How Serana Changed Skyrim Forever
At the time of Dongard’s release, Sara quickly became a standout character, and for good reason. She wasn’t just another follower. She was a fully fleshed out companion with advanced AI that set her apart from nearly every other NPC in the game. Unlike most followers who simply trail behind, Srana shows a far greater sense of awareness. She can perform idle animations like sitting, reading, or using one of the many crafting stations, and it’s all thanks to her unique code. Bethesda designed her to dynamically swap between different AI packages on the fly, blending standard follower behaviors with entirely new ones based on what’s currently happening in game. On top of that, she is one of the most developed story arcs, playing a major role in Dawnard’s main quest line. This level of involvement naturally creates a stronger connection. Rather than just tossing someone 500 gold and dragging them along, you actually get to know her on a deeper level. SA also single-handedly sparks something in the modding community. In an old Nexus post, one user went on to say, “EFFF, AFT, any follower framework of anything, uses Sran’s code, which is called the mental model. It works by monitoring the player, so SA knows when to do something immersive and when to simply follow and be boring. I use it myself for my follower.” Now, this comment dates back to 2017, so things may have evolved since then, but it still shows just how influential Sara was. She didn’t just change what we expected from Skyrim’s companions. She became the very foundation for how follower mods would be built in the years to come.
Today, we’re looking back on Skyrim’s Dawnguard DLC, 13 years later! Dawnguard laid the groundwork for so much that came after, and I think you’ll be surprised at just how impactful it truly was. For example, did you know Serana actually had an impact on the future of Skyrim mods?
📩 For any business enquires please contact me from my email in my channels about section!
Thank you for watching!
#skyrim #dawnguard #dlc