I'm sorry. I dislike creating negative content in general. I went back and forth many times between whether I should even upload some parts of this video or not. But in the end, I wanted you to have my unfiltered thoughts about the program itself as well as the mods included, even if it meant a major shift in tone and content delivery. This is my first video like this, and with it, I am done fence sitting. I just cannot sit idly by without at least, raising awareness about Bethesda's continuous self destruction, a studio I grew up to love and respect. A studio that built a reputation for making incredible RPGs, while sitting at the throne as the only one allowing open modding. You may think I'm being dramatic, and overly pessimistic, but analytically observing gaming companies over the years leads me to believe that the situation is, unfortunately, going to get much worse. Don't for a second think Starfield will not have micro transactions very soon, and you'd be a fool if you thought Elder Scrolls 6 will not, upon release, have the same creator program integrated. This video is not monetized, as I absolutely have no interest in profiting of negative content. If you want to subscribe to this channel, please only do so after you check out my previous modding coverage, and you end up enjoying it. Commentary videos like this one, especially negative ones, are going to be few far and between. And I'm sad to admit it, but most likely not the last considering where paid mods fiasco is headed. Thank you for your time and for the endless support to the channel.
Oh jeez, my heart sank when I read the title of this video and steeled myself to unsubscribe to another channel I otherwise really enjoy. See I've quietly been a part of the modding community for 17 years, and it means a lot to me. So I'm super happy I read this and started watching the video. I'm barely into it, but can tell you're on the correct of history. Thank you so much. This is the kind of solidarity we need to save what we all created over the years.
@@Crow7004 : No, we do deserve it. Especially those of us who put in years of work creating the modding community. Indeed imo we deserve even more for all of the work we've all done to bring joy to so many people. Be that as a modder, a teacher, a voice actor, musician, administrator, content creator, or people who show their support however they are able. Really, it's how the world should work.❤🌍🌎🌏🌐
Exactly we need as many videos about this as possible. These Skyrim channels need to stop holding thier tongues because Bethesda will take that as a sign of weakness and submission and will proceed to force this trash down our throats.
Your ending thoughts hit the nail on the head. Let's be real; Skyrim is a good game, but if it wasn't for the modding community producing high-quality content, Skyrim would have stopped being relevant back in 2014, with maybe a few people still playing here and there. The Mods are WHY people still play Elder Scroll games, and most of the time, all people want for game updates are just better Mod Support, Better Stabilization so it doesn't CTD as often better Modding Tools, and Bug Fixes. Not new editions that break 90% of mods and force mod authors to scramble to update.
@@georgeoldsterd8994 Nah Skyrim is good even on its own. But the mods are the reason its been able to keep such a large following for so long. I mean how many people play Portal 2 these days? Or Undertale, just because these games are no longer relevant doesn't mean they are bad
The conclusion at the end of the video hits hard. i have stopped playing some of my favorite games because of corporate greed. really sad to see even more of my top 10 games devolve into repetitive and petitory business acts.
I have stopped playing Skyrim because of Bethesda's greed, but not in the way you'd expect. I stopped playing it because the released an unannounced update of the game (to update the creation club) and it broke my mod list or more than 300 mods, multiple of them being impossible to get back because they've been pulled by their author. It was the last straw, I uninstalled the game and never touched it again, it was 3 years ago. I'm still mad I couldn't finish my dragonborn rp playthrough (basicaly playing the dragonborn from the trailers, mainly using shouts, going slow, writing a journal about my adventures, keeping a beastiary etc).
@@dearcastiel4667 they updated the game recently, after i had just fixed my modlist after the other update just before that. even after re-installing the game and countless hours i gave up. not even fun anymore.
I spent about a month learning how to install and set up Mod Manager 2, then one by one started adding in some 250+ mods including things such as DynDoLod (which I previously would not have considered attempting)...and btw absolute thanks to Gamer Poets vids guiding my way. When Tod decided Skyrim SE needed to be resold as anniversary edition or somesuch because they gave us free fishing and packed in what was previously creation club mods, all my work on mods was borked. I've never gone back in. I do miss my buddy Inigo.@@dearcastiel4667
@@dearcastiel4667 Same. When the Aniversary Edition came out and bricked my immense mod load, including many mods that I will nevee be able to ger back or fix, I turned away from them. Their latest atrocities masquerading poorly as games only solidified that contempt, but irrevocably ruining my modlist was the catalyst.
I don’t understand why Bethesda didn’t just keep making Don guard and Dragonborn sized the DLC‘s since the game came out I would’ve kept buying them lol
Same, they could've gather all the modders to make an expansive DLC, if Bethesda are lazy or busy with ES6, but nope, sucking people's money as much as possible.
Imagine stuff like "Beyond Reach", "Wyrmstooth" or "Beyond Skyrim: Bruma" as official DLC. Bethesda would have been much better off making stuff like that as DLC instead of Starfield.
Because making dlcs requires effort and manpower, and bethesda would rather have a quick cash grab with minimum effort instead of actually creating something worthwhile.
The worst part for our PS4/5 brethren is that these verified marketplace creations can still not have any new external assets for them, like scripts, meshes or textures.
Oh boy, here we go Ps: A good video tho, showing the free alternatives was definitely a good idea and givin the viewers a clear answer to "is this worth it"
At first I was truly excited about the creation club expecting the creation of third party studio like there is for Minecraft bedrock . Then we saw the creations and it was extremmely dissapointing .
Having watched your content for a while, it's almost surreal to see our Elmlock Armor & Blade featured in your video! Wonderful compilation as always. To echo similar sentiment, this isn't a negative video, and if it is, being negative isn't intrinsically bad. In fact, you provide constructive, fair and on-point criticism, which comes from a place of love and appreciation for the game and its modding community. I for one appreciate you for speaking out this way while giving shoutout to alternative free mods from those Creations. Thank you Syn!
Happy to have done it. Excellent armor, worthy of a nice cinematic showcase :) And thank you for the kind words, comments like this one make all the hours spent researching worth it.
Thanks for the showcase, Syn. Really appreciate you being open about any bias you have as well. Some of these creations look ok but I cannot get my head around the prices, especially given the extremely high quality of the free alternatives! There are literally whole games for sale on Steam for the same price as getting a few of these creations.
Indeed. If you apply the pricing method from the Creator Program to, for example, Legacy Of The Dragonborn, it would be hundreds of dollars. It's completely out of whack. And thank you for your words of encouragement.
Thank you for giving us free alternatives! If you specifically want a thief follower, Arissa is an older mod but she fits in with Skyrim very well. Also Remiel is a great female follower with plenty of lines and interactions with other follower mods. If you like the Riften cabin, Elianora has one called Ruska that's right on the lake near the city but still has that cute cabin feel.
Riverside Lodge by Lupus has been my go-to for years. That bend in the river near Whiterun wouldn't look right without it at this point, it blends so perfectly with surrounding environment. So, it's always installed whether I wind up using it specifically or not.
@SynMods 😃 ,my thanks for all the vids. I told myself this year I'm going to give a lil back to all the skyrim creators I've been bingeing the past year n a half. Your the 1st on the list.
Your take is spot on. Though it may have been a difficult decision to make this, I'm glad you did. Your content is always excellent, cheers! ...a few personal thoughts that no one asked for or gives af about. Skyrim costs $50, charging $4-$7 for a single mod is robbery, especially when compared to what the community has freely made and shared. BGS shits all over their loyal fans and playerbase every time they break your game with an update to sell you something when they haven't even bothered to fix bugs that have been present since the original launch. The modding community is the only reason why Skyrim is still relevant and all Beth wants now apparently is to milk every last dollar from you they can. Whats an average Collection from Nexus, 300 mods? Community = free, Bethesda "that'll be $1500 pls", Whats Nolvus 2000 mods? Nolvus = free, Bethesda, "on sale for the low price of only $10,000! ". Unfuckingbelievable levels of greed with their value proposition. This is what we've all been waiting for? For 10years+ ...omfg. How many Dawnguards or Dragonborn sized DLC could they have made in that time? I would have bought them, then modded the shit out of them. But it seems they'd rather sell me a fucking arquebus for $6. The disparity between passion driven community mod projects and marketplace price gouging has been apparent since it's first appearance in TES IV Oblvion and painfully obvious with the initial launch of Creation Club. I love Skyrim, I have played a ludicrous amount of hours, and continue to mod and play. v1.5.97 is the last update my game has received or ever will get. Thank you modding community for everything, and fuck you Bethesda/Microsoft for trying to bleed it dry.
Larian have released modding tools for past games and have said they will for BG3. I used to make personal mods for Dragon Age Origins they released the mod tools for that. Bethesda is not the only company that does it and never has been. It's games just have the largest modding scene. I think because they are very sandbox in nature it's often easier to introduce mods than more narrative focused games and lots of people are now familiar with modding their engine.
