>>4071422
>is Skyrim a good or worthwhile game?
It is fun.
>should i play it first or are there some other things i need to look at before playing?
Yes.
>should i use mods or just jump into a vanilla unmodded playthrough?
You should always play a game vanilla first so that you can understand what may or may not need to be modded and why. Jumping into mods in an unfamiliar game is retarded.
>which version of Skyrim should i download?
At this point, the anniversary edition.
>can a shitty windows 11 laptop with AMD Ryzen 7 7730U with Radeon Graphics (2.00 GHz), 16 GB ram, AMD Radeon (TM) Graphics (496 MB) and 64 bits run the game just fine or is it gonna lag and eat up 100% CPU?
No idea.
>if it cant run skyrim then are there optimization mods or something so it doesn't have any issues?
If you can't play a game from 15 years ago then maybe find an SNES emulator and try that.

>>4071422
>laptop
You insist on playing on the worst platform of all time. How could you ever enjoy gaming? Grab an xbox or PS and get comfortable.

>>4071425
Original version has better chance of running on OP's laptop as the ensuing radiation burns his balls to a crisp

>>4071422
TES is like GTA. Exciting at first but once the novelty of open world wears off you start to see how shallow it truly is.

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>>4071422
>is Skyrim a good or worthwhile game?
It is a very shallow and arcade game with simplified RPG systems to sell a fantasy setting to the Call of Duty audience of 2011. None of the quests are particularly memorable, the factions are the worst iteration in it's own franchise and overall you will see everything the game has to offer by the time you clear out the quests of the first city, Whiterun.
>should i play it first or are there some other things i need to look at before playing?
No, you can play it right away, it's very simple and built for CoD kiddies.
>should i use mods or just jump into a vanilla unmodded playthrough?
If you did this, you would probably not know how to play the game. Not to mention that modlists nowadays are extremely heavy and demanding. I had LoreRim installed until just recently and that was almost 1TB and even though it's one of the most polished modlists out there, still very unstable with CTDs every now and then. Seeing your specs, a modern modlist would rape your computer.
>which version of Skyrim should i download?
Anniversary Edition rapes it's own lore through absolute shit implementation of community mods into the game, I can't recommend it unless you use some mod to mitigate the impact this has on the main game. I also know there is one very annoying mod that spawns hordes of undead that can't be stopped so every so often you get ganked by zombies.
>bla bla bla muh shitty rig etc
idk man install it and try it out

>>4071422
>is Skyrim a good or worthwhile game?
It always was.

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Have you ever wanted to go on a whimsical winter wonderland adventure with your waifus? If so, then this is your game.

>>4071696
I hope that isn't a staff of fireballs on your companion. They can be pretty reckless. I once got BTFO by Lydia handling a staff.

>>4071706
I let my followers pick up and use whatever equipment they want. Lydia randomly spamming fireballs in town is part of the fun.

>>4071425
>You should always play a game vanilla first so that you can understand what may or may not need to be modded and why. Jumping into mods in an unfamiliar game is retarded.
gameplay mods are one thing, but you can absolutely go straight for the bugfix or graphical improvement mods without playing vanilla first.

>>4071754
Nta, I would grab the unofficial patch and stop there

>>4071754
>gameplay mods are one thing, but you can absolutely go straight for the bugfix or graphical improvement mods without playing vanilla first.
The special edition / anniversary editions looks fine and don’t need any graphical mods.
The unofficial bugfix patches are made by retards who arbitrarily add new shit instead of just sticking to bugs, and now they require all the optional “creation club” shit as dependencies, rather than just the base game and official expansions
And we both know that he’s not going to spend hours researching and judiciously choosing mods à la carte but install some disgusting abomination of a thousand-mod pack without ever understanding any of it
“no mods for a first timer” is far more clear cut, and if he runs into a few bugs he will be get an appreciation for the janky nature of the game. Builds character.

