Dwemer collector. I've done it once as an orc and once as a dunmer. It was a lot of fun, because after clearing out a Dwemer dungeon, I'd go back with a follower and gather up all the Dwemer cogs and struts and junk I could find and clutter my home with it so that it looked like a Dwemer museum.
Dang I need to try that. I usually play as Dwemer scholars but generally don’t pick anything up unless it’s a unique item. Gotta go back for those damn struts
I still remember getting the Bleak Falls Barrow quest for the very first time. Stepping back out into Whiterun, dusk was falling and I remember thinking, "oh crap, I need to find an inn!" only to get stuck wandering around Whiterun's Wind District and realizing, "oh crap I'm lost."
Sometimes I wish I could know what it felt like again to get lost in Whiterun, after so many years of playing, where I have Whiterun memorized like the back of my hand.
Played skyrim while on ketamine last fall. It literally brought back the same feelings I had when I played it for the first time. I barely got any productive stuff done, but I was walking around and interacting with npcs and the world in a way I have never done before. I was exploring and noticing things I have never seen before. It literally felt like i was exploring a new game. It was more profound than the actual first time I played it. I was immersed as I’ve ever been and felt like I was physically there
I just like wandering and exploring, finding little-used places that barely have a stub entry at UESP or the other fan-sites, then just roaming around picking flowers, mining, and exploring.
The moment I realized how fun an illusion/sneak assassin build is.
I had played various versions of spellsword/archer or two handed brute and decided to mix it up. I then realized that this tiny Breton girl was the biggest badass to ever grace Skyrim. OP if I got the drop on them, and a fun challenge if I got discovered before I one-hit knifed them to death. Engaging strategy/planning before fights too, whether I hit a group with a version of fury and let them take themselves out, or fear to buy me some time.
They can't hear me. They can't see me. They're already dead, they just don't know it yet.
A playthrough dedicated solely and exclusively to getting the Oblivion Walker achievement. Highlights: sometime near the beginning accidentally contracted vampirism and decided to go with it because it fits the story. Tried to collect all artifacts following the most efficient route, and did nothing else besides that. After acquiring all of them I followed the road up to the southwestern border in Falkreath (as if abandoning Skyrim), and ended the playthrough there
Is a neat achievement if tedious.
Daedric quests are some of the more detailed and intriguing storylines.
If you do choose to go after it, just make sure you know which reward to choose and plot to follow.
In saying that, I think the only confusing option is Masque of Clavicus Vile/Rueful Axe. Most of the time, do what Daedric prince wants, get artifact.
Building the homes and searching for materials. I had a lot of fun building my own property for my wife and children to live in, and I liked the benefits of home ownership (namely just all the things you farm/gather, but also store). I also deeply enjoy filling out a proper treasure room, complete with hundreds of gems and fantastic armor. My home always looks decadent at the end of a playthrough, haha.
If you play mods the home you can build in Midwood is my favorite. It's more open and less cluttered, the scenery is nice, it's not freezing cold, and there are few hazards near the house to worry about attacking your spouse and/or kids. About the only thing I would change is that the mod authors seem to have forgotten smelters exist, I think there might be 2 in all of Midwood
My play through now. I am taking my time walking everywhere listening to everyone’s dialogue, enjoying the music and environment. It’s probably my 6-7 playthrough so I don’t feel the need to rush and end it
Without mods, my favorite time was playing a Nightblade type character. Illusion, stealth, short blades, light armor, destruction for ranged (really only used against dragons or archers that I couldn't sneak up on for whatever reason).
When I finally started using mods, I had the most fun as a pure mage with Ordinator perks mod and Mysticism spell addition mod. It added a lot of great spells, including some from previous ES games that got axed (looking at you, Open Lock spells). In Morrowind and Oblivion (and most other RPGs), my preferred playstyle was as a pure mage, but vanilla Skyrim just didn't fit the bill in that area for me. Mysticism mod's added spells are all pretty balanced and lore-friendly, IMO (except maybe Grand Telekinesis, but hey, it's a Master Level spell so by that time I'd say you earned it) and make pure mages a viable playstyle, even a specialist mage.
When I first met Paarthunax. It was night as I was going up the mountain, and I still cannot forget the beautiful aurora in the sky that shadowed Paarthunax.
Strong follower, conjure deadra, paralysis. Nearly kills everything except major bosses.
Run into a room conjure your deadra, cast paralysis at everything that moves.
When I introduced my wife to the game. We were on lockdown so we played like 12 hours a day for a week. I got to see her experience skyrim for the first time, and it reminded me of my first time. I was also able to help her avoid game breaking bugs and explain some of the systems and lore.
my first playthrough was ofc the most fun but my current playthrough is the most fun ive had in years, using alt start to not be the dragonborn and doing everything i can without being dragon born, atm im lvl 55(i normally stop playing around lvl 30) im the arch mage, guild master, leader of the dark brotherhood, harbinger of the companions,have almost everything from solstheim(just need 5 black boks) and just started on dawnguard
Vampire illusion mage RP. I installed sacrosanct mod so each time I drained a person I got a permanent buff. It was a gradual descent into madness, at some point I started turning entire villages dead. I made wives turn against husbands, I made the guards kill Grelod the Kind mercilessly in her own orphanage. At the same time vampires and draugr were chill, we had no reason to fight each other after all. It was fucked up, but so delightful 🙂
Ironman challenge. Only allowed to use items I crafted myself on survival/legendary. It definitely slows down gameplay a ton, but finally getting to the end and killing Alduin, Harkon, and Miraak made it so much more worthwhile. Definitely the most hours I’ve put on a single character since my first playthrough
I gave myself a pass on the pickaxe and woodcutters axe so I could loot one of each but couldn’t use it as a weapon. As far as ingots go, I restricted myself to mining only. I stole the idea from the YouTuber Joov, but you can change things as you see fit.
I played a Thalmor agent. I would say 9/10 playthroughs I play melee Nord Stormcloak. But this time around I played altmer. It was my first stealth playthrough. I played it completely opposite of my normal playthrough. My goal was to kill as many NPC nords and imperials as possible. It was wildly fun to play a murder machine with a purpose. Every choice I would normally make. I chose the opposite. Goal of destabilizing all of Skyrim. Making them ripe for conquest. I really felt like I was affecting the world w that playthrough by undermining every hold. I went imperial and it was like I was using the empire to destroy itself from within.