This is a fantastic, well-made video. Nothing about it was negative, these companies have no respect for your money. I have no problem sending a few bucks over to mod creators who deserve it, but there's no way in hell I'm going to buy mods through the marketplace when there's higher quality, less restrictive, and completely FREE mods out there.
I like how in your 'Finale Thoughts' segment of the video you asked we were supporting the developers or contributing to a larger problem by buying micro purchases. I can tell you that you're exactly right about it contributing to a problem. I recently got burnt out of modding Skyrim just because I'm sick of adjusting and updating my load order for the 18th time and waiting for months for everyone to update mods to the newest update, but I still appreciate you're video and I wish many more people could have your insight on this situation. Sadly, it seems this will happen to fallout 4 as well in the future. Also, Bethesda isn't the first to do this. Activision is pretty much the king of half baked micro transactions that pretty much cost 20 bucks for weapon skins in their cod games, which their games being just copy and pastes of their former work anyway. And Monster Hunter has recently done the exact same thing. Capcon sees players loving gestures and armor skins as a big part of that community, so they put most, if not all skins and gestures, behind paywalls in their newer games. Sunbreak is riddled with them. Fallout 76 is another perfect example of this. Sadly, Elden Ring may fall victim to this as well with who they may be partnering with. I think if Elden ring falls, we might not have a good gaming company to support much longer. Since they are basically holding the flag of revival right now. Sorry for the long responce but I just want to add on to your thoughts by saying unless we stop rewarding companies by making half baked games and selling micro transactions, we are going to continue to see a steady decline in good game development. Also, I don't mind 'negative content' if it's honest and true, which is exactly what it was. I hope your videos skyrocket to the top man.
"In their [DICE Awards acceptance] speech, two figures from Larian called out the industry's obsession with chasing profits and pleasing shareholders. They also commented on game ownership and layoffs, while also making it clear that the studio is not interested in making a live service." 👏Then, "they were barred from joining the afterparty" because it was apparently "already at max capacity". (Article appears on The Gamer) I earnestly wish more game development *studios* had the courage to speak out like that about the ignomious trend, but they don't and I believe it's out of a sense of fear that their projects will no longer be funded or published if they do and that is, unfortunately, a distinct possibility. Professional studios depend on publishers and platform manufacturers for the funding, publication and distribution of their projects. Only those who can operate as independently as possible of that rather sick ecosystem, e.g. indie developers who laregly depend on crowd funding and word of mouth to get their projects seen and played, have the remotest chance of escaping it with their integrity, artistic and otherwise, intact at the moment. It's quite a conundrum and voting with our wallets most likely won't put a dent in it, much less put a stop to it. There are too many who are unaware or simply don't care because they don't feel it affects them in any way and couldn't care less about those they feel it does. Edit: Original comment hidden/deleted by YT's algorithms, which probably read the article citation as a hyperlink. Forgive the double-posting if it shows up in the next millenium or so.
All the house mods are kinda bad in the CC. I like their ideas of custom themed clutter but each one is always missing some type of storage for that completionist feel including non cc mods. Im still waiting on the day someone drops a house thats similar to Legacy of the Dragonborn and for consoles. I want a house that is complete for collectors. One that has a key rack, enough library shelves, like static clutter for daedric artifacts, claws, and paragons, static clutter for notes, journals, unique books, spell tomes, rings, and amulets, static clutter for every type of food in a kitchen, smithing room with some weapon racks to display unique pickaxes and woodcutter axes, enchanting/alchemy room with heartstone and spider pod clutter included, and static basic armor and weapons clutter. As well as plenty of mannequins/display cases to accomodate all unique gear, a safe/treasure chest for special quest items. And a bit of an extra which is to have a childrens bedroom with a display case so i can put a wooden sword in it lol. Closest ive come to finding the perfect house is Frostvale Estate and the Dreamweaver but they constantly crash. I do like how these authors are finally moving on to interactable displays though.
I liked CC Myrwatch but due to a bug, cannot adopt more than one child without ruining the children sleep schedule. Someone went into the code and found multiple bugs in the CC homes with respect to Hearthfire content.
mostly because they lack things we take for granted usually unique displays follower space auto sorting etc etc etc why would i take any of these when skyrimlazz exists?
i watched ESO's videos on this bs and he brought Katja along for the dungeons i swear each time i heard her saying "the blood of Talos flows throguh my veins", out of context, with the most unenthusiastic and reading voice ever, i twitched my arms in such agony
Yeah very cringe, if I want battle taunts that are geniunely funny I'll listen to Sofia and Recorder shout them out they end up being damn hilarious, hell even Inigo has a number of excellent battle cries.
Thank you for this. When this came out I started hearing the same arguments I heard for the original creation club. “You don’t want to support modders??” If they’re selling their mods ion an ingame store hosted by the developers, sorry you’re not a modder, you’re a third party developer creating cash shop items.
This video was definitely needed Syn. Spreading awareness on this problem will hopefully help others realize what’s really going on. I look forward to all these games coming out that are AAA and end up being terrible on release. Now with micro transactions everywhere it’s horrible. Thanks for shedding light to these issues and how Bethesda is incorporating it!
The free alternative recommendations were a great addition to the video. Could you do the same for the quest mods as well or possibly the rest of CC content?
I had an idea of making a video covering and critiquing Anniversary Edition as a whole package. I can't promise anything, but it's not completely off the table.
The Anniversary Edition was really a mixed bag. Some interesting stuff like the "Forgotten Seasons" dungeon but mostly it serves to de-balance the game and is poorly integrated into the rest of Skyrim. Some AE creations are so bad I had to manually delete them like Arcane Archer, which ruins combat. Using Arcane Archer both you and the enemy can one-shot each other at higher levels because of a bug handling elemental damage. Not fun. I'm so glad I started my Skyrim experience with the Special Edition instead of Anniversary. @@SynMods
Dwemer Guns: -Wheels of Lull (Harquebus) -Dwarven Automatic Crossbows Companions: -Xelzaz, Remiel, and Redcap go well together -Inigo, Vilja, Lucien, and Auri mesh well as well -Lydia, Teldryn, and Serana have Dialogue overhauls -And of course there's Shirley, Skyrim's Grandma Houses: -Morskom Estate -Clockwork -Breezehome -Staff of Shalidor -Airship Dev Aveza -Tel Nalta II -Ruined Temple of Phynaster -Tirashan -Milandriel -Laboratorium -other house mods reviewed by Febrith Darkstar Dwemer Dungeons: -Project AHO -Tools of Kagrenac -Forgotten City East Empire Trading: -Legacy of the Dragonborn -------- I will note that the paid Dungeons are meant to be dungeons from ESO...so, for location mods from other Elder Scrolls games: -The Elder Scrolls Online Imports -Morthal Barrow -Taarengrav Barrow -Old Attis Farm Revived -Solstheim - The Lost Levels -Lakvan's Stronghold -Amol Village -Snowhawk Expanded -Beyond Skyrim: Bruma
I fear that with all the efforts from Bethesda to "slide the food bowl" closer and closer to themselves, they are aiming to privatize modding in TES6. If this happens I think you will see a MASSIVE Skyrim Modding renaissance where a bunch of big name modders will be basically taking over Skyrim on a whole new level and boycotting TES6 altogether and I will almost certainly be on that list. And thanks for all the praise and shout outs for Legacy too, always appreciated my friend. :D
Wel said, Syn. I don't see this video as a negative content, uou are speaking the truth in a respectful way and there is no harm in reporting your experience with paid content to others. Especially, having a gigantic catalog of extremely well-made mods of undeniable quality being made available for free. Not to mention the fact that direct donations, support via Patreon and similar, and Nexus Donation Points are a great incentive for modders. While watching the video, I could not stop pointing in my mind so many nice free mods for everything you mentioned, such as the large, interesting and full of new items and lore grafts Glenmoril and Vigilant, to the smaller but highly creative ones like Teldryn Serious, which uses lines of dialogue "recycled" from the base game but in a convincing and organic way. The guns from the first mod actually reminded me a lot of the ones available in Glenmoril. With the followers, Inigo was very well mentioned, and I would also mention Taliesin as a great work on writing and voice acting.
Man, Syn going SAVAGE! I love it!!!! I appreciate these types of videos. This is what I personally look for in reviews. “Give it to me straight, tell me your opinion and leave the decision to me” all while being completely respectfully critical. 🤘🏼🤘🏼
So with the Dwemer themed dungeon mod, the locations where are modeled after dungeons that are from Elder Scrolls online as Raid Content. As for why there are Dwemer ruins in that area, Blackreach extended much further into the North West portion of Skyrim in ESO.