It's great for your first time playing. Then you realise that most of the quests are basically the same: they send you back and forth across the map, talking to NPCs or fetching a number of items. That's when you start downloading mods to make the game fun again. Legendary mode is just stupid and not enjoyable. Survival mode too.

>>4071846
>Then you realise that most of the quests are basically the same: they send you back and forth across the map, talking to NPCs or fetching a number of items.
What other objectives should there be?

>>4071422
its maybe the greatest game ever if youve never ever played any other openworld ARPG in your life
but if you have? its schwag with a bunch of seeds in it. itll get you stoned, but at what cost

>>4071857
nothing desu
its just skyrim does it way worse than any of the prior TES games. if youve played one radiant quest, youve played nearly all of them. and theres never any choice in the matter, its just "do the thing, come back". repeat.
it wouldnt be as big a deal if the questlines were more unique. but quite a few faction questlines are padded out with half of their quests being radiant nonsense
its lazy af

>>4071857
There's no deviation. It's just go there, pick item, go to the other side, talk to NPC. Do that 1000 times. There are minimal quests with more than one outcome

>>4071898
>>4071899
Great stuff guys

>is Skyrim a good or worthwhile game?
Just wanna add that the Dawnguard DLC is an incredible quest line. You'll form such a wonderful, intimate bond with a female character Serana, all the while adventuring the gloomy winter landscapes and all kinds of amazing emotional vibes. It's fascinating to be around Serana and to get to know her and her story and dealing with her family and just the whole fucking thing... it's just so beautiful.

It was the single greatest gaming experience I ever had and I've been looking for something like that ever since but I haven't found it yet. If anyone has any recommendations, I'm all ears.

No, nothing's perfect and once you finish the game, things slowly become more boring because you've seen it all but yeah, Skyrim is fucking awesome, there's a goddamn reason it's so popular. And yes, it'll work on your machine. If the Anniversary edition doesn't work, you can always torrent the old "Legendary" edition, that will certainly work on older machines.

>>4071422
It doesn't matter what your specs are. You will be lucky if you can beat the game before your save file is corrupted. Every click of a button could be your last, and that is the true thrill of the "WRPG" experience.

>>4071899
Sounds exactly like Arena, Daggerfall and Morrowind quests tbqhwyf

>>4071558
Post your rank in COD

>>4071422
holy shit, so like, i was just here playing the game and my laptop started heating the fuck up during the character creator even through i checked and saw that the game was only eating up 50% of the memory so idkk whats up with that

>>4075719
You were warned. Now look at you! Another fool with burnt balls due to gaming on a laptop. Tragic!

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>>4071422
/lit/ nerd, I like it. I made a Nord called Conan the Librarian and collected every book in the world. Then one weekend I sat with a bottle of Merlot near a sunny window and read them all. Nice, most fantasy copies Tolkein but these guys did enough to have some interesting twists, plus some other references like Richard Mattheson and even others.

The point isn't that Skyrim is the most successful game maybe ever because it's a game for /lit/ nerds, the point is that Skyrim provides such a wide range of experiences that there are many ways to enjoy Skyrim, and that's what the /vrpg/ faggots don't understand. Some people like to mash buttons to kill mobs and you can do that, some people want Viking Barbie Dream House with Viking Ken, and you can do that, some people want to make spreadsheets about potions and spells and idk what's wrong with them but hey you can do that in Skyrim, and etc. etc. etc. It's the perfect Jack of all Trades, Master of None type of game, hence the broad appeal
>i know the contrarians will ragebait this but why don't you just save us both some time and slit your own throats now?

>>4075798
Pretty much this and it's what people who try to compare Skyrim to other, far more railroaded RPGs like Witcher 3 don't get. The freedom and role-play potential is what makes TES games so appealing to someone with an imagination.

>>4071422
It's good but like all Elder Scrolls games, it plays differently from traditional western rpgs. It's more about you larping as the character you want to play and deciding what quests to do or how you want to play based on that character.
So you can easily be a schizo that does all quest lines, join the imperials and then kill the emperor with the dark brotherhood and then become a werewolf for the companions, then get drunk and end up on the other side of the country after a drinking game with a daedra. OR you can also just do nothing other than building your house and reading books, or collecting all the gems across all dungeons for a shitty crown, etc.
In that sense, it is a lot closer to simulation games like Kenshi rather than a crpg.

