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Dutch Masters

Member
Jun 7, 2018
510
Glad more people are catching on to Enderal, it really is a fantastic game.

The only real cons to the game are that it can be buggy and the Skyrim combat (a little bit different since you'll have to juggle between stances and there's unique moves/spells), though in the end those are more Skyrim issues than Enderal issues.

I highly recommend anyone that's on the fence on Enderal to watch the trailer below, it'll give you the general gist of the story and you can see the quality of the voice acting/world building/etc from it, don't forget that the game is easily 60+ hours and it's free.

 

Mudo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,114
Tennessee
Holy mother of God. I have over 500 hours in Skyrim and I think I own 5 copies of it lol. I am installing it tonight!! Will mods work with the game? I'm mainly thinking of SKYUI if this game is using the original horrible UI.
Thanks for this thread OP - I had no idea this was a thing or really even possible
 
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Massicot

RPG Site
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
2,232
United States
Holy mother of God. I have over 500 hours in Skyrim and I think I own 5 copies of it lol. I am installing it tonight!! Will miss work with the game? I'm mainly thinking of SKYUI if this game is using the original horrible UI.
Thanks for this thread OP - I had no idea this was a thing or really even possible

It comes with Sky UI baked in, so you're good there.

As an aside, I'm just gonna randomly note this for those that played back in 2016: I went into the game not knowing what content/quests were "old" and what was new with the 1.5 Forgotten Stories release. When I went back to sort through it, most of my favorite questlines happened to be the new ones.
 

Mudo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,114
Tennessee
It comes with Sky UI baked in, so you're good there.

As an aside, I'm just gonna randomly note this for those that played back in 2016: I went into the game not knowing what content/quests were "old" and what was new with the 1.5 Forgotten Stories release. When I went back to sort through it, most of my favorite questlines happened to be the new ones.

Incredible. Perfect. Thanks!
 
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flyinj

flyinj

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,937
You are setting a pretty high bar here. i guess I have no choice but to check it out now. As an RPG fan and a huge Morrowind fan I feel obligated.

It has everything I loved about Morrowind: sense of exploration, real progression with no level scaling, vast open world but with much better combat.

As much as everyone pisses on the fact that this is based on Skyrim combat, they have tweaked it to make it quite a bit better. Morriwind's combat was fucking awful.

However, Morrowind has the amazing alien world building which is still unmatched in any RPG other than Planescape. So that is keeping it slightly above Enderal.
 

CountAntonio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,693
It has everything I loved about Morrowind: sense of exploration, real progression with no level scaling, vast open world but with much better combat.

As much as everyone pisses on the fact that this is based on Skyrim combat, they have tweaked it to make it quite a bit better. Morriwind's combat was fucking awful.

However, Morrowind has the amazing alien world building which is still unmatched in any RPG other than Planescape. So that is keeping it slightly above Enderal.
Yep. I agree. Oblivion was a big step down from Morrowind and I absolutely hated Skyrim.
 

Zukuu

Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,809
Heard of it a bunch of times. You convinced me to try it out, by saying it has new balance and the like. Hope there are some melee skills and not just spells.
 

LordDraven

Banned
Jan 23, 2019
2,257
so on Steam it is forgotten stories which is the 2nd part of Enderal, correct? if so, when I install this it will start me at the beginning of the game before any of the dlc correct? (I dont want to start with just the dlc)
 
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flyinj

flyinj

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,937
so on Steam it is forgotten stories which is the 2nd part of Enderal, correct? if so, when I install this it will start me at the beginning of the game before any of the dlc correct? (I dont want to start with just the dlc)

It is the full game with the DLC included yes. You start at the beginning of the base game.
 

Zephy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,160
Good job OP, you've convinced me to try it.

Is it compatible with the various gameplay mods for Skyrim ? I used to have a lot of them (like one that improved controller shortcuts).
 

TissueBox

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,983
Urinated States of America
Good job OP, you've convinced me to try it.

Is it compatible with the various gameplay mods for Skyrim ? I used to have a lot of them (like one that improved controller shortcuts).

It depends, Enderal itself is already a modded-up build of Skyrim itself to some extent, built in to the dandy foundation.