Since the video was released, I've been made aware that it's indeed based on ESO design. :) But yeah, my stance on it remains firm, regardless of who designed it. I dislike everything about it, and I genuinely think it's an awful design.
This is where it comes down to, now and for mods in the future that don’t alienate folks who can’t or don’t want to pay; is mod authors who even if they do want to make money from mods, then create mods of the same quality as or better than their paid mods or mod authors who straight up do it for the love of the art and will never offer their mods for even a single penny.
Thank you for this video. Negativity in sake for negativity is bad but this critisizm is driven by honesty. This is very helpful insight for the community.
As a consumer you saw and discussed how money should/should not spend. This is not negative, hate or hate content, well made and well evaluted critism. And you are right about the CC content. We have realised that Legacy of the Dragonborn is the one of the best mod ever done by modding community.
I honestly believe that Bethesda know this idea is doomed to failure. This is just them doing their due diligence as they work towards exclusively offering paid mods for future titles and phasing out free mods. Not sure if that's possible but that's what my intuition is telling me. Nothing negative about this video... you're being candid, offering valuable information to us as well as alternatives. Thank you!
Why would they know it's doomed to failure when they've been successfully preying on the love and nostalgia of both the Elder Scrolls and Fallout communities for years with absolute impunity and making millions for investors in the process? This is not just a Bethesda issue, of course, but an industry-wide issue in which both publishers and platform manufacturers are involved. I've unsure why they think biting the very hand that feeds them, so to speak, will accomplish anything other than garnering them foul reputations among the public, but they're obviously not concerned with their reputations or anything approaching community goodwill. They're concerned solely with the profit motive and that's a sad statement on the state of both the gaming industry and the world today.
@@lrinfi they rolled this idea out a few years back and there was a massive backlash. They actually had to scrap the 'Creation Club' (I think that's what it was called) because the reaction was so overwhelmingly negative. I believe that what they're really trying to do here is to split the modding community to pave the way for exclusive paid mods. It'll seem more palatable if it's something that's already existed for years because... let's face it, we're still probably a few years away from TES6. What they see in the free modding community is a potential revenue stream that they haven't been tapping. I could be wrong and I hope that I am but that's what I'm seeing as a very strong possibility.
06:15 This playerhome unfortunately is bugged. You can only place replicas of special items on display that you'll find in the dungeon leading towards the house. When this dungeon respawns, all the special item replicas respawn in the dungeon and are no longer on display.
This is video is definitely not negative just for the sake of being negative, and I think that's what really matters. Your critique is valid and you delivered it without any hyperbole. I just hope it gets a lot of views and people take your message to heart.
Let's not forget this is the *THIRD* time Bethesda is trying to sell us mods, first they tried to monetize the Steam Workshop, then there's the recently scrapped Creation Club and now this bullshit re-brand.
Criticism is not negativity. Even when it can be negativity, I prefer it to sweet words and gentle sentences when it is needed... And it is badly needed here.
You make a really good point in bringing up corporate greed and how it is ruining games and this awesome community of ours, i just do not agree with you putting so much of the blame on the consumers. I understand why you would do that as it is almost the only thing we can do on an individual level to try and stop or at least slow down this development. In my opinion the problem is far deeper and lies within the economic system that we live under. Currently the pursuit of profit and economical growth is put above all else and I think that these predatory monetary practices seen in gaming are a natural development of that. Video games are an art and should not be profit driven. For me personally seeing the gaming industry get more predatory has been really eye opening and made me question the whole economic system we live under. Thank you for this great video, keep up the good work!
An idea for the mod author community. If any of Bethesda's paid mods looks like gaining traction build a far better direct replacement and post to the Nexus. This will make it clear to MAs tempted by Bethesda's offer that it would be a losing bet to switch to them. This may seem combative. It's meant to be. Bethesda have fired the first several salvos and are the aggressor here. If they get enough mercenaries ES 6 is lost.
Thank you! After being disappointed with the items I purchased from the Creation Club when I played on Xbox, I learned my lesson. After buying a PC that was more than capable of running Skyrim and attempting tp learn how to mod, I bought a Premium Membership on Nexus. Then, after a couple years of playing Skyrim, Fallout 3 & 4, I started noticing things, and watching videos of other people playing these games, which started confirming the thoughts I was having about Bethesda Game Studios. The mediocracy they showcase over their last four major franchise titles, makes it abundantly clear that they're only in it to make money, and that is their only motivation regardless of what Todd lies about. Their 'updates' or 'upgrades' were blatant attacks on the very people who have kept these games relevant for the last decade, and fixed many of the problems BSG were too lazy to address in their so-called 'updates'. If it weren't for the modder's I would have moved on to other games, and Bethesda probably will not get another dime from me. I'm not going to get excited for TES VI, because if history has taught me anything, it's that BSG makes mediocre games and I will not tolerate that any longer. Your assessment of the state of the consumer is also very accurate, our games are crap, our movies are crap, and our music is crap, because the consumer has been socially engineered to tolerate crap.
The biggest issue with the creations is the fact they can't be based on the amazing modding community tools. Like the video says it just limits them so much which is a real shame.
You were not negative at all, Syn. You worded your concerns and are giving feedback to an important subject. I was waaaay more vitriolic when Bethesda rolled this out but I've chilled out a bit. I wasn't against creation club because of PlayStation lack of assets for modding, and thought it would fill a niche. Even then everyone had a sneaking suspicion (or flatly called it out). I think the biggest takeaway is not anger but downright disappointment. Bethesda was a beloved publisher, but it's like we walked into the bedroom and found them in the sheets with big corp. Which is kind of what happened.
I really like the closing remarks you had. Corporations treat people like they're idiots who will accept anything they throw at them because THEY DO. I'm just getting sick of people who say things like this are unacceptable without acknowledging that it wouldn't be happening if people weren't accepting it anyways. More people need to call out this enabling for what it is, so thank you for helping with that.
This is a great video and I think a lot of actual modders are grateful that you made this. Paid mods are an absurd concept as in reality they're nothing more then overpriced microtransactions using the optics of modding to score browny points with the community. It's a disgusting practice used by a disgusting company.
One of the best Skyrim-related videos I've literally ever watched. Well said. You also maintained positivity in your delivery and respect to mod authors and voice actors amidst the honest criticisms. More people need to watch this vid. Been said before but dope conclusion too.
I feel like I'm having dejavu, didn't we already go through this a few years ago? People didn't like paid mods back then and they certainly aren't going to like it now...
You are spot on Syn, all Bethesda is trying to do is ride on the backs on the modding community, who keep this ( old game ) interesting and entertaining. Take away what the community has done, and Skyrim would have faded years ago.
It's an undeniable truth. While Skyrim is a great RPG with incredible charm, it would not have survived half its current lifespan if there wasn't for a modding community.
Cheers. I agree with everything in this video. :) The only way I can remotely see this system working is by massive worldspace quest mods. But it would take years for them to make, and there are still countless free alternatives.
This needs to be showcased and discussed by EVERYONE. What Bethesda is doing is despicable and shows that they have no shame nor passion for anything other than money. Don't categorize this as "negative content", this is simply raising awareness to the disgusting practices of a studio/company that lost their touch A LONG time ago. I know this will not stop, but seeing studios like Larian getting more and more recognition gives me hope that human beings with actual passion for games are still out there, while the ones that became husks of what they once were are beginning to be left behind.
It's too late now, they didn't get the proper backlash they received in 2015 when they tried the whole Steam creations thing. Bethesda has won the long game against consumers.
Stonegarden and Frostvault are Dungeons "copied" from Elder Scrolls online, which explains the odd locations. Stonegarden is located in Blackreach under Solitude. Now here's how they butchered it. Stonegarden was the Laboratory of a Mad Alchemist, experimenting on Vampires and Werewolves and Vampires to enhance their strength. The Layout was completely different as well. Frostvault was a Vauult garded by both Dwemer Constructs and a Horde of Goblins. Naturally Skyrim (or the modders) can't come close to recreating this level of enemy variety, even though most of of the Assets do somewhat exist in game.
I agree with you on followers, though I do like some of the vanilla ones. If only their AI were better. 😒 As to the new Dwemer ruins being located in these random caves, I've heard somewhere that they were actually recreations of Dwemer ruins from ESO, so it's possible that in ESO they're also located in random caves. 🤷🏻♂ But good video on the whole. You're making a great point in the final segment.
Some free advice for anyone making a follower mode that comments on missions and places... Allow the player to tell them stories about the mission in case they were not there...
Hey, about Frostvault and Stone Garden. They are dungeons originally from ESO. I didn't check Stone Garden, but Frostvault does roughly match its location, as it was in ESO.
