Are there any mods that truly make Skyrim really hard?

[Tiktaalik]

Even legendary difficulty becomes a joke at level 40+ because of smithing and enchanting. And I don't want to make the game harder by "restricting" my self certain things. I want mods that actually make Skyrim harder, and I need some pointers. So far my eyes are on SkyRe and Requiem.

I also want to avoid any food/drink/sleep mods, and mods that just add in ridiculous damage sponge enemies.

[GreySky]

You'll probably want combat mods. There are a lot out there, but some only add a few AI tweaks and make weapons do far too much damage and/or give enemies too much health. You'll have to research. I like the idea of making enemies unpredictable so I can't just apply the exact same method to every encounter. That gets boring fast. With my set up I have to figure out the flow of combat with each individual battle.

I have about 6 "main" combat mods working in harmony with each other. They upgrade enemy AI so they will dodge realistically, they take cover if I'm attacking with ranged weaponry, they know when to be aggressive with attacks and when to stay blocking. They use potions to help them survive. They will help their comrades if their health is very low and will flank me if they have a large enough group. Magic wielding enemies will utilize a wide range of spells to throw me off and overwhelm me if I'm not careful. I also have a combat mod that adds a blocking method that makes it so if we both swing our weapons at exactly the same time we will clash weapons and recoil back making me have to really pay attention to find a good window to attack them in. I also have it set up so I will receive injuries if a high "burst" of damage happens in relation to a certain body part.

In addition to all these I have "Combat Evolved" which will allow enemies to consistently level with the character so even at level 80 you'll be fighting tough enemies. You can certainly still remain more powerful if you really go for it, but I have it set up so enemies have a lot more tools at thier disposal and if I make mistakes I'll often pay for those mistakes. It causes me to have to actually get good at figuring out the flow of combat and maybe thin out the herd of enemies with ranged weapons before I go in with my sword drawn. Any group larger than 3-5 (depending on enemy type) will be a tall order, but if I plan it just right I can come out on top and feel like a badass.

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Some of my combat mods:

- Duel Combat Realism (Various changes to AI and damage dealt. Feels more realistic when used with these other mods)

-Wildcat - Combat in Skyrim (turned off dynamic combat system because it conflicts, but leave on other changes to AI and certain features. Also turned off injuries in favor if Vigor's injury system)

-Vigor - Combat and Injuries (This, or Combat Behavior Improved, might be my favorite combat mod just for the little touches. First off, turn off "full body stagger" because it breaks immersion to be locked into place IMO, and is annoying to be pounded on while you wobble around helplessly. This mod has the "block and parry" mechanic that will cause clashing of weapons when you swing at the same time. Also adds injuries to player ONLY. You can adjust how you recieve injuries if you want them at all. You can turn them off too. Adding injuries to enemies can really unbalance combat making you far too powerful in my opinion. The human brain works far better than any video game AI can replicate. Giving them injuries just seems like overkill to me since they'll ALWAYS be at a disadvantage... To each his own though. Also adds a neat feature where NPCs who have just been in heated combat and survived will often be seen with bandages on their head, hands, feet, and/or torso. Makes for a very immersive experience when you've just been in a big battle for the Civil War and your allies have bandages applied. It's purely cosmetic for NPCs though. They won't apply bandages in favor of the armor of their helmet if they are still fighting. They will only apply bandages after combat has concluded.)

-Combat Behavior Improved (Has many many changes to AI behavior that will cause them to flank, alters aggression, makes for very unpredictable combat, and also adds the ability to raise your shield mid attack and power attack if you see the enemy coming in for a power attack. For some this feature can be immersion breaking and unrealistic, and I'll admit when you're weidling a warhammer and you go in for a power attack I don't think you'd be able to stop the momentum of the swing to hold up the handle of the weapon to block, but I think it makes sense for one handed w/ shield uses. Lifting you left arm up and canceling your sword swing makes a lot more sense. Thats what I typically use it for anyways)

-TK Dodge (I'm not sure which combat mod adds enemy dodging, but its an AWESOME feature to see an enemy role out of the way of your swing. This mod makes it fun to be able to do the same thing)

-Dual Wield Parry (Adds the ability to block while dual wielding. Rarely use dual wielding, but with this mod I might)

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OTHER GOOD MODS:
-No combat music

-Immersive HUD (to turn off everything while you play and make it so you can't see enemy markers. Also, try the game with no crosshairs. Makes archery FAR more rewarding and challenging.)

-ASIS, Genesis, OBIS (These mods basically allow you to add increased spawns to areas of the game, randomize bandits in a more immersive and interesting way, and also adds the ability for enemies to use potions making combat more unpredictable)

-Encounter Zones Unlocked (Allows previously "cleared" areas to be repopulated later with enemies closer to your current level in the game instead of repopulating the area with enemies of the same level you were when you first went there)

-Enemy AI Overhaul - Revenge of the enemies (Can't remember what this one does exactly, but it's a goodie)

-Enemy Enhancer (Allows you to modify certain enemy types to make them more challenging. For instance you can make it so ghosts can only be hurt by "silver" weapons or Dwarven Contructs take very little damage from physical weaponry.)

