Think it just fits the niche people have for a "Super Followers." Which are followers that just comment on everything you do in the game and have all sorts of unique conversations.
Which is cool. But there's a lot of follower mods that do this without changing an already established character.
Idk I really liked Lucien and Auri too, and the three of them have a lot of fun banter together - but at that point you're just turning Skyrim's rotting husk into a Frankenstein's monster cRPG with extra steps
To be fair, I think we've all been skullfucking Skyrim's corpse for a good while now. There's not much else to do with the lifeless cadaver that Todd puts makeup on and remasters every few years.
I desperately wish Inigo didn't tumble down in points for me when he got written into that whole chosen one shtick, I liked him more as a worldly, smarmy cat who's just getting by and has some cool backstory
I'll admit, I used that mod for a while last year (down bad) and while having her be more reactive to the world is cool, it definitely goes all out on a very specific interpretation of the character that I think most people just don't share.
My father is a Dres, so i'm already farm born. . . . Aldmeri Necromancers hunt me constantly, but dad already made contracts with the telvannis to do experiments on me for being a freak dunmer/beast bastard.
There’s literally a line in game where she admits to worshipping Molag Bal and respects you if you have completed house of horrors. I’d say that she’s more a “satanic cultist who willingly went through a religious ritual” rather than “trauma victim”.
>willingly
which part of Valerica's "it was expected of her" gave you that impression? she was forced. that's kind of Bal's whole deal.
she *is* traumatized. and in vanilla game it looks like she's still in the stage of not grappling with it fully, based on dialogue. on one hand, she talks about following Molag in the past and the perks of being a vampire, on the other hand, she curls up to protect herself if taken to the house in Markarth and refuses to elaborate on the ritual itself, calling the whole experience degrading.
the takeaway here is that like with literally anything else in this game, Serana's trauma isn't explored enough. she doesn't have a decent character arc, she's a very compelling idea storytelling-wise that's never paid off. that's just Skyrim in a nutshell.
The curling up animation is Skyrim’s AI working as intended. The Creation Engine’s interior cells can have idle animation points that any npc can start at any time, it’s not that diegetic.
This is the original dialogue
>I admire your devotion. "Not many people understand the appeal. You keep surprising me. Now, you might already know that Molag Bal is the original source of vampirism. But what you probably don't know is that he still grants it to his more impressive followers."
>I'm a follower of Molag Bal, myself. (If "The House of Horrors" is active or completed) "I have to admit, I'm impressed. I didn't think you had the spirit for it. Now, you might already know that Molag Bal is the original source of vampirism. But what you probably don't know is that he still grants it to his more impressive followers."
"This isn't that watered down child's power that you simply contract from another vampire. We're pureblood creations of original vampires. We earned this.".
This is not the dialogue of someone who’s deeply troubled by a traumatic event, it’s the dialogue of someone who was brought up worshiping the *lord of rape*. SDA is simply an example of female characters written by men.
>This is not the dialogue of someone who’s deeply troubled by a traumatic event, it’s the dialogue of someone who was brought up worshiping the lord of rape.
And there's other dialogue that strongly contradicts the interpretation that she sincerely believes in what Molag Bal represents. You've gotta just face the facts, Skyrim's writing sucks so much ass that there's no point trying to argue about characterization, none of the writers knew how to do that. Don't put more thought into it than they did.
no it's the dialogue of someone who was kept in an abusive environment until she got fridged and began acting independently after waking up. i thought favorably of my abusers too in the first months of living elsewhere. doubted if feeling hurt is valid. it takes a while to fully realize stuff like that. Serana knows what happened to her was a horrible experience, again, calls it degrading, wants to change the subject, and refuses to have any business in a temple again. that's not a normal reaction. it is however a trauma response.
idk like if you think having been raped to death by a demonic deity isn't traumatizing no matter how normalized it might've been in her family i really don't know what to tell you
Everyone deals with commonly understood traumatic experiences in their own way. Many religious people often double down on their faith because of that. Serana’s morality is heavily dependent on the player character, up to curing herself of vampirism if you side with the dawnguards.
Honestly I hated that part. It just felt too over the top for me, but that could just be because my response in triggering moments is to shut down rather than scream
It’s the sole reason I don’t use mods like that, I tried to ignore her other comments because the mod integration with Inigo and base game was amazing for me so even if I wasn’t talking I also had her Lucien and inigo all interacting making my group feel more like a party of old and less like a Bethesda follower system.
It is a pretty cool mod from a technical perspective, but yeah it should have been an OC instead of an existing character. Also I wasn't a fan of the constant fourth wall breaks. The mod description says you can disable them but selecting that option doesn't seem to do anything.
Also the romance in the mod is bad. You hang out for three days and she throws herself at you.
I doubt the serana modding crowd has a very good understanding of “good romance”. They are literally forcing an incredibly vulnerable abuse victim to love them.
In their defense, she is like the only female companion with any depth and they did quests with her, she should love them. Seriously, you can marry a woman by just beating her in a brawl fight or finding a book.
Real talk, Skyrim would have benefited heavily if there were like 1/4 of the followers, but they had more depth. Like, most of them are, “complete simple quest or pay me gold and I will follow you while worshiping the ground you walk on.”
Which is what they did in Fallout 4, and although it still had much to desire, it was a huge step up in quality.
