So, it's fairly apparent that many of us are chomping at the bit for all the new games that are (or may be) on their way to release.

While we wait for the production houses to catch up with our never waivering anticipation, I thought it might be fun to have a stickied topic for us to post what we are currently playing.

We all have our own tastes in Dark Side style games, a topic like this might open us up to games, genres and styles we may not have thought to try before.


When posting, let us know the game's name, genre, style and if you have any other useful information such as what's good and not so good about the game. Also, if you see a sale on a game you thought was awesome and is now available for a steal, go ahead and let us know, but include the aforementioned information.

I'll get things kicked off;

Shadowrun Returns
Based on the series released during the early to mid-90's, this cyber-punk fantasy RPG is an interesting mix of Blade Runneresque settings populated with characters that you would normally see in your usual fantasy based game or novel; Elves, Orcs, Dwarves and of course humans. Except this is a future Earth where cybernetic enhancements abound and magic is common. The game has a definite "Detective Noir" feel, so much so that I'm surprised that it doesn't open with, "It was a dark and stormy night..." although the intro narrative is very close. None of the dialogue is spoken, it's all related in a dialogue-box as you would find in earlier RPG's. The play style is turn-based, tactical and 3rd person isometric. The pace of the game is fairly easy due to it being turn-based, predominately point and click or menu driven. Character development allows you to hybrid specializations between melee, ranged weapons, computer hacking and magic. I haven't played long enough to offer any tips as I'm still learning the best way to go. I will say that if you do not prep and develop your character effectively, you could find yourself at an impasse. I had to restart several levels due to an poorly equipped and poorly leveled character. At one point I started the game over again in order to better direct my character's development. From what I understand the game is relatively short, so settling on a direction for your character's development theme is important. So far, I've found it a fun romp with decently written dialogue and interesting, if somewhat cliched quests. FOLLOW-UP after play: The game is quite linear and somewhat short, maybe 20 hours of gameplay and being linear replay value is limited due to the basic quests. The game had potential, but I think it's best purchased on sale in combination with the additional Dragonfall expansion.

The game currently sells for $15, which isn't bad, but I've seen it on sale for much less in combination with it's other two follow-ups on GOG.


Torment: Tides of Numenera
So, it's already obvious I'm playing the role of crash test dummy for this game along with many others who couldn't wait for the official release. For those who may have missed my repeated postings, it's in early release (translated means a beta with lots of bugs) The game is a Turn-based, story driven RPG with very little spoken dialogue, tons of amazingly well written narrative and quests based on the original Planescape: Torment and placed in that Universe. The anticipated release of the full game is sometime in Q1 of 2017. Due to the condition of that beta I can't get into too much detail about the pros vs. cons yet, but it is shaping up to be a wonderful old school RPG.

Right now:


Dishonored. This is my second play through.

A first person Sneaker with RPG elements set in a steam punk world. Great graphics, excellent missions, and a decent storyline.

This wonderful game is, in many ways, a successor to the Thief series in that it's possible, and quite possibly preferable, to play the whole game undetected. You can play it as a fighter, but with all of the wonderful abilities and supernatural powers you can gain as the game progresses, why would you? Chaos in the streets breeds more chaos, where a silent execution creates none. Your choice.

My only quibble is that it could be longer -- but that's a measure of how much I enjoy this game.


Dragon Age: Inquisition

My third run through this RPG. Lots of awesomeness -- definitely the successor to the Baldur's Gate series. I can see myself playing this one for more than a decade, as I did with the older Bioware classics.


Fallout 4

RPG. Yep, still playing it, though I've slowed down a bit. Mutants, big guns, and a huge world to explore and rebuild, topped off with a seriously good music score. What's not to like?

Hi everyone. I've been playing the Witcher 3 and Bloodborne on the PS4 for a few months, and I'm in love with them both! I haven't gotten very far in Bloodborne-I keep dying-lol-but I love it anyway. It's wonderfully dark and gothic-feeling with beautiful, if eerie graphics, and that's right up my alley! The combat isn't too hard for where I am in the game as long as it's one-on-one, but when the enemies attack in a group, I'm done for. I'm still at a very early part of the game because RL got very busy/crazy for several months so I didn't get to play as often as I wanted to, but things seem to be better now, so I'm hoping to get further and see what the next town and enemies are like!

The Witcher 3 is also gorgeous as far as the graphics go, and again, I'm still in an early part of the game because of RL stuff, but I am loving this game! It's beautiful, the story is intriguing, the combat is easy so far (but will get harder as I move deeper through the game, I'm sure!) and I now have a huge crush on Geralt, so I enjoy any amount of time I get to check him out while playing this game! lol! Whew!

