What video games have you been playing III: You're gonna need a bigger boat.

[Phrossack]

Some more Fall from Heaven 2. I have an amazing game as the Hippus (cavalry civ) going right now. Went from the lowest-ranked to the highest-ranked civ with the help of some extremely experienced cavalry and the devious use of a hero who let me take over the control of the biggest civ's cities and armies for a few turns--it had a colossal military and literally every civ other than mine was its vassal, but I wreaked havoc from within by switching civics, using the army to destroy as much of their own infrastructure as possible, flinging their best mages into suicidal battles, and scattering their forces uselessly across the map. By the time I regained control of the Hippus, I was in a pretty good position to attack my more powerful but utterly disarrayed foe.

 

[cybrxkhan]

Just passed 500 hours of Skyrim played, according to steam!


Today, once more, I spawned a bunch of imperial vs. stormcloak battles with guns. You ain't never really played Skyrim unless you've found yourself in the middle of a huge musket fight while blasting American Civil War march music / Battle Hymn of the Republic in the background, shooting down damn Dixie Stormcloak traitors.

I'm considering doing it like that every time I have to play one of vanilla's lame Civil War battles. Throw in muskets and Civil War music, instantly more immersive.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Just passed 500 hours of Skyrim played, according to steam!

70 hours of Oblivion here. One day...or, to be exact, one day and 6 hours, I'll break 100 hours!

Maybe get the bloody Morag Tong armour at last.

 

[Arakhor]

If you haven't played over 100 hours per character in a TES game, you haven't really played the game at all.

 

[madviking]

i just realized about legendary skills.

except i think i made a mistake making both sneaking and two handed legendary at the same time lol. but yea, every sneak stab increases my sneak level by one and fighting a dragon increases my two handed by at least two.

 

[EgonSpengler]

My huscarl got killed liberating a temple for some dumb ol' goddess, and all she gave me was a fancy sword. And then the [bleep] tried to make me some kind of apostle. I'm tempted to throw the [bleeping] sword in the ocean and tell the [bleep] to go [bleep] herself. My house feels so empty now.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Ah, the Meridia quest. I hated that. Very easy to lose a follower there.
I got a hankering for Diablo, so I got back into Path of Exile. The great thing about an F2P model is that the dev has an interst in constant improvement, and it really shows.

 

[Arakhor]

Dawnbreaker is a pretty cool sword though.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

If you haven't played over 100 hours per character in a TES game, you haven't really played the game at all.

That's different from what I was told.

 

[Synobun]

I've been playing Skyrim (Khajit stealth archer), the Direwolf20 pack in Minecraft, and recently Shogun 2: Total War (Chosokabe).

Making the switch from Direwolf20 to a customized Infinity soon, though.

 

[cybrxkhan]

70 hours of Oblivion here. One day...or, to be exact, one day and 6 hours, I'll break 100 hours!

Maybe get the bloody Morag Tong armour at last.

See if you can beat my approximately 1600 hours! (and that's a conservative estimate; on steam I have ~280 hours, but the other hours were from before I started playing it on steam)

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Sniper Elite V2

Sometimes I feel sorry when a slow-mov-shot happens and I can see what bones and organs exactly my sniper bullet just crushed. I once even said it out-loud out of some kind of reflexe. But it is one of those "I can't help that I am laughing anyway, so sorry for that, too" kind of sorries.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

That's different from what I was told.

Only played Morrowind and the thought of replaying it with a different character seems ludicrous to me. The quests were boring enough the first time and the world I have already discovered.

I am a bit too harsh even from my own POV, but it highlights the point.

I seem to be in a double-post run today.

 

[trader/warrior]

Only played Morrowind and the thought of replaying it with a different character seems ludicrous to me. The quests were boring enough the first time and the world I have already discovered.

I am a bit too harsh even from my own POV, but it highlights the point.

I seem to be in a double-post run today.

/Morrowind-fanboy defence mode engaged

Morrowind is extremely geared towards multiple characters, more so than Oblivion and much more so than Skyrim. Only being able to join one of the four great house factions with their massive questlines, choosing between the Imperial Cult and the Tribunal Temple as well as the standard TES Fighter/mage/thief guilds and various factions and quests geared towards each of the different classes, having a character that has joined the Imperial Legion, is a native Morag Tong assassin, member of a vampire clan, Telvanni Councillor AND Archmage of the Mages guild is possible but doesn't really make sense, and huge parts of the worldbuilding, lore and overall experience are to be found in these various questlines and factions. Sounds more like the game just isn't to your taste, but the very basic mechanics of TES games like classes, races and factions are clearly geared towards replaying it in different ways for a different experience.

Unless you only count the main quest you really can't have experienced most of the game on only one character. Most of the time I started a new character I wasn't even intending to do the main quest, I wanted to play one of the large quest lines I hadn't done earlier and specialize my character in a different way, it was experiencing more of the game rather than replaying anything. The main story was just a minor part of the game and that's part of the attraction of TES games for me.

Of course, I am a giant Morrowind fanboy who got the game around release and only finished the main quest a couple of months ago, taking about 12 years and probably thousands of hours to finally "finish" it so I probably have a rather peculiar playstyle.

 

[cardgame]

I wish they'd remake Morrowind for TES 7

 

[Ajidica]

one of the four great house factions

/true Morrowind fan-boy
There are three Great Houses in Morrowind:
Great House Redoran
Great House Telvanni
Great House Hlaalu
(Great Houses Dres and Indoril are off-map.)
Blessed be ALMSIVI, the Three-In-One, for the Thrice-Sealed House withstands the storm.