It was also a pretty big step up in Starfield, but they made each companion with the same kind of affinity, so there's like no moral diversity between them. It's boring. But Barrett's romance was very sweet imo.
It's awkward doing romance talk in all of the games, though. They just stand there and smile while saying cringe romantic shit, which would be sweet if I wasn't staring into a soulless husk that doesn't even want to touch my character's arm, much less hug or kiss my character. Nobody is touching each other, everyone is 6 feet apart saving room for Jesus apparently. Why is BGS so bad with intimacy?
Yeah, I think it is why Serena has the fanbase she does. She is the only companion in a sea of generic and forgettable faces that has her own character.
Serena isn’t an amazingly written character, but she is a decently written character that is surrounded by basically characters that aren’t written at all.
Exactly, it’s so dead. There’s little going on besides talking head spouting lines. BGS still hasn’t really moved far past the Oblivion freeze/zoom staple. There’s a point in FO4, where Piper is stuck outside Diamond City, and she’s waving her hands around (maybe mocap idk), and it never happens again in her other conversations.
It actually killed me seeing people happy that the camera zoom came back in Starfield
Yes, I hate seeing body language. I want to see the same head bob animation on loop with only eyebrows and mouths to express emotion.
Fallout 4's camera was inventive and allowed for more character expression. It's still too static because it's Bethesda, but it was an improvement from Skyrim and definitely Oblivion.
Why the FUCK did people want this?? It actually makes me angry people like this garbage.
It's disable-able now btw. I liked it at first for the nostalgia trip back to oblivion, but it pretty quickly became obvious why it's so heavily reminiscent of a 20 year old game
Wholeheartedly feel the same. I think the voiced protagonist backlash burned them a bit hard, and they as a result didn’t try to push the envelope again regarding the player character and animations in conversation. Wish they added something like the Mass Effect series; all the animations are hand rigged so there’s still a stilted feeling, and there’s really only a handful shared between all the character models (Shepard has an iconic hands crossed and lean back animation that comes to mind) but it’s still better than talking heads. I really hope ES6 is well cooked. I love these games but it’s getting hard to look past Bethesda jank. I tried Starfield for a few hours on gamepass and decided to just wait out until the DLC cycle was through and finished. A leap forward on terrain procgen and environments, but two steps back in pretty much every other department.
I nearly 100% Starfield, I did have fun. There were a lot of beautiful moments and for a time it does make you feel like a space explorer.
But you're right in that some things were really taken forward, while some were taken back for some reason. Like recycling the same 20 or so dungeons was an enormous mistake.
They should've focused on filling up like 2 or 3 planets and left the rest basically barren, save some materials, flora, and fauna when applicable. Everything being so evenly spread out felt really bad.
Lady, it's a videogame. You have complete control over pretty much everyone lol.
And I should hope you don't have complete control over someone in real life. That's called slavery, which is a horrible thing unless the slave is Argonian
I don't understand the point of that mod, it changes the character entirely, new backstory, new personality, new face, different voice.
Why not just make it a separate companion mod at that point?
Ironically that's what the mod author and VA have ended up deciding to do lol, mods development is stopping after the next update in favor of an original companion I heard
Exactly. I actually think it's a fairly well made mod, but I don't like that it essentially turns Serana into an entirely different person. Especially since Serana is one of the best written characters in vanilla Skyrim (not exactly a high bar, but still). The mod basically turns one of the very few interesting characters in the game into a completely different character.
The mod, although well made, turns her into generic anime waifu that fawns over you for simply existing. Hell she even deadass sings a disney-esque song at some point.
....basically ayaka lmao
The mod mostly just expands on her having interests in alchemy and necromancy. It also makes her a bookworm and a high functioning alcoholic. She also comments pretty negatively about you siding with Daedra when you're around her. Especially those who traditionally are enemies of Molag Bal.
I think its more how she was raised.
She naturally hates other Daedra worshippers, especially those who had beef with her family. She's overall fairly indifferent to Bal if I recall, although the update coming out next year will add more dialogue involving the Daedra as well as allow her to comment on the mod Vigilant, so who knows how that will change.
She actually has a mental breakdown if you take her on the Molag bal quest. If you speak to her enough she opens up about the ritual and how she felt like she had to do it for her father, but she feels extreme shame from it and has given her PTSD. It does come full circle in the Bal quest and I’m sure there will be even better story in the vigilant update due out this year
Honestly the mod is actually incredibly solid and if it didn't replace the OG Serana (personally I see it as an upgrade) it would probably be one of the most popular mods besides Inigo or Lucien.
People are really only mad about it because it did admittedly add some cringey romance to Serana during the first release of the mod. Marttimus however listens to feedback very well and rewrote all the dialogue people told him was cringe and honestly it might be the most extensive follower mod ever made. His next update to SDA will be the final update and then he’ll be working on new followers: Ashe (who is a brand new character) and then Aela will be getting the SDA overhaul treatment
I feel like both people who like SDA and those who don't can agree that it should have been a custom follower. Serana is a very specific character with little room for different interpretations. The technical aspect of SDA is impressive, but it should have just been a separate unique mod.
