Skyrim Advice

OK, it's a little embarrassing to admit it, but even though I own Skyrim since 2013, I have never gotten around to actually playing it. However, for the new year I plan to remedy this sad fact and therefore I have two questions for you Skyrim veterans:

1) Special Edition or normal one?
I guess that doesn't need much explanation. Any pros/cons to either of them?

2) Which mods are recommended?
That probably requires a bit more explanation. I played Oblivion a lot. I mean, really a lot. Hundreds and hundreds of hours. But I always hated the level scaling and I could only stand playing it with OOO (Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul). Having said that, are there any must-have mods I should use from the start?

Thanks!

First of all, people will probably come in and hijack this thread to tell you how much they hate Skyrim, so be prepared

1) Special Edition for sure, unless you have an older machine. There's a lot of subtle bug fixes.

2) I would start with at least the high-polygon pack and a better UI, then go from there.

Like Caddy, I would suggest using the Special Edition unless you are using a toaster to run the game.

Most have mods:
- Unofficial patch(es)
- SkyUI

The rest really depends on taste. Skyrim equivalent to OOO would be Skyrim Redone (sometimes called SkyRe)

There is a lots of mods for Skyrim. Enjoy the endless hours searching and installing new things .

Originally Posted by Caddy
First of all, people will probably come in and hijack this thread to tell you how much they hate Skyrim, so be prepared

What people? I believe I'm the only one who can't stand it.

At one point I've completed the game version with all DLC and final official patch using only these two mods:
SkyUI
Norespawn

Both are IMO musthaves. While I remember I took SkyUI from Steam workshop, can't remember if no respawn was from there so here's link to Nexus:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/233

The game was still the no story (apart from the brilliant Dragonborn DLC) broken piece of shit where I had to google for debug commands to fix numerous bugs that hit me.
Because one of it's 3 DLC is 10 times better than everything else, go for the edition with DLC included.

3DNPCs is well done. Regardless, just limit yourself to a handful of mods, for your first time playing.

Originally Posted by Drithius
3DNPCs is well done. Regardless, just limit yourself to a handful of mods, for your first time playing.

This is probably, at the end of the day, the only content (quest) mod worth having. And I played them all, pretty much. Better written and more varied NPCs than the game itself.

To me, the SE vs original question is mostly one of mod usage. It's barely different, but there are mods that never made it over (and very few mods were made for it specificially, as far as I can tell.) In general, OG Skyrim will be for sure compatible with whatever you care to use.

I used every kind of mod for a long time, but I'm more of a minimalist at this point. I would get SkyUI, like everyone is saying. Here are a few others I wouldn't play without (alongside the aforementioned INPC):

Wet and Cold - it's just basic, no brainer, immersive stuff that doesn't have a drawback.

Jaxon Named Save - I like to know what the hell I was doing when I saved, not just what zone I was in

Enhanced Lights and FX - Most of the mods I still use are visual mods of some sort, and this is one of the most important; without it, interiors look very bland and contrast between light and dark is nonexistent

SMIM - another must have visual mod. It just makes a bunch of things look a hell of a lot better.

Alternate Start - not at first, but if you're like most people you'll start Skyrim a bunch of times, and this allows you to skip doing the (long) intro every time

Difficult Archery - never hear anybody mention this one, but such a small tweak makes so much difference… in the vanilla game, enemies will unerringly shoot you every time you peek over a rock. Doesn't matter if you peek for 1 second, or moved all over the place out of sight for 30 seconds beforehand, or if you're 200 feet away. Peek = thwack. This mod just adds some variance. Bonus: you'll hear arrows whiz past you when they miss.

Some kind of perk overhaul - the vanilla perks are boring. They really are. It might not bother you if you have nothing to compare it to, but once you use a perk mod, you'll probably never go back. My favorite was SkyRe, mentioned above, but I don't know how compatible it is these days. Perma was the "sequel" to it, but it never had quite all its bugs worked out and it has an ambitious, patch-filled install process. I think it's the most thematically cohesive and interesting one, though, so try it if you have some patience to read and follow instructions. Another option is Ordinator, and it's fine, but despite liking the author's mods in general (if you're a magic fan, use his other mods) I feel like Ordinator is a bunch of unconnected powers and doesn't really encourage builds like SkyRe/Perma.

The vast majority of my mods, about 239 at the moment, are more visual based so probably not what you are looking for. I don't use any overhaul mods as I like the vanilla mechanics, perks, etc. Taste on games and mods is like food and clothes; I already disagree with a lot in this thread

I do have a couple dozen immersion related mods. I like an immersive game with good looking visuals that sticks close to the lore and vanilla flavor.

I agree on 3DNPC and SMIM though, those are two good basics.

While I much prefer classic skyrim over SE (tried SE three times and each time removed it and went back to classic) I do recommend it for people who are installing the game fresh. It is more stable, less bugs, and some additional features.

I don't use it as I don't like how it looks, I prefer my classic ENB presets which don't work on SE and not a fan of most of the ENB's for SE, some favorite mods are not on SE, and since my classic game works fine not really motivated to relearn all the mods and nuances of SE.

But if going in for the first time SE will mean less headaches and a more stable game. And since you haven't played you won't be missing anything from classic.

Just want to say that the Special Edition is way better than the base game! Enjoy.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

The game is awful don't play!

Originally Posted by Caddy
First of all, people will probably come in and hijack this thread to tell you how much they hate Skyrim, so be prepared

I played Skyrim for a long time, and I did not understand why I should reset my skills after reaching level 100?

Recently I found an article about this. Found answers to many questions. In case someone else dont't know what is legendary skills, here's the link https://www.hermitgamer.com/skyrim-legendary-skills/