I also started to replay Morrowind a few days ago because I found some wonderful mods that I'd never played before. These sites are amazing if anyone is interested : Morrowind Modding History and Great House Fliggerty. I have tons of new houses and other neat goodies this time around thanks to those sites. Plus, I found another amazing site with a mod called Uvirith’s Legacy, and it is huge! I've never seen a mod so chock-full of goodies! Quests, NPCs, beautiful new textures and meshes, companions, secret areas, special items, fast travel options, the list so far seems endless! I haven't played this mod yet, btw, but have been pouring over the mod author's site, drooling over it and am planning to download it tonight. The address is: http://stuporstar.sarahdimento.com/ and I'd love to hear if anyone has used the mod and what you thought of it!

Whew! Okay that's my list, looking forward to hearing what other games you all are playing! : )

Tracy

My current RPG is "Divinity Original Sin Enhanced Edition".

Good strong storyline, simple controls and excellent graphics.

I have to admit though that I'd never get through the game without the use of cheats.
My combat "wimpiness" is very evident with this one !!

It is however my favourite style of RPG .... Bows and arrows and magic

I’m currently replaying the isometric, action-RPG Dungeon Siege 2, this time with some mods, like ones that allow you to have a full 6-member party on your first playthrough, or get Level 100s on your first kills with weapons or magic, or make enemies always drop rare/unique/set items. But I re-bought the game from Steam for 7 bucks, and it turned out that this is a so-called “crippled” version that’s designed to be unfriendly to mods, so you have to get another mod that allows mods to be used---if you don’t, the game won’t be able to find your saves, which is a nasty surprise. But I’m really just replayin’ this to pass some time while waiting for an updated trainer for StarCrawlers, the early-access, first-person, sci-fi RPG with grid-based movement and turn-based combat, which I think is hoping for a retail release this fall. It’s pretty good, but I wanna max out all of their abilities with a working trainer before going any further in the game, because you can’t save during missions, nor can you back away from hostile encounters, nor can you abort a mission without failing it. I also wanna cheat in a bunch more credits (the money in the game) for medkits and equipable accessories and such, cuz the game doesn’t give you enough, and it’s best to avoid the tempting laptops and such that you can steal here and there, because, though they sell for more than other loot, the factions you’re stealing them from get mad at you and start sending hit squads after you, which gets to be a pain---in fact, I’m gonna start the game over, again, because of that.

Hey, I'm playing Dungeon Siege 2 as well. I started it about a year ago and dropped it for something else. It is hard to get into it again, especially with the punishing save system. The trek from the eastern jungle through the underground shelter and the caverns is very long and difficult. I nearly quit but tried again today and made it to the cavern teleport, where I could quit and shut the game down. I died many times, once within feet of the teleport. Hope I can make it to the next one.

You do not tell which edition you are playing. But in case it's not the Definitive Edition or you do not own any DLC's, I warmly recommend The Brigmore Witches and The Knife of Dunwall DLC's for you, together they almost double the game length of this great game. I can hardly wait Dishonored 2 to be published November 11th.

I'm currently playing Assassin's Creed III and it's interesting to play it right after Fallout 4 and see familiar places of Boston in their 18th century form.

Timo

Ah, great minds think alike, Pokey, but I hate to hear you’re having such a rough time of it. Don’t give up, cuz...well, you know, all the virtual people in that virtual world are counting on you to save them. Don’t forget...if you need it, like I do, you can just enter “+drlife” to make everyone in your party invincible, since, besides the punishing save system, there’s also punishing mobs and mini-bosses. Also, I think that underground shelter in the eastern jungle you mentioned is just for an optional side quest, and I’m skipping most of those in my replay. If you insist on doing everything in the game, though, you might want to refer to a walkthrough and some annotated maps, like the ones available here . Show those mini-bosses who's boss!

Thanks for the link. I like the maps. I haven't been able to find any good ones. I'll check out the walkthrough too. I may end up using some cheats.

Well, now you guys got me going. Just loaded up the first Dungeon Siege and am making my way through the forest now. Forgot how semi-relentless combat like that can be with the old school controls. Got to love that Kung Fu spinning pitch fork action though

As an FYI, not sure how many folks use Origin, but it's been ages since I fired up the browser. After starting it up today, found that the free game they were offering was NOX , which has similar game play. Not sure how long they'll have it available.

I remember NOX. I really liked it but was no good at it !!

The Elders Scroll: Skyrim which is a RPG. This time I have loaded it with different mods, so it is rather different from the Vanilla game. I just love the freedom of the game, to just run around and not really doing anything.

Caroline.

I have just finished The Witcher 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles (the latter took me over a year).

Currently playing Dragon Age 2 and Icewind Dale.

I have The Witcher 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition waiting in the wings

MMORPG: The Secret World
MM?: World of Tanks and World of Battleships
HitmanTM: episodic, but fun to play.
Various smaller games when I don't have the time to play for a few hours.

Oh, Pokey, I should’ve also mentioned...don’t know if you noticed, but there’s attack and defense automations you can turn on for your party members in the game’s options. I put these on, cuz almost all the attacks are mobs, and I like the easier, “much less real-time with pause” fights. Also, you know the Rampage/Mirror mode button at the bottom of the gameview screen? I keep them in Rampage mode, unless it’s a boss fight, so they just pick their own targets.

to GameBoomers, Jae.

