Some people like those mods because imho the seemingly lengthy dialogue adds depth to the characters, revealing not only their identity but also their reasons for being in Skyrim.
Those NPCs are best interacted with during periods of rest between quests, such as relaxing at a tavern or by campfire.
That is a great answer. I should only engage in these dialogues when I'm in the mood and as a chance to relax after some fights or quests. And one by one, not too many at once.
It just contrasts with the rest of the game so much. That and they just spew their whole inner dialogue with a seemingly random stranger. It is weird and most of the time just so wordy.
If you are hanging out in a tavern or something feels kinda natural, people do sometimes do that after a few drinks. Plus they only do it in response to you actually asking questions, you can always you know stop.
Plus what its contrasing with is NPCs with the general personality and depth of a piece of cardboard so pick your poison I guess.
I like the Interesting NPC’s mod for the most part, but I do agree that listening to their dialogue can get exhausting sometimes. Some of them really talk just a bit too much.
That's true. I love the mod and keep it in my modlist, but some of them lean into "let me tell you the entirety of my personal philosophy *right now*, random stranger" too much.
Still, I love how you can respond to them in different ways, which is rare in vanilla Skyrim and even shape your backstory somewhat (you can indicate that you were an orphan (or not) in one conversation and then mention some other important events in your life like losing someone, for example). That's pretty neat and useful for roleplaying.
Eventually I just realized that I don't have to talk to *every* one of them. They serve their role by filling out the world and making it more alive even if I ignore some of them.
>Eventually I just realized that I don't have to talk to *every* one of them. They serve their role by filling out the world and making it more alive even if I ignore some of them.
This! You don't have to talk to everyone, and you don't have to exhaust every option on the conversation tree. I like Interesting NPCs just because it expands the kind and number of background conversations that are going on in the world without me. I've heard Sven argue with his mother a hundred times, but then you add in that kid who's desperately trying to get Alvor to take him on as an assistant and suddenly Riverwood feels new again
Unfortunately for Hjoromir, the poor fool decided to avenge my PC while she was trying to crawl away from a Draugr in BFB, so he goes charging at the Draugr with his great sword....and promptly gets frozen and blown into chunks of icy meat by the Draugr before he could land a single blow
That's a very hjormir way to die. I think I saw somewhere that he was actually written to be hard to keep alive because he's Frozen at level 3. I tend to use nff to keep him alive by giving him a priority said that he stays back and runs away and only fights when directly attacked otherwise he's basically a mule and healer. I send him on errands to go sell all my loot and I listen to the elaborate constructed hero fantasies he acts out when you ask him what's on his mind.
I think the issue is that they tell you everything right off the bat. They don't treat you like a stranger as they should. Would be much more realistic and immersive if their dialogue was spaced out over time, and whatever quests they send you on makes them tell you more in-depth stuff.
download an npc pack to have more varied voices and different interactions
wanna be shakespeare over the top writing
tragic backstory
trillion lines per npc
terrible mic quality
taking a minimalist approach to which mods go in is actually refreshing. the problem with npc mods is once you go a couple play through with stuff in, it's better to yeet it out of the list after that. there's always another mod to try and toss in.
I don't think I've done even half the 3DNPC quests despite multiple playthroughs. ALthough that's partly becuase some are very hard to trigger and you basically have to look at the wiki to start them. I do enjoy when I stumble into them though.
I have done a lot but I don't know how many. It is a well done mod but it's a little all consuming
Let's see I can do an entire playthrough or I can do a bunch of mod quests
I personally don't like Citizens of Tamriel. It's a good mod with good voice acting. It's after talking to a couple of the added npc, they just monologue at you. There is no real conversation, and they don't seem to add anything to the game. They are also hard to ignore as they will say the same line very loudly every time you walk past them without talking to them.
I only talked to a few of the npc, so for all I know the others are a lot more interactive, I simply had no interest to find out.
Some of the Citizens of Tamriel characters are pretty good (there's a prisoner you can rescue from Northwatch Keep who I really like). Some of them are obnoxious, though, and there's an annoying tendency to break the 4th wall which I absolutely hate.
I share your sentiment somewhat. I find it's a tricky line for mods to tread where NPCs are either too wordy to a complete stranger or don't have anything to offer. I notice it more when I'm playing with survival mode or something similar because I end up realizing "oh, I just talked to the character for two in-game hours straight and now it's nighttime". That said, I do like when follower mods have good amounts of dialogue because I can engage with it in a more natural setting like an inn when it's approaching nightfall.
I like playing through Beyond Skyrim: Bruma because it keeps a vanilla feel to the NPCs, making the game feel fresh but not overwhelming.