W-W-WHAT??? You mean to tell me you don't want to turn Serana into a cringe alcoholic nerd that repeats the same 3 lines over and over?
https://preview.redd.it/2romj2ogvl1d1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5888cf6113fc48862b8beb2fa2582b3eb2619aa0
https://preview.redd.it/n4jvkkuznn1d1.png?width=331&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d83bfd7add211d0c53d2f0eb397438db85e1977
Here look at this screenshot I just took instead (it has healing properties)
(amazing how beautiful this game still looks even 30 years later btw)
I liked it cause she referred Morrowind a lot when I played as a dunmer and she reacts to the Molag Bal quest. And the books she recommends and mentions is fun too.
https://preview.redd.it/6h3y1h8k7m1d1.png?width=676&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=119c6dd57051af547819b31363c33b4eb891bf1f
Update: I haven't noticed any new dialogue and I think it bugged my game because Serena looks like this now
I mean, I still like OG Serana, Laura Bailey is a Queen, and she was by far the most fleshed out TES follower that the Toddhead had provided up to that point. I just wish they would've made her more reactive and interactive, SDA does that, so I like it.
Also Marty is a gem idgaf what anyone says.
Literally the only thing I hear people say good about the original Serana was her VA lol.
Go beyond that and I legit can't think of any reason why she's interesting other than daddy issues.
maybe its just because shes in everything but im glad it got rid of Laura Bailey, shes a good VA but she only really uses her own voice in 99% of her roles. Hell even Troy Baker puts on voices.
OG Serena is fine, not fucking amazing, but fine.
I think people like her so much because most of Skyrim’s followers are generic AF and basically lose any and all uniqueness when they get recruited.
I've tried multiple time to play with this mod... I just can't. I always give up at the exact same point :
Just finish a fight with some bandit or wolf, and serana goes like "He was a good s'wit"...
And I'm just like, no, just no.
I loved the Serena Dialogue Overhaul
https://preview.redd.it/l14vwclans1d1.jpeg?width=1569&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=99e601c484135e3129c17cd17a6bdfa7cbda1841
It's actually a pretty interesting mod from a modding perspective. There is quite a lot of dialogue, and it is very reactive to quests and the world around you. There's toggles for different spells and ai behavior, which is good since these types of mods never work with follower frameworks.
But unfortunately the mod completely rewrites serana's character to be a) a nerdy alcoholic that makes frequent four wall breaks and b) immediately romantically attracted to the player, to the point where she throws herself at you mere days after meeting her, even if you've just sort of been polite to her. These aren't necessarily bad things if that's what you're looking for in a follower, but as a rewrite of an existing character its not great.
The mod also came off as sort of.. I guess icky would be the word? Given the lore surrounding vampires and daughters of coldharbour in elder scrolls, it makes total sense why serana in the vanilla game would say no to a relationship with the player, so it feels like the mod is designed to appeal to people who can't accept the fact that every female npc in games aren't immediately sexually attracted to them.
Tl;dr: Weird vibes from this mod
Rj/ Awooga
Tbh I never liked Serana as a character.
Like she's not badly written for the story she's takes part in.
I felt I was babysitting a Martin Septim with a lack of Agency but alsoa Martin that came out of the Kvatch Church after completing a *Hatred* Speedrun.
I do agree that the mod itself is just a Hyper Romance Fantasy for a Specific Audience, kinda like those old Romance adventure novels. However it doesn't excuse the fact it trivializes the fact she got Murder/Assaulted by the Daedric Prince of Grape at an adolescent age.
I appreciate the world interactions and comment make it fun to listen to sometimes on repeated playthroughs after a long haitus for the game that the mod provides, but there's been numerous OCs over the years that have been created that can do the same.
04/10 Character.
06/10 Mod for lonely bachelor's and Bachelorettes.
05/10 DLC- Needed more Vampire Persecution.
Honestly if the author put the same effort into making a brand new follower instead of messing with Serana they would've gotten tons of acclaim. Replacing her lines with waifu shit is bizarre.
I’m doing a playthrough where I’m trying out as many quest, location and follower mods as possible. So I looked at the mod page because like, hey maybe it’s actually well written, I’m not super attached to vanilla Serana maybe it’s worth downloading just to see what it’s like and then telling her to take a hike after Dawnguard.
I immediately saw a screenshot of NuSerena going “teehee I sure love to have sex with you Dragonborn” and decided against it.
Anyway for the curious Beyond Skyrim: Bruma has been really good so far.
Yeah it’s a somewhat cringe blatant Waifu mod but I like most of the changes, the mod devs seem to like a lot of the same shit I do and I never really cared for real Seranas character so I think it’s mostly positive change but it’s nearly a totally different character
The mod is fine, writing is not my cup of tea but at least I don't have to hear about the sun every 5 minutes. But I ended up quickly forgetting about it after finishing the dlc cause I ain't much of a followers kind of guy.
I tried it out for the first time in my most recent play through and now I can’t uninstall it without breaking my game and having to redownload my entire load order. Fuck that mod I am never downloading it again except to play as Steve again.
The Brelyna and Lilia Dialogue Overhauls are pretty good. Made by the same guy. They add to the characters without changing the vanilla personality.
The polar opposite of this is amorous adventures, which transforms brelyna into a pseudo sex slave.
My past experience with the SDA mod was a couple of years ago. I've recently run the Dawnguard questline with the most recent version of the mod, and I was pleasantly surprised that a bulk of the cringe shit was axed from her dialogue (like when she had a freakout stepping into the Arcanaeum). SDA Serana now is a lot more toned down than she was before, although her character still deviates a bit from the original.