My thoughts were very muc in line with yours. Only East Empire Expansion would have looked at all enticing to me, if I wasn't already familer with LoTD.
About the thief follower, the voice and face seemed so conflicting until I realized that her face is literally the same as the unbroken lady. The companion reject
Thank you bringing attention to free alternatives. It's quite a stark contrast between what we already have and what we are offered to buy from Bethesda.
I agree with everything you said, I do feel like your conclusion was a smidgen incomplete, tho. We should definitely speak with our wallets by not purchasing mediocre content.... We SHOULD, as a community, be more willing to donate to mod authors instead whenever we can. The creation club would be dead in the water (it basically already is) if mod authors were already getting some form of compensation for their hard work. and as you said, they do not expect anything in return, but we should be willing to pay for quality even if voluntarily to help keep more of the good content coming. Free mods are a gift to all of us, we should be more willing to give back when we can.
Beth is trying to get away with being a "gaming company" without making any new games. They've painted themselves into a corner with their own coding. If they move to another engine "poof" goes the modding community. Beth stagnated and put up the for sale sign a couple years ago and that didn't even help.
I generally prefer to be positive about most things, but constructive criticism is most welcome at any time. This video I think does a great job at criticism done right. It clearly identifies the problem, explains in simple terms so that anyone can understand, and gives example after example to prove the point. Hats off to you, I look forwards to your future work (positive or negative).
Finally, i found someone on youtube who not just blindly blames companies for their greed, but actualy the consumers. Thats so true and i hate it, how people are whining about microtransactions or battlepasses, yet, continue to buy them(
The Cathedral Weathers mod page explains this phenomenom perfectly. Paid mods are the epitome of the parlor school, for the rest of the community does not want anything to do with them and they cannot set each other as requirements. Every paid mod is isolated. The regular modding community is the ultimate expression if the Cathedral School, the result of the combined efforts of many talented and passionate people who can set each other as requirements.
A pathetic money grab. Whats made worse are mod authors supporting this behavior out of either need for some sort of validation or just want to be recognized in some way. Perhaps what Bethesda should of done is a sort of rewards program instead, but we all know it's purely about money. How many times have some of us bought the same game more than once? What happened to paid DLC type addons? Seems they rather have us (mod authors) do the work for them and attempt to cash in for themselves.
On the follower department, I'd like to recommend Rosalie from the DR's OK_Custom Voice Followers mod and Rabi. Sadly these two are japanese voice only so they will feel out of place unless you play the game with japanese voices as well, but what I like about them is how they interact with each other and react to your adventure's quests (Rabi goes for vanilla and Dawnguard, while Rosalie does only Dragonborn, I don't know why).
I remember the excuse of "oh it will let mod makers do even more." Its a factual statement that they are insultingly mediocre. being critical in your respectful manner is not "negative" it is very very important. and your a good person for trying to make things better in a mature and constructive way. if anybody says this is negative they are coping.
Its refreshing to see criticism that isn't fueld by hate, i love every game from fallout new vegas to skyrim but Bethesda just cant keep getting away with it, they were once trend setters that revolutionized gaming, now they are just the lol cows of rpg... its sad man i hope with all i have that tes6 will be good but i have little hope
We need to click on the "like" button, in order for bethesda to see this. It doens't make any sense... Bethesda simply wants for us to pay for free things. Its simple as that.
Bethesda doesn't care about you. The sooner you realize this, the better. They ultimately only care about profit, even if it means destroying their own reputation.
I've lost a lot of faith in BGS recently, really pushed me to the edge with Starfield and I haven't been able to play Skyrim in ages because they keep updating it and breaking all my mods. Now they're pushing paid mods, and while right now they're optional, I can see the writing on the wall and get the feeling one day they won't be.
Hi. I just discovered your channel and it is awesome. I am into modding(installing mods not creating) since a while. I love it and channels like yours are an incredible value to the community. I suffer a lot when an update shows up, actually, I bought the game at gog but sadly it recently got updated(despite I had 'DO NOT update this game' option turned on) and I came back to my Steam copy to mod Skyrim once again. (Btw, gog erased the functional version for users to get...) So my question is: Is there any effective method to prevent Steam to update or any way to rollback without all falling apart?? Thank you very much and I am looking forward for more of your great content.
In a perfect world paid mods would be a means for game devs to support modders within their community, supporting them either with development help, or financial incentive/assistance to continue updating and developing the mod while bringing it up to the standards of what you see in the base game. Unfortunately nobody should be trusting Bethesda to do the due diligence this practice needs to be done right, and will simply use it as an excuse to monetize very basic mods as if they were paid dlc. If this system were to fully manifest one day I'd at least pitch a one time club purchase, for a singular purchase, you get an ever expanding library of mods vetted and supported by Bethesda's teams themselves to become indistinguishable from the base game.
The creations just feel souless Nothing is voiced, there's no npcs, no level or quest requirements. When you stumble with some mod contents you can't tell its not part of the game except for the new voices (lol). Quality-wise, there is nothing that justify it being paid. If you use wabbajack, you'll need the AE upgrade to use many of the packs. And thats the reason I bought it and why I can write this
I simply love East Empire Expansion. I've did some testing as you get 30% money back of all items you put up for sale. So, I've crafted some very expensive potions with my high level character and gained 6696674 Septims for it. Apparently we can legit max out our money now. Don't do it though, because around 2 billion septims the number goes overboard in the negatives and you'll be in deep dept in this game, literarily. A fun mod for sure, but very OP if you play your cards right.
What's the armor Serana is wearing at 11:34? Excellent vid by the way, pretty much agreed on everything. Let me guess, you don't use player homes because you live in the LotD Safehouse? :)
I'm sorry. I dislike creating negative content in general.
I went back and forth many times between whether I should even upload some parts of this video or not. But in the end, I wanted you to have my unfiltered thoughts about the program itself as well as the mods included, even if it meant a major shift in tone and content delivery.
This is my first video like this, and with it, I am done fence sitting. I just cannot sit idly by without at least, raising awareness about Bethesda's continuous self destruction, a studio I grew up to love and respect. A studio that built a reputation for making incredible RPGs, while sitting at the throne as the only one allowing open modding.
You may think I'm being dramatic, and overly pessimistic, but analytically observing gaming companies over the years leads me to believe that the situation is, unfortunately, going to get much worse.
Don't for a second think Starfield will not have micro transactions very soon, and you'd be a fool if you thought Elder Scrolls 6 will not, upon release, have the same creator program integrated.
This video is not monetized, as I absolutely have no interest in profiting of negative content. If you want to subscribe to this channel, please only do so after you check out my previous modding coverage, and you end up enjoying it. Commentary videos like this one, especially negative ones, are going to be few far and between. And I'm sad to admit it, but most likely not the last considering where paid mods fiasco is headed.
Thank you for your time and for the endless support to the channel.
You did a great job with this video and I commend you.
The champion of people we needed, but didn't deserve. Hopefully thanks to your work more people will become aware of Bethesdas wrongdoings.
I think the dwemer dungeons made the decision a bit easier. 😁
Oh jeez, my heart sank when I read the title of this video and steeled myself to unsubscribe to another channel I otherwise really enjoy. See I've quietly been a part of the modding community for 17 years, and it means a lot to me. So I'm super happy I read this and started watching the video. I'm barely into it, but can tell you're on the correct of history. Thank you so much. This is the kind of solidarity we need to save what we all created over the years.
@@Crow7004 : No, we do deserve it. Especially those of us who put in years of work creating the modding community. Indeed imo we deserve even more for all of the work we've all done to bring joy to so many people. Be that as a modder, a teacher, a voice actor, musician, administrator, content creator, or people who show their support however they are able. Really, it's how the world should work.❤🌍🌎🌏🌐
This is not negative content my friend, it's constructive awareness about our consumption
Absolutely. This is a predatory practice.
Thank you.🥰😊
Solidarity for the modding community that has brought joy (and an education in troubleshooting, lols) to so many.
Exactly we need as many videos about this as possible. These Skyrim channels need to stop holding thier tongues because Bethesda will take that as a sign of weakness and submission and will proceed to force this trash down our throats.
This, I hate channels that pump out hate for clicks, this is not hyperbolic, mean or gratuitous, it is pretty much on point.
@@lugaruclone describing reality can’t be labeled as hate.
This is not negative - it is a well-researched constructive criticism that Bethesda sorely needs.
You have gained a sub.
Cheers.
Welcome aboard. :)
Completely agree!
Syn ranting about the state of gaming is not something I had on my bingo card for 2024, but here we are.
