#Skyrim mod review

[underleveledjosh]

Skyrim Mod Review: Experience

The Experience mod is a fantastic mod that replaces xp by leveling up skills with a more conventional method. What is this more conventional method, you may ask? Well, with this mod, you gain experience by killing enemies, reading books (I have to check if this includes using spell books), discovering locations, and completing quests. This also removes the need to make skills legendary to increase your maximum level, and increases your max level to a massive 255 by default. All of these can be configured via the mod's .ini file (Experience.ini). I will have what setting I personally use under the read more link. The link to the mod is here. I definitely see myself using this mod continuing forward.

My settings for the .ini file. This is my personal preference. To change the settings of this mod, open your mod folder (if using MO2, right click the mod and then click "open in explorer", and then go to SKSE, and then plugins, and the Experience.ini file should be there when you open that folder. Make sure your game is close when you make these changes. Make sure to save the file after making changes.

[General] bEnableKilling = true bEnableReading = true bEnableSkillXP = false iMaxPlayerLevel = 255 fSkillCapBase = 20.000000 fSkillCapMult = 3.000000 bUseRacialCaps = true bShowMessages = true sMessageFormat = {:+d} XP iMeterMode = 1

[Questing] iXPQuestNone = 5 iXPQuestMain = 150 iXPQuestCollege = 50 iXPQuestThieves = 50 iXPQuestBrotherhood = 50 iXPQuestCompanions = 50 iXPQuestDaedric = 75 iXPQuestSide = 50 iXPQuestCivilWar = 75 iXPQuestDawnguard = 100 iXPQuestDragonborn = 100 iXPObjectives = 10

[Exploring] iXPDiscFort = 15 iXPDiscNordicRuin = 15 iXPDiscDwemerRuin = 20 iXPDiscShipwreck = 20 iXPDiscDragonLair = 30 iXPDiscDoomstone = 20 iXPDiscImperialTower = 15 iXPDiscOrcStronghold = 15 iXPDiscGiantCamp = 20 iXPDiscNordicTower = 20 iXPDiscNordicDwelling = 20 iXPDiscDaedricShrine = 30 iXPDiscDefault = 10

[Clearing] iXPClearCave = 40 iXPClearFort = 60 iXPClearNordicRuin = 100 iXPClearDwemerRuin = 200 iXPClearDragonLair = 150 iXPClearImperialTower = 50 iXPClearGiantCamp = 60 iXPClearNordicTower = 50 iXPClearDefault = 30

[Killing] fXPLevelFactor = 1.800000 fXPGroupFactor = 0.800000 fXPKillingMult = 1.500000

[Reading] fXPReadingMult = 2.000000

[leolovesthings]

nostalgia lane trip with a tad of shameless self-advertisement

[themegachessatron]

A Review of my time in Skyrim's Prisons (Featuring some followers): Morthal Jail

I'm back on my Skyrim prison bullshit. I can only apologise. This chapter of the review will cover Morthal, the community's collective 9th favourite Skyrim city. Will its prison fall just as flat as the city that holds it?

Arriving in my cell for the first time and I'm pleasantly surprised. Morthal Jail uses cost effective but cozy bedrolls to give prisoners a place to sleep, as well as a complimentary bucket and broom to encourage their responsibility in helping tidy their accommodations. From these we can immediately infer that the mindset in Morthal is one of community strength. Placing multiple prisoners in one cell helps build bonds and encourages teamwork, communication and friendship. Admittedly the sorts that end up in prison are more likely to simply beat their cellmates to death with their bare hands than work in-tandem with them, but it's the thought that counts.

There was space for three prisoners in this one cell, which was fortunate as Sofia and I had been arrested simultaneously (Sofia for drunken hooliganism and myself for lollygagging). Included on Sofia's side of the cell was an additional bucket, this likely serving as the simple but effective waste deposit for this cell. Also included was a basket containing five green apples and multiple sacks. Most of the sacks were empty but one of them had some salt piles inside, useful for when we needed to add salt to somebody's wounds. These simple supplies show a level of understanding for prisoner's needs not really seen in most other prisons which goes a long way to making this one feel more welcoming. Thankfully I was given an opportunity to explore beyond my cell not much later.

Less than a minute after Sofia and I had arrived in our cells, Inigo walked up to the cell doors... and simply opened them. I was at a loss for words! How had he done this? Had he used his special Khajiit powers again? Did he steal the key from an unsuspecting guard? Or had he simply intimidated the door into giving way? Well as it tuns out it was much simpler than that. He paid our bail. He had picked up some trace valuables from our adventures while I was, and I quote, "too busy scarfing dragon souls as if they were sweet rolls" and could very easily afford the rather meager bail price. Yeah turns out lollygagging doesn't incur that high of a bounty, and as for Sofia, I had asked a guard and he told me that since Morthal is such a nothing shithole drunken hooliganism is a very common offence and as such more major punishments weren't really practical for having a city with people not in prison. Still, it gave me the chance to freely observe the rest of the facilities.

Leaving my cell had allowed me to freely confirm something I had observed inside my cell. The Morthal guard leave the prisoner belongings chests directly next to the prison cells, in plain view of all the prisoners. Now, I understand that this prison is trying to build a feeling of mutual trust in its prisoners, but I fear this is far too optimistic. With the chests in this position, any wannabe escapist can freely identify where their equipment is held and try to access it without even being in the peripheral view of any guards, leading them to easily re-acquire their trusty Banded Iron Shield of the Major Knight or whatever it is they use and be more than prepared to force their way to freedom without major harm. This, much like the issues plaguing Dragonsreach Dungeon, is a major security breach and should be remedied.

I (the rather large Redguard man in the rags pictured above) then noticed that the entire prison floor in this hold was being guarded by a single solitary guardsman. Initially I had considered this lack of manpower a major oversight and a suggestion that the Morthal guard were largely lazy and/or not effectively utilized like the Whiterun guards. However, in reflection shortly after coming to this conclusion, I came to a realization. This city is a nothing shithole with a total named population of eighteen people (three of which are children). Of course there's only one guard stationed here. What few guards this city has stationed here are likely stretched incredibly thin and not very satisfied with life given they do, in fact, live in Morthal. As such, I can readily forgive the short-staffed nature of this jail.

Opposite the guard was a desk for writing legal documentations, equipped with a writer's quill, rolls of paper and multiple bottles of wine. Naturally at the sight of alcohol Sofia immediately made herself at home and then took some serious persuading to leave. Turns out having an alcohol-happy workspace in a city where drunken hooliganism is let off lightly is exactly the sort of thing to get her attention, though knowing her should have made that obvious.

The way out of the jail floor leads directly into the guard barracks with zero alternative routes and multiple guards inside at all times, which in any other hold would act as a strong defence against escaping convicts. However, with this being Morthal the nothing shithole and the guards being so few in number, every guard in the barracks when I entered was fast asleep, catching up on any rest they could possibly get. I pity those soldiers, but I doubt thieves, murderers and other more serious convicts would be as sympathetic.

On the whole, I found Morthal Prison to be a much better facility than Dragonsreach Dungeon. It has a clear intention for its captives in mind, it accommodates them well without breaking the bank and the guards (what ones are still awake that is) are very nice and understanding. There are still faults however, namely the placement of the prisoner belongings chests and the fact that this is still, at the end of the day, Morthal. Despite these though, I'd recommend Morthal Prison. It serves as a diamond in the swampy messy shithole that is Hjaalmarch.

Final rating: Seven Banded Iron Shields of the Major Knight out of Ten Banded Iron Shields of the Major Knight

Thank you for entertaining these reviews of mine. Next time we see if the Dawnstar Jail is the reason why all of the city's residents are troubled by endless nightmares.