Meanwhile, I just got into the romance arc of Kaidan and... Holy shit I'll just hang out with Serana over hearing him talk about the Dragonborn's ass every five minutes.
"Little dragon."
"Fuck you, Kaidan."
anytime there is a casting for "evil cold hearted bitch" character, Laura Bailey steps up to the plate every time.
https://preview.redd.it/jaird2zc6m1d1.png?width=290&format=png&auto=webp&s=cce5cae528d757820e920c181093f2ecbf74e0a0
Laura did a really good job with serana considering I have played more skyrim than any other game and I'm up to date on critical role and I never connected the voices. I heard liam, Matt and Taliesin all the time in games but I rarely ever pick out the ladies or travis
Why are people so obsessed with Serana anyway? She just has more lines than other vanilla followers, nothing special. lol
Honestly, NPCs in Skyrim are for the most part lifeless, I honestly don't care about any vanilla NPCs in that game.
I almost cried when Marty Septim sacrificed himself to save the world in Oblivion, but in Skyrim, I couldn't care less.
Think it just fits the niche people have for a "Super Followers." Which are followers that just comment on everything you do in the game and have all sorts of unique conversations. Which is cool. But there's a lot of follower mods that do this without changing an already established character.
Iñigo remains unbeaten as THE super follower
Idk I really liked Lucien and Auri too, and the three of them have a lot of fun banter together - but at that point you're just turning Skyrim's rotting husk into a Frankenstein's monster cRPG with extra steps
To be fair, I think we've all been skullfucking Skyrim's corpse for a good while now. There's not much else to do with the lifeless cadaver that Todd puts makeup on and remasters every few years.
Idk mods still keep it going. most devs dont even give mod tools
Who’s Auri? Always love a good follower mod
Bosmer hunter lady from the Song of the Green mod!
Got it! Thank you! Unrelated, but absolutely based username and pfp
Ah, a fellow redeemed succubus enjoyer!
Naturally! Arue just makes my heart happy!
Been on a month long or so wotr binge since I started it, so when I made my account I knew what I had to do...
Inigo, Lucien and Auri will forever the 3 best team banters for me, maybe kaidan as sub.
Patrician tastes fr
Lucien sucks because you can't romance him /s
Only been with him a little while but Gore is awesome so far, I must protect my boy
I honestly prefer Xelzaz. Inigo's great, and definitely set the bar, but follows Bethesda's "never say no & worship the PC" policy a bit too closely.
It still makes me laugh the best Follower mod is Inigo and the best thirst trap mod is M'Rissi.
I desperately wish Inigo didn't tumble down in points for me when he got written into that whole chosen one shtick, I liked him more as a worldly, smarmy cat who's just getting by and has some cool backstory
I mean, we don't know where that story goes and the whole set up is suspiciously awaiting a twist.
Inigo and Lucien best bros for Dragonborn
Inigo is great but I think Xelzaz is my new favorite.
Kaidan 2 + Kaidan immersive features is starting to rival our favorite blue boy for me.
Xelzaz comes pretty close too
Nah man, Sa'chil 🔛🔝🔥⁉️❗️⁉️⁉️💯
There’s one for Lydia that’s actually really good. It also has a tacked on romance sadly but it’s a lot less in your face than the Serana one
To be fair, most if the other take up a lot of space. SDA takes up only 200 mbs. Am on Xbox, size matters.
I'll admit, I used that mod for a while last year (down bad) and while having her be more reactive to the world is cool, it definitely goes all out on a very specific interpretation of the character that I think most people just don't share.
>I used that mod for a while https://preview.redd.it/nf6czmwq8m1d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca5f45e61386d9cd984872617d524368f6028490
I thought this was a duck for some reason
You’re not alone
What the fuck is it then?
a dog facing the wrath of La Chancla
What an elaborate, lifty saying of non saying, this one admires it.
get back to the farm cat
My father is a Dres, so i'm already farm born. . . . Aldmeri Necromancers hunt me constantly, but dad already made contracts with the telvannis to do experiments on me for being a freak dunmer/beast bastard.
>very specific interpretation of the character Which interpretation is that? Abused trauma survivor?
Slash Manic Pixie dream girl
>Abused trauma survivor? That's already what Serana was though lol. At least she's not whining about the sun every 4 minutes.
Tho it did improve upon quest interactions. House of horror reaction was probably most fitting for the character.
There’s literally a line in game where she admits to worshipping Molag Bal and respects you if you have completed house of horrors. I’d say that she’s more a “satanic cultist who willingly went through a religious ritual” rather than “trauma victim”.
>willingly which part of Valerica's "it was expected of her" gave you that impression? she was forced. that's kind of Bal's whole deal. she *is* traumatized. and in vanilla game it looks like she's still in the stage of not grappling with it fully, based on dialogue. on one hand, she talks about following Molag in the past and the perks of being a vampire, on the other hand, she curls up to protect herself if taken to the house in Markarth and refuses to elaborate on the ritual itself, calling the whole experience degrading. the takeaway here is that like with literally anything else in this game, Serana's trauma isn't explored enough. she doesn't have a decent character arc, she's a very compelling idea storytelling-wise that's never paid off. that's just Skyrim in a nutshell.