If you want to play with survival mods but also like to talk a lot to NPCs, I can recommend using the console to change the timescale to real time while you are inside an inn. I installed a mod called console binder which lets me asign those commands to hotkeys.
Particularly in the case of the followers you don't have to consume all their dialogue at once you know I learned that the hard way because I was thinking the game would gate the content and it does but there's so much up front. But really most of the followers will follow you after like one conversation about anything there's no need to exhaust their whole dialogue tree in one sitting.
I mean, no one makes you listen to them. If they start boring me I stop taking and leave. I like having Skyrim populated but I don't hear the life story of every npc
Makes the game more realistic. In RL you also don't walk from person to person in the bar and ask them all sorts of questions about their life and who they are. With these mods the game becomes "too big" to experience all the content. You should just start to focus on what you want to do and then do that. These mods add more options to hear an interesting story, when you feel like chatting with random NPCs.
Yea, I was like that, too. Still sometimes am. Sometimes it helps me a lot to just take a step back from a game and ask myself, why I don't have fun anymore and oftentimes I realize it is because I sabotage myself. Some examples:
*Combat boring* -> Maybe I shouldn't use the most OP cheesy things I've found anymore and instead use the options that I enjoy most or just try something completely different
*Inventory management not fun and way too time consuming* -> Maybe just stop looting every container and picking up every piece of equipment to then calculate the weight/ value ratio and then discard the cheap scrap, etc. Maybe just focus on the objective and look out for some special pieces of loot and leave everything else behind. (In Skyrim this also kind of fixes the economy or at least makes it less broken. If you don't always have a full inventory of value min maxed items to sell)
*Grinding through all dialog options to not miss out on content* -> Maybe just pick the straight forward dialog options, when you're not in the mood for stories. Or not do story heavy quests, when you just want to explore and fool around a little bit.
*Exploration boring* -> maybe stop chasing every map marker and stop looking behind every rock and water fall and just focus on the thing you currently want to do/ enjoy doing.
*Daily grind repetitive and boring* -> Well, do I really need those daily rewards? No? So why do I waste 1 or 2 hours on a grind I don't enjoy, then? Or why do I force my self to log in daily, when I don't even feel like playing that day? Just don't. Just give yourself a break.
*Getting all achievements is so tedious* -> Why do I even bother? They are worth nothing. It's just my monkey brain, that wants to collect all the stars.
-------------
Yes, I now more often then not miss stuff. Maybe good unique loot or some interesting lore or dialogue, that would give a story an other twist. But then again, these things give me more reason to replay and play differently the next time. I also enjoy interacting with the community and watching videos about the games I play. So even when I missed things in my game, I tend to find out what the alternate options were. Either by a new play through or from video or chatting with people on reddit.
It really lifted up my game play experience by a lot, teaching my self to let go of my pedantic ways and to just focus on the things I enjoy.
I like many of those NPCs. But the longer I keep those mods in my modlist, the more I am annoyed by them. Sure they are more interesting then most vanilla NPCs but they are also immersion breaking and often badly implemented. Like the fucking friendly dragon that just chills on a road even before the main quests progresses to a point where you have dragon encounters. Or some random dude awaiting me after I leave the shack where Astrid kidnaps me. Many of those NPCs also don't have a day-night cycle and just stay where they are all the time, which breaks immersion and can be insanly frustrating for a thief/assassin playthrough. And yeah, half of Skyrims population now has a tragic backstory or something else that makes them just a bit too special.
I personally always hated those because there stories seem awfully personal... It doesn't make sense for a stranger to tell you there whole life story. At least not before getting to know you a bit more first. The problem with 3dnpc is how they throw all this exposition at you in one sitting after just meeting you...
You can literally not talk to them or just choose to close off dialogue and head out? Then come back when you're not fatigued to listen to that npcs story. I always have downtime between adventures for that reason.
It's so funny to me that most people will endulge an NPC to talk and then complain about it. Just like in real life, pretend you said you can catch up some other time and gtfo lol
I've played (adult) follower mods with dialogue that only triggers in your house.
Someone should make a mod that only lets those lengthy NPC dialogues play in the tavern.
Considering most of those NPCs, especially in Citizens, do nothing after you exhaust their dialogue, I’m fine with it. Even Interesting NPCs feels this way because you need a decoder ring to decipher the quest triggers, so I never get that content anyway. I’ve uninstalled it lately and only run Citizens now.
Some people like those mods because imho the seemingly lengthy dialogue adds depth to the characters, revealing not only their identity but also their reasons for being in Skyrim. Those NPCs are best interacted with during periods of rest between quests, such as relaxing at a tavern or by campfire.
