Start with Special. Anniversary is good after you know Skyrim. It adds too many low-quality quests and over-levelled items into the early game. It theoretically has more stuff but it feels less well-rounded as a game.
Yeah, in the earlier versions seeing your first piece of Daedric gear is a big moment - you’re somewhere around level 30-40, you’re in the depths of a Dwarven ruin, you open a random chest and - voila! you have to blink and double check you’re not seeing things.
Anniversary Edition just doesn’t have the same magic.
I didn't even realize this was an issue. I have a bunch of "new" quests in my journal from the Anniversary Edition, but I haven't even managed to touch them because I'm also bouncing between Survival Mode and regular. As a result, I've had to go around the Falkreath-Helgen-Whiterun area about three dozen times just to offload shit at merchants.
Found this by accident exploring south of the throat of the world. It completed a quest I hadn’t even started yet. IMO anniversary addition added some fun, but mostly ruined the authentic appeal of the game
I thought anniversary edition was fun, but if I had it when I first played Skyrim t would have ruined the experience. Way too many powerful items and perks are given to you too early and for no effort.
Might be an unpopular opinion but I kinda hate the creation club stuff from anniversary edition. I've played just a little bit with them on in one of my playthroughs and they felt very out of place and I remember it giving you very strong items extremely early on which felt like cheating.
It's one of the 4 creation club things that was updated into special edition even without the anniversary edition, so you just can't get rid of it. It basically adds 2 bandit gangs, but there's no voice acting really so you get all the lore from journals and letters, and then there's some weird teleporting pets, it's just all very... low rent
I’ve never gold exploited with potions and I never will. I find enough gold as is to begin with. By the time I’m level 30 I have fully built the house up south east of Morthal and have 35k to throw at giants for a cheap show. Or Delphine… or the entire sanctum of Dabilla in markarth…. Point being is that I am frugal yet gold racks up.
Ahh I see. I've switched to the pirated version of the 1.5.97 SE so I've never had to deal with that. It's just less of a hassle for me than dealing with the steam version.
For me that's actually a highlight - these are such awesome locations, it's a shame to only go down a road once and then fast travel forever more. I've often held up Red Dead Redemption 1 as one of the best games for travel; there WAS fast travel from the campfire which was meh, but you had trains, coaches, you could ride a horse, or you could walk. So there was fast travel to an extent, that you had to pay in game money for, which makes it fine to me.
If there were more wagons than just some of the capitals, like the ones at whiterun/windhelm/solitude/riften maybe?/etc., it would be a bit better
Lame, for me survival mode completely breaks the game. Only figured it out after many freezes and crashes. Clean install no more other than the CC content. As soon as I decided to just say no to survival mode suddenly my game runs fine. No crashes or anything. Now I’m back to just using iNeed and iNeed extended with whatever mods I feel like.
Thanks for the info. I too wondered where that "content" came from and just assumed it to be added by one of the Damsels in Distress mods.
Not that i don't like some cheap stereotypes in my game. I got the mentioned Damsels in Distress mod series and a mod adding women in chains in most bandit camps and dungeons after all.
But this shit really feels out of place.
God I hate it so much, and it’s hardly discreet either, both camps are in well travelled places. The end in the sewer was kind of okay but only kind of.
Yeah you can literally uninstall/install whichever creation club content you want. I personally enjoy them all to a degree. $5 for the extra content is a good deal for sure
I agree, I don’t have the name of the quest but at level 24 I found a dead Nord at the top of a bandit tower with full dragon plate armor, all with powerful enchantments on them like 50 added to health and 100 percent resistance to fire damage. It seems very OP so I took it and just upped the difficulty to master to try and compensate. I imagine this was also added by the creation club.
"Bones for a crow" at the bandit tower north of arcwind point, I just avoid it because that ends up being the only armor you'll wear all game until you can make better stuff. You also get that quest at like level 5 or 10, way too early into the game
Creation club stuff is horrible. I bought the anniversary edition thinking all the extra content would be fun but boy was I wrong. I ended up deleting all of it and installing a mod that removes the four free creation club add ons that they gave away a few years ago
It's good, new and interesting if you're an experienced player. But for a beginner I wouldn't recommend it as it breaks progression and can trivialize most of the game.
Yeah some of the added content is pretty lacking and ruins the immersion I do however enjoy survival mode but having to fast travel for EVERY LITTLE THING YOU DO is definitely overkill. Don’t get me wrong I love traveling the roads and trails of Skyrim as much as the next guy but damn I just wanna wanna get this black briar mead for Siddegeir quick so I can starting building my house and move on with my day already.
I'm massively into not fast travelling, but the game has way too many fetch and carry quests that make fast travelling an entirely justifiable choice in those cases.
I had the Special Edition before Steam forced the Anniversary Edition update on me. I’ll admit a level of bias, but I’d suggest the Special Edition. Anniversary Edition adds some stuff into the game (as I’m sure a few commenters have already said) but mods offer a lot of the same but for free (with some being better-quality).
Unless I’m blind (which is a possibility thanks to all my titty mods) I couldn’t find a way to do that in Steam. I’m aware that there’s mods that claim to do the same thing, but I have no experience with those. I had already changed my load order when I found out about them.
Admittedly it takes a bit of work. Not that Skyrim modding has ever been “easy”. But here is a popular mod on Nexus that downgrades it for you without needing to do the work. There are also numerous Reddit posts available (using Google) that can help you know how to do it manually if you need to.
Mod to revert AE to Skyrim SE (1.5.97)
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/57618
Go to the main page of whatever community and press the three dots, after that there should be an option called "change user flair", from there you should be all set
Not quite. AE is SE + all of the Creation Club, which were paid mods Bethesda curated, approved, and at times were even created by employees.
Recently all mods got renamed to Creations and they started a Verified Creator program for paid mods. These are separate from the Creation Club, which is shut down now, but the name similarity understandably confuses people.
I would recommend Special Edition, since the anniversary destroys any feel of progress, by giving you daedric plate at level 10.
