Ok GAF, i'm converted.
But first you need to see why i'm converted. It's a bit long but stay with me.
I've been bashing Skyrim for a long time and hated Oblivion preaty much for same reason. Dialogs are crap, story is crap (teh draguns), malee combat is stupid, game is unbalanced and level scaling don't work well (hate general idea of scaling enemies) and loot scaling is most hated thing ever, completly killing any sence of doing any Caves and Forts.
As i played Morrowind for many many hours and i loved idea o free exploration world. But the most important thing about morrowind was that it taught you how to behave in Morrowind world and gave you sence of exploration. Not in sence of "look here is the quest marker" but actual real exploration. You must look all around you for caves and places. If you found underwater cave you need waterbreathing pontion because most of cave was in water not tiny bit like Oblivion or Skyrim. When you met ghost you would need magical weapon to even kill it.
Same with quests. They gave you line in Journal where you need to go and how to get there but actual quest was completly in your hands. There was no "Quest Mark" to hold your hand. Objective on minimap was not poiting directly to it. And minimap wasn't complete map. Things would appear on map only if you discover something. If you had to find somebody you actually would need to serch for him in city and learn where he stays or lives. Because you had to find him you explored city bantered with random people and probably done other things beside it.
And my favorite thing about it was that it didn't have any fast travel. If you forgot about something from city you need to actualy go there on foot good 10 minutes. And this probably would be "bad" for most people and it wasn't "nice" thing for me. But Morrowind as i said taught Player. If you want to go for Quest you need to prepare for it. You must think what you need for quest and scrap all needless stuff to have place for other new things. focus on stuff you really need. And it was the same if you discovered new loot. You chearypicked only good stuff because you knowed that taking all stuff from "cave" was imposibble because you need to walk to nearest shop like 10 minutes. So both ways would be 20 and 3 turns would be 60 minutes just for few coins. So if you wanted to be rich you would need to focus only on good stuff.
It also gave you even more sence of exploration and gave you feeling how big world actually is. You knowed that going from one city to another was mayor task so you changed place only if you really needed to. Between your on foot journeys to diffrent places you found new things. You found new mini towns, shops, some houses. And probably you would meanwhile do some quest for someone.
Morrowind celebrated what Elder Scrolls was all about. Free open world for you to explore it.
Now when Oblivion hit first i was amazed because how world was amazing (tech speaking) and how big game was. 1000 of NPCs and many other things gave it grand scale.
But then i discovered that i didn't actualy need to go there on foot i can fast travel.
I stopped searching my surroundings because compas gave me marks on any cave, mine or anything.
I stopped to learn what i have to do and i started only to fallow quest mark.
I stopped preparing between my journeys because i didn't need to. I could go from quest place to shop in 1 minute and go back in another 1 minute.
I started to loot anything from the same reason as stated above.
I sterted to see thieves using high end loot to steal 100 coins from me.
My sence of progress wasn't progressing because Mob level scaled for me.
I stopped exploring world because i focused on doing one after another quests by "quest mark help"
I actually started to do only main quest to see game ending.
After i saw this "stupid" ending i started to hate it.
Game after ending felt like work not fun meanwhile Morrowind gave you sence of exitment from exploration. Like "OMG there is this Vampire he one shot me anytime i need to run ! or go back here when i will be stronger."
So now to Skyrim. After Oblivion fiasco I was biased. And since i started game i go through exactly the same thing as Oblivion only to hate Skyrim because it didn't improve things but in some parts it made it even worse (especialy with "improved" Quest markers) and fallowers who would be your mules for even more lootwhoring. It improved in some places mainly storytelling and dialogs. But still it is/was not good. I didn't even reached ending i quickly burned after pilgrimage to high Hrothgar. (Of courze i've done a lot of sidequests before it) after 30h i said. WTF i'm doing. IT's like work.
I rage uninstall game and forgot it.
Then one time i installed Morrowind to play for few hours (nostalgia time) and that was reason of 1st part of this post. So i gathered what was the best in Morrowind and i thought how it would be awasome to tailor Skyrim to Morrowind game mechanics.
As i was already modding Oblivion in past Skyrim wasn't problem for me. So I searched for only things i needed to replicate best of Morrowind gamemechanics.
So "No fast travel", "No Quest Marks", "Better Quest Details", "Better Horses*"
* - Horses can fallow you when you are on foot, they have small lore friendly backpack
Those 4 mods changed completly game and gamemechanics in Skyrim. Since i only had 30h of experience i haven't seen much of skyrim world. So I have not memorized most of places.
I choose expert as i felt game was rather easy in some parts ealrier. And i started archer/thief build with touch of alchemy and illusion. Because i wanted to srap malee fights since those were poorly done.
And here is my actual progress:
After doing starting quests (after killing first dragon outside of whiterun) i decided to help with family sword from Whiterun dude. nothing really changed from normal playthrought by that point.
After i got back i decided to fallow main quest. So i have gone to High Hrothgar.