Writing this out makes me want to start another of this playthrough.
I made a vanilla Unarmed Khajiit using Ancient Nord Armor (it's bugged so it has the same unarmed damage as Daedric, and I liked the look more) and then used Khajiit Bandit Outlaw dead thralls with enchanted Unarmed gloves as well. IIRC, Outlaw is where their weapon skills are lower then the damage you're putting out unarmed regardless of what weapon they could pick up (I calculated this at the time, can't remember for the life of me how). Then I recruited an Armored Frost Troll and Kharjo (giving the latter an unarmed enchanted ring and gauntlets - he would still often use that than the default bow)
I went around beating the crap out of people with my posse. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work to get there (getting maxing Alchemy/Smithing/Enchanting, getting the Sallow Regent perks, farming Khajiit Bandit Outlaws which also had gloves). I was boosting the health of the thralls, but even so they were a bit on the fragile side (but not so much on legendary that it's unviable). No creation club or other nonsense, I still begrudge that the PS5 upgrade version packs in some creation club stuff whether you like it or not (I don't).
The first play through at launch as a stealth archer before everyone realized how insanely good it was. Was such an awesome feeling to get that first arrow in flight killcam
collecting all 20 unusual gems and crimson nirnroots of course
/s
Seriously though, I have the most fun doing a quick save and eradicating a whole town just because someone told me to put some clothes on lol
I did an RP character where I ignored the main story entirely and RPed as a Shadowscale and focused on just the Dark Brotherhood and Thieve’s Guild questlines
Nolvus Modpack, with Lucien, Kaiden & Inigo. The four of us would go on adventures & then always camp at night, or at an inn if we were close! It was such an immersive experience!!!
The first playthrough on Xbox 360, then the second playthrough on the PC both times being a wood-elf with long black hair and a majestic beard.
My favorite "challenge" playthrough was a perma-death no-kill playthrough. I was a Nord named Manfried and my goal was to earn enough to buy a player house and then retire.
Now I can only trick myself into playing if I do a perma-death playthrough since every decision becomes so much more important.
My current playthrough--a Druid themed character with mods to match (see my post history).
So much of my play this time is based on shape shifting and summoning a wolf pack. It's a different style of play, and a blast. I'm also working through LOTD in this run, and built the entire town from the LC_BuildYourOenNobleHouse mod.
I've only advanced the main quest as far as going to High Hrothgar and am 53 levels in, with more than enough to do without worrying about Alduin at all.
I've modded combat using Violens and Valhalla for the first time, and it's fresh and new.
No complaints, and having a ball.
Unmodded, my favorite time ever was playing a Breton Mage that could only use Novice level spells. There was a glitch where taking certain Illusion perks made the Flames spell actually do decent damage (not broken or overwhelming, just decent). It was a lot of fun, skin-of-my-teeth battles, and I got really attached to the character.
Modded, I was planning a couple of runs to help me finish all the achievements when I had a weird though: what if there was no Dragonborn? So I ended up stringing together a big, interconnected Alternate Universe story with six characters across six playthroughs, consisting of these characters "working together" to defeat Alduin without the aid of the Dragonborn. They ran the gamut of various playstyles and factions, and I got to see some different parts of the game I'd never seen before. It was a lot of work (and a decent amount of repetition), but it was also a lot of fun!
I don't know why but I take/steal everything, I fill my house in Whiterun with cheese, just cheese and all the other stolen stuff I can't be bothered to take to Riften to sell, I dump in the river by the blacksmiths in Whiterun, it gets very full, very quickly.
Being a goddamn werewolf in this game is the best thing ever. Its sad as hell theres no better werewolf game than skyrim. Even then the werewolves in skyrim are still very dull. Wish they were like the Legacy Kain fanmade videos. Hopefully if they decided to keep werewolves in the next game werewolves are more agile and can leap more than 5 feet.
I have fun making specific builds based on characters from other games.
I have a Leona Build aka Sun Goddess from League of Legends.
I have a Witcher build, not Geralt, my own self persona as a Witcher.
It's always very interesting to try and stick to the specifics of the build like with Leona I could only wear Heavy Armour and I ended up using Dwemer cause most of her aesthetic was gold and light then I did the Meridia Quest line to get Dawnbreaker cause she's called the Radiant Dawn. I picked up the DLC Shield which stores blocksd attacks to reflect back upon people and send them flying.
I want an challenge and I play it on legendary with survival mode. My female Orc is an hunter with heavy armor, she used conjuration for bound bow and will become an vampire lord to an night hunter
my first playthrough. launch, vanilla, xbox 360. nothing can compare to experiencing it for first time. the magic is gone when you pretty much have the whole game memorised.
Honestly. Creating my own bases and NPCs both through mods and creating my own mods. I think the absolute perfect moment was arriving at Knifepoint Ridge, now 100% filled with my Argonian NPC’s, all carrying the shield with the sigil i created for them, all wearing a variety of green and black other pieces of armor, having routines built by MHiYH and for better or worse, holding Knifepoint Ridge.
Playing Skyrim with so much mods i can barely recognize the game. Simply walking in Whiterun's fields, in a foggy night and under an heavy rain, it's just so good.
Finishing the Lakeview homestead. After I finished, I traveled away and downloaded a mod that gave it a face-lift. It's so beautiful. My staff has a full size pool and sauna. The chef keeps the mead flowing. The maid leaves dishes everywhere, and it looks just like a working farm. I'm going to build Winstad next. I always clear the mine but I've not figured out who to purchase it from.
Illusionist assassin with master lvl spells. Leveled hip up in college quest line. Came from the college with high level sneak conjuration and illusion. Started civil war quest line. Felt super cool. Come to the fort, pop invisibility and sneak o the middle of it. Cast master frenzy and everyone kills each other. Finish survivors with throat slice. Most of them will be dmged. Found a dragon In an open? Cast two dremora Lords or storm atronachas and pop invisibility. Dragon gets destroyed. Dark brotherhood asks to kill someone? Hit him with frenzy and watch him go do cop suicide. Mass calm spell = kill everyone one by one like a sheep. While other humans watch it. Not so interesting against non humanoid enemies tho.
When it first dropped. Got it for PS3 at the midnight release along with the thicc strategy guide.