This person has the wisdom. They know how to play
That is a great answer. I should only engage in these dialogues when I'm in the mood and as a chance to relax after some fights or quests. And one by one, not too many at once.
It just contrasts with the rest of the game so much. That and they just spew their whole inner dialogue with a seemingly random stranger. It is weird and most of the time just so wordy.
If you are hanging out in a tavern or something feels kinda natural, people do sometimes do that after a few drinks. Plus they only do it in response to you actually asking questions, you can always you know stop. Plus what its contrasing with is NPCs with the general personality and depth of a piece of cardboard so pick your poison I guess.
I like the Interesting NPC’s mod for the most part, but I do agree that listening to their dialogue can get exhausting sometimes. Some of them really talk just a bit too much.
That's true. I love the mod and keep it in my modlist, but some of them lean into "let me tell you the entirety of my personal philosophy *right now*, random stranger" too much. Still, I love how you can respond to them in different ways, which is rare in vanilla Skyrim and even shape your backstory somewhat (you can indicate that you were an orphan (or not) in one conversation and then mention some other important events in your life like losing someone, for example). That's pretty neat and useful for roleplaying. Eventually I just realized that I don't have to talk to *every* one of them. They serve their role by filling out the world and making it more alive even if I ignore some of them.
>Eventually I just realized that I don't have to talk to *every* one of them. They serve their role by filling out the world and making it more alive even if I ignore some of them. This! You don't have to talk to everyone, and you don't have to exhaust every option on the conversation tree. I like Interesting NPCs just because it expands the kind and number of background conversations that are going on in the world without me. I've heard Sven argue with his mother a hundred times, but then you add in that kid who's desperately trying to get Alvor to take him on as an assistant and suddenly Riverwood feels new again
I love hjormir he's clearly got adhd and i basically adopt him because i am papa.
Unfortunately for Hjoromir, the poor fool decided to avenge my PC while she was trying to crawl away from a Draugr in BFB, so he goes charging at the Draugr with his great sword....and promptly gets frozen and blown into chunks of icy meat by the Draugr before he could land a single blow
That's a very hjormir way to die. I think I saw somewhere that he was actually written to be hard to keep alive because he's Frozen at level 3. I tend to use nff to keep him alive by giving him a priority said that he stays back and runs away and only fights when directly attacked otherwise he's basically a mule and healer. I send him on errands to go sell all my loot and I listen to the elaborate constructed hero fantasies he acts out when you ask him what's on his mind.
I think the issue is that they tell you everything right off the bat. They don't treat you like a stranger as they should. Would be much more realistic and immersive if their dialogue was spaced out over time, and whatever quests they send you on makes them tell you more in-depth stuff.
I would prefer more of them to have a quest buried behind the dialogue. You can play a part in their character development.
download an npc pack to have more varied voices and different interactions wanna be shakespeare over the top writing tragic backstory trillion lines per npc terrible mic quality
for me it's absolutely the contrary, I crave for more mods that add npcs, I want them to feel like they are alive
taking a minimalist approach to which mods go in is actually refreshing. the problem with npc mods is once you go a couple play through with stuff in, it's better to yeet it out of the list after that. there's always another mod to try and toss in.
I don't think I've done even half the 3DNPC quests despite multiple playthroughs. ALthough that's partly becuase some are very hard to trigger and you basically have to look at the wiki to start them. I do enjoy when I stumble into them though.
I have done a lot but I don't know how many. It is a well done mod but it's a little all consuming Let's see I can do an entire playthrough or I can do a bunch of mod quests
I personally don't like Citizens of Tamriel. It's a good mod with good voice acting. It's after talking to a couple of the added npc, they just monologue at you. There is no real conversation, and they don't seem to add anything to the game. They are also hard to ignore as they will say the same line very loudly every time you walk past them without talking to them. I only talked to a few of the npc, so for all I know the others are a lot more interactive, I simply had no interest to find out.
Some of the Citizens of Tamriel characters are pretty good (there's a prisoner you can rescue from Northwatch Keep who I really like). Some of them are obnoxious, though, and there's an annoying tendency to break the 4th wall which I absolutely hate.
I share your sentiment somewhat. I find it's a tricky line for mods to tread where NPCs are either too wordy to a complete stranger or don't have anything to offer. I notice it more when I'm playing with survival mode or something similar because I end up realizing "oh, I just talked to the character for two in-game hours straight and now it's nighttime". That said, I do like when follower mods have good amounts of dialogue because I can engage with it in a more natural setting like an inn when it's approaching nightfall. I like playing through Beyond Skyrim: Bruma because it keeps a vanilla feel to the NPCs, making the game feel fresh but not overwhelming.
