Has Cheating/Mods In Singleplayer Games Ruined The Vanilla Experience For You?

[Deleted member 18944]

Back when Skyrim had this cheat/glitch that allowed you to craft unlimited items to sell and the underground merchant chest glitch, being able to buy my way to the best equipment and deck everything out really ruined my experience of Skyrim, as I feel like, ironically, I cheated myself out of experiencing the game as the developers intended it.

The same thing has happened with RDR2! I instantly just felt like free roaming with mods that allowed infinite ammo and unlimited health, and now I'm very uninterested in actually finishing the game entirely, especially without those cheats enabled.

And I feel like this about all games that get mods or cheats. For me, they provide a short term rush of interest and enjoyment, and then without them, I realize I'm not really a fan of the vanilla experience.

 

[Dest]

nope

 

[Johann Mistletoe]

Depends, but randomizers have that effect on me for games I know inside and out

 

[Deleted member 18944]

nope

Click to shrink...

I appreciate the honesty, Geoff.

 

[sredgrin]

Typically the only "cheats" I mod into games regarding invetory / weight limits, and those tend to increase my enjoyment, not having to deal with micromanaging that sort of thing.

 

[sn00zer]

I feel like a lot of people will find combo in an action game and only use that the rest of the game and then say the game sucks.

 

[Fat4all]

adding massive boobs and thunderous dongs to video games characters is the reason for the season

 

[Exentryk]

No, it's the opposite. If I can't mod, I might consider skipping the game.

I just need to have the option of modding when needed. Mostly do it to avoid grinding for some obscure late game items in RPGs.

 

[defaltoption]

In GTA games it does, I've never used them in 5 or any Red Dead but GTA 4 and earlier every time I activate cheats I enjoy it for a bit then realize I ruined the whole experience and start a new save to actually play as intended.


AC Odyssey had the opposite issue, I first played on pc and just gave myself crafting material and money because the grind sucks ass and now its hard to play on consoles.

 

[Z-Beat]

I cheated myself out of experiencing the game as the developers intended it.

Click to shrink...

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
You didn't grow.
You didn't improve.
You took a shortcut and gained nothing.
You experienced a hollow victory.
Nothing was risked and nothing was gained.
It's sad that you don't know the difference.

 

[Daniel Westlake]

Nah

 

[Spehornoob]

I cheated not only the game but myself

 

[collige]

I don't really cheat as a general rule for the reasons you stated. As far mods go that aren't game breaking, that depends on how bad the vanilla game is. I don't think i would ever go back to MGSV without mods for example.

 

[Fat4all]

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
You didn't grow.
You didn't improve.
You took a shortcut and gained nothing.
You experienced a hollow victory.
Nothing was risked and nothing was gained.
It's sad that you don't know the difference.

Click to shrink...

my mom is a video game teacher and since a very young age , I was reading about the mods , and how code influences the flow of pixles while my classmates were still reading dragon ball mangas .
I have taken the time to think about modding for a very long time it is a deeply held core belief of mine and is part of my morality system . It has informed some of the decisions I have made in my life . And no me being against modding and cheating on principle doesn't preclude me to be against playing video games and wanting to fight it back and prevent it , and it doesn't preclude me from enjoying nude mods either .
I don't care you don't understand , you don't have to that's just how I work .
Modding terrifies me should I be presented with being the owner of a device allowing me to mod games I wouldn't trust myself around it and would want it away from me .
I also enjoy more the stories where cheating is acknowledge to be horrific than the happy go lucky ones acting as if it was nothing at all .
Now that I have layed down this notion for the first time anyone acting as if they are not understanding that is therefore purposedly trolling me .
I have explained myself enough as it is , now either learn to read or d.i.a.f

 

[ckareset]

Umm...what. Have some self control lol

 

[Z-Beat]

I used action replay to trigger some events in Pokemon Pearl for some legendaries that I'd missed out on, and once I was done in Emerald I transferred all my pokemon out and went nuts with my gameshark.

 

[ArgyleReptile]

I don't use mods or cheats until after I complete the game's vanilla experience.

 

[Scarlet Spider]

No, I use it after I beat the game. But man cheats in GTA San Andreas was a blast.

 

[Z-Beat]

No, I use it after I beat the game. But man cheats in GTA San Andreas was a blast.

Click to shrink...

Would it be considered ruining the experience if I logged a ton of hours into GTA games but have never even gotten halfway through one just because I was having so much fun with cheats?

 

[Rubblatus]

No. The mods I download are usually QoL/UI or graphics mods. The only time I've downloaded anything that was an out and out cheat was to brute force my way past content I would've been more than happy to ignore, if it didn't change my player hub's music to an incredibly grating track until I cleared it (Thanks, Capcom).