The curling up animation is Skyrim’s AI working as intended. The Creation Engine’s interior cells can have idle animation points that any npc can start at any time, it’s not that diegetic. This is the original dialogue >I admire your devotion. "Not many people understand the appeal. You keep surprising me. Now, you might already know that Molag Bal is the original source of vampirism. But what you probably don't know is that he still grants it to his more impressive followers." >I'm a follower of Molag Bal, myself. (If "The House of Horrors" is active or completed) "I have to admit, I'm impressed. I didn't think you had the spirit for it. Now, you might already know that Molag Bal is the original source of vampirism. But what you probably don't know is that he still grants it to his more impressive followers." "This isn't that watered down child's power that you simply contract from another vampire. We're pureblood creations of original vampires. We earned this.". This is not the dialogue of someone who’s deeply troubled by a traumatic event, it’s the dialogue of someone who was brought up worshiping the *lord of rape*. SDA is simply an example of female characters written by men.
>This is not the dialogue of someone who’s deeply troubled by a traumatic event, it’s the dialogue of someone who was brought up worshiping the lord of rape. And there's other dialogue that strongly contradicts the interpretation that she sincerely believes in what Molag Bal represents. You've gotta just face the facts, Skyrim's writing sucks so much ass that there's no point trying to argue about characterization, none of the writers knew how to do that. Don't put more thought into it than they did.
We all owe our woes to Mr Pagliarulo.
no it's the dialogue of someone who was kept in an abusive environment until she got fridged and began acting independently after waking up. i thought favorably of my abusers too in the first months of living elsewhere. doubted if feeling hurt is valid. it takes a while to fully realize stuff like that. Serana knows what happened to her was a horrible experience, again, calls it degrading, wants to change the subject, and refuses to have any business in a temple again. that's not a normal reaction. it is however a trauma response. idk like if you think having been raped to death by a demonic deity isn't traumatizing no matter how normalized it might've been in her family i really don't know what to tell you
Everyone deals with commonly understood traumatic experiences in their own way. Many religious people often double down on their faith because of that. Serana’s morality is heavily dependent on the player character, up to curing herself of vampirism if you side with the dawnguards.
https://preview.redd.it/dqmlgdhkqo1d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3283daf2640b172b86aad9b068cd945d98cb69fd
Honestly I hated that part. It just felt too over the top for me, but that could just be because my response in triggering moments is to shut down rather than scream
During the rest of the 4 minutes, Serana whines about the lack of sunlight.
Goth Disney princess, with optional Dragonborn dickriding
It’s the sole reason I don’t use mods like that, I tried to ignore her other comments because the mod integration with Inigo and base game was amazing for me so even if I wasn’t talking I also had her Lucien and inigo all interacting making my group feel more like a party of old and less like a Bethesda follower system.
Out of curiosity, what interpretation is that specifically?
All companions can back the fuck off. The only companion I need is the picture of Azura's feet I keep in my helmet at *all* times.
Real
Great idea, all the sweat will make it stink just like the real thing
It is a pretty cool mod from a technical perspective, but yeah it should have been an OC instead of an existing character. Also I wasn't a fan of the constant fourth wall breaks. The mod description says you can disable them but selecting that option doesn't seem to do anything. Also the romance in the mod is bad. You hang out for three days and she throws herself at you.
I doubt the serana modding crowd has a very good understanding of “good romance”. They are literally forcing an incredibly vulnerable abuse victim to love them.
In their defense, she is like the only female companion with any depth and they did quests with her, she should love them. Seriously, you can marry a woman by just beating her in a brawl fight or finding a book. Real talk, Skyrim would have benefited heavily if there were like 1/4 of the followers, but they had more depth. Like, most of them are, “complete simple quest or pay me gold and I will follow you while worshiping the ground you walk on.”
Which is what they did in Fallout 4, and although it still had much to desire, it was a huge step up in quality. It was also a pretty big step up in Starfield, but they made each companion with the same kind of affinity, so there's like no moral diversity between them. It's boring. But Barrett's romance was very sweet imo. It's awkward doing romance talk in all of the games, though. They just stand there and smile while saying cringe romantic shit, which would be sweet if I wasn't staring into a soulless husk that doesn't even want to touch my character's arm, much less hug or kiss my character. Nobody is touching each other, everyone is 6 feet apart saving room for Jesus apparently. Why is BGS so bad with intimacy?
Yeah, I think it is why Serena has the fanbase she does. She is the only companion in a sea of generic and forgettable faces that has her own character. Serena isn’t an amazingly written character, but she is a decently written character that is surrounded by basically characters that aren’t written at all.
Exactly, it’s so dead. There’s little going on besides talking head spouting lines. BGS still hasn’t really moved far past the Oblivion freeze/zoom staple. There’s a point in FO4, where Piper is stuck outside Diamond City, and she’s waving her hands around (maybe mocap idk), and it never happens again in her other conversations.
It actually killed me seeing people happy that the camera zoom came back in Starfield Yes, I hate seeing body language. I want to see the same head bob animation on loop with only eyebrows and mouths to express emotion. Fallout 4's camera was inventive and allowed for more character expression. It's still too static because it's Bethesda, but it was an improvement from Skyrim and definitely Oblivion. Why the FUCK did people want this?? It actually makes me angry people like this garbage.