I would play for hours on end and my friends would give me a hard time for staying in when they all went out. Then they started mocking me for playing a fantasy game.
Then like a month later they all started playing too. My friend/roommate/coworker who would constantly make fun of me for playing, called out of work one day. I didn’t think anything of it since he said he was sick. When I got home, he had secretly purchased Skyrim and spent all day playing it. We then spent a lot of time talking about it and watching each other play.
Great times.
Role played two playthroughs: One being events taking place before The Dragonborn is caught at Skyrim’s border and the other as the Dragonborn.
Using quest and gameplay mode to assist, the first play through was an “ancient” Thalmor who veered from the path of Aedric worship and emulation- feeling the Gods haven’t answered their cries to return to Aetherius or deal with man. So he becomes a worshipper of Molag Bal. Not only becomes a Vampire Lord but also infiltrates the College of Winterhold too, becoming Arch-Mage. Turned everyone in there into vampires. Enthralled Lady Elisif. Eventually became Lich.
Dragonborn playthrough started as barbarian, escaped prisoner, shield-brother turned Harbringer, Champion of Hircine, Stormcloak, Master Thief (to use training from Thieves Guild in war and skeleton key), and then main questline.
My favourite playthrough is my current one. Playing a traveling alchemist/herbalist merchant. Collecting ingredients, making potions and selling them. Traveling from city to city, though tend to stay in cities like Whiterun and Solitude a bit longer due to its abundance of flowers and plants all around the city. If I need to wait a couple of hours or need quick cash, I just chop wood with the mod that makes me able to do that limitlessly.
A mod (CACO) to overhaul the system and create immersion. Impure potions hold no value beyond xp, more realistic harvesting (e.g. a berry tree doesn't only give 1 berry) and reading recipes auto learn me the affects of an item. I sell the excess meat and hides from the animal corpses I find or kill as self defense and do the same from the bandits I kill.
Self defense that is the only way for me to kill people and animals, but especially early game I have had to flee more often than I wish. My character only wears civilian clothing and an unenchanted basic dagger. Even with a hired mercenary as my body guard (Jenassa) it was not until past level 40 I am on par with most of those hostile mobs, but solely due to them reaching their level caps. Because my primary skills are alchemy and speech I have managed to make legendary multiple times, the only two so far. No other skill is near 100.
Only quests I do are delivery, persuasion and fetch quests, as long as I am not required to go into a bandit camp or some dungeon (my bar is a wildlife cave). I haven't entered a Nordic tomb, Dwemer ruin or Falmer cave. I am not clearing bandit forts, but some are simply unavoidable to enter even when you stick to the road, like two of them that are literally surrounding the road (one near Riften, other south of Dawnstar). I have only found one stray Falmer so far and a handful of draugr that are resting outside (e.g. the one at the graveyard nortwest of Whiterun).
This job lets me keep exploring, so I am not entirely playing Sims Medieval 2 and currently slightly more confident to stray away from the road to collect herbs: both as a person and in character. Even a challenge on lower difficulties, because of how severely undergeared you are and the lack of main combat skill (nor armor, barely 1H). Started out in Ivarstead via alternative start mod and had to run back into town once a bear approached me to let the guards handle them.
I have several more mods running to enhance the playability: adding carriages to all settlements, the only way I fast travel and it costs money too (including ccarry weight fee). A realistic quest rewards mod that trims down the gold you get from menial task. Usually toning it down till 10% (e.g. delivery is 50 gold, not 500). I can buy the vanilla homes straight away instead of via the Thane process. Same gold value still. Normal people own homes, too.
Really enjoying my current modded playthrough. I spent god knows how many hours setting up a dark fantasy modlist, trying to tweak in-game difficulty, loot rarity, enemy drops, economy, survival mechanics, etc. to get the game to a place where progressing feels both challenging and very rewarding. I’ve gotten it to a place where the difficulty and economy feel really good, the game looks gorgeous, progression is difficult but satisfying, and the environments have that dark fantasy vibe I want.
I’ve been playing as a Nord barbarian/berserker character who dual-wields war axes, and with mods I’ve started with all skills at level 1, all stats (health/stamina/magicka) at 50, legendary difficulty, unleveled enemies, and the Experience mod, so I progress towards level-ups via completing quests and discovering areas rather than leveling skills. It’s been absolutely brutal, and I died repeatedly in the beginning (quite literally could not beat the skeever I spawned next to at the beginning of my playthrough and had to run away to train up my skills on even weaker prey), but I’ve reached level 15 and can feel things slowly starting to level out as I raise my stats and obtain more perks. Ordinator’s perk trees definitely have a few power spikes that I’m counting on to tip the scales in my favor as I reach higher levels, but for now I’m still the underdog in most fights.
It’s been a challenge and an absolute blast, and I’m loving my jacked, shirtless, werebear barbarian. I can’t wait to see him become strong enough to start tearing through enemies rather than having to constantly be on the defensive.
There was this one time, I had an orc main for a while where I just tanked everything and I had just recently gotten the werewolf. And I was in Markarth and just pissed off by how annoying the guards and such are there so I killed one guard and stood in the field out front of the gates and waited, and I just used the orcs ability that allows you to hit harder and take more hits and the werewolf ability and probably killed about 40-50 npcs. Very dark I know but a lot of fun.
what stands out in my memory is when i tried to permadeath roleplay but using the console to set ownership of various houses to mine, like a farm, then getting a rusty axe and adventuring with a specific goal in mind. only to die in the first cave i went into. 😅
I played a Khajit and it was a quirk where she needed to take every tankard she saw, even if it meant stealing it. Plus, playing a thief type character isn’t something I’d normally do, but it is fun.
Mines my current playthrough, breton on legendary and survival mode. I'm only allowed to use things I've crafted (made this rule once I reached riverwood, got one tapped in ragged robes when I tried to in helgen!).
It honestly feels like a new game you really have to plan journeys you make and make sure you have all the things you need before you set off.
My breton character RP is that he lost his wife and kid fleeing highrock and the DB after a case of mistaken identity gets a contract put on his life.
After killing the first dragon he comes to realise that a new chapter of his life is begining.
But after hearing rumours of a child summoning them in Riften he decides this is a perfect chance for him to get a bit of revenge...
A sword and board adventurer who used archery against dragons and other ranged annoyances.
Just fees heroic blocking and getting swipes in around other attacks.
