A question about playing without violence

[MercianGuy]

Hi everyone,

I have what might seem to be an odd question.

A friend of mine is interested in Skyrim, she loves the music and would like to spend some time just walking around the world exploring. She doesn't want to have to do any fighting whatsoever, simply travel around and admire the world and possibly some light RP with no violence.

So, my question is, is it possible to play Skyrim as a "Tourist"?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Stormsong]

Tourists in Skyrim usually end up dead on the side of the road with a journal you can pick up... but I get your point. Hmmm there are pacifist builds, so to speak, but even then they involve stealth, illusion, speech and a follower and there will still be combat. Those just make it so the player isn't the one getting bloody. However, by no fighting whatsoever I assume you mean she doesn't ever want to trigger the combat alarm on actor, that actor being herself. I'm drawing a blank on how that'd be possible.

I guess she could get in game, pop open the console and use "tmm 1" (no quotes) then fast travel around to cities and villages and have a look about. That's not much of a game experience though.

[Kevin Flemming]

Skyrim isn't that sort of game. Majority of the content revolves around some form of combat. It always has in TES games. Sure, there are the odd quests that mostly involve talking, or some simple fetch-quests, but even then you'll run into Bandits, wildlife (of which is rather abundant), Thalmor, random NPCs who want to kill you for no reason, Assassins, Dragons. The list is fairly large.

Skyrim isn't really the kind of place where you can just wander around, like in a walking simulator. At some point, you will need to get your hands dirty, or die and reload a save.

If I make it from one town to the next and not get into any fights, it's... well... it's never happened.

[Mringasa]

I made it from Riverwood to Whiterun without running into a fight, although I did hit a Thief who was intimidated to run away, and a trio of drunken revelers... But otherwise, yeah. Just walking from Town to Town usually involves at least 5-6 battles, not to mention the random dragon attack or mod induced insanity. SIC + Immersive Patrols in a Night Encounter with a couple other flavor mods can turn Skyrim's landscape into nightmare fuel. Vanilla isn't as bad, but wolves, spiders, sabrecats, bears, and bandits make it dangerous just to go cut some firewood at times.

[MercianGuy]

Wow, thanks for taking the time to make the detailed replies. You're all awesome! :-) It's not what she was hoping to hear, but she's asked me to thank you all for your help.

[Kevin Flemming]

Originally posted by Mringasa:

I made it from Riverwood to Whiterun without running into a fight

Ah, yeah that is without a doubt the quietest route in the game (at least that I have ever found, not counting places ridiculously-close to one another). Mainly as there is bugger all placed along that pathway. Couple wolves, that's it. Sometimes a patrol. Vanilla anyway, it all changes with mods and becomes more active (which is nice).

Originally posted by MercianGuy:

Wow, thanks for taking the time to make the detailed replies. You're all awesome! :-) It's not what she was hoping to hear, but she's asked me to thank you all for your help.

No problem. You'll be hard-fetched to find a fantasy RPG where you can just walk around and not get attacked, thinking on it. I haven't played them all (obviously lol), but I don't ever recall one of them being passive. Granted, it's late and I'm ill, so meh.

Hope you find something she likes, though. Bound to be something out there, with how many games have been made over the years.

[V]

if she wants to have a passive playthrough she can do that for sure... all she needs to do is get a bunch of followers and if she has to fight they will protect her and if she has to kill anyone for quests she can order her followers to do it lol

[Kleiner's final Form]

TCAI in console, disables all combat but keeps the combat music.

[DrNewcenstein]

Originally posted by Kleiner's final Form:

TCAI in console, disables all combat but keeps the combat music.

Or tdetect to disable anyone and anything from detecting you, though I think the Courier and other scripted encounters (Boethia cultist?) will still approach you, but I don't think anyone will attack.

[mikk011]

You could do an Illusion-heavy peacenik build. Level illusion quickly by using muffle a lot, and then learn calm, invisibility, pacify, and harmony. These plus the shout "Kyne's Peace" would allow you to evade or defuse many threats. Still, you would face combat a lot.

[jacobellinger]

Originally posted by MercianGuy:

Hi everyone,

I have what might seem to be an odd question.

A friend of mine is interested in Skyrim, she loves the music and would like to spend some time just walking around the world exploring. She doesn't want to have to do any fighting whatsoever, simply travel around and admire the world and possibly some light RP with no violence.

So, my question is, is it possible to play Skyrim as a "Tourist"?

Thanks in advance for your help.

in game press the ~ key and type "tgm" hit enter. congradulations you now have god mod enabled. nothing can hurt you.

[Kleiner's final Form]

Originally posted by jacobellinger:

Originally posted by MercianGuy:

Hi everyone,

I have what might seem to be an odd question.

A friend of mine is interested in Skyrim, she loves the music and would like to spend some time just walking around the world exploring. She doesn't want to have to do any fighting whatsoever, simply travel around and admire the world and possibly some light RP with no violence.

So, my question is, is it possible to play Skyrim as a "Tourist"?

Thanks in advance for your help.

in game press the ~ key and type "tgm" hit enter. congradulations you now have god mod enabled. nothing can hurt you.

but everything can still attack her, the OP asks to disable combat itself.

[Mringasa]

Originally posted by Kleiner's final Form:

TCAI in console, disables all combat but keeps the combat music.

This, plus she could also use tdetect to make noone notice her so you shouldn't have combat music. Not sure how badly that would mess up some scripting though, never used either of these commands. It will most likely make some quests bug out because of the non-detection, but to be honest I'm unsure.

[DrNewcenstein]

Scripted detection will still be made. The Greybeards, Irileth, Courier, etc, so quests will be fine.

[Mringasa]

Originally posted by DrNewcenstein:

Scripted detection will still be made. The Greybeards, Irileth, Courier, etc, so quests will be fine.

Good to know. Add that to my list of all things Skyrim.

[Win2000Fan]

I get your friends point because the game is beautiful and there trully are some wonderful zin moments in the mountains while the fall leaves are falling. Or even when the snow falls. Like you said the music is also wonderful. However, there are creatures out there that want to kill and eat you, just like it would be in real life if you crossed a mountain lion, or a brown bear if one where in the mountains hikeing. Sorry to say but there is no perfect world even in real life. The movie, Jeremia Johnson comes to mind when it comes to respecting the creatures in the mountains but he did have to kill or be killed and he had to eat as well.

Do you think your friend could wonder the woods to enjoy the games beauty and defind herself only when she had to? The bears and gaints will not attck if you walk around them most of the time. However if she crosses the path of a cat, or a troll then she has no choice but to defind herself. She also will not be able to explore any caves, forts or any of those other fun things without being attacked.

I remember feeling bad after killing a saber toothe cat for the first time in my early Skyrim days. I remembered thinking, if he would have only let me pass then that wonderful animal would still be alive.