Sirenroot

[Fear2288]

If you haven’t played it yet - do it.

If you haven’t even heard of it - check it out and play it.

This is such a well made experience from start to finish - the Ayleid ruins are hauntingly beautiful, the music is great, the atmosphere remains mysterious and a little spooky throughout, the voice acting is top notch, the unique mechanics are pretty cool (brief cutscenes, climbing, water level manipulation, controlling other NPCs, choices affecting characters’ fates, etc), and the various puzzles are the right level of challenging.

It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. If you prefer fighting through hordes of enemies and taking on powerful bosses to obtain OP gear - you’ll probably get bored by it.

But if you like more thoughtful, slower-paced, puzzle-driven mystery stories/quests you’re doing yourself a disservice if you haven’t tried Sirenroot yet.

Play it, and if you like it go to Nexus and endorse it and leave a positive comment for Everglaid (who also gave us great immersive animation mods like EVG Animated Traversal and EVG Clamber)

[Mugiwara]

I have to agree. It's an amazing dungeon mod with next to no conflicts. Also agree the voice actors are top tier with good writing. Open ended outcomes so has replay value. If I were to level one criticism, and it would only be one, the boss could have been a little tougher (I have edited for personal use through Xedit). But that doesn't detract from the mod however.

[Elf On A Hook]

Originally posted by Fear2288:

If you haven’t played it yet - do it.

If you haven’t even heard of it - check it out and play it.

This is such a well made experience from start to finish - the Ayleid ruins are hauntingly beautiful, the music is great, the atmosphere remains mysterious and a little spooky throughout, the voice acting is top notch, the unique mechanics are pretty cool (brief cutscenes, climbing, water level manipulation, controlling other NPCs, choices affecting characters’ fates, etc), and the various puzzles are the right level of challenging.

It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. If you prefer fighting through hordes of enemies and taking on powerful bosses to obtain OP gear - you’ll probably get bored by it.

But if you like more thoughtful, slower-paced, puzzle-driven mystery stories/quests you’re doing yourself a disservice if you haven’t tried Sirenroot yet.

Play it, and if you like it go to Nexus and endorse it and leave a positive comment for Everglaid (who also gave us great immersive animation mods like EVG Animated Traversal and EVG Clamber)

wish it was on creation club stuff for skyrim - i checked must only be on other sites. sadly i could never figure out how mod via other sites so i only use steams /creation club one

[Mugiwara]

Originally posted by Elf On A Hook:

Originally posted by Fear2288:

If you haven’t played it yet - do it.

If you haven’t even heard of it - check it out and play it.

This is such a well made experience from start to finish - the Ayleid ruins are hauntingly beautiful, the music is great, the atmosphere remains mysterious and a little spooky throughout, the voice acting is top notch, the unique mechanics are pretty cool (brief cutscenes, climbing, water level manipulation, controlling other NPCs, choices affecting characters’ fates, etc), and the various puzzles are the right level of challenging.

It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. If you prefer fighting through hordes of enemies and taking on powerful bosses to obtain OP gear - you’ll probably get bored by it.

But if you like more thoughtful, slower-paced, puzzle-driven mystery stories/quests you’re doing yourself a disservice if you haven’t tried Sirenroot yet.

Play it, and if you like it go to Nexus and endorse it and leave a positive comment for Everglaid (who also gave us great immersive animation mods like EVG Animated Traversal and EVG Clamber)

wish it was on creation club stuff for skyrim - i checked must only be on other sites. sadly i could never figure out how mod via other sites so i only use steams /creation club one

It's on Nexusmods. Most people will swear by Mod Organiser 2. But if you are inexperienced in modding going with Vortex wouldn't be a bad choice. Once it's installed its more or less plug in and play with mods (There are plenty of examples where it's not so simple) but Sirenroot is is an easy one to install with a mod manager.

https://www.nexusmods.com/site/mods/1

It comes with an in built tutorial on Youtube by Gopher which are well worth watching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kbOteChLJE&list=PLE7DlYarj-DfYgxma5znKGYEqAHDU_WU-

[Fear2288]

Gonna put this here for those who wanna know more about it or those who’ve played it and could find some behind the scenes content interesting:

https://youtu.be/uAYw0vRQssc?si=4FBWzl-twLuP9rst

Heavy Burns doesn’t dedicate a whole video to showcasing a single mod like this very often so that certainly speaks to its significance as a work.

@Mugiwara

Yeah, I was a little surprised at how easy The Siren was to beat (and most of the enemies in general), as well as the fact that she just appears as a typical Wispmother.

My only real complaint is that even after finishing it I kinda felt like I didn’t know much more about the Ayleid city, the Siren, or the actual Sirenroot plant. Maybe I missed some details or some translated plaques or a few key notes or something.

I mean, I totally get the intent to keep things unexplained and mysterious and I’m not saying I would’ve wanted lore dumps and expositions…but I would’ve liked to have known more about who The Siren once was, why her spirit continues to linger, and what her goal was in trying to lure you and trap you there.

