Hardly a day goes by that I don't play a map of Doom or Doom2.

Having finished Dishonored and all of the awesome DLC I hadn't played before, I've decided to:

1. Get back to that 4th Thief game, the one I abandoned partway through. Genre is Action.

2. Try something I've owned for years but never played, so I chose Risen 2. Genre: RPG.

I loved Risen2 Hagatha

Slightly different to the original Risen but my favourite of the three in the series

Hope I'm not breaking the "extended gameplay discussion bit"

Thank you Marian, great to be here among friendly like minded people

Well I have replayed KOTOR 1 and 2 and they never get old.

Now I found a deal on Fallout New Vegas (9.99 on Steam) and have gotten into the first couple of quests. Since I'm stepping back a little from Fallout 4 I wasn't expecting much but the game is enjoyable. It should provide several hours (days) of enjoyable questing. It's no Skyrim or Witcher 3 but then what is????

Too true

New Vegas is an enjoyable romp. I liked the old west parallels.

Well, I've started Shadowrun: Dragonfall, which is the expansion (although a stand-alone game) to Shadowrun (check the original topic post for details on game genre and style.) I intentionally don't read reviews on games I haven't played, so don't know if this one is as short as the base game. Since I got them during the GOG summer special, no real complaints, I like the gameplay, but the base game ended so quickly. I guess I'm too used to playing the bigger, epic RPG's as well.

After Dragonfall, I'm just going to stay with the series and delve into Shadowrun: Hong Kong. It's a tactical/strategy oriented RPG and the third in the series.

I was in the middle of New Vegas when we moved a while back, and never got back to it. I thought it was a wonderful game, actually. I think it'spartly the sound track, which is amazing (I mean come, on, who doesn't like Peggy Lee singing Do Right?) but there were some excellent moments generally, The only part I'm on the fence about is the actual New Vegas stuff, and that's where I was, and I forget who I was supporting. Still, I will get back to it.

As for the KOTORS, they remain among my favourites, too.

I just got to that part and am trying to figure it out right now. The song that sticks in my mind from the game is Dean Martin "Ain't That Kick in the Head"

And Thief 4 (Stealth Action) is turning out to be pretty darned good, too. As long as I don't constantly compare it to the originals, it's lots of fun -- though I miss the ability to climb anywhere I want.

Well, so I finished Shadowrun: Dragonfall and it was a decent offering, very much like the first with some improvements, but still very short. It probably took me about 20 hours or so. Finishing off the series with Shadowrun: Hong Kong and was pleasantly surprised by the opening. It feels more polished than the first two and seems to have more depth, at least the dialogue has quite a bit more content. I've heard it's also a shorter game, but so far I like the way they went with it. I feel like the development house, Harebrained Schemes (love the name ) should work out a bigger, more robust game set in their cyberpunk world. There's lots of possibilities, but I guess popping out the smaller Kickstarter games is currently keeping them in business.

Once again, after intentionally staying away from it for some time now, I got the Skyrim bug. Took me most of the night to re-download the main game, load all the mods I like (120 of them) and the get everything configured without crashes. I forgot that I haven't played since I got the big monitor and boy does it look good. So here we go again...

I love that name too, Trail. Have fun

So what are you going to do when Skyrim Remastered is released, Trail?

Actually, I'm hoping that it's an optional release. I'm afraid that the changes they've made may mess up existing mods. Also, not that I don't have faith in Bethesda, but I'll be surprised if the "remastered" version comes out looking any better than any of the other independent ENB's and atmospheric mods that are already out there. I had to tone down those mods to keep my frame rate at a good level, but a couple of them that I tried made the game look literally breath taking. I'm also running a couple high-res mesh mods that give a great deal of detail to most aspects of the game, so I'm really on the fence about this patch. I feel like they are just doing it to keep people thinking about the single player campaign version(s) of The Elder Scrolls since the next one is supposed to be so far off yet.

I guess we will get to find out in October.

Well, good on that release, since I intend to spend winter this year playing Skyrim -- from scratch (Steam will have my old saves, but I want to start again. No point in picking up a game I abandoned 4 years ago).

For those like me that enjoy picking up Skyrim now and again, there are two easy mods that I highly recommend if you haven't already used them. They are especially good if you would like an infusion of new content in the game. All of these can be loaded using the Nexus Mod Manager (NMM)


Interestnig NPC's

So this mild mannered sounding mod adds the following to the game:
250+ Voiced NPCs
50+ Quests
25+ Followers with Location Based Commentary
15+ Marriage NPCs
The NPC's have been voiced by over 80 very talented voice actors. Personally, I think this is one of the best mods out there due to the backstory, depth and variety it adds to the game. Be patient while this one is loading, it takes a decent amount of time.

