Skyrim Special Edition

Games
1

Since it’s coming soon, here’s a thread for the revamped version of Skyrim.

PC system specs are here. Don’t get caught short! The requirements are higher than the original version.

[quote]
PC System Specs

Minimum
Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
Intel i5-750/AMD Phenom II X4-945.
8GB of ram.
12 GB free HDD space
NVIDIA GTX 470 1GB /AMD HD 7870 2GB

Recommended
Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
Intel i5-2400/AMD FX-8320.
8GB of ram.
12 GB free HDD space
NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB /AMD R9 290 4GB

Console Storage Needs

PS4
20 GB (North America)
33 GB (Europe)

Xbox One
17 GB (North America)
25 GB (Europe)[/quote]

[quote]
Mod support on consoles
Remastered art and effects
Volumetric lighting (“God Rays”)
Dynamic Depth of Field
Screen-space reflections
New snow and water shaders[/quote]

The PS4 gets mod support, but it’s very basic. No outside assets like user-made sounds or textures are allowed. PC mods will use the Bethesda.net system internally (not Steam Workshop) but PC users can load mods themselves using the traditional methods.

Releases on Friday, October 28th. If you have Skyrim GotY, or Skyrim with all the DLC, you get the Special Edition as a free upgrade. Consoles have to pay.

2

I’ll probably wait for a sale. But I’m tempted to get it for the XB1 again. I bought the last one for the 360, and it provided a lot of hours of excellent entertainment. I believe I had over 120 hours. But I only explored 3 cities out of 7 or 8, and the corresponding quests for those 3 cities. I still haven’t explored the eastern half of the map at all, including the Thief guild city. I also never found the Assassin’s Brotherhood in Skyrim either.

3

Huh, interesting. They dropped the PC install size down by ~1GB (13GB on my drive right now), probably since there’s no duplication with the high-res textures baked in instead of as DLC now.

Also kind of wondering about legacy mod drop in support - curious what engine changes from FO4 carried over that would mess with things (for one, iirc physics, models, and animations are different in FO4, and quite of the underlying scripting engine was changed).

4

That’s because they find you.

5

Wish they’d do Morrowind and Oblivion special editions too. That would be sweeeet. I’d re-buy them.

Morrowind would need a lot of work, though. Not just graphics.

6

I wonder if, ironically, a fully modded-up version of Skyrim as is will look and play better than the remastered version.

7

Digital Foundry has got you covered!

8

As they always do. :)

9

Yikes, it looks very … orange.

Fun times though, looking forward to it, haven’t played the game in a while.

10

Did they do anything to fix the stupid combat system? Because if not, then the game is still broken :(

That’s the thing I always hate about Bethesda RPGs. They pull you in with this amazing game world and the story and stuff, and then ruin it all with the combat. It’s fine at first. But eventually you’re getting killed in 2-3 hits by attacks that can’t be blocked, there’s no finesse or strategy to the melee it’s just clickclickclick to swing your weapon as fast as possible, the magic looks and feels the same yet somehow does 5x the damage later on, etc. So frustrating :(

11

I was pondering getting it for the PS4, since I have the original on PC (but without the DLC), but with Civ VI about to launch I’m not going to have a spec of time to spend on a game the size of Skyrim for a while. It’s good to know that it’s there, though.

13

I thought old saves would work?

15

Magic is super weak in this game, compared to using a weapon.

16

I find it the opposite, you level up destruction magic enough and you kick the ass of many things before they get near your sword.

17

But Destruction Magic only gets less expansive as you skill up, while weapons skills actually increase the damage you deal, so DPS on weapons can go up, while DPS on Magic is specifically capped by the spell you use.

18

Yeah, I’m all about sneaking bow headshots on high-lvl monsters like Liches from 100 yards away.

In the immortal words of Snoop Doggy Dog,

[quote]Liches ain’t shit but hoes and tricks
Lich on these nuts and suck the dick
Get the fuck out after you’re done
Shot in the skull from south central Rifton[/quote]

19

Huh, I use so few weapons I didn’t even realize the DPS thing. Good to know. :)

20

Yeah, Skyrim was the first Elder Scrolls game where I played as a sneaky archer and it was indeed glorious. I also dabbled a little in magic and melee, but my bread and butter was the archery, and it was super-satisfying. I’d usually cut down most enemies and then fire off a protection spell and switch to melee/shield. I thought melee in Skyrim was also excellent, the way the controller vibrates just right in your hand as you hold up your shield and sword meets shield. Very satisfying. I also love the travel on the triggers as you swing your sword or fire your arrow. Just the physical act of pressing that trigger is so much more satisfying than clicking a mouse button.

21

Sneaky archery is so fun that it makes any other approach seem bland. And less effective. Which, really, is sort of a problem in a game where you’re supposed to be able to do all sorts of things.

22

Destruction magic in Vanilla skyrim is incredibly weak compared to weapons. In fact, this seems to be a ‘thing’ in all ES games. Sure, mods come out that fix it, but Bethesda just doesn’t get it. Let me put it this way, in vanilla skyrim I need dozens of dual cast fire bolts or balls to take out a dragon, yet I can one-shot them with a 2h sword if I am lucky, if I am unlucky then they just have a small bit of health left.

I am please by this update, but after like 600 hours of skyrim, I think it is played out. I may check out the Enderall mod as a mage (did a playthough as a stealth archer) at some point, but in its current state I think it would be extremely difficult at the higher levels just using magic and summons (and the god-awful AI).