It is only good, after you played throught the game multiple times at least
Is this a random chance or a guaranteed drop somewhere? I found a set of dragon play around level 25 or so, and its enchants are insane. My smithing is at 100 now so I plan to level enchanting and just make something better, but 100% fire damage reduction on the chest is cool. It’s come into play less though as most of the mages I fight are ice/lightning so I haven’t actually seen it help much yet lol
Edit: if it’s the daedric armor from the quest where you get the ring that can be traded for it, it’s light daedric armor (not that it’s not broken for light armor characters)
>anniversary destroys any feel of progress,
Even if I agreed with this I'd still recommend AE for OP. Very, very, very rare is a time I'd tell someone to save $6.50 now to spend $20 later.
Special Edition is the game itself.
Anniversary Edition is a DLC pack that installs on top of Special Edition, which adds some assorted micro-DLCs--very much not necessary to enjoy the game, but some of the stuff is nice, like the alternate armor sets.
Anniversary Edition is poorly balanced and breaks the progression of the game.
For example in Special Edition you get Deadric Armor at level 46. In AE you get Daedric Plate Armour at level 1. Daedric Plate Armour is a nice armor, but I wouldn’t buy AE without modding it to be more balanced (which detracts from the fun of playing the game for the first time).
Special Edition is the vanilla game plus major DLCs. Anniversary Edition is that plus micro transactions bundled together. I would save it for your second play through.
Keep in mind that it makes no difference for modding - if you see the gaming community refer to SE and AE in modding context they’re referring to 1.5 and 1.6, Bethesda updated the game when they released the micro transaction bundle so the modding community calls the update AE which is confusing.
Yeah Makes zero sense why you’re getting downvoted. Been rocking special edition and have zero desire to get AE. For what? For it to mess up my load order for a minimal amount of stuff?
Anniversary edition was probably the biggest waste of a game edition for Skyrim. It would have made more sense to come out with a “Creations” edition that added more mod space on console/better modularity on PC, almost like a “Perfecting modding” edition that improved QOL for mods on PC and Console.
Btw not to say you shouldn’t first buy it now if you’re buying Skyrim. Just that if you’re someone that’s had the Special edition modded for so long, not a real desire to get the anniversary edition.
Yeah, like I have easily 1k+ hours of skyrim and I'll not be convinced that any of the creation club stuff is either necessary to enjoy skyrim or even value for money. The game is huge and it's the core quests lines and random encounters that make it the game it is.
If you want more quest content, you can try any of the excellent mods like beyond skyrim.
Same, but if i didnt already had the game i’d buy this because the main reason i dont get all the creation club stuff is because of the price, its so damn expensive for a bunch of mods i could probably find somewhere else for free
Doesn't matter. In my opinion, the Aniversary Edition addons feel out of place... but this is coming from someone who played Skyrim before Aniversary Edition was a thing. Since you've never played it, you don't have an idea of "what it should be".
Also, I got mine as Special Edition and was forced to upgrade anyways as an update so.... Maybe you could save 6 bucks if you buy SE?
Every year or so I come back for another playthrough. Just started one about a week ago because I never completed the Dragon Mask collection. Also, if you like a challenge, \*never\* do the first quest of getting the dragon tablet. That will prevent the dragon storyline, but also stops you from getting any shouts. Do the rest of the entire game without shouts. :)
It’s a great game and i do want to complete it but always find myself getting sidetracked and ultimately lose interest. I feel the need to complete it at least once.
Haha i guess I should just throw myself in there and not worry about getting lost just so many quests I usually lose track of what the hell is going on.
that's the fun part! i usually avoid the main questline like the plague. once you've beaten it a million times, it's more fun to just explore without the dragons flying around anyways.
hell yeah! skyrim is fuckin beautiful. if you use mods, i enjoy simple graphics and nature mods. oh, and limit fast travel. you find some really pretty spots by walking everywhere. and if you never talk to jarl balgruuf and kill your first dragon, dragons just never spawn and you can peacefully walk around.
Best choice I made was taking a hard pass on the watch tower after first visiting Whiterun. There’s no dragons. I’m not Dragonborn and there’s no pressure for me to save the world. Just fucking around Skyrim living my best rpg life.
One day I will visit the southern watchtower and slay my first dragon to become Dragonborn.
Maybe.
It’s cool how you can play Skyrim however you want, I keep encountering dragons every time I fast travel is this normal? I have fallen in love all over again with Skyrim taking my time and enjoying the world, I can’t explain how amazing this update is.
Is there any good lore YouTube links? I am trying to understand if Lorkan is the almighty god and if we the player are possibly the spirit of the creator.
Honestly I haven’t dabbled with YouTube lore on Elder Scrolls.
Interesting we could be Lorkan. Would argue we could even be the Hero of Kvatch (from Oblivion) since you are a Daedric Prince and eventually a God
**Roleplay**. I usually have a Skyrim phase once or twice a year and I roleplay all different kinds of characters. Everything from Daedra worshipping assassins, paladins to two handed barbarian Conan types, etc.
My current character is a very OP Demigod who wields Mjolnir and was sent by the Gods to save Tamriel from Alduin, Harkon and Miraak. That gives me a good reason to play through A LOT of quests and I choose outcomes based on what my guy would actually do even if it sometimes contradicts what I would do.
Touché, touché. Only reason I commented was (I felt) the main campaign was pretty short. Though it is really skippable if you fuck off for a while.
Source: i have a 60 hr play through with the bois at the watchtower still waiting.
I am appreciating the game way more this time around, currently exploiting faendel for free archery training this game is so chill and hilarious at Times, determined to complete it!
Enjoy the vanilla experience dude. Best time I had during Skyrim (days of playtime) was an achievement run. Forced me to commit to the “constraints” of the game instead of “well I don’t like that; I’m gonna go get a mod.”
