Playing Skyrim quest mods: Legacy of the Dragonborn

When I publish this it's been about a week since I last played. This stint in Skyrim has been really cool, but it's seemingly over now.

Legacy of the Dragonborn is the most extensive and detailed mod I have ever played. To begin with I got the mod because I really needed a place where I could show off all my loot and not just shuck it in a chest and never look at it again. Legacy of the Dragonborn comes with a museum to do just that.

But it becomes so much more. There are several quests related to the museum itself, but at one point you get to found an Explorers Guild which kicks off the best fanmade delve into Falmer history that I have ever seen.

The mod is fully voice-acted (really well to boot) and even affiliated with a bunch of other popular mods so you can show off your loot from those mods as well. A few of them are The Forgotten City, Moonpath to Elsweyr, The Cowl of Nocturnal, Moon and Star, Artifacts of Boethiah, Oblivion Artifacts, and many many more.

Every ruin (Nordic, Dwarven, Falmer) you go to will have archeology sites that will allow you to do an archeological dig and take fragments with you. Fragments that can later be combined into artifacts to put up on display. The more archeological digs you do the higher your archeology skill gets (complete skill tree with perk points!) and you get benefits from digging. I really liked the whole archeology thing

After I finished the questing of the mod it mostly became all about filling the museum and completing the displays. I confess that I got bored of artifact hunting about halfway through and that's the reason I stopped playing Skyrim this time around.

The Umbrella Academy

I've been curious about this show for a while so when we finished The Haunting of Hill House, we continued on our Netflix tour with this one.

It seemed to be straight up our alley with superpowers and superheroes. I think I liked it more than Toni, but we both enjoyed it.

I heard of this show via Tumblr, actually, because Tumblr loves Gerard Way and MCR (who doesn't). And after we finished this show I bought all the volumes of the graphic novel, although I haven't had the time to read them yet.

We figured out pretty early on that Vanya was the cause and the catalyst for everything that happens. It was pretty obvious from a storytelling point of view. Still the show offered a couple of surprises which I'm not gonna tell because spoilers.

Five is easily my favourite character, but I also really liked Hazel and Klaus. Klaus grew on me a lot after the episode in which he accidentally goes back in time and becomes a war veteran. So much character growth in a single episode.

Really looking forward to reading the comics :3

My last 5 books: Four misses and one redeemer

1. The Miniaturist, by Jessie Burton. I don't know how I feel about this book. I enjoyed reading it but when it ended I felt strangely disappointed. Reflecting back nothing much happened, while a lot of things happened. There was a lot of empty words and the characters fell flat. It seems like the author spent a lot of time choosing her words and making her prose pretty, but not even close to the same amount of time in making her characters seem like real people. All the characters behave in illogical and erratic manners, that move the story forward but do nothing for their credibility. It feels like the ending fell flat. The finality to it was disappointing and nothing is resolved. The title is misleading as almost nothing in this book has to do with the miniaturist. It seems odd to name a book after someone who has so little influence on the actual story. Every twist to the story was expected, except the one evening involving a dagger. That scene only helped diminish the characters' credibility even more. Nothing is resolved, nothing is explained, and the only lesson the author seems to want to impart to her readers is that the world sucks and you can't do anything about it. The ball keeps rolling, the cups keep spilling over, and all you can do is to try to keep up because you don't stand a chance of stopping it.

2. Sea of Ghosts, by Alan Campbell. My boyfriend read this book before me and he really didn't like it so my expectations were extremely low for this one, but I figured I might as well read it. It starts off pretty slow. I don't like Granger, even after finishing the book I'm not a fan of Granger. I really like Ianthe and Briana, though, and I'm fascinated by Maskelyne. So far so good. The world is steampunk meets sci-fi meets fantasy meets dystopia. This book is the absolute definition of science fantasy. The only thing that's extremely jarring to me in this book is how they are terrified of the ocean throughout the whole thing, a touch of it will change you, being submerged will kill you, and yet Granger survives going for a dive and a prolonged swim? Either the author unwittingly ruined the danger element he'd given the sea, or he made his beloved main character a superhero, or there will be answers further down the line. I also don't agree with the way Ianthe came into her power. It was too out of nowhere. I understand that strong emotion like anger and fighting for your life can make you do things - but if that was the only requirement for Ianthe to discover her power then she would've killed Maskelyne many times over before they even got to Awl. The way she discovered what she could do was way too convenient.