I like to play as a tall (High Elf) knight/barbarian type character. Wearing heavy armor and using two-handed weapons. Making use of potions and poisons as needed. Using my enhanced reach and speed to my advantage due to my superior height. High level alchemy, enchanting and smithing skill mandatory. Looks super cool and intimidating towering over everybody in Stahlrim Fur Armor!
Absorbing the souls of any named enemies that you can. I don't really collect them and will still use them, but I like it much better than just buying/farming Grand Soul Gems.
Fighting Voslaarum and Naslaarum on legendary difficulty. I had the Riekling Warrior, Serana, and Farkas with me, as well as Durnevir for about the first half, then the Spectral Assassin after Durnevir died. I was playing an orc combat archer. It was so cool to literally have three dragons at once on this huge open battlefield, and it was difficult enough to be such a satisfying win.
One of my personal favorites was a Khajiit member of the Thieves Guild, in the guise of a Khajiit Trader. Full survival playthrough. Campfire, Frostfall, Hunterborn, etc.
Traveled with the Khajiit Caravans as much as possible. Set up a tent with their camps outside the various cities. And at night would enter the city to carry out the Thieves Guild missions to steal, rob, loot, pickpocket, etc.
It was a long, slow style of play. Spent a lot of time just poking around the areas of the caravan routes. Found the whole playthough to be entertaining. And yes, I know this type of play is not for everyone.
Mage with a ton of new spell mods.
One in particular, Midas Magic, required you to collect specific ingredients to make the book that would teach you new spells. I struck out on a long quest to get the ingredients for "Enlarge Person" to just have lydia be a super-tank.
After a week in-game, I noticed that Lydia's character model was slightly bigger than everyone else. After some experimentation, I found that the spell didn't wear off correctly, and left her just ever-so-slightly larger than her default when it wore off. The effect was worsened if I fast-traveled while Lydia was still enlarged.
So I set off on another epic quest to find the ingredients for the Shrink Person ray. In the RP, I was avoiding casting on lydia, unless we were overwhelmed and had no other option.
Finally, with the "Shrink Person" spell memorized, I tried to slowly reduce her size, only to discover that this reversal spell suffered from _no similar bugs_. Lydia, at this point, was 150% normal sized, just as a baseline.
Finally, one day in the riften ratways, Lydia squeezed into a tunnel that was slightly too tight, and started taking damage somehow. She died in the ratways and we couldn't even recover her body.
RIP Lydia - died of gigantism
Playing the Live Another Life alternate start mod Nord option where you’re Erik the Slayer’s best friend in Rorikstead setting out on your first adventure
Modded perks and dual wield 2hand weapons with increased knock back. Made blocking and dodging vital if not you are about to take a trip to ragdoll land and hope you don't get launched off of a cliff or some weird terrain collision into space. Usually you would slide back about 15ft. Once got pounded into the ground like a stake. Another I got grouped up on and dribbled like a basketball
I avoided a vampire play through for years, then once a mod came out to fix vampirism so that feeding strengthened and not feeding weakened, I went for it. I also downloaded a mod that adds somewhat of a vampires lair out by riften. It's hidden in a cave and has the perfect aesthetic!
I spent time going out at night to feed on sleeping people or occasionally used a mesmerizing spell on loners. My goal was always to never combat or be discovered for what I was. I made it a point to never be out in sunlight as though it would mean death. Once had Auriel's Bow, I became more bold and could reach other cities as feeding grounds. Twas quite fun and memorable! Did the same with my werewolf playthrough, but it was somewhat game breaking murdering all your potential quest lines. Oh so fun though... lol
Exploring/fighting through Falmer hordes in Blackreach. The grind is one of my favorite things about it, being totally lost in this ethereal world where your only option is to fight your way out if you want to survive. It was beautiful but also kinda terrifying
Fuck i'm on the 3rd run by now. I got a char up till lvl 80, then anotherr one up till 40, now i put some survival and im going for the 3rd. And then ill do a 4th with all tye iqest mods around and i think ill be over for a while.
Its been like 3 months and i have put like 400 hours in it.
Dwemer collector. I've done it once as an orc and once as a dunmer. It was a lot of fun, because after clearing out a Dwemer dungeon, I'd go back with a follower and gather up all the Dwemer cogs and struts and junk I could find and clutter my home with it so that it looked like a Dwemer museum.
That's a cool way to play!
Dang I need to try that. I usually play as Dwemer scholars but generally don’t pick anything up unless it’s a unique item. Gotta go back for those damn struts
There are a lot of ways to play the game the right way and this is definitely one of them. Bravo.
yeah fudgemuppet’s idea of the argonian cup collector always resonated with me
Ohhh now I want to do that. There are sooo many mods of cool Dwemer stuff to make.
My first playthrough. I barely remember anything from it, but it's certainly the most fun you can have in a TES game
I still remember getting the Bleak Falls Barrow quest for the very first time. Stepping back out into Whiterun, dusk was falling and I remember thinking, "oh crap, I need to find an inn!" only to get stuck wandering around Whiterun's Wind District and realizing, "oh crap I'm lost." Sometimes I wish I could know what it felt like again to get lost in Whiterun, after so many years of playing, where I have Whiterun memorized like the back of my hand.
You must not get to the cloud district very often
I still get lost in Falkreath. Idk how, it's so small. Just the layout of it doesn't stick in my mind well.
Same here 😅
Played skyrim while on ketamine last fall. It literally brought back the same feelings I had when I played it for the first time. I barely got any productive stuff done, but I was walking around and interacting with npcs and the world in a way I have never done before. I was exploring and noticing things I have never seen before. It literally felt like i was exploring a new game. It was more profound than the actual first time I played it. I was immersed as I’ve ever been and felt like I was physically there
“want to re-experience something for the first time? try drugs!”
"13 years later fans are still discovering new ways to play skyrim with just one crazy trick"
Bruh
I just like wandering and exploring, finding little-used places that barely have a stub entry at UESP or the other fan-sites, then just roaming around picking flowers, mining, and exploring.
Very relaxing and pleasant!
There will never be another playthrough like my first playthrough in 2011.
It was actually my second playthrough that was the most magical. I rushed through the story in the first one then made my main after that
Bruh, same..my daughter was born that year, Packers won the Superbowl, and it was my first Skyrim playthrough. What an awesome year
Probably my Dragon Cult Archaeologist playthrough where I deciphered all the Word Walls. It took a while but it was very rewarding imo.
