[GoLLuM13]

Mods stands for modifications, and "legally" or should I say in the normal way to use a console you can't modify the game's files, unless it is something available on the official shop or the dev shop (in-game) otherwise it's not possible.

[DoctorEldritch]

@GoLLuM13 That's sad, mods bring in so much for games like Fallout or Elder Scrolls, and Bethesda itself sometimes encourages that (not to mention that they are known to leave the game for modders to "finish, iron out and unbug"). So on PS/Xbox you can't get any of the user-made content (unless it's officially supported)?

[GoLLuM13]

@DoctorEldritch I'm not sure about Fallout, but for Skyrim there are mods for console on PS4 and Xbox One at least, Bethesda made them available through a special menu called "Mods". Here, we can find a list of community mods that can be downloaded and used. But the number of mods on consoles if way more limited than on PC

[DoctorEldritch]

@GoLLuM13 I guess it is good that they put in that feature, at least (amidst their other more questionable practices, it is a nice gesture), but I guess it limits the utility and freedom for mod developers. For example, I like using mods that affect quality of life: limitless inventory space, no damage from falls, stuff like that (unless those are integral parts of gameplay, of course).

For example, just now I am playing Hogwarts Legacy, and the inventory is quite small ( maybe @Saka can testify to that). There is a mechanic in the game where by solving puzzles, you can get a bigger inventory for the gear you find, but I've done all of them by now, and still think that inventory is quite limited. What that means is that you need to teleport to shop every so often to sell things you do not need, or destroy things in your inventory, and both of those things you can only do one-by-one, there is no function to sell or destroy "in bulk" as some games have. And this I see as developers artificially making the game longer with no benefit for the player. And don't get me started on the Alohomora minigame: it was ok the first 3 times, but by the 40th time it makes me nauseous.

Anyway, that's my little rant for today. I feel no remorse from using the mods to improve those aspects for me. But those, I would expect, would be too minor or too "convenient" for the developers to make them official. And then there are those mods that restore music content in Yakuza, Sony would never endorse those because of the copyright deal. What kind of mods do console devs usually support?

[GoLLuM13]

@DoctorEldritch one of the main reason I don't like that much RPG games is because you have to deal with so many objects and level them up and manage everything which is annoying for me and obviously the fact that you can't sell/destroy in bulk was even more annoying for me in Hogwarts Legacy, and you remind me that I have to finish the game now that we can hide spiders 😂

[DoctorEldritch]

@GoLLuM13 True, and that's why I value mods so much. How do console players live without them? I know all is good in moderation and you can break your gaming experience if you rely on mods too much, but they really do have their uses.
@Saka and I are both doing Hogwarts Legacy at our own paces right now, nice to know you are, too. Where in the main quest are you? And what do you mean by "now that we can hide spiders"?

[GoLLuM13]

@DoctorEldritch Console players just play the way it's intended to 😜 they never tasted the mods so they can't know about them 😁
I don't remember exactly where I stopped (I know it involves plants in the secret room 😂) and what I meant by "hide spiders" they released a few time ago a patch with arachnophobia mode, if I remember correctly, you can choose either a less menacing design for spiders of simply replacing them with squares, this is helpful for arachnophobic people, because let's be honest there is too many of them in this game 😂

[DoctorEldritch]

@GoLLuM13 "Play the way it's intended to"... Pish posh, where is the fun in that? 😅

But in seriousness, I get it, but mods that make those little life-improvement changes should, really, be in the game from the start. My concern is that some of the more...crafty, shall we say, developers, these days put elements in games to make them artificially longer. Bioware with Dragon Age Inquisition and the "real-time war table " mechanic in it is a good example, I mentioned it before. It feels like mechanics like that mostly exist to make the player stick in the game longer without giving anything in return.

Small inventory and repetitive minigames may not be as drastic but also fall in the same category for me. Though I may be wrong, of course, and the point of those mechanics is actually innocent "not enough foresight/time/talent", but if not, and devs deliberately make this choice, then I, too, want a choice not to waste my time on those elements designed specifically to make me do just that. Time is valuable, after all.

[DoctorEldritch]

@GoLLuM13 As for the spiders, I can see the usefulness in that, arachnophobia is one of the more widespread phobias. But to be fair, it is canon, spiders in the Forbidden Forest.

Personally, I am ophidiophobic myself, so I have a hard time in Hogwarts cellars, too. But not so bad that I'd want to make my game the squares galore 😅

[GoLLuM13]

@DoctorEldritch unfortunately a lot of developers use these mechanics or others to have a game that lasts "longer" and that's because player focus on how many hours to we have to take to finish the main quest and/or finish the 100% trophies 😅 and this is how you have missions that tells you to go from point A to point B on the other side of the map, and get back to A where the NPC will tell you they forgot something and send you to a point C as far as the B or even a "twist" where once you're on C you're told to go D on the other direction before coming back to A and with all this you haven't learned a bit about the storyline 😂

I don't remember seeing snakes in the game (I know there were a big one in the movie 😜)