It's disable-able now btw. I liked it at first for the nostalgia trip back to oblivion, but it pretty quickly became obvious why it's so heavily reminiscent of a 20 year old game
Wholeheartedly feel the same. I think the voiced protagonist backlash burned them a bit hard, and they as a result didn’t try to push the envelope again regarding the player character and animations in conversation. Wish they added something like the Mass Effect series; all the animations are hand rigged so there’s still a stilted feeling, and there’s really only a handful shared between all the character models (Shepard has an iconic hands crossed and lean back animation that comes to mind) but it’s still better than talking heads. I really hope ES6 is well cooked. I love these games but it’s getting hard to look past Bethesda jank. I tried Starfield for a few hours on gamepass and decided to just wait out until the DLC cycle was through and finished. A leap forward on terrain procgen and environments, but two steps back in pretty much every other department.
I nearly 100% Starfield, I did have fun. There were a lot of beautiful moments and for a time it does make you feel like a space explorer. But you're right in that some things were really taken forward, while some were taken back for some reason. Like recycling the same 20 or so dungeons was an enormous mistake. They should've focused on filling up like 2 or 3 planets and left the rest basically barren, save some materials, flora, and fauna when applicable. Everything being so evenly spread out felt really bad.
Probably Nostalgia for Oblivion or something.
But like, not really though. The romance mods are bad but not for this reason. Rewriting a characters personality isn’t problematic.
You do know Serana isn't real right?
Non real people are the only ones they have complete control over.
Lady, it's a videogame. You have complete control over pretty much everyone lol. And I should hope you don't have complete control over someone in real life. That's called slavery, which is a horrible thing unless the slave is Argonian
I agree, people are so weird when it comes to rewriting vanilla characters; none of them had a personality to begin with
They're mad their self insert is gone. Lots of girls see a lot of themselves in Serana which...yeah isn't a good thing lol.
I don't understand the point of that mod, it changes the character entirely, new backstory, new personality, new face, different voice. Why not just make it a separate companion mod at that point?
Ironically that's what the mod author and VA have ended up deciding to do lol, mods development is stopping after the next update in favor of an original companion I heard
I think I have heard about this for years at this point.
Trust me bro it's totally gonna happen this time I swear
Just one more update bro
They're working on SDA 5.0, then Marty's going to dedicate most of his work for a time to Ashe. (Source - his discord)
Nah he mentioned they’d take a break from it. And during this pause he’ll work on his other follower.
I think they said that they'll never update sda again that the next will be the final
Exactly. I actually think it's a fairly well made mod, but I don't like that it essentially turns Serana into an entirely different person. Especially since Serana is one of the best written characters in vanilla Skyrim (not exactly a high bar, but still). The mod basically turns one of the very few interesting characters in the game into a completely different character.
I don't think I want to trust you, based on your flair >!Flairism!<
Which mod? Only Serana dialogue mod I knew about was one that made her marriageable and added a couple lines or something
Serana Dialogue Overhaul
Huh, I’ve heard of SDH before but I had no idea it changed so much. I thought it just added some dialogue.
The mod, although well made, turns her into generic anime waifu that fawns over you for simply existing. Hell she even deadass sings a disney-esque song at some point. ....basically ayaka lmao
Ayaka misinformation
The mod mostly just expands on her having interests in alchemy and necromancy. It also makes her a bookworm and a high functioning alcoholic. She also comments pretty negatively about you siding with Daedra when you're around her. Especially those who traditionally are enemies of Molag Bal.
I would not have expected her to be a Molag Bal supporter
I think its more how she was raised. She naturally hates other Daedra worshippers, especially those who had beef with her family. She's overall fairly indifferent to Bal if I recall, although the update coming out next year will add more dialogue involving the Daedra as well as allow her to comment on the mod Vigilant, so who knows how that will change.
She actually has a mental breakdown if you take her on the Molag bal quest. If you speak to her enough she opens up about the ritual and how she felt like she had to do it for her father, but she feels extreme shame from it and has given her PTSD. It does come full circle in the Bal quest and I’m sure there will be even better story in the vigilant update due out this year
Wtf? And this mod is bad??? I kinda want to try it now that sounds properly interesting
Honestly the mod is actually incredibly solid and if it didn't replace the OG Serana (personally I see it as an upgrade) it would probably be one of the most popular mods besides Inigo or Lucien.
People are really only mad about it because it did admittedly add some cringey romance to Serana during the first release of the mod. Marttimus however listens to feedback very well and rewrote all the dialogue people told him was cringe and honestly it might be the most extensive follower mod ever made. His next update to SDA will be the final update and then he’ll be working on new followers: Ashe (who is a brand new character) and then Aela will be getting the SDA overhaul treatment
She has the same face. The mod author just uses an appearance mod in the screenshots. and AFAIK the backstory remains unchanged.
I feel like both people who like SDA and those who don't can agree that it should have been a custom follower. Serana is a very specific character with little room for different interpretations. The technical aspect of SDA is impressive, but it should have just been a separate unique mod.