>>4075886
>someone with an imagination
Sir, this is /vrpg/, best I can do is low-functioning autism

>>4075889
Skyrim seems to offer something for them as well lol

>>4076129
REEEEE SKYRIM ISN’T AN RPG BECAUSE, JUST BECAUSE IT’S NOT, OKAY

>>4071422

You've heard of gamifying work? Well Skyrim does the opposite. It workifies gaming. The fun parts of CRPGs are killing monsters, collecting cool loot and levelling up your character to become a badass. Skyrim provides the opportunity to chop wood for pennies, pick fruit, walk for miles, and stir fucking soup. Immersive? Yes. Fun? No.

And the interface is disgusting. Makes me appreciate just how well done the NWN engine is.

>>4078034
>Skyrim provides the opportunity to chop wood for pennies, pick fruit, walk for miles, and stir fucking soup.
Have you considered... not doing those things, and going into dungeons and killing monsters for loot, instead?

>>4075798
so i can play in any way i want?

Apart from the tutorial quests, it doesn't matter which race or skills you choose. The first quest tells you that you're the Dragonborn, and that's essentially the whole game. You just go around completing things that won't make you feel accomplished in the end. You become the great mage of the College of Winterhold, thane of every town on the map, and leader of the Thieves' Guild, the Dark Brotherhood, and the Companions, but it's just a surface-level RPG.

>>4078506
>You become the great mage of the College of Winterhold, thane of every town on the map, and leader of the Thieves' Guild, the Dark Brotherhood, and the Companions
It’s really stupid to do this. Just because you can, doesn’t mean that you should.

>>4078506
>You just go around completing things that won't make you feel accomplished in the end
>be me
>complete the main quest
>trudge back to Solitude
>go to the tavern where a cutie female bard is playing
>she sings the Dragonborn song, looking at me straight in the eye the whole time
>her eyes follow me as i trudge up the stairs to my room
>she's literally singing to me
ngl, feltgoodman.jpg

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>>4078592
SHOR'S BONES! A handsome man in Falkreath...

>>4079497
Does she flirt if your character is a lady?

>>4071422
guys the game gets some lag spikes sometimes, how do i fix those??

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Guys, I typically prefer the ENB aesthetic over CS, but these PBR textures make things look really nice. I might convert.

>>4071422
my favourite CRPG is Baldur's Gate 2 and I really enjoy playing Never winter Nights (the original; NWN2 is shit). I played Morrowind for about 20 hours before giving up in disappointment and I played Oblivion for about 20 minutes before giving up in disgust.

now you know a bit about my tastes I will tell you that I've been playing Skyrim for a week and I've been pleasantly surprised so far. The NPCs are acceptable - they have a little personality, they don't spew copy pasted lore and the day / night cycling is good. Nowhere near Bioware writing but acceptable. There have been enough scripted events to make the world feel alive unlike the static deadness of MW. There are too few character development options, but the perk system makes levelling choices feel reasonably meaningful. the music is a bit underwhelming. but overall, it's been pretty good so far.

>>4081204
I was playing Baldurs Gate 1 today, and got the thought that it was like Skyrim but you know, top down perspective rtwp game. I made a ranger and went off exploring with Imoen, looking for exp and loot. Really good vibes.

>>4078474
You can... as someone who plays a lot of D&D rules-based CRPGs Skyrim is very different. You don't choose a class. Any character can do anything. You can say your character is a warrior but if you sneak around, your sneaky skill will level up, if you pick locks your lock pick skill will go up. You can choose "perks" which are like feats and you can opt to follow up a particular perk tree but no tree is ever blocked off. Any character can choose any perk. You can cast spells while wearing armour. Anyone can learn, and cast, any spell in the game. You have no attributes, there is no intelligence attribute limiting what you can or can't learn. It's kind of liberating and maybe more "realistic" than D&D but it also eventually undermines the individuality of your character. in D&D even when characters reach epic levels there are very distinct playstyles between classes. in Skyrim no matter what you want your character to be, they all sort of blend into a stealth-archer-wizard- knight pudding.