3. Braindroppings, by George Carlin. I really love Carlin's stand-up shows and so I thought I'd love this. I didn't. Apart from a few giggles and chuckles spread throughout the book it was mostly a case of looking ahead to see how many pages were left before the book was finished. To top it off the book hasn't aged well, some of the jokes in it are now so old they have passed the point of being funny because they aren't relevant on any level anymore. I could see how they were once funny, but the world has changed too much since they were. I.e. the short about guys and their walkmans - like what would Carlin have to say today about all the people wearing headphones and listening to music/e-books/podcasts pretty constantly? Not a lot of nice things probably, if that one joke is any indication. While reading this book I could hear Carlin's voice in my head, telling the jokes with all the mannerisms he used on stage, but it didn't help to make this book better.

4. Nights at the Circus, by Angela Carter. 1½ months and 200 pages later I decided to DNF this. It's supposedly a classic, but I've never heard of it. Nothing about this book speaks to me. The characters fell flat and the story progression makes no sense. I hate when a character falls in love for no apparant reason, and the journalist in this book is supposedly so in love with Fevvers that he follows her to the circus, after having a very one-sided conversation one single night. She did all the talking, he barely got a word in sideways. These two characters have no chemistry and seem to make no connection and so their feelings make no sense, almost like their relationship was made up on the fly to somehow make the story move forward. And yet it doesn't. After 200 pages it feels like nothing has happened, nothing at all. And I just can't with this book. This was sent to me as part of Blind Date with a Book, it's the first book I read from my six months with them and I hope not all of the books they send will be like this. I enjoy the freak show/circus setting and so this was a huge disappointment.

5. Taken In, by Elizabeth Lynn Casey. This was a lost-and-found at the hotel that nobody ever claimed and I figured I might as well read it. It was terrible, which is why it took me so long to finish. Obvious plot is obvious. The murder is so simple, there's basically no mystery to it and it's evident who the murderer is pretty much from the point where the victim's neighbour says she saw a tall guy bang on his door and then walk past her door. Like duh. This is what we'd call "old lady mystery trash" and they can be entertaining, but this one just made me sigh in exasperation. Tori is a Mary Sue. Rose's personality is that she's old. Margaret Louise and Beatrice are painfully blatant stereotypes, Dixie is basically not involved and Leona is a bitch. This book has no redeeming qualities other than that it was easy reading and done pretty quickly when I set my mind to it.

Love, Death & Robots

This is an anthology of short clips that are usually very profound. They are made in a variety of ways, from live action and cartoons to animation and stop-motion. Most of them were under 10 minutes long, and yet managed to convey a very strong message and a lot of feelings.

There are 18 episodes and my top five favourites (and short youtube clips to introduce them) in no specific order are:

When the Yogurt Took Over

Pretty self-explanatory. Sentient yogurt ends up ruling the world.

Alternate Histories

A museum shares its most requested alternate history simulation: what if Hitler had died before he led Germany? Several "possible" death scenarios follow.

Good Hunting

If Avatar was dark and not for children. That was the vibe I got from this story. It's so very dark and also sad, but hauntingly beautiful as well. How rich people ruin the world and how it fights back.

Three Robots

After the apocalypse. All the people are gone and only robots remain. Two robots go with a tour guide through a ruined city.

Beyond the Aquila Rift

Very Mass Effect-y. I got such extreme Mass Effect vibes from this that I'm not sure if that's the only reason I like it or not. The general story is quite common and has been done before, but this is so well-made. 

All of the episodes are so worth a watch, and it was very hard to pick out five favourites. I liked all of them for different reasons. You can watch all of them in less than a day. It's all on Netflix. Go.

Elder Scrolls Online: Harrowstorm DLC

Finally got around to trying the two new dungeons with tio yesterday :) We started with some old familiar dungeons to get us warmed up and then off we went.

First up was Icereach. Basically a prequel to Direfrost Keep; a dungeon that's been in the game since the very beginning. The dungeon is in the mountains between Skyrim and High Rock and is basically just a snow-covered ice-clad fortress full of Forsworn witches and Hagravens. It had some interesting mechanics that'll probably prove really difficult on veteran before we really learn them. First of which was the use the flames engulfing one of the players in the group to thaw the stranglers that would siphon the life from another player. Another was the dps race against the Mother Witch and how to utilise the flames and the ice storm against each other. We never really tried this because normal doesn't require it, but I have an idea that you're supposed to use the flames engulfing one player to stop the ice storm chasing another players. Kind of get them to neutralise each other. The Enervating thralls were just annoying on normal, but probably real threats on veteran.

