redhorizon09

I fell prey to the hype of Skyrim. After about 30 or so hours of gameplay, I realized how over-hyped the game was. I'm not saying that it's a bad game because it definitely is a good game, but it was also definitely over-hyped to the point where many fanboys are now comparing just about every other game with dragons in it to Skyrim... and it's annoying. As many here have pointed out, Skyrim lacks good depth to the lore and other content. I was not impressed with any of the guilds in Skyrim. This came at a surprise for me because for Oblivion, I heard that only 1-2 (compared to Skyrim's teams) people worked on the story lines for all the guilds, yet Oblivion's guilds seemed far more interesting. The dragons are lame and they look more like wyverns than dragons. I was severely disappointed with the Alduin battles as well. Alduin, along with any of the dragons (unmodded), never seemed to really pose a threat. Just like in Oblivion, there are no major consequences in player choices (ie I can be the guild master for all the guilds no matter what). Enchanting sucks. Smithing sucks. Just like in Oblivion, there's almost no rarity to daedric, glass, and ebony materials, armors, and weapons. What's the point of cooking anyway? Potions quickly makes cooking useless. The dragon shouts also mostly suck, and there's no more spell creation. Combat quickly becomes extremely repetitive since there's not much depth/variety to the classes. Did I mention that the dragons are lame?

I have over 200 hours of gameplay invested into Skyrim. If not for the generosity of modders, I would have lost interest in the game upon the first 30-40 hours or so. I'm not sure where some people are getting at when they claim that the animations for Skyrim are great. Sure it's an improvement over Oblivion's, but with the level of technology available today, Bethesda could have done so much more in this part of the game. I would have loved to see a bear kill a deer, then watch it devour its prey afterwards. Third person animation when characters have their bow drawn and ready to fire looks retarded and unnatural. I expected the bosmer to have a lot more grace and fluidity in how they use bows since they're known for their skills in archery. The dovahkiin should have had his/her own sets of animations to make the character feel more unique. Matter of fact, every race should have their own sets of animations. Why would a redguard fight and move exactly like a nord? I thought khajiits were suppose to be more involved in martial arts so why are all the skyrim khajiits not using kicks and various flurries of hand-to-hand combat? The way characters wield weapons and magic will always remain the same, and this is annoying. You mean to say that an expert in swordplay and a newbie swing their weapons the same way? Boring... For those who said that the removal of athletics and acrobatics and the locking of run speed and jump height were necessary: yes it totally makes sense that my lightly armored rogue can only run as fast and jump as high as a guy decked out in plate armor. It totally makes sense that no matter how much my character runs around, he'll never be able to improve his speed in running and sprinting; his speed and jumping skills will always be the same as some lazy person who does nothing but sit at a bar all day. Makes absolute sense. Spells are mostly uninteresting. Dual casting is a welcomed feature, but like what the OP said, there are less spells this time around. No damage scaling based on level and intelligence for spells was a major disappointment for me. My master wizard's fireballs still only does as much damage as a novice mage's fireballs. Wow, nice... I can't help but to wander that the magic system was seriously nerfed because of the introduction of the dragon shouts. Speaking of dragon shouts, I remember Bethesda saying to Game Informer during an interview that no other mortal will be able to use shouts as powerful and effectively as the dragonborn because that's what makes him special. Lies. The draugrs, Greybeards (especially the Greybeards), 3 fallen nord heroes, and Ulfric use shouts just as effective and powerful as the dragonborn. The OP is right about the guilds as well. I was disappointed with all guild main quests, especially the college of winterhold. Dragons are easy loot, which makes them more of an annoyance than anything epic. In fact, they look more like wyverns than actual dragons. It's understandable that because they've only been recently restored, most dragons would be soaring around Skyrim. However, why aren't there any dragons inhabiting large caves or other areas of the game? Skyrim is known to be inhabited by werewolves, but I have yet to see any roaming the vast landscapes throughout. What happened to the regular zombies and why are there no zombies of other races? How come liches and wraiths were taken out? I mean, there are necromancers wandering the land so there's bound to be other forms of undead too right?

I'm also aware of what you're talking about. I apologize for being too brief previously, but I still can't see a woman going to toe with someone like Cain Velasquez or Shane Carwin in a pro fight and come out winning. I'm aware of that, but my point still stands and what I was talking about wasn't meant to try and relate it to a fantasy setting so I apologize for not being clear on that. I was just meaning to talk about real world possibilities on a separate matter.