Texture/armor mods, UI tweaks and the like are generally fine. I believe lighting mods can also be installed but since the game already uses its own special lighting system it's probably best to leave it as is.

As for gameplay tweaks -- the leveling system is already somewhat overhauled along with some other small stuff, so any Skyrim mod affecting the systems directly may not carry over properly. Same goes for mods that directly add, alter, or are hewed to cells/the worldspace of Skyrim, since it is a completely new setting.

This mod compatibility master-list gave the rundown on what mods could work with Enderal, what are incompatible, and what mods the team used in making Enderal, etc., but being made for original Enderal release it may not be substantially up to date for the Steam version:

Enderal Mod Compatibility Masterlist

('Compatible Mods' and 'Incompatible Mods' tabs at the bottom.)

[Note: The mods listed as compatible are not the only compatible mods, simply what the list makers chose to specify and considered relatively popular. Once again mods that don't overhaul entire gameplay mechanics, are not script-heavy, and are hands off the world-space may work if they don't conflict with anything else.]

Also, being that it's an independent release separate from Skyrim, installing mods with MO or Nexus/Vortex may not be properly functional yet.
 

rashbeep

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,451
it was ok if we are looking past the fact that it is a mod

story was quite disappointing
 

LordDraven

Banned
Jan 23, 2019
2,257
For those that installed better texture mods, please post which you've installed so we can all chat about it :)
 

Zephy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,160
It depends, Enderal itself is already a modded-up build of Skyrim itself to some extent, built in to the dandy foundation.

Texture/armor mods, UI tweaks and the like are generally fine. I believe lighting mods can also be installed but since the game already uses its own special lighting system it's probably best to leave it as is.

As for gameplay tweaks -- the leveling system is already somewhat overhauled along with some other small stuff, so any Skyrim mod affecting the systems directly may not carry over properly. Same goes for mods that directly add, alter, or are hewed to cells/the worldspace of Skyrim, since it is a completely new setting.

This mod compatibility master-list gave the rundown on what mods could work with Enderal, what are incompatible, and what mods the team used in making Enderal, etc., but being made for original Enderal release it may not be substantially up to date for the Steam version:

Enderal Mod Compatibility Masterlist

('Compatible Mods' and 'Incompatible Mods' tabs at the bottom.)

[Note: The mods listed as compatible are not the only compatible mods, simply what the list makers chose to specify and considered relatively popular. Once again mods that don't overhaul entire gameplay mechanics, are not script-heavy, and are hands off the world-space may work if they don't conflict with anything else.]

Also, being that it's an independent release separate from Skyrim, installing mods with MO or Nexus/Vortex may not be properly functional yet.

Thanks for such a detailed answer. I suppose the best will be to try and see ! I'll probably give it a shot without any additional mods first, though.
 

Durante

Dark Souls Man
Member
Oct 24, 2017
5,074
I just started playing this, a few technical notes:
  • You can use the normal Skyrim driver setting (on NV) to force transparency supersampling. It (expectedly) is a massive difference for foliage quality.
  • You can use the Skyrim Flawless Widescreen plugin to make the UI work (flawlessly) in 21:9.
 

LordDraven

Banned
Jan 23, 2019
2,257
I just started playing this, a few technical notes:
  • You can use the normal Skyrim driver setting (on NV) to force transparency supersampling. It (expectedly) is a massive difference for foliage quality.
  • You can use the Skyrim Flawless Widescreen plugin to make the UI work (flawlessly) in 21:9.
could you explain how to do this?

"You can use the normal Skyrim driver setting (on NV) to force transparency supersampling. It (expectedly) is a massive difference for foliage quality. "
 

Deleted member 2507

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,188
I couldn't deal with the shitty Skyrim gameplay. Really interested in Endereal otherwise.
I mean, yeah, there are changes to leveling and whatever else, but nothing that alters fundamental flaws in the game. Like, you know, utterly shit combat and spellcasting being awkward as fuck.
 