It also could’ve benefitted from some more custom assets - like a unique Siren model, Ayleid undead (there is a third party mod that switches out the skeletons for Ayleid zombies from The Cause - it worked well), and maybe another two or three unique pieces of gear to collect and use/display.

But overall the mod is still fantastic and a real achievement.

[Mugiwara]

Originally posted by Fear2288:

Gonna put this here for those who wanna know more about it or those who’ve played it and could find some behind the scenes content interesting:

https://youtu.be/uAYw0vRQssc?si=4FBWzl-twLuP9rst

Heavy Burns doesn’t dedicate a whole video to showcasing a single mod like this very often so that certainly speaks to its significance as a work.

@Mugiwara

Yeah, I was a little surprised at how easy The Siren was to beat (and most of the enemies in general), as well as the fact that she just appears as a typical Wispmother.

My only real complaint is that even after finishing it I kinda felt like I didn’t know much more about the Ayleid city, the Siren, or the actual Sirenroot plant. Maybe I missed some details or some translated plaques or a few key notes or something.

I mean, I totally get the intent to keep things unexplained and mysterious and I’m not saying I would’ve wanted lore dumps and expositions…but I would’ve liked to have known more about who The Siren once was, why her spirit continues to linger, and what her goal was in trying to lure you and trap you there.

It also could’ve benefitted from some more custom assets - like a unique Siren model, Ayleid undead (there is a third party mod that switches out the skeletons for Ayleid zombies from The Cause - it worked well), and maybe another two or three unique pieces of gear to collect and use/display.

But overall the mod is still fantastic and a real achievement.

All good points well made as for the unique boss model a mod has covered that:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/123252

[Fear2288]

I saw that recently, problem is I plan on using the Serene Wispmother replacer on my next game so she’d just still end up looking like all the other wispmothers lol

Another thing I wanted to point out…

Frissa gets all “Bilbo in Rivendell when he sees the Ring” when you return to her, she asks if you have the Sirenroot, and tell her you do.

She breaks her stoic composure entirely for a brief second as she exclaims “give it here”.

It kinda made me wonder if there’s more to Frissa than it seems. Isn’t there one theory that there are a handful of Ayleids who survived the collapse and they’ve been hiding among the Elves and Bretons masquerading as one of them but secretly scheming and plotting?

[Mugiwara]

Hmm I have the same setup and for good reason lol. A possible short term solution is to have the base game Wispmothers covered by this mod:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/111330

Then overwrite with the aforementioned loaded last.

Must preface that I haven't tested with my current setup so it may not work... A Save just before the boss fight would be handy for testing as they are just texture and meshes mods. Maybe I'll expirmeent tomorrow.

But it may be a viable alternative solution. Either way both are excellent at what they do.

Edit: Just saw the second part of your post and funny you mentioned that. I always felt there was more of the story to tell. And maybe the Mod Author has more planned... Could also have been developer fatigue too but given her track record I'll choose to believe the former. All the NPCs had an air of mystery about them, IMO the fact that they were unresolved is a good thing. IIRC Correctly Bretons are basically a half breed?

[Elf On A Hook]

Originally posted by Mugiwara:

Originally posted by Elf On A Hook:

wish it was on creation club stuff for skyrim - i checked must only be on other sites. sadly i could never figure out how mod via other sites so i only use steams /creation club one

It's on Nexusmods. Most people will swear by Mod Organiser 2. But if you are inexperienced in modding going with Vortex wouldn't be a bad choice. Once it's installed its more or less plug in and play with mods (There are plenty of examples where it's not so simple) but Sirenroot is is an easy one to install with a mod manager.

https://www.nexusmods.com/site/mods/1

It comes with an in built tutorial on Youtube by Gopher which are well worth watching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kbOteChLJE&list=PLE7DlYarj-DfYgxma5znKGYEqAHDU_WU-

tried couple times in past for vortex and nexus and with my disabilities was not able understand how to mod with them . but i apreciate the heads up . if ever on steam/skyrim creaters club ill check it out

[Mugiwara]

Originally posted by Elf On A Hook:

Originally posted by Mugiwara:

It's on Nexusmods. Most people will swear by Mod Organiser 2. But if you are inexperienced in modding going with Vortex wouldn't be a bad choice. Once it's installed its more or less plug in and play with mods (There are plenty of examples where it's not so simple) but Sirenroot is is an easy one to install with a mod manager.

https://www.nexusmods.com/site/mods/1

It comes with an in built tutorial on Youtube by Gopher which are well worth watching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kbOteChLJE&list=PLE7DlYarj-DfYgxma5znKGYEqAHDU_WU-

tried couple times in past for vortex and nexus and with my disabilities was not able understand how to mod with them . but i apreciate the heads up . if ever on steam/skyrim creaters club ill check it out

Entirely up to you of course but DM if you wish and I'll break everything down into baby steps. Willing to help. This mod is too good to pass up. I don't think it will ever appear on CC even with the author saying they would like to collaborate with Bethesda. Part of the reason for that is there are some 3rd party assets (created by the mod author)

[Fear2288]

@Mugiwara

Yes, Bretons are supposedly the result of mixing between Elves and Humans. I’m not sure if a specific “branch” of Elves is responsible - like the Altmer, Ayleids, or Direnni - or it’s a grab bag. If they’re derived from only one my guess would be the Direnni as they were similar to the Ayleids in Cyrodiil, but in High Rock.