Been there. Done that. Still easy, which was why I searched for mods that make dragons more challenging. Deadly Dragons hardcore mode on master setting definitely made dragons much better.

Yea I know what you mean. I've seen and met women that I know can seriously beat up a typical guy if they want to, but these women are usually athletic, tall and imposing or large, and trained in some form of martial art. Then again, I'm at odds here on placing my bets at this kind of woman winning in a fight with a man of the same stature and training. Maybe it's because men tend to have more muscle mass than women. I mean, look at those professional body building women. They're strong no doubt, but men who are also professional body builders can lift more than these women. You also mentioned MMA bouts. I can't imagine someone like Cain Velasquez or Shane Carwin losing to a female MMA fighter. I believe that this is probably still a hot bed topic, but I remember there were debates about women in infantry. I'd like to see this be professional researched, experimented, and noted. I want to know if women really are capable of being equal to men on the front lines as a grunt.

It's still just entertainment though. And I disagree with you about small arms and grenades in movies being consistent with the internal logic of the world the story is set in. Many times in movies and video games have I seen explosions from grenades/mines/bombs that are suppose to kill or seriously injure people who are within the lethal blast radius, yet you have tons of grenades and mines blow up and heroes or other main characters can get blown back at almost point blank and survive with little or no injuries. Funny thing is that fodder characters would die in the same situation. As I stated before, I'm not bothered by such inconsistencies and lack of "realism" because I'm willing to let go of real world logic, possibilities, and physics when I dive into fantasy and science fiction worlds.

Skyrim's not a bad game. I can still play it after I've done the main quest; must admit that I was disappointed with how it turned out, but eh :ermm: . I was also disappointed with the college of winterhold main quest as well. Hopefully dlc content will change my mind about this. I can't wait for modders to overhaul the sneak system in Skyrim though. It's an improvement over Oblivion's, but enemies still can dismiss sneak attacks with the "must have been the wind" mentality even though they have an arrow stuck in them :dry: . I think that enemies should stay alert for several hours after you've pulled of a sneak attack in the shadows; especially if one of their buddies lies dead in the open light. Plus it's just silly that with a high sneak level + perks, people can't see you even though you're right in front of them.

Skyrim is far from "realism". Believable is probably the better word to describe stuff like this in a fantasy world. And no one's asking for aoe arrow firing... Sounds to me like some people here want larger weapons, such as the 2-handers, to have the innate ability to hit more than one target in one swing. I don't see how this concept would be unbelievable. Even with 1-handers, it should still be possible to hit more than one target though on a much smaller scale. Furthermore, no one (so far at least) is asking for overpowered multi-hit cleave damage spamming either. In Skyrim, I've noticed that foes tend to avoid being bunched up in tight groups. I've seen foes split up to flank my character; with this kind of npc A.I., I don't see how a melee cleave would be considered overpowered or ridiculous. Cleave damage shouldn't be difficult to implement as long as Bethesda does these things: 1. Make the radius of cleave damage from weapons vary by the size of the weapon. A dagger obviously would not have the same radius of cleave damage as a large 2-handed sword. Targets would have to be standing pretty much right next to each other with shoulders touching, for the dagger cleave to work. 2. Make cleave damage weaker than the damage aimed at the main target. 50-80% weaker cleave damage sounds right to me. Additional targets closer to the outer ranges of the cleave damage radius would obviously take the least amount of damage. 3. Have melee specialization perk for increasing cleave damage slightly. 4. They need to change the damage on dual-wielding. People generally tend to have dominant arms and the way dual-wielding is in Skyrim, it's silly how every humanoid can simultaneously wield two weapons as if ambidextrous is a common trait. Ambidextrous should have been a perk; without this perk, the offhand weapon should do far less damage.

Couldn't have said it any better. Spot on. I also find it ridiculous to even start heated debates about "realism" in fantasy themed worlds. Why would people even compare real armor to a fantasy game armor? It's a game. It's not real. Let go of reality when you're playing a fantasy game. For example, I served in the military as an infantry rifleman. I've fired various small arms weapons and learned that it's nothing like in the movies. Grenades don't explode like what you see in movies. Do I let this bother me from enjoying an action movie though? No, because I can let go of reality and take the movie for what it is: entertainment.

