Twists of Fate at the feet/paws/claws of the Dovahkiin! (read: Skyrim Mods)

[Bovel]

Yes, I've decided the time has will soon come when I shall take upon the lands of Skyrim once more and finally finish at least one play-through before I re-install the entire game. One of the major reasons why I loved Oblivion and really like Skyrim too is the modding ability and if I had the time, I'd be the author and creator of yet another mod-review-series on YouTube. But this doesn't mean I don't wanna try mods as I go.

• What I'm curious about is what mods have you lot tried and what did you think about them?
  
• Are there some mods that you recommend?
  
• Or some that you would advice against?
  

At the moment I'm mainly interested in a select niches of mods for Skyrim that I have yet to find good mods for. These would be;

1. Overhauled Vampirism
   
2. Overhauled Alchemy
   
3. Overhauled Lycantrophy
   
4. Empowered Cannibalism
   
5. Voice-acted and serious Quests, preferably with puzzle-elements
   
6. Sets of armour and/or weapons that fit with the rest of the game (No Final Fantasy stuff that would just have people freeze to death)
   

And if anyone is interested I can share some thoughts about mods I've tried and my recommendations, on demand of course.

[Krent]

Did someone say.....SKYRIM MODS?!

Yeah I think someone said Skyrim mods.



So I recently got back into Skyrim and I've decided that there is only one thing for the Dragonborn to do.

That is

To make

An army

Of Moe Waifus

And conquer all of Skyrim.

I plan to sack every city, destroy every village, rend all factions helpless in my attack.

I am currently amassing an army of waifu followers to answer my call for blood. Using UFO -- Ultimate Follower Overhaul -- I can build myself up a pretty big army of moe companions. I plan to raise a banner of 20 or so.

HARDCORE MODE: None of them are set to Essential. Waifus that fall to Vampire mobs or random Lich Dragons will be lost, but not forgotten.

Of course, I don't plan to simply raise -any- army. I plan to invest an unhealthy amount of time and energy meticulously dressing and arming each waifu, scouring teh internernetz for the best armor and clothing and weaponry around. Each waifu will be equipped as an elite soldier, with a specific specialization.


Thus far, I have completed the first four to be a part of my army.

((Bear in mind I really suck ass at taking screenshots and I haven't really gotten into this posing mod that I just installed so no awesome screens YET. Also I don't know how to do that ultra high resolution stuff because my computer is pretty beast but not SUPER beast so yeah :| ))

www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0Rgwqa3c0o

The First Four.

Bear in mind I'm still gearing these four. Placeholder items are everywhereeeeerreee.

Spoiler:

Note: I only use stuff I can actually craft in-game. All items will be upgraded to legendary and given the best enchants, once I have them. This will be a slow, gradual gearing of waifus....but if it is to be done, it will be done correctly.

Spoiler:

Of course, I had to start with everyone's first waifu: Lydia. Here she is in sporting moe templar armor, armed with a daedric shield and custom Skyforged Ebony Sword as place holders. I'm still looking for a righteous paladin shield and fancy looking mace. She will be one of many front line troopers.

Commander of the Tanks! Division.

Spoiler:

The duelist of the group, and one pint-sized cutie, Kirsikka fights with an estoc and dagger -- both of which will get dual-enchanted soon -- with a flurry of speed and rage. Her outfit says "I'LL CUT YA!" And she will.

Commander of the CUT YA UP Division.

Spoiler:

What would a waifu army be without a MAGICUL GURRRLLL? I don't care about your pitiful lore, this army transcends it! Ilta will be sporting what I call the "Madoka Build," aka Heals 'n Archery. Though her restoration is at 100, I need to have her learn more effective group-healing spells. Healers will be essential, as waifus are not set as such!

Commander of the Plz Dun Die Division

Spoiler:

And finally, the darker MAGICUL GUUUUUURRRLLL who's design is to blow stuff up. My personal favorite thus far, Kodelia. She is only moderately geared, yet is proving to be a powerhouse of ZAPPPITY ZAP and ICEEEEEEE STOOOORRRRRMs. Her spells hit so hard they make enemies ragdoll.

Commander of the DARK SIDE Division.



The commanders will be geared with the best of equipment I can get. ALL waifus will be geared with the best equipment I can muster. Currently, the Supreme Commander Vistern (my lvl 60 Imperial that I abandoned a long time ago and now have decided to use to embark on this crazy ass endeavor) is working to max out all his enchanting / smithing / financing / what-have-you while I scour the internets for MOAR GEAAAARRR.

When I feel the army is ready, I will be attacking Whiterun. I will have all Essential NPCs disabled, meaning that my army will be slaughtering ALL in the city. Quest givers and merchants be DAMNED!

[Nikodemos]

Now you guys understand how I've been able to play Morrowind for eleven years.

[McKnighter]

Krent. Wat.

[Harmonic]

YEEEEEEEES.



Krent. Can... can I be a... waifu?


*Blush*

[Krent]

Krent. Wat.

Don't tell me you're surprised by this.

YEEEEEEEES.



Krent. Can... can I be a... waifu?


