Favorite Mods

fialka So how exactly does this mod work? I just download it, start up Skyrim, and...? Cause I'm interested.

I've started playing Enderal. I have some first impressions. They won't be spoilery.

As a note, the only real mod I'm using is Racemenu, which I used during character creation. Aside from that, I have character texture mods for bodies and hair, but nothing major at all. This review is based on raw Enderal.


The environments and towns/cities are all designed very well. In some cases, I'm liking them better than default Skyrim. It's quite nice seeing bright green and lush foliage, since most of Skyrim is cold. I'm liking the voice acting, which seems on par with Skyrim for the most part, but I wouldn't put it at Bioware quality. The music is also very nice, but can be repetitive.

I'm finding the plot, the little I've played of it, creepy and interesting. I haven't really gone far enough into the game to say whether I find it truly compelling.


The major downside for me is the combat. I really do not like how they essentially trashed Skyrim's entire system of "learning by doing" to replace it with their own system of skill books. As an example, let's say you want to focus on combat with one-hand weapons. In Enderal, you find or purchase (primarily purchase) skill books to level up your one-handed skill, and this is the only way to level it. You need points in this to increase your damage. There are apprentice, adept, and expert books, and they get progressively more expensive for each rank, forcing you to hoard money.

However, they did keep the talent trees for warrior, rogue, and mage skills, combining all the necessary things into a single, branching tree. For example, the warrior tree is divided into two-handed, one-handed, and defense, rather than having separate trees for everything, as Skyrim does. Many of the talents are the same, like one that increases movement speed with the shield raised.

I'm a little frustrated with where I am in the game right now. I need to level more to take on some of the quests that I have (that advance the primary plot), but I don't want to do much combat because I feel so weak. In order to regen health, I have to either eat or drink potions. Sleeping also regens, but you need to be in a camp or an inn for that. There are some elements of those Skyrim mods that add realism to things like health regen or camping, which are mods that I've never used, or had any desire to use, so I'm not pleased to see them in Enderal.

Honestly, the most effective type of combat right now seems to be magical, as I can continually move and cast, keeping out of harm's way. But I don't want to play a mage, as I prefer sword and shield play.

I also don't like how they essentially use their own armor models for everything. I don't mind them having special, unique sets and such, but I do wish they had kept the default, boring armor that I can use for most of the leveling experience (before I even acquire unique sets), especially with the mods available for nice texture replacements. Not being able to look in the way that I want to look takes away from my enjoyment. I'm not talking about anything fancy; that's not how I roll in default Skyrim, but being able to wear a full set of coordinated hide armor, or something, rather than their hodgepodge edits. To my knowledge, you aren't able to use Skyrim console commands to add things like Skyrim armor.

I'm also feeling a bit trapped. There is no fast travel. I left my first major town for a big city that is farther away as part of the plot. I didn't really attempt to do many quests in this first town. But because it's so far away from the city, and the city seems to be giving me harder quests, I think I will have to run all the way back. There are long distance mounts, but the one near this first town isn't available, so I can't fly back there.

I suppose that part of my frustration comes from the fact that I'm playing Skyrim, yet it's NOT Skyrim, so I can't do some of the things I can do with Skyrim. Usually, when I start a Skyrim game, I use console commands to: give myself a bunch of healing potions, some iron weapons, a set of hide armor, and increase my carrying capacity. This is all I do for myself, which I don't consider major at all. But this early boost, particularly with the healing potions, allows me to play without concern through these beginning levels, while also looking the way I want to look. But I can't do that with Enderal.


I've met the male follower and gotten to know him a bit. His voice acting is good, and I do like him. I don't really consider him a Zevran-type of roguish character because he isn't nearly as snarky as Zevran is. If anything, I would say that he's more like a severely less snarky Dorian, because he's got a cynical streak regarding worldly matters, which I like, and he's a thinker.

Since we talked about his romance in the other thread, I'll touch on that a bit. As I said, I'm still in the early stages. I'm playing a male character and do plan to romance him. He did make it clear that he's interested in men. Well, he's into both, but his interest in men isn't hidden. I was also able to express my own interest in men. I liked the couple of initial flirts. They weren't excessive from either side, just enough to show initial interest. I've seen him mention women a couple of times, but I haven't played enough to know if it gets annoying. At this time, I don't know if a male character's experience will be different from a female one, as far as he's concerned.


I do want to try to stick it out, despite the annoying bits. I'm not 100% sure yet.