But yeah, I loved multiple playthroughs in Morrowind. One playthrough was a stealthy Imperial mage (as in, magika for the emergency invisibility, levitation, unlock, and disarm), another was as a Redoran fighter-archer, and another -my personal favorite- as an Ordinator Warrior-Priest of the Tribunal Temple.
(Though when I saw playthrough, I really mean get to around level 15/20 through random questing and get bored halfway through the Trials of the Hortator and go play a different game.)

On the subject of TES games, any advice to get back into Skyrim?
For some reason vanilla skyrim doesn't grab me the way Morrowind did. I've tried installing a realism mod (Requiem) which I like a lot, but the sleep/environment/hunger features just feel tedious.

I wish they'd remake Morrowind for TES 7

Bethesda can't because they already nuked Morrowind with a magic moon (Ban Maalur, the Ministry of Truth).
Though the could abuse the same disregard for established lore which turned the jungle province of Cyrodiil into a boring English countryside and make the magic moon-nuking never happen.

 

[trader/warrior]

/true Morrowind fan-boy
There are three Great Houses in Morrowind:
Great House Redoran
Great House Telvanni
Great House Hlaalu
(Great Houses Dres and Indoril are off-map.)

Argh.

uh.

I was of course adding in the fourth active on-map house, House Dagoth, the sixth house of Morrowind which the player can technically rise through the ranks of through certain events. Yeah, thats what I meant, clearly.

 

[cybrxkhan]

Sounds more like the game just isn't to your taste, but the very basic mechanics of TES games like classes, races and factions are clearly geared towards replaying it in different ways for a different experience.

I say this applies to pretty all the TES games. TES has always been focused on exploration and dicking around. Those who want to focus on the quests in and of themselves, and the storylines, tend to be disappointed.

On the subject of TES games, any advice to get back into Skyrim?
For some reason vanilla skyrim doesn't grab me the way Morrowind did. I've tried installing a realism mod (Requiem) which I like a lot, but the sleep/environment/hunger features just feel tedious.

Have you tried some simpler needs mods instead maybe?

How about Tropical Skyrim? (Or one of the lore-friendlier environment overhauls? Like right now I'm using the Spring Overhaul)

I must be that rare breed of TES fan that can easily get into every TES game without much hassle. :/

Bethesda can't because they already nuked Morrowind with a magic moon (Ban Maalur, the Ministry of Truth).
Though the could abuse the same disregard for established lore which turned the jungle province of Cyrodiil into a boring English countryside and make the magic moon-nuking never happen.

I doubt they'd return to Morrowind, not for a long time, no matter what Morrowind fanboys may clamor for. They already gave the Morrowind fanboys enough with Dragonborn, in my opinion.

That said, on a related note, Todd Howard has said he'd like to revisit Daggerfall/High Rock sometime, but even I doubt he'd do it soon. Hammerfell is a distinct possibility for TES VI, in my opinion, though, and that was partially featured in Daggerfall as well as Redguard.

 

[Ajidica]

Have you tried some simpler needs mods instead maybe?

No, which do you recommend?
I'm still in a Civ4 mindset when it comes to mods - the concept that mods don't need to be merged to be useable together is still a novel concept for me.

How about Tropical Skyrim? (Or one of the lore-friendlier environment overhauls? Like right now I'm using the Spring Overhaul)

I'll have to wait until I get around to buying a new computer for that. My laptop can just barely handle Skyrim on low graphics and the lowest resolution.

EDIT: I seriously think the next TES game will take place in Hammerfall.
They haven't really done it before, it has been mentioned as being politically fractured, lore is pretty underdeveloped, the designers can have some fun with Arabesque designs and bright colors, and it is mentioned as being embroiled in a guerilla war with the Thalmor - something the Skyrim engine can handle passably.
So basically Skyrim 2.0: Now with less grey!

The only other provincial options short of revisiting a place are:
High Rock -> Maybe, but it runs the risk of feeling like an Oblivion style generic European fantasy land unless they really push the Celtic/Italian city states vibe.
Argonia -> It is a giant swamp, no thank you. Plus it is mentioned as being basically impassable to outsiders. The Dres Slave Hunters only go into the northern fringes and Imperial control at the best of times was a few port cities.
Valenwood -> Similar to Argonia, but with a giant forest. IIRC, lore says there are no cities, just giant moving trees.
Elsweyr -> The joke of Elsweyr being pronounced "Else-where' is going to get old really fast, and "walking on warm sands" will be the new "I spied a mudcrab". Plus I can't stand the Khajiit accent.
Summerset Isle-> DEATH TO THE THALMOR SCUM!!!!! I can't see Bethesda letting us loose in that yet. They have a good villain in the Thalmor and are going to milk it for all it has got.
~Orsinium? -> Too small, probably an expansion DLC a la Dragonborn for either High Rock or Hammerfall.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I have found that all TES games are more fun for me if I play multiple characters rather than the "one man to rule them all" style.

In Morrowind, the only interesting quest line is whatever you do first. If you are the Archmage having the fighter's guild send you to kill a couple rats is patently absurd. In Oblivion the absurdity is not really relieved by the fact that just because you are the archmage the fighters guild now sends their brand new apprentices to kill demons instead of rats. Skyrim isn't as absurd as Oblivion, but it is similar.

So I'll maybe play an elf of some sort with the intent of rising to the top of the Mages' Guild. Then maybe an Orc warrior who joins the Fighter's Guild and rises through the ranks. Then maybe some sort of Crusader who takes the full weight of the world on his shoulders and does the main quest. While every playthrough has some amount of "mysterious knowledge from previous lives" I find that the quests are usually interesting when played by an appropriate character, and there is enough new places revealed every time that it is still an exploration.