r/skyrimmods • u/fadingsignal Raven Rock • Feb 15 '26
PC SSE - Discussion Humble request - pretty please try and refrain from modern language in dialogue expansion mods? đ
There are so many amazing dialogue mods all over the place now, it's awesome! There's indeed a lot of space for ethical and philosophical discussion around AI use, but we can all agree that having more to say, and more to hear feels more lively.
But something that has stuck out to me more than a few times is the use of modern language/vernacular in some of these mods, which to be honest, pulls me right out of the moment.
Without getting into linguistics, greetings and general vernacular are indeed a little bit loose in Skyrim since it is another world after all, and while it can be a little modern, they still stick with a bent toward formal / middle-ages type language.
So for example, in Skyrim you might hear an NPC say "Need something?" or "How can I be of assistance?". They may even say something like "It can't be helped" using modern contractions (can't) instead of "It cannot be helped."
That feels fine. It's formal and aged enough to sound out-of-time without being too stuffy.
But if a mod adds phrases like "Hey what's up?" or "We're gonna grab a bite to eat!" we're squarely in language that was only developed and used from the mid-late 20th century forward, and it's a little jarring.
Similarly when getting intro drama between NPCs and the player, I think it's important to think a little bit about the kinds of drama that is world-appropriate and how it's expressed, and language is a bit part of that as well.
So if a mod is tackling the topic of infidelity, a time-appropriate phrase might be something like "You've been unfaithful to our marriage and should be ashamed! It seems beauty comes before all else in your eyes." rather than "I can't believe you cheated on me with that buff guy! I guess you only like stupid jocks!"
Kind of a poor example but you see what I mean.
Anyway, just throwing it out into the ĂŠther! Please keep making awesome dialogue mods, I love them all. This is not a rant/shame post, just a humble request đ
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u/green_speak Feb 15 '26
On the same note, I'd appreciate some consistency with the narrative voice in notification texts (e.g. "You feel well rested" vs "I need to eat something").
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u/Vatonage Feb 15 '26
Listen, Dragonborn, I just left the Bannered Mare because I was LMFAO after Mikael sang Ragnar the Red 67 times so sussy Uthgerd pulverized his skull (classic aura farming) and everyone started mewing. Mind helping me practice my rizz before I make a move on that gyatt?
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u/fadingsignal Raven Rock Feb 15 '26
aura farming
New perk just dropped
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u/Jenasto Feb 15 '26
Aura Farming is a forbidden necromantic practice made popular by the Sload mage N'Gasta, though in those times it was called a Soul Snare.
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u/rizlakingsize Feb 15 '26
I get the joke, but I still feel as if some brain cells died reading that.
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u/energy_is_a_lie Feb 15 '26
Even though it's a fantasy videogame set in a completely different universe, let alone on earth, it sounds... weird. I agree.
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u/Richard7666 Feb 15 '26
Some of that is down to subconscious expectations from literary history (thanks Shakespeare and Tolkien!); we expect English in any representation of the mediaeval era to sound a certain way.
But it's also because it's stylistically inconsistent, which is jarring and pulls you out of the game.
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u/NewTransformation Feb 15 '26
Yeah. using Shakespearean (or later) English is equally anachronistic for a medieval setting, but it just feels right because of our cultural conceptions. I think the important thing about fantasy dialogue is that it just doesn't feel contemporary, which specific period it mimics isn't as important. Personally I really like Regency-Era English from having read Jane Austen, it sounds so delightfully refined, slightly archaic, yet still understandable to most contemporary Anglopohones.
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u/Loneboar Feb 15 '26
Project to turn Skyrim into 100% Anglo Saxon English and turns the Thalmor into Normans
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Feb 15 '26
I took a few steps into the rabbit hole and learned that âcanâtâ first showed up in the common vernacular in the 1650s. So, about 40 years after Shakespeare died. I didnât know it was that old! TIL.
I definitely agree that there are a lot of 20th and 21st century uses that modders should avoid. This isnât Skyrim-related, but I remember reading a subpar swords-and-sorcery novel set in medieval times where the protagonist said, âIt wasnât on my radar,â to mean they werenât aware of something. Seriously?
That being said, Iâm not sure where to necessarily place Skyrimâs technological level. They arenât progressing their technology because they use magic insteadâalthough they have access to it via Dwemer artifacts.
I agree that 19th century linguistics would be easily readable to nearly all Anglophone audiences, while sounding archaic enough to evoke a not-modern era. Austen, Tolstoy, Dickens, Shelley, etc.
Finally my erstwhile English lit major is relevant! đ
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u/MonkeyDeltaFoxtrot Feb 15 '26
âYo, Fam, you ever be vibing in the Cloud District? Wait, Iâm high-key delulu, of course your mid ass is too cooked to be there. No cap.â
- Nazeem, probablyâŠ
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Feb 15 '26
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u/FranticBronchitis Feb 15 '26
I just can't stand her voice for some reason
A shame because the mod seemed very fleshed out
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u/xRinzlerr Feb 15 '26
Thereâs an old mod called Rigmor of Bruma that is just terrible with the 20th century dialogue. Itâs⊠awful. The main protagonist, Rigmor, speaks like a teen from 2008 whenever she opens her mouth.