Yay, so glad you've started playing it! As for the plot, no spoilers, but, I will say the further you get into it the better it gets. If you've played the Mass Effect trilogy, the story will be familiar in some aspects but I'd argue Enderal tells it better. But I'll let you be the judge.

I do agree that the leveling system took sone major getting used to. My advice is to explore! The areas are leveled by where you find them in the main plot. Riverville's surroundings are going to be the easiest to deal with at lower levels, then Ark which you find next will be slightly harder. The level design is quite good so the dungeons are really fun and varied. And you can find some nice gear to sell in exchange for those skill books. I'm actually doing a second playthrough now where I'm doing a lot more dungeon crawling and I have way more money than I know what to do with. Also some of the side quests will actually reward you with more learning points. And there's a mod that balances out the skill book values which I use to make the prices more manageable in those early levels.

I'm also not a fan of the new armor sets. Fortunately I'm good with TESxEdit so I was able to replace some of them with modded armors I like better. As for no fast travel, the Myrad towers will take you between towns, as will teleport scrolls you can buy from most vendors. You can also buy mark and recall spells to mark a spot then teleport yourself back. I never used fast travel in Skyrim, so I actually found Enderal an improvement over Skyrim's limited carriage system.

I also agree with your assessment of the environments. Though I love Skyrim's I would say Enderal are a lot more lush, detailed, and diverse. Wait until you get to some of the areas outside those early ones! And yeah, the voice acting isn't quite on par with Bioware (and there's that rare bad one you occasionally come across - like whoever voices some of the kids, yikes!), though there are some standouts in the mix. Glad you're liking Jespar so far! He's an interesting guy. I found him growing on me more and more as the game progressed and I learned more about him. And I was able to romance him with a character who disagreed (albeit respectfully) with some of his world views and was reserved with her flirts. Which was cool, as I like romances that don't force me to go against my roleplay to make them work.

I decided to try the Campfire mod for the first time and it's pretty fun! I'm not using it with Frostfall, so I don't have to camp to be warm; I'm just using it for roleplay reasons.

You can actually sit around the campfire. If you have followers, they will sit as well. If you sleep in the tent, and if your follower is a spouse, they will cuddle up! I haven't actually made a tent yet, but I'm sure it's adorable. XD

I love this mod! They actually had the animation of him lying down next to me and snuggling up. It's so great.



Btw this mod is also available on Xbox One for SSE, as well as Oldrim.

Oh, this is sweet!
Origins really spoiled me with its camping system. I love the idea of characters bonding over a campfire, not just in video games but in media in general! Bonus if its a gay romance!

I haven't started Skyrim yet, but I'm not sure if it's best to use mods immediately or wait until after finishing the game once.
I'll definitely keep an eye on this one though and check out the other recommendations as well.

Wow, I read through this thread and it all seems so overwhelming! There is so much to choose from!
I'll definitely have to test out the game first before settling on anything! I did see your earlier post though and it seems like a decent way to start out.
I played Fallout 4 without mods first and only started modding a lot after I finished the main story. It definitely adds to the experience, and I've read Skyrim is much better at these things.

I will be playing the Special Edition on PC.
Hmm...well if you feel like anything else outside of your first post here adds to the key experience and doesn't change the core game too much I'd definitely be interested in checking them out!
I do know that I will definitely end up getting one of those hairy chest mods...

That sounds really nice! I hope I can have as much fun with the game!
I'm hoping this game catches my interest enough to be able to flesh out my character through fan fiction. It was a lot of fun doing that for Dragon Age/Mass Effect/Fallout.
The thought of playing it is exciting, anyway.

@nightscrawl I'd definitely like to stick as closely to the lore as possible.
When I was working on my original Dragon Age story that has nothing to do with the plot of the games, I made sure to do some research and try to portray the world as accurately as possible. I'm not sure if I succeeded, but it was a lot of fun and I look back at it fondly.
I've heard Elder Scrolls is very lore heavy though and I haven't played any of them, so I'll definitely have to explore as much as I can in-game first!

I honestly don't mind protagonists without a voice, I loved the Warden in Origins!
That all does sound interesting though.
Thanks for the info and recommendations!

Andrew Mancer
Modding of Skyrim...I would definitely recommend checking out various gameplay and sound overhauls, if only because the vanilla combat is so lame and unimpactful, at least in my opinion.
Then take a look at RaceMenu or other CC overhauls in addition to some facial enhancement mods, because default CC is terrible

Those are the most vital for good Skyrim experience imho, you may of course disagree


...oh, I almost forgot, if you want to do either spellsword or dual-wielding character, dual-wield parry would be extremely useful.