And as someone who helped build the modding community for 17 yeas, I'm here for it.🥰
Your ending thoughts hit the nail on the head. Let's be real; Skyrim is a good game, but if it wasn't for the modding community producing high-quality content, Skyrim would have stopped being relevant back in 2014, with maybe a few people still playing here and there. The Mods are WHY people still play Elder Scroll games, and most of the time, all people want for game updates are just better Mod Support, Better Stabilization so it doesn't CTD as often better Modding Tools, and Bug Fixes. Not new editions that break 90% of mods and force mod authors to scramble to update.
If Skyrim stopped being relevant without mods, three years after release, maybe it's not a good game after all?
@@georgeoldsterd8994 Nah Skyrim is good even on its own. But the mods are the reason its been able to keep such a large following for so long. I mean how many people play Portal 2 these days? Or Undertale, just because these games are no longer relevant doesn't mean they are bad
@@asoul3919 to be honest, I never knew anyone who played Portal or Undertale in real life. 😁
@@georgeoldsterd8994 You must be young
@@asoul3919 or old.
"...If you are a bigger fan of Serana than you should be..." lmao
The conclusion at the end of the video hits hard. i have stopped playing some of my favorite games because of corporate greed. really sad to see even more of my top 10 games devolve into repetitive and petitory business acts.
You can choose not to participate in this one.
I have stopped playing Skyrim because of Bethesda's greed, but not in the way you'd expect.
I stopped playing it because the released an unannounced update of the game (to update the creation club) and it broke my mod list or more than 300 mods, multiple of them being impossible to get back because they've been pulled by their author. It was the last straw, I uninstalled the game and never touched it again, it was 3 years ago. I'm still mad I couldn't finish my dragonborn rp playthrough (basicaly playing the dragonborn from the trailers, mainly using shouts, going slow, writing a journal about my adventures, keeping a beastiary etc).
@@dearcastiel4667 they updated the game recently, after i had just fixed my modlist after the other update just before that. even after re-installing the game and countless hours i gave up. not even fun anymore.
I spent about a month learning how to install and set up Mod Manager 2, then one by one started adding in some 250+ mods including things such as DynDoLod (which I previously would not have considered attempting)...and btw absolute thanks to Gamer Poets vids guiding my way. When Tod decided Skyrim SE needed to be resold as anniversary edition or somesuch because they gave us free fishing and packed in what was previously creation club mods, all my work on mods was borked. I've never gone back in. I do miss my buddy Inigo.@@dearcastiel4667
@@dearcastiel4667 Same. When the Aniversary Edition came out and bricked my immense mod load, including many mods that I will nevee be able to ger back or fix, I turned away from them. Their latest atrocities masquerading poorly as games only solidified that contempt, but irrevocably ruining my modlist was the catalyst.
I don’t understand why Bethesda didn’t just keep making Don guard and Dragonborn sized the DLC‘s since the game came out I would’ve kept buying them lol
Same, they could've gather all the modders to make an expansive DLC, if Bethesda are lazy or busy with ES6, but nope, sucking people's money as much as possible.
Imagine stuff like "Beyond Reach", "Wyrmstooth" or "Beyond Skyrim: Bruma" as official DLC. Bethesda would have been much better off making stuff like that as DLC instead of Starfield.
Because making dlcs requires effort and manpower, and bethesda would rather have a quick cash grab with minimum effort instead of actually creating something worthwhile.
My guesses are, making it official is harder than just letting modders to their thing, especially considering Skyrim's engine is old and outdated
@@stephenlb Bruma is one of the best mods I've ever played.
The worst part for our PS4/5 brethren is that these verified marketplace creations can still not have any new external assets for them, like scripts, meshes or textures.
So true, on PS4 there are 3 creations available.
Yet Sony let the old Creation Club stuff through even though A LOT of those have external assets, and this was BEFORE they were bundled with AE.
Oh boy, here we go
Ps: A good video tho, showing the free alternatives was definitely a good idea and givin the viewers a clear answer to "is this worth it"
Honestly, this wouldn't have been bad if the mods were DLC Sized mods that added content like Dragonborn, and Dawnguard.
Which is the whole point, right? :) Make DLC sized content and people would gladly support it.
But I guess DLC sized content requires effort.
At first I was truly excited about the creation club expecting the creation of third party studio like there is for Minecraft bedrock . Then we saw the creations and it was extremmely dissapointing .
@@SynModsand you know it would at least be 25 to 40 dollars a pop.
You are the helper of many my friend. Keep it up please.
Cheers, that's the plan.
Having watched your content for a while, it's almost surreal to see our Elmlock Armor & Blade featured in your video! Wonderful compilation as always.
To echo similar sentiment, this isn't a negative video, and if it is, being negative isn't intrinsically bad. In fact, you provide constructive, fair and on-point criticism, which comes from a place of love and appreciation for the game and its modding community. I for one appreciate you for speaking out this way while giving shoutout to alternative free mods from those Creations.
Thank you Syn!
Happy to have done it. Excellent armor, worthy of a nice cinematic showcase :)
And thank you for the kind words, comments like this one make all the hours spent researching worth it.
Thanks for the showcase, Syn. Really appreciate you being open about any bias you have as well. Some of these creations look ok but I cannot get my head around the prices, especially given the extremely high quality of the free alternatives! There are literally whole games for sale on Steam for the same price as getting a few of these creations.
Indeed. If you apply the pricing method from the Creator Program to, for example, Legacy Of The Dragonborn, it would be hundreds of dollars. It's completely out of whack.
And thank you for your words of encouragement.
Realistic conquering is also quite a neat mod that you can use instead of the East Empire Company one.
Good suggestion. :)
Thank you for giving us free alternatives! If you specifically want a thief follower, Arissa is an older mod but she fits in with Skyrim very well. Also Remiel is a great female follower with plenty of lines and interactions with other follower mods.
If you like the Riften cabin, Elianora has one called Ruska that's right on the lake near the city but still has that cute cabin feel.
Riverside Lodge by Lupus has been my go-to for years. That bend in the river near Whiterun wouldn't look right without it at this point, it blends so perfectly with surrounding environment. So, it's always installed whether I wind up using it specifically or not.
TLDW: Go get Legacy of The Dragonborn
Right on :)
Unless you're like me and isn't intrested in that mod :/
Hope this covers the shitty dungeon mod😅
Lmao, you're out of your mind, my man.
I appreciate you, cheers!
@SynMods 😃 ,my thanks for all the vids. I told myself this year I'm going to give a lil back to all the skyrim creators I've been bingeing the past year n a half.
Your the 1st on the list.
Fucking chad
Your take is spot on. Though it may have been a difficult decision to make this, I'm glad you did. Your content is always excellent, cheers!
...a few personal thoughts that no one asked for or gives af about.
Skyrim costs $50, charging $4-$7 for a single mod is robbery, especially when compared to what the community has freely made and shared. BGS shits all over their loyal fans and playerbase every time they break your game with an update to sell you something when they haven't even bothered to fix bugs that have been present since the original launch. The modding community is the only reason why Skyrim is still relevant and all Beth wants now apparently is to milk every last dollar from you they can. Whats an average Collection from Nexus, 300 mods? Community = free, Bethesda "that'll be $1500 pls", Whats Nolvus 2000 mods? Nolvus = free, Bethesda, "on sale for the low price of only $10,000! ". Unfuckingbelievable levels of greed with their value proposition. This is what we've all been waiting for? For 10years+ ...omfg. How many Dawnguards or Dragonborn sized DLC could they have made in that time? I would have bought them, then modded the shit out of them. But it seems they'd rather sell me a fucking arquebus for $6. The disparity between passion driven community mod projects and marketplace price gouging has been apparent since it's first appearance in TES IV Oblvion and painfully obvious with the initial launch of Creation Club. I love Skyrim, I have played a ludicrous amount of hours, and continue to mod and play. v1.5.97 is the last update my game has received or ever will get. Thank you modding community for everything, and fuck you Bethesda/Microsoft for trying to bleed it dry.
Cd Projekt red is working on a mod tool for witcher 3 btw
Really? That would be great, if we could get another publisher in the industry to be open to modding, everyone wins.
@@SynMods they made a post about it on the Witcher twitter page back in November I think. They said it would release this year
Larian have released modding tools for past games and have said they will for BG3.
I used to make personal mods for Dragon Age Origins they released the mod tools for that.
Bethesda is not the only company that does it and never has been. It's games just have the largest modding scene. I think because they are very sandbox in nature it's often easier to introduce mods than more narrative focused games and lots of people are now familiar with modding their engine.
If they open up with Witcher 3, then they'll likely make it standard with all their future games.
This is a fantastic, well-made video. Nothing about it was negative, these companies have no respect for your money. I have no problem sending a few bucks over to mod creators who deserve it, but there's no way in hell I'm going to buy mods through the marketplace when there's higher quality, less restrictive, and completely FREE mods out there.
Thank you, I'm glad to hear many out there willingly support individual authors providing content for us.