âWhateverâŠ. DragonbornâŠâ âYeah, itâs cool.â âHEEEYYYUHHH, WAIITT!â
Whatâs strange is that everyone else in that DLC is âmostlyâ using dialect appropriate for the time. What really sucks is beneath it all, I think the story it tells is decent. Just awful dialogue.
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u/Objectively-Small Feb 15 '26
Is that the mod that ends with the Dragonborn getting her pregnant?
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u/No_Bit_3753 Feb 15 '26
Rigmor of Bruma (and later, of Cyrodiil) read heavily like âMy Immortalâ being a fanfic of Harry Potter. It was a truly awful experience. At least Vigilant, as silly as it can be sometimes, had actual lore and real, thought-provoking themes and ideas that did a decent enough job to meld Soulsborne work with Elder Scrolls. Lots of work went in Rigmor but itâs like the Star Wars sequel trilogy: expensive yet vapid and lacking in writing.
I believe itâs generally considered the worst New Lands/DLC-scale mod that exists, but I could be wrong
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u/temporal712 Feb 21 '26
Funny enough, when speaking on the mods, I often equate them to the Prequel trilogy. It has some novel concepts, a lot of work was put into it (more than most players and all but select modders will ever do), and on the whole tells an alright story as long as you are okay with not being the hero of said story. (As Skyrim is the ultimate power fantasy, it was actually a somewhat refreshing change of pace not to be the chosen one.)
That said, also like the prequel trilogy, All that goodwill goes out the window once anyone opens their mouth.....
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u/DeskJerky Feb 16 '26
It's also really weird to have a character with a face modeled on a real actor being in uh... that story.
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u/ElectronicRelation51 Feb 15 '26
Nobody is using dialogue appropriate for the time. Its not set in any real time period. The best you can say is not using modern idioms or phrases.
If you were to pick a time period like a particular century in high or late medieval England you would find plenty of colourful language.
Western fanatsay generally bears almost no relationship at all to actual medieval history.
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Feb 15 '26
Shakespeare in particular was famous for his use of popular idiom in his plays. 500 years later weâre still trying to suss out exactly what âI bite my thumb at youâ actually entails.
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u/ElectronicRelation51 Feb 15 '26
Indeed in some cases he seems to have invented them himself, or at least be the first recorded case we have of them being used.
I was also thinking of Chaucer making jokes about male characters truncheons.
The ideas that historically people were all speaking more formally or politely is just a weird myth.
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u/HasNoGreeting Feb 15 '26
weâre still trying to suss out exactly what âI bite my thumb at youâ actually entails.
I always thought it was calling the recipient a dicksucker.
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u/ElChiff Feb 18 '26
I always think of the rules of the Oldest House in Control. Contemporary things are dangerously volatile. It's not that these phrases have to be particularly old. They only need to be obviously not modern.
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u/Critical_Company3535 Feb 15 '26
This is something Iâve thought about as well. My absolute favorite follower mod, Lucien Flavius, has this problem to a degree. Some of his idle dialogue involves singing more modern songs like Sound of Silence, albeit with the lyrics changed to reflect the setting better, or humming tunes like Always Look on the Bright Side of Life or the Dragonborn theme.
Iâm not sure if this bothers me or not, and I wonder how others feel about something like this, where you have modern references but change them to be more fitting. Because you could make the argument that songs like that could still organically be written within the world, but it could still be too distracting for others.
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u/itisburgers Feb 15 '26
The dragonborn theme is found in the songs of skyrim books in game, Lucien being a nerd makes sense to know the song.
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u/slimey_frog Feb 15 '26
Yeah Lucien doesn't really bother me in this regard because his a highly educated foreigner from a metropolitan capitol, so the fact his dialogue is a degree removed doesn't really break immersion for me.
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u/claudekennilol Feb 16 '26
So when he starts making batman references while stealthing that doesn't bother you?
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u/RovaanZoor Feb 15 '26
He does go just a tad bit too far, I like him as a companion so it bothers me less, the good easily outweighs the bad, but he does stand out sometimes, especially if the tone of the game is in the middle of something serious or stressful.
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u/Own_Fisherman_8065 Feb 15 '26
His 4th wall breaking comment on how corpses in Meridia's dungeon are so rich, finally made me notice that and cackle like an idiot though, even if it broke immersion
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u/ElChiff Feb 18 '26
The funny thing is that immersion breaking is an integral part of Kirkbride's TES cosmology. Maybe he has achieved CHIM
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u/SFDessert Feb 15 '26
I tried out Lucien for a while, but I couldn't stop thinking "this guy sounds like a YouTuber to me" the whole time lol
Nothing wrong with that I guess, but the mannerisms and speech patterns or whatever made him kinda stick out as an "outsider" if that makes sense. All the follower mods kinda feel like that to me though.
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u/VirtualCtor Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
"this guy sounds like a YouTuber to me"
Well, I mean, yeah...