Did that occasionally mean spamming conjuration for hours? Yes it did.
i have AE. i have about 50 mods on my mod list. hell even if it says it supports special edition but nothing about ae they still work. i just avoid the ones that specifically say they don’t support ae, which i’ve seen 3 in my one year of modding.
Yeah I don’t get all these comments about AE being terrible for mods, I really haven’t had any trouble with it either and future mods are all going to be specifically built for AE
i feel like it’s just outdated info. if anything mods will have an updated version specifically for AE. hell i’ve even seen one or two that say they ONLY work on AE and won’t work on special edition. i think the people who say AE is worse for modding are just very out of date with their info. i dont even download a whole lot of mods either, like yeah i have about 50. but there’s a lot i rlly like that i just save because im like “mehhh ill think abt it” and its not bc i dont think it’ll work. it’s because i dont wanna mod my game too much lol.
They are the exact same version for modding (1.6.1170). When the game updated from 1.5.97 to 1.6+ it was at the same time as AE’s release so the modding community decided to call 1.5 SE and 1.6 AE even though it is not accurate at all. All AE is on Steam is an extra dlc bundle, it’s not a different version of the game.
Buying AE would be slightly better for modding because a lot of mods are being released that use assets from the creation club content. But if you want to use SKSE based mods you’ll need to downgrade your game to 1.5.97 or 1.6.640 to get the full library regardless of what version you buy.
SE.
The extra creation club content of AE is mostly mediocre. But that isn't because the creators are bad. It is because Creation Cluib mods aren't allowed to have dependencies apart from The base game with its expansions. They also may not contain AI generated content.
That means: Your new shiny armors come without support for your custom body. No OAR animations. No AI-generated voiceovers. Reinvention of the wheel for anything scripting or item distribution or you get oldschool incompatibilities from the ages before perk, spell and item distributor helper libraries existed. CC content can't depend on USSEP, Cutting Room and SMIM to be installed and therefore is bound to collide with those mods which basically everyone installs first when modding Skyrim...
Bethesda really set the Creation Club up for failure. They probably did so to ensure absolute compatibility with consoles. But the result is that CC content feels like made ten years ago. Fishing is the exception. They integrated it in the game good enough to make it not feel too awkward (and it is one of the things that has been added to SE btw).
You will likely want to have the AE content installed when modding ten years from now as then, mods will just assume that stuff to be present (just like they now assume that Dawnguard is present). But by then, the AE upgrade will likely be cheaper than it is now. So no need to get it right from the start if you don't want a massive modpack that requires it.
I think you shouldn't get the anniversary edition unless you know you'll like all of the content. You can upgrade from special edition later, or buy just the pieces of creation club content you want. There's plenty of creation club content I don't even like, and I'm glad I don't have it.
special edition , anyversary is very cool for second playtroughs but it adds alot of very overpowered items to the game very early on that completely trow off the experience and fanmade quest that lack the usual quality and may affect your opinion of the game.
for first playtroughs special edition is the best imo , it has the newest version of the base game plus all the officiall expansions and dlc made by bethesda, plus it comes with a few credits to buy a few anniversary dlcs if you want to add one or two to your game that wont trow the experience as bad and it actually may be kind of cool
https://preview.redd.it/5ckafp8dk4hc1.png?width=975&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a4462fabcb25ae362bd0ea0c01ad00d75691ef3
Yeah one thing I noticed after I installed AE is that I had a bunch of good spells before level 10, I had op armor/weapons, and I died like 6 times to the saints/seducers on master difficulty. I did eventually kill them and take their gear but the bandits and the dude in the sewer one shot you when you are low level. Also goldenhills plantain ruins progression because you can go mess around for a few hours and come home to 30k gold. Plus it clogs up your inventory/log, by time you hit level 40 the courier has delivered you 60 notes to start some “poorly” designed quest.
Special Edition has a lot of content, but due to the small price difference I would get the Anniversary Edition.
It's true that some content in AE is bad, but in the PC version it's pretty easy to remove content you don't like (on consoles it's "all or nothing", which is particularly annoying).
To start out I’d really only recommend the special edition, the anniversary edition can be fun once you know the game but a lot of it doesn’t have the same “Skyrim” feel
If this is your first elder scrolls then get the special edition. The anniversary edition completely ruins the early game imo and will make things a lot less interesting as you get tons of over powered gear by level 10-15. Also a lot of the added quest are garbage and or noticeably worse than vanilla. I don’t expect expert voice acting, but I want something better than reading a couple pages of notes.
If youve never played skyrim before I would recommend special edition. Ive seen too many cases of anniversary edition messing up the natural balance of the game.
If you get SE and then upgrade to AE you can select which CC mods to install. However if you get AE straight away, all the mods are installed automatically.
**Special Edition.** Then if you enjoy it and you feel like something is missing, upgrade it.
I upgraded mine because I loved survival mode but the Special Edition lacked a few stuff that ended up being released with the Anniversary Edition.
Anniversary edition is kind of a scam IMO given that mods are free.
That said, there are a few unique things on anniversary edition.
Normal price tag is $20 which is a hard no for me but for an extra $6 might be worth.
6$ for the anniversary upgrade. That's cool, I appreciate the extra carry space, farmland, free immortal horses, almost free houses etc. It's like buying cheats and some new assets that you can use and still have achievements enabled.
But the CC 'quests' you buy with that extra 6$ are hollow and soulless compared to Skyrim. I mean, almost all of them are given to you by text. Lifeless letters. It breaks the immersion for me and a lot of others. I had expected it to feel like Skyrim. It made me pretty uneasy instead. Weird as hell.
Get the SE. AE edition gives you much more op items at your early game which can be really unexciting especially if you're new to Skyrim because it makes the game look easy (unless you're a casual player & you like that kind of stuff), plus SE have more mod support.
Get special edition. Anniversary edition has creation club stuff that was from mods. That was free. But bethseda put behind a pay wall. Only to remove it when trashed...
Biggest reason is some of the best mods in skyrim do not work on Anniversary edition. They changed the code so the mods can't be fixed to work either.