That’s why I play Legendary Edition or the offline GOG version. No forced updates in either, highly recommend them.
Or pause updates and be a permanent 1.5.97 chad. :D
@@SynModsAnd always back up your install just in case of some BS allowing Skyrim to update. Learned that lesson the hardway: never again.
That outro is literally 🎯!
I like how in your 'Finale Thoughts' segment of the video you asked we were supporting the developers or contributing to a larger problem by buying micro purchases. I can tell you that you're exactly right about it contributing to a problem. I recently got burnt out of modding Skyrim just because I'm sick of adjusting and updating my load order for the 18th time and waiting for months for everyone to update mods to the newest update, but I still appreciate you're video and I wish many more people could have your insight on this situation. Sadly, it seems this will happen to fallout 4 as well in the future. Also, Bethesda isn't the first to do this. Activision is pretty much the king of half baked micro transactions that pretty much cost 20 bucks for weapon skins in their cod games, which their games being just copy and pastes of their former work anyway. And Monster Hunter has recently done the exact same thing. Capcon sees players loving gestures and armor skins as a big part of that community, so they put most, if not all skins and gestures, behind paywalls in their newer games. Sunbreak is riddled with them. Fallout 76 is another perfect example of this. Sadly, Elden Ring may fall victim to this as well with who they may be partnering with. I think if Elden ring falls, we might not have a good gaming company to support much longer. Since they are basically holding the flag of revival right now. Sorry for the long responce but I just want to add on to your thoughts by saying unless we stop rewarding companies by making half baked games and selling micro transactions, we are going to continue to see a steady decline in good game development. Also, I don't mind 'negative content' if it's honest and true, which is exactly what it was. I hope your videos skyrocket to the top man.
"In their [DICE Awards acceptance] speech, two figures from Larian called out the industry's obsession with chasing profits and pleasing shareholders. They also commented on game ownership and layoffs, while also making it clear that the studio is not interested in making a live service." 👏Then, "they were barred from joining the afterparty" because it was apparently "already at max capacity". (Article appears on The Gamer)
I earnestly wish more game development *studios* had the courage to speak out like that about the ignomious trend, but they don't and I believe it's out of a sense of fear that their projects will no longer be funded or published if they do and that is, unfortunately, a distinct possibility. Professional studios depend on publishers and platform manufacturers for the funding, publication and distribution of their projects. Only those who can operate as independently as possible of that rather sick ecosystem, e.g. indie developers who laregly depend on crowd funding and word of mouth to get their projects seen and played, have the remotest chance of escaping it with their integrity, artistic and otherwise, intact at the moment.
It's quite a conundrum and voting with our wallets most likely won't put a dent in it, much less put a stop to it. There are too many who are unaware or simply don't care because they don't feel it affects them in any way and couldn't care less about those they feel it does.
Edit: Original comment hidden/deleted by YT's algorithms, which probably read the article citation as a hyperlink. Forgive the double-posting if it shows up in the next millenium or so.
All the house mods are kinda bad in the CC. I like their ideas of custom themed clutter but each one is always missing some type of storage for that completionist feel including non cc mods. Im still waiting on the day someone drops a house thats similar to Legacy of the Dragonborn and for consoles. I want a house that is complete for collectors. One that has a key rack, enough library shelves, like static clutter for daedric artifacts, claws, and paragons, static clutter for notes, journals, unique books, spell tomes, rings, and amulets, static clutter for every type of food in a kitchen, smithing room with some weapon racks to display unique pickaxes and woodcutter axes, enchanting/alchemy room with heartstone and spider pod clutter included, and static basic armor and weapons clutter. As well as plenty of mannequins/display cases to accomodate all unique gear, a safe/treasure chest for special quest items. And a bit of an extra which is to have a childrens bedroom with a display case so i can put a wooden sword in it lol. Closest ive come to finding the perfect house is Frostvale Estate and the Dreamweaver but they constantly crash. I do like how these authors are finally moving on to interactable displays though.
I liked CC Myrwatch but due to a bug, cannot adopt more than one child without ruining the children sleep schedule. Someone went into the code and found multiple bugs in the CC homes with respect to Hearthfire content.
mostly because they lack things we take for granted usually unique displays follower space auto sorting etc etc etc
why would i take any of these when skyrimlazz exists?
@@stephenlb that's especially dumb given the amount of people who use multiple adoptions mod
i watched ESO's videos on this bs and he brought Katja along for the dungeons
i swear each time i heard her saying "the blood of Talos flows throguh my veins", out of context, with the most unenthusiastic and reading voice ever, i twitched my arms in such agony
Yeah, Ialmost forgot about it from all the testing I've done while collecting footage. 🤣
Yeah very cringe, if I want battle taunts that are geniunely funny I'll listen to Sofia and Recorder shout them out they end up being damn hilarious, hell even Inigo has a number of excellent battle cries.
Thank you for this. When this came out I started hearing the same arguments I heard for the original creation club. “You don’t want to support modders??”
If they’re selling their mods ion an ingame store hosted by the developers, sorry you’re not a modder, you’re a third party developer creating cash shop items.
This video was definitely needed Syn. Spreading awareness on this problem will hopefully help others realize what’s really going on. I look forward to all these games coming out that are AAA and end up being terrible on release. Now with micro transactions everywhere it’s horrible. Thanks for shedding light to these issues and how Bethesda is incorporating it!
The free alternative recommendations were a great addition to the video. Could you do the same for the quest mods as well or possibly the rest of CC content?
I had an idea of making a video covering and critiquing Anniversary Edition as a whole package.
I can't promise anything, but it's not completely off the table.
Sounds good to me. Appreciate the videos.@@SynMods
The Anniversary Edition was really a mixed bag. Some interesting stuff like the "Forgotten Seasons" dungeon but mostly it serves to de-balance the game and is poorly integrated into the rest of Skyrim. Some AE creations are so bad I had to manually delete them like Arcane Archer, which ruins combat. Using Arcane Archer both you and the enemy can one-shot each other at higher levels because of a bug handling elemental damage. Not fun. I'm so glad I started my Skyrim experience with the Special Edition instead of Anniversary. @@SynMods
Wuh I just heard your intro speech and I already love it ❤
Dwemer Guns:
-Wheels of Lull (Harquebus)
-Dwarven Automatic Crossbows
Companions:
-Xelzaz, Remiel, and Redcap go well together
-Inigo, Vilja, Lucien, and Auri mesh well as well
-Lydia, Teldryn, and Serana have Dialogue overhauls
-And of course there's Shirley, Skyrim's Grandma
Houses:
-Morskom Estate
-Clockwork
-Breezehome
-Staff of Shalidor
-Airship Dev Aveza
-Tel Nalta II
-Ruined Temple of Phynaster
-Tirashan
-Milandriel
-Laboratorium
-other house mods reviewed by Febrith Darkstar
Dwemer Dungeons:
-Project AHO
-Tools of Kagrenac
-Forgotten City
East Empire Trading:
-Legacy of the Dragonborn
--------
I will note that the paid Dungeons are meant to be dungeons from ESO...so, for location mods from other Elder Scrolls games:
-The Elder Scrolls Online Imports
-Morthal Barrow
-Taarengrav Barrow
-Old Attis Farm Revived
-Solstheim - The Lost Levels
-Lakvan's Stronghold
-Amol Village
-Snowhawk Expanded
-Beyond Skyrim: Bruma
I fear that with all the efforts from Bethesda to "slide the food bowl" closer and closer to themselves, they are aiming to privatize modding in TES6. If this happens I think you will see a MASSIVE Skyrim Modding renaissance where a bunch of big name modders will be basically taking over Skyrim on a whole new level and boycotting TES6 altogether and I will almost certainly be on that list. And thanks for all the praise and shout outs for Legacy too, always appreciated my friend. :D
Wel said, Syn. I don't see this video as a negative content, uou are speaking the truth in a respectful way and there is no harm in reporting your experience with paid content to others. Especially, having a gigantic catalog of extremely well-made mods of undeniable quality being made available for free. Not to mention the fact that direct donations, support via Patreon and similar, and Nexus Donation Points are a great incentive for modders.
While watching the video, I could not stop pointing in my mind so many nice free mods for everything you mentioned, such as the large, interesting and full of new items and lore grafts Glenmoril and Vigilant, to the smaller but highly creative ones like Teldryn Serious, which uses lines of dialogue "recycled" from the base game but in a convincing and organic way. The guns from the first mod actually reminded me a lot of the ones available in Glenmoril. With the followers, Inigo was very well mentioned, and I would also mention Taliesin as a great work on writing and voice acting.
Thank you, Serket.