[rabbittwinrithings]

I’m finally making it, My Beyond Reach Review

Disclaimer: While I didn’t have the best time with this mod, that doesn’t mean you may not. I never want my opinion to sour someone else’s, and have the risk of them not playing the mod. So I highly recommend you check it out. 

I’m putting this disclaimer as well since my playthrough of the mod is a bit unfair. I played it with godmode (since I suck at game combat,) and after a while started to clip through dungeons to get them over with. This started to happen around halfway through as I found myself more frustrated with the mod and kinda wanted it done. I also played through only mostly the main quest. However, a friend of mine did tell me about one sidequest I do have a problem with. So keep this in mind with my review that I may be treating it a little unfairly. 

There’s also the point that mods are hard to make, let alone one of this scale. The mod author did an amazing job at creating this mod and I never want to invalidate that. With all that said, let’s get going. 

CW: Sexual Assault, Child Abuse, Ped*****, Cannibalism, and Harm Towards Women.

And Obviously Spoilers!

First off, I’m not the best at writing reviews. It won’t be wonderfully crafted or anything, just mostly detailed bullet notes of what I liked and disliked. While there is more I disliked, I did find some positives and will be layouting things in a sandwich review (that’s the right word?) going from positive to negative. Here we go!

This is a review for the mod, Beyond Reach by razorkid. 

Good: Grimdark. I will always love me some Grimdark. Hell, my current playthrough of Skyrim is currently a grimdark playthrough all with dead trees, gallows, horror monsters, ect. And while I think some parts of Beyond Reach’s grimdark-ness falls flat, most of it holds up and creates an eerie atmosphere. There were bodies hanging, creepy monsters, creepy dungeons, and a lot of stuff that fit the tone of the mod. However... some of it did not... 

Bad: A lot felt like shock value. In grimdark there’s always a tendency to add a lot of stuff for shock value, and sadly, BR had an abundance of it. I knew the mod got dark, but still I decided to play the uncensored version as I did want to get all the content. However, some it felt just... unneeded. At one point the player is tasked to go raid an Orc stronghold where there are legionnaire prisoners. However, you end up finding two of them, both women, one alive, one dead. The player can piece together what happened from that alone, and yet the mod goes as far as to have the alive prisoner wail at one of the soilders about how she was raped and would have an Orc child. The only purpose of this scene felt like to show how horrible these Orcs were. But why not just do that with dead prisoners (doesn’t need to be SA,) or why have her go on a whole speech about it.     After playing through this part I really was trying to rack my head around how it could have been done better. And honestly, after a day, I was reminded of Red Dead Redemption 2, and the scene were Arthur finds a woman who was also SAed. The only difference is that the scene added more than just “wow, those guys we killed were pretty bad,” instead, it added to Arthur's character. He helps the woman home. When she’s about to explain what they did he simply said “I know.” Subtly in situations like this tend to be the most powerful. As people our brains peice together what we want to see and having the woman simply say “They...” and the solider reply with “I know,” would have made the scene much more powerful. (She’s also naked during the whole ordeal, let me give the woman a blanket, something!)    There’s other darker themes that I felt like were shock value (mainly the ending place with some children, however, talking about will just make me sick. So I think I’ll just move on. Basically, some stuff happens to kids and again I feel like it’s only there to prove how bad someone is and doesn’t give much of anything else. I feel like something horrible and big like that need to have numerous reasons to be there than a singular “look how terrible this dude is!”)

Good: Cool enemies. I don’t really feel like there’s much to say on this part. I just thought some enemies were really cool. I think the ones that stuck out to me are part of Vicn’s Creature Pack, but could be wrong. Mostly it was the bloody skeleton monsters. Very cool to see. 

Bad: Not much role playing. Honestly, this part kinda made me the saddest as after one sidequest (which may have been my favorite part of the mod,) I had become an enemy of the state. It felt super in character as I was playing Alllin and despite being a serious guy, is also a little chaos gremlin who will flip off authority. But despite all that, I still ended up becoming a knight of the very state I was an enemy of and was forced to pick dialogue options that bended my knee to the king and was very formal. I’m not saying multiple path options in the way of a knight or criminal are needed, I just wish there were more dialogue options. 

Good: Neat dungeon horror design. So this one is a bit here and there as the dungeons I went through had super neat astrosphere that did have the grimdark feel to them. One was an asylum dungeon which I found pretty neat. However, there was also a problem with length... 

Bad: Long Dungeons. While this whole review is subjective, this part may be the most as I hate dungeons. If they’re neat looking I don’t mind. But when they take around thirty minutes to complete and little progress has been made I get real tired of them. This is why I started clipping through dungeons to just get the thing I needed and get out. 

Good: Music is nice. (But as I type this I went to go find the composer. But I don’t see any credits to music, so a slight bummer. If you know who did the music, please let me know and I’ll edit this part with credits.)

Bad: A lot of dead women. And I get it, a lot of people in general die in this mod. And maybe I’m misremembering stuff, or looking to deep, but in the main questline there was one main female character. And she is killed. And then there are several spots that are just about women in harm. (Like the SA I mentioned before, a part where a little girl is killed by a griffin, an Orc woman being tortured, a brothel getting massacred.) And I just didn’t see so much focus on men. And that sounds weird. But when it leans to one side so much, it is just super noticeable. 

Good: Voice Acting is nice. I know there isn’t too much to say there. I just really liked it. There were some unvoiced lines, but I don’t have too much of a problem with that since they are still looking for voice actors for various roles. I think the only problem I have with the unvoiced lines is that there’s no white noise for the line so the dialogue would just blink in and out and I couldn’t read what was said. 

Bad: Very railroad path. You are forced to be a knight, and see red flags of the nobility and yet you can’t do anything. Most of the time when you question a noble why you should do something it’s “well I’ll just have you killed,” and sure, not dying is great, but then the next line I’ll talk as if my life wasn’t just threatened.     A friend of mine who tried to be a bit more through in the mod took a sidequest where it told you a noble (who turns out to be evil later on in the main quest,) is a cannibal. Can we confront the noble about it? No. Can we warn those who may be hurt by him in the future? No. Do we talk to him as if we don’t know that he eats people? Yep! It’s all just odd and I think again it just falls back to the lack of player choice. 

Good: So on my list I wrote “Liked sick town,” which makes no sense to those who haven’t played it. So to explain it better there was a Side quest I really liked. Not only did it give a ton of player choice, but it actually made me feel like a good person, and the people were nice to me!    During my playthrough I made a rule that if someone was mean to me, I wouldn’t help them outside of the main questline. Cause why would I help someone who is rude to me? (There’s also an issue that most of the place is filled with mean people, so it creates little to no agency to help High Rock.) But one event was with some guards at a city I had to get into. I had to help them with an issue of some sick people and one of their guards who went missing. Come to find out the guard got sick and was trying to find medicine for the town so that they could live about three more years in peace. And in the end I was given a choice to kill the town, or help it. Obviously I helped it and became an enemy of the state. But I loved it! While the sick people would threaten you if you got to close to them, the guard with them was understanding. And his compassion for these people really stood out to me. It’s a shame I later had to bend my knee to the very people that wanted to kill them... 

Bad: Lore Friendliness. This one is very short as I see lore in ES as free real estate. I don’t care what you add in your mod. That what makes it fun. However, I know this will be a turn off for some so I thought I would say it. I think the main factor is you talk to Mara on various occasions and I’ve been told that isn’t possible. 

Good: City Design. I just like the layouts and looks of the city. What else can I say? Districts were interesting. (I think I'm running out of typing juices...)

Bad: Too much going on at one. There’s an Orc extremist group, there’s reach men attacking, there’s Namira shit, there’s a plague, and there’s a civil war starting. That is a lot, and it’s just the main quest. I realize it’s good to have a lot going on in a location, but not all of it needs to be in the main quest. All this stuff makes it super confusing and hard to keep track of what is really going on. 