You have a lot of good gaming to look forward to.

Looks like there is a higher percentage of Darkside players enjoying the more recent games compared to the ***similar thread in the Adventure Discussion forum***.

I'm not seeing any from the 1990's anyway.
Nox seems to be from 2000.

Sig,I haven't checked out the attack automations. I will because anything that makes it easier is good. I noticed the mirror and rampage, but read that mirror worked best most of the times. There is a lot I have to learn.

Had a funny incident when we exited the Azunite Shrine. When we left on the elevators, I didn't notice that my Ice Element missed it and and when we went out to the desert, the cheat quit and we were getting slaughtered. Then the scene shifted to the Ice Element one floor down. I had to call the elevator and he went down and then up the correct set of elevators, calling them each time. He finally met the rest of the group coming down, all alive. I was amazed that we all made it to the teleporter and safety.

That's because we're cutting edge here at the Darkside Jenny100 (says the guy who's had Morrowind loaded on every computer owned since it's release )

Yeah Pokey, those small elevators are annoying with a full party of 6, when one or two of ‘em don’t make it onto it. Gonna have to start takin’ roll calls after those rides, cuz it’s happened a couple times so far that I didn’t realize someone was left behind till their portrait was gettin’ foggy. Wish they were as good about gettin’ on those things as they are about boarding those jungle cable cart things in Tree Town, as I call it. Glad you made it to the next teleporter. Yeah, I tap the spacebar to pause it after any cutscene, so I can re-enter the “party invincibility” code, just to be on the safe side, but it’s such a simple code, I don’t mind. Yes, do try it with the attack and defend automations on---I think you’ll like it. About Rampage or Mirror mode, just see which you like better. For me, it’s Rampage for the most part, because, with one of the mods I’m using, they all got maxed out on their skills early, so they really...uh, go to town on any group of hostiles that’s foolish enough to attack us.

For anyone that has some difficulty in classifying the genre of the game they are playing and/or would like to recommend, Wikipedia has a decent entry on the aforementioned that helps to somewhat demystify the classifications.

List of Video Game Genres

Please remember to include this info along with a brief description of the game and any pro's, cons or helpful hints that come to mind.

Extended game play discussions though, should be done in a separate thread.

Thanks!

TM

I have all the DLC -- which I received after my first play through the game and so are Terra Incognito for me. Something new to enjoy next.

And BOY OH BOY am I looking forward to Dishonored 2, as well!

Cutting edge, indeed. Also arrows and clubs.

"Cutting edge, indeed. Also arrows and clubs."

I am now hampered in my choices by currently having only iMac and Xbox 360 as platforms, but Xim 4 (at TM's suggestion, for which many thanks) is letting me have better success in mastering some of the trickier final parts of games such as HalfLife 2 Episode 2 and Portal 2 on Xbox 360 (I hate thumbstick controllers!!) - not sure yet whether it may help in combat in a few other games including Witcher 2, Bioshock and Skyrim. Otherwise, I've gone a bit casual with such wonders as Samorost 3.

Hardly a day goes by that I don't play a map of Doom or Doom2.

Having finished Dishonored and all of the awesome DLC I hadn't played before, I've decided to:

1. Get back to that 4th Thief game, the one I abandoned partway through. Genre is Action.

2. Try something I've owned for years but never played, so I chose Risen 2. Genre: RPG.

I loved Risen2 Hagatha

Slightly different to the original Risen but my favourite of the three in the series

Hope I'm not breaking the "extended gameplay discussion bit"

Thank you Marian, great to be here among friendly like minded people

Well I have replayed KOTOR 1 and 2 and they never get old.

Now I found a deal on Fallout New Vegas (9.99 on Steam) and have gotten into the first couple of quests. Since I'm stepping back a little from Fallout 4 I wasn't expecting much but the game is enjoyable. It should provide several hours (days) of enjoyable questing. It's no Skyrim or Witcher 3 but then what is????

Too true

New Vegas is an enjoyable romp. I liked the old west parallels.

Well, I've started Shadowrun: Dragonfall, which is the expansion (although a stand-alone game) to Shadowrun (check the original topic post for details on game genre and style.) I intentionally don't read reviews on games I haven't played, so don't know if this one is as short as the base game. Since I got them during the GOG summer special, no real complaints, I like the gameplay, but the base game ended so quickly. I guess I'm too used to playing the bigger, epic RPG's as well.

After Dragonfall, I'm just going to stay with the series and delve into Shadowrun: Hong Kong. It's a tactical/strategy oriented RPG and the third in the series.

I was in the middle of New Vegas when we moved a while back, and never got back to it. I thought it was a wonderful game, actually. I think it'spartly the sound track, which is amazing (I mean come, on, who doesn't like Peggy Lee singing Do Right?) but there were some excellent moments generally, The only part I'm on the fence about is the actual New Vegas stuff, and that's where I was, and I forget who I was supporting. Still, I will get back to it.