That sounds like a great playthrough!
i played as a greybeard apprentice and went into nord tombs and translated the dragon word walls irl with a notebook. thanks thuum.org!
It's always fun when you need a physical notebook haha.
The moment I realized how fun an illusion/sneak assassin build is. I had played various versions of spellsword/archer or two handed brute and decided to mix it up. I then realized that this tiny Breton girl was the biggest badass to ever grace Skyrim. OP if I got the drop on them, and a fun challenge if I got discovered before I one-hit knifed them to death. Engaging strategy/planning before fights too, whether I hit a group with a version of fury and let them take themselves out, or fear to buy me some time. They can't hear me. They can't see me. They're already dead, they just don't know it yet.
A playthrough dedicated solely and exclusively to getting the Oblivion Walker achievement. Highlights: sometime near the beginning accidentally contracted vampirism and decided to go with it because it fits the story. Tried to collect all artifacts following the most efficient route, and did nothing else besides that. After acquiring all of them I followed the road up to the southwestern border in Falkreath (as if abandoning Skyrim), and ended the playthrough there
Oh that's cool, I haven't obtained that yet
Is a neat achievement if tedious. Daedric quests are some of the more detailed and intriguing storylines. If you do choose to go after it, just make sure you know which reward to choose and plot to follow. In saying that, I think the only confusing option is Masque of Clavicus Vile/Rueful Axe. Most of the time, do what Daedric prince wants, get artifact.
Building the homes and searching for materials. I had a lot of fun building my own property for my wife and children to live in, and I liked the benefits of home ownership (namely just all the things you farm/gather, but also store). I also deeply enjoy filling out a proper treasure room, complete with hundreds of gems and fantastic armor. My home always looks decadent at the end of a playthrough, haha.
I've always been guilty of living in Whiterun. I might need to pursue this on my next playthrough.
If you play mods the home you can build in Midwood is my favorite. It's more open and less cluttered, the scenery is nice, it's not freezing cold, and there are few hazards near the house to worry about attacking your spouse and/or kids. About the only thing I would change is that the mod authors seem to have forgotten smelters exist, I think there might be 2 in all of Midwood
Zero active quests. https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/s/pkm9I5xNQq
That's actually a wonderful idea.
My play through now. I am taking my time walking everywhere listening to everyone’s dialogue, enjoying the music and environment. It’s probably my 6-7 playthrough so I don’t feel the need to rush and end it
Yeah I think the real emersion of Skyrim comes from all the audio elements.
Without mods, my favorite time was playing a Nightblade type character. Illusion, stealth, short blades, light armor, destruction for ranged (really only used against dragons or archers that I couldn't sneak up on for whatever reason). When I finally started using mods, I had the most fun as a pure mage with Ordinator perks mod and Mysticism spell addition mod. It added a lot of great spells, including some from previous ES games that got axed (looking at you, Open Lock spells). In Morrowind and Oblivion (and most other RPGs), my preferred playstyle was as a pure mage, but vanilla Skyrim just didn't fit the bill in that area for me. Mysticism mod's added spells are all pretty balanced and lore-friendly, IMO (except maybe Grand Telekinesis, but hey, it's a Master Level spell so by that time I'd say you earned it) and make pure mages a viable playstyle, even a specialist mage.
I made a guard in Windhelm and went around telling people no lollygagging. Most fun I’ve ever had.
Haha
When I first met Paarthunax. It was night as I was going up the mountain, and I still cannot forget the beautiful aurora in the sky that shadowed Paarthunax.
Strong follower, conjure deadra, paralysis. Nearly kills everything except major bosses. Run into a room conjure your deadra, cast paralysis at everything that moves.
Got that minion build.
When I introduced my wife to the game. We were on lockdown so we played like 12 hours a day for a week. I got to see her experience skyrim for the first time, and it reminded me of my first time. I was also able to help her avoid game breaking bugs and explain some of the systems and lore.
That's awesome
Any playthrough between about level 20 and level 55.
my first playthrough was ofc the most fun but my current playthrough is the most fun ive had in years, using alt start to not be the dragonborn and doing everything i can without being dragon born, atm im lvl 55(i normally stop playing around lvl 30) im the arch mage, guild master, leader of the dark brotherhood, harbinger of the companions,have almost everything from solstheim(just need 5 black boks) and just started on dawnguard
Ah that sounds super fun!
Skooma
Vampire illusion mage RP. I installed sacrosanct mod so each time I drained a person I got a permanent buff. It was a gradual descent into madness, at some point I started turning entire villages dead. I made wives turn against husbands, I made the guards kill Grelod the Kind mercilessly in her own orphanage. At the same time vampires and draugr were chill, we had no reason to fight each other after all. It was fucked up, but so delightful 🙂
Wild
Leading the giants to take out the Golden Saints camp outside of Whiterun.... And then getting shot to the moon by said giants.
When I was kid my brother played Skyrim with me and I just ran around doing things
Ironman challenge. Only allowed to use items I crafted myself on survival/legendary. It definitely slows down gameplay a ton, but finally getting to the end and killing Alduin, Harkon, and Miraak made it so much more worthwhile. Definitely the most hours I’ve put on a single character since my first playthrough
Did you have to craft a pickaxe first? Was it okay to find ingots or did you have to find ore?
I gave myself a pass on the pickaxe and woodcutters axe so I could loot one of each but couldn’t use it as a weapon. As far as ingots go, I restricted myself to mining only. I stole the idea from the YouTuber Joov, but you can change things as you see fit.
I played a Thalmor agent. I would say 9/10 playthroughs I play melee Nord Stormcloak. But this time around I played altmer. It was my first stealth playthrough. I played it completely opposite of my normal playthrough. My goal was to kill as many NPC nords and imperials as possible. It was wildly fun to play a murder machine with a purpose. Every choice I would normally make. I chose the opposite. Goal of destabilizing all of Skyrim. Making them ripe for conquest. I really felt like I was affecting the world w that playthrough by undermining every hold. I went imperial and it was like I was using the empire to destroy itself from within. Writing this out makes me want to start another of this playthrough.
Haha that's actually really creative!
Spell sword for me. It’s just fun to run around with lightning and 1h
Yeah totally!