 

[Lord Vatek]

Skyrim yes (I think the base game was only ever okay anyway) because the mods are just that good but nothing else.

 

[Scarlet Spider]

Would it be considered ruining the experience if I logged a ton of hours into GTA games but have never even gotten halfway through one just because I was having so much fun with cheats?

Click to shrink...

Nah, I am guilty of doing that too lol unless I needed to unlock more areas

 

[N64Controller]

I tend to look for more immersion in most games I play, so in games like Skyrim I give myself rules like no Fast Travel, sleep at an inn/house when it's night, these kinds of things. So when I got Skyrim on PC i got a bunch of mods to help with that (things like dark nights, no fast travel, having to eat, weather mechanics, etc). Just made the game a whole lot more enjoyable for me. I love games with things I can't control, having to react to them, with no safety net. So I tend to restrict myself on saves as well. So I'm big on Ironman modes. So mods never really ruined a single player experience for me.

Aside from that I generally don't use mods, but the amount of work that goes into it, the communities that are derived from it, the fact that people use some games as a platform to create even more memorable experience is extremely cool to me.

Cheats I just don't tend to use.

 

[Deleted member 23212]

I never really use mods anyway, even for PC games it's mainly mods to make older games more compatible on modern hardware.

 

[Zeouter]

I have not used cheats or w/e in years personally, but to each their own?

 

[capitalCORN]

Only when I used Descent 1 cheat codes in Descent 2.

 

[gnexus]

That's why I only cheat/mod on a second playthough. I think cheating/modding on your first playthrough makes the game uninteresting and I'll end up dropping it soon after. In stuff like GTA, I'll enable cheats and stuff after I'm done playing my "for real" session, and then I'll fuck around for a while and not save the game.

 

[Kamiyouni]

Honestly, not as much as I thought it would. Minecraft is the only exception.

 

[Komo]

adding massive boobs and thunderous dongs to video games characters is the reason for the season

Click to shrink...

this one right here lets keep this.

 

[Micro]

I just beat Resident Evil 5 for the first time with unlimited ammo from the start and had an absolute blast. I got to chapter 5 legit but the game got progressively worse. Being able to blast through it was really fun.

Also plan on playing Resident Evil remake with unlimited ammo heh. I'm in for the atmosphere and puzzles, but ammo being limited is too stressful.

 

[KillLaCam]

Nah. Mods only make things better but I don't need them. If I cheat it'll j just be when I'm replaying the game (or in modern games to get something gated behind microtransactions)

 

[JLP101]

I just beat Resident Evil 5 for the first time with unlimited ammo from the start and had an absolute blast. I got to chapter 5 legit but the game got progressively worse. Being able to blast through it was really fun.

Also plan on playing Resident Evil remake with unlimited ammo heh. I'm in for the atmosphere and puzzles, but ammo being limited is too stressful.

Click to shrink...

Funny, limited ammo/inventory is what makes these games fun for me. Do I shoot the zombie or run, save the larger ammo for a harder enemy/boss, what to sacrifice in my inventory to make more room for a healing item etc.

 

[Micro]

Funny, limited ammo/inventory is what makes these games fun for me. Do I shoot the zombie or run, save the larger ammo for a harder enemy/boss, what to sacrifice in my inventory to make more room for a healing item etc.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I'm in a weird place where I really want to play Resident Evil, but the core idea of survival horror turns me off. I'll see if I enjoy REmake with cheats, and I won't judge it harshly if I don't. That's completely on me.

I would always cheat in Sims too. I would hate actually playing it and was never good at it. Cheating helped me get used to aspects of the game and slowly avoid cheating. Today I play them all without even thinking about cheats. I'm hoping to do the same with RE and survival horror in general. I'm halfway through RE4 legit and enjoying it, so there's hope on the horizon.

 

[SindbadtheSailor]

Cheats for me are generally only used in two specific situations; either I've already exhausted the vanilla experience and want something different or as a hail mary when I'm not enjoying the vanilla experience at all and am about to give up on the game. So no, cheating doesn't really ruin anything for me; it generally adds value.

In Borderlands 2 for example, I've played through it so many times that I just want to save the grind and enjoy using some of the better weapons through a regular playthrough. So instead of grinding and re-grinding for specific items, I'll just use gibbed. On the other hand, I was struggling with getting into Fallout 4 so I gave myself some slightly better weapons and suddenly the game become tons of fun.

 

[Deleted member 14735]

The only time I remember using cheats in a proper playthrough and not just fucking around post-game or whatever was when I was younger and playing Silent Hill 3, I don't remember if it was infinite health or infinite ammo but I put something on because the game was too scary lol. And, I *probably* had a worse experience for it? But I still have fond memories of that game so I'm reluctant to say I "ruined" anything.