>>4082525
>in Skyrim no matter what you want your character to be, they all sort of blend into a stealth-archer-wizard- knight pudding.
That's on you, not Skyrim.

>>4082536

>that's on you, not on Skyrim

that's sort of true but also a little disingenuous. Yes, I can make a conscious choice in Skyrim to NOT do X or Y for "roleplaying". But consider this, every race in Skyrim gets Healing spell right off the bat. Unless you mod it out or deliberately don't use it, every "build" in Skyrim can fully heal itself anywhere at any time, indefinitely. That's a profoundly game-changing ability. Contrast this with D&D, if you choose to be a Warrior, you do not and may never get the ability to regenerate your own health. You have to rely on a stock of potions, and that influences and constrains the way you do your dungeon-crawling. It affects other choices like whether to let an NPC cleric tag along with you. Skyrim actively steers you toward being a jack-of-all trades and even if you favour one perk tree over another there are no real trade-offs to make.

I'm not saying either approach to CRPG mechanics is better, but it irritates me when Bethesda appreciators say "you don't have to do X". By that logic taken to its full extent I could pretend my Steve dies every time he touches lava in Minecraft creative mode, for "roleplaying reasons". I don't HAVE to exploit his invulnerability, do I?

>>4082607
>But consider this, every race in Skyrim gets Healing spell right off the bat. Unless you mod it out or deliberately don't use it, every "build" in Skyrim can fully heal itself anywhere at any time, indefinitely. That's a profoundly game-changing ability.
Bitch please.. If not, you would complain about being able to buy and learn Healing 5 minutes into the game. And did you know anyone can heal by waiting for an hour? Makes the healing spell less "profoundly game-changing", doesn't it.

I get it, you can't roleplay unless fully restrained.

what the fuck is this [m] thing doing in my save files??

>>4087858
Bethesda does that on everything now to tag the file so don't get cheevos. You have to add on the respective game's achievement-enabling mod which usually requires the script extender as well. It's dumb as fuck.

>>4087862
all i did was install a bunch of optimization mods so that my pc wouldn't whirr like crazy, wtf

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op here, imma drop my general thoughts of the game so far, it's fun strategy-wise, most of the choices seem to be only one (putting the conversation prompts aside ofc), and when there are two choices, it's usually a "yes or no" esque prompt, mostly for accepting quests or not, so im not too thrilled about that, most of the exploration seems a little plain, just, going to the next designated spot that's on your map and proceed, maybe fuck around in some town or two if you run out of quests, and while the combat mechanics COULD be watered down to "run up to angry man, right click to parry attack and stun him for a bit, left click to hit, repeat until win", i wont do that, even if it feels like it sometimes, so like, i went to join the empire after following the criminal guy (i believed that the rebellion thing was lame and i wanted to beeline straight into the empire instead), started some quests and i accepted the shipwreck quest since i like playing evil in these games (plus what sane person would choose to sleep with the rats just to tear down a better place to sleep at instead of serving a flourishing kingdom anyways?), i did the shipwreck, got to collect my prize, i was duped so oh well, i kill the blackblood marauders or whatever they were, head to find the girl's brother, and when i get there i go in mace blazing and i get killed a few times, now, ik that games like these tend to have you be super op "three hits and you win" levels of basic, but i could tell this was different, so i sneak around, use my bow, pick off some guys then i find a pattern, basically sneak in a few shots, run off, come back and repeat until you exhaust the enemy, sorta like how humans used to hunt back in the caveman days (its a bit hard to formulate but yknow what i mean), it actually made me feel like an actual predator (in the good cool nature way!!) hunting down a pack of prey, for some reason the captain guy was much tougher to-