Bad: Buggy. I’m doing two bads in a row as I do want to leave the review off on a good note. There were quite a few buggy stuff. However, considering how I played through it I wouldn’t doubt if a lot was my fault. That being said, I know some who did play through it correctly did also suffer from bugs. That being said, I know the mod author is still working on the mod so bugs will most likely get fixed.

Good: Dialogue explanation. One thing I really found helpful was that in front of dialogue options were [lore], [quest]. These little tidbits made it super easy to tell what dialogue I was picking or which one I needed to pick. Very small detail, but works wonders. 

Oh me, oh my, that is long... Sorry about that. 

TLDR: The mod is successful in it’s eerie astrosphere, but is dragged down by heavy writing. lack of player choice, and shock value issues. 

Thanks for reading all this and want to say again I don’t want to sway anyone away from this mod. I think it’s always important to try out something for yourself. Though, if the Content Warnings from above upset you, I recommend playing through the censored version (it will ask you in the game.) I haven’t played through the censored version, but it says it get’s rid of those events. 

I may try and do more reviews in the future, but understand these reviews are never an attack on the modder as I get modding is extermley difficult. My reviews are here to be optional constructive critism, and if I’ve said anything wrong or you disagree with I’m more than happy to have a conversation in the comments.  (I also say optional as sometimes modders aren’t looking for critism and just want to mod/create and that is 100% valid.) 

Thanks for reading again, and hope y’all enjoyed! 

[aliquistis]

New Skyrim playthrough starting with Irem at-Tavani who is a Redguard monster-hunting alchemist from Skaven. I love her but this post is actually bc my new favorite follower is also her husband,

Val Serano

I am being so serious right now, go play this mod.

Gushing about Val and more screenshots under the cut

So the thing I really like about Val as a follower is that he is here for the journey. He does of course have a fully fleshed-out story and personal quests but what I really love is I don't feel like I'm dragging him along to help me with my adventures, he's coming along bc he wants to be in on the adventure too (and, more importantly, the pay out,) I don't know if this feeling is an amalgam of how many lines he has (he has SO many lines reacting to quests) or his personality (relic hunter, knowledge seeker, arcane trickster on the lookout for that next big find that'll have us rolling in septims) but he doesn't just feel like a 'follower', he feels like a companion. The only other custom voiced follower I've really gotten that feeling with has been Lucien, and with how good that mod is I think that's a compliment that speaks for itself.

His personal quests are also really good and work so well with Elder Scrolls lore. I don't want to get into details bc spoilers but seriously, it's good food.

And all that is an aside from the romance, which is also excellent. I'm not roleplaying Irem as ace but I do love seeing some good middle-of-the-road options for ace people like myself who are not sex-averse and love a good fade-to-black. When I first started playing the mod I kept thinking to myself that Val reminded me of characters like Han Solo or Atton Rand (if Atton was way more charming and the writers didn't use him as a punching bag) The whole flirty reformed pirate with a heart of gold thing is ridiculously up my alley. The mod encourages roleplaying and has three paths to romance -- I went with the bickering-to-lovers path because I love a Pride and Prejudice plot and it fits Irem's character.

While your path is locked in at a certain point, you still get dialogue options, which is nice for the relationship I imagine with these two: one which starts contentious and softens over time. An issue I've had with other video game romances is that it treats one selected trait as your whole character (when they even give you the option to roleplay at all). I love that this doesn't see you being a sarcastic bitch 20 times and decide your whole personality is sarcastic bitch. I have layers ok sometimes I'm a sarcastic bitch who cries at the end of tangled

So yeah. The writing is great. The voice acting is great. The thought put into the character and the world-building is incredible. The romance is easily the best I've played in Skyrim (which. ok. low bar but the compliment stands.) tbh I only downloaded him originally because I had a skyrim itch and the Kaidan Revoiced mod isn't out yet, but I have been simply Floored.

Anyways mostly I am writing this because hurricane Milton knocked my home on its ass for a week and a half and I had a lot of electronic-less time to philosophize about how far modding has come and to write fanfiction. But also I'm just banging pots on my small corner of the internet to bring more attention to this excellent piece of work.

the fanfiction bit isn't a joke does anyone know how mod authors feel about cvf fanfic it feels weird to me like I'm playing with someone elses toys--

[khajiit-apologist]

In my humble opinion, khajiit will follow is an incredible mod.

Brief introduction to the characters. Bikhai is a aspiring member of the companions, that is to say is actually is not a member and is more of a housekeeper. (Please if you do that companions quests take him it's so sweet). Nanak a scholar you can find at the bards college! He does not have the normal diction of a khajiit, but he slips up occasionally. Ma'kara (my love) a refugee from Morrowind on the lookout for her brother, she can be found near dark water crossing. Her story is one of grief, which you can help her through. Last but not least, Sa'riq a sneak thief found in Riften jail. He's just been caught after a botched heist. For me you just have to experience his quest for yourself, I love him dearly.

I literally love all the characters so much, I took them out a load order once and my game felt off. The voice acting is also great.

Not to mention they are even better if you play as a khajiit, which I do often. I mean it's just great.

Beyond the characters they also do very well in combat. I mean having all four around at once feels like a DnD party. What's even better is you can customize how they fight! They even have separate storage for equipment.

While the romance is not something like Kaidan, it is still very sweet. I've only married Ma'kara but have read the literature pertaining the others as you can't marry them right away. I mean to marry Nanak you have to have read a certain number of books, and talk to him about books he's read a few times. Which I find adorable. They all even have their own quirks. They do pretty much everything a vanilla spouse will do, but all have unique things to say about being married to you.

From my playthrough they don't have much in the way of quest commentary, which personally I don't mind. They do however will mention things about factions. If you take Sa'riq to the College of Winterhold he will jokingly say he might "borrow" some books. When you tell him to be careful and not get caught he jokes and says he'll feign innocence and blame you. I find it very on brand.

The last point I want to bring up is Inigo. He by all accounts is the Khajiit follower, so how to they compare to him? They don't. That would be like comparing apples to oranges. All five characters are different and only really share a race. Do not expect them to be like Inigo cause they are not. One thing I love about this mod is to get their commentary you have to actually go up and talk to them. I prefer this, and it's similar to what Gore is like in that regard. That isn't to say they don't have radiant dialogue about caves and such, but it's not common.

This one thanks you for your time!

[moonnen]

So I’m playing through Vigilant for the first time and I have so many thoughts. I stayed up till like 3 playing it last night and I’m currently at work on a break so I’ll give a small summary of my thoughts.

Spoilers for Vigilant ( Skyrim mod )

Keep in mind I’ve only gotten through Act 3 and I’m at the beginning of act 4 barely even started because I told myself I had to go to bed last night. I’m not gonna break every act down into massive paragraphs I just want to summarize my thoughts on a first play.

ALSO keep in mind I’m playing alongside with Gore and Auri as they both have Vigilant commentary!

First and foremost Vigilant is fucking incredible.

Besides maybe the first couple of quests in act 1 the writing is impeccable. Not that those first quests are bad but they aren’t great. It’s a bit jumpy and mostly a “go here do this kill this thing okay move on.”

So act 1 in the beginning eh.

BUT BITCH

The end of act 1 is FUCKIN CRAZY.

As someone who adores and loves the dark souls series the feeling this mod gave me was almost exact to how the trilogy of souls games made me feel. For a Skyrim mod that’s fuckin insane.

Granted I am running lots of combat mods so things are more fluid then they may usually be, I would say some combat mods are necessary. Like a dodge mod and maybe some animations. Vanilla combat would make this experience pretty lack luster in my opinion. The bosses themselves are incredibly well made. Down to the design, the music, the arenas. Again it gave me the feeling of a souls like!