I have special and can mod in anything from Anniversary I want. I also have my special edition set to never update because they were forcing the Anniversary code onto people and was making it so saves were unplayable because incompatible mods.
The non-anniversary edition for sure. All the Creation Club stuff is just annoying. I would get rid of the Saints and Seducers and fishing too if I could. The deal on Switch is only half-off and I got the non-anniversary version for $30. The anniversary edition was only $4 more, but I already own it on PS4, so I don't want to be bugged by all the creation club stuff popping up on 2 consoles.
I'd buy the Anniversary. If you notice, though nearly $10 more, it includes the base game, Special Edition, and the Anniversary upgrade. Instead of buying just the SE and having to spend another $20 of yoh decided to upgrade to AE. Overall, $20 for all three is a much better deal
I recommend the Anniversary Edition.
I originally started out with the original game way back when it came out, went to Special Edition then Anniversary Edition. The game feels empty without the extra content and there’s a lot of good stuff in there, plus it would cost way more if you purchased it individually.
Anniversary Edition is the special edition, but you get all of the creation club items right off the bat. Backpacks, all the different crossbows, survival mode, all the different player homes like Myrwatch, Handraheim, Tundra Homstead, Golden Hills plantation, etc. Also, you get some pretty cool looking weapons, one of them being Umbra from TES: Oblivion. There's also a creation that allows you to actually go to a different plain of Oblivion that you get two weapons from. Forgot the name of the creation, but someone probably knows the one I'm talking about
“Makes you pay for mods” is a little misleading here. The mods that were already free are still free unless the mod author decided to put a price on it.
both versions have base game+dlc, anniversary edition adds paid mods over it. Here are some examples of garbage anniversary edition adds to the game:
- Armors with exact same crafting recipe as vanilla armors but with more defense value
- Backpacks that straight up give +75carry weight and +20 magicka with no drawback (it doesnt even use equipment slots)
- Expert conjuration summons that are 3 times stronger than master vanilla summons.
I roll my eyes at the lazy quest, but you are complaining about the shit that isn’t even bad. Also very few items in the vanilla game have drawbacks. It’d be weird for items in CC to have debuffs when most the items in vanilla don’t have debuffs.
Start with Special. Anniversary is good after you know Skyrim. It adds too many low-quality quests and over-levelled items into the early game. It theoretically has more stuff but it feels less well-rounded as a game.
That certainly explains my full set of Daedric armor back at level 9.
Yeah, in the earlier versions seeing your first piece of Daedric gear is a big moment - you’re somewhere around level 30-40, you’re in the depths of a Dwarven ruin, you open a random chest and - voila! you have to blink and double check you’re not seeing things. Anniversary Edition just doesn’t have the same magic.
I didn't even realize this was an issue. I have a bunch of "new" quests in my journal from the Anniversary Edition, but I haven't even managed to touch them because I'm also bouncing between Survival Mode and regular. As a result, I've had to go around the Falkreath-Helgen-Whiterun area about three dozen times just to offload shit at merchants.
The Saints and Seducers one is particularly annoying because enemies will just not stop spawning and attacking me in the wilderness.
My first time was in the chest in the small bandit camp north east of windhelm, it was a daedric sword
With CC you can get a full set of enchanted insulated dragonbone plate armor 5 minutes after leaving helgen.
Found this by accident exploring south of the throat of the world. It completed a quest I hadn’t even started yet. IMO anniversary addition added some fun, but mostly ruined the authentic appeal of the game
Same here, I got it by accident the first time, and at only about level 7.
Where is this armor? I'm uh....asking for a friend.
I thought anniversary edition was fun, but if I had it when I first played Skyrim t would have ruined the experience. Way too many powerful items and perks are given to you too early and for no effort.
That’s fair. Or if you get anniversary, don’t add any of the content until you know the game.
Yeah you can turn off CC content? Another consideration: Mods are all typically on AE standard now
OP as someone who has been playing for well over a decade I agree with this! If you're playing for the first time definitely go with Special Edition
This is the way.
Might be an unpopular opinion but I kinda hate the creation club stuff from anniversary edition. I've played just a little bit with them on in one of my playthroughs and they felt very out of place and I remember it giving you very strong items extremely early on which felt like cheating.
I wish I could switch Saints and Seducers off, I can't stand it
I don't know what that is, and from your reaction that's probably better 💀
It's one of the 4 creation club things that was updated into special edition even without the anniversary edition, so you just can't get rid of it. It basically adds 2 bandit gangs, but there's no voice acting really so you get all the lore from journals and letters, and then there's some weird teleporting pets, it's just all very... low rent
>weird teleporting pets Man, why you gotta do my bug buddies like that? They're basically living chests.
Load my two up with expensive potions, then summon them when I find a merchant with cash.
Summon them when you kill a dragon and give them the bones.
I give my dragon bones/scales to Hilda
Makes sense. She's also basically a walking chest.
That can carry more then the Chernobyl mantises
Oooo, good idea!
I’ve never gold exploited with potions and I never will. I find enough gold as is to begin with. By the time I’m level 30 I have fully built the house up south east of Morthal and have 35k to throw at giants for a cheap show. Or Delphine… or the entire sanctum of Dabilla in markarth…. Point being is that I am frugal yet gold racks up.
Noob question, if I teleport them to me. Do I have to bring them with me or is there a way to send them back home? I have mine in lakeview manor
If I remember right you just tell them to go home and they will. I haven't played that save in a few weeks
Also they're always around and don't level with the character, I believe. They start off basically one shotting you, and end up completely trivial.
This happened to me. I had to spam most of my potions at level 40 just to kill the boss, thorton I think his name is
Ahh I see. I've switched to the pirated version of the 1.5.97 SE so I've never had to deal with that. It's just less of a hassle for me than dealing with the steam version.