>>4090094
-crack down than the other goons and it felt like an actual boss fight since it could kill me in a few shots even when i blocked, so i did the same picking off tactic from earlier with the hunting bow and then the captain went into the water and stayed underwater, ik it was prob some glitch but it was so cool how it felt like a phase 2 because i had to aim at him from the top of a rock and he moved whenever i shot an arrow at him then he went back to the boat and i beat his ass there, so even if unintended, this made the fight unintentionally feel more dynamic and fun like an actual boss fight, this game feels pretty entertaining so far

>>4090095
I really recommend turning up the difficulty a step if you're playing on normal. Makes the game a lot more interesting. Buy useful potions, make use of powers and such.

>>4071422
I'd say play unmodded for like, a weekend, to get a feel for the game, and what your specific complaints, thoughts, and desires are.
Normally I think vanilla first experiences are overrated, but Skyrim is a weird case simply due to the overwhelming buffet of mods you are faced with. Basically everything you can think of has been modded to fit one person or another's autism. So you need some starting points to even know what to start looking at.
There's no single "Yeah, put this in" that I can reccomend, without knowing what you like or don't like, and why. You know?

>>4090094
that's another thing I like about Skyrim. Contrarians meme that the game is easy, but if you let your guard down you will fucking die. Even if you're just walking around, if you don't keep an eye out for tigers or assassins or whatever you will get rekt.

>>4092039
well, my current autism is that there arent many times that make proper use of the dialogue choices thing (althrough it might just be a me thing after having played fallout new vegas), especially how there are many times where i go walk in somewhere during a quest, and everybody there wants me dead immediately (such as the wolfskull cave quest, i walk in and the option i get is to kill everybody there, no option to talk it out like convincing them to leave or maybe get them to join the empire or anything), i dont mind since my first playthrough is being an evil imperial fuck, but i'm pragmatic enough to know that bringing in recruits into the evil torture empire or whatever makes it stronger, if theres a potential mod with what i want, i think it would expand upon the dialogue choice prompts stuff to pull a fallout and allow me to saul goodman my way into recruiting people and shit for whatever side im on, basically itd be cool to use shit like speech and such more often imo, also i wish my character could run faster, he's so slow that it gets unbearable at times even when i try clearing out my inventory a bit
>>4092045
yeah, the wolfskull cave sidequest was cool, it's fun how im generally on a similar level of strength to the other characters lol, i've even started to use magic more often, it's such a lifesaver to be able to back off and heal up relatively quickly since my potions are generally limited

>>4093015
>using potions

>>4093144
I literally said i preferred using magic since potions are limited

>>4093015
>>4093460
skill issue

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>>4090094 (me)
>>4090095 (me)
>>4093015 (me)
OP here, does anybody know how to actually get the whiterun guys to join the empire? i helped them deal with the dragon thing and talked with the Jarl guy but the quest thing still says i need to help them deal with the dragon threat
>>4096389
cmon dude, be serious

>>4096545
you need to help them deal with the dragon threat

>>4096665
cool, thanks, btw i need some help, i accidentally triggered some sidequest called Missing in Action while trying to look for shopkeepers to sell my garbage to, this one npc essentially wanted to speak with me in private so i checked up on her and she wants me to rescue some st*rmcloak prisoner from some imperial prison and there was some guy hiding from the empire in the house, there was no option to say i was gonna turn them in because i'm working for the empire, so i figured, "hey maybe if i give him the evidence he'll fuck off, i'll get to choose between siding with the empire yet again, and get to betray him, capture him and execute him alongside that one thorald guy", nope, my options are essentially
>"fuck yeah im going to help you kill those imperials!"
>"imma settle this peacefully hold on"
>"you stay hidden and i go kill shit"
of course no option was favorable here so i just chose the settle peacefully thinking "hey maybe this option has a double meaning and i could warn those guys about the incoming stormcloak guy who wants to release this prisoner so that TECHNICALLY i solved this situation with no bloodshed", nope, my talk options for the guy guarding the place are "hey can i come in?" and "hey you know something about thorald? can you release him?", so i just reloaded this bullshit.
is there any actual imperialchad solution? i don't wannaa help them but i don't wanna leave them to their own devices because my duty as an imperial legion guy should be to catch them

>>4097356
>some imperial prison

>>4097373
look i cant be assed to remember all of the locations' names, Northwatch Keep or whatever it was, point is, where is the imperial solution?

