Modding communities built around popular games often contain highly talented individuals. Thousands of mods are available to download for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The most creative of the bunch are usually the total conversion mods. These types of mods tend to drastically change several aspects of a game's experience.
One of the more impressive total conversion mods for Skyrim is Enderal: The Shards of Order (a.k.a. Enderal: Forgotten Stories). This mod displays such a level of quality that it's easy to mistake it for an official DLC or a separate game completely. The amount of creativity poured into this mod assuredly deserves a special mention. Be sure to give it a try next time you're perusing the Steam Workshop.
7 Hours Of Extra Content
RPGs like Skyrim can easily be played for hundreds upon hundreds of hours and still have content left over. Enderal, although not quite as jam-packed, still offers plenty of things to do throughout its own unique setting. Depending on how many side quests the player completes the mod offers 30 to 125 hours of expected playtime.
Enderal is one of those mods that rewards exploration. Completing optional quests not only helps level the player up, but also serves to flesh out the game world. Enderal, unlike many other mods, possesses its own complex lore. Learning about the game world is certainly part of the mod's charm.
6 Fully Voiced NPCs
Complex characters often make quests even more interesting. Mods that attempt to incorporate voice acting can sometimes be hit or miss. In Enderal's case, the voice acting is unquestionably one of its strengths. Hearing NPCs that feel authentic definitely plays a large role in a game's atmosphere.
One of the more comical aspects of an Elder Scrolls game relates to its voice acting. Since there are hundreds of characters and only so many voice actors, many NPCs sound exactly the same. Since Enderal is a much tighter experience, each character sounds and feels unique. Interestingly, the voice acting itself is performed by a group of professionals, not by unpracticed amateurs.
5 Challenging Combat & Survival Mechanics
Skyrim's combat system isn't exactly groundbreaking. Unless playing on the highest difficulty settings, it's quite easy to become overpowered. Most enemies will learn to die in a few swings or after a few fireballs. Enderal, however, mixes up the standard formula for combat that might catch many first-time players off guard.
The basic, fundamental combat mechanics stay the same. However, enemies no longer just roll over. Players, conversely, will find that they're not quite as durable in the early game compared to Skyrim. Combat thus becomes more complex by being more dangerous. Fights need to be picked a bit more carefully if the player hopes to survive for any length of time. Barring certain skill perks, regenerative healing does not take place in Enderal. The player needs to eat in order to regain health. Healing potions and spells are also an option, but consuming or casting too many at one time can result in death!
4 Skills & Experience Points
Like any RPG Skyrim possesses its own skill system. Players can level-up a particular skill by practicing it. Once enough individual skills have been increased the player's overall level advances to the next tier. There is no such thing as experience points in Skyrim like one may find in other RPG titles.
Enderal discards Skyrim's leveling system in favor of a more traditional approach to gaining experience and class skills. Memory Trees allow players to specialize in a particular class, whether it be a warrior, rogue, mage, etc. Experience points are earned by dispatching enemies, completing quests, exploring new locations, and learning new knowledge through books. Accumulating enough experience points advances players to the next level.
3 House Design
In The Elder Scrolls V: Hearthfire players are given the opportunity to construct their very own homesteads. It gives the player some degree of creative freedom, but the sky isn't exactly the limit when it comes to realizing one's artistic vision. Building houses isn't at the forefront of Skyrim's primary gameplay features.
Enderal actually gives the player a bit more freedom when it comes to designing their home. Using various plans, individual furnishings can be crafted and placed in a more freestyle manner throughout the home. The controls can be a little unwieldy, but it's a nice attempt to improve upon the basic features established by the vanilla game.
2 Forgotten Stories Content
The Steam Workshop actually lists the name of this mod as Enderal: Forgotten Stories. In addition to the base mod (The Shards of Order), Forgotten Stories restores a lot of cut content that didn't make it into the initial release. Thus, Forgotten Stories can be regarded as the "definitive" version of The Shards of Order.
In Forgotten Stories, two additional character classes were added, both revolving around crafting. New side quests and guild questlines were included as well. More crafting options and additional spells were also thrown in for good measure.
1 How To Install Enderal
If all those features sound interesting, then installing Enderal: Forgotten Stories is the only thing left to do. The mod can be found exclusively on the Steam Workshop, so it's pretty simple to find and install. The link to the mod page for Skyrim: Special Editioncan be found here.
Obviously, make sure that Skyrim is already installed. Once on the mod page, scroll down and click on the green "Install Now" button. The mod will then install just like any other game on Steam. It's that easy!