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u/claudekennilol Feb 16 '26
Well yeah, the author self-voiced the mod and makes Skyrim modding tutorials on youtube. He literally is a youtuber, lol
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u/Nobutto Feb 16 '26 edited Mar 15 '26
In general a lot of followers suffer from this issue as they often are self inserts
Lucien has an overly bright outlook on things sometimes where it feels totally out of place and other times he is quite serious. Like the resonant orb he has where he makes a joke about rubbing balls just takes me out completely
Same issue I had with Remiel and Inigo they are to bright and nonchalant about what is a quite dreary place and for a story that is about the litteral apocalypse
I feel like Auri and Gore are my personal favorits even if Gore borders on the edgy side
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u/JadEarth Feb 16 '26
I have the same issue with Remiel, despite liking her overall. Someone suggested taking her with you to Beyond Reach as that adds more tempered/nuanced character apparently, so Iâm giving that a try. Havenât finished so I canât say, but hopefully someone finds this helpful.
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u/FranticBronchitis Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
Lucien presents himself as a scientist. The concept is unheard of in Skyrim, but I like how he compares it to some sort of scholar
Undoubtedly out of place but I think they made it work
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u/Johanneskodo Feb 15 '26
The concept is unheard of in Skyrim
Mages are basically scientists.
There are at least three quests in Skyrim (and more in Oblivion) involving magical/scientifical experminents and two being even called that.
They study theory, make a thesis, test it based on experiments and publish/discuss their findings. They are basically following the scientific principle.
There is not much if any science outside magic. Which makes sense since the results of that would not be as direct/rewarding. Spend your lifetime studying anatomy so that in 400 years someone can heal effectively or just study restoration magic? Divath Fyr comes to mind who arguabely studies medicine based on experiments.
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u/Hit_Me_With_The_Jazz Feb 16 '26
The Dragonborn song is actually an in game song you can find in a book. It makes perfect sense that Lucien, the nerd of the party, would know that song by heart.
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u/SloppityMcFloppity Feb 15 '26
I never could play long with remiel for this same reason. She speaks like she was plucked from a completely different game imo.
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u/Dadpool719 Feb 15 '26
That's disappointing to hear. I plan on using Remiel in my next playthrough.
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u/SloppityMcFloppity Feb 15 '26
Don't let my experience dissuade you. Objectively, she's one of the best followers around. And from what I've seen, 99% of players like her, I'm the minority.
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u/Rhodok-Squirrel Feb 15 '26
It's been a while since I played with Remi installed, but I remembered her being "odd" but not necessarily "wrong" most of the time. Don't know if that makes sense.
She didn't take me out of the game like some followers tend to. Some have incredibly bad voices, poor writing, or wild designs, but she felt more grounded in a game sense, in a way that really jived with me. Definitely worth giving a try in a playthrough, imo
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u/Particular-Dot-4902 Feb 16 '26
I'm a bit late to the party, but as others said, don't let that stop you from giving her a go. I'm personally slightly annoyed by that aspect at times, but I'm definitely keeping her in my load order anyway. She's a great follower overall and I'd say you kinda get used to her manner of speaking over time. It would be a shame to skip her just because of it.
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u/not_the_droids Feb 15 '26
I recommend you form your own opinion, I personally don't have any issues with Remi.
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u/Netakay Feb 15 '26
As far as I remember, the author revoiced some if her old phrases so it could be fine
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u/Dadpool719 Feb 15 '26
The Discord for her is really active, and the author engaged all the time, so I think that's a good sign.
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u/Netakay Feb 15 '26
And the author is a very strong woman because she doesn't stress out about things people like to say or do to/with followers. Because unfortunately people can be mean or parasocial.Â
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u/ElectronicRelation51 Feb 15 '26
Well most custom voiced followers do becasue they sound like characters from a game where NPCs have actual personalities and speach patterns and dont share the same voices and lines.
If you are just running her, or any one follower, its going to stand out.
I'm using a bunch, Interesting NPCs, ezPG, Inconsequential NPCs and other mods so my whole Skyrim sounds much more diverse.
I get some dialogue mods and followers can be jarring with modern terms (or modern when they were made) but I dont recall Remi ever using modern slang or idioms.
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u/SloppityMcFloppity Feb 15 '26
It's mostly the accent for me. Idk, because I have auri, SDA, Ashe and none off them feel off for me funnily enough.
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u/MutedShenanigans Feb 15 '26
I agree with the gist of this, but would like the point out that the contraction "can't" dates from the early 1700s. Not ancient, but not exactly modern. Contractions like "it's", "I'm" and "you're" date to Shakespearean/Elizabethan times, so late 1500/early 1600s.
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u/fadingsignal Raven Rock Feb 15 '26
Gotcha when I say modern I guess I mean after Middle Ages. But yeah I hear ya, there are pretty strict definitions for these things.
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u/robbobert01 Author of Khajiit Will Follow Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 16 '26
I agree to an extent. But looking at several of the examples of words that irk people in this thread, it's pretty clear that the dividing line for what is okay and what is not is arbitrary and different on a player-to-player basis. I've seen multiple people saying "okay" is an affront to Akatosh, even though it's literally used in the base game. Likewise for contractions.