Alastor3

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
8,297
I couldn't deal with the shitty Skyrim gameplay. Really interested in Endereal otherwise.
I mean, yeah, there are changes to leveling and whatever else, but nothing that alters fundamental flaws in the game. Like, you know, utterly shit combat and spellcasting being awkward as fuck.
I feel completely the same.
 

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,347
I don't know how I've never heard of this but this is very much my jam. Definitely downloading this. Thanks!
 

Ploid 6.0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,440
I have both Skyrim versions thanks to getting the free upgrade to SE if you had Skyrim Legendary right before SE launched. I never played Morrowind and I loved Oblivion's sense of adventure, skill system, and risk more than Skyrim. I'll download and back these up (only had SE version backed up), and play it eventually (darn Path of Exile + new Warframe stuff. These games are sucking every drop of my time).

I hope Skyrim Legendary lets you download without the expansions. I'm not sure what is all required of this mod, though I'm sure I should be set with Legendary. Looking forward to this.

I couldn't deal with the shitty Skyrim gameplay. Really interested in Endereal otherwise.
I mean, yeah, there are changes to leveling and whatever else, but nothing that alters fundamental flaws in the game. Like, you know, utterly shit combat and spellcasting being awkward as fuck.

Aww oh well, I'll give it a shot anyway, with lowered expectations.
 
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flyinj

flyinj

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,937
I have both Skyrim versions thanks to getting the free upgrade to SE if you had Skyrim Legendary right before SE launched. I never played Morrowind and I loved Oblivion's sense of adventure, skill system, and risk more than Skyrim. I'll download and back these up (only had SE version backed up), and play it eventually (darn Path of Exile + new Warframe stuff. These games are sucking every drop of my time).

I hope Skyrim Legendary lets you download without the expansions. I'm not sure what is all required of this mod, though I'm sure I should be set with Legendary. Looking forward to this.



Aww oh well, I'll give it a shot anyway, with lowered expectations.

You don't have to back anything up. You don't even need to install Skyrim.

This is a complete self contained game that you download if you have Skyrim in your library.
 
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flyinj

flyinj

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,937
I couldn't deal with the shitty Skyrim gameplay. Really interested in Endereal otherwise.
I mean, yeah, there are changes to leveling and whatever else, but nothing that alters fundamental flaws in the game. Like, you know, utterly shit combat and spellcasting being awkward as fuck.

How did you find the spell casting to be awkward?

If it was due to Skyrim's default UI, Enderal has SkyUI built in. Which allows for much faster and more robust spell selection, even on a controller.

As for combat, I find Enderal's to be far superior to Skyrim's. Enemy AI is a lot smarter. They'll pull out a bow and engage you at range a lot which makes you need to strategize more. Also, the encounter setup is much better designed in the game.

As a two handed battle mage, I'm using tons of spells, then going in with my great sword. Because of the increased lethality, you need to block and bash enemies constantly to keep yourself from taking too much damage.

Overall the combat is fun and diverse. It is a ton better than Morrowind and especially Gothic, but it retains the brutal lethality of both.
 
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flyinj

flyinj

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,937
Another great aspect of Enderal's systems is the magic sickness. It keeps you from just spamming health potions in combat, which makes it a lot more challenging and interesting.
 

Deleted member 2507

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,188
How did you find the spell casting to be awkward?
Can't use spells with two-handed weapons. Can't use spells with bows. Can't use spells with dual-wielding or sword-and-board. Spell and sword can't be used at once, or at least sword swings are very slow while holding charged spells, can't recall which anymore but no matter, this makes spellsword style completely unplayable in practice the way i'd like to do it. Can't jump and cast spells at once (that said, same limitation applies to weapons... which is also annoying as hell).
Staves not benefiting from skills or perks, or increasing skill. Staves suffer from most of the same limitation as spells do with other equipment.
Dual-casting is utter shit. Could you cast two different spells at once? Can't recall.
There is no real incentive to play without armor with magic (Alteration school was largely worthless and its armor spells were weak).
Spell selection is limited and boring. Spells are weak and don't scale. No spellmaking.
The so called "attribute system" simplifies magic even further.
And that's before going into the AI being brain dead and not having any hit reactions or whatever else to make combat feel like something.