And from here diffrent thing changed. Normally i would go to Riften and from there directly to Ivarsteed. But because i didn't use fast travel and bought a horse i gone there directly from north side of mountain. Also as i bought horse you would think probably: "he is cheating".
Well you will be suprized. I decided to go for hardcore roleplaying, i started to "role play" what would i do if i would be this dude. Would i be using warp speed of my horse ? Why ? I don't really need to be done fast so i started to using my horse walking mode ALL TIME.
So my journey to Ivarsteed was about 1,5h long. Not because i only walked but because i was doing what i was doing in Morrowind i was looking all aroud for caves, buildings, Animals.
Thanks to "no fast travel" i gathered from bandit camp only 2 neckles and one bow and leave dead enemies with their armor on and few of them alive since i didn't need their armor to sell.
When i encountered bear i used my horse warp speed mode and run. Thanks to this slow pace i gathered few noticable things for my potions. I encountered fight between Giant and dragon. After Giant killed dragon i absorbed soul and took bones.
I noiced some cave as i was crusing on my horse i searched it to discover some necromany dudes who were keeping forest monster. I freed him and he killed all of them. I found in that cave staff of paralysis. (not in chest) that will definetly help me sometime in future.
Somebody tried to kill me from Dark brotherhood. In meantime when Staff of Paralysis worked i run fast on my horse to bridge.
After few minutes i encountered farm with girl who needed some berries. Because i didn't use any fast travel i took time on that farm and heard a lot of worthwile dialog between farm people. Helped with some food gathering in garden and chopped some wood. Found 2 gems near farm. Helped defend farm people from bear attack with riften guard. Staff of paralysis and new bow with enchanting worked well.
After i gone from this farm i took me 15 minutes to reach Ivarsteed inbetween i had one more fight with pack of wolfes.
No quest markers no fast traveling gave me 1,5h of fun game where i focused on exploration of surroundings, and as i cleared 3 places i earned some gold, took 4 worthwhile items. And still i didn't have to sell anything or i could sell since Ivarsteed didn't have shop and i had toon of place in my backpack. I don't like shiny armor so i mainly walk in normal clothes only with bow on my back.
10-20 hours later i have house in Riften wich is actually usefull this time. I have a blast playing it.
Since i don't fast travel anymore i can find places like this not because they are marken on compas but because o saw it from far and i thought "it would be fun to look there, maybe there will be something interesting there":
If Betsheda will again release TES6 i will use mods like those from day 1 or 2 .
But first you need to see why i'm converted. It's a bit long but stay with me.
I've been bashing Skyrim for a long time and hated Oblivion preaty much for same reason. Dialogs are crap, story is crap (teh draguns), malee combat is stupid, game is unbalanced and level scaling don't work well (hate general idea of scaling enemies) and loot scaling is most hated thing ever, completly killing any sence of doing any Caves and Forts.
As i played Morrowind for many many hours and i loved idea o free exploration world. But the most important thing about morrowind was that it taught you how to behave in Morrowind world and gave you sence of exploration. Not in sence of "look here is the quest marker" but actual real exploration. You must look all around you for caves and places. If you found underwater cave you need waterbreathing pontion because most of cave was in water not tiny bit like Oblivion or Skyrim. When you met ghost you would need magical weapon to even kill it.
Same with quests. They gave you line in Journal where you need to go and how to get there but actual quest was completly in your hands. There was no "Quest Mark" to hold your hand. Objective on minimap was not poiting directly to it. And minimap wasn't complete map. Things would appear on map only if you discover something. If you had to find somebody you actually would need to serch for him in city and learn where he stays or lives. Because you had to find him you explored city bantered with random people and probably done other things beside it.
And my favorite thing about it was that it didn't have any fast travel. If you forgot about something from city you need to actualy go there on foot good 10 minutes. And this probably would be "bad" for most people and it wasn't "nice" thing for me. But Morrowind as i said taught Player. If you want to go for Quest you need to prepare for it. You must think what you need for quest and scrap all needless stuff to have place for other new things. focus on stuff you really need. And it was the same if you discovered new loot. You chearypicked only good stuff because you knowed that taking all stuff from "cave" was imposibble because you need to walk to nearest shop like 10 minutes. So both ways would be 20 and 3 turns would be 60 minutes just for few coins. So if you wanted to be rich you would need to focus only on good stuff.
It also gave you even more sence of exploration and gave you feeling how big world actually is. You knowed that going from one city to another was mayor task so you changed place only if you really needed to. Between your on foot journeys to diffrent places you found new things. You found new mini towns, shops, some houses. And probably you would meanwhile do some quest for someone.
Morrowind celebrated what Elder Scrolls was all about. Free open world for you to explore it.
Now when Oblivion hit first i was amazed because how world was amazing (tech speaking) and how big game was. 1000 of NPCs and many other things gave it grand scale.
But then i discovered that i didn't actualy need to go there on foot i can fast travel.