 

[stan_marsh]

nope

Click to shrink...

.

 

[adj_noun]

I've never cared nearly as much about what the devs intended as what I intend.

 

[Deleted member 4212]

Skyrim is so easy to cheat in even without using console commands or mods or anything, that I don't feel bad in taking shortcuts when I play it. I have a set of rules that I follow to keep the game fun.

 

[Mesoian]

Back when Skyrim had this cheat/glitch that allowed you to craft unlimited items to sell and the underground merchant chest glitch, being able to buy my way to the best equipment and deck everything out really ruined my experience of Skyrim, as I feel like, ironically, I cheated myself out of experiencing the game as the developers intended it.

The same thing has happened with RDR2! I instantly just felt like free roaming with mods that allowed infinite ammo and unlimited health, and now I'm very uninterested in actually finishing the game entirely, especially without those cheats enabled.

And I feel like this about all games that get mods or cheats. For me, they provide a short term rush of interest and enjoyment, and then without them, I realize I'm not really a fan of the vanilla experience.

Click to shrink...

With skyrim specifically, I can tailor make that game so if I want challenge but still dress up like a coked up runway model, I can. So no on that one.

To be perfectly honest, if I'm resorting to cheats or mods and I haven't played through the game through fully once, it's because that game has driven me to it by displaying a level of tedium I am not prepared to deal with. It doesn't happen very often.

But if you weren't a fan of playing said game without cheats or mods, you probably never liked that game to begin with.

Skyrim is so easy to cheat in even without using console commands or mods or anything, that I don't feel bad in taking shortcuts when I play it. I have a set of rules that I follow to keep the game fun.

Click to shrink...

I can't remember the last time I didn't cheat when it came to crafting in Skyrim. It's just so painfully dull and not fun or interesting. Worst, it can get in the way of other mods that I want to use for fashion sake. Bethesda should completely overhaul how crafting and smithing works in their future games because it's just stupid busy work in it's current state. Menu to menu to selection to menu to selection, done, repeat forever. At least make it interesting.

 

[shintoki]

Only way to play GTA is with cheats

 

[Yarbskoo]

I'll usually go through the story once vanilla and then go nuts with the mods.

I'd never play a bethesda game vanilla though.

 

[ZiZ]

They give you a better experience.

 

[Platinum Raven]

It really depends on the game and the mods, for example I find it REALLY hard to go back to Cities Skylines without the Traffic Manager President Edition, and there are som QoL mods like the Roundabout Builder and the Find It mod(helps you find the same road you already used)

It's not so much that I CAN'T go back to the vanilla version, but it's a lot more enjoyable with them on than without them on and it's also the sort of additions I think would benefit from being included in the base game if it gets a sequel.

Cheating doesn't really ruin my experience of a game, mostly because it's something I only do if I'm already done with a game and have done everything there is to do.

 

[Edward]

I mod/cheat the fuck out of singleplayer games. Everything can be improved.

 

[Gelf]

I do find cheats tend to ruin my experience with a game as steamrolling everything gets old fast. It's very easy to just not use them though, I tend to save them for a post game mess around.

It's more of an issue if a mechanic is unbalanced and overpowered by default, it's harder to just ignore then as you'd have to constantly limit yourself in gameplay.

 

[Catshade]

I use the 'max attributes when leveling up' mod in Morrowind/Oblivion, and it increases my enjoyment because the original system sucks ass.

 

[Tiny Hawk]

Only mods I usually grab when doing a first playthrough are generally just like visual fixes/higher quality textures. I'll keep the gameplay as vanilla, but a visual boost never hurt anything.

I'll save the crazier stuff for post-game shenanigans though.

 

[Rodney McKay]

My replay of Dragon Age Inquisition was made much better by a simple mod that removed the (real world) time limits in the war table missions.

Instead of stressing over whether I'd be able to play enough to get through all of those, I was able to stop worrying about it completely.

Mass Effect Andromeda was also made s tiny bit better by a mod that made the Nomad drive faster and taking away the annoying resource requirements for weapon upgrades.

Half-life 1 was too hard for me once it got to the outside area fighting the military, so I turned on invincibility to be able to get to the end.

Mods that are QOL improvements definitely make the vanilla game worse in hindsight, and if a game is too hard for me, making it easier isn't going to hurt my feelings on the vanilla game. If I play it again vanilla and decide I want to tough it out and get better I will, I don't hold it against the game for it.

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

Nah. I'll use cheat mods on a single player game but not until after I cleared it once at minimum.
On top of that in the case of say Bethesda's games I'll use mods to make the game brutally difficult actually.

 

[daninthemix]

Cheating has improved far more games than it has ruined, for me.