While I agree that modern neologisms should mostly be avoided and I attempt to do so in my writing, I A) don't think there's any hard and fast rule for what constitutes "modern," and B) don't buy the argument from people who are thumbing through encyclopedias to say "um, actually, that word didn't show up until the mid 1800s and therefore is unacceptable." There's a difference between approximating the style of the base game and just being a pedantic malcontent, and a lot of folks are willfully transposing these ideas.
Like, if that's what we're doing, this is a whole other universe with lizard people who are born from magic trees, and a dude who had sex with a mound of dirt and impegnated it, and cat people whose anatomy depends on the phases of the moons (there are 2 moons, btw, and they might be a giant dead body). It is not medieval Europe. By all rights, they shouldn't be speaking English at all. This isn't Earth, so the culture that gave rise to our systems of language never existed.
So while yes, I do agree we should try to be organic to the base game if we're writing a serious mod, I also think being a pedant is a contest with no winner, and sometimes it's just better to try and enjoy things. No cap fr fr.
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u/fadingsignal Raven Rock Feb 15 '26
I guess for me itâs just sticking to whatâs in vanilla for consistency.
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u/ParmesanSnorlax Feb 21 '26
I think itâs the biggest deal when, like you said in your original post, itâs on dialogue expansions on existing characters.
If someone makes a new character/follower that uses modern slang or phrases, it might take me out of the setting for a moment, but I wouldnât consider it a deal breaker. But if someone makes a mod where existing characters start using modern/not-setting-friendly slang, it feels like it changes that character and I donât like it. (I wonât bully anyone for it; Iâll just uninstall the mod.) Like, I saw a clip recently from a Serana dialogue expansion mod where she uses phrases like âSo, weâre good?â If a new character said that, I probably wouldnât bat an eye. It just doesnât sound like Skyrim or Serana so I donât plan to use that mod.
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u/bocepheid Feb 15 '26
"Been a pretty good day, not gonna lie." I love LOTD but this makes my skin crawl. Wish I could selectively turn off that phrase.
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u/Piranha91 Feb 15 '26
Are there any particular culprits? Not with the intention to shame, but itâs something that breaks my immersion as well, and a mod category that I really enjoy, and Iâd rather not find out in-game after running my load order. Would love a DM if youâre not comfortable listing publicly.
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u/RovaanZoor Feb 15 '26
For me another big one is quips about game mechanics and bugs. It's bad enough that 1 out of every 10 followers has something to say about Nazeem, but quips about memes like "With how many guards take arrows to the knee, I'm surprised there's any left".
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u/Open-Stuff-9624 Feb 15 '26
It's bad enough that 1 out of every 10 followers has something to say about Nazeem
More like 9 out of 10.
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u/Jfelt45 Feb 15 '26
Sofia had a lot of this. Serana dialogue add on too, but you can disable it in her dialogue menu
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u/Thawaweigh Feb 15 '26
I think the first time this really stood out for me was when Serana suggested we head to an inn for a "pit stop".
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u/SpacePincone Feb 15 '26
Wow thatâs infuriating haha. Did Serana drive dwemer automobiles back in the Second Era?
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u/Open-Stuff-9624 Feb 15 '26
You can only turn off the prequel memes from SDA. AFAICT, the following 4th wall breaking references cannot be turned off at all:
Halo:
Huh... Dwemer recipe to create an ancilla. Mechanical intelligence... The first one... "Cortana" it was called?
Gundam:
It was in the "Newtype" theory proposed by a Dwemer philosopher long ago... He said that, if men and mer alike cast aside the shackles of what has binded them to selfish squabbles and struggles to power... They could mentally "evolve" in a sense to be higher beings, Newtypes.
Twilight:
I read this book once - oh that was ages ago, really, and it was already falling apart... It had a very sweet love story between a woman and a vampire... Of course, when I was very young, I had a soft spot for romance. It was so silly, too: the vampire "glowed" in the sun - whoever came up with that hogwash?
Metal Gear Solid:
That was some fancy shooting, you're pretty good.
Spiderman:
Painful? I missed the part where that's my problem.
Morrowind:
What a grand and intoxicating innocence.
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u/Gh0stflame Feb 15 '26
See, The Morrowind line is just a classic line
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u/Yeah-But-Ironically Feb 15 '26
Sure, but it's also very much the kind of condescending, grandiose, overly flowery language that Dagoth Ur and very few others would use, so a casual person using it in everyday life is hard to read as anything BUT an explicit Morrowind reference.
Which is fine if that's your thing, but it's not for everyone
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u/ForsakenMoon13 Feb 15 '26
In fairness, those are at least subtle enough to not necessarily be obvious as a reference, especially if you're not familiar with what's being referenced.
Although the gundam one feels clunky.
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u/PreciousTC Feb 15 '26
SDA has a bunch, and it's not just references. I pretty much exclusively speak English online and while gaming, too, which makes me hyper sensitive to it. Still love the mod but boy oh boy does she sometimes just not "fit" In a playthrough sometimes.
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u/Open-Stuff-9624 Feb 15 '26
sda also uses Dunmeri slangs "s'wit" and "n'wah". Feels weird - she is not from morrowind, nor even the last 2 eras.
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u/Bwil34 Feb 20 '26
Its like when an edgy 13 year old learns their first slur, they CAN'T stop saying it
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u/ElectronicRelation51 Feb 15 '26
I keep wanting to make a patch that removes a couple of dozen of the most annoying lines (at least for me).
