You can explore a lot, but it clearly corrals you to solve some main quests. So no "never learning how to dragon shout for 70 hours" sorts of wandering, but it's hardly exactly linear.
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Do you like Morrowind and/or Gothic? Don't sleep on Enderal.
- Thread starter flyinj
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You can explore a lot, but it clearly corrals you to solve some main quests. So no "never learning how to dragon shout for 70 hours" sorts of wandering, but it's hardly exactly linear.
Yes.
It's only linear at the first couple hours or so, the tutorial area. As soon as you reach the first town, and especially the main city, the game really opens up.
Yeah, the game is very demanding for what it is.
I downloaded this based on this thread and am really surprised by how much polish it has, plus the VO work is much better than I expected. I think I downloaded this when it got its initial release awhile back and don't recall it looking nearly as good, I'm guessing stuff like the ENB additions were added later. This definitely seems like something I could get lost in. Also, really like the choice of not shoving the camera right in front of every npc's face like Bethesda does during dialogue, it really allows the scene to breathe and makes it more atmospheric too. The scene with the two apothecarii felt a lot more natural and cinematic as a result. Characters seem stronger so far than Bethesda's too. I can like actually see myself giving a shit about some of these people lol. Excited to dive into it more later.
The main quest and character design are a leg up over Skyrim in every way. It is its most immediately apparent quality, actually. The story and writing are moodier and more intimate, sure, but also consistently paying off your investment in earnest ways. Which is to say it does take itself really seriously, but does so with mostly steady footing.
As for openness, it is not on the same scale as Skyrim (what game is?), and in that respect it may feel a little linear. But it's still based on the Bethesda foundation, which, by virtue of that alone and as touched upon by the OP, makes it more open, immersive, and fun to explore than most current AAA RPGs on the market, Gothic vibes ahoy. But no, there won't be the same sheer breadth of things to sink your time into or biomes to navigate; alternatively, it does try to keep things interesting enough in the primary narrative to keep you chugging it along.
As for openness, it is not on the same scale as Skyrim (what game is?), and in that respect it may feel a little linear. But it's still based on the Bethesda foundation, which, by virtue of that alone and as touched upon by the OP, makes it more open, immersive, and fun to explore than most current AAA RPGs on the market, Gothic vibes ahoy. But no, there won't be the same sheer breadth of things to sink your time into or biomes to navigate; alternatively, it does try to keep things interesting enough in the primary narrative to keep you chugging it along.
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OP
OP
I found that the worst performing area is near the first merchant you meet that is sitting on a bench near a castle.
There are a few areas in Ark as well as an area of a dungeon that can dip as well.
However, after playing for 50 hours I've found the performance outside of those areas to be decent.
They really should have optimized that first area though because it is so early in the game it makes you think the entire game is going to be a huge resource hog.
Well, first you need to turn on MSAA (e.g. 4xMSAA) in the game launcher. (I'd also turn off FXAA)
And then you do this:
ah great! ty. is this a good setting to have on for all games?Well, first you need to turn on MSAA (e.g. 4xMSAA) in the game launcher. (I'd also turn off FXAA)
And then you do this:
No, this only works for very specific (older) games -- luckily Skyrim is one of them.
I hope that one day the guys at SureAI will be able to make their own standalone game, both Nehrim and Enderal were great but they are being held back by the Elder Scrolls' engines.
If the Forgotten City was able to pull it off I hope they will be able to as well.
If the Forgotten City was able to pull it off I hope they will be able to as well.
I too would love to see a proper game realizing their full creative potential, but it is quite another territorial ballpark to attempt a completely new game on that scale from scratch. I know the Forgotten City author ended up making his own game, but judging from that quest mod alone, the setting is deliberately (and smartly) minimalistic. Accruing the budget and assets for a AAA-level open world like Enderal will have a backpack of bricks ridin' on it. But of course, if they were given the budget and the resources, it would be a doozy!!
Man, you reminded me of Gothic 1 & 2. So ahead of their time.
I must have spent thousands of hours in those.
Thanks for the recommendation.
I must have spent thousands of hours in those.
Thanks for the recommendation.
Well, first you need to turn on MSAA (e.g. 4xMSAA) in the game launcher. (I'd also turn off FXAA)
And then you do this:
This made a big difference, thank you!
OP
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They do a lot of this stuff. NPCs will walk around, lean into tables and do other scripted activities when talking to you.
It is especially well done in the scenes with multiple characters seated and standing around a large briefing table.
I feel bad for the people that are starting at Enderal: Forgotten Stories because they're missing out on some of the top tier shitty voice acting from the original.
I loved Skyrim, but after playing Enderal I could never go back. Enderal is basically Skyrim: New Vegas.
Might as well add my voice to the recommendations of Enderal as well.
Been playing it for quite a bit now and I sometimes find myself staying up waaaaay too late in the night playing. This mod sucks you in damn hard. Love SureAIs work since Nehrim for Oblivion and this is their best work yet. Hope to see more from them sometime in the future as well.
The voice acting can be a bit choppy sometimes but I genuinely like the writing and story in my 58 hours so far into the game, even found myself on the verge of tears at times. The combat is Skyrim-ish but I'll live with that as long as I get to experience more of the story, which says a lot since I didn't wanna go through much of that in Skyrim.