As for the KOTORS, they remain among my favourites, too.

I just got to that part and am trying to figure it out right now. The song that sticks in my mind from the game is Dean Martin "Ain't That Kick in the Head"

And Thief 4 (Stealth Action) is turning out to be pretty darned good, too. As long as I don't constantly compare it to the originals, it's lots of fun -- though I miss the ability to climb anywhere I want.

Well, so I finished Shadowrun: Dragonfall and it was a decent offering, very much like the first with some improvements, but still very short. It probably took me about 20 hours or so. Finishing off the series with Shadowrun: Hong Kong and was pleasantly surprised by the opening. It feels more polished than the first two and seems to have more depth, at least the dialogue has quite a bit more content. I've heard it's also a shorter game, but so far I like the way they went with it. I feel like the development house, Harebrained Schemes (love the name ) should work out a bigger, more robust game set in their cyberpunk world. There's lots of possibilities, but I guess popping out the smaller Kickstarter games is currently keeping them in business.

Once again, after intentionally staying away from it for some time now, I got the Skyrim bug. Took me most of the night to re-download the main game, load all the mods I like (120 of them) and the get everything configured without crashes. I forgot that I haven't played since I got the big monitor and boy does it look good. So here we go again...

I love that name too, Trail. Have fun

So what are you going to do when Skyrim Remastered is released, Trail?

Actually, I'm hoping that it's an optional release. I'm afraid that the changes they've made may mess up existing mods. Also, not that I don't have faith in Bethesda, but I'll be surprised if the "remastered" version comes out looking any better than any of the other independent ENB's and atmospheric mods that are already out there. I had to tone down those mods to keep my frame rate at a good level, but a couple of them that I tried made the game look literally breath taking. I'm also running a couple high-res mesh mods that give a great deal of detail to most aspects of the game, so I'm really on the fence about this patch. I feel like they are just doing it to keep people thinking about the single player campaign version(s) of The Elder Scrolls since the next one is supposed to be so far off yet.

I guess we will get to find out in October.

Well, good on that release, since I intend to spend winter this year playing Skyrim -- from scratch (Steam will have my old saves, but I want to start again. No point in picking up a game I abandoned 4 years ago).

For those like me that enjoy picking up Skyrim now and again, there are two easy mods that I highly recommend if you haven't already used them. They are especially good if you would like an infusion of new content in the game. All of these can be loaded using the Nexus Mod Manager (NMM)


Interestnig NPC's

So this mild mannered sounding mod adds the following to the game:
250+ Voiced NPCs
50+ Quests
25+ Followers with Location Based Commentary
15+ Marriage NPCs
The NPC's have been voiced by over 80 very talented voice actors. Personally, I think this is one of the best mods out there due to the backstory, depth and variety it adds to the game. Be patient while this one is loading, it takes a decent amount of time.

Cutting Room Floor by Arthmoor

So, pretty much anything by Arthmoor is going to be good. He's been instrumental in the Unofficial Patches and a ton of other content, a very talented developer. This particular mod pulls in and completes content that Bethesda never added into the game for one reason or another. It's not a huge mod, but it does add to the continuity of the game by filling in some missing pieces.

Of course there are tons of aesthetic mods and mods that add quest content, but I really like using the combination of these two mods in particular along with all the others. They really help to make the game seem much fuller.

I can't remember how to download/install the mods, so when the time comes I'll be looking for advice. These 2 mods seem great, and of course I'll want the divorce mod so I can checkout all of the beefcake in the game.

Thanks for the info Trail. I just happened to start Skyrim again for the umpteenth time and saw your post. I have installed the interesting NPC's and all went well although I have no idea how to find whatever the mod has to offer.

I tried to install the cutting room mod and my game crashed to desktop when I tried to start it up. I did have all the prerequisites for the mod, in fact, I even purchased Hearthfire just to be sure. Fortunately I have learned from past experience to back up my Data Folder prior to installing mods so it wasn't a complete disaster.

Be forwarned folks that it's pretty much a must to back up your data folder before installing mods.
If you're not sure how to do that I'm sure Trail can walk you through it.

I'll take that into consideration, too. Thanks for the tip.

Sorry to hear about your crash, thus is the way of things with mods. In some cases, loading a new mod with an existing game can cause issues. I usually start a new game if I'm loading larger mods. If you are running a game while loading mods, it sometimes help to load up a save, re-save it with the mod, close and restart. That can alleviate some loading issues. It's also good to make a specific save prior to loading the mod (if you are mid-game.) I'll make a named save by using the console and the "save" command called "Before_[insert mod name]_load" and keep that in case I have a crazy issue sometime along the road. Then if I have to uninstall the mod I'll re-start with that save.

Also, while not perfect, it's a good idea to use a load order generator. The preferred one at the moment is LOOT: The Load Order Optimization Tool This is especially true if you are running a number of mods. Mods not loaded in the correct order will almost always cause issues.