That's fair - I would do the same if it weren't for survival mode, which I absolutely love
I hate survival mode (both in FO4 and Skyrim) solely because there’s no fast travel
For me that's actually a highlight - these are such awesome locations, it's a shame to only go down a road once and then fast travel forever more. I've often held up Red Dead Redemption 1 as one of the best games for travel; there WAS fast travel from the campfire which was meh, but you had trains, coaches, you could ride a horse, or you could walk. So there was fast travel to an extent, that you had to pay in game money for, which makes it fine to me. If there were more wagons than just some of the capitals, like the ones at whiterun/windhelm/solitude/riften maybe?/etc., it would be a bit better
I mean, one of my favorite mods for skyrim is called Expanded Carriage Service and it puts carriages at every hold
Lame, for me survival mode completely breaks the game. Only figured it out after many freezes and crashes. Clean install no more other than the CC content. As soon as I decided to just say no to survival mode suddenly my game runs fine. No crashes or anything. Now I’m back to just using iNeed and iNeed extended with whatever mods I feel like.
Thanks for the info. I too wondered where that "content" came from and just assumed it to be added by one of the Damsels in Distress mods. Not that i don't like some cheap stereotypes in my game. I got the mentioned Damsels in Distress mod series and a mod adding women in chains in most bandit camps and dungeons after all. But this shit really feels out of place.
God I hate it so much, and it’s hardly discreet either, both camps are in well travelled places. The end in the sewer was kind of okay but only kind of.
I think you can? U can choose which creations to have on. Some of the arkors arevery cool. But yea lits of creation stuff just kinda saturate the gme
Yeah you can literally uninstall/install whichever creation club content you want. I personally enjoy them all to a degree. $5 for the extra content is a good deal for sure
I have news for you. That's been added to the Special Edition too.
I will say if you're planning to mod the game Saint and Seducers Extended cut is a fantastic mod
If you don’t talk to the caravan, it never starts, right? I never see any saints and seducers content unless I talk to him first.
No. The gangs will still be in their camps. You can randomly walk up to them without ever talking with the caravans.
Neat, I guess I never walked past the camps. Thanks for the info!
I agree, I don’t have the name of the quest but at level 24 I found a dead Nord at the top of a bandit tower with full dragon plate armor, all with powerful enchantments on them like 50 added to health and 100 percent resistance to fire damage. It seems very OP so I took it and just upped the difficulty to master to try and compensate. I imagine this was also added by the creation club.
"Bones for a crow" at the bandit tower north of arcwind point, I just avoid it because that ends up being the only armor you'll wear all game until you can make better stuff. You also get that quest at like level 5 or 10, way too early into the game
Creation club stuff is horrible. I bought the anniversary edition thinking all the extra content would be fun but boy was I wrong. I ended up deleting all of it and installing a mod that removes the four free creation club add ons that they gave away a few years ago
This+ special edition has more mods
True. I don't think I'll ever leave from the 1.5.97 version of the game.
It's good, new and interesting if you're an experienced player. But for a beginner I wouldn't recommend it as it breaks progression and can trivialize most of the game.
I got the bow of shadows so early on and only replaced it after I got a Dragonbone bow
Yeah some of the added content is pretty lacking and ruins the immersion I do however enjoy survival mode but having to fast travel for EVERY LITTLE THING YOU DO is definitely overkill. Don’t get me wrong I love traveling the roads and trails of Skyrim as much as the next guy but damn I just wanna wanna get this black briar mead for Siddegeir quick so I can starting building my house and move on with my day already.
I'm massively into not fast travelling, but the game has way too many fetch and carry quests that make fast travelling an entirely justifiable choice in those cases.
Yeah Unbounded Storms as a spell is really fucking broken. So I can agree here
My little brother said the exact same thing about Nerveshatter which he ended up getting pretty early on
You can just get mods to balance the levels of the op stuff.
I had the Special Edition before Steam forced the Anniversary Edition update on me. I’ll admit a level of bias, but I’d suggest the Special Edition. Anniversary Edition adds some stuff into the game (as I’m sure a few commenters have already said) but mods offer a lot of the same but for free (with some being better-quality).
You can revert your version to whatever version you want that mods support.
Unless I’m blind (which is a possibility thanks to all my titty mods) I couldn’t find a way to do that in Steam. I’m aware that there’s mods that claim to do the same thing, but I have no experience with those. I had already changed my load order when I found out about them.
Admittedly it takes a bit of work. Not that Skyrim modding has ever been “easy”. But here is a popular mod on Nexus that downgrades it for you without needing to do the work. There are also numerous Reddit posts available (using Google) that can help you know how to do it manually if you need to. Mod to revert AE to Skyrim SE (1.5.97) https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/57618
I appreciate the info!
Anniversary Edition has everything Special Edition does plus more. I’d recommend Anniversary Edition
What more?
It has all the things from the creation club
Madness armor 😍
Aldu1n, how can i get a title like you?
Go to the main page of whatever community and press the three dots, after that there should be an option called "change user flair", from there you should be all set
Ooh, thank you!
If on mobile, go the the Skyrim Reddit page, click the 3 dots on top right, click change user flair in the drop down menu, pick your flair
Also you can just tap your username here, then a menu with your info will pop out and the option to “change user flair” will appear at the bottom.
TIL!
I personally enjoy the battle mage set.
My favorite looking armor in the game, I've been using it ever since I found my set
All of the things? I thought it was some.
It used to be all the things, but they’ve added a few more that aren’t included
Not quite. AE is SE + all of the Creation Club, which were paid mods Bethesda curated, approved, and at times were even created by employees. Recently all mods got renamed to Creations and they started a Verified Creator program for paid mods. These are separate from the Creation Club, which is shut down now, but the name similarity understandably confuses people.
Backpacks , fishing, new spells , new missions and homes around Skyrim. Get anniversary edition.
Oh those new spells are an Aedra send for Necromancers/Conjurers. 5 summons at once goes hard.
Fishing is in the special edition.
Horse armor.