As for the world of Enderal, fuckin' love it. Such craftmanship.
Been playing it for quite a bit now and I sometimes find myself staying up waaaaay too late in the night playing. This mod sucks you in damn hard. Love SureAIs work since Nehrim for Oblivion and this is their best work yet. Hope to see more from them sometime in the future as well.
The voice acting can be a bit choppy sometimes but I genuinely like the writing and story in my 58 hours so far into the game, even found myself on the verge of tears at times. The combat is Skyrim-ish but I'll live with that as long as I get to experience more of the story, which says a lot since I didn't wanna go through much of that in Skyrim.
As for the world of Enderal, fuckin' love it. Such craftmanship.
i dont see MSAA in the game launcher. only fxaa, anti aliasing and anisotropicWell, first you need to turn on MSAA (e.g. 4xMSAA) in the game launcher. (I'd also turn off FXAA)
And then you do this:
Lol yeah, this is probably the best and simplest way to describe Enderal.
Indeed. Even the earlier dungeons are already more complex than most of Skyrim. Branching paths, dead ends, verticality, and all that.
Its an amazing mod. Like a whole new game. Voice acting was top notch as well. I put like 70 hours into it, then my hard drive failed :( no cloud save and I don't have the heart to begin anew.
I highly recommend it.
I highly recommend it.
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Apparently none of the devs have a VR headset.
I would be more than willing to throw a couple bucks at them to get one if it was crowd funded.
If anyone is just starting and finding it tough, there's a spell book to summon a skeleton helper early on (not sure where exactly I found it). Dude wrecks shit, even without any skill points. He's slow and brittle but will 1-2 kill a lot of the early enemies that can do a number on you.
so I have purewaters installed (which works with enderal) but this cant be right... i thought the water would look better than this?
I installed that mod too. I think it's supposed to look like that as the mod creates foams at the edge of water. Here's my pic.so I have purewaters installed (which works with enderal) but this cant be right... i thought the water would look better than this?
The waterfall looks ugly indeed. But apparently there's a separate mod for that.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/60576/?
Yeah, I had to go through the whole intro again too, because I originally played Enderal at its initial launch in 2016 or so.
Though I believe I saw a mod to skip the intro somewhere in the workshop.
all right all right all right I installed it last night. I might hit it up for half an hour this morning before work if I get a minute. Don't pressure me!
Enjoying it a lot so far, with the singular exception that the early game has some beeeeeefy enemies as a melee character.
I'm not sure about vanilla Enderal, but I use this mod from the start. The balancing sounds pretty good so I just went with it (it also addresses your complaint about beefy enemies, for example). I died quite a lot but it's not impossible. I always managed to come through later after rethinking my strategy in approaching the encounter.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1655220911
My main issue is I don't understand if there's any way to actually avoid attacks or if I gotta do a skyrim style stick-bashing fight. 'Cause blocking doesn't really do shit 'til I get more block skill I assume.
Yeah, we start from the very bottom. The main character can barely do anything with low level skills across the board.
Also there is that I rarely feel a sense of Deja Vu with the Enderal dungeons, there are some dungeon pieces that are reused but a lot of the time each place I enter feel quite unique from one another, even the smaller ones.
Doesn't bother me too much, I'll sort it out. I got through Elex, this is a cakewalk comparatively lol
OP
OP
I found that using two handed or shield bash on enemies when they are starting their swing helps a lot.
But yeah, you are pretty underpowered in the beginning. You find a summon skeleton spell fairly early and that helps a lot.
If you are going pure melee, I would suggest investing some learning points into summoning. You get some great summons later.
I don't really like summon stuff in games. I put a couple points into lycanthropy and for really tough fights I've got a couple potions on hand to wolf out. It's a lot more fun and seems super strong.
Any news on an SE port? I only purchased Skyrim after it was released, but I'd love to play this.
No but this is an independent release, so you can play it standalone. And if you own Skyrim on steam already, it is free. ^^'
Just finished it.
After 67 hours I finally completed it.
Holy shitfuck that was good. No regrets going through that. I am putting down this mod as a favourite of all time.
After 67 hours I finally completed it.
Holy shitfuck that was good. No regrets going through that. I am putting down this mod as a favourite of all time.
Admittedly, while the story reminded me A LOT of Mass Effects plot, you know what? At least they pulled it off and left me satisfied unlike the empty hollow feeling I had after ME3.
I think the difference is that while Mass Effect arbitrarily shoehorned in a sad ending after endlessly validating the triumph of teamwork and family and all that over adversity for three whole games, Enderal never pretended to be anything other than a tragedy of your own making. We and the others could have stopped at any time. We were warned repeatedly. We just didn't want to listen because we believed we were the heroes of this story.
But unlike the Reapers, it was never about the High Ones. It was always only ever about our egos.
But unlike the Reapers, it was never about the High Ones. It was always only ever about our egos.
Just FYI for me, I didn't have any Skyrim version currently installed and when I tried to boot it up the first time, it gave me an error that it couldn't run the Skyrim exe (or something similar). Went ahead and installed the SE version only and it started up instantly.