The story in this dungeon reintroduces Lyris Titanborn; one of the Five Companions from the main quest and it was so nice to see her again :3

The second dungeon was Unhallowed Grave. This is a desert dungeon found in Bangkorai. It's being infiltrated and looted by a Forsworn summoner and his army of draugr. This dungeon posed a bit more of a challenge to us, even on normal. The second boss of the dungeon needs to be defeated with the help of a puzzle and this puzzle took us ages to figure out, but once we did figure it out we defeated the boss pretty easily. The third boss was pretty straightforward, but the adds it summoned enveloped the dps and healer and you had to defeat them alone because you couldn't move. The add created a wall of spinning swords keeping you close until you killed it. Will probably prove really fricking annoying on veteran. The fourth boss gave me flashbacks to the last boss of Vaults of Madness. It was basically that with the added heavy use of the grapple hook introduced in the game with Elsweyr last year. Instead of just going outside or inside a bubble depending on where the Lich does his attack (as is the way in Vauls of Madness), this boss had you grapple to ledges to avoid attack in the main area and then grappling back to avoid the attack on the ledges. Easy to figure out, but difficult to get a proper grap on in mid-battle (at least enough grap to avoid falling off :P tio!!) And then we had the final boss. The Forsworn summoner, which seemed like a pretty straightforward boss, until he summoned the largest frickin bone colossus ever in recorded history and I was too busy trying to get a picture of it to keep everybody alive. That monstrosity will prove a definite challenge on veteran.

This second dungeon relied heavily on the grapple hook. Both to navigate it and to defeat the bosses. And it's one of the few novel idea that's been introduced to ESO lately. The grapple hook is a lot of fun and it was definitely a different experience to have to rely on it to complete a dungeon.

The Haunting of Hill House

I still haven't read the novel. I should fix that. Soon.

I've been excited for this show since it was announced. Mainly because I love the 1999 movie, but also because I've seen the 1963 original movie. But I haven't gotten around to watching it until just now.

This show is slow at times but excellent at building suspense and the ghosts were genuinely creepy. Especially the tall man with the hat and cane. He has visited my dreams a few times since I first saw him on the show.

I really loved how the first six episodes only provided clues and pieces to the story and then the last four episodes were all about watching the pieces come together and seeing the puzzle solved. And omg I loved to see the puzzle solved. Such a great feeling of contentment.

I instantly liked Theo. Steve was the one I wanted to like but he made it so very, very hard. Shirley kept pushing me away no matter how much I tried to like her. Both Nell and Luke made me sad for different reasons.

This is a very sad show. But you can also turn it into a game of "Spot the Ghost" as there are almost always ghosts lurking in the background.

Seems like Netflix is turning this show into some sort of American Horror Story thing, as there'll be a second season but with another house and new characters.

Absolutely worth a watch.

Playing Skyrim quest mods: The Forgotten City (again)

The last time I made a venture into Skyrim's quest mods I played this one. But when I decided to head into it again I redownloaded the few I had already completed to play them again. The Forgotten City is the first of those.

Last time I played this I was mostly confused by the whole thing, mainly, I think, because I went too fast. This time I resolved to really take my time and that decision made the whole mod a lot better.

By taking my time I got to know the characters. I got to know what led each of them there and how they felt about the Dwarves' Law, but also what they were hoping for for their futures.

In the beginning after the leap of faith you find Altrius' suicide note which basically encourages the player to keep failing by letting you know that Altrius decided to take his life after not being able to change things and he just went mad with having to go back to the lakehouse over and over again. The quest is actually set up so that you have to "fail" to reach the good ending.

So what I did is that I talked to everybody, went into everybody's house and read every single letter I could find. I went down into the underground tunnels via Ulrin's house and discovered everything down there and then I climbed my way into the Palace and discovered everything in there. I found every single part of the Immaculate Dwarven Armor needed to pass through the radiation in the Underground tunnels proper except for the chestplate. The only one who had the chestplate was Rykas and he refused to let go of it. And here's where it's set up to force you to "fail" to succeed. You need to kill Rykas to get the chestplate, but when you kill him you activate the Dwarves' Law which annihilates everyone in the city. The Jarl opens the time portal and back you go. Except you retain every piece of knowledge and everything in your inventory - including the chestplate. So equipping all of the Immaculate Dwarven Armor you can just ignore everything this time around and go straight into the Underground Tunnel. Fight your way through and you end up face to face with the Arbiter. An actual, real, 2000 year old, Dwemer, who acts as the Judge and watches over everyone and everything that happens in the city. Here you have two options. If your Speech skill is high enough you can just persuade him to stop and abolish the Dwarves' Law. The other option is to fight the Arbiter and when you kill him the Dwarves' Law will be no more. With the Arbiter defeated you'll be returned to your own timeline and meet Altrius. You'll also discover that the City is thriving. The Jarl was replaced after the citizens found out what he did to Ulrin's wife and everybody's happy.