AND GIRL I HAVENT EVEN FINISHED THE MOD!

There are some triggering themes. Please keep this in mind if you are also considering playing vigilant. It through me for a loop when playing it and I had a little cry sesh after. I do think they are handle in a subtle and respectful way however. Take care of yourself first 🩷

Not to even mention the MASTERPIECE that is GoreDevs work on Gores commentary for this quest line. It is beyond phenomenal! The work he put in is truly incredible and getting to act 4 with Gore was a wild ride not only because ya know vigilant but also GORE!

Overall I’m loving vigilant and I’ll give my full and final thoughts when I finish it. As I’m writing this I am now back home and about to hop back in! Yippie!!!!

[ayeforscotland]

Starfield is going to be good but it’s going to be reviewed harshly by critics, players and haters because it’ll be compared to Balder’s Gate 3.

Love it or hate it, most Bethesda games operate like platforms (not platformers!) They create a cool open world and hand a bunch of modding tools to let people create whatever they want.

It’s why they were able to realise a gazillion copies of Skyrim.

[thebluester2020]

[SDV] "Camgirl"

Summary: Contrary to what people like to believe about you. You're actually a very busy shut-in! Being an office worker is no simple thing, especially when you have to get ready for your second job later in the day. Watching your favorite camgirl, Haley.

Warning(s): [Set in a AU where reader is an office worker instead of a farmer] , The reader is a loser in this ngl, Dildo Reviews, Haley being a size queen, A hint of Shane x Haley in this (Mostly her getting fucked in front of a camera by him), Rough Sex/

Side Note(s): I had a Skyrim modding video playing while I wrote this man. Idc what anyone says from this point on, my attention span is unmatched.

Also, some things may be inaccurate when it comes to how camming works. I don't feel like ruining my search history so I had to use my imagination here and there. 😔 (Also this is low-key a way for me to get my crack ships out of my mind <3)

♡ - It wasn't easy being a bit of a shut-in.

In the small circle of friends and family that you had, you constantly had people in your ear criticizing you and saying that all you did all day was rot in your room and sleep the day away! You had people trying to convince you to get outside more, meet new people and pick up new hobbies even! Of course, this all went in one ear and out through the other, you were actually a very busy person during the day and it was all to prepare for what you did at night!

From the start of 9:00am to 5:00pm, you were an office worker.

During those hours, you'd become a zombie as you'd sit in front of your computer and finish documents, sit through boring meetings, and drink gallons worth of coffee to stave away the temptation to sleep. Once your working hours were finished, you then had to catch a train that would take you to the city closest to where your small apartment complex was located and even then? You still had to walk at least twenty minutes to get home!

By this time, it was nearing 8:00pm, and you were cutting time extremely. You barely had enough time to get some food in you, take a shower, and try to watch a little bit of your show before, finally, 9:00pm struck and then you were racing to your computer to sit down and get comfortable before you tuned in to your second "job".

Watching your favorite camgirl, Haley.

You had first heard about her when you overheard some of your male and female workers talking near the water station a few months back.

They went on and on about how absolutely angelic this one camgirl was, that her body was something to die for and that her attitude was an addictive mixture between bitchy with noticeable undertones of sweet and maybe a hint bit bashful.

At first, you rolled your eyes at their words and you were going to ignore them! But...one night after another uneventful orgasm, you decided to look her up and from that day onward...you were hooked.

The first stream you caught, you joined in the middle of it when Haley was impaling herself on a girthy tentacle dildo. Her slick from multiple previous orgasms coating the toy as it noticeably bulged her stomach, each tantalizing movement of her hips and how the toy disappeared and reappeared from her dripping cunt only served to make you your sex ache and your breath quicken. Of course though, what really got you off was her moans and how her baby-blue eyes looked at the camera with confidence, one that screamed that she knew she was doing a good job at entertaining her audience.

Since then, you've been a loyal fan of hers.

Each time you would send her a generous donation, she'd be so kind to notice your contribution and flash such a pretty cavity-inducing smile! If she was doing a toy review or performing a solo act on herself, the way she'd moan your name...how could you not resist touching yourself. Your hand would move in tune to how she'd fuck herself, on her fingers or a dildo, it didn't matter. You were too concentrated on how she looked while starting into the camera. As if she were looking directly at you—

"Thank you [insert username] for your generous donation~" Your eyes fluttered closed to the sound of your username leaving her lips. Although you would never dare, far too nervous to even think of doing much less requesting such a thing.

You wanted to hear Haley say your name just once.

Whispering it in your ear, praising or belittling you as you touched your sex to her, it didn't matter. You just longed for a second or even a greedy minute, of her being with you!

But for now, your imagination of Haley being bent over your desk as you ate her out on your knees would have to do. The image in your head of her hand reaching behind her to grab at your hair and force you to tongue-fuck her pussy deeper enough to make your sex twitch and leak even more of your juices as Haley's moans playing in the background only made your imagination feel even more real.

"F-Fuck—Y/N!" Haley whined. "Such a nasty tongue~" She laughed breathlessly. "Next time, we'll have to try face-sitting. I bet your mouth would feel even better on my pussy that way." You groaned at her words, the reverberation making the blue-eyed blonde unconsciously buck against your face.

As your tongue plunged in and out of her cunt, the combination of the taste of her juices as well as them dripping from your chin further encouraging you to work even harder to reach your orgasm, all so that you could topple over alongside Haley. Just as that knot in the pit of your stomach tightened to the point of nearly being unbearable...

You were shocked out of your daydreams by the foggy ing goodbye to the chat. "Thank you all for coming to the chat!" She said as she waved her hand in front of the camera.

You couldn't help but pout, if only you hadn't joined in so late...you would've been able to finish with her. No matter, you'd just have to finish yourself off later on after she was done with saying good bye to the chat. "Maybe I'll send a thank you tip..." You mumbled to yourself, your body already moving to grab your wallet before you paused at Haley stating jokingly that she wanted to the chat to "quiet down".

"Everyone...I have a special announcement to make~!" She squealed. "I know you've all been yearning to see me get fucked stupid by something a little more...real than a boring ol' toy. So, coming next week. I'll have a special guest with me!" Your eyes nearly bulged out of your sockets.

Haley was doing a collaboration stream!?

Since you've found her, she's always made it clear here and there during the talking streams that she wasn't a fan of doing collabs. Something about her living in a small town and not wanting word to get out that she was fucking herself on camera for money. Since then, the chat had been graceful to not bring it up again aside from a few rude people here and there. But this? This was an interesting change of pace.

"See you all next week everyone! I hope you're as excited as I am to greet our guest properly." And then, the stream shut off, leaving your reflection staring back at you through the dark screen. You let out a heavy sigh as your hands moved away from your still throbbing sex, you hadn't even gotten to cum! And preferably, you didn't want to now, in a perverted way...you wanted to wait.

At least until next week rolled around so you could see who Haley would be fucked by.

And when that next week rolled around...almost faster than you could process it...

Aroused?

Shocked?

Dumbstruck?

You didn't know what word fit your mood the second you tuned into the stream! Once again you were a little bit late and the second the video finished loading...you were introduced to the sight of Haley dressed in a cow outfit as she sucked a man off. A real rough and grumpy-looking man, bearded and with a slight belly to him. His entire energy radiated "constantly pissed off at the world", even through the screen. However, the sexy smirk on his lips as he gently patted Haley's head, whispering words to her that the camera just barely managed to pick up...it was hot.

Who was he, you wondered as you felt that familiar throbbing between your thighs once more.