Skyrim doesn’t do much to show it but according to the lore Bretons can possess a range of Elven features. A Breton could look like a typical 100% Human (as they do in Skyrim) or have things like pointed ears, elongated fingers, or those sharp/angular facial features the Elves tend to have.

[Rez Elwin]

Originally posted by Fear2288:

It kinda made me wonder if there’s more to Frissa than it seems. Isn’t there one theory that there are a handful of Ayleids who survived the collapse and they’ve been hiding among the Elves and Bretons masquerading as one of them but secretly scheming and plotting?

I think a number did survive, though I don't think they've been seen since the 2nd age. There were probably not enough unique individuals to keep the species alive. There may be some people with traces of Ayleid Blood though.

[Fear2288]

Originally posted by Rez Elwin:

Originally posted by Fear2288:

It kinda made me wonder if there’s more to Frissa than it seems. Isn’t there one theory that there are a handful of Ayleids who survived the collapse and they’ve been hiding among the Elves and Bretons masquerading as one of them but secretly scheming and plotting?

I think a number did survive, though I don't think they've been seen since the 2nd age. There were probably not enough unique individuals to keep the species alive. There may be some people with traces of Ayleid Blood though.

I mean…if Gelebor can stay alive for 4,000+ years just hanging out in an underground cavern, in the dark, by himself…it’s believable that as long as the surviving Ayleids didn’t get themselves killed they could still be wandering around and everyone just assumes they’re Altmer, Bosmer, or some very Elven looking Bretons.

On top of the fact that the longevity of Elves in TES is sorta undefined, weren’t the Ayleids especially skilled and knowledgeable when it came to magic, conjuring, souls, and necromancy (even though they revered Meridia)?

[Rez Elwin]

Originally posted by Fear2288:

Originally posted by Rez Elwin:

I think a number did survive, though I don't think they've been seen since the 2nd age. There were probably not enough unique individuals to keep the species alive. There may be some people with traces of Ayleid Blood though.

I mean…if Gelebor can stay alive for 4,000+ years just hanging out in an underground cavern, in the dark, by himself…it’s believable that as long as the surviving Ayleids didn’t get themselves killed they could still be wandering around and everyone just assumes they’re Altmer, Bosmer, or some very Elven looking Bretons.

On top of the fact that the longevity of Elves in TES is sorta undefined, weren’t the Ayleids especially skilled and knowledgeable when it came to magic, conjuring, souls, and necromancy (even though they revered Meridia)?

Well, we know very little about the Snow Elves, but there is a 4000 year old Dunmer Telvanni sorcerer, Divayth Fyr, and Neloth, another Telvanni that's older than he should be. Dunmer Typically live somewhere in the range of 2-3 hundred years.

We don't know how long Ayleid Elves live, but they were very well versed in magic, like House Telvanni. However, they are multiple accounts of Ayleid Lichs existing. Despite being devout worshipers of Meridia, some didn't seem to mind becoming undead to survive. I don't know if it was Dunmers distaste for necromancy, but House Telvanni did seem to find a way ti live beyond your years. The Ayleid Elves might not know any other way than Lichdom.

That said if there are some Ayleid Lichs still around, I don't think they can have children. (There are some in the "The Cause" but I don't know of the creations are considered canon or not, some of them certainly are not.)

[Fear2288]

I think anything released via the Creation Club (2017 - 2021) actually is considered “canon”.

Everything released through the CC was apparently commissioned by BGS. They contacted these people, asked them if they would like to contribute to it, and then supposedly told them “we’d like you to make X”.

I don’t know how specific they were about it, but regardless it needed to go before BGS who then had to give their stamp of approval.

The Creations system works differently though as the mod maker can make whatever they want and then submit an application for it to be sold for money. As long as it meets the necessary requirements concerning its functionality, originality, quality, and appropriateness (no nudity/sex, or violence/gore and vulgarity greater than the base game) it can get approved.

[Rez Elwin]

Originally posted by Fear2288:

I think anything released via the Creation Club (2017 - 2021) actually is considered “canon”.

Everything released through the CC was apparently commissioned by BGS. They contacted these people, asked them if they would like to contribute to it, and then supposedly told them “we’d like you to make X”.

I don’t know how specific they were about it, but regardless it needed to go before BGS who then had to give their stamp of approval.

The Creations system works differently though as the mod maker can make whatever they want and then submit an application for it to be sold for money. As long as it meets the necessary requirements concerning its functionality, originality, quality, and appropriateness (no nudity/sex, or violence/gore and vulgarity greater than the base game) it can get approved.

I wonder who reviewed it, some things like Umbra should not exist. Despite being in previous games, Umbra was destroyed during the events of Umbriel, a canon novel.