When I first started playing Skyrim, I loved the cooking part! A whole new "skilll" to learn (I thought).
However, it's not something you ever get better at, or discover new recipies that make 'better' food.
Also, as you level up, the items you cook seem to have less relevance to your health/stamina than the increasingly stronger potions that you can either make or find.

I read & hear of many folks who either never bothered with, or abandoned cooking as their characters levelled up.

This seems a shame, as obviously a lot of thought has obviously gone into the cooking mechanic, not least the placing of hundreds of thousands of food items pretty much everywhere in Skyrim.

Some time earlier, when I was still madly playing Oblivion and seeing what mods were available, I recall someone producing a "food" mod that actually integrated very nicely with the main character: after so many hours, you would become hungry, and stamina and magika would regenerate more slowly, and eventually not at all.

I never tried it myself, as although I enjoyed Oblivion, it seemed (at the time) to be an extra RP element that detracted a bit from the main game.

However, In Skyrim this is different: ingredients can be found all over Skyrim, and cooking pots are plentiful.

It would actually make sense to have a Skyrim mod that integrates the need for your character to eat (at least 2 square a day!) and to carry food supplies with them on long journeys of many day's length, thus actually making proper use of the cooking 'part' of the game (after all, gamesas put this in here, but it's like half finished if your char doesn't need to eat for 3 weeks yet is still hale & hearty! try that in real life!!!)
All those other NPCs seem to need to eat regularly, why not your character?

Again, like the Oblivion mod, this could have a scaled effect, ie:

not eaten for 6 hours: stamina regen 75% of normal, magika regen 75% of normal
not eaten for 12 hours: stamina regen 50%, magika 50%
not eaten for 18 hours: Stamina 25%, magika 25%, health regen 50%
not eaten for an entire day: no regen, and health begins to decline to 75% of normal & cannot be boosted until some food is consumed

(note, the above are just examples to get people thinking, not cast in stone!)


What do people think?

I confess I am not a modder, but is this something other people would want? I know I would! seems such a shame to have all this lovely cooking stuff in-game if it has absolutely zero relevance to my character's health!

thoughts, modders and people, please!


Joe

At first cooking seemed cool... But then it was useless.

The effects all the results from cooking give are very meager... Cooking needs to be overhauled.

They should add optional RPG elements into the game options. We can then make the game as real as we want. Not everyone wants these type of things in the game so give us the choice.

Eating and sleeping being two pefect examples of much needed options.

There should have been a "hardcoe mode" option like in New Vegas. Relevant for people who want to cook and eat, and out of the way for those who don't.

As it is, food is not worth it, other than for self-imposed RP...

I was excited to see that they added cooking and that it was useful in early levels. It's disappointing that they didn't go further with it and it definitely feels like Skyrim would benefit from an eating mod. I don't know why they made food so weak, I expected the heavy mammoth related meals to at least be worth their ridiculous weight. The stews at least are kind of useful in a subtle way.

You should at least get a small "well fed" bonus.

I was excited to kill some rabbits and other wild animals and cook it up, but then it kinda hit me.. cooking is [censored]in worthless.. AAaaaAAaaaaAArghh NOoOOoOOOoOOoooo such a shame. I would love some cooking quests or even a slight buff from eating homemade stuff..
Like increase strength by 2 for 30 minutes or something.. some small perk to be added would be nice.

Yes, cooking should be more incorporated into the game. Much like hardcoe mode in NV, not eating for a certain amount of time will lower your stamina until you eat again. They should also add bottles of water... why does every bottle in the game need to be filled with wine or mead?

As it stands cooking is just a pointless version of Alchemy. Still, I'd rather have it as it is now than not at all.

Completely agree. I used to gather lots of food to mix together and make meals with (early game) till I realised carrying all this around was completely pointless. Not only did my character not level up like he did with aclhemy and enchanting, the food bonuses were rubbish.

Cooking is probably a waste of code as it is right now. I think it would have been better if we needed to eat to survive, although there is so much food and drink in the game that making raw into cooked would still be low on my list of necessary features.

They could have used the resources for something more fun like making the fishing rods usable in game. Or making mining add to your smithing score. Or maybe taking off the ownership tags for goods when the owner is dead. Nothing like stealing stuff no one owns.

