When it comes to titles that truly offer almost limitless possibilities, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is really the epitome of the concept. It’s a game rife with quests to undertake, towns to visit, hidden details to discover, lives to live, and character builds to try out — even if the trusty stealth archer route is usually the one players seem to fall back on.
Even with all these options, though, dedicated fans who have been adventuring across Skyrim since its initial release in November 2011 might feel like they’ve seen everything. Tried every meme-y mage build they could think up. That’s where the Alternate Start - Live Another Life mod comes in. Created by Arthmoor, this mod offers a very different way to begin a Skyrim playthrough.
10 The Beginning Is Very Different
Even those superfans who have committed every little detail of Skyrim’s playable races to memory have to admit one thing: the very beginning of the game can be a bit of a chore.
Of course, Skyrim opens up into a wonderfully liberating open-world experience, but it takes a little time to get there. The game’s dramatic intro isn’t as long and drawn-out as in some titles, but it certainly loses its luster after the umpteenth playthrough. This is the issue that the Live Another Life mod strives to address, as it changes the beginning of the game in a big way.
9 The Player Can Skip The Lengthy Intro Sequence In Helgen
While a sudden and explained dragon attack is certainly one way to liven up a dull Skyrim morning, fans on their 85th journey through the realm might well have had their fill of it. If that’s the case, trying out the Live Another Life mod is sure to prove refreshing.
Starting a new game here will instead see the protagonist spawn in a jail (in true Elder Scrolls fashion), with nothing but a statue of Mara for company. At the statue, the player selects a path for themselves from various dialogue options (such as “I’m a soldier in the army,” “I’m a new member of a guild” or “I came by ship to Skyrim”), which will define their starting area within the world, gear and more.
8 There Are Many, Many Choices
Of course, this concept is nothing new within the Skyrim modding community. After all, such mods as Skyrim Unbound/Skyrim Unbound Reborn also allow experienced gamers to avoid a lot of the familiar beginning-of-the-game routine and dive straight into Skyrim proper.
These other mods, however, tend to struggle with the idea of context, often placing a new character right into the action seemingly at random. It’s always great to have quick access to the exotic far reaches of Skyrim, but not really having a reason to be there detracts from this.
7 Live Another Life Provides More Of A Reason For This Placement
Your choices at the Mara statue determine far more than just the location you start from in Skyrim. The circumstances and scenarios players choose will result in some long-term factors in playthrough. The option to begin as a vampire, for instance, will have the lasting consequences that Skyrim vampirism always does.
6 The DLC Packs Are Required To Use The Mod
With Skyrim being such a pop culture phenomenon, it’s no surprise that an enormous modding scene has sprung up around it. From subtle changes like more resilient horses to mods that make great, sweeping changes to the whole experience, there’s so much to choose from when it comes to customizing the experience.
This isn’t to say, though, that Skyrim isn’t an absolutely monumental experience in its familiar vanilla form. With its three expansions (Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn), there’s an incredible amount of official content to explore. One thing to bear in mind with regards to the Live Another Life mod, then, is that these three expansions are necessary (as is the official patch 1.9.32.0.8 or higher), as noted on Nexus Mods.
5 The Wood Elf Is The Only Race That Lacks Special Options In The Mod
The agile and stealthy Bosmer (Wood Elves) are the playable race of the shortest stature in Skyrim (though perhaps not of the other obscure races). Sadly, they also drew the short end of the stick with the Live Another Life mod in one respect.
While every other race is given further exclusive options for tailoring their experience with the mod, a Bosmer character is not. It’s a little unfortunate, but the scope of the mod is still so great that Wood Elf players will find no shortage of ways to tailor their playthrough nonetheless.
4 There’s A Bit Of A Compatibility Issue With Other Mods (More So Than Usual)
Users who like to dabble in various mods (or mix and match them to create their own definitive Skyrim experience) know that compatibility issues can crop up when particular ones are installed at once. This is always something to be aware of, but there’s a specific warning fans need to heed relating to Live Another Life.
As this mod makes changes to the starting portion of the game, other mods that alter the essential flags of Helgen NPCs will not be compatible with it. As a result, players should be very careful to check through the other mods they’re using for the game prior to trying out Live Another Life.
3 Players May Spawn Somewhere Otherwise Intended To Be Unreachable
The Live Another Life mod gives players much more freedom than usual. It can also be problematic as a result. Not only can it “clash” with other mods a player may have installed, but it can also cause them to spawn somewhere they shouldn’t really be yet.
Areas that can only be accessed at specific times (Blackreach, for instance), or towns/cities visited out of sequence, can sometimes cause issues too. Some of these can be rectified by simply leaving the area and returning later (which will cause quests that were supposed to have done on a first visit to appear), but it’s not always as simple as that. This is the risk players take when they jump into such a mod.
2 The Option “I Got Caught Crossing The Border Illegally” Causes The Game To Essentially Begin As Normal
While this mod gives the player the ability to skip over the introduction sequence they’ve surely played countless times over, this doesn’t mean that they have to. One of the options afforded to a player while at the Abandoned Prison will see the game begin as it usually would.
Selecting “I got caught crossing the border illegally” will see the protagonist thrust into that fateful cart ride same as normal. Even if you don’t do this, you can still return to the Helgen segment later by merely following an innkeeper’s rumor about the place. Off you go on your adventure through the main questline as usual.
1 There Will Be New Things To See Even For The Most Committed Veteran
Perhaps most importantly of all, the Alternate Start - Live Another Life mod is a perfect companion for those players who want to try something very new in the game but some help pulling off the elaborate roleplaying ideas and builds other fans sometimes bring to the table.
Where other popular mods can dramatically change the balance of the game or have a variety of silly effects, this one is more subtle than that. It can engage players anew and start them on an adventure they never thought they’d have. This is the great appeal of the Live Another Life mod.
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