>>4097376
You didn't notice they're thalmor

>>4097387
ohh, so that's why their colours seemed off, i thought my game was glitching up, desu i did reload pretty quickly after seeing the options i had so i didnt notice they weren't actually imperial legion guys

>>4097356 (me)
>>4097408 (me)
either way, uh, is it actually possible to deal with them without letting the guy running from the empire or the old lady get away scotfree? like, i know i can swiftly kill those npcs, but i wanna turn them in so they can rot in a prison cell instead, or is that not a programmed outcome and im gonna need a mod to roleplay that part?

Is there diminished returns playing this game in 4k?

>>4097756
>running from the empire
>i wanna turn them in so they can rot in a prison cell instead
The empire doesn't want them. It's the thalmor who imprisoned him.

If you have the unofficial patch installed, it restores the option to have general Tullius write an order for the thalmor to release the guy.

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>>4097924
meh, whatever, i'll just find some way to get rid of those guys (i tried violence but the axe guy keeps stalling me out until the whiterun soldiers arrive), as im (role)playing as an evil imperial legion chad, i shall not let them go unpunished, i chose to use my fire spell against the heretical preacher npc known as heimskr so that he would meet a very firey way out (after seeing what he had to say ofc), that guy shall not free a single stormcloak guy under my watch.
what else does the unofficial patch have, anyways? aside from bugfixes and all that stuff

>>4097960
>what else does the unofficial patch have, anyways? aside from bugfixes and all that stuff
A bunch of dumb shit. Now includes some of the “creation club” (paid third party mods) as dependencies since
>they’re official DLC now since the anniversary edition, just like the first party expansions :)
and there was some retarded slapfight about one of the mines and if it was supposed to be iron or ebony and the way it was “resolved” was to arbitrary create an entirely new dungeon and shove it into the wilderness with a couple animals and some ore
Modders are fucking stupid

>>4098156
>A bunch of dumb shit.
uh, alright, like, arbitrary additions rather than anything useful for roleplaying like alternative ways to start or anything?
>Now includes some of the “creation club” (paid third party mods) as dependencies
dependencies? so you cant download some other mods unless you have the creation club stuff and whatever downloaded?
>the way it was “resolved” was to arbitrarily create an entirely new dungeon and shove it into the wilderness with a couple animals and some ore
couldnt they just check the game itself to find that place and see if there was meant to be iron or ebony? or is it about a modded dungeon?

>>4097960
>what else does the unofficial patch have, anyways? aside from bugfixes and all that stuff
Subtle

>>4071760
>The unofficial bugfix patches are made by retards who arbitrarily add new shit instead of just sticking to bugs,
many such cases

>>4098691
uhh what?

>>4071422
It's the best open world RPG of all time

>>4096545
>OP here, does anybody know how to actually get the whiterun guys to join the empire? i helped them deal with the dragon thing and talked with the Jarl guy but the quest thing still says i need to help them deal with the dragon threat

iirc you have to join the empire, do their questline then later on you'll be able to do that

>>4071422
it's okay
it's the only one of its kind where you have
>companions
>waifus
>open world sandbox
>first person
out of the box
and it's also moddable

yes, the quests are boring, the factions are light, the choices are poor and the loot isn't great, but it's a light RPG game to play if you just want to relax
other RPGs out there, demand more from your noggin, this one just delivers on comfy and a fun exploration

>>4099326
>other RPGs out there, demand more from your noggin
Name it?

quick question, can i join the thieves' guild while being part of the imperial legion? it sounds cool