*Blush*

NO


......unless you're able to create your own custom companion NPC. Fully voiced. I'm too lazy to figure out how to create a follower NPC from scratch, so it'll be up to YOU to learn! Make it good and send it to me and I'll dress him in my prettiest robes.


Looking back on the past 4 hours, I have to apologize for de-railing this thread. I should've announced my waifu shenanigans in another post. Perhaps necro the old Skyrim thread from days pass, or make a thread of mine own. This thread was supposed to be about sharing info about mods.

Of which I currently have 87 installed.

Here are some I'm using off the top of my head. Some of these will have links, most of 'em will not because they're easy to find on Nexus.

Stuff I'd recommend;

Nexus Mod Manager, SKSE, and Script Dragon -- Lookem up on Nexus. They're practically required for the most awesome stuff.

SKY UI is my UI of choice.

DUEL -- http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/2700/? -- is my favorite Combat mod.

Another fav combat mod of mine is Dual Wield Parrying. IMO this is a must have for anyone who actually wants to have a viable Hard-mode dual wielder / spell blade. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9247/?

WARZONES Civil Unrest is also pretty godly for making the civil war in Skyrim actually seem real. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9494/? (This will also provide plenty of fools for my waifu army to destroy)

As mentioned before, Ultimate Follower Overhaul is a great companion / follower retooling. It allows you to have a customizable group. Combined with My Home is Your Home , you can practically build your own base.

Skyforged Weapons and Jaysus Swords are good staple weapon armories. Good and lore friendly.

[Harmonic]

I'd use my own voice.

I'll find a way Krent. I'll find a way.

[Cassius]

http://imgur.com/a/0x0zK

I have an album of Skyrim pictures with the fancy armor mods I use.

...And two youtube videos.

Spoiler:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA2TwHKQAKE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjZFBWZsKn4[/youtube]

[Bovel]

Nexus Mod Manager, SKSE and BOSS are essential if you ask me.

I have tried using UFO but I was never really satisfied with how it worked. All the menus via dialogue was a huge bother, lots of the promised functions never really worked, such as altering the spellbook of a follower. I've been using a mod called Specialized Followers that made each original follower more unique and with perks and gear that made more sense. The author of the mod also suggest Extended Follower Framework which I am trying out now that has a better menu.

When playing Oblivion I was a huge fan of Deadly Reflex but sadly a similar mod created for Skyrim just made changes to the game I didn't agree with so I have been playing with Duel and I really like it. Makes humanoid enemies a real challenge. A downside with later versions is that bows stagger way too easily. Haven't tried DW Parry though since all I've heard about it is that it is supposed to be buggy. How do you like it? Does it work as intended? And doesn't it make dual-wielding overpowered?

Warzones is a great mod if your computer can handle it. Mine couldn't so I had to get rid of it. Although I think with all other mods that make combat harder as well as Legendary difficulty makes some of the battles impossible to survive. Highly recommended though if you computer can tolerate all the added NPCs.

I've used Jaysus Swords since first release because I thought it was RealSwords from Oblivion (best weapon mod series for that game, hands down) but I was wrong. It's a good mod either way even if some weapons are just too shiny, too clean, have too much gems or is too anime. My favourite gear mod so far has to be Immersive Armours since it adds loads of really good looking armour sets with decent stats and they are added to loot lists. In all honesty I love the Witcher armours mod even more, the one Cassius uses, but I haven't bothered re-installing it since very few of my characters are blacksmiths so I rarely get to see the content added by the mod.

But out of all mods I have tried so far in Skyrim, I think the best one by far is Apocalypse Spell Package. Because it just adds so much to the game without being silly or overpowered like other spell mods.

[Krent]

Haven't tried DW Parry though since all I've heard about it is that it is supposed to be buggy. How do you like it? Does it work as intended? And doesn't it make dual-wielding overpowered?

I've been using it thus far and its worked fine for me. I haven't had any bugs with it at all. One that I do notice is that it doesn't allow dual-wielding NPC's to parry or block, which I find odd. It may be because NPCs and such aren't programmed to block when they dual-wield.

On the topic of it making DW'ing overpowered, I don't think so. In combination with DUEL and cranking the game up to the highest difficulty setting, I still find combat very challenging for a dual-wield build. You get no damage reduction against arrows, spells, or dragon's breaths. A shield is still a very viable and necessary for certain battles and situations.

I do have Warzones installed, and I sometimes find myself swamped in 15 - 20 bad guys at once. Crazy battles where I'm fighting tons of mages and archers and warriors. So yeah, combat is still very dangerous and I do find myself dying when I'm careless with my DW build.

Maybe DW parrying is OP'd if it's installed with vanilla skyrim. But between Warzones, DUEL, and all the other stuff I have, I don't find it over powered at all.

[Harmonic]

I had warzone and the "Mad Monsters" mod, with open areas.




My towns were dead probably before I even got there.

[Bovel]

Dawnguard did that to my game without using games. When I was to visit Rorikstead for the second time, all but a few essentials were dead.

[Aethon]

Question: Shall I buy Dawnguard? Is it worth it?

[Jaella]

It is worth it.
Buy it.
Some mods depend on it nowadays.

[Aethon]

What are these mods you talk about?
* Aethon plays it on the Xbox lol.