"Since our lil' camgirl's mouth is stuffed right now—" Your brow rose at how deep the stranger's voice was, almost as if he were a bear fresh out of hibernation. "—what do y'all think I oughta do to 'er?" He continued before moving the camera down to angle at Haley who greeted the stream with tears eyes and a moan of delight. Your sex twitched at the sight, your hand already unconsciously moving to touch yourself to the arousing sight as the chat fired away. All until one comment in particular, one that caught the man's eyes before he chuckled. "Fuck her till she passes out?" He read aloud until he forced Haley's mouth off of his dick, a single stream of spit mixed with pre-cum, still connecting her to him as he scoffed. "Nasty ass chat you've got here blondie, guess all that bitchin' you do in public is just front, huh?"

"Oh shut up," She coughed out, her cheeks tinting pink in embarrassment. "As if you hadn't done worse—"

"Fuck the local town's pretty bitch on camera? That's new, even for me." Without another word, the stubble-faced man helped Haley onto her feet before he shoved her onto the bed. A gasp escaped her lips before the stranger roughly turned her onto her stomach. A low whistle left the stranger's lips before he glanced back at the camera. "I'm jealous, your viewers get to see this pretty pussy all the time Haley? How come you've never mentioned your show to the locals around town?"

A squeak left Haley's lips as the man fingered her, a moan of your own follower suit as your eyes couldn't decide on who to focus on the most! The handsome man currently prepping Haley for his dick by fingering her cunt, lewd squelching noises reaching the camera even from their position on the bed or the camgirl you've been lusting after for months on end! The man brought a sense of...danger, almost a taboo nature to the situation as each sentence from his lips was oozed in such a way that made your entire body shudder. The sight of his large hands rubbing all over Haley's ass and along her backside made your toes curl and in combination with Haley's soft moans and pleas for the man to go ahead and fuck her stupid.

Could you be blamed for imagining yourself in that position as you began to touch yourself to the sight on your screen?

"S-Shit blondie—" The stubbled stranger groaned as he pressed his hips against Haley's ass. "You've been hiding a tight cunt like this?" He sneered as his hand found its way to the blonde's hair, pressing her face down into the bed as the sounds of his hips meeting Haley's ass echoed throughout the room.

"F-Fuck you!" She managed to moan out despite the drool that dribbled from the corner of her lips. "You should be thanking me that I'm letting you even fuck me right now—" She interrupted herself with a cocky giggle, the stranger's hand easing up on her hair just enough for Haley to look up at the chat with teary blue eyes that radiated the deliciously addictive arrogance that made her so popular to begin with.

"D-Did you—Ah!—H-Hear that chat?" She moaned out, each word punctuated with either a loud yelp or squelching. "This asshole should be thanking me! H-He doesn't get to fuck anyone normally, I'm being soooooo nice by letting him do even this to me." As if something had snapped in him, the man had suddenly pulled himself out of Haley before he flipped her over onto her back, taking care to make sure that her head was hanging off the edge of the bed as he angled himself up to her pussy once more.

"You seriously need to stop being a bitch, y' think that shit is cute?"

"Has to be," The blonde smirked, her eyes still focused on the camera even from her awkward position on the bed. "You said yes to my offer so quickly...I barely had time to get the full sentence out." The man's eyes would've rolled to the back of his skull at the woman's arrogance if he weren't on the bridge of cumming with how wet her pussy was. Not that he was going to admit it anytime soon, the blonde was a bombshell and even if she didn't live in their middle-of-nowhere town, she'd still be a pretty thing to look out!

But, in a town where everyone knew everyone? Not to mention the options here being rather...limited.

He wouldn't deny he jumped at the opportunity to have sex with Haley.

It was a nice way to empty his balls rather than using his hands. "S-Shan—" He quickly shut the blonde's moans up with a sloppy kiss. His teeth briefly digging into Haley's bottom lip before his tongue snuck in to explore her mouth. Cherries...and a hint of whine, alongside the natural sweet taste of whatever lipstick she was using. A tasty combination that made him drag out the kiss longer than what he originally wanted. But, he couldn't have her say his name out to her audience, could he?

"Not so mouthy now, ain't ya Haley?" He cooed to Haley at the sight of her eyes rolling to the back of her head, her nails scratching and clawing his backside as he had to quickly grit his teeth together to withhold a moan from escaping his lips. Instinctually, Haley's legs wrapped around the man's waist to keep his dick deep inside her as her pussy clenched around his length, her fast-approaching orgasm making her nearly forget about the camera entirely as she relished in the feeling of the local drunk's dick digging out her insides. If she was capable of keeping a single thought in her head at this moment, she'd tell herself that this would be a mere one-time thing!

Something only for the recording.

But...damn, she didn't know that he could fuck like this.

"Such a lucky fuckin' audience, I'll have to start tunin' in...especially if you cry and go dumb on cock like this for them." He grumbled, to which Haley whined at his words. The only warning he got before Haley squirted against him was that her back arched off the bed before her mouth fell open in an open-mouthed scream, her pussy twitching repeatedly against the man's dick as if trying to coax him quicker to his orgasm. Something that didn't take much as he was right behind Haley, a hearty yet choked-up groan leaving him as he stilled against the blonde.

As he removed himself slowly from Haley's heat, however, his cock wet from their combined orgasms. His gaze traveled to the camera before he smirked. "Hope you had fun watching me fuck your favorite streamer chat, hopefully she'll be a little more ready to speak in a few days."

Then the stream cut off, a tired moan leaving your lips as your fingers, wet from your recent orgasm, left your sex. You didn't even have time to send Haley a tip for the show, you had planned to send more than you usually did too! Mostly in the hopes that some would go to the handsome stranger that fucked her within an inch of her life.

But, for now, you just prayed in your mind that this wouldn't be the last time that she brought in a guest.

And thankfully, it wasn't at least...not until people continued to pester her for another collaboration.

"When will I bring in another guest?" Haley read out from the speeding chat with a hum.

For the past month or two, her numbers had been growing exponentially. It seemed like you'd blink one moment and then she suddenly had another a thousand followers! The video of her with the bearded stranger, titled "Blonde Bimbo Gets Dicked Down By Drunk", had gone viral on the cam website, but no matter how many people wished to know his name and if he was active on another site or not. Haley would immediately shut down all conversation topics of that nature immediately. Haley then groaned as she leaned back against her chair.

"I may~" She giggled. "Being fucked instead of having to do all the work was fun. Wasn't it chat?" Another series of giggles left her cherry-red lips as people agreed, after that, she placed a finger to her chin as she seemed to think something over. "It'll be hard since where I live is such a small town but...I may have some other guests I can bring on. I think you'll like them! One of them's a bit of a loner but it's somewhat cute, and another's a friend of mine."

Your eyes widened at her words. A friend?

Haley smiled. "I'll keep you all up to date!"

You'd just have to wait until then.

[maddies-writings]

So I finished Veil Guard.

I don't think it's nearly as bad as some people are making it out to be. I will say I do prefer Inquisition, I think it has more replay value for me personally and I don't think I'll be replaying Veil Guard. I'm going to give a short little review/pros and cons list before talking about how Veil Guard will effect "So Far Away". This will contain spoilers for VG so if you haven't finished the game then all you need to know is that while the game did confirm some of my theories not all of the lore will be canon in my universe.

I think Veil Guard was ok. It wasn't amazing but it wasn't horrible either. I don't think I connected with it as much as Inquisition, especially with the companions. A lot of the decisions game play wise were fine, I just happen to prefer Inquisition's approach.

Like Combat. I was a female Qunari Mage Veil Jumper. The orb and dagger thing was cool. The fact that your companions were immortal was a convenient thing and the combos were cool but I preferred the tactical map and being able to switch between any of my three companions. I wouldn't call VG's combat system a pro or con, at least for me, just that I prefer Inquisition.

Pros:

Character Creation was amazing. I loved all the hair models and hair physics. The sheer amount of customization possible with this game was amazing. The tattoos, scars and makeup. It's those extra cosmetics that can tip the scale in character customization for me. If they don't have those options I usually start looking for mods. You've seen my Evelyn Trevelyan? My Skyrim is modded so much more than my DAI.