This all in Skyrim, and Enderal at least retains most of the limitations. No doubt it fixed some issues, but not nearly enough, it doesn't do fundamental changes to the engine and gameplay.

Give me dedicated cast spell button as in Oblivion, or modded Morrowind (i use Code Patch to change "ready spell" to "cast spell"). Skyrim limited that to Dragon Shouts and powers, i can't actually recall what Enderal did with it.

Naturally it doesn't help that one is limited to only several quick-select slots at most, making switching spells awkward (weirdly, despite all my issues with Skyrim, i never ever had any issues with the UI, and perhaps more weirdly, i never actually liked the SkyUI, its style and looks). But this limitation was in Oblivion and Morrowind so i don't really care, nigh-instant cast spells with any equipment softens this considerably too.
 

Wulfric

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,963
So are the devs independently wealthy or what? Looks like a crazy amount of work to hand out for free.
 

Teggy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,892
I had some issues getting it going because I couldn't get the cursor to move. Tried a number of things to no avail and finally tried turning controller support on, which allowed me to move on (I wanted to play with a controller anyway).

Next issue was that the screen goes blank during the cutscenes. There were 2, but I get the feeling that's about it for cutscenes, so maybe not a big deal.

Regarding if it can be played fully with a controller - it seems so, with the exception of the "hero" screen, which you can get to with the "H" key. It's just a stats list, so is only needed for reference and not during gameplay.
 

Deleted member 2507

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,188
So are the devs independently wealthy or what? Looks like a crazy amount of work to hand out for free.
Think they're pros who do this stuff on the side? Or talented amateurs.
Either way, probably looks good on CV.
And most importantly, they no doubt love doing what they do.

Plus it ain't like they could charge on this, it just a mod on Skyrim, it isn't like they have license to use the engine for a commercial product.
 
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flyinj

flyinj

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,937
Think they're pros who do this stuff on the side? Or talented amateurs.
Either way, probably looks good on CV.
And most importantly, they no doubt love doing what they do.

Plus it ain't like they could charge on this, it just a mod on Skyrim, it isn't like they have license to use the engine for a commercial product.

Yeah, they must be professional developers who create this as a hobby. The logistics you need to keep straight on a project like this is overwhelming. I couldn't imagine people with no industry experience being able to create something this massive and polished.
 

Deleted member 2507

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,188
Yeah, they must be professional developers who create this as a hobby. There are is too much logistics to keep straight on a project this vast. I couldn't imagine people with no industry experience being able to create something this massive and polished.
Hmm, this reminds me of Installation 01, an upcoming fan-made Halo PC game. There was a short youtube doc about it sometime ago. The interesting bit is that it was noted that the project nearly crashed before they restructured and started using professional-like milestones and whatever else. Think it is mostly amateur product, and it is reasonable large project, but most likely has some people with industry experience.

I wonder about mods in general. Wonder if all large scale mods probably have either pros working on them, or the modders essentially have to become professionals to finish things?
 

y3k

Member
Oct 25, 2017
181
iirc, they were professionals in that they'd been making overhauls since Morrowind. A lot of them got hired by legit studios afterwards *because* of Nehrim and Enderal, hence why the team was sort of breaking up even before Forgotten Stories got released.

Hoo-boy though. Enderal did a number on me and I loved every second of it. At some point I need to go back and hit their older works.

We are sin :(
 

sredgrin

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,276
Playing it but man, it kind of runs like shit. I know part of that is just because it's Skyrim and being held together by duct tape but still feels awful frequently on high end hardware.
 

Ploid 6.0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,440
You don't have to back anything up. You don't even need to install Skyrim.

This is a complete self contained game that you download if you have Skyrim in your library.
Oh wow, the only thing I've seen like that was Just Cause 2 Multiplayer mod. Nice, thanks.

I tend to back up my games so I don't have to download them again (data caps). I had Skyrim SE backed up thinking I'd never need to download the normal one, and with your news I still don't need to.
 

Dr. Caroll

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,111
Absolutely exceptional game. The story is great, the world design is great, and the DLC fleshes out some of the bare batches of the original release. It's also very frequently updated. Sometimes receiving multiple hot fixes each week in addition to larger patches every week or so.