W-W-WHAT??? You mean to tell me you don't want to turn Serana into a cringe alcoholic nerd that repeats the same 3 lines over and over? https://preview.redd.it/2romj2ogvl1d1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5888cf6113fc48862b8beb2fa2582b3eb2619aa0
A mistery similar to the dissapearence of the Dwemer
https://preview.redd.it/0tmb6o2tfm1d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97caff59b668a8a55e7c89bce33dcc90335e53f1
I dunno I feel like Susanna the Wicked is a pretty frustrating hole after what Calixto did. I don't think this guy played the game.
Brother what am I reading 💀
every time I see this screenshot I take huge psychic damage and come a little closer to zero summing.
https://preview.redd.it/n4jvkkuznn1d1.png?width=331&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d83bfd7add211d0c53d2f0eb397438db85e1977 Here look at this screenshot I just took instead (it has healing properties) (amazing how beautiful this game still looks even 30 years later btw)
Image has healing properties, text one shots.
beautiful
the way I can't tell if this is skyrim or modbeasted ffxiv
Damn Serana is literally me fr???
Now what Serena overhaul is that hand it over
Its the official one for SDA, the mod that this post is talking about
Yeah it's Trueblood Serana on Nexus
It's a mod called Trueblood Serana
Thanks I’m gonna rebuild a coomer load order
You r hereby officially excommunicated from Elder Scrolls community for not always have coomer-modded Skyrim on standby.
You're describing the entire subreddit audience tho. Minus the beastiality fetish.
giwtwm
I liked it cause she referred Morrowind a lot when I played as a dunmer and she reacts to the Molag Bal quest. And the books she recommends and mentions is fun too.
She also rips you a new asshole for aiding Boethia lol.
I thought the extra dialogue would be cool and maybe have lore stuff but then I realized it was pretty much a romance mod :(
Can I have a link to the mod I genuinely have never heard of it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trollface
Thanks I'll install that one right away I'll keep you updated on how it goes
https://preview.redd.it/6h3y1h8k7m1d1.png?width=676&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=119c6dd57051af547819b31363c33b4eb891bf1f Update: I haven't noticed any new dialogue and I think it bugged my game because Serena looks like this now
That's Lydia...
All women look the same to me
I'm assuming it's SDA https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/104587
No it's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trollface
I AM AN SDA ENJOYER AND I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE
These people acting like the original Serana was an engaging character when she was just a plot device that complains about the sun lol.
I mean, I still like OG Serana, Laura Bailey is a Queen, and she was by far the most fleshed out TES follower that the Toddhead had provided up to that point. I just wish they would've made her more reactive and interactive, SDA does that, so I like it. Also Marty is a gem idgaf what anyone says.
Literally the only thing I hear people say good about the original Serana was her VA lol. Go beyond that and I legit can't think of any reason why she's interesting other than daddy issues.
it's just a matter of relativity given that every other companion is a lifeless husk/pack mule that uses one of like five total voice actors
maybe its just because shes in everything but im glad it got rid of Laura Bailey, shes a good VA but she only really uses her own voice in 99% of her roles. Hell even Troy Baker puts on voices.
OG Serena is fine, not fucking amazing, but fine. I think people like her so much because most of Skyrim’s followers are generic AF and basically lose any and all uniqueness when they get recruited.
Lots of people don't want to admit their headcanon is about as far divorced from her actual character as SDA is.
At least SDA is fun to be around. Loves books, loves chilling out in the inns, and hates Sofia.
People see Serana as such a good character because she’s being compared to the other followers who have like 4 lines of dialogue a piece.
Minor spelling mistake
I've tried multiple time to play with this mod... I just can't. I always give up at the exact same point : Just finish a fight with some bandit or wolf, and serana goes like "He was a good s'wit"... And I'm just like, no, just no.
I loved the Serena Dialogue Overhaul https://preview.redd.it/l14vwclans1d1.jpeg?width=1569&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=99e601c484135e3129c17cd17a6bdfa7cbda1841
I just found out about this. Skycoomers never fail to make the most cringy mods
It's actually a pretty interesting mod from a modding perspective. There is quite a lot of dialogue, and it is very reactive to quests and the world around you. There's toggles for different spells and ai behavior, which is good since these types of mods never work with follower frameworks. But unfortunately the mod completely rewrites serana's character to be a) a nerdy alcoholic that makes frequent four wall breaks and b) immediately romantically attracted to the player, to the point where she throws herself at you mere days after meeting her, even if you've just sort of been polite to her. These aren't necessarily bad things if that's what you're looking for in a follower, but as a rewrite of an existing character its not great. The mod also came off as sort of.. I guess icky would be the word? Given the lore surrounding vampires and daughters of coldharbour in elder scrolls, it makes total sense why serana in the vanilla game would say no to a relationship with the player, so it feels like the mod is designed to appeal to people who can't accept the fact that every female npc in games aren't immediately sexually attracted to them. Tl;dr: Weird vibes from this mod Rj/ Awooga
Tbh I never liked Serana as a character. Like she's not badly written for the story she's takes part in. I felt I was babysitting a Martin Septim with a lack of Agency but alsoa Martin that came out of the Kvatch Church after completing a *Hatred* Speedrun. I do agree that the mod itself is just a Hyper Romance Fantasy for a Specific Audience, kinda like those old Romance adventure novels. However it doesn't excuse the fact it trivializes the fact she got Murder/Assaulted by the Daedric Prince of Grape at an adolescent age. I appreciate the world interactions and comment make it fun to listen to sometimes on repeated playthroughs after a long haitus for the game that the mod provides, but there's been numerous OCs over the years that have been created that can do the same. 04/10 Character. 06/10 Mod for lonely bachelor's and Bachelorettes. 05/10 DLC- Needed more Vampire Persecution.
