What things have you've done (other than mods) that made a game more enjoyable?

[I Will Haunt You]

What things have you done for games that made them much more fun to play. I want to exclude mods (including Reshades) because they'll tend to be the default answer for everyone, I have a couple;

1) Getting rid of floating text. I swear I never enjoyed any MMO I've played more than when I got rid of almost all the floating text. It just made the game feel that much more immersive. I'll also trim down some of the HUD like a lot of nameplates I find unnecessary if I can which also helps, but that floating text is just the worst.


2) VoiceBot. I haven't used it much recently, but this little program is a go to for games when I just don't feel like doing all the work with my hands. It is a fully customizable voice recognition program. It works great with games and Windows and other software. You can make your own setup or download premade ones for lots of games. The only problem is it won't activate controller inputs, only keyboard. So for games like Fallout 4 it's useless if you play with a controller (because keyboard input is disabled), but works wonders for keyboard only games or games where keyboard and controller input is mutual or dynamic like The Withcer 3. (Say "igni" and swap to that sign without having to open the weapon wheel! So smooth.)

 

[Frindis]

I try to make the UI cleaner and I usually turn off any type of hints that pop up. I do like subtitles when I listen to a conversation, so I tend to turn them on. I change keyboard bindings, put the most important skills on mouse side buttons and adjust graphic settings in-game/externally. I try to keep my inventory in games neatly organized. I also change the lighting on my Katana Soundblaster so it fits the game I am playing or my particular mood.

 

[Dan]

In Skyrim I never fast travel, and only use the carriage to get to major cities. In makes the game more realstic, and means I have explored so much and seen so many things I wouldn't have seen previously.

 

[Zoid]

@Dan I do the same thing. In Fallout 4 I prefer to only travel by foot or by vertibird, and in my Outer Worlds playthrough I have yet to fast travel once. Spending more time actually traversing the game world adds a lot to the immersion by building familiarity. It can also cause you to stumble upon locations, items, or people that you wouldn't normally have found.

I've been reexamining my approach to RPGs in general lately and it has really refreshed my enjoyment of the genre. The biggest change I've made is that I've stopped caring about making my character the best character and I've instead been focusing on making them a character I actually want to play. I used to try to min-max every character, but then I'd inevitably end up wearing some dumb looking armor just because it gave me the best stat boost. I'd rather have a character that looks and plays how I want them to, even if it means using sub-optimal gear.

 

[McStabStab]

@Dan and @Zoid
I mentioned it in another post but I did the same in Mad Max. It has to be a game where the world or the means of getting around is interesting enough that I don't mind going back and forth a bunch.

 

[Johnway]

When in doubt i turn on subtitles and color blind mode. The subtitles just to make sure i catch every piece of the conversation and sometimes translate other languages (Wolfenstein the new colossus did this) and it enriches the game.

Color blind mode for UI purposes and you know makes my life easier so i don't missing anything.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

When in doubt i turn on subtitles

I don't like subtitles at all, but sometimes they are so necessary. Hushed voices or music that drowns out the vocals, or thick accents make it hard to understand. A necessary evil in my book.

 

[Zloth]

Yeah, I turn off subtitles, too, unless the accent is crazy thick. Or if it's in another language. Or if the voice acting is so bad that I have to put it in another language.

 

[Johnway]

I don't like subtitles at all, but sometimes they are so necessary. Hushed voices or music that drowns out the vocals, or thick accents make it hard to understand. A necessary evil in my book.

yeah pretty much my thoughts. I feel that if i dion't hear them properly i might be missing out on key information or content. Some well delivered lines and i don't notice it. A bit like F.E.A.R fright scares that you miss because you're looking somewhere else.

 

[MeFirst]

If a FPS generally is offering ADS (aiming down the sights), I turn the crosshair off at once.

 

[Snake]

I made my own mod once for Distant Worlds which transferred the Distant Worlds Universe for the Free space universe , other then that I usally turn music off quiet a lot for realism! Because nothing takes you out of the game your playing then a big getto blaster blowing your head off.

 

[firefly]

In Football Manager, it is fun to place restrictions or make harder achievements for yourself. I sometimes like trying to win as much as I can using only players native to the country I am managing in. Sometimes I like using only players I develop from my youth academy.

 

[logainofhades]

Honestly mods are the way I mostly do things, as I only play WoW, and that is really the best way to make the game more enjoyable, from a UI standpoint. With Z-perl, I can move around the player and raid frames, to suit my preferences. Non mod wise, to make everything fit properly, with my mods, I typically change the UI scaling. I like to try and keep most things as close to the edges, of my screen, as possible, such as my damage meter, and threat meter. I do like having the floating combat text up, though, especially for damage done to me. As I run dual monitor, and like to listen to other things playing on the 2nd monitor, I usually keep the sound down, and the music off. Just loud enough to know what is going on, but where it won't drown out whatever I have going on, video or music wise.

 

[Zoid]

In Football Manager, it is fun to place restrictions or make harder achievements for yourself. I sometimes like trying to win as much as I can using only players native to the country I am managing in. Sometimes I like using only players I develop from my youth academy.

I love this. If it's a game I've done multiple playthroughs of, I'll often decide to self-impose additional challenges to spice things up. Things like playing through a Pokemon game using only bug Pokemon, or deciding that my character in an RPG is an animal lover so I have to avoid killing any animals. These kinds of challenges can make even repeated playthroughs fun.

 

[PCG Jody]

Restarting Dragon Age: Origins as a wizard. I couldn't get into it as a rogue, even after trying two different origins. But being a wizard both made combat a little bit more fun and made me feel like my character made sense for the story--the conflict between mages and templars is so central to the Dragon Age series I ended up playing a wizard in all three of them so I had a stake in it.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

made me feel like my character made sense for the story--the conflict between mages and templars is so central to the Dragon Age series I ended up playing a wizard in all three of them so I had a stake in it.

It certainly lends itself to that doesn't it? I agree that being a mage is the most fun and does tie you to the story better. Still, I liked my rogue being the bloke that just accidentally stumbles into the middle of something that wasn't his business and ended up having to reluctantly sort it out.

 

[Pifanjr]

Turning off HUD elements (especially in Assassin's Creed, where I turn off pretty much everything), turning on subtitles and not worrying so much over min maxing my playthroughs are all things that make most games a lot more enjoyable for me too.

 

[Krud]

Restarting Dragon Age: Origins as a wizard. I couldn't get into it as a rogue, even after trying two different origins. But being a wizard both made combat a little bit more fun and made me feel like my character made sense for the story

Yeah, my original foray into the game was as a Mage, and now that I'm replaying it as a Rogue, I miss being a Mage. I think the gameplay is more manageable as a mage, too, especially if you're not running around with the NPC mages. This time I'm also playing as an elf, though, so at least story-wise I'm getting that whole subplot/flavor, such as it is.