There is another way to get back to your timeline and that's by having the Jarl killed so that he can't create the time portal. Either by killing him yourself (either unprovoked or by accusing him of being the threat to the city), or by telling Ulrin what the Jarl has done to his wife, or by discovering and releasing Ulrin's wife and have her do it. That's what I did the last time I played. I let her kill him.

This mod is amazing in its replayability and I love it's intricacy. It also tickles my love for the Dwemer.

Playing Skyrim quest mods: Project AHO

This mod tickles my love for the Dwemer.

I got this mod not really knowing anything at all about it. It was among the top ones for quest mods and I wanted a mod that added new quests, items, locations... So I got this one.

It starts off by you getting hit with a paralysis spell, stripped of all of your gear and then sold as a slave to a Telvanni scholar. At least you get to keep your tongue, unlike all the other slaves. So of course the first thing you do after you've been let out of your cell is to go talk to everybody and explore and find out their secrets.

You find yourself in Sadrith Kegran. A Telvanni city underground, built on the ruins of a Dwemer city. The whole DLC is like if Vvardenfell and Blackreach had a baby and I absolutely love it!

As time goes on and you help the people in Sadrith Kegran with small troubles you're soon let in on the secret of project AHO. AHO was something the Dwemer worked on and two rival scholars in Sadrith Kegran both want to use it. Your master is one, but it's becoming evident that he's slowly losing his mind.

So will you stay loyal to your master even after the rulers give you your freedom and help him use AHO? (Despite his budding insanity). Or will you help his rival achieve the same goal? One of them will doom the city, the other will save it. There are two endings to this story. Take your pick.

(And this mod had the best Easter egg ever)

Another cool thing is that hidden deep inside the Dwemer ruins is a music organ, and you can find Dwemer cubes with songs on them to use on the organ. One of them plays the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. Another one plays the Dragon Age Inquisition soundtrack. There are lots of familiar tunes to be found all over.

I chose to destroy the town but save AHO. I'm not entirely sure I made the right choice, but it seemed right at the time. Don't overthink things.

Playing Skyrim quest mods: Helgen Reborn

This mod was strange. It seemed like this neat little thing that lets you rebuild Helgen, and I figured why not. Turns off there's so much more to it than that.

So it starts off with you meeting this old guy at an inn and then convincing the leader of the bandits who have now holed up in Helgen that they should instead try and rebuild rather than destroy. Turns out these bandits aren't actual bandits but members of a secret order and the old guy knows their leader since way back.

So off we go to make the area safe by clearing out undead, necromancers, vampires and bandits from different locations in the area. The one that made the biggest impression on me was the mine where somebody had summoned a dremora who killed everybody and made the mine haunted. Every single effect in that location was amazing and I was just waiting for the jumpscares. The best part was when I discovered the remains of an Oblivion gate at the bottom of the mine.

Fast-forward a bit and we have saved the remaining members of the secret order from the Thalmor as well as recruited a bunch of people to act as city guards. Time to take the fight to the Thalmor. Somehow we're directed to a tavern in Hjaalmarch. Only it turns out that the tavern is more of a... brothel. And I was so not prepared for it that I was laughing my ass off listening to the noises on a faded-to-black screen. But apparently my Dovahkiin is a godess in the sack :P

With my sex powers we have now got the information we need from the girl in the "tavern" and off we go to fight the Thalmor. We save a bunch of people destined to be sold into slavery inside a cave, but when we go out the Thalmor are waiting for us and cast paralysis spells on us. When we wake up we're a prisoner of the Thalmor. Aerandil, the leader, asks us to bring the leader of the secret order to him at the Thalmor prison. Lure him to his death. We do so with the full intention of beating his ass later. The last part of the mission turns into a big battle where all the characters are involved. It ends in tragedy and you're invited to participate in the funeral back at Helgen.

But hey, at least you've rebuilt a town.

Overall I enjoyed this mod. There were some minor grievances. Like I really, really, really didn't like Korst's voice-acting. It was too immersion breaking for me. Every other voice actor was amazing though. In the very beginning there's this part where you sign up as a fighter in an illegal arena to win back money that the lumberjack was supposed to use for lumber for your rebuilt town, but instead gambled away. And that would've been fun if the cave it was in hadn't been designed in such an annoying way. But due to the design completing this part just became a hassle of running back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. But I had actually forgotten about the arena part of the mod until I saw it in a video review of it. So with Korst's voice-acting as my only real grievance I'd say this mod is pretty darn great. Go get it.