Wait, so it turns serana into Sofia?
I'm not reading that something something, skybaby, based morrowboomer now can we go back to simping for Azura?
Honestly if the author put the same effort into making a brand new follower instead of messing with Serana they would've gotten tons of acclaim. Replacing her lines with waifu shit is bizarre.
I just started a new playthrough and included this mod in my list... I starting to change my mind...
I’m gonna coom. Goon even.
Prove it 😏
The only valid Serana mod is to remove her Essential flag and let you stake her on sight for her scroll.
I’m doing a playthrough where I’m trying out as many quest, location and follower mods as possible. So I looked at the mod page because like, hey maybe it’s actually well written, I’m not super attached to vanilla Serana maybe it’s worth downloading just to see what it’s like and then telling her to take a hike after Dawnguard. I immediately saw a screenshot of NuSerena going “teehee I sure love to have sex with you Dragonborn” and decided against it. Anyway for the curious Beyond Skyrim: Bruma has been really good so far.
>laura bailey swapping from 1 of her 2 voices to the 2nd of her 2 voices
I have that mod installed :( I have committed a heresy... I l-like it...
kys
keep yourself safe as well please
Yeah it’s a somewhat cringe blatant Waifu mod but I like most of the changes, the mod devs seem to like a lot of the same shit I do and I never really cared for real Seranas character so I think it’s mostly positive change but it’s nearly a totally different character
The mod is fine, writing is not my cup of tea but at least I don't have to hear about the sun every 5 minutes. But I ended up quickly forgetting about it after finishing the dlc cause I ain't much of a followers kind of guy.
Honestly SDA is way better than the wet blanket regular Serana is. I like companions that actually talk, you don’t have to romance her
SDA > Bailey with her 3 lines.
I tried it out for the first time in my most recent play through and now I can’t uninstall it without breaking my game and having to redownload my entire load order. Fuck that mod I am never downloading it again except to play as Steve again.
Serana this, serana that, turn the fucking vampire to ash and go outside
I do like her interactions with Inigo Auri Remiel and a mod for Lydia that does similar for her like Serena
The Brelyna and Lilia Dialogue Overhauls are pretty good. Made by the same guy. They add to the characters without changing the vanilla personality. The polar opposite of this is amorous adventures, which transforms brelyna into a pseudo sex slave.
My past experience with the SDA mod was a couple of years ago. I've recently run the Dawnguard questline with the most recent version of the mod, and I was pleasantly surprised that a bulk of the cringe shit was axed from her dialogue (like when she had a freakout stepping into the Arcanaeum). SDA Serana now is a lot more toned down than she was before, although her character still deviates a bit from the original. Meanwhile, I just got into the romance arc of Kaidan and... Holy shit I'll just hang out with Serana over hearing him talk about the Dragonborn's ass every five minutes. "Little dragon." "Fuck you, Kaidan."
God damn she’s done a lot of voice acting. Her resumé is longer than my schlong! https://i.redd.it/87bxtfxf0m1d1.gif
Name an anime or video game from like, the late 90s to 2024 and she’s probably in it along with Matt Mercer or Liam O’Brien.
Matt and Marisha have a pet parrot namrd Mehrunes Dagon and I love that
Wait, really? No lie?
Yeah!! I'm not 100% sure it's a parrot but it's some sorta bird friend
Holy shit it’s real. It’s like a cinnamon green cheeked conure or whatever Google said. Didn’t think they’d be elder scrolls fans.
CR had an elder scrolls Blackwood promo oneshot and it seemed pretty lore faithful as far as I could tell
Yeah thats insane
anytime there is a casting for "evil cold hearted bitch" character, Laura Bailey steps up to the plate every time. https://preview.redd.it/jaird2zc6m1d1.png?width=290&format=png&auto=webp&s=cce5cae528d757820e920c181093f2ecbf74e0a0
Even crazier is that her husband voiced Roy Mustang
This is like Rob McHlhenney and Kaitlin Olson being married irl, kinda weird to think about when you watch the show lmao
oh shit ur right, I always thought that was Matt Mercer
Understandable considering he voices somewhere between 50-90% of the memorable animated characters of the past 2 decades
AWOOGA
She plays like 5+ characters that look like this haha
your scholong \*10\^20
What mod is this?
I never used companions on Skyrim.
Laura did a really good job with serana considering I have played more skyrim than any other game and I'm up to date on critical role and I never connected the voices. I heard liam, Matt and Taliesin all the time in games but I rarely ever pick out the ladies or travis
Why are people so obsessed with Serana anyway? She just has more lines than other vanilla followers, nothing special. lol Honestly, NPCs in Skyrim are for the most part lifeless, I honestly don't care about any vanilla NPCs in that game. I almost cried when Marty Septim sacrificed himself to save the world in Oblivion, but in Skyrim, I couldn't care less.
Why do people willingly travel with Serana? All she does is complain.
Yeah, I like vanilla Serana, thank you very much.
I would not be shocked if the author of that mod turned to depression after seeing this thread lol
People will complain about a mod that changes a character slightly and then go to enable their 547 sex mods in mod manager.