The parkour stuff was really good. I'm sure we all remember trying to jump up mountains in Inquisition. VG was much easier to navigate and I loved being able to actually climb stuff, walk across beams and do the ziplines. It was really cool.

The LORE! Seeing the Dread Wolf's regrets with everything like that was amazing! I had theorized that Solas was a spirit that Mythal had either asked or forced to take a solid form. I will say I did not see it coming that they basically created the Blight and sundered the Titans. That was an epic surprise.

The Graphics in this game were gorgeous. Kind of expected considering this game came out ten years after DAI but still. Especially that final mission? Felt like I was watching a movie, seeing Solas in his Dread Wolf form fighting that Arch Demon.

Now time for the cons

Almost no Previous Choices carry over to this game: I'm not saying who I selected to rule Orlais had to be taken into consideration. We are playing in the northern half of Thedas right now and the Orlesian Empire doesn't matter to our goals. But if you chose mages/templars and who you selected as Divine. I know mages are treated better in the north in places like Tevinter or Rivain. Who drank the Well would've also been important. What choices you made with your companions and the like. It would've no doubt changed Solas's opinion on the Inquisitor but I think that would've been great.

Mythal I feel wasn't criticized nearly as much as Solas. I think it would've been cooler if she was eventually revealed as another villain. She kept asking more and more of Solas, requesting that he do horrible things. Remember Flemeth in DAI saying that she wanted a reckoning that would shake the Heavens? What if she was corrupted not by the Blight but by her rage and thirst for revenge? She tried to reason with all of them and they murdered her. Maybe she would've helped us like Solas, making it seem like Solas would betray us but in the end it is she who uses us and Solas as pawns to kill the Evanuris before she attempts to remake the world or some other evil thing? There is a quote in Inquisition about Solas "burning her off his face" meaning Vallaslin and that he was once Mythal's slave. Morrigan also had Mythal inside her after having refused it since Origins (even if she doesn't know it was Mythal) felt like a betrayal to her character. What if Mythal forcibly over took her body or something? Anyways, not super happy with where they went with Mythal but it's not like it ruined the game for me.

Vallaslin and Tevinter Slaves are never really mentioned. I know we see slaves around the Venatori but slavery is legal in Tevinter. In Minrathous, the capital city? There should be slaves EVERYWHERE! Slavery is a massive part of Tevinter and it's only barely touched on. Could've had some missions with the Shadow Dragons that involve freeing slaves. Also, Vallaslin are slave markings, known as blood writting. They were to denote which god the master favored. It would've been amazing to have had the gods use the vallaslin to control elves marked for them. I think Davrin was marked for Ghilan'nain? Imagine if she had seized control of Davrin and forced him to fight us? Maybe what could've made him snap out of it was if Ghilan'nain tried to force him to hurt Assan?

Solavellan ending felt... dry? They haven't seen each other in ten years and all we get is this super gentle kiss from a man who kissed Lavellan like he was drowning? Solas didn't even walk holding hands with her into the Veil/Fade/Mystery Portal? He also didn't really apologize to Lavellan? I was expecting a much more emotional reunion. I knew we wouldn't get to have them live in a nice little cottage in the woods at the end and that they were running with the 'in another world' thing which makes their reunion kind of bitter sweet but it still didn't feel emotional enough. I did not wait this many years for a tiny kiss and not even a true hug. I'm not even super into Solas x Lavellan anymore because I think I read it so much I'm now like "let the other races have a chance with the wolf" and I love cross race pairings. Culture sharing and struggles is one of my favorite tropes. Plus it makes Solas's convictions even harder because he fell for someone who isn't even one of the people.

I'm sure if I wanted to I could think of more stuff for each list but I just finished the game last night and frankly, I probably won't play it again. If I want to see alternate dialogue and choices i can just look them up on YouTube when people inevitably upload them.

Now, onto how this game will effect my writing for So Far Away.

A lot of the theories I had before this game came out ended up being proven true so like with Solas not meaning for the prison for the gods to sunder the elves or how he was originally a spirit who didn't want to become flesh. The reveal won't change that, i had always intended for that to be the case in my story.

The reveal of the blight was a surprise and I think it is super cool, but I don't think I will have that in my story. Not only did I not plan on having the Blight be created by Solas/Mythal but I don't really see the Blight popping up in my story. Because of that i don't really plan on coming up with an alternative origin for it? It was just always there. Some kind of darkness in Thedas. Like I said, don't think I need to come up with an explanation for something that won't effect my story.

I also don't plan on including the Lighthouse. Just assume if it wasn't in Inquisition it probably won't be there because I never read the books or comics.

My story is obviously an AU I created before VG came out so while I may take some inspiration from this and may even have some character cameos from Veil Guard (You can't tell me Solas and Emmerich wouldn't be the best of buddies) It won't really change what I plan on for my story.

I haven't been writing because of job hunting and playing Veil Guard but I've found a job and finished the game. The chapter is more than half way done. i should post it soon. Anyways, thanks for reading my thoughts and please make sure to check out my Solas x Trevelyan political marriage au if you're reading this and haven't yet for some reason.

Love you guys!

[kaidanworkshop]

December Workshop Update: The Fun(ds) & 2024

Well met Workshop Spectators! Besides our super shiny Beta presentation video, & new Mod Content FAQ, we have lots of exciting news to get through. First and foremost, we are reopening our staff applications for our Community Team, specifically in search of new people to join our Discord moderation team. If you are interested in applying, please fill out this form, and someone from our Community Team will reach out to you in early January. As per our last mini-update, the Workshop is looking to have a surplus budget of about 1100 USD -- or 500 lines worth of funding -- and we've been brainstorming up ways to add some goodies into the Kaidan Revoiced: Community Expansion mod 1.0 launch, internally (& lovingly) referred to as 'the FUN(ds)'. Starting today and running though February 1st, 2024, the community can vote on which of these to prioritize. You can read the details of those choices below and place your vote here. Finally, the Workshop staff are going on vacation! We'll be around sparingly over the next few weeks as we all take a much needed break to prepare for the end of the Fun(ds) voting. We'll be back in full force on January 12th! As always, from the staff to the Spectators; we are truly blessed to be the recipients of such support and good will. We can't wait to see what you vote for!

Intro Overhaul Pack - estimated 0 ~ 10 lines

This proposal was inspired by the mod Immersive Kaidan Start, created by WarTortle. Rather than the quest simply appearing in the player’s journal, there is instead a series of changes to point the player towards Kaidan’s Old Campsite or the Abandoned Prison in a more immersive way. We have obtained permission to adapt this mod and incorporate it within KR:CE; while we may be able to achieve this via splicing dialogue from vanilla Skyrim, we may need to arrange to have a small set of new lines recorded for one of the NPC interactions. 

I’m Glad You’re Here - estimated 15 lines

This proposal revolves around the mod I’m Glad You’re Here, created by WhiteWolf424242,  which allows the player to hug their companions and loved ones; it currently uses spliced lines from the original Kaidan 2 files to create responses for Kaidan. We would create a small collection of new and old lines to be recorded by our VA, then implement them into KR:CE.

Paarthurnax Quest Expansion Compatibility - estimated 10 ~ 20 lines

It is no secret that many players find the ultimatum Delphine gives them about killing Paarthurnax problematic, and while Kaidan has dialogue that acknowledges either choice, we wanted to create content that would acknowledge if the player uses the Paarthurnax Quest Expansion mod by Jayserpa to keep Paarthurnax alive.

The Book Review Pack - estimated 25 ~ 30 lines

In the vanilla Kaidan 2 mod, there is a feature that allows the player to give certain books to Kaidan; while he does have a few unique responses to some of the books, his primary replies can quickly become short and repetitive. To address this (and also because the idea of a Kaidan Book Club is just too endearing), this proposal would consist of creating unique responses to all of the books Kaidan can currently read.