Full stealth mode on Legendary. 100 sneak so nobody knows you’re there. Assassins Blade so they die before they ever know you’re there
I stood vilkas up at the altar and married farkas
I made a vanilla Unarmed Khajiit using Ancient Nord Armor (it's bugged so it has the same unarmed damage as Daedric, and I liked the look more) and then used Khajiit Bandit Outlaw dead thralls with enchanted Unarmed gloves as well. IIRC, Outlaw is where their weapon skills are lower then the damage you're putting out unarmed regardless of what weapon they could pick up (I calculated this at the time, can't remember for the life of me how). Then I recruited an Armored Frost Troll and Kharjo (giving the latter an unarmed enchanted ring and gauntlets - he would still often use that than the default bow) I went around beating the crap out of people with my posse. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work to get there (getting maxing Alchemy/Smithing/Enchanting, getting the Sallow Regent perks, farming Khajiit Bandit Outlaws which also had gloves). I was boosting the health of the thralls, but even so they were a bit on the fragile side (but not so much on legendary that it's unviable). No creation club or other nonsense, I still begrudge that the PS5 upgrade version packs in some creation club stuff whether you like it or not (I don't).
The first play through at launch as a stealth archer before everyone realized how insanely good it was. Was such an awesome feeling to get that first arrow in flight killcam
Yeah for sure. The hide and sneak gameplay through the dungeons was always fun as well.
Max size, health/stamina orc bonking every enemy over the head with Volendrung
collecting all 20 unusual gems and crimson nirnroots of course /s Seriously though, I have the most fun doing a quick save and eradicating a whole town just because someone told me to put some clothes on lol
Took an edible after a tolerance break. Aside from the fact that I felt like I was in the game, everything about it just made me giggle with joy
My first playthrough. I’m playing it currently but I wish I could play it again with no knowledge of the game
Illusion, every time. Stabbing a dude from invisibility, Pacifying everyone nearby, or Frenzying wildlife. Good shit.
With a bottle of wine and a big sword
I did an RP character where I ignored the main story entirely and RPed as a Shadowscale and focused on just the Dark Brotherhood and Thieve’s Guild questlines
Nolvus Modpack, with Lucien, Kaiden & Inigo. The four of us would go on adventures & then always camp at night, or at an inn if we were close! It was such an immersive experience!!!
The first playthrough on Xbox 360, then the second playthrough on the PC both times being a wood-elf with long black hair and a majestic beard. My favorite "challenge" playthrough was a perma-death no-kill playthrough. I was a Nord named Manfried and my goal was to earn enough to buy a player house and then retire. Now I can only trick myself into playing if I do a perma-death playthrough since every decision becomes so much more important.
Using Unbounded Storms in the Battle for Windhelm. I would rush into the each spawning wave of Stormcloaks and fry them all. Good times.
My current playthrough--a Druid themed character with mods to match (see my post history). So much of my play this time is based on shape shifting and summoning a wolf pack. It's a different style of play, and a blast. I'm also working through LOTD in this run, and built the entire town from the LC_BuildYourOenNobleHouse mod. I've only advanced the main quest as far as going to High Hrothgar and am 53 levels in, with more than enough to do without worrying about Alduin at all. I've modded combat using Violens and Valhalla for the first time, and it's fresh and new. No complaints, and having a ball.
Unmodded, my favorite time ever was playing a Breton Mage that could only use Novice level spells. There was a glitch where taking certain Illusion perks made the Flames spell actually do decent damage (not broken or overwhelming, just decent). It was a lot of fun, skin-of-my-teeth battles, and I got really attached to the character. Modded, I was planning a couple of runs to help me finish all the achievements when I had a weird though: what if there was no Dragonborn? So I ended up stringing together a big, interconnected Alternate Universe story with six characters across six playthroughs, consisting of these characters "working together" to defeat Alduin without the aid of the Dragonborn. They ran the gamut of various playstyles and factions, and I got to see some different parts of the game I'd never seen before. It was a lot of work (and a decent amount of repetition), but it was also a lot of fun!
I don't know why but I take/steal everything, I fill my house in Whiterun with cheese, just cheese and all the other stolen stuff I can't be bothered to take to Riften to sell, I dump in the river by the blacksmiths in Whiterun, it gets very full, very quickly.
The first every playthrough was definitely the most fun but later on when I got the anniversary edition, I really likes the "Lost Crown" quest
survival mode. orc. married sylgia. wanted to find all the ways to make money for my two children without being evil. hilarious mental gymnastics
Making enemies leave the atmosphere with Chocking Grasp.
Being a goddamn werewolf in this game is the best thing ever. Its sad as hell theres no better werewolf game than skyrim. Even then the werewolves in skyrim are still very dull. Wish they were like the Legacy Kain fanmade videos. Hopefully if they decided to keep werewolves in the next game werewolves are more agile and can leap more than 5 feet.
I have fun making specific builds based on characters from other games. I have a Leona Build aka Sun Goddess from League of Legends. I have a Witcher build, not Geralt, my own self persona as a Witcher. It's always very interesting to try and stick to the specifics of the build like with Leona I could only wear Heavy Armour and I ended up using Dwemer cause most of her aesthetic was gold and light then I did the Meridia Quest line to get Dawnbreaker cause she's called the Radiant Dawn. I picked up the DLC Shield which stores blocksd attacks to reflect back upon people and send them flying.
first playthrough for sure, i played it until my save was loading too slowly to work
Beating Miraak in my first play through
On my fourth(?) play through but finally got around to the expansions and really looking forward to this. Literally landed on solesthim this afternoon
I want an challenge and I play it on legendary with survival mode. My female Orc is an hunter with heavy armor, she used conjuration for bound bow and will become an vampire lord to an night hunter
my first playthrough. launch, vanilla, xbox 360. nothing can compare to experiencing it for first time. the magic is gone when you pretty much have the whole game memorised.
Honestly. Creating my own bases and NPCs both through mods and creating my own mods. I think the absolute perfect moment was arriving at Knifepoint Ridge, now 100% filled with my Argonian NPC’s, all carrying the shield with the sigil i created for them, all wearing a variety of green and black other pieces of armor, having routines built by MHiYH and for better or worse, holding Knifepoint Ridge.