Also, if you are using NMM (Nexus mod manager) and I recommend that you do, it tracks your mod files and can cleanly uninstall or reinstall mods as needed. Not to sound like I endorse running with scissors , but since I've been using NMM I've rarely backed up my data folder and commonly run over 100 mods. I've only come across a couple of save game "fatalities."

As far as Interesting NPC's goes, you'll come across a large number of new NPC's, all of which have detailed backstories, possible quests and some can be companions. Basically, if you see someone you've never come across before just start talking to them. I ended up getting into an argument with a group of Justicars leading a Wood Elf prisoner. It ended the usual way, but in this case the prisoner thanked me and turned out to be one of the Interesting NPC's. He's a bard from Valenwood, with some great dialogue and a potential follower. The quests you come across are more along the lines of the Radiant quests (semi random.) If you go to the Mages University in Winterhold you'll also come across a number of new characters. I've also randomly run into new NPC's while traveling the road.

I finished Thief, and it was amost good, but not quite. I enjoyed it well enough, I guess. I thought I might replay some of the missions to see if I could improve my score, but soon decided I didn't really care whether I found those last bits of loot in the Bank -- though I did manage to ghost the level.

Right now I'm downloading Bioshock 2. I loved the first one, so hopefully this one won't disappoint.

I saw this thread as I've been googling and you-tubing for several days for info on Skyrim. Info on the net is indeed intimidating! I am very interested as many posts on the net suggest Skyrim for a beginner/first timer. But the many posts on Steam about problems and crashes are worrisome. I've never heard of Nexus before, I don't know what on earth mods are (and am concerned that many of those glitches and crashes posts are because folks are messing about with mods and causing problems with their game). The game seems to be the pinnacle for many RPG players.

I've always been rubbish with anything involving action but a friend who has nearly 1000 hours in this game assures me that 'very easy' mode is doable. I've never played a RPG before but would really like to try one. I bought a new laptop so I could play Obduction with its high specs since my Win7 was becoming problematic, so that should help. The posts on steam about mods and setting up win 10 to play this game nearly frightened me away as I'm not a very tech savvy person. I did notice the part about getting the extras so the new version in October will be available and was considering that option. Do you think that a {cough} older lady with eyesight and slow reflexes matching her years could play this game without pulling her hair out and throwing the laptop out the window?

LadyCav, I am and was able to play it when it first came out. I didn't play it on Windows 10 so can't tell you about the set up. I played without mods as I'm always afraid I'll crash my computer with them.

Lady Cav, the lovely thing about the open world Elder Scrolls games, including Skyrim, is that you go at your own pace. You can sneak around killing easy, low-level foes, gaining experience and leveling up, or do easy quests, until you feel ready for bigger challenges. And you character WILL level up fast just by roaming around in areas that aren't too challenging.

I love Skyrim (and Oblivion, and Morrowind). All wonderful games, and yes, me too, older lady with eyesight issues -- though my years of playing computer games have given me the reflexes of a cat!

Thank you both very much for your replies! I'll do some more reading and researching for a few days, but I'm leaning towards giving it a try! Your responses have been a big help.

LadyCav, here are a some links that may help you run Skyrim on Windows 10:

Posting from Bethesda Support: What do I do if The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is crashing on my Windows 10 machine?

A Steam User assembled Guide: Windows 10 Settings for Skyrim

Then of course the running post on our own Glitches, Bugs & Patches forum: Windows 10 and Games


Don't worry about mods from the onset. Later, when you have more experience in the game and have played through most of the quests you can explore that aspect to add more content to the game.

Skyrim is a huge sandbox style game, meaning that it is an open environment allowing you to go where ever and do pretty much anything you want. In the beginning, your best bet is to explore around where your game begins. Foes will generally become more difficult the further out you go. Also, don't get too caught up in the main quest. It's almost better to run little quests here and there first to build your character up. There are several major quests that lead you through different story lines outside of the main quest that you can run as well. Most are tailored to a specific style of character such as the Thieve's Guild is suited for a rogue or well, thief. There is also a quest to develop a very strong mage (wizard) and another that's geared towards a warrior type. Again though, because of the open environment, just because these are directed towards a specific character type doesn't mean that a warrior can't do mage quests or a thief run warrior quests. It's all up to you and what challenges you'd like to try.

Also, because the game is non-linear, just because a quest points you towards a certain task, doesn't mean you have to do it right away. Take your time, it's just a game. Having your character die is part of playing RPG's, you learn from the experience, load your saved game and keep moving on. If you hit an enemy that you can't take down, then run away or load the save game prior to the fight and avoid the area. I've got nearly 5000 hours logged in Skyrim and have lost count how many times my character was downed in battle at the last moment, that's actually part of fun. You just have to laugh and either try again or work to improve your character for later encounters.