Always good to see you, and thank you for your input and suggestions :)
Man, Syn going SAVAGE! I love it!!!! I appreciate these types of videos. This is what I personally look for in reviews. “Give it to me straight, tell me your opinion and leave the decision to me” all while being completely respectfully critical. 🤘🏼🤘🏼
Love the channel and all the quality videos you make. Keep it up brother.
Cheers, thank you! :)
Man, way to wrap up the video the way you did. You nailed this and this isn’t negative. You’re providing obvious awareness to a problem.
As a mod maker, I have no problem donating to other passionate mod makers, but restricting a mod behind a paywall is pathetic.
So with the Dwemer themed dungeon mod, the locations where are modeled after dungeons that are from Elder Scrolls online as Raid Content. As for why there are Dwemer ruins in that area, Blackreach extended much further into the North West portion of Skyrim in ESO.
Since the video was released, I've been made aware that it's indeed based on ESO design. :)
But yeah, my stance on it remains firm, regardless of who designed it. I dislike everything about it, and I genuinely think it's an awful design.
This is where it comes down to, now and for mods in the future that don’t alienate folks who can’t or don’t want to pay; is mod authors who even if they do want to make money from mods, then create mods of the same quality as or better than their paid mods or mod authors who straight up do it for the love of the art and will never offer their mods for even a single penny.
Thank you for this video. Negativity in sake for negativity is bad but this critisizm is driven by honesty. This is very helpful insight for the community.
Cheers, thank you! :)
As a consumer you saw and discussed how money should/should not spend. This is not negative, hate or hate content, well made and well evaluted critism. And you are right about the CC content.
We have realised that Legacy of the Dragonborn is the one of the best mod ever done by modding community.
what a very thoughtful and well made video. need more skyrim content creators shining a light on bethesda's greed
Cheers. :)
I honestly believe that Bethesda know this idea is doomed to failure. This is just them doing their due diligence as they work towards exclusively offering paid mods for future titles and phasing out free mods. Not sure if that's possible but that's what my intuition is telling me. Nothing negative about this video... you're being candid, offering valuable information to us as well as alternatives. Thank you!
Why would they know it's doomed to failure when they've been successfully preying on the love and nostalgia of both the Elder Scrolls and Fallout communities for years with absolute impunity and making millions for investors in the process?
This is not just a Bethesda issue, of course, but an industry-wide issue in which both publishers and platform manufacturers are involved. I've unsure why they think biting the very hand that feeds them, so to speak, will accomplish anything other than garnering them foul reputations among the public, but they're obviously not concerned with their reputations or anything approaching community goodwill. They're concerned solely with the profit motive and that's a sad statement on the state of both the gaming industry and the world today.
@@lrinfi they rolled this idea out a few years back and there was a massive backlash. They actually had to scrap the 'Creation Club' (I think that's what it was called) because the reaction was so overwhelmingly negative. I believe that what they're really trying to do here is to split the modding community to pave the way for exclusive paid mods. It'll seem more palatable if it's something that's already existed for years because... let's face it, we're still probably a few years away from TES6. What they see in the free modding community is a potential revenue stream that they haven't been tapping. I could be wrong and I hope that I am but that's what I'm seeing as a very strong possibility.
06:15 This playerhome unfortunately is bugged. You can only place replicas of special items on display that you'll find in the dungeon leading towards the house. When this dungeon respawns, all the special item replicas respawn in the dungeon and are no longer on display.
At this point, I’m just thinking the paid stuff is garbage so it doesn’t outshine Bethesda’s mediocre games.
I bet they were made by bugdethsa, feel like souless corpo garbage.
This is video is definitely not negative just for the sake of being negative, and I think that's what really matters. Your critique is valid and you delivered it without any hyperbole. I just hope it gets a lot of views and people take your message to heart.
Let's not forget this is the *THIRD* time Bethesda is trying to sell us mods, first they tried to monetize the Steam Workshop, then there's the recently scrapped Creation Club and now this bullshit re-brand.
#keepmodsfree I feel you on this 💯 dawg
Always good to see you, my man.
@@SynMods always here to support brotha 🍻
Criticism is not negativity. Even when it can be negativity, I prefer it to sweet words and gentle sentences when it is needed... And it is badly needed here.
Cheers! I appreciate the encouragement.
You make a really good point in bringing up corporate greed and how it is ruining games and this awesome community of ours, i just do not agree with you putting so much of the blame on the consumers. I understand why you would do that as it is almost the only thing we can do on an individual level to try and stop or at least slow down this development. In my opinion the problem is far deeper and lies within the economic system that we live under. Currently the pursuit of profit and economical growth is put above all else and I think that these predatory monetary practices seen in gaming are a natural development of that. Video games are an art and should not be profit driven. For me personally seeing the gaming industry get more predatory has been really eye opening and made me question the whole economic system we live under. Thank you for this great video, keep up the good work!
Stone Garden and Frostvault are actually dungeons from Elder scrolls online. Their placing is somewhat matches that of where they are in ESO.
An idea for the mod author community. If any of Bethesda's paid mods looks like gaining traction build a far better direct replacement and post to the Nexus. This will make it clear to MAs tempted by Bethesda's offer that it would be a losing bet to switch to them. This may seem combative. It's meant to be. Bethesda have fired the first several salvos and are the aggressor here. If they get enough mercenaries ES 6 is lost.
Thank you! After being disappointed with the items I purchased from the Creation Club when I played on Xbox, I learned my lesson. After buying a PC that was more than capable of running Skyrim and attempting tp learn how to mod, I bought a Premium Membership on Nexus. Then, after a couple years of playing Skyrim, Fallout 3 & 4, I started noticing things, and watching videos of other people playing these games, which started confirming the thoughts I was having about Bethesda Game Studios. The mediocracy they showcase over their last four major franchise titles, makes it abundantly clear that they're only in it to make money, and that is their only motivation regardless of what Todd lies about. Their 'updates' or 'upgrades' were blatant attacks on the very people who have kept these games relevant for the last decade, and fixed many of the problems BSG were too lazy to address in their so-called 'updates'. If it weren't for the modder's I would have moved on to other games, and Bethesda probably will not get another dime from me. I'm not going to get excited for TES VI, because if history has taught me anything, it's that BSG makes mediocre games and I will not tolerate that any longer. Your assessment of the state of the consumer is also very accurate, our games are crap, our movies are crap, and our music is crap, because the consumer has been socially engineered to tolerate crap.
The biggest issue with the creations is the fact they can't be based on the amazing modding community tools. Like the video says it just limits them so much which is a real shame.
LotDB has everything these mods have AND a flying ship that you can claim as your own.
You were not negative at all, Syn. You worded your concerns and are giving feedback to an important subject. I was waaaay more vitriolic when Bethesda rolled this out but I've chilled out a bit. I wasn't against creation club because of PlayStation lack of assets for modding, and thought it would fill a niche. Even then everyone had a sneaking suspicion (or flatly called it out). I think the biggest takeaway is not anger but downright disappointment. Bethesda was a beloved publisher, but it's like we walked into the bedroom and found them in the sheets with big corp. Which is kind of what happened.
I really like the closing remarks you had. Corporations treat people like they're idiots who will accept anything they throw at them because THEY DO. I'm just getting sick of people who say things like this are unacceptable without acknowledging that it wouldn't be happening if people weren't accepting it anyways. More people need to call out this enabling for what it is, so thank you for helping with that.
This is a great video and I think a lot of actual modders are grateful that you made this. Paid mods are an absurd concept as in reality they're nothing more then overpriced microtransactions using the optics of modding to score browny points with the community. It's a disgusting practice used by a disgusting company.
One of the best Skyrim-related videos I've literally ever watched. Well said. You also maintained positivity in your delivery and respect to mod authors and voice actors amidst the honest criticisms. More people need to watch this vid. Been said before but dope conclusion too.
I feel like I'm having dejavu, didn't we already go through this a few years ago? People didn't like paid mods back then and they certainly aren't going to like it now...
You are spot on Syn, all Bethesda is trying to do is ride on the backs on the modding community, who keep this ( old game ) interesting and entertaining.
Take away what the community has done, and Skyrim would have faded years ago.
It's an undeniable truth. While Skyrim is a great RPG with incredible charm, it would not have survived half its current lifespan if there wasn't for a modding community.
Cheers. I agree with everything in this video. :) The only way I can remotely see this system working is by massive worldspace quest mods. But it would take years for them to make, and there are still countless free alternatives.
Creating large land masses requires effort :)
And Creator Program seems to me like a low effort cash grab if I am to be blunt about it.
@@SynMods Yeah, that's true.
For PC players, I can understand the confusion around Creations, but as a PlayStation user, these are great.
i think this is a fairly balanced review of the content tbh. keep it up
Cheers!