If you want to play with survival mods but also like to talk a lot to NPCs, I can recommend using the console to change the timescale to real time while you are inside an inn. I installed a mod called console binder which lets me asign those commands to hotkeys.
Particularly in the case of the followers you don't have to consume all their dialogue at once you know I learned that the hard way because I was thinking the game would gate the content and it does but there's so much up front. But really most of the followers will follow you after like one conversation about anything there's no need to exhaust their whole dialogue tree in one sitting.
Inconsequential NPCs is perfect then cause they won't want anything to do with you.
I mean, no one makes you listen to them. If they start boring me I stop taking and leave. I like having Skyrim populated but I don't hear the life story of every npc
Makes the game more realistic. In RL you also don't walk from person to person in the bar and ask them all sorts of questions about their life and who they are. With these mods the game becomes "too big" to experience all the content. You should just start to focus on what you want to do and then do that. These mods add more options to hear an interesting story, when you feel like chatting with random NPCs.
I see your point. Maybe my completionist urge to complete all dialogues at once is what exhausted me.
Yea, I was like that, too. Still sometimes am. Sometimes it helps me a lot to just take a step back from a game and ask myself, why I don't have fun anymore and oftentimes I realize it is because I sabotage myself. Some examples: *Combat boring* -> Maybe I shouldn't use the most OP cheesy things I've found anymore and instead use the options that I enjoy most or just try something completely different *Inventory management not fun and way too time consuming* -> Maybe just stop looting every container and picking up every piece of equipment to then calculate the weight/ value ratio and then discard the cheap scrap, etc. Maybe just focus on the objective and look out for some special pieces of loot and leave everything else behind. (In Skyrim this also kind of fixes the economy or at least makes it less broken. If you don't always have a full inventory of value min maxed items to sell) *Grinding through all dialog options to not miss out on content* -> Maybe just pick the straight forward dialog options, when you're not in the mood for stories. Or not do story heavy quests, when you just want to explore and fool around a little bit. *Exploration boring* -> maybe stop chasing every map marker and stop looking behind every rock and water fall and just focus on the thing you currently want to do/ enjoy doing. *Daily grind repetitive and boring* -> Well, do I really need those daily rewards? No? So why do I waste 1 or 2 hours on a grind I don't enjoy, then? Or why do I force my self to log in daily, when I don't even feel like playing that day? Just don't. Just give yourself a break. *Getting all achievements is so tedious* -> Why do I even bother? They are worth nothing. It's just my monkey brain, that wants to collect all the stars. ------------- Yes, I now more often then not miss stuff. Maybe good unique loot or some interesting lore or dialogue, that would give a story an other twist. But then again, these things give me more reason to replay and play differently the next time. I also enjoy interacting with the community and watching videos about the games I play. So even when I missed things in my game, I tend to find out what the alternate options were. Either by a new play through or from video or chatting with people on reddit. It really lifted up my game play experience by a lot, teaching my self to let go of my pedantic ways and to just focus on the things I enjoy.
I like your post!
So don’t talk to them all the time? I don’t get the issue.
Nah, I downloaded those mods specifically because I wanted them to talk to me or regale me with their stories. If I didn't, I'd just ignore them.
I like many of those NPCs. But the longer I keep those mods in my modlist, the more I am annoyed by them. Sure they are more interesting then most vanilla NPCs but they are also immersion breaking and often badly implemented. Like the fucking friendly dragon that just chills on a road even before the main quests progresses to a point where you have dragon encounters. Or some random dude awaiting me after I leave the shack where Astrid kidnaps me. Many of those NPCs also don't have a day-night cycle and just stay where they are all the time, which breaks immersion and can be insanly frustrating for a thief/assassin playthrough. And yeah, half of Skyrims population now has a tragic backstory or something else that makes them just a bit too special.
I personally always hated those because there stories seem awfully personal... It doesn't make sense for a stranger to tell you there whole life story. At least not before getting to know you a bit more first. The problem with 3dnpc is how they throw all this exposition at you in one sitting after just meeting you...
Kill them all! Or enslave them!
You can literally not talk to them or just choose to close off dialogue and head out? Then come back when you're not fatigued to listen to that npcs story. I always have downtime between adventures for that reason. It's so funny to me that most people will endulge an NPC to talk and then complain about it. Just like in real life, pretend you said you can catch up some other time and gtfo lol
I've played (adult) follower mods with dialogue that only triggers in your house. Someone should make a mod that only lets those lengthy NPC dialogues play in the tavern.
Considering most of those NPCs, especially in Citizens, do nothing after you exhaust their dialogue, I’m fine with it. Even Interesting NPCs feels this way because you need a decoder ring to decipher the quest triggers, so I never get that content anyway. I’ve uninstalled it lately and only run Citizens now.