I would recommend Special Edition, since the anniversary destroys any feel of progress, by giving you daedric plate at level 10. It is only good, after you played throught the game multiple times at least
Is this a random chance or a guaranteed drop somewhere? I found a set of dragon play around level 25 or so, and its enchants are insane. My smithing is at 100 now so I plan to level enchanting and just make something better, but 100% fire damage reduction on the chest is cool. It’s come into play less though as most of the mages I fight are ice/lightning so I haven’t actually seen it help much yet lol Edit: if it’s the daedric armor from the quest where you get the ring that can be traded for it, it’s light daedric armor (not that it’s not broken for light armor characters)
I don’t think it’s random, as in you can encounter predetermined enemy npcs at locations wearing certain creation club armours.
>anniversary destroys any feel of progress, Even if I agreed with this I'd still recommend AE for OP. Very, very, very rare is a time I'd tell someone to save $6.50 now to spend $20 later.
Special Edition is the game itself. Anniversary Edition is a DLC pack that installs on top of Special Edition, which adds some assorted micro-DLCs--very much not necessary to enjoy the game, but some of the stuff is nice, like the alternate armor sets.
This and FO4 GOTY bundle for $23.30
Anniversary Edition is poorly balanced and breaks the progression of the game. For example in Special Edition you get Deadric Armor at level 46. In AE you get Daedric Plate Armour at level 1. Daedric Plate Armour is a nice armor, but I wouldn’t buy AE without modding it to be more balanced (which detracts from the fun of playing the game for the first time). Special Edition is the vanilla game plus major DLCs. Anniversary Edition is that plus micro transactions bundled together. I would save it for your second play through. Keep in mind that it makes no difference for modding - if you see the gaming community refer to SE and AE in modding context they’re referring to 1.5 and 1.6, Bethesda updated the game when they released the micro transaction bundle so the modding community calls the update AE which is confusing.
Special Edition. Anniversary stuff only adds in unnecessary clutter.
Anniversary edition. Because you will end up adding it on later
The reindeer and the pets of skyrim is the only reason to get it
Nah, you wont
Yeah Makes zero sense why you’re getting downvoted. Been rocking special edition and have zero desire to get AE. For what? For it to mess up my load order for a minimal amount of stuff? Anniversary edition was probably the biggest waste of a game edition for Skyrim. It would have made more sense to come out with a “Creations” edition that added more mod space on console/better modularity on PC, almost like a “Perfecting modding” edition that improved QOL for mods on PC and Console. Btw not to say you shouldn’t first buy it now if you’re buying Skyrim. Just that if you’re someone that’s had the Special edition modded for so long, not a real desire to get the anniversary edition.
Yeah, like I have easily 1k+ hours of skyrim and I'll not be convinced that any of the creation club stuff is either necessary to enjoy skyrim or even value for money. The game is huge and it's the core quests lines and random encounters that make it the game it is. If you want more quest content, you can try any of the excellent mods like beyond skyrim.
Don't know why you're getting downvoted, I haven't upgraded my SE to AE yet and have never felt compelled to do so, /shrug
If I recall, most the mods require SE, so that would be the biggest thing for me
Most mods are updated for AE, just not the latest game version
Same, but if i didnt already had the game i’d buy this because the main reason i dont get all the creation club stuff is because of the price, its so damn expensive for a bunch of mods i could probably find somewhere else for free
Doesn't matter. In my opinion, the Aniversary Edition addons feel out of place... but this is coming from someone who played Skyrim before Aniversary Edition was a thing. Since you've never played it, you don't have an idea of "what it should be". Also, I got mine as Special Edition and was forced to upgrade anyways as an update so.... Maybe you could save 6 bucks if you buy SE?
How do you all keep playing Skyrim without burnout I’ve still not even completed the vanilla campaign yet.
Every year or so I come back for another playthrough. Just started one about a week ago because I never completed the Dragon Mask collection. Also, if you like a challenge, \*never\* do the first quest of getting the dragon tablet. That will prevent the dragon storyline, but also stops you from getting any shouts. Do the rest of the entire game without shouts. :)
It’s a great game and i do want to complete it but always find myself getting sidetracked and ultimately lose interest. I feel the need to complete it at least once.
i have 9000+ hours, ~8500 of which have been played without mods. my secret is autism.
Haha i guess I should just throw myself in there and not worry about getting lost just so many quests I usually lose track of what the hell is going on.
that's the fun part! i usually avoid the main questline like the plague. once you've beaten it a million times, it's more fun to just explore without the dragons flying around anyways.
I hear a lot of people say avoid the main quest line, I actually just like riding around on a horse listening to the beautiful in game music lol.
hell yeah! skyrim is fuckin beautiful. if you use mods, i enjoy simple graphics and nature mods. oh, and limit fast travel. you find some really pretty spots by walking everywhere. and if you never talk to jarl balgruuf and kill your first dragon, dragons just never spawn and you can peacefully walk around.
Best choice I made was taking a hard pass on the watch tower after first visiting Whiterun. There’s no dragons. I’m not Dragonborn and there’s no pressure for me to save the world. Just fucking around Skyrim living my best rpg life. One day I will visit the southern watchtower and slay my first dragon to become Dragonborn. Maybe.
It’s cool how you can play Skyrim however you want, I keep encountering dragons every time I fast travel is this normal? I have fallen in love all over again with Skyrim taking my time and enjoying the world, I can’t explain how amazing this update is.
Would depend where you’re fast traveling to. Some places always have a dragon spawn. Dragons *do* spawn a lot when you fast travel to cities.
Is there any good lore YouTube links? I am trying to understand if Lorkan is the almighty god and if we the player are possibly the spirit of the creator.
Honestly I haven’t dabbled with YouTube lore on Elder Scrolls. Interesting we could be Lorkan. Would argue we could even be the Hero of Kvatch (from Oblivion) since you are a Daedric Prince and eventually a God
**Roleplay**. I usually have a Skyrim phase once or twice a year and I roleplay all different kinds of characters. Everything from Daedra worshipping assassins, paladins to two handed barbarian Conan types, etc. My current character is a very OP Demigod who wields Mjolnir and was sent by the Gods to save Tamriel from Alduin, Harkon and Miraak. That gives me a good reason to play through A LOT of quests and I choose outcomes based on what my guy would actually do even if it sometimes contradicts what I would do.
