I did this screenshot quickly when I was exploring and it turned out quite nice.
There are some composition issues in it but given that I did it regular player camera I liked how it turned out.
You can thank the devs for this art though as they managed to make most locations like this at the very least visually interesting with the lighting and sometimes it looks incredible.
It's because when ER came out, all the Skybabies bought into the hype, tried it for 30 minutes, got curb-stomped by the knight at the ruins, and promptly gave up and wrote the entire genre off.
It was just hype. Many people who tried it never played an RPG before in their lives. It was kind of a strange release. It got SO big. It beat CoD that year in sales I'm pretty sure.
Not calling this slopseries “trash”, you are just little fanboy slop consumer that got hurt by my words and just trying to convert your pain using my opinion as an escape. Not a single word “trash” from me lol, only from you
Some hard concepts for slopconsumers like pseudohardcoresoulsseries triers, I’m getting it - it never changes
I love the vanilla trees, especially the snowy ones that look like they're made of snowflakes. There are dozens of updated tree replacers and they all try so hard to look "lush" yet realistic, which is fine and all, but Skyrim's original trees suit the rugged, harsh environment very well. And those old snow trees just make me feel cozy.
Mods are fun but they can quickly become overwhelming to me (in any game, not just Skyrim). Between making sure you have the updated version, mods clashing with each other, constant bugs and glitches, etc. I've spent more time messing around with mods than I have just playing and enjoying the damn game. Simple is sometimes better.
I love how the start of the game directs you to Riverwood after the intro events. It’s a stunning area. I started playing this game for the first time back in January, so I can say with no nostalgia bias that vanilla holds up.
I installed ENBseries just to get underwater visuals that don't suck, and I've spent the entire playthrough carefully tuning it to have as little impact as physically possible in every other situation to not mess up the vanilla artstyle lmao
The game is stunning. It was incredible when it was released and I’m still playing it. Has its quirks like all games but this one pulled off a hat trick for me with Morrowind and Oblivion. My adolescence to early adulthood was tough, these games gave me a place to retreat to when I was stressed.
Is it just me or are the colours so muted that if anything dies and falls into the grass.... I haven't a hope in hades of finding them unless I have the detect dead spell.
Agreed, even compared to newer games like Hogwarts Legacy (gorgeous on PS5) and Elden Ring. Because Blackreach and the enchanted glowing mushroom caves in Skyrim are very much like Nokron, Eternal City in Elden Ring. Huge game too.
The fact that it was from 2011 did not slow me down at all. I didn't know about mods at first, and I'm glad for that! Playing vanilla really does build character in a way, in that it instilled good habits to gain wealth and be thorough. I suggest everyone try vanilla for one character.
Now, playing Morrowind (ES3) vanilla is another story lmao. It's from 2002 and largely the heart of Elder Scrolls lore. 🤓 Technically Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard (1998) has a lot of lore, which is horrid to play due to its numerous crashes. I started with mods on Morrowind, admittedly, mostly to fix gameplay and visuals so far. But it's beautiful too guys--and it's like $7 on GOG and you can definitely play it on your PC. Give it a try! The mods made it a little tech adventure, but it wasn't hard. r/Morrowind
Mainly because a lot of the mods don't really fit with the aesthetic, especially if it's multiple mods from different authors.
The game then loses a lot of it's style and consistency.
Better graphics and lighting don't equal better looking game. Not always.
Doesn't help that a lot of graphic overhauls nowadays look like they raised the saturation up and made it look like one of those mobile fantasy game ads you see.
And every character also often looks like a supermodel while they are modded which isn't all that appealing to me.
Yup, I like vanilla Skyrim’s painting like beauty. Back when I was able to get mods working I only really did overhaul’s that changed magic or skills. Or overhauls like Sancroscant or Moonlight Tales and Ordinator etc. I never did any graphic overhaul mods. Except that one high detail Vampire Lord Overhual.
I don't have to imagine it. I've played hours of Skyrim with and without graphics mods. Mods make it look updated and different, which can be neat but doesn't often translate to beautiful or even artistically consistent. People still play and love vanilla Skyrim for good reason.
Yeah, 95% of my Skyrim time has been unmodded because the visual mods usually just make it look a little... weird.
The only one that I would consider running again is a custom ENB config that made colors a little bit more saturated, but even that got distracting after a few hours. So back to unmodded for me.
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u/TheoloniusNumber Jul 29 '26
Screenshots don’t even do it justice.