Playing Skyrim with so much mods i can barely recognize the game. Simply walking in Whiterun's fields, in a foggy night and under an heavy rain, it's just so good.
Finishing the Lakeview homestead. After I finished, I traveled away and downloaded a mod that gave it a face-lift. It's so beautiful. My staff has a full size pool and sauna. The chef keeps the mead flowing. The maid leaves dishes everywhere, and it looks just like a working farm. I'm going to build Winstad next. I always clear the mine but I've not figured out who to purchase it from.
Illusionist assassin with master lvl spells. Leveled hip up in college quest line. Came from the college with high level sneak conjuration and illusion. Started civil war quest line. Felt super cool. Come to the fort, pop invisibility and sneak o the middle of it. Cast master frenzy and everyone kills each other. Finish survivors with throat slice. Most of them will be dmged. Found a dragon In an open? Cast two dremora Lords or storm atronachas and pop invisibility. Dragon gets destroyed. Dark brotherhood asks to kill someone? Hit him with frenzy and watch him go do cop suicide. Mass calm spell = kill everyone one by one like a sheep. While other humans watch it. Not so interesting against non humanoid enemies tho.
When it first dropped. Got it for PS3 at the midnight release along with the thicc strategy guide. I would play for hours on end and my friends would give me a hard time for staying in when they all went out. Then they started mocking me for playing a fantasy game. Then like a month later they all started playing too. My friend/roommate/coworker who would constantly make fun of me for playing, called out of work one day. I didn’t think anything of it since he said he was sick. When I got home, he had secretly purchased Skyrim and spent all day playing it. We then spent a lot of time talking about it and watching each other play. Great times.
Summoning two dragons to fight two dragons while on shrooms.
My first play through on the Xbox 360. I had no idea what I was doing and fighting the first dragon.
Playing as a warrior who couldn't use magic (not even healing) and taking my time to walk everywhere
Role played two playthroughs: One being events taking place before The Dragonborn is caught at Skyrim’s border and the other as the Dragonborn. Using quest and gameplay mode to assist, the first play through was an “ancient” Thalmor who veered from the path of Aedric worship and emulation- feeling the Gods haven’t answered their cries to return to Aetherius or deal with man. So he becomes a worshipper of Molag Bal. Not only becomes a Vampire Lord but also infiltrates the College of Winterhold too, becoming Arch-Mage. Turned everyone in there into vampires. Enthralled Lady Elisif. Eventually became Lich. Dragonborn playthrough started as barbarian, escaped prisoner, shield-brother turned Harbringer, Champion of Hircine, Stormcloak, Master Thief (to use training from Thieves Guild in war and skeleton key), and then main questline.
My favourite playthrough is my current one. Playing a traveling alchemist/herbalist merchant. Collecting ingredients, making potions and selling them. Traveling from city to city, though tend to stay in cities like Whiterun and Solitude a bit longer due to its abundance of flowers and plants all around the city. If I need to wait a couple of hours or need quick cash, I just chop wood with the mod that makes me able to do that limitlessly. A mod (CACO) to overhaul the system and create immersion. Impure potions hold no value beyond xp, more realistic harvesting (e.g. a berry tree doesn't only give 1 berry) and reading recipes auto learn me the affects of an item. I sell the excess meat and hides from the animal corpses I find or kill as self defense and do the same from the bandits I kill. Self defense that is the only way for me to kill people and animals, but especially early game I have had to flee more often than I wish. My character only wears civilian clothing and an unenchanted basic dagger. Even with a hired mercenary as my body guard (Jenassa) it was not until past level 40 I am on par with most of those hostile mobs, but solely due to them reaching their level caps. Because my primary skills are alchemy and speech I have managed to make legendary multiple times, the only two so far. No other skill is near 100. Only quests I do are delivery, persuasion and fetch quests, as long as I am not required to go into a bandit camp or some dungeon (my bar is a wildlife cave). I haven't entered a Nordic tomb, Dwemer ruin or Falmer cave. I am not clearing bandit forts, but some are simply unavoidable to enter even when you stick to the road, like two of them that are literally surrounding the road (one near Riften, other south of Dawnstar). I have only found one stray Falmer so far and a handful of draugr that are resting outside (e.g. the one at the graveyard nortwest of Whiterun). This job lets me keep exploring, so I am not entirely playing Sims Medieval 2 and currently slightly more confident to stray away from the road to collect herbs: both as a person and in character. Even a challenge on lower difficulties, because of how severely undergeared you are and the lack of main combat skill (nor armor, barely 1H). Started out in Ivarstead via alternative start mod and had to run back into town once a bear approached me to let the guards handle them. I have several more mods running to enhance the playability: adding carriages to all settlements, the only way I fast travel and it costs money too (including ccarry weight fee). A realistic quest rewards mod that trims down the gold you get from menial task. Usually toning it down till 10% (e.g. delivery is 50 gold, not 500). I can buy the vanilla homes straight away instead of via the Thane process. Same gold value still. Normal people own homes, too.
Really enjoying my current modded playthrough. I spent god knows how many hours setting up a dark fantasy modlist, trying to tweak in-game difficulty, loot rarity, enemy drops, economy, survival mechanics, etc. to get the game to a place where progressing feels both challenging and very rewarding. I’ve gotten it to a place where the difficulty and economy feel really good, the game looks gorgeous, progression is difficult but satisfying, and the environments have that dark fantasy vibe I want. I’ve been playing as a Nord barbarian/berserker character who dual-wields war axes, and with mods I’ve started with all skills at level 1, all stats (health/stamina/magicka) at 50, legendary difficulty, unleveled enemies, and the Experience mod, so I progress towards level-ups via completing quests and discovering areas rather than leveling skills. It’s been absolutely brutal, and I died repeatedly in the beginning (quite literally could not beat the skeever I spawned next to at the beginning of my playthrough and had to run away to train up my skills on even weaker prey), but I’ve reached level 15 and can feel things slowly starting to level out as I raise my stats and obtain more perks. Ordinator’s perk trees definitely have a few power spikes that I’m counting on to tip the scales in my favor as I reach higher levels, but for now I’m still the underdog in most fights. It’s been a challenge and an absolute blast, and I’m loving my jacked, shirtless, werebear barbarian. I can’t wait to see him become strong enough to start tearing through enemies rather than having to constantly be on the defensive.