On the subject of save games. Everyone does things differently, this is just my general way of doing it. I prefer to save one game at character creation in case I find I'm not happy with the direction I'm moving. Then, through the game, I keep 3-4 rotating saves that allow me to go back to a point of my preference if something isn't working out. There is also a setting in the game that allows you to have Auto-saves kept every 5, 10 or 15 minutes. It will only keep 2-3 autosaves available, so it's best to do your own when entering "iffy" situations or trying something that you aren't sure about. Once you start playing we can introduce you to the console which is a Developer access to the game. It allows you to enter some handy-dandy codes in case you run into trouble.

Why, thank you Trail_Mystic! I'm sure those links will be very helpful when I read them tomorrow. And thanks for the info about the quests - I haven't read much about the beginning or any walkthroughs yet. One friend suggested to just dive in, play for a while and if you think you've made too many errors or regret your decisions, just start a new game with a new or different character.

Thanks also for the info on saves and what to do when you die. That is helpful as that is what I am apprehensive about. I'm not quite sure what you mean about several rotating saves as it seems opening a previous save would cancel out your progress, but I'm sure I'll figure it out once I get my feet wet. I'll leave the mods alone for now since I don't know what I'm doing. That's very helpful info on the side quests - thank you. Gosh, you have a LOT of hours in the game! I'll do some more research, look at the wiki or a few vids, but I think y'all's kind encouragement have just about got me sold on the game. Thanks very much for taking the time to answer with such an informative reply.

Hagatha and Trail_Mystic -- those numbers are mind-boggling to me. Is this one game or several re-plays?

Aside from my obsessive/compulsive disorder related to Elder Scrolls games, mine is due to an uncounted number of replays.

So, first off the game has a ton of small and medium sized quests that take you through a sizable landscape worthy of exploration. Secondly, I'm an old Pen and Paper gamer (Dungeons & Dragons) and am fairly obsessed with trying every permutation of every character build I can to see how they will perform and also if there are differences in the dialogue or how the quests will play out. It's not uncommon for me to play a character to a fairly high-level and then abandon it to try a different variation just because I can. Then there are mods, lots and lots of mods. Some add new dialogue, quests and characters and some introduce new weapons, armor or stat variations, which mean, you guessed it. I have to try all those character variations all over again *twitch, twitch, random noise, drool*

Truthfully, a really big contributor was my past job. I had to be available outside of my usual working hours through many evening and weekend system changes. A large part of that was watching and waiting. So, since I'm at home sitting on my computer, well you get the drift.

Well, that makes sense. I can imagine that I might make a lot of mistakes and who knows what and end up starting over again several times till I get the hang of things. And if you have the time and you enjoy the game, what better way to pass the time. Thanks very much for the explanation. I'll probably be ready to buy the game this weekend. Wish me luck.

You're in for a treat.

A whole new world awaits you. Have fun. And there are certainly folks here who can answer any questions you might have, as you know.

Hm. Now I want to fire up Skyrim. Maybe once I'm done with Bioshock 2 I'll start it up.

Bioshock 2 is not as intricate as the first one, but it's still pretty good. Ijust can't help wondering, though, why my Big Daddy Delta gets his butt kicked so thoroughly all the time. Aren't Big Daddies supposed to be near invulnerable? Or do I just ?

Well "Big Daddy" sure sounds like he should be invulnerable, but maybe they are just trying to lull you into a false sense of complacency

The one thing about ioshock 2 is that enemies mob you, and I find the controls to be a bit awkward. Changing abilities (spells) in mid-fight is almost impossible, and it's very easy to end up shooting people with the wrong ammo if you run out of something mid-battle; I often find that the reason the enemies aren't dying is my mistaken switching to trap rivets instead of anti-personnel rivets (this is the equivalent of the lock-pick stab in the original 2 Thief games) or I end up trying to switch to my machine gun and instead end up killing myself by launching a grenade at a close-range enemy.

So...Skyrim it is, next time.

...."or I end up trying to switch to my machine gun and instead end up killing myself by launching a grenade at a close-range enemy."

Without doubt something I would do !!!!

Hagatha, I used to try to play Halo with my son and spent a lot of time shooting my feet

If there was an achievement in Halo for getting stuck by your own sticky grenades I would have the gold-filled platinum one.

I have to say, though, those little Bioshock girls I'm protecting are waaaaaaay creepier than the creepy nutjobs running around Rapture.

Upon seeing an enemy burning, "Ooooh, marshmallows."

Upon seeing an enemy being attacked (by Big Daddy), "Unzip him, Daddy."

But all in all, a wonderfully twisted world with excellent visuals and addictive gameplay.

Is Skyrim available for PC that does not require Steam?

No, it requires files that are loaded through the Steam client.

Well, finished Shadowrun: Dragonfall and it was a good turn-based, dialogue driven game. As mentioned previously the Shadowrun games provide around 20 hours or so of game play each. So, picking up the group of them when they are on special is suggested to get the best bang for your buck. I have to agree with other reviewers on the Interwebs, it feels like they expanded the dialogue in order to lengthen game play one this one. I am all for a good depthy backstory and have absolutely no issues with story-driven games, but there was some fairly apparent filler that could have been dropped in favor of a couple additional quests. Still a good game for those who enjoy the cyberpunk atmosphere and turn-based/strategy game play.

