Game Skyrim Forum

Been a owner of Skyrim since launch. I've put in 721 hours over that course of time...and I've never finished the main quest. Or any of the DLC. Or the Thieves Guild (Though I did recently wrap up the Dark Brotherhood on a character).

I just can't get any character to really stick or click. I've gone through dozens of them - from Julius Highstorm (Exiled Imperial who, looking for a fresh start, delves into his mother's heritage) to The Shamat (Amnesiac and reborn Dagoth Ur). Some characters have kept popping up through the years like The Withchunter (Altmer witchhunter). But none of my characters get any farther then Season Unending.

I've played Mages, Fighters, Thieves of all sorts. I run Ordinator, Apocalypse, Thunderchild, and even the Witchhunter's Spells and Prayer Pack briefly (I uninstalled the last because it was incredibly powerful and potent right out of the gate, broke the experience).

I just can't crest the "hill" as it was. And before the Special Edition's character profiles, I liked to keep a tidy save folder and tended to delete characters who I'd lost interest in...meaning I have to start over. And that's becoming the biggest hurdle right now...getting started again - this time in the Special Edition.

So far, two characters have already stalled out. Tragan, a sort of update to my old Julius Highstorm character and Uru gro Magok, a Orc vagabond who rejects Malacath and wants to learn more of the shared history between various Mer.

So I come here for help. Anyone have any tips, mods, or general encouragement that could help me push on with a new Skyrim run? I'd really like to complete Skyrim (and by that I mean finish the DLC and Main Quest) before I went back to Morrowind or Daggerfall, or at the very least before Elder Scrolls VI is released.

Nothing just seems to be clicking any more. Just got out of taking Uru through Embershard and was just bored.

hmmm see all of my characters have stories... The quest-lines are incidental to the story. Ok so for one of my next characters, Asherea she will be doing the MQ ( reason is a mod, that pretty much presumes you are Dragonborn and who's dialogue wrap's around that) But being "Dragonborn" is only secondary to her story... that is what keep's me interested in any given play through..

I think that for me, I have to have interest in seeing the character grow, develop and play out their story.. If a quest-line is involved that I try to create a character whose story will revolve around that quest-line. Winter, The only quest-line she will be involved in is the CoW... it truly does not matter if she finishes that quest-line, it's pretty much the back drop for the beginning of her story, how far she get's... make's no never mind.

I have the out-line of a planned story, but I'm not ready to do it yet.. others that I want to do first.. "Dwemer Scholar" For his or her story they will go into each and every "vanilla" Dwemer ruin, but also mod'd ones... and there are many many mod's that focus on Dwemer things.

What I am saying is that you have to have a main character that you click with one way or the other, their story their life has to be important or else it's just a matter of going through the quest-lines and trying to complete them.

I suppose the problem is while I have plenty of characters, none can see me through to the end.

Or rather, there's not much to actually drive my characters forward. I've been Altmer Sorcerers who have fought off Dragons in the middle of Whiterun, and I've been Breton Knights purifying ancient ruins in the name of Stendarr. But past the scope of their own personal triumphs and tragedies, none are qualified to be "The Dragonborn". None since Julius, and he died when my first install of Skyrim bombed out due to overmodding.

Maybe it's time I return to Julius. Maybe it's time to tell his story properly.

And that is just it.. I know I want to do a Dwemer Scholar... I've played since release and never went into a Dwemer ruin that the game did not send the character into. If I had the choice Peryite.. I did not choose to do the quest or go into the dungeon. So most of those places will be "new to me"...

If doing the MQ is something that you want to do.. think about what the umm personality is of a person that would do that.. are they all "gun-ho".. are they reluctant... what makes them want to ( no spoilers ) DO the main quest... Are they an Immortal Vampire who's plot's and plan's are being messed with... A mage that just feel's his rise to power might come to naught if "The world ends".. reason's that don't go away mid quest.

I haven't done my Scholar because other personalities came forward 1st.. the right "person" for the job hasn't stepped forward yet...

Tempting, but I'm going back to Julius.