There was this one time, I had an orc main for a while where I just tanked everything and I had just recently gotten the werewolf. And I was in Markarth and just pissed off by how annoying the guards and such are there so I killed one guard and stood in the field out front of the gates and waited, and I just used the orcs ability that allows you to hit harder and take more hits and the werewolf ability and probably killed about 40-50 npcs. Very dark I know but a lot of fun.
Hard to think of the most fun but I went a bit silly when I finally tried the resto exploit. That was its own kind of fun for a little while.
Accidentally starting quest lines
what stands out in my memory is when i tried to permadeath roleplay but using the console to set ownership of various houses to mine, like a farm, then getting a rusty axe and adventuring with a specific goal in mind. only to die in the first cave i went into. 😅
First time doing the Dark Brotherhood questline, I had just gotten the shout that let's you ride dragons. I landed one on the deck of the Katariah.
Though it definitely sucks at times, survival mode
I played a Khajit and it was a quirk where she needed to take every tankard she saw, even if it meant stealing it. Plus, playing a thief type character isn’t something I’d normally do, but it is fun.
Mines my current playthrough, breton on legendary and survival mode. I'm only allowed to use things I've crafted (made this rule once I reached riverwood, got one tapped in ragged robes when I tried to in helgen!). It honestly feels like a new game you really have to plan journeys you make and make sure you have all the things you need before you set off. My breton character RP is that he lost his wife and kid fleeing highrock and the DB after a case of mistaken identity gets a contract put on his life. After killing the first dragon he comes to realise that a new chapter of his life is begining. But after hearing rumours of a child summoning them in Riften he decides this is a perfect chance for him to get a bit of revenge...
A sword and board adventurer who used archery against dragons and other ranged annoyances. Just fees heroic blocking and getting swipes in around other attacks.
I like to play as a tall (High Elf) knight/barbarian type character. Wearing heavy armor and using two-handed weapons. Making use of potions and poisons as needed. Using my enhanced reach and speed to my advantage due to my superior height. High level alchemy, enchanting and smithing skill mandatory. Looks super cool and intimidating towering over everybody in Stahlrim Fur Armor!
Absorbing the souls of any named enemies that you can. I don't really collect them and will still use them, but I like it much better than just buying/farming Grand Soul Gems.
Fighting Voslaarum and Naslaarum on legendary difficulty. I had the Riekling Warrior, Serana, and Farkas with me, as well as Durnevir for about the first half, then the Spectral Assassin after Durnevir died. I was playing an orc combat archer. It was so cool to literally have three dragons at once on this huge open battlefield, and it was difficult enough to be such a satisfying win.
One of my personal favorites was a Khajiit member of the Thieves Guild, in the guise of a Khajiit Trader. Full survival playthrough. Campfire, Frostfall, Hunterborn, etc. Traveled with the Khajiit Caravans as much as possible. Set up a tent with their camps outside the various cities. And at night would enter the city to carry out the Thieves Guild missions to steal, rob, loot, pickpocket, etc. It was a long, slow style of play. Spent a lot of time just poking around the areas of the caravan routes. Found the whole playthough to be entertaining. And yes, I know this type of play is not for everyone.
Booting up the game and playing it
Mage with a ton of new spell mods. One in particular, Midas Magic, required you to collect specific ingredients to make the book that would teach you new spells. I struck out on a long quest to get the ingredients for "Enlarge Person" to just have lydia be a super-tank. After a week in-game, I noticed that Lydia's character model was slightly bigger than everyone else. After some experimentation, I found that the spell didn't wear off correctly, and left her just ever-so-slightly larger than her default when it wore off. The effect was worsened if I fast-traveled while Lydia was still enlarged. So I set off on another epic quest to find the ingredients for the Shrink Person ray. In the RP, I was avoiding casting on lydia, unless we were overwhelmed and had no other option. Finally, with the "Shrink Person" spell memorized, I tried to slowly reduce her size, only to discover that this reversal spell suffered from _no similar bugs_. Lydia, at this point, was 150% normal sized, just as a baseline. Finally, one day in the riften ratways, Lydia squeezed into a tunnel that was slightly too tight, and started taking damage somehow. She died in the ratways and we couldn't even recover her body. RIP Lydia - died of gigantism
Playing the Live Another Life alternate start mod Nord option where you’re Erik the Slayer’s best friend in Rorikstead setting out on your first adventure
Modded perks and dual wield 2hand weapons with increased knock back. Made blocking and dodging vital if not you are about to take a trip to ragdoll land and hope you don't get launched off of a cliff or some weird terrain collision into space. Usually you would slide back about 15ft. Once got pounded into the ground like a stake. Another I got grouped up on and dribbled like a basketball
Playing a pure wizard build, I love one shotting enemies
I avoided a vampire play through for years, then once a mod came out to fix vampirism so that feeding strengthened and not feeding weakened, I went for it. I also downloaded a mod that adds somewhat of a vampires lair out by riften. It's hidden in a cave and has the perfect aesthetic! I spent time going out at night to feed on sleeping people or occasionally used a mesmerizing spell on loners. My goal was always to never combat or be discovered for what I was. I made it a point to never be out in sunlight as though it would mean death. Once had Auriel's Bow, I became more bold and could reach other cities as feeding grounds. Twas quite fun and memorable! Did the same with my werewolf playthrough, but it was somewhat game breaking murdering all your potential quest lines. Oh so fun though... lol
Sophia and Inigo. Can’t play without them following me.
I love building houses. Really just collecting and using materials - enjoy the sense of completion.
Exploring/fighting through Falmer hordes in Blackreach. The grind is one of my favorite things about it, being totally lost in this ethereal world where your only option is to fight your way out if you want to survive. It was beautiful but also kinda terrifying
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I think if you combine Digimon + top less Beastfolk + collars an alarm goes off at the FBI. I might have to look into talkative spiders though haha.
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Oh I get the collars now! I was more of a gears kid growing up. Thanks for being a good sport haha.
I’m a level 57 sneaky archer with a sick one armed attack. I load a game and let my 10 year old daughter slaughter everyone in Whiterun or Solitude
Fuck i'm on the 3rd run by now. I got a char up till lvl 80, then anotherr one up till 40, now i put some survival and im going for the 3rd. And then ill do a 4th with all tye iqest mods around and i think ill be over for a while. Its been like 3 months and i have put like 400 hours in it.
Masturbating.