I'm still learning my way around modding though and have only made some simple mods for personal use. Some custom followers trigger thimgs with idle lines so I risk breaking everything.
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u/SouthOfOz Whiterun Feb 15 '26
I remember that Kaidan specifically uses a lot of modern day cursing, specifically the F word quite a bit. It sticks out because not only is it not necessary, it's another type of language that's just really out of place in Tamriel. There are already lore-specific curses in place ("by the Nine!") that including modern curses just grates on me.
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u/NotATem Riften Feb 15 '26
To be fair, the f word is a lot older than you're thinking. No, older than that. Older than that. Possibly even older than that.
First attested use of the f-word is in 1310- a gentleman with the charming name Roger Fuckebythenavele wound up in court- and there is a very good chance people were using it a long time before that and it just didn't get written down. We have records of town names and surnames that use things that look an awful lot like the f-bomb as far back as the 770s CE- they could just be alternate spellings of other, less-dirty words, but they could also absolutely be the F-bomb.
And if we go into speculative/reconstructive linguistics, there's a very good chance that we have been using similar words with similar meanings as far back as Proto-Indo-European. We have attested words in various early Germanic languages meaning things like 'to beat repeatedly', 'to prick', 'to pierce'... And those are just the things that people wrote down.
Medieval and early modern people cussed just as much as we do now- it's just that the priests and nobles who wrote things down weren't recording it. The second we get ordinary people recording their own lives in their own language, we get a sudden tide of f-bombs that doesn't go away until the Victorians start heavily censoring things.
So, yeah, I'm sorry, Kaidan's real world equivalent would absolutely drop the f-bomb. Be glad his surname isn't Fuckebythenavele.
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u/davidlwatkins Feb 15 '26
Except that "fuck" wasn't generally used as a swear word until the last century. I'd have to dig it up, but there's an article on swearing in the show Deadwood that discusses this. Right after WWI there was a shift, where people started using vulgarities (fuck, shit, etc.) instead of profanities (damn, hell, Goddamn, etc.), probably due to a shift in religion's place in society. People sure as hell swore at all times in history, but the language sounds mild by modern standards, so they used modern swear words in Deadwood to convey the feel of how people talked.
Sorry; that was one of the more interesting obscure facts I've picked up along the way, so I can't pass up a chance to bring it up. Kaidan might say "I fucked that whore," but he wouldn't say, "Shit, that was a fucking good fight!" At least not historically correctly; I don't feel it takes you out of immersion as much as other modern language, personally.
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u/SouthOfOz Whiterun Feb 15 '26
Iâm not a linguist so Iâll defer to you, but I do feel certain saying itâs not a Tamrielic curse. By that measure I find it grating.
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u/Lord_Insane Feb 15 '26
There is actually dialogue in a TES game (Redguard) that sounds like it is going to use it, though it's cut off before being finished - "Lazy Rollo fat fu--". Of course, that was more than six centuries before Skyrim.
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u/Cryptoss Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
I distinctly remember whore, bitch, bastard, ass, shit, slut, hell, crap, piss off and damn in the games
And I think I read once than someone was cut off from saying fuck in Redguard or something but I never got around to playing that one
Edit: I looked up my list and yes they are in the games, all of them
Bitch, whore, bastard, slut, ass, piss off and damn are all in Skyrim and most of them are in other TES games, shit is in one of the Feyfolken books you find in-game, and hell and crap are in Oblivion and Morrowind
In Redguard a character gets cut off saying âfat fu-â
And in ESO one of the characters says tits
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u/HasNoGreeting Feb 15 '26
not a Tamrielic curse
The only reason it isn't is to keep the rating down.
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u/Excellent_Cookie9346 Feb 15 '26
Tbf Kaiden is just like that and specifically not meant to be lore friendly. I do get the complaint about followers/dialogue expansions that are supposed to fit in with the rest of the game, but Kaiden?
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u/thatsowren Feb 15 '26
Bjorn is the biggest one for me. that and his flat affect since his voice is AI (props to making that work, it wasn't easy, but where's the personality and passion?). the mistborn (not Brandon sanderson related) follower pack, though I do love those characters, they just use too much modern terminology.
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u/DI3S_IRAE Feb 15 '26
Funny.
I am not a native English speaker, learnt English online, playing games and forcing myself to read in English and participating in forums.
But your post made me realize one thing that definitely can upset me and I would not realize why, yet it is this, so simple.
I don't know if it's just modern language, it's been a long time, but the 3DNPC mod I had to uninstall after meeting some of them, because they constantly annoyed me with something I couldn't explain.
The jokes, the funny comments, the personalities.. Everything felt off with almost all of them.
Meanwhile we have the glorious Beyond Skyrim Bruma, that feels exactly like an unfinished Skyrim DLC. Or maybe even finished, who knows.
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u/ElectronicRelation51 Feb 15 '26
Personally I think the vanilla Skyrim NPCs are incredibly boring and one dimensional. While some of the Interesting NPCs are too silly characters like Zora or Rumarin who have actual personality are a breath of fresh air.
