It looks like as a PC user who already owns the entire magilla, I can get the Special Edition free. I’m not sure that is the deal for the console users, so they may have to buy the game all over again at $60 retail. Even with all the advancements, it looks like my machine can still eat this game for breakfast except for the CPU.
It used to be that every time I needed to upgrade my processor, I needed a new motherboard because the new generation of chips had different pin layouts, the RAM had different timing or bus widths. But it looks now like I can just pop an AM3 with more cores and higher clock speed right in the slot. I hope so.
Otherwise, I have already played this game to pieces. I’ve never finished it, but I’ve clocked 600 hours in it. The update appears to be mostly cosmetic, but perhaps breathtakingly so. Should I be excited?
For one, it breaks all current mod support. That means everyone will have to re-do their mods, and the special edition isn’t taking the hint and incorporating some of the most-used ones (like Sky UI).
Two, from all reports it appears that some of the current mods for the existing game may actually do some of the texture work better.
And three, I’d rather just have Elder Scrolls VI already. Why dedicate time and resources to re-release a game that’s not even five years old?
Or Daggerfall! That would have been fantastic (and quite the accomplishment).
Another reason to ignore the re-release: may I present Enderal, a total-conversion mod for the original Skyrim. It tells a whole new story, uses the mechanics of the original engine (and so will likely never be ported to the special edition), and overhauls the skill/class system. Plus, it’s free! So a much better investment (in time, anyway).
It’s not really buying it all over since Skyrim was never released for the X1 and PS4. So they’re getting this “special remastered edition” but, since it’s the only edition for those consoles, you gotta shell out. You don’t get anything for free by virtue of owning it on outdated consoles (PS3/Xbox360).
Plus, the changes for the PC are pretty minimal since the high-res pack was out years ago and a million other mods.
Yes, if you own all the PC DLC (either via ‘complete edition’ or purchased separately) you get the Remastered Edition.
Changes on the PC are mainly cosmetic and minimal since the PC version was well ahead of the console pack, hence you getting it for free. For current-gen consoles, they’re getting current-gen graphics (vs last-gen) and mod support.
This is kinda nifty I guess, but I’ll probably pass. I think I’ve seen enough of Skyrim in my 300+ hours and two fairly complete playthroughs. I re-installed Skyrim last year to play all the DLCs, and I also installed the STEP Gigantic Mod Pack, which provided a graphics update comparable to the Remastered version. I suppose it’ll be nice to get the graphics update without two weekends worth of downloading and configuring mods… maybe I’ll take advantage of that when I’m feeling nostalgic again.
It probably didn’t help that my latest playthrough was right before The Witcher 3. When compared back-to-back like that, Skyrim feels so shallow and empty.
Is there much that’s new, besides better graphics?
Emphasis mine. I don’t know about that. Remaster Skyrim still looks pretty last gen.
The only cool thing for PC owners is the possibility of a more stable modded Skyrim, thanks to 64 bit support, and some lighting improvements out of the box.
To make it look good, you’re still looking at a few texture mods, a UI mod, and an ENB, at the minimum.
If you’re a PS4 owner your also getting screwed here since Sony said no to outside assets. That means no texture mods, no UI mods, no mods of any kind that have voice, sounds, textures, meshes, etc, etc. Only mods that use existing assets are allowed. At least some quality of life mods should still be possible, as well as any quest/base building mod that recycles existing meshes.
Yeah, that’s what I’m seeing too. I’ve already got some texture upgrades and the High res texture paks and frankly from what I’ve seen they don’t look that different. At least on the PC version.
Fortunately I don’t need to decide as I own all the DLC and get it for free.
I imagine i’ll probably find myself curious enough to download it and see for myself however.
Literally just played it up to finishing the prologue.
I was actually suprised how much better it looked, as I’ve played it on PC with all the texture pack upgrades before.
It really does look better and I do want to play it again.
It’s going to have to wait till certain mods get updated however.
I’m not actually a huge modder, I mostly just go for quality of life stuff.
For example, there’s no way I’m playing without Invested Magic, because there’s no way In hell I’m going to put up with constantly having to recast my conjuration and defensive spells.
Apparently I’m the stupidest man in the world because I started up Skyrim to see what changes I could spot and thought “Hey, this looks exactly the same!” before realising that the Special Edition is its own seperate game rather than an update or patch to the original game, herp derp.
Word is that saves will still transfer across so after I’ve finished downloading it I’ll put some comparison screenshots up.
Yeah, old PC saves should transfer to the Special Edition, although bear in mind that if you used mods on your old game, mod data gets baked into your save file and if you don’t have those mods on the Special Edition you may have some issues.
Seems like a waste of time that could’ve been spent on the next Elder Scrolls game. Unless it was just super easy because they were basically just plugging in the HD textures they’ve had out on the PC version for years and putting it in the FO4 engine. In which case good for them for making an easy cash grab I guess. A remaster of Morrowind would’ve been interesting but a lot more work I’m sure.
The bad news seems to be if you ever used the Skyrim Script Extender you’re probably boned.
A lot of mods didn’t require it however. If you just used Steam Workshop and didn’t go to town on the more game changing mods that required it there’s a good chance it’ll be alright.
Here’s how to try it.
Load into Skyrim. Disable all your mods bar the DLC (Dawnguard etc). Including the official high texture packs.
Load into the save game you want. Hopefully it’ll load. You’ll get a message saying ‘Data Files (x) not available’. Ignore it.
Make a new save of that clean slate.
Copy it across from the save folder in vanilla Skyrim to the Remastered.
Enter the remastered and load the clean save.
Cross your fingers.
Hopefully it’ll work. I’ve managed to port the save I wanted successfully.
Actually the publisher has stated that the next Elderscrolls is not under development.
But who knows if it’s as clear cut as that. Maybe it’s not under active development, but it’s past it’s design phase. Or maybe it’s done, so they don’t have to develop anymore!
The Steam overlay isn’t working for me on this game for some reason. Someone somewhere else suggested turning off the RSS injector, so I’ll try that. But I can’t play a Bethesda game with m&k. It’s so damn floaty.
Right, can’t even get the fucking thing to launch. Press play on the launcher, 2 seconds of black screen then CTD. Another triumph for Bugthesda. Tried updating graphics drivers, verifying cache, apparently it’s something to do with Windows 7 updates. Fuck this shit.
Much as I feel like the poor cousin with my PS4 (and get reminded enough in these threads), at least my games always work, in their low-fi, vanilla fashion.
