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Discussion: Using RP to emulate mods

Tags: #RP:Discussion 
  • Member
    April 28, 2018

    I watched a Let's Play of the Vigilant mod and had an urge to try to emulate it on my mod-less console. This got me thinking: If you wanted to replicate a mod on console without Special Edition, how would you do it? Even if we don't have the inclination to think up our own big quests like a DLC-level mod, how could we RP to change the feel of the game? As an example, Vigilant is like Dark Souls in Skyrim, and Dark Souls is characterized by hard bosses, cautiousness, etc., so I'd gimp my character by not exploiting crafting.

  • April 28, 2018
    In an attempt to recreate survival mods, one of my old builds used equipment stacking to wear two Necromancer's Amulets so that Health and Stamina wouldn't regenerate. I limited healing to self crafted food items and would only wear crafted fur/leather armor so it made hunting a necissary gameplay aspect. With no regen you could see exactly how much damage you took from each battle, which I applied to my armor. As it surpassed the armor rating of each piece I would consider it "broken" and discard it until I could craft a new one. Upgrading "repaired" my armor a small amount, but used valuable materials and only delayed it from breaking. Fully upgraded armor was strong, but couldn't be repaired so you had to be smart about it. I also avoided storms, immediately retreating to the nearest cave to "wait it out". An hour was enough, but often the wait function wouldn't work because there were enemies nearby. I'd basically be forced to clear them out and wait for the storm to pass. It was a fun excuse to explore new areas.
  • Member
    April 29, 2018

    Tysoyaha said: In an attempt to recreate survival mods, one of my old builds used equipment stacking to wear two Necromancer's Amulets so that Health and Stamina wouldn't regenerate. I limited healing to self crafted food items and would only wear crafted fur/leather armor so it made hunting a necissary gameplay aspect. With no regen you could see exactly how much damage you took from each battle, which I applied to my armor. As it surpassed the armor rating of each piece I would consider it "broken" and discard it until I could craft a new one. Upgrading "repaired" my armor a small amount, but used valuable materials and only delayed it from breaking. Fully upgraded armor was strong, but couldn't be repaired so you had to be smart about it. I also avoided storms, immediately retreating to the nearest cave to "wait it out". An hour was enough, but often the wait function wouldn't work because there were enemies nearby. I'd basically be forced to clear them out and wait for the storm to pass. It was a fun excuse to explore new areas.

    Don't think it's possible to give a better answer than this XD This is awesome stuff Tyso, if you wanna write this up in a guide or something I'd be really interested to see it, there's loads of stuf here than I've never even thought of.

    To answer your question mitch, nerfing certain aspects of a character really does seem like the logical step forward. Like Tyso said stopping regeneration, and stuff like limiting damage, restricting what weapons you can use etc are all I can really think of. For Dark Souls, I'd increase damage but lower defensively, basically making any build a glass cannon. If you have any more examples of games you'd like to emulate I'd be happy to take a crack at it, I'm struggling to think of any more gameplay aspects right now.

  • April 29, 2018

    Zonnonn said:

    Don't think it's possible to give a better answer than this XD This is awesome stuff Tyso, if you wanna write this up in a guide or something I'd be really interested to see it, there's loads of stuf here than I've never even thought of.

    Ha, thanks Zon! Man, I'm really starting to regret which builds I chose not to copy over to this site...I thought I was the last mod-less holdout so no one would care about them, but I'm staying to see that I was wrong. I will have to re-write that build and do a little accompanying guide!

     

    Zonnonn said:

    To answer your question mitch, nerfing certain aspects of a character really does seem like the logical step forward. Like Tyso said stopping regeneration, and stuff like limiting damage, restricting what weapons you can use etc are all I can really think of. For Dark Souls, I'd increase damage but lower defensively, basically making any build a glass cannon. If you have any more examples of games you'd like to emulate I'd be happy to take a crack at it, I'm struggling to think of any more gameplay aspects right now.

     

    Definitely this^. My favorite way to play in vanilla was unarmored in legendary difficulty...it basically makes it to where, if nearly anything hits you, you die (if not in one hit, then definitely two). This presents a unique challenge because you can't dodge roll or de-aimbot enemies without mods. However, if you learn the reach and speed of their weapons/attacks then most melee can be backstepped, and projectiles can be dodged. You still have to watch out for lunge attacks like Sabre Cats/Frostbite Spiders have, and Concentration Magic like dragons and weak mages will use, but Skyrim has a great stun mechanic for things like that.

     

  • April 29, 2018

    Ooh... Also, mind control spiders can be used to make zombies function as followers, equipping any armor you give them. This even works on creatures that wouldn't normally wear armor like animals. You won't see the armor on them, but it will add the appropriate AR and enchantments (only the ones that work on followers though). So it can a fun way to RP that you have a pet that you can train/upgrade. This is particularly cool with certain visual effects that DO come through, like Ebony Mail's cloak.

    It's a simple, but tedious process, so make sure you know exactly what companion you want before trying it. Just save in front of the corpse, throw a mind control spider on it, and then raise it. There's only a very small chance that it works, so lower your hands to see if your zombie mimics you (NPCs will sheath weapons, animals will change stance). If it does, then it worked! If not, reload and try again. This can take many, many tries so you'll only want to do it once. The good news is, it's permanent so you can kill them as many times as you like to change their equipment.

    Because it can take a while, you may want to wait until you have Dead Thrall to try this on an NPC. If you want an armored creature as a companion, then Resto-looping an extremely powerful Fortify Conjuration potion can bring Dread Zombie's duration to Thrall levels...but they still turn to ash so be careful with that one. Ritual Stone it's always useful, but it's prone to picking up strays. Finally, Smithing and/or Enchanting can make weaker creatures a bit more viable (or a lot more with Resto-looping) so if you want to have something like a pet Mudcrab then a Conjuration staff may be the best way around having your companion zombie turn to ash.

  • April 29, 2018

    Ok, only one more for now...I swear!

    Many diseases can be resto-looped. Without DLCs you'd have to figure out where to catch the one you want, but with Dawnguard installed the hanging spikes in Redwater den will randomly inflict pretty much every disease. Like above, just save before running into them and reload until you contract the one you want. With a strong enough Fortify Restoration potion I achieved the following results:

    Bone Break Fever - No Stamina
    Brain Rot - No Magicka
    Rattles - Remove Stamina Regen
    Witbane - Greatly Reduce Magicka Regen
    Rockjoint - Makes all Melee Weapons do Base Damage
    Droops - Unaffected
    Ataxia - Hard to Tell
    Sanguinare Vampiris - Untested (if it works, 100% effectiveness would just kill you while anything less would only last a few days)

  • Member
    April 29, 2018
    And also, drinking from the chalice waters gives diseases as well
  • April 29, 2018

    Chris said: And also, drinking from the chalice waters gives diseases as well

    Indeed, it can give you several at once! Unfortunately it will also always give you Sanguine Vampiris which cures all diseases when you become a vampire a few days later.