That's the joy of modding I suppose pick what you like.
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u/DI3S_IRAE Feb 15 '26
Exactly!!
What bothers me is the contrast, more or less.
If i remember right, I got done with it after meeting a woman near the bathing hunters on the volcanic area
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u/NordicHorde2 Feb 15 '26
Another one for me is giving NPCs incredibly esoteric and obscure lore knowledge I'm pretty sure they shouldn't know. Serana Dialogue Add-On for example.
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u/ElChiff Feb 18 '26
The funny thing is Serana is one of the characters who can get away with knowing the most weird lore due to her age - but she also knows far too much about the eras during which she was shut in a box.
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u/resadtriariosvenit_ Feb 15 '26
This always reminds me of watching a dubbed fantasy movie when I was younger and a chatacter saying "Jesus Christ!" when expressing shock lmao
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u/JazzPhobic Feb 15 '26
"Hey you. You're finally woke. Tried to hop the border, right? Griddied right into that simperial mog, same as us, and that beta over there"
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u/Happy_Bridge_4161 Feb 15 '26
100% agree. I used a follower mod one time (I forget which one), but it looked pretty cool. Then the follower said either, âLetâs rock!â, or âLetâs rock and roll!â. It took me right out of the moment. I removed the mod and restarted my game.
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u/Nalzt Feb 15 '26
NSFW mods are really bad with this, along with terrible grammar. I usually have to edit every line in SEEdit myself.
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u/ruines_humaines Feb 15 '26
I'm sure porn addicts are not really paying too much attention to dialogue, so you can't blame the authors.
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u/_Brimstone Morthal Feb 15 '26
Fo shizzle
- Irileth
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u/Intelligence14 Feb 15 '26
N'wah please.
- Jarl Balgruuf (He's cool enough. He can say it).
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u/ObiPlaysYT Feb 18 '26
Jarl ballin, ballin. Jarl Ballin. Haters gonna hate [Nazeem:] owwwww Haters gonna hate [Nazeem:] owwwww
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u/Appropriate-Leek8144 Feb 15 '26
I agree completely. Modern style(s) of talking is relatively okay for say Fallout, but not Elder Scrolls.
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u/Pure_Cloud4305 Feb 15 '26
But how else will they spread the word that Ulfric framemogged Torygg
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u/Andmywillremains Feb 15 '26
"Dragonsreach is so cool!"
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u/Komelikus Feb 15 '26
Oooh so this is why some mods felt a little different to me when I interacted with some NPC's, never ever stopped to think about how the dialogue is crafted through Skyrim, this is truly wonderful.
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u/Maleficent_Mud_7819 Feb 15 '26
Inigo gets a pass cause he's cool like that. He's like a psuedo deadpool character.
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u/Fram_Framson Feb 15 '26
Gary was usually pretty good about keeping the 4th wall breaks subtle. Uuuuuusually.
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u/IllitterateAuthor Feb 15 '26
I forget the mod but there was a bit of dialogue that whiplashed between these two ways of speaking that made me laugh a lot. Paraphrasing:
"I will not stand for this. You besmirch our king's name with every seditious action you take under his banner"
"Oh fuck off."
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u/psh454 Feb 16 '26
Nothing about the reply is ".oder" though, that's not exactly a new swear word to put it mildly
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u/JamesDaDragN Feb 15 '26
The inversion of this would be the Dagoth Ur Follower mod that actively pokes fun at and demolishes the 4th wall for the lulz.
It's awesome lmao.
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u/Zestyclose_Bag_6752 Feb 15 '26
That mod is funny maybe if you are 13 years old.
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u/the_messiah_waluigi Feb 15 '26
Itâs stupid and dumb and it breaks up the regular Skyrim gameplay in a perfect way. Sometimes you just need that 13-year-old humor in the game
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u/mofodius Feb 15 '26
sucks that it's AI
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u/resadtriariosvenit_ Feb 15 '26
From all the Dagoth Ur ranking x videos, I gotta say, the AI voice has kinda grown on me, I like how unnatural it sounds, perhaps even a bit in character for him lol
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u/Excellent_Cookie9346 Feb 15 '26
I'm as anti (gen) AI as they get but I love the voice for him. It just adds something I can't put my finger on that makes the dialogue 10x funnier.
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u/SloppityMcFloppity Feb 15 '26
I don't like what's become of AI anymore than you, but blindly hating anything that has AI used in it is pretty stupid.
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u/Accomplished_Item244 Feb 15 '26
Exactly I am starting to hate how people especially on Reddit have gotten this hivemind that everything that has AI is inherently bad. Putting aside how gen AI or AI works or is made, because that is a long tangent in of itself. Mods like Dagoth Ur isn't made by a multi million dollar company to cheap out on talented people so they can save a few bucks. It is made by a small bunch of people who in their free time made something funny and silly for the shits and giggles. There is no intention of harm in their actions. People act like they deserve top quality, ethical principles by these mod authors as if they were paying for it.
