First "technical" impressions (no spoilers)

[BavmordasMuffin]

Thanks for your insight! In the interest of info for those who haven't played yet, it does call for a measured retort, however:

 

 

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)

 

 

Not true, try it again. But I agree that the implementation, especially in character creation is clunky sometimes. No real improvement from Oblivion there.

 

 

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.

 

 

I am yet to experience ugly shapes and textures as you have, but to say that it was better in Ob is just baffling! Sure aesthetics are subjective, but I think you are just plain wrong here. It's prettier than Ob, and by A LOT.

 

 

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....

 

 

There's this thing called role-play which makes all that ambiguity kind of fun... And its the reason there are so many TES fans here.

 

 

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.

 

I agree, it could never live up to the hype. I predict you will return to it with lower expectations and suddenly find yourself engaged in a new way.

[ginnyfizz]

I can't help but agree with the OP. It runs great on my old machine, so far that's the only thing I'm jumping for joy at.

 

- UI is atrocious. Absolutely inexcusably bad. I didn't mind the stock Oblivion UI but this is just beyond awful. I might be able to live with it if the game had full mouse support.

 

- Game does not have full mouse support. WASDing through menus is B.S.

 

- No hotkeys. "Favorite" system sucks and does not make up for the absence of true hotkeys.

 

- Armor has been simplified yet again down to just "armor" (breast plate, shoulders, thighs, forearms is all one piece), helmet, boots and gloves.

 

- Armor doesn't degrade.

 

- You don't select a class. Instead you just activate a stone that gives you a 20% boost in thief/mage/warrior leveling speed. This can be changed at will.

 

- At first glance the world map seems very small, unless most of it is just hidden at the beginning. It seems like a quarter the size of Cyrodiil...maybe a third.

 

- HEALTH REGENERATES. God forbid a gamer be challenged in 2011. This is the biggest problem of all. I'm in awe of it.

 

 

Thank god for tesnexus and mods. This needs so much work.

 

Hear hear, sir. My main worry as I read about the game before release was that the UI would be problematic, as I have rheumatoid arthritis and cranky controls/UI's are murder for my hands. Unfortunately, the worst came true for me. Chargen actually seems to me simplified from OB, there is no way I can get rid of my toons wrinkles - she has more than I do, and I'm 50!

 

AND the game freezes if I open the console and toggle off the menu. However, it has no problem with TFC and other commands. So am going to have to crop screens in Photoshop or something.

[fisban0]

Thank god for tesnexus and mods. This needs so much work.

 

I agree. The Nexus allows users to please all the whiney sticklers while the rest of us are generally happy with the game, aside from the obvious technical flaws which don't relate to personal taste and opinion, i.e poor mouse support.

 

OK fanboy. Spare me.

Fooly is right. The only point made that is an actual problem and not a design choice (that most players agree with) is the consol based interface. The game is still amazing regaurdless of this single problem.

Although most of the discussion is reasonable the people claiming, you only support this cuz ur fanbois do come off as a bit ridiculous.

Edited November 11, 2011 by fisban0

[Lyanheart]

I'm betting on a PC patch somewhere down the line to correct many if not all of the issues we have been seeing. Except the lack of backstory thing... Seriously, dude, that's standard Elder Scrolls there.

[Grell74]

Having read the OP and some replies still didnt prepare me for how woefully atrocious the ui and control with mouse and keyboard is. Much, much worse than Obliv or F03, FNV. Im shelving the game until a mod or official patch.

[Blocky]

Hm, I had some awkwardness with the ui and mouse too. But it felt minor. I was too busy gawking at the graphics, the storyline, the open world, the skills, and the combat lol.

 

Story, scripting, and graphics are a huge improvement over Oblivion On a fully modded Oblivion with OBSE, Qarls Textures, graphics extender, and combat mods it doesn't seem to come near to looking how Skyrim can look on day one. Granted you do have to go into SkyrimPrefs.ini and turn on some options that were not turned turned on automatically. To me it looks like a big jump from Oblivion to Skyrim, just like it was going to Oblivion from Morrowind.

 

But then I also liked Dragon Age 2.

[Inithis]

I honestly hope that the interface is not as bad as it sounds. If so... there is really nothing I will be able to do.

[RejectedCamel]

All I can say is facepalm.

 

The water no longer looks like paint. It actually flows now, it's got varying transparency and reflective levels. Illumination is much better, and every light you see is a proper light source. Everything has shadows. There's ambient occlusion. There's no ridiculously shiny stuff, unlike Oblivion. There's no pop-in, everything fades into view. Particles roll around geometry. Rain and snow no longer clip through large objects. Every branch on every tree and every part of grass drifts to the wind independently, unlike Oblivion where it was all fixed animations. There's animation blending, much higher poly environment, textures are much better, blood decals no longer look like paint, snow and fire attacks leave visible marks on the world, etc etc etc. Heck, you can even see ants on a tree stump next to Riverwood.

 

Please play the game properly, you'll see how much of an improvement Skyrim is over Oblivion.

[nolgroth]

But then I also liked Dragon Age 2.

 

Fun to play a mage in. Second-most depressing game ever. The first being Far Cry 2.

 

I am looking forward to seeing the game and I have proven to be highly adaptable to control schemes. I am not expecting miracles in regards to the graphics. I have seen plenty of videos and screenshots and I am honestly quite excited about it. If it is something so horrible that I cannot play, I am going to be very disappointed.

[Dalter]

The UI is really terrible^^ but on the other hand the game makes much fun, so i decided for me trying not to be angry (the first hour i was^^) and enjoying the game - it works, i slowly arrange me with the UI, it stays bad but it may not destroy the game! Maybe there's a mod in the future, i hope so. (i must think on the release of oblivion^^ but this time its harder (really!^^ prepare you! :D ))

 

A tip for not going totally crazy with changing weapons/spells while the fights: Favorite the things you use often and then press Q whilefighting and you got a little list of these things, (certainly not so fine as Quickkeys would be).

 

Healthregeneration is ok, i came in a few situations where i died. So it makes it not so easy as it sounds.

 

The new Perks are cool, even at the prize of missing attributes, classes and birthsigns, makes a lot fun to skill your character. :)

Edited November 11, 2011 by Dalter