Other than my running Skyrim obsession, I'm Picking up "Darksiders" again - For those who haven't looked into it, the game is set in the "End Times." Your character is War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which is about as OP as you can get There is something else going on in ethereal politics that reduces your power and requires you to determine what has happened to bring about these events, while working to regain your former strength. The voicing and dialogue is great, Mark Hamill even lends his skills to one of the characters. Gameplay is hack & slash and shows it's console origins by promoting button mashing, special moves at some point. Admittedly, I needed dial down the difficulty level a couple times to make it through some timed sequences. The graphics are great and some of the characters are nearly artworks. Character and skill development is less than intuitive though and had me searching the web for pointers quite a bit. Other than that it's a decent romp.

Right. Well, I'm almost finished with Bioshock 2, and Skyrim and its newly-purchased DLC are downloaded and ready to go.

My original game saves are all still there, but it seems silly to begin there, snce I can only remember a few things -- actually, quite a few things but nothing regarding the main story line, which I barely started -- so I'll start a new game.

Maybe I'll check out some mods, too.


EDIT: Question for TrailMystic: My existing game of Skyrim contains one or two mods from 4 years ago. These mods worked perfectly and my game ran beautifully. I didn't have to download a mod manager at that time, I'm fairly certain.

I would like to add the mods you suggested above. Do I just download the Nexus manager and then install the mods? Am I going to have problems given that my game already has a few small mods installed?

If a clean install is preferred, how do I go about it? Steam of course, just downloaded my game as it was 4 years ago.

I'd like to use some of the larger mods, but frankly a problem-free game is more important.

Apologies for the size of this reply Hagatha, I started thinking about the fact that there maybe a number of other players who don't have experience with mods and decided to hit several caveats in this post. I'm typing this a bit fast because I'm at work, so hopefully it's not too confusing. I'm thinking that I should maybe revise and expand this into a kind of "Trail's Skyrim Mod Guide" and make it a sticky for later use. You really shouldn't hit issues if you're only running a few mods, have all the pre-req's and start with a clean game (by clean game I don't mean re-installing Skyrim, I mean just starting a new game) - So, don't be put off by the amount of info I'm relating. Some of the stuff I cover are kind of "preemptive strikes" against potential issues when running really big mods or a larger volume of them.

I'm guessing you used mods from the Steam workshop? If you are still subscribed to those mods and they are still active on the Workshop then they should still be in your Data files. Personally, when loading larger mods like the Interesting NPC's I would go with a new game, but you don't need to reinstall Skyrim unless you hit some major issues. For mods from the Nexus, I would recommend using the newest stable version of Nexus Mod Manager . While it does occasionally have it's idiosyncrasies, I find it the easiest to use. Also, the majority of mod makers on the Nexus use the Best Practice Standards adopted for the Nexus Mod Manager, which makes for more consistent downloads and file usage. NMM also has a feature that you run manually, which indicates if the mod has been updated. In some cases though, it may just be that the mod author has loaded an optional file as a patch for another mod. I usually don't update mods during a single play through. My philosophy has been, if I can find the mod on the Nexus I'll use that rather than the Steam Workshop because the authors seem to update their mods more regularly there.

If you're planning on running mods from both the Workshop and Nexus I would also suggest downloading and running LOOT to manage the load order.

Personally, I have a number of mods through both the Steam Workshop (because they are not available on the Nexus) and about a hundred through the Nexus Mod Manager. I do have CTD's about once every three playing sessions if they are over 2-3 hours in length each, but it's usually attributed to Skyrim's less than optimized use of memory. That same inherent "feature" of Skyrim is also the cause of the "infinite loading screen" which can occasionally occur when running larger mods through the Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) I know a couple of workarounds for that, so if you ever hit it let me know (or I can put them in the aforementioned guide if I ever get around to writing it )


Always check the mods prerequisites - Something I'm assuming (and maybe I shouldn't do that) is that most mod users have loaded the Unofficial Patches. Those are usually a pre-req for the larger mods and are required for Arthmoors "Cutting Room Floor mod."

Just recently, as of July of this year, Arthmoor revamped the patches into the Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Patch This is a combined patch that hits Skyrim and all the DLC. The caveat of course is that you must have all the DLC loaded in order for it to work right. If not you'll have to go with the older, individual patches which he is no longer supporting. That shouldn't be a big deal though because they were quite stable and actually several of his mods can be run with the older versions including Cutting Room Floor.

At any rate, many of the larger more popular mods have modified their files to accommodate the legendary patch. So, if you aren't running that patch and it's required by the mod then you'll need to uninstall the older patches, install the legendary and then download/install your mods.

If you want to get into the really big mods that require the installation of SKSE, I would highly recommend using Gopher's method to loading SKSE with NMM His instructions are a few years old, but are still the best out there and apply to the current structures.