-Deadly Dragons (Alter the stats of Dragons to make them more of a challenge and create longer and more interesting battles. Nothing worse than some Pilgrim with a dagger killing a Dragon for the Dragonborn...)

-Find a good Perk Overhaul (Perkus Maximus, SkyRe, Ordinator. I use Ordinator. Feels more solid and adds some cool features like having the abiltiy to gain a perk at a really high "Heavy Armor" rank that makes it so if you "walk" in a full set of heavy armor towards enemies they have a high percentage chance of fleeing in terror. Talk about badass. Perkus has some really great perks too though, but it can be a longer process to make sure it's patched right with all your other mods.)

-Apocalypse Spells (If you enjoy magic, this is a great one. Even if you don't use magic, it's great to see these new spells used by allies and enemies while fighting.)

-Death Alternative - Your Money or Your Life (This is a good one for those who don't want to keep "quick loading" after they die and like the idea of being able to "lose" a fight essentially. This mod adds a dynamic system that will run a script when your health reaches zero and will determine how you'll be "dealt with" randomly. You might wake up outside a cave where a random adventurer found you and helped you, but most of your valuables have been taken and you have to go back and get them from the enemy who killed you. It might have you wake up in a cell of the fort you "died" at and your companion will attempt to break you out of the prison (if you had a companion at the time of "dying") or you can pickpocket the guard of the cell and break out on your own. Its a really great mod that adds a lot of cool moments if you like that stuff.)

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IN CONCLUSION, I've spent COUNTLESS hours testing this set up and have never felt any aspect of it made the game too hard or added any feature that was too distracting or unrealistic. I just went through the battle of Whiterun with all these mods using "Civil War Overhaul" and I was having a blast. Watching NPCs fight looks so much cooler and more realistic too. Battles can last a good bit, but if you know what you're doing you can wreck quite a few enemies in quick succession. As I said earlier, if you make a mistake you might pay for it, but it works both ways ;) Garantee you'll notice a huge difference. Whether you like it or not is up to you, but thats the point - I'm just showing you how to make combat more interestring. You can alter the game in many ways to add challenge. Hope I helped!

[Serath]

Maytiks původně napsal:

-TK Dodge (I'm not sure which combat mod adds enemy dodging, but its an AWESOME feature to see an enemy role out of the way of your swing. It makes it fun to be able to do the same thing so this mod allows that.)

Pretty sure this only makes it so the player can dodge. Used this forever and never seen the enemy dodge.

[GreySky]

Serath původně napsal:

Maytiks původně napsal:

-TK Dodge (I'm not sure which combat mod adds enemy dodging, but its an AWESOME feature to see an enemy role out of the way of your swing. It makes it fun to be able to do the same thing so this mod allows that.)

Pretty sure this only makes it so the player can dodge. Used this forever and never seen the enemy dodge.

Yea, thats why I said the part about "I'm not sure which combat mod adds enemy dodging". I meant one of the OTHER listed mods adds enemy dodging. TK Dodge simply give the player the ability to do so too.

[Vrakos Anthrakir]

I use this, http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/27866/?

[Mr. Monday]

Another thing with the Apocalypse and ASIS mods is that they're already configured to give NPCs those spells as well. You just have to allow it in the ASIS settings. Also if you know what you're doing you can add stuff from mods not already configured to ASIS by adding them in the appropriate ini file.

Skyrim Immersive Creatures adds a bunch of new monsters. Quite a few of them are hard to fight.

[Serath]

Maytiks původně napsal:

Serath původně napsal:

Pretty sure this only makes it so the player can dodge. Used this forever and never seen the enemy dodge.

Yea, thats why I said the part about "I'm not sure which combat mod adds enemy dodging". I meant one of the OTHER listed mods adds enemy dodging. TK Dodge simply give the player the ability to do so too.

Thought you were guessing that TK Dodge was one that added both, my bad.

[OpenSheep]

requiem.

[Serath]

I'm fond of "Sands of Time", which is techincally the full mod to the previously mentioned Genesis. (Genesis used to be part of SOT but got so advanced they decided to seperate it and make it an addon.)

[GreySky]

OpenSheep původně napsal:

requiem.

Requiem is definitely an interesting one. It's a major overhaul that adds features from MANY mods. If you're wanting an all-in-one style mod then this could be a more "simple" choice. I remember the first time I used it it was like a whole new Skyrim. Much tougher too. From what I remember It adds challenge in a "hardcore" type of way where killing something like a Mammoth takes a LONG time. Much longer than vanilla Skyrim. It wasn't for me, but it can really change the game in some interesting ways.

Once again though as with overhauls like SkyRe and even Perkus be aware it'll need some researach to make sure it plays nice with other mods.