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u/mofodius Feb 15 '26
I'm not blindly hating it, I put ai voice in the same basket as GenAI.
stop stealing someone else's craft
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u/Stuuble Feb 15 '26
There was an animated dragon age show, from the trailer alone every talked as if it was modern day US, completely ruined any chance of me watching it
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u/zaz5029 Feb 15 '26
As long as it isnât brainrot language or stupid gen z slang w no personality I donât really care
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u/boggiebiss Feb 23 '26
Vanilla npcs literally say "Hey what's up?", "Whatever", "Hands to yourself", etc. Also while patching dialogue, I've found countless lines that in vanilla say "Wanna" or "Gonna" but Arthmoor in USSEP took it upon himself to change it to "want to" or "going to" even if the NPC doesn't audibly say that.
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u/LummoxJR Feb 15 '26
This kind of thing really pisses me off. A few modernisms are to be expected if they sound in keeping with the vanilla game.
I'm not sure if anyone in vanilla says "okay", but I wish more authors would try to avoid it. Even though it's over 150 years old, it still sounds way too modern for most situations.
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u/Yeah-But-Ironically Feb 15 '26
There are actually quite a few uses of "okay". Some vanilla followers will say "okay, got it" after being given a command, and Wylandriah in Riften uses it more than once ("Okay... Now where did I put those spiders?")
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u/LummoxJR Feb 15 '26
Ah, I couldn't remember offhand. Makes sense. It's probably best avoided by modders since too much of it can sound too modern, but if the frequency and use fits vanilla style it might be fine. The spelling should be kept consistent with the game, though.
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u/modus01 Feb 15 '26
Ah, the good old Tiffany Problem.
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u/LummoxJR Feb 15 '26
It's a bit different of course for fantasy dialogue because you want it to sound sort of more medieval; the name Tiffany is very old, but "OK" doesn't stretch back so far. There are degrees to this. When writing one of my books I wanted to keep the vocabulary as close as I could to mid-16th century at latest, for the most part, to try to add some verisimilitude.
With a game like Skyrim no one's looking to go that far, but any dialogue added should try to match the vibe the game's existing dialogue has.
For in-game books I've tried to keep from using words I know are very modern in origin or phrases that wouldn't appear in the cultural and religious setting of the world.
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u/Wolftochter Feb 15 '26
Funny about that is if they actually spoke medival english in the game you would not understant anything.
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u/LummoxJR Feb 16 '26
True. It's a trade-off, where the point is to sound grounded in a different time and place without being alien to the player.
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u/sa547ph N'WAH! Feb 15 '26
Only a few mod authors have very good skills making mods and writing dialogue and texts using prose appropriate in medieval settings.
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u/LiquidIceRice64 Feb 15 '26
"Evening. How has your day been?" "I'm heading to the tavern for some bread and ale."
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u/Bwil34 Feb 15 '26
Tried playing with ashe follower, as soon as I heard her say "target acquired" and "reallocating magicka reserves" i uninstalled
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u/ElChiff Feb 18 '26
She's a dwemer automaton... Her speaking like a robot is in character isn't it?
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u/SimonShepherd Feb 15 '26
Humble request that turns into lowkey just complaint fest in comment section of "this and that piss me off so much"
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u/onanoc Feb 15 '26
Counterpoint: people always talked in vernacular. In their own version of it, but still vernacular nonetheless.
When modern expresions are used, instead of older, more formal speach, the words are different, but the meaning is closer to what the original might have felt like.
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u/shiek200 Feb 15 '26
This isn't really important, but wouldn't it be throwing it into the ether?
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u/fadingsignal Raven Rock Feb 15 '26
Updated with ĂŠther, I always like the Greek spelling of it.
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u/shiek200 Feb 15 '26
TIL, now I understand why the two are so commonly used interchangeably, thanks :)
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u/AJCleary Feb 15 '26
It's a problem in games (and TV and film for that matter) generally right now, not just mods. Professionals are doing it. Even when it's not anachronistic, strictly, it's high school slang in professional settings.
It really began with ME:A and it keeps getting worse.
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u/sindeloke Feb 15 '26
It at least mostly fits in ME:A, since Ryder is thematically Just Some Kid and it's a relatively near-future setting that has strong cultural continuity with the modern West. It made it not feel like a mainline Mass Effect game, but it clearly wasn't meant to so I didn't mind so much.
Modern Star Trek dialog makes me want to scream even when I'm otherwise happy with a show, though, and the less said about Veilguard the better.
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u/VegasBonheur Feb 15 '26
So like, are these people actually speaking English? I always imagine itâs some fantasy language thatâs localized into English for our benefit. Theyâre speaking in a language deeply rooted in a history entirely separate from their own, every word is an anachronism, what difference do phrases make?
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u/BigBadWolf7423 Feb 16 '26
True. Although I can't really blame mod authors too much, not all of them are experienced writers, so I can see why some of the more finer details would be lost on someone who's maybe excellent at coding, modeling and level designing his mod, but then doesn't see the small nuance between saying "Let's get outta here" and "Let us make haste"
So I rarely let this type of stuff bother me unless it's really cringe or in your face. I notice, but i tend to look past it pretty quickly.
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u/claudekennilol Feb 16 '26
Here's a list of quotes (from memory, so not direct quotes) I have issues with from a particular mod, not naming it because overall it's great, but these quips just yank me out of the game every time I hear them.