Another good utility to use is when you plan on running the really big or complex mods is the TES5Edit to Clean Your Master Files(another instructional vid by Gopher.) This is because Bethesda's developers didn't take into account potential file conflicts with mods when building Skyrim and left in a bunch of garbage files. Gopher's process is good to do even if you just plan on running average sized mods just as a precaution.

Also, when running larger mods, I suggest that you tweak the Auto-Save function to every 5 minutes. That way if you do have a crash it's not as much of an impact (pun intended )

Thanks, Trail, that's great info

Sooo. I have no patches installed, or at least certainly no unofficial patches. I just bought and (I think) installed all of the available DLC (I'll check after this).

It sounds to me as though I should: Install the Unofficial Legendary Patch, and then the Nexus Mod Manager. I'd just not use any more mods from the Steam workshop.

And then as an added precuation, the tessEDIT.

Are these autoinstall, or do I need to futz around with stuff? It's going to be raining tomorrow, so I'll some time.

And yes, I'd start a new game.

You'll want to install Nexus Mod Manager first, because you can use that to install the Unofficial Patch. There is some futzing with TES5Edit and NMM, but it's fairly simple. Now, I might have these steps mixed up a bit, but it won't matter because the NMM install wizard will walk you through the proces. With NMM it will search your system for games for which it can manage mods. It will detect all the Elder Scrolls games, the Bethesda versions of Fallout and the Dragon Age games as well as several others. Just click the check marks after it does it's search if the locations it displays for the game files looks right. Then it will ask you where it should store mods and the extracted files. I would go with the default locations unless you have a specific disk you want them located on. Once that's all done, it will also detect any files you're using through the Steam Workshop. Those will be located in the Plugins tab.

Next install TES5Edit and run the Master File cleaning process that Gopher walks you through at the link I posted in my previous comment.

Here's an installation vid on TES5Edit.. You can stop watching at the 2:05 mark because he goes into installing the utility into Mod Organizer, which is different from NMM. TES5Edit is downloaded in a zipped file that you can extract using something like 7zip or WinRAR Once you've installed TES5Edit, you can either make a shortcut of the .exe file and drop it in your start menu or task bar, or you can go through the steps to have it listed in the NMM utilities drop-down. I just run it from a shortcut in my start menu because I don't always need to have NMM open when cleaning the master files. Also, you only need to clean the master files after installing or reinstalling the game. It doesn't need to be done prior to every mod activation.

After that, then you can download and install the Legendary patch and any others you would like. I would still install LOOT, a good load order, even with a few mods won't hurt.

Okay, I think I'll be ready to try this later tomorrow.

Thanks for the great info. The rainy season is coming. Last year it was Fallout 4; this year it'll be Skyrim.


EDIT: So I'm guessing I should get the premium NMM membership? Seems like it would be worth it.


EDIt again: And oh, shoot, the TESSedit stuff seems beyond me. For a start, I don't have a file extractor since this laptop is strictly for games.

Well, you could skip the TES5Edit and maybe try it later if you have issues. As for a file extractor you can down load 7zip for free. It's fairly easy to use because it adds selections into your right-click menus (i.e. when you right click on a zip file it will have the selection "Extract Here")

Okay, 7Zip it is.

I've just started a game with a Wood Elf Thief, aiming for mega-archery skills and the usual taffing stuff, with some magic later on to beef up the power.

It's amazing how much I remember now. Feels just like going home. Actually. all of the ES games feel like going home -- especially Morrowind.

A little later today I'll watch Gopher's video again and see if I can summarize the TES5Edit install and usage instructions. I forgot that while he gives excellent directions, he tends to be quite wordy and go off on tangents, which can be confusing.

Well, so far so good. My original mod downloads are apparently still there, or at least listed, and I now have Cutting Room FLoor installed.

Time to go adventuring! Only this time I'll try to remember that there is actually a Main Quest.

EDIT: And I had forgotten just how beautiful the Skyrim music is. Reminds me very much of Howard Shore's soundtrack for LOTR.

Cool, I'm glad it's going well.

I'll install the Interesting NPC's too. And I'm cruising through the Nexus mods for some neat stuff. Some of the castles look great.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the follower functions for Interesting NPC's conflicts with the mod AFT:Amazing Follower Tweaks, which is too bad. I really like AFT and it still works well with most followers, until you try to dismiss them permanently - they basically stalk you I had to Disable one of the NPC's because the dialogue to dismiss her disappeared once I did it the first time, but she never stopped following. Also, some of the new quests that pop up may have an issue with the compass/map marker. It doesn't happen all the time, but when you have already visited a spot, even though the quest directs you back to it, the compass arrow won't show up, so you'll have to re-locate it on the map. So far those are the only quirks I've found with these.



Also, my apologies for filling up this topic with Skyrim mod posts.

It's really meant for folks to post what they are playing. Unfortunately, I can't move individual replies, so I'm going to copy/paste my longer posting to another topic dealing with Skyrim mods so we can get this one back on track.