduced based on your health/magicka/stamina stats. Health that does not regenerate on its own and you need potions, spells or "poultices" to heal at all. You start with 5 in all skills, adjusted by race and three starting perks to create a starting "class" of sorts.

There are real differences between heavy armor, light armor and no armor, and between axes, swords and hammers. You have to think about what type of armor and weapons to use and which one works the best depends on the situation and enemy you are facing. Combat is a lot more strategic and tactical since you don't want to get surrounded as that would likely be instant death, so using terrain and combat strategy is much more important -- no more blindly charging into combat if you want to survive.

The Requiem manual is hundreds of pages long. You might want to flip through it. Also the Requiem subreddit is a good source of information.

If you choose Requiem, be prepared for a very difficult but rewarding game.

Yes, YASH is good. I had an opportunity to beta test it and liked many of its features. One of the thing it does that very few other overhaul mods do, is enforce a rule that any change made to the player character should also affect other actors in a game. This is a philosophy I've always encouraged. I think any change a mod makes should apply across the board, to everyone, NPC and player character alike, unless there is a very good reason not to do so. I like "level playing fields" when it comes to game mechanics (one reason why I am not fond of "realism" mods, as a rule).

YASH is great for those who like old-style roleplaying game mechanics. It attempts to place character skill above player skill whenever possible. Items are mostly un-leveled but come with skill requirements. You may find an Ebony weapon at level 2, but your character won't have the skill to do much with it. Your low-level character may actually fare better with a Steel weapon. It also unlevels enemies and and drastically alters races to feel different.

But the overhaul I use in most games is http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24377/?tab=9&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmodreadme%2F%3Fid%3D24377&pUp=1 It is similar to Skyrim Redone in that it is a perk overhaul mod at heart. Like other overhaul mods, it makes Stamina more important and improves enemy AI and other features that affect combat. It greatly overhauls how armor functions, supplementing Armor Rating with its own Damage Resistance calculations. Armor skill improves gradually as the character travels on foot (discouraging grinding the armor skill and encouraging exploration on foot).

It's the mod I go to when I play mages, or any unarmored character. It offers several nice unarmored defense perks that make clothing-wearing characters viable. It's nice for sneaky characters too. It adds an Inventing skill tree that allows you to make bombs and traps and even, at higher skill levels, set them to go off on a timer.

I also like Skyrim Redone. It works great with Frostfall. And its Wayfarer perk tree is brilliant, a very nice roleplaying set of perks. Perk Ma came out after my last game of Skyrim so I'm not able to comment on that. But I plan to give it a try in my next game.