"Negative" (like 'hate') is not a bad word. Being 'negative' prevents people being scammed, which this video helps with also
This needs to be showcased and discussed by EVERYONE. What Bethesda is doing is despicable and shows that they have no shame nor passion for anything other than money. Don't categorize this as "negative content", this is simply raising awareness to the disgusting practices of a studio/company that lost their touch A LONG time ago. I know this will not stop, but seeing studios like Larian getting more and more recognition gives me hope that human beings with actual passion for games are still out there, while the ones that became husks of what they once were are beginning to be left behind.
It's too late now, they didn't get the proper backlash they received in 2015 when they tried the whole Steam creations thing. Bethesda has won the long game against consumers.
Stonegarden and Frostvault are Dungeons "copied" from Elder Scrolls online, which explains the odd locations. Stonegarden is located in Blackreach under Solitude.
Now here's how they butchered it.
Stonegarden was the Laboratory of a Mad Alchemist, experimenting on Vampires and Werewolves and Vampires to enhance their strength. The Layout was completely different as well.
Frostvault was a Vauult garded by both Dwemer Constructs and a Horde of Goblins.
Naturally Skyrim (or the modders) can't come close to recreating this level of enemy variety, even though most of of the Assets do somewhat exist in game.
I agree with you on followers, though I do like some of the vanilla ones. If only their AI were better. 😒
As to the new Dwemer ruins being located in these random caves, I've heard somewhere that they were actually recreations of Dwemer ruins from ESO, so it's possible that in ESO they're also located in random caves. 🤷🏻♂
But good video on the whole. You're making a great point in the final segment.
Some free advice for anyone making a follower mode that comments on missions and places... Allow the player to tell them stories about the mission in case they were not there...
Not me staring at the pearl shop in black desert while you pull it up in the video 🤣
Hey, about Frostvault and Stone Garden. They are dungeons originally from ESO. I didn't check Stone Garden, but Frostvault does roughly match its location, as it was in ESO.
My thoughts were very muc in line with yours. Only East Empire Expansion would have looked at all enticing to me, if I wasn't already familer with LoTD.
About the thief follower, the voice and face seemed so conflicting until I realized that her face is literally the same as the unbroken lady. The companion reject
Excellent video.
I have an unrelated question: How do you achieve those cinematic shots of the game?
Thanks.
It's a combo of console commands, bunch of puppeteer mods, depth of field values & camera effects in post processing.
@@SynMods Thanks so much. It makes the videos quite enjoyable. Keep up the awesome work.
Thank you bringing attention to free alternatives. It's quite a stark contrast between what we already have and what we are offered to buy from Bethesda.
No problem, glad to have done it. Worked out great, as it gave me an opportunity to shout out mods that deserve all the spotlight.
I agree with everything you said, I do feel like your conclusion was a smidgen incomplete, tho. We should definitely speak with our wallets by not purchasing mediocre content.... We SHOULD, as a community, be more willing to donate to mod authors instead whenever we can. The creation club would be dead in the water (it basically already is) if mod authors were already getting some form of compensation for their hard work. and as you said, they do not expect anything in return, but we should be willing to pay for quality even if voluntarily to help keep more of the good content coming. Free mods are a gift to all of us, we should be more willing to give back when we can.
Beth is trying to get away with being a "gaming company" without making any new games. They've painted themselves into a corner with their own coding. If they move to another engine "poof" goes the modding community. Beth stagnated and put up the for sale sign a couple years ago and that didn't even help.
I generally prefer to be positive about most things, but constructive criticism is most welcome at any time. This video I think does a great job at criticism done right. It clearly identifies the problem, explains in simple terms so that anyone can understand, and gives example after example to prove the point. Hats off to you, I look forwards to your future work (positive or negative).
Finally, i found someone on youtube who not just blindly blames companies for their greed, but actualy the consumers. Thats so true and i hate it, how people are whining about microtransactions or battlepasses, yet, continue to buy them(
The Cathedral Weathers mod page explains this phenomenom perfectly. Paid mods are the epitome of the parlor school, for the rest of the community does not want anything to do with them and they cannot set each other as requirements. Every paid mod is isolated.
The regular modding community is the ultimate expression if the Cathedral School, the result of the combined efforts of many talented and passionate people who can set each other as requirements.
A pathetic money grab. Whats made worse are mod authors supporting this behavior out of either need for some sort of validation or just want to be recognized in some way. Perhaps what Bethesda should of done is a sort of rewards program instead, but we all know it's purely about money. How many times have some of us bought the same game more than once? What happened to paid DLC type addons? Seems they rather have us (mod authors) do the work for them and attempt to cash in for themselves.
On the follower department, I'd like to recommend Rosalie from the DR's OK_Custom Voice Followers mod and Rabi. Sadly these two are japanese voice only so they will feel out of place unless you play the game with japanese voices as well, but what I like about them is how they interact with each other and react to your adventure's quests (Rabi goes for vanilla and Dawnguard, while Rosalie does only Dragonborn, I don't know why).
As a substitute follower mod, I would suggest Arissa - The Wandering Rogue. It's a LE mod that can easily be ported over to SE.
I remember the excuse of "oh it will let mod makers do even more."
Its a factual statement that they are insultingly mediocre. being critical in your respectful manner is not "negative" it is very very important. and your a good person for trying to make things better in a mature and constructive way. if anybody says this is negative they are coping.
I have never ever bought anything from Creation Club and I never will.
It amazes me how much garbage Bethesda fans are willing to put up with.
Thanks for being honest and not simply being a Bethesda sycophant. There are many those out there that ignore Beth's anti-consumer behaviors
Its refreshing to see criticism that isn't fueld by hate, i love every game from fallout new vegas to skyrim but Bethesda just cant keep getting away with it, they were once trend setters that revolutionized gaming, now they are just the lol cows of rpg... its sad man i hope with all i have that tes6 will be good but i have little hope
We need to click on the "like" button, in order for bethesda to see this.
It doens't make any sense... Bethesda simply wants for us to pay for free things. Its simple as that.
Bethesda doesn't care about you. The sooner you realize this, the better. They ultimately only care about profit, even if it means destroying their own reputation.
I've lost a lot of faith in BGS recently, really pushed me to the edge with Starfield and I haven't been able to play Skyrim in ages because they keep updating it and breaking all my mods. Now they're pushing paid mods, and while right now they're optional, I can see the writing on the wall and get the feeling one day they won't be.
So lovely to watch something different from you ❤
Thank you :)
sneaky one you two
Hi. I just discovered your channel and it is awesome. I am into modding(installing mods not creating) since a while. I love it and channels like yours are an incredible value to the community.
I suffer a lot when an update shows up, actually, I bought the game at gog but sadly it recently got updated(despite I had 'DO NOT update this game' option turned on) and I came back to my Steam copy to mod Skyrim once again. (Btw, gog erased the functional version for users to get...)
So my question is: Is there any effective method to prevent Steam to update or any way to rollback without all falling apart??
Thank you very much and I am looking forward for more of your great content.
Honestly i don’t think we should pay for mods we should have a option to donate money to the moder
LOVE how all the Creation sections are labeled with "X Dollar" first in the timeline.
Brilliant.
In a perfect world paid mods would be a means for game devs to support modders within their community, supporting them either with development help, or financial incentive/assistance to continue updating and developing the mod while bringing it up to the standards of what you see in the base game.
Unfortunately nobody should be trusting Bethesda to do the due diligence this practice needs to be done right, and will simply use it as an excuse to monetize very basic mods as if they were paid dlc.
If this system were to fully manifest one day I'd at least pitch a one time club purchase, for a singular purchase, you get an ever expanding library of mods vetted and supported by Bethesda's teams themselves to become indistinguishable from the base game.
These paid mods are akin to roblox spammers who want you to buy a stupid spring every time you get to the next checkpoint in an obby.
The creations just feel souless
Nothing is voiced, there's no npcs, no level or quest requirements. When you stumble with some mod contents you can't tell its not part of the game except for the new voices (lol). Quality-wise, there is nothing that justify it being paid.
If you use wabbajack, you'll need the AE upgrade to use many of the packs. And thats the reason I bought it and why I can write this
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'm just waiting for the Anniversary Anniversary Edition.
I simply love East Empire Expansion.
I've did some testing as you get 30% money back of all items you put up for sale. So, I've crafted some very expensive potions with my high level character and gained 6696674 Septims for it. Apparently we can legit max out our money now. Don't do it though, because around 2 billion septims the number goes overboard in the negatives and you'll be in deep dept in this game, literarily.
A fun mod for sure, but very OP if you play your cards right.
What's the armor Serana is wearing at 11:34? Excellent vid by the way, pretty much agreed on everything. Let me guess, you don't use player homes because you live in the LotD Safehouse? :)