CalibanX was talking about almost the same thing I was about choices and consequences which was why I mentioned it. And please don't resort to insults. I have not insulted you even though I disagree with your point. **Edit Actually, since you're resorting to insulting now, I'm going to leave this discussion because I don't want it to turn into something ugly.

Cass, Boone, and Veronica were highly criticized as you mentioned right here, which is wrong and their features were also never removed just because some people didn't seem to like companions having personality. And no, the only exceptions to merchants supporting particular factions in Skyrim are not limited to the quartermasters. Eurlond hates the Imperial Legion. There are two blacksmiths in Windhelm who support (and seem to want to only support) the Stormcloaks. There's a smith in Solitude who supports the Imperial Legion because he hates the Stormcloaks. My point is that there is division in Skyrim and your point about breaking lore by adding in faction choices and consequences make no sense.

And your point here is irrelevant to what we're saying about certain merchants/NPCs who support certain factions. We're not talking about the general merchants that could care less about which faction wins the war. What does the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves guild relationship have anything to do with this? I don't see how it's "logical" that from the start, Lydia would help you commit murder and even turn against Balgruuf. Yea real logical sense right there.

Once again, I separated general merchants from merchants who are obviously in favor of or support one faction. How does any of this have anything to do with going against lore? I don't understand your point. And Cass, Boone, and Veronica were highly criticized? No and just no... Furthermore, OOO was a highly acclaimed mod for Oblivion. It was so revered that PC Gamer magazine included it as a special pack-in for Oblivion back in the day. It had choices and consequences to which tons of TES fans loved among all other content the mod contained. The mod was legendary. Obsidian seemed to have learned from this and implemented such an idea into Fallout New Vegas and wow, the game became a huge hit.

In New Vegas the followers, Bortherhood, Kings, Enclave remnants etc. etc. would still be your friends regardless of if you chose NCR or Legion. Also several followers in Skyrim can only be gained by doing one option in a quest while another can only be obtained by doing the other side of the quest. You get special Legate armor in Skyrim for joining the Legion. Having merchants not trade with you would be illogical as the normal citizens of skyrim don't care about the war, in fact the most commonly said NPC conversation is "I don't care who wins I just want the war to be over". What you suggest goes against the lore. How would that be against lore? I don't understand your point there. Did I say all merchants? No. I said certain merchants, and these are not "normal citizens" so don't try and twist my words; these are merchants belonging to certain factions and carry certain equipment that you can only get from them. If certain groups particularly hate a certain faction and want that faction to disappear, why would they willingly provide support to someone who is revered with the faction(s) they hate? The only faction I've seen in Skyrim with choices and consequences is between the Blades and the Greybeards. Bethesda did an excellent job at implementing the hatred between these two factions. It's just too bad that more wasn't added to these factions, but I'm assuming future DLC content will probably change this problem. Once again you're completely wrong about New Vegas companions. Cass and Boone will not join you if you're on bad terms with the NCR. You seem to have failed to understand my point about factions and choices and consequences. I wasn't just talking about the NCR and the Legion. I mentioned other factions too. Even then, if you side with the Legion and are on bad terms with the BoS, it won't be possible for you to gain power armor training. Hence my point again about the importance of choices and consequences with factions missing from most of Skyrim.

That's where you're wrong. In Skyrim, there are almost no consequences no matter what faction(s) you join or side with. For example, I can side with the Imperials, but the Companions will still take me under their wing. Heck, I can still gain whatever abilities this faction provides, and become its leader even though they're clearly for the Stormcloaks. In New Vegas, Veronica will not join you if you're on bad terms with the BoS; she's also not the only companion you can lose based on your faction choices. Depending on which factions you side with in New Vegas, you also gain certain unique equipment like the NCR radio. Factions you didn't side with are also hostile upon you entering their territories or if they see you anywhere else. For Skyrim, the only factions I've seen that are usually immediately hostile toward me are the Thalmore (based on how far you went in the main quest) and the Forsworn. In addition, there are certain merchant NPCs in New Vegas who will not do business with you depending on your faction choice, which renders you unable to obtain certain gear and benefits. I would have loved to see this sort of choices and consquences in Skyrim.