I stopped searching my surroundings because compas gave me marks on any cave, mine or anything.
I stopped to learn what i have to do and i started only to fallow quest mark.
I stopped preparing between my journeys because i didn't need to. I could go from quest place to shop in 1 minute and go back in another 1 minute.
I started to loot anything from the same reason as stated above.
I sterted to see thieves using high end loot to steal 100 coins from me.
My sence of progress wasn't progressing because Mob level scaled for me.
I stopped exploring world because i focused on doing one after another quests by "quest mark help"
I actually started to do only main quest to see game ending.
After i saw this "stupid" ending i started to hate it.
Game after ending felt like work not fun meanwhile Morrowind gave you sence of exitment from exploration. Like "OMG there is this Vampire he one shot me anytime i need to run ! or go back here when i will be stronger."
So now to Skyrim. After Oblivion fiasco I was biased. And since i started game i go through exactly the same thing as Oblivion only to hate Skyrim because it didn't improve things but in some parts it made it even worse (especialy with "improved" Quest markers) and fallowers who would be your mules for even more lootwhoring. It improved in some places mainly storytelling and dialogs. But still it is/was not good. I didn't even reached ending i quickly burned after pilgrimage to high Hrothgar. (Of courze i've done a lot of sidequests before it) after 30h i said. WTF i'm doing. IT's like work.
I rage uninstall game and forgot it.
Then one time i installed Morrowind to play for few hours (nostalgia time) and that was reason of 1st part of this post. So i gathered what was the best in Morrowind and i thought how it would be awasome to tailor Skyrim to Morrowind game mechanics.
As i was already modding Oblivion in past Skyrim wasn't problem for me. So I searched for only things i needed to replicate best of Morrowind gamemechanics.
So "No fast travel", "No Quest Marks", "Better Quest Details", "Better Horses*"
* - Horses can fallow you when you are on foot, they have small lore friendly backpack
Those 4 mods changed completly game and gamemechanics in Skyrim. Since i only had 30h of experience i haven't seen much of skyrim world. So I have not memorized most of places.
I choose expert as i felt game was rather easy in some parts ealrier. And i started archer/thief build with touch of alchemy and illusion. Because i wanted to srap malee fights since those were poorly done.
And here is my actual progress:
After doing starting quests (after killing first dragon outside of whiterun) i decided to help with family sword from Whiterun dude. nothing really changed from normal playthrought by that point.
After i got back i decided to fallow main quest. So i have gone to High Hrothgar.
And from here diffrent thing changed. Normally i would go to Riften and from there directly to Ivarsteed. But because i didn't use fast travel and bought a horse i gone there directly from north side of mountain. Also as i bought horse you would think probably: "he is cheating".
Well you will be suprized. I decided to go for hardcore roleplaying, i started to "role play" what would i do if i would be this dude. Would i be using warp speed of my horse ? Why ? I don't really need to be done fast so i started to using my horse walking mode ALL TIME.
So my journey to Ivarsteed was about 1,5h long. Not because i only walked but because i was doing what i was doing in Morrowind i was looking all aroud for caves, buildings, Animals.
Thanks to "no fast travel" i gathered from bandit camp only 2 neckles and one bow and leave dead enemies with their armor on and few of them alive since i didn't need their armor to sell.
When i encountered bear i used my horse warp speed mode and run. Thanks to this slow pace i gathered few noticable things for my potions. I encountered fight between Giant and dragon. After Giant killed dragon i absorbed soul and took bones.
I noiced some cave as i was crusing on my horse i searched it to discover some necromany dudes who were keeping forest monster. I freed him and he killed all of them. I found in that cave staff of paralysis. (not in chest) that will definetly help me sometime in future.
Somebody tried to kill me from Dark brotherhood. In meantime when Staff of Paralysis worked i run fast on my horse to bridge.
After few minutes i encountered farm with girl who needed some berries. Because i didn't use any fast travel i took time on that farm and heard a lot of worthwile dialog between farm people. Helped with some food gathering in garden and chopped some wood. Found 2 gems near farm. Helped defend farm people from bear attack with riften guard. Staff of paralysis and new bow with enchanting worked well.
After i gone from this farm i took me 15 minutes to reach Ivarsteed inbetween i had one more fight with pack of wolfes.
No quest markers no fast traveling gave me 1,5h of fun game where i focused on exploration of surroundings, and as i cleared 3 places i earned some gold, took 4 worthwhile items. And still i didn't have to sell anything or i could sell since Ivarsteed didn't have shop and i had toon of place in my backpack. I don't like shiny armor so i mainly walk in normal clothes only with bow on my back.
10-20 hours later i have house in Riften wich is actually usefull this time. I have a blast playing it.
Since i don't fast travel anymore i can find places like this not because they are marken on compas but because o saw it from far and i thought "it would be fun to look there, maybe there will be something interesting there":
If Betsheda will again release TES6 i will use mods like those from day 1 or 2 .