NPC Revoice: Dremora, Ren, Myriah, Tarben - estimated 40 lines

One of the key reasons the Workshop was formed was to address the audio distortion that existed in the Kaidan 2 mod. During our process of reviewing and revoicing the base script, it became apparent that some of the other custom characters and voices included in the mod could also use a touch-up, or lacked a custom voice at all. This proposal would revolve around replacing nearly all of the custom NPC dialogue in KR:CE with revoiced lines from new voice actors. The exception to this is Rosalind (recorded by voice actress Tanya S. Bartlett) for two key reasons –  one, her lines are still in fantastic condition; and two, there have been many requests for an overhaul &/or extension for Rosalind and her dungeon. While we are definitely interested in this idea, pursuing something of this scale would add too much time to our current production cycle for the KR:CE 1.0 launch, and so we have elected to reserve reviewing Rosalind for a later date.

The Faction Pack - estimated 40 ~ 50 lines each

The base Kaidan mod lacks extended commentary on several of the major faction quests; particularly the Civil War, the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild faction questlines. This proposal would have the community pick among the three aforementioned factions for a full Workshop Original Script addition.

Scripted CVF Pack - estimated 50 ~ 60 lines

New interactions with other custom voiced followers is one of our most requested content additions. While we aren’t fully prepared to tackle large expansions yet due to scheduling and production time concerns, we’ve selected a few CVF’s with whom we have the ability to produce new content relatively rapidly due to internal pre-existing scripts &/or the availability of our potential content collaborators. Those followers are Auri, Caryalind, Khash, and Rumarin. 

The Daedra Pack - estimated 60 lines

Currently, Kaidan only has commentary for the Daedric quest “Pieces of the Past”, with a few one-off lines mentioning certain Daedric gods. The Daedra Pack would focus on adding four to eight lines to each of the following quests, similar to the line count of the original “Pieces of the Past” script. 

“The Black Star”, “Boethiah's Calling”, “A Daedra's Best Friend”, “Discerning the Transmundane”, “Ill Met By Moonlight”, “The Cursed Tribe”, “The Whispering Door”, “The Break of Dawn”, “The House of Horrors”, “The Taste of Death”, “The Only Cure”, “A Night to Remember”, “The Mind of Madness”, & “Waking Nightmare”.

Commentary on Nocturnal is not included in this pack, but rather is tied up in the Thieves Guild questline, which is an option for selection in the Faction Pack.

The Reaction Pack - estimated 60 ~ 75 lines

During the many hours of playtesting the staff undertook, we noticed that there were just certain events that would occur in Skyrim (for example, Jarl Balgruuf asking the player to kill a dragon) that Kaidan just didn’t have any dialogue for. Alternatively, there are some reaction lines that fire frequently enough that they quickly become repetitive (for example, Kaidan lines when being healed by the player). This proposal is geared around creating single line additions throughout the script to make Kaidan be a touch more reactive to the wilds of Skyrim, as well as adding in extra takes of certain lines to reduce repetitiveness. 

Note that this is not a full expansion for any given questline or faction – just extra lines to bolster the existing script.

The Roleplay Pack - estimated 60 ~ 75 lines

There are several instances where the mod allows the player to roleplay a bit with Kaidan, providing him details about your past, your family, and even your adventures. Given the staggering amount of options that are possible within the Elder Scrolls Universe, this proposal aims to expand the responses the player can give to Kaidan – for example, lines that acknowledge the specific province the player was born in, as well as the player's race, filling in the missing gaps for his commentary regarding the player’s level in different skills, or increase the variety of different gods the player can say they worship. 

DLC (Dawnguard/Dragonborn) Pack - estimated 65 ~ 80 lines each

The base Kaidan mod lacks any commentary regarding the two DLC’s Dawnguard & Dragonborn. This proposal would have the community pick one of the two aforementioned factions for a full Workshop Original Script addition.

[themegachessatron]

A Review of my time in Skyrim's Prisons (featuring some followers): Dragonsreach Dungeon

This is the start of what I hope to be a full series of posts where I explore and evaluate the prison facilities in every major hold capital of Skyrim and share my experiences with them. Where else to start than the ever iconic Whiterun and it's maybe a bit less iconic Dragonsreach Dungeons?

The cell provided for the LDB in Whiterun is modest yet at the same time surprisingly expansive. Decorations include an animal pelt bed (which seems oddly lavish for a prisoner but then again I suppose Whiterun is a wealthy trade hub), a sheving unit to put all the possessions you don't have on you and a hatch which leads directly into a passage of tunnels beneath the dungeons. A hatch which just so happens to have an incredibly weak lock (so they can afford warm bedding but not decent locks? Seems fishy to me). Before I could venture to open these locks however I was faced with an issue.

I have no idea how he got in here. I suppose given his experience with prison facilities from Riften it's not entirely surprising Inigo would know his way around a prison cell. Perhaps he utilised special moon powers to get in? Maybe he silently picked open the front door when none of the guardsmen were looking? Or had he sent Mr. Dragonfly to open the cell door from the other side? I think it most likely that Khajiit simply has skills my feeble, smooth Redguard brain cannot comprehend.

With Inigo's help I picked the lock on the hatch and slipped silently into the tunnel network beneath my cell. While inside these tunnels I kept having the same thought: Why are these here? What purpose is there to have a tunnel system beneath every cell in the dungeon? Are prisoners expected to release their excreta down the hatches? I wouldn't think so given the lack of staining on the floors at the very least.

In fact, the whole system seems remarkably well maintained. With the exception of a single skeever carcass, there was very little clutter or cobwebs or anything of the sort. The rather tidy state of the tunnel passageways leads me to conclude that it must be cleaned at least somewhat regularly, but by who? The guards? What do they use the tunnels for? I can't think of any reason the guards benefit from having this tunnel system in place. All it serves to do is give prisoners an easy way out of their cells and access to the prisoner belongings chest (which mercifully is at least locked with an expert quality lock). The tunnels in fact culminate in a ladder which leads directly into the guards barracks (again, why?). I did, however, have one additional thing in these tunnels that requires discussion.

...I'm beginning to think they don't like me being arrested. Inigo breaking into a prison I can understand but what in the name of Diagna is Sofia doing here? How the hell did she slip past the guards? The most slapdash, crude woman I've ever seen successfully managed to slip into these tunnels without alerting any of the more than a dozen guards regularly occupying either the dungon floors or the guard barracks next door. I believe this says a lot about the quality of the guardsmanship of Whiterun's "finest". Olava the Feeble would be more alert than those incompetent oafs.

Climbing up the ladder into the Guard Barracks leaves us in a side room containing a few barrels that happens to be within sprinting distance of the door out into the open city. Not only is the close proximity to the exit incredibly stupid, it leaves the guards residing in the barracks no time to feasibly register the prisoner's presence, adopt a battle position, blockade the door out and draw their weaponry. Before they can swallow their sweet roll the prisoner has darted out and is loose on the streets once again, a feat which becomes all the easier when you realise most prisoners won't be weighed down with body armour or big weapons and can this maneuverer much faster than any of the guards in the area. This is of course assuming the prisoner is an idiot who did not pre-plan for their arrest. A smart prisoner can very easily deposit their powerful equipment inside one of the barrels in the back room prior to their arrest which (thanks to the absence of a lock on the barrels) leaves them free to take back their rightful belongings and before you know it Whiterun's finest are jumped by a crazed Redguard lunatic weilding a Honed Ancient Nord Greatsword of Soul Snares and swinging it wildly like they're in the middle of a warzone. This represents a drastic oversight in the design of the prison system in Whiterun that urgently needs adressing.