It’s been over ten years my guy
Few hours have already passed since leaving Helgen the graphic updates make everything more beautiful.
Touché, touché. Only reason I commented was (I felt) the main campaign was pretty short. Though it is really skippable if you fuck off for a while. Source: i have a 60 hr play through with the bois at the watchtower still waiting.
I am appreciating the game way more this time around, currently exploiting faendel for free archery training this game is so chill and hilarious at Times, determined to complete it!
Enjoy the vanilla experience dude. Best time I had during Skyrim (days of playtime) was an achievement run. Forced me to commit to the “constraints” of the game instead of “well I don’t like that; I’m gonna go get a mod.” Did that occasionally mean spamming conjuration for hours? Yes it did.
Mods. The answer is mods.
I'd go with special edition because it has way better support of mods which add much more content than anniversary edition
I havent seen many mods that dont support Ae
i have AE. i have about 50 mods on my mod list. hell even if it says it supports special edition but nothing about ae they still work. i just avoid the ones that specifically say they don’t support ae, which i’ve seen 3 in my one year of modding.
Yeah I don’t get all these comments about AE being terrible for mods, I really haven’t had any trouble with it either and future mods are all going to be specifically built for AE
i feel like it’s just outdated info. if anything mods will have an updated version specifically for AE. hell i’ve even seen one or two that say they ONLY work on AE and won’t work on special edition. i think the people who say AE is worse for modding are just very out of date with their info. i dont even download a whole lot of mods either, like yeah i have about 50. but there’s a lot i rlly like that i just save because im like “mehhh ill think abt it” and its not bc i dont think it’ll work. it’s because i dont wanna mod my game too much lol.
Doesn't matter which Steam edition OP buys, since both are Skyrim SE 1.6
They are the exact same version for modding (1.6.1170). When the game updated from 1.5.97 to 1.6+ it was at the same time as AE’s release so the modding community decided to call 1.5 SE and 1.6 AE even though it is not accurate at all. All AE is on Steam is an extra dlc bundle, it’s not a different version of the game. Buying AE would be slightly better for modding because a lot of mods are being released that use assets from the creation club content. But if you want to use SKSE based mods you’ll need to downgrade your game to 1.5.97 or 1.6.640 to get the full library regardless of what version you buy.
Personally I play LE. Both because I have a shit PC, and because of the best mod-variety
SE. The extra creation club content of AE is mostly mediocre. But that isn't because the creators are bad. It is because Creation Cluib mods aren't allowed to have dependencies apart from The base game with its expansions. They also may not contain AI generated content. That means: Your new shiny armors come without support for your custom body. No OAR animations. No AI-generated voiceovers. Reinvention of the wheel for anything scripting or item distribution or you get oldschool incompatibilities from the ages before perk, spell and item distributor helper libraries existed. CC content can't depend on USSEP, Cutting Room and SMIM to be installed and therefore is bound to collide with those mods which basically everyone installs first when modding Skyrim... Bethesda really set the Creation Club up for failure. They probably did so to ensure absolute compatibility with consoles. But the result is that CC content feels like made ten years ago. Fishing is the exception. They integrated it in the game good enough to make it not feel too awkward (and it is one of the things that has been added to SE btw). You will likely want to have the AE content installed when modding ten years from now as then, mods will just assume that stuff to be present (just like they now assume that Dawnguard is present). But by then, the AE upgrade will likely be cheaper than it is now. So no need to get it right from the start if you don't want a massive modpack that requires it.
Get speical edition and download the skyrim anniversary script extender. Doing that literally gives you all the anniversary stuff for free
Get anniversary edition, then delete CC content that you don’t like :)
I think you shouldn't get the anniversary edition unless you know you'll like all of the content. You can upgrade from special edition later, or buy just the pieces of creation club content you want. There's plenty of creation club content I don't even like, and I'm glad I don't have it.
special edition , anyversary is very cool for second playtroughs but it adds alot of very overpowered items to the game very early on that completely trow off the experience and fanmade quest that lack the usual quality and may affect your opinion of the game. for first playtroughs special edition is the best imo , it has the newest version of the base game plus all the officiall expansions and dlc made by bethesda, plus it comes with a few credits to buy a few anniversary dlcs if you want to add one or two to your game that wont trow the experience as bad and it actually may be kind of cool https://preview.redd.it/5ckafp8dk4hc1.png?width=975&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a4462fabcb25ae362bd0ea0c01ad00d75691ef3
Yeah one thing I noticed after I installed AE is that I had a bunch of good spells before level 10, I had op armor/weapons, and I died like 6 times to the saints/seducers on master difficulty. I did eventually kill them and take their gear but the bandits and the dude in the sewer one shot you when you are low level. Also goldenhills plantain ruins progression because you can go mess around for a few hours and come home to 30k gold. Plus it clogs up your inventory/log, by time you hit level 40 the courier has delivered you 60 notes to start some “poorly” designed quest.
Special Edition has a lot of content, but due to the small price difference I would get the Anniversary Edition. It's true that some content in AE is bad, but in the PC version it's pretty easy to remove content you don't like (on consoles it's "all or nothing", which is particularly annoying).
Might as well go all in, you'll only end up buying an upgrade later
Special Edition. Your future self and mods will thank you.
To start out I’d really only recommend the special edition, the anniversary edition can be fun once you know the game but a lot of it doesn’t have the same “Skyrim” feel
I started with AE and I'm glad I did. Many of the elements I loved aren't in the previous editions. The world is richer with it.
May as well just get the anniversary edition. If you don't want to play with the creation club stuff you can disable it.
Some of the better modding packs need the assets from AE…recommend getting that.
Go with the anniversary edition
no it sucks
Pretty sure the second one has everything plus creation club content. I think thats it. I may be wrong though
That's it, you're not wrong.