Julius...the boy from Cyrodiil. Working with his father and brother at their pawn shop in the Imperial City. He always wondered about his mother, but his father would always look sad when asked. When Julius started getting into fights, his father would always blame it on his "mother's temper". While Julius was out causing trouble, his father and brother were struggling to keep the business afloat. Hard to make a living as a pawn broker in a depressed economy like Cyrodiil, post-Great War. Too many people have too much use for what they used to throw out. Between the lack of business and the constant need to pay off fines Julius was accumulating, it was only a matter of time. Julius' brother took work on a Dominion merchant vessel while his father headed to Chorrol to investigate rumors of the Legion hiring Lumberjacks. That left Julius to his own devices, and it wasn't long before he fell in with a drifter named Lokir. He came from Skyrim, Julius' mother's homeland.

With the City Watch getting...oppressive...for their tastes, Julius and Lokir headed out, with Julius expressing a desire to visit Skyrim and learn more about his mother. Lokir suggested checking with the Hall of Records in Solitude to find out about his mother's family, a clan his father said was called Highstorm. Lokir wasn't familiar with them, but he was from a small farming community. So the two set off - Julius for Skyrim and Lokir bound for Hammerfell, but first they needed horses. But money was quite tight....

Go play another game.

Well, that's a bit antagonistic. I estimate I'm working on about 3k hours in Skyrim. Not leaving. Not interested in other games....

I had that problem for a while too but mods on console just opened the game and now there're possibilities that I had wet dreams about... I'm playing a survivalist character at the moment and it's honestly one of the best... It puts Skyrim in a whole knew light... You do need mods and I'll list the essential ones below...

Mods

Frostfall

Campfire

Alternative Start

iNeeds

Wet and Cold...

Fur Hoods...

Cheat Room

Disable Auto Health Regen

Vivid Weathers

iNeeds you need on unknown water and carry weight to -200... Frostfall you need death on, reduced movement... Wet and Cold you need blizzard and rain blind..

Use the cheat room to take away all items and gold... Start with the clothes of your choosing but no armour... Iron knife as your only weapon...

Alternative Start - shipwrecked of the coast...

Then survive...

Make sure you get the snowberry extract from the sack as soon as you get out of the water because once you enable Frostfall you'll die before you reach the shore otherwise... You can use Deekus' campfire... I recommend going east along the coast as it's harder to survive... You can make your own backstory but my character worked for the East Empire Company... So maybe check out their office at Windhelm...

Rules:

No looting animals for treasure

No looting bandits for clothes, especially the opposite six

No waiting or fast travel, if a three day blizzard rolls in then prepare to bunker down

No using Campfire's crafting of bows and hatches (optional)

You can go even more hardcoe and not us restoration... If you feel brave enough

Heh.. if you haven't done it now, I don't know if you ever will.

I never finish main stuff in Morrowind and Oblivion either. I don't know why, but Skyrim just clicked for me. But it won't click for everyone, just like the others didn't for me (I didn't mind the basic games themselves btw).

Have been. Fallout 4, Darkest Dungeon, Subnautica, Civilization VI, Crusader Kings II, Hearthstone...just have the old Skyrim itch and the desire to finish the MQ.

Forgot to address...

I use most of those already. Disable Auto Health Regen isn't my bag (I like the game tough, but not punishing), nor is Cheat Room. I was running with iNeed (Mostly since it's the only hunger/thirst/sleep option on the SE Nexus at the moment)...but I uninstalled it. Just like in Standard edition, I really didn't care for its mechanics. Color me spoiled from years of playing with Realistic Needs and Diseases, but it bothered me something fierce that apples didn't enhance hydration. Eating apples and getting the "You are thirsty" prompt just drove me straight out of the game.

Plus the fact using it in conjunction with LAL meant you always started the game starving, dehydrated, and on the verge of collapse (Remember - Special Edition. No SKSE or MCM). Most of my mods are Quality of Life things, and iNeed rapidly became a burden on the QoL. And that's saying something, since I've only been serious about the Special Edition for the last week.

Not an issue, due to SkyTest's Realistic Predators. It's rare that I have animals to fight, let alone loot. When I do though, that's what Hunterborn is for.

Rarely ever an issue. For years I've operated off a "Only loot what you can realistically strip from a body" rule set.

As a longtime Frostfall user (and Realistic Needs and Diseases), Fast Travel and Waiting have long since fallen out of favor with me.

Julius isn't much of a bow user anyway.