Which version should I buy for Skyrim?

As the title says.
I'm planning on buying it on steam. I'll probably want to 100% it, and I don't really play with mods for other games.

 

Special Edition has some additional features, yes. In its base form its undoubtly superior but to be perfectly clear: You should mod anyway, right on your first playtrough. Some mods are just necessary to play it on PC, including SkyUI and bug fixes.

 

Special Edition

 

Legendary edition as far as I remember no longer goes on sale, so just based on that alone you should get special edition. While the vast majority of mods are for legendary edition, but as mentioned above the essential mods like the unofficial patch and skyui are available for both.

 

Basically all popular mods got ported already, and with a bit of practice you can easily port mods yourself. 9/10 times its simply adjusting file formats. Some mods can also be used without any adjustments.

 

3.14 rate bay

 

Special edition forsure

 

Just get the special edition.

 

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

I know you don't want mods but i recommend getting the unofficial patch because it fixes and improves some stuff

 

I'm planning on buying the morrowind, oblivion, skyrim bundle. Any mods do you guys recommend for bug fixes, performance improvements, etc for these games?
And where do I go for downloading these mods?

 

Nexusmods obviously the 1st choice, just check their most endorsed, the bug fixes & such are usually on the top 10 there. Don't forget to also download their mods installer
Or if you willing to spend some $, you could try Bethesda Mods
As for recommendations...there are tons of them out there on Nexus, but my favs for Skyrim are (sorry, i forgot what their complete names are):
The diamond armors & weapons (similar stats as normal armor & weapons but forged using gems, up to dragon scale & bone, but none of the Dragonborn expansion materials + making some enchanted bolt & arrows)
The crossbows mods (enable you to craft crossbows & bolts as same materials as normal weapons & armor)
The dragon tongue sword (sword, 2-hand & 1-hand, stat similar to daedric's)
Hevno Dovah (a warhammer mod, think of a staff w/ a dragon-like head as a hammer. Although looks small, don't let it fools you 'coz it's stats are similar to daedric's)
Daedric Assassins (making Assassin's Creed like heavy & light armors from daedric materials)
This one I really forgot the name, but it would enable you to revert any weapons & armors that you took from bandits etc & convert them back to ingots w/ smaller % (ie: let's say you need 3 iron ingots to make an iron armor; but if you revert it back, you only got 2) & (if I'm not mistaken) it'll also help you gain xp in blacksmith when you makes ingots from ore (vanilla one didn't have this). Quite helpful for building Hearthfire houses since it'll add another source of iron ingots
Backpack mods (as per name, enable you to craft a backpack that would add your carry weight)
Lanterns (similar as above, enable you to craft/buy paper & iron lantern + a glass jar (this one uses fireflies as it's light source). This mods can also place the lantern on your character's hip front or back, which enable you to use the left arm for either magic, shield, other 1-hand weapon or even uses 2-hand weapon and even can automatically turn it off when entering stealth mode)

There are also many mods that complement the already existing houses from vanilla & Hearthfire + independent houses, fortresses and even small villages, you just need to check them out yourself & see which are fit w/ your character build or perhaps your fav locations (some are even catered w/ all sorts of amendments specifically for vampire characters)

 

Get the mod that re-enables the alchemy glitch.

 

And the one that fixed the NPCs behavior when vampires & dragon attack

 

Yep, yep! And the mod that allows you to create items that boost destruction spell effects, rather than just the skill. I really hated that at high levels, all I could do was have free destruction spells with my enchanted items.

 

I have a question. Do you have to understand the first 2 Elder Scrolls stories to understand the 3rd game and beyond? Or do they explain it in 3?

 

Not really? Although there are some lore connected on each TES series, you're basically running a different game w/ different character
BTW, if you're downloading a mods from nexus:
- don't forget to check the mods requirements
- if you decide to download an independent house/fortress and/or village, esp large ones w/ lots of free beds:
-- double check whether it'll collide w/ either other mod(s) or even the vanilla one (there one house I remember that totally moved one of the standing stone from it's original place)
-- you might also wanted to download mods that could affect your followers behavior. In my case, I use one that could moved my followers home from their in game places to any of my house of choice (ie: Lydia usually hangs out at Breezehome, Whiterun, when dismissed, but w/ this mod you could set her home elsewhere & so are other followers, which also makes them easier to find later on in the game). Same mods would also be enable your character's wife/husband & child(ren) to move/live in those place(s)