I agree. I was fully expecting a "hardcoe" mode in Skyrim like the one from FNV. Cooking in Skyrim doesnt level up and most of the things you have to cook arent worth the trouble right now. I think BGS wasted a great oportunity for game imersion here. Its like they dont know who theyre developing for. TES players, mostly, eat up anything that makes the game more "realistic". Why deny players the oportunity to roleplay the survival of their characters through eating, drinking, and sleeping? It makes your adventure that much "adventorous" when you have to pack food and drink for your journeys and find an acceptable place to sleep. For poeple who dont use fast travel, like me, planning your journey and what to pack for it when you have to travel far for a quest or whatever is nearly as much part of the adventure as the adventure itself. I still hope the devs will reconsider this for future DLC, as console players , like myself dont have the benefit of mods.

They do have a slight buff. Try making beef or vegetable soup.

Agree. It's called Harcdore Mode and it's a complete mystery why it wasn't included :shrug:

This is the type of thing I want to see Bethesda put into some type of hardcoe Mode for some upcoming DLC.

It really would improve my experience with Skyrim a lot more and extend the replay value.

I mean I'm enjoying exploring the world and everything, but I find myself eager to get back to Fallout New Vegas, and I think its due to the extra depth and challenge that hardcoe mode offers. I think once ive finished the main storyline in Skyrim, i'll just end up going back to FO:NV.

Cooking's boring as hell. It was interesting at first, and now food is just knickknacks you leave around your kitchen for the visual effect, except for a couple soups and stews that have an effect on your health and/or stamina regeneration. But here's the thing - why bother making it so people have to eat all the time? I mean, three times a day? Really? Anybody ever play GTA: San Andreas, where you had to eat constantly, but it better be a salad or you're gonna get fat? Annoying. Why bother role-playing the mundane aspects? Killing an imaginary, electronic dragon is fun as hell, but e-cooking virtual food is dull, dull, dull.

This. hardcoe mode would really improve RPing imo, but for now I'll just self impose it...

Yes I want more cooking!

Why can't I make sweetrolls and honey-nut treats?

Why can't I find special recipes in the wilds that allow me to make unique and powerful food?

I'd not want it to level me up like Blacksmithing, Alchemy, or Enchanting...but it would be fun to have it increase in skill.

I agree with this. Hardcode would have made this game so much better. As it is now cooking and sleeping is pretty pointless.
In the beginning I roleplayed that my character had to sleep, and eat for surive. But after a while it just get tedious.
And it kinda breaks the immersion when you don't have any penalties for not eating or sleeping. So it went from cool, from a RP standpoint to
just me thinking; heck with it, I'll just go from dungeon to dungeon because it really dosen't matter..

Fallout New Vegas was great with HC-mode. I remember I had to scavange for water and so on. It was great. It was also a good money sink.

So....

Sims The Elder Scrolls edition.

I'd love to be able to use food as a bribe, or a persuasion device.

Cooking should be merged with Alchemy, pretty much.

Edit: As for the whole would I play a mod that made it so you had to eat.

Not really. I didn't particularly like hardcoe Mode in New Vegas, so I don't see how I'd like it here.

I like the cooking in Skyrim very much. Its realization is quite good. I spend much game time in order to find some food ingredients like potatoes, cabbage, meat, cheese, fish, etc. I often steal them from NPC's houses risking to be caught :rolleyes: Every barrel, bag or shelf is explored by me in order to discover something eatable. My inventory is always loaded with yummy food) I really enjoy this part of a roleplay so I'm very thankful to Bethesda for including this possibility into the game. Of course, slight recovering with cooked food doesn't seem to be a good thing, but then alchemy wouldn't be so useful. I see no sense in changing somthing in game cooking system. But I'm sure that will be many mods that rebalance parameters of all ingredients and cooking will be more useful. Definitely there will be also mods that improve it with adding more ingredients, perks and even hunger, and people will be satisfied with cooking at last. So cheer up guys)

THIS!

EDIT: Its also a mystery why we cant cook all of the foods found in the game.

No... fire doesn't seem to hurt you... That's no fun...

Took me ages to find a fire that actually hurt me, besides one from a mage's staff.

Would be funny to burn down the riverwood-trader or another shop, because your cooking-skill wasn't up high enough.

Seriously though, would be cool if mixing food with ingredients made super-charged foods. (Would also have to code in some eating limits... I ate 120 cabbages, 43 green apples, 65 carrots, and 185 potatos in one game-second...)