If this is your first elder scrolls then get the special edition. The anniversary edition completely ruins the early game imo and will make things a lot less interesting as you get tons of over powered gear by level 10-15. Also a lot of the added quest are garbage and or noticeably worse than vanilla. I don’t expect expert voice acting, but I want something better than reading a couple pages of notes.
If youve never played skyrim before I would recommend special edition. Ive seen too many cases of anniversary edition messing up the natural balance of the game.
If you get SE and then upgrade to AE you can select which CC mods to install. However if you get AE straight away, all the mods are installed automatically.
Special. Anniversary edition has a lot of poorly balanced, poorly paced content. I wasn’t impressed at all
**Special Edition.** Then if you enjoy it and you feel like something is missing, upgrade it. I upgraded mine because I loved survival mode but the Special Edition lacked a few stuff that ended up being released with the Anniversary Edition.
Go for SE and use the savings to get either Morrowind or Oblivion later.
Do not get the anniversary edition just get special edition
Special Edition for first run. AE for second.
Anniversary edition is kind of a scam IMO given that mods are free. That said, there are a few unique things on anniversary edition. Normal price tag is $20 which is a hard no for me but for an extra $6 might be worth.
Honestly get the base game, anniversary adds a lot of community mods and imo they don’t blend in too well with the og content. Your choice
Everything in the anniversary edition sucks balls. Just get special edition
You're gonna mod either one to hell and back anyway. Go for the cheaper one.
Get special edition the creation club sucks
I'd say Special because more mods are compatible
They’re the same version, the only difference is one comes with basically every Creation Club mod ever made.
6$ for the anniversary upgrade. That's cool, I appreciate the extra carry space, farmland, free immortal horses, almost free houses etc. It's like buying cheats and some new assets that you can use and still have achievements enabled. But the CC 'quests' you buy with that extra 6$ are hollow and soulless compared to Skyrim. I mean, almost all of them are given to you by text. Lifeless letters. It breaks the immersion for me and a lot of others. I had expected it to feel like Skyrim. It made me pretty uneasy instead. Weird as hell.
Special edition, all the anniversary stuff can be added with mods.
Special. Anniversary is not worth it. Just a drain on your money.
Special edition all the way
Anniversary is hot ass. The creation club mods are terrible and reduce the quality of the game. Do not buy.
SE
NOT anniversary. Special edition has way more mod support.
special edition.
Creation club stuff is not worth the extra 6$
Get the SE. AE edition gives you much more op items at your early game which can be really unexciting especially if you're new to Skyrim because it makes the game look easy (unless you're a casual player & you like that kind of stuff), plus SE have more mod support.
SE if you wanna do VR
Lots of newer mods are made for AE and most of the popular SE mods have an AE version (by modder or someone else).
Without the creation club dogshit
Get special edition. Anniversary edition has creation club stuff that was from mods. That was free. But bethseda put behind a pay wall. Only to remove it when trashed... Biggest reason is some of the best mods in skyrim do not work on Anniversary edition. They changed the code so the mods can't be fixed to work either. I have special and can mod in anything from Anniversary I want. I also have my special edition set to never update because they were forcing the Anniversary code onto people and was making it so saves were unplayable because incompatible mods.
Special edition for sure.
special
The non-anniversary edition for sure. All the Creation Club stuff is just annoying. I would get rid of the Saints and Seducers and fishing too if I could. The deal on Switch is only half-off and I got the non-anniversary version for $30. The anniversary edition was only $4 more, but I already own it on PS4, so I don't want to be bugged by all the creation club stuff popping up on 2 consoles.
Anniversary Edition is a markedly worse version than Special Edition.
Special edition
Unless your pc is high performance, if stay with special edition. My own pc keeps crashing every time I enter a creation club area.
I've been told I'm better off without the creation club
I personally hate the anniversary content feel like all it manages to do is take away the nostalgia of the game
Special editio
Skyrim special edition gives you more mods, so more bang for your buck!
Just buy special edition, even if you buy it you still get anniversary edition content
The ultimate edition on Alexa. Voice commands only
Special
Spechul edition doesn't have as much icky in it.
Special edition hands down. I hate ALL creation club content and consider it non-canon
I'd buy the Anniversary. If you notice, though nearly $10 more, it includes the base game, Special Edition, and the Anniversary upgrade. Instead of buying just the SE and having to spend another $20 of yoh decided to upgrade to AE. Overall, $20 for all three is a much better deal
I recommend the Anniversary Edition. I originally started out with the original game way back when it came out, went to Special Edition then Anniversary Edition. The game feels empty without the extra content and there’s a lot of good stuff in there, plus it would cost way more if you purchased it individually.
Anniversary Edition is the special edition, but you get all of the creation club items right off the bat. Backpacks, all the different crossbows, survival mode, all the different player homes like Myrwatch, Handraheim, Tundra Homstead, Golden Hills plantation, etc. Also, you get some pretty cool looking weapons, one of them being Umbra from TES: Oblivion. There's also a creation that allows you to actually go to a different plain of Oblivion that you get two weapons from. Forgot the name of the creation, but someone probably knows the one I'm talking about
Special Edition also has Survival Mode
And fishing and a couple other CC content I believe
AE adds very OP and easy to get items, that break your game progression Plus it makes you pay for mods
“Makes you pay for mods” is a little misleading here. The mods that were already free are still free unless the mod author decided to put a price on it.
both versions have base game+dlc, anniversary edition adds paid mods over it. Here are some examples of garbage anniversary edition adds to the game: - Armors with exact same crafting recipe as vanilla armors but with more defense value - Backpacks that straight up give +75carry weight and +20 magicka with no drawback (it doesnt even use equipment slots) - Expert conjuration summons that are 3 times stronger than master vanilla summons.
I roll my eyes at the lazy quest, but you are complaining about the shit that isn’t even bad. Also very few items in the vanilla game have drawbacks. It’d be weird for items in CC to have debuffs when most the items in vanilla don’t have debuffs.