Cutting Room Floor by Arthmoor

So, pretty much anything by Arthmoor is going to be good. He's been instrumental in the Unofficial Patches and a ton of other content, a very talented developer. This particular mod pulls in and completes content that Bethesda never added into the game for one reason or another. It's not a huge mod, but it does add to the continuity of the game by filling in some missing pieces.

Of course there are tons of aesthetic mods and mods that add quest content, but I really like using the combination of these two mods in particular along with all the others. They really help to make the game seem much fuller.

I can't remember how to download/install the mods, so when the time comes I'll be looking for advice. These 2 mods seem great, and of course I'll want the divorce mod so I can checkout all of the beefcake in the game.

Thanks for the info Trail. I just happened to start Skyrim again for the umpteenth time and saw your post. I have installed the interesting NPC's and all went well although I have no idea how to find whatever the mod has to offer.

I tried to install the cutting room mod and my game crashed to desktop when I tried to start it up. I did have all the prerequisites for the mod, in fact, I even purchased Hearthfire just to be sure. Fortunately I have learned from past experience to back up my Data Folder prior to installing mods so it wasn't a complete disaster.

Be forwarned folks that it's pretty much a must to back up your data folder before installing mods.
If you're not sure how to do that I'm sure Trail can walk you through it.

I'll take that into consideration, too. Thanks for the tip.

Sorry to hear about your crash, thus is the way of things with mods. In some cases, loading a new mod with an existing game can cause issues. I usually start a new game if I'm loading larger mods. If you are running a game while loading mods, it sometimes help to load up a save, re-save it with the mod, close and restart. That can alleviate some loading issues. It's also good to make a specific save prior to loading the mod (if you are mid-game.) I'll make a named save by using the console and the "save" command called "Before_[insert mod name]_load" and keep that in case I have a crazy issue sometime along the road. Then if I have to uninstall the mod I'll re-start with that save.

Also, while not perfect, it's a good idea to use a load order generator. The preferred one at the moment is LOOT: The Load Order Optimization Tool This is especially true if you are running a number of mods. Mods not loaded in the correct order will almost always cause issues.

Also, if you are using NMM (Nexus mod manager) and I recommend that you do, it tracks your mod files and can cleanly uninstall or reinstall mods as needed. Not to sound like I endorse running with scissors , but since I've been using NMM I've rarely backed up my data folder and commonly run over 100 mods. I've only come across a couple of save game "fatalities."

As far as Interesting NPC's goes, you'll come across a large number of new NPC's, all of which have detailed backstories, possible quests and some can be companions. Basically, if you see someone you've never come across before just start talking to them. I ended up getting into an argument with a group of Justicars leading a Wood Elf prisoner. It ended the usual way, but in this case the prisoner thanked me and turned out to be one of the Interesting NPC's. He's a bard from Valenwood, with some great dialogue and a potential follower. The quests you come across are more along the lines of the Radiant quests (semi random.) If you go to the Mages University in Winterhold you'll also come across a number of new characters. I've also randomly run into new NPC's while traveling the road.

I finished Thief, and it was amost good, but not quite. I enjoyed it well enough, I guess. I thought I might replay some of the missions to see if I could improve my score, but soon decided I didn't really care whether I found those last bits of loot in the Bank -- though I did manage to ghost the level.

Right now I'm downloading Bioshock 2. I loved the first one, so hopefully this one won't disappoint.

I saw this thread as I've been googling and you-tubing for several days for info on Skyrim. Info on the net is indeed intimidating! I am very interested as many posts on the net suggest Skyrim for a beginner/first timer. But the many posts on Steam about problems and crashes are worrisome. I've never heard of Nexus before, I don't know what on earth mods are (and am concerned that many of those glitches and crashes posts are because folks are messing about with mods and causing problems with their game). The game seems to be the pinnacle for many RPG players.

I've always been rubbish with anything involving action but a friend who has nearly 1000 hours in this game assures me that 'very easy' mode is doable. I've never played a RPG before but would really like to try one. I bought a new laptop so I could play Obduction with its high specs since my Win7 was becoming problematic, so that should help. The posts on steam about mods and setting up win 10 to play this game nearly frightened me away as I'm not a very tech savvy person. I did notice the part about getting the extras so the new version in October will be available and was considering that option. Do you think that a {cough} older lady with eyesight and slow reflexes matching her years could play this game without pulling her hair out and throwing the laptop out the window?

LadyCav, I am and was able to play it when it first came out. I didn't play it on Windows 10 so can't tell you about the set up. I played without mods as I'm always afraid I'll crash my computer with them.

Lady Cav, the lovely thing about the open world Elder Scrolls games, including Skyrim, is that you go at your own pace. You can sneak around killing easy, low-level foes, gaining experience and leveling up, or do easy quests, until you feel ready for bigger challenges. And you character WILL level up fast just by roaming around in areas that aren't too challenging.

I love Skyrim (and Oblivion, and Morrowind). All wonderful games, and yes, me too, older lady with eyesight issues -- though my years of playing computer games have given me the reflexes of a cat!