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First "technical" impressions (no spoilers)


zerpentor

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Ok. My friend encouraged me to write something somewhere, to "warn" like-minded individuals, so here I am. I usually don't write on forums, so bear with me if my lingo is... off. :)

 

So I've been playing for a bit over an hour now, which is long enough for the first dungeon crawl and a bit of exploring and here is my experience so far.

 

(If you are fanboy, then stop reading now as this will likely become unpleasant for you)

 

If you are like me however, an avid fan of RPGs that loathes ports from consoles to PC, then read on.

 

Let me first state that although I loved Oblivion as a game, I absolutely hated the consolish interface. Much to my delight modders saved me from it, albeit years later... in Fall Out 3 + NV Bethesda/Obsidian had improved the interface immensely and so naturally I expected more improvements for Skyrim. Unfortunately I have been sorely disappointed... Oh yes, console users will have no problems with it I'm sure since it's built for them, but the interface's transition to PC is not pretty.

 

Here are the major problems with it:

Mouse support is sporadic at best, some menus/menu items it works for, others not.

 

There are no mouseover effect on menu items when hovering over them with the mouse, so you won't know if the item is selected, if the menu is bugged or if this is simply one of the unsupported menus.

 

In the character creation you can scroll in the menu with the wheel, the sliders must be manipulated with the keyboard if you are to remain sane. Choosing race is the first option in the creation, but I feel choosing sex should be first (small detail I know). Here is my big beef with the character creator: If you use your mouse to turn your character's head, you loose the ability to manipulate the bodypart settings with the mouse.To get it to work again, you must choose a different creation tab and switch back again, before you can use the mouse again.

 

The mouse isn't integrated with the talent tree menu, which is a shame since it would have been very handy there. (if you haven't played the game yet, you will understand once you do)

 

There are no hotkeys... what the hell? this is not new news, but still, having to "favorite" all your useful weapons/spells in order for combat not to slow to a complete halt is slightly annoying (and by slightly i mean very)

 

The Game:

Yes, its prettier than Oblivion, but not by much.. atleast not without messing with the Ini files a lot. No, it's not my rig that is the problem. If I stand on a mountain top I am immediately aware of the crude, ugly geometry and texturing in the distance(Ultra settings), which they actually pulled off better in Oblivion.

 

The characters are much prettier than Oblivion though and can't wait for BOG or Dim99 to roll out their body mods :)

 

Lastly, I am sorely disappointed that introduction to the world is missing completely and the game assumes you know the lore. Furthermore, Having played for over an hour now, I still have NO idea about who I am in the game, which is pretty lame. Basicly, the only thing I know is, that my I am male, I am an Imperial and that I was caught crossing the border from Cyrodil (was this illegal I wonder? Did I commit some other heinous crime? Why was I crossing the border? What did I do in life before I was rudely tossed into the fray?) All of this could have been solved with a minimal amount of effort on the devs. part, but it would have contributed immensely to the immersion.. Atleast in Fall Out 3 you got to play your past (still think that is the best intro/character development to date) and in New Vegas, you knew you were a courier and that some jerk had shot you in the brain box and buried you. In NV all it took was a short intro and a conversation with the first person you meet....

 

 

For me, Skyrim does not live up to the hype at all. I might come back after having played 20 hours having seen the light, but all I can say at the moment is, that Skyrim might be a great game, but the interface and lack of introduction is killing the fun for me.

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[quote name='zerpentor' timestamp='1320957841'

 

Lastly, I am sorely disappointed that introduction to the world is missing completely and the game assumes you know the lore. Furthermore, Having played for over an hour now, I still have NO idea about who I am in the game, which is pretty lame. Basicly, the only thing I know is, that my I am male, I am an Imperial and that I was caught crossing the border from Cyrodil (was this illegal I wonder? Did I commit some other heinous crime? Why was I crossing the border? What did I do in life before I was rudely tossed into the fray?) All of this could have been solved with a minimal amount of effort on the devs. part, but it would have contributed immensely to the immersion.. Atleast in Fall Out 3 you got to play your past (still think that is the best intro/character development to date) and in New Vegas, you knew you were a courier and that some jerk had shot you in the brain box and buried you. In NV all it took was a short intro and a conversation with the first person you meet....

 

 

Dude, that's all elder scrolls games. None of them tell you who you are, that's the charm of the game. The ability to create your own story.

If the game did what you want it to in this respect it would kill the whole "your character is who ever you want them to be" vibe. Just my opinion.

 

I do however agree with all your other points.

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So Skyrim doesn't live up to the hype because it doesn't look as pretty as you thought it would and that you start off in the game with a complete slate? That's how all Elder Scrolls games start out as. Solve your problem by plugging in a damn 360 controller and stop complaining.
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The UI sounds appalling, I've seen the complaints about it over on the official forums as well. This may be the first ES game I play with a gamepad. :(

 

...or it's something we can get used to. I refuse to play with a gamepad! I'll deal with it or wait until UI mods are available! :pirate:

 

Concerning the back-story, we didn't know why we were in prison in Oblivion or on that boat in Marrowind, either.

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Go go fanboi's! you clearly are blind to the faults of the game. Skyrim is a poorly converted from console and it has been said before by people who make a good living testing games. So it is not just this persons view.

 

Still 4 hours till i can play, but it might look like i will put it off for a week or two if things are this buggy and poorly converted (the UI ETC)

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