Hey y'all!
Before I joined the Forge, I had absolutely no idea what modding was. Well, correction: I knew you could add stuff to your games to make it complete chaos and essentially create a new game entirely. All I knew I learned from comical videos from The Scatsbury and such, which while humorous, didn't really interest me in jumping into mods. If I was going to mod, I wanted something to help fill in the gaps of my roleplaying experience. And lucky me, I stumbled on to Enairim.
When talking about modding, it doesn't take long for "Enairim" to enter the conversation. And let's be honest, the mods are pretty clean. I use four regularly- Ordinator, Imperious, Apocalypse, and Wildcat- and they've changed gameplay like never before. These mods overhauls several key aspects of gameplay, greatly improving where Bethesda left off. I'll just give a short description of what these mods do and let you decide for yourself.
1. Ordinator completely changes the perk system. At first, I was hesitant to get it. I really liked the vanilla perks and didn't want to change them. After one playthrough with the mod though, I can't believe I ever doubted. Character building becomes so much easier, and it gives new life to what I used to consider "dead perks". Theres a branch on Speech devoted solely to Shouting. Elements of Alteration allow you to manipulate not only Frost, Fire, and Shock, but adds ground and elevation to the playing field. Staves have their own branch. It's insane. I'm finally able to play as anything but a sneak archer.
2. Imperious overhauls the perks and abilities of all the races. It also gives you missions to unlock a special power that only a chosen race can invoke. For example, Nords can now choose races they "hate" and deal extra damage. (Make Skyrim Great Again) Bretons unlock an extra hidden ability at each standing stone after discovering them all. Wood elves call upon the Wild Hunt. This is great in itself, but it gets crazier when you realize these abilities are carried over to NPCs as well. I'll never forget the time I was murdered by a Dunmer's ancestors. Terrifying.
3. Magic is redone with Apocalypse and Talos Almighty, it's beautiful. I have never been able to play actively as a mage until installing. It adds dozens of new and lore friendly spells to the game, involving elements that make sense in Skyrim, but Bethesda simply didn't include. You can raise walls of earth to block attacks while healing you and your allies in a magicka friendly way. Destruction wise, there is a plethora or new ways to attack. And if spells aren't your thing, staves might be. I've encountered just a few but they are sick. One allows you to see through the eyes of another NPCs, another allows you to summon a Wraith. There is unlimited potential.
4. Finally, we get to Wildcat. This is probably the most difficult mod I've played with, but when you get the hang of it, it's astounding. Essentially, it reduces fighting, making your weapon choice and where you choose to attack more vital. Different hits do different things to NPCs, and their health and stamina affect them as well. One guy at low health may become paralyzed. Another may become enraged. Just keep in mind NPCs can do the same to you. Still, there's nothing more satisfying than a sniper headshot with a bow.
Those are just a few Enairim mods, and there's quite a few out there. I'd like to hear about what some of the others do from people that have actually tried them out. What does it change? Is it worth it? Is there any you HAVE TO include in your load order?
Talos Guide You!
Replies
I'll start. Of the four mods listed here, I've only been playing with Wildcat and only for a couple weeks. I'm still regularly being surprised by combat, but it's all good surprises.
I recently went through the mine right outside helgen, and near the open cavernous area, I made a first attack after leaving stealth-mode, and the blade clipped this orcs knee; the orc ragdolled appropriately, his legs sweeping out from under him. While he was struggling to get up, I was confused about what had happened- and I was standing over him with a greatsword. As it clicked, (I used to be an adventurer like you...), I had a grim IRL chuckle about Wildcat, and didn't let him get back up. Exalted, I went further into the mine with high confidence, but then the archery shot me and an great-axe wielder came for me xD
Pretty sure I'll keep Wildcat installed for any playthrough regardless of build. I'm trying to take it slow on modding, but I do plan on trying at least the above enairim mods out sooner than later.
I'm excited about checking out the Magicka mod, never could stick with a mage in vanilla. Also interested to know now as well what else Enai has done, and what others consider a must-have and why.
Wildcat definitely keeps me on my toes. Rather than charging into battle thinking health potions will be enough, I have to actually decide if I can take the enemy with the given inventory.
I have never been able to do a mage build before Apocalypse. I actually have a build coming up for the event that is strictly magic. I was actually surprised I could pull it off. Definitely let me know what you think of it.
Now I’m curious what all does wild cat do
Among other things; stamina management per attack, not just power attacks. Timed blocking induces stagger. Lower damage to higher health, higher damage to lower health. This makes damage have a snowballing effect that can go both ways. You gotta go in and not screw up haha. And finally, but surely neither last nor least- there's an injury system. I've not put alot of hours in yet honestly. It's really good though.
To me the Skyrim character building scene would not have lasted into 2019 without Enai’s mods. Sure, there’s a lot one can do with vanilla perks spells and stones. Few know that better than I do. But Enai’s mods open up almost infinite possibilities.
Vanilla Skyrim is quite limited in the variety of classes and archetypes it allows players to recreate. Thanks to Ordinator I have well over a dozen ideas planned out that I wouldn’t be able to touch in vanilla.
I've noticed just reading through the perks on Ordinator I've gotten many, many ideas for characters. I'm planning on making a druid with high level speech but only for Shouts and Speak with Animals. It never would have been possible if not for Ordinator.
Speech is probably my favorite ordinator skill tree. I’ve always hated how non essential speech was in vanilla for about 95% of Build concepts
I find Sacrosanct to be quite intimidating in its complexity.
I actually haven't tried Sacrosanct yet. What does it do?
It’s a complete overhaul of vampire and vampire lord perks spells and abilities. Each race gets their own unique vampire abilities.
The abilities you have access to as well as their properties are based on how well or how poorly fed you are. And some abilities are completely locked unless you are one or the other.
There are even powerful blueblood abilities gained by feeding on elite named NPCs like Elenwen and Ulfric
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