In conclusion, Dragonsreach Dungeon left quite a sour taste in my mouth. I had expected a quality stronghold to effectively hold and punish criminals but what I instead saw was bizzare investment directions, a whole underground tunnel system designed for no-one's benefit other than the prisoners, a poorly laid out guard barracks and a team of guardsmen and guardswomen so foolhearty, indolent and frankly inadequate that they were unable to detect the presence of a loudmouth, brash, drunken nord woman wearing heavy plated armour and making a whitty joke every twelve seconds. For one of the most vital holds in the country and a Centrepoint for all of Skyrim, this is beyond a letdown.

Final rating: 2 honed ancient nord greatswords of soul snares out of 10 honed ancient nord greatswords of soul snares.

Thank you for reading and (hopefully enjoying), this little review of mine. Please do consider joining me next time when I investigate the swamp water shithole that is Morthal and see if it fares any better.

[balketh]

Lol, sorry if I want clear: I'm not here to debate. If you disagree with my thoughts on Starfield because you still like what Bethesda are doing, keep it to yourself. Triple A gaming has gotten worse because of this acceptance of shit (aside from the CEO capitalistic nightmare in the industry atm.) I truly could not want to hear those opinions less; it's like hearing from sports video game fans that current gen sports games are fine being so utterly engorged with dark pattern microtransations. Have some fucking standards, please.

Skyrim was truly only worth a damn because of modding. Oblivion, Morrowind; only still relevant because they're moddable. Bethesda wouldn't have been the first company ever to successfully shoehorn PAID MODDING on CONSOLES if that wasn't 100% the case. Something literally NO other company forced through before them. Skyrim would not have been a mega success if players on PC couldn't fix their issues. It didn't last because of console players. It lasted because of bugfixing and pornmaking modders, and that's a goddamn fact.

Nothing else they've done since has been nearly as good or long lasting. That longevity - because of modding - is the only real reason they've had so many chances to make more games. It's the only reason they're such a big fucking company now. If it wasn't, they wouldn't have released the CK for Starfield.

They have not learned; their games keep getting worse, their sales keep going down. It might be slow, but it's a fucking fact. Reviews aren't everything, just as sales aren't everything, but Bethesda is, largely, on the decline, and that's not up for debate.

Jee, it's almost like headlines like "An All-Time Low For Bethesda Studios" re: Starfield DLC completely support my entire point that Bethesda is in a serious decline that they won't recover from because they keep making worse shit than the last thing they made, and it's been that way SINCE THEY JUST KEPT REMAKING SKYRIM.

I cannot be clear enough when I say it won't improve. A writer for Bethesda, Will Shen, (one of the better writers - responsible for all of Nick Valentine/Far Harbour in FO4, the best bits of FO4), left Bethesda after Starfield, because of how awfully run by upper management it was. That's 1000000% what I'm talking about. I could not be more correct. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to, but people inside the fucking company can see it, exactly as I said.

Emil Pagliarulo, lead writer on - let's see, Bethesda's four worst written games, games known for having shitty stories that people actively disregard in favour of just playing with the game like a sandbox full of toys - FO3, Skyrim, FO4, and Starfield, (with known shitty contributions to Oblivion) claims that Starfield is Bethesda's best work yet. The guy who wrote the Dark Brotherhood storyline in Oblivion, which, to be clear, is dogshit. Not the 'kill creatively' gameplay, not the lore from TES at large, the actual writing, dialogue, and in-game narrative surrounding your actions; go and look it up right now. It's contrived slop, and this was his 'big win'.

The man who openly stated that he doesn't like using design documents in his work. On massive, sprawling, open-world narrative games. The man literally responsible for every single bad story Bethesda has released since Oblivion - yes, all of them, because that's what lead writers do, they approve and direct the writing of their team. The awful non-protag from-birth-fInD-uR-dAd of FO3. Skyrim's utterly generic dRaGoNs-R-bAcK! Go shout at them until they stop! and the god awful lol-all-sides-are-shitheels-but-whatever Thalmor, Legion, and Stormcloaks. FO4's hilarious improvement on FO3, 'SHAUN, WHERE IS MY BABY SHAUN', with the most obvious fucking minute-one twist imaginable, and now, his pièce de résistance, an entire universe of uninteresting, themeless, cookie-cutter sci-fi drudgery with no real reason to explore or be invested. A man so anti-protag in singleplayer games that rather than make you the protagonist in Starfield, they used the restartable ending to write off your singular importance by having there be infinity of you.

The fucker responsible for Shattered Space's absolutely dogshit reception, and its terrible writing and narrative direction. That lead to article headlines like 'Bethesda Honcho says Starfield is "the best game we've ever made" in massive bout of amnesia', something that would only fly if, oh, I don't know, we were generally all aware of how dogshit Bethesda's writing and dialogue have been for a decade. He might not have done the genuinely fucking bland, soulless gameplay, or riddled the game with fucking BETHESDA MENUS, but he's responsible for the most unfixable thing in all of these games: the writing.

That's who will be doing ES6, probably with Todd backing him.

People didn't buy Skyrim 17 times (yes, that's how many discrete versions of Skyrim you could have bought without buying the same game on the same console twice) for the fucking story. They bought it because it's a fucking fantasy sandbox that did not have a competitor of similar scope for years. Starfield is a bad sandbox, and it shows.

Yeah, no, Bethesda's a fucking goner if he does ES6. It won't flop, because people will fucking RUSH to buy it day 1 without knowing a thing about it, but the reviews that follow will eviscerate it. ES6 will be the downfall of Bethesda. Both of them need to fuckin' retire, and let some actual talent do the writing for once in this decade.

I can only wish it would drop sooner rather than later, so they could just fucking stop.

[parapsychologicalvulpes]

why is Skyrim modding so complicated I just want to play a khajiit that doesn't look like garbage (with digitigrade legs)

found a paw mod that looks great, but it's for LE (ig??? my mod manager flagged it) but more importantly the textures don't play nice with anything like at all AND I'd have to install a program separately to create the mesh according to reviews

[skyrim-dungeon-ratings]

hey can i request that you try to comment on notable pieces of architecture/ unique enemies (dragon priests named draugr ect) when reviewing dungeons? I'm currently working on a follower mod who talks about ancient nords a bunch & it would be a great bit of help & time saving <333

OMG ABSOLUTELY.. Im so sorry that I haven't been on this blog in a while!! The skyrim fixation fell off for a bit but I'll be sure to make note of this in future reviews!!!

[dwarf-vader-of-middle-earth]

Hiring voice actor for Skyrim mod!!!

I finally just landed a job, and therefore can finally afford to hire a VA to voice my mod!!

Male Nord Commander marriage is exactly what it sounds like. It allows players to add any NPC with the MaleNordCommander voice type to the marriage faction and successfully marry them. Some examples of NPCs with this voice type are hold guards, Captain Lonely Gale, Hrongar, and Eorlund Gray-mane.

However, the game itself does not contain audio for this marriage option, seeing as it was not programmed into the game originally. Therefore, I need a voice actor to voice the given lines for this mod.

AI SUBMISSIONS ARE NOT PERMITTED FOR THIS MOD!!! I REFUSE TO USE AI GENERATED MATERIAL IN ANY OF MY MODS PERIOD!!!!! No exceptions, no excuses. This job opportunity is solely for actual legitimate voice actors, and anyone caught submitting AI generated material for review will be blocked immediately from my Nexusmods and anywhere else you contact me with them.

All details about the job opportunity are listed here. Please read if you're interested, and if there's anything you wish to know which is not listed in the article, feel free to contact me via the given methods listed at the end of said article. I will respond ASAP.

And of course, if you're not interested in this but you know someone who might be, please feel free to pass this along to them! :)

I look forward to hiring someone for this soon!!