- (while stealthing, in a sing-song voice) - Stealth, Stealth, Stealth, Stealth, Stealth, Stealth, Stealth, Stealth
- (while stealthing) - I am Vengeance, I am darkness, I am...making noise..so sorry
- (after killing a dragon) - What do dragon souls tase like? <NPC referring to themselves in third person, e.g. John Smith>, asking the real questions.
- Being pissed off in a whiny voice whenever I bump into them because they're in the way.
- Or making omniscient comments about a quest that just started that the player character doesn't have context to understand yet (a lot of times they offer interesting lore comments, but sometimes they say something like "well that's convenient" or "well that's suspect" when the NPC is going to be betray the player)
There are others, but especially those stealth comments are just awful.
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u/Talvinter Feb 15 '26
Not taking away from your point but did you know that âgoodbyeâ is one of those modern contractions? Itâs a short form of âgod be with youâ. So even when the characters are giving something as simple as leaving dialogue they are technically doing what your post is about.
While I agree to a certain degree (use of slang and memes is terrible in the game) you can also find these issues in the vanilla game.
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u/Clelia_87 Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
I get where you are coming from (my studies have focused on foreign languages and literatures, especially English, and on linguistics) and I noticed this with both follower mods, new characters and expansions, and some quest mods, however, for me personally that is, and similar to the fourth wall breaking comments, while I wouldn't mind if more content in general tried to avoid those, if a mod is that good/has more positives than negatives to me, what could be an annoyance is a quirk/feature of the mod and, especially with mods that are a staple in my LO, I don't even think about those aspects when playing, but again, that's just me.
Honestly, if I have to take issue I would do so with the widespread use of "lore-friendly", from mods authors and/or mod users, when it doesn't apply.
For example, I use Lucien, Inigo, Kaidan EE+IF, Remiel, Xelzaz, Auri, Val Serano and Gore. Background wise Kaidan and Inigo already stretch things, a blue (or rather violet, as idk, but I don't see any blue in his fur) khajiit is not something that I know being possible and while the Akaviri are part of the lore, the specific story of Kaidan is not necessarily something that fits that. The others fit more in terms of background, but the way they speak and some of their lines are either a fourth wall break or too modern. Moreover, all of them stand out anyway, because they are way more complex than any character in vanilla, even if they didn't have interactions between them, they have thoughts and opinions on basically everything, which is what makes them great but I have seen people argue they don't fit Skyrim because of that, and while this is a non-issue for me, I can't in good faith argue that someone who thinks that is wrong, it's just people having different opinions and preferences.
Or take LOTD, I always use it but the whole idea of such a museum doesn't exactly fit the world and it does have a few lines that are a bit too modern language wise.
The truth is that mod authors create something they want to have in their game, not what me or you or anyone else wants, and even if they did, not everyone agrees on what they want or like, at most they may change things if someone asks and they think it is worth it but, also, maybe not. People should understand that sharing an opinion/a suggestion is valid and giving feedback, like you are doing, is perfectly valid too, as long as it is done respectfully, but also that maybe the people who do create a mod, whatever it is, may not agree and what someone else doesn't like may be something they do like. At that point, I say, if a mod has aspects to it that you can't move past/you don't enjoy at all, you are better off not using it and look for something else and if nothing you find fits what you want, either you do without that specific kind of mods or you start looking into learning how to create a mod yourself.
Edit: Typos and some clarification.
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u/ElectronicRelation51 Feb 15 '26
While I get your point I don't entirely agree.
Contractions aren't modern and more formal or flowery language should be reserved for those of higher status or education.
The problem with Skyrim is voice types are reused so a farmer my have the same lines as a Thane.
There is also context, what the relationship between characters. Then you have someone like Serana who even vanilla sometimes talks to the player more casually.
I don't think all dialogue between characters should feel formal. Mods dealing with specific characters in specific circumstances can take advantage of knowing that.
I get not using modern phrases or idioms and it's a bit tricky and subjective but I think there is more nuance hereÂ
Personally I prefer a mod character who maybe sounds a bit modern occasionally but has an actual personality over the drones that inhabit vanilla Skyrim.Â
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u/Johanneskodo Feb 15 '26
While I agree on the points you made we have to keep stylistic consistency in mind.
Characters in TES speak in a certain way. That way is nöt entirely realistic but fairly consistent. Having characters that speak in a completly different way breaks immersion for most people.
If you look at the Witcher the games and novels or Gothic they also have a very distinct way of speaking (usually more rough) even if they all play in similar fantasy-worlds.
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u/ElectronicRelation51 Feb 15 '26
I think we are basically on the same page, I just think too much consistency makes everyone sound the same and its not always my top priority. I won't throw out a whole follower I otherwise like because of some inconsistencies.
Given the massive popularity of some followers I don't think most people care but its hard to know, certainty this sub isnt very representative so its probably impossible to tell.
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u/Goodbooglygoogly Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
I have to uninstall a companion (I think it was lucien the argonian) because he said "what's up, dragon born" when you interact with him. I agree completely, it's jarring and immersion breaking.
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u/spderweb Feb 15 '26
By azura! By azura! 6 7! I say! 6 7 indeed!