Bugs and Unimmersive Aspects that Bethesda (Or Mods) Should Fix

[FalloutFreak123]

During the course of my game in Skyrim, I was awe-struck by the sheer beauty and scale of the game, but I noticed several bugs and generally unimmersive aspects to the game. There also seems to be a lack of the "play who you want to play" quality that Bethesda was so quick to promise us. They are listed below:

 

(Note that I would've put this in the mod requests board but since it contains many spoilers, I decided against it. I'm hoping someone could fix some of these bugs and annoyances in an "Unofficial Patch" type mod, similar to the one for Oblivion.)

 

Bugs:

• The "Orcish Axe" item does not display correctly on weapon racks in your homes. It comes outward from the weapons display stand.
  
• The "Ebony Blade" item often falls out of its place on a weapon rack after a player has re-entered their home.
  
• Displaying items from your adventures around your house (On tables, leaning against walls, etc.) always proves to be nearly impossible, as when you re-enter the house, they've been flung from their position and on to the floor more than often. This even happens sometimes with display cases.
  
• Some armors do not display on mannequins.
  
• The new Gildergreen Tree in Whiterun, after being replanted or restored, is obscured by the old, dead one. The script does not activate to remove the old tree.
  
• Companions get stuck far too often in dungeons and in the game world in general. They cannot jump (nor can any NPC) and are generally stupid when it comes to navigating themselves through tight paths.
  
• When purchasing decorations for their house in Windhelm, if the player does not choose the option to clean up the murder scene BEFORE purchasing any other decoration, the player will forever have blood stains on their floor and wall and will not be able to purchase the option to clean up the murder scene.
  

 

Unimmersive/Annoying Aspects:

• Some characters are marked as "essential" and therefore cannot be killed. While this ensures the player can complete certain quest, it contradicts the free-play philosophy that was supposedly behind Skyrim's creation. My character should be able to kill anyone he wants. If he wants to kill the Greybeards, let him. The world won't be saved, but he'll get to be who he wants, damnit. (Lack of free-play)
  
• Bodies should disappear after a few days. The Redguards that I murdered just inside Whiterun should not be stinking up the place two weeks after I killed them.
  
• Items in houses need to stop resetting. It makes it difficult to decorate your tables and shelves with the bowls, books, and other assorted items that you want to.
  
• Companions should wear the equipment you've given them at all times, even after you release them. They don't even equip it when you tell them to follow you again, forcing you to take it out of their inventory and put it back in.
  
• Give us more choices on quests. On the quest to save Thorald Gray-Mane from the Thalmor, I should have the option of reporting the Gray-Manes to the Battle-Borns or the Imperials for plotting to attack an Imperial/Thalmor prison. That is one of MANY incidents where quests need to have more branches. It's a pretty game, but dynamic? Not at all. (Lack of free-play)
  
• Give us more in-depth commands for companions.
  
• Make the weapons you receive from the Holds after becoming a Thane more unique (Blade of Whiterun, Axe of Whiterun, Blade of Eastmarch, etc should be unique.)
  
• Make the world more responsive to our actions. If my character is a mass-murdering nuttjob, perhaps the Blades should wait for another Dragonborn, or make him redeem himself. This concept is possibly the most lacking of all.
  
• When you retrieve the Jagged Crown for Ulfric, why does he never wear it?
  
• Why does Ulfric give you a sword in the Daedric style with which to kill General Tullius?
  
• Add in barbers. I'm tired of doing the "showracemenu" command every time I want to give my character a shave or grow his beard out, or give him grey hair from age.
  
• When you fight the battles to capture the Holds, the new Jarls that rule those holds should give unique quests like the Jarls before them did.
  
• Give us more weapon racks and mannequins in our homes.
  
• Add player homes to every city/hold.
  
• Add one or two castles outside the main cities that the player can call home. After all, don't I deserve a castle and a special title after I help Ulfric or the Imperials conquer all of Skyrim? Apparently I just get my name mentioned in a fancy speech... Or perhaps the Jarl of one of the holds would let you rule over one the smaller villages in his hold if you helped him enough. Example: Rorikstead in Whiterun Hold.
  
• Some locations in the game world (like Forts) that should logically be possible to 'clear' cannot be. When I attack a fort and kill all the mages or bandits inside of it, why do they come back? Shouldn't the fort be inhabited by the local Hold's guards or something? Hell, even better, let the player take it over, hire some guards, and fix the place up.
  
• Let us wear two rings: One for each hand, like in Oblivion.
  
• Give us more conversation options. If my character wants to be an ignorant, uneducated Nord, let him. There's no reason to only have conversation lines that make every character sound (at least somewhat) intelligent.
  
• Give us more things to do, more things to see, more people to meet outside the main quest.
  
• The Dark Brotherhood
  - Make the questline to kill the Emperor farther back. I felt like it was too soon.
  - Add more quests, even after the first Sanctum was destroyed. (Not the [censored] Night Mother quests.)
  
• The Companions
  - After completion of the Companions quest series, I should be able to display the Ysgramor's (sp?) Axe where the companions were displaying the shards of the axe. A display script should be added to that similar to weapon racks.
  - Push the werewolf quests further back. I swear, I was in the Companions for 15 minutes and I was a werewolf
  
• Stormcloak/Legion Quests
  - Make it possible to become a Jarl of some city. The ending was extremely disappointing for both of these questlines. In the end, nothing happens, it just ends.
  
• Being a Werewolf
  - Make it an actual curse, not a perk.
  
• Marriage
  - Change NPC dialogue options. All marriage does is make the NPC live in your home. Other than that, they're just a follower.
  - Make it more straightforward. Everyone I know had to google "How to marry in Skyrim"
  
• Magic
  - Make the trees more similar. Once you go down a single path, its hard to use other magics.
  
• UI
  - Make the UI better and more straightforward.
  
• Also, there should be carriage drivers in every hold. If they can drive me to Winterhold they should be able to take me from it.
  

 

Quotes:

The whole conversation system in Skyrim is [censored]e beyond belief because nothing makes sense. It's completely built up to force info on you and that's it.

Welcome to Skyrim's moronic and incredibly limited conversation system. There's hardly anything logical in the damn thing so far. You can't do a damn thing about the situation in Riften, just as you can't really influence the situation anywhere else, regardless of whether you're Tharn, Dovaakhin or the friggin' Easterbunny.

There are two huge flaws in this game. And it is typical for all IT and graphic design groups. They have no respect for the story, for the human conversation. They think it is all about the effects and dazzling graphics.

 

Skyrim suffers from scattered good/bad writing. Some writers are great, some are really, really terrible. And there doesn't appear to be any consistent, in-depth editorial and creative oversight to the writing or the story cohesion.

 

It isn't TERRIBLE...I love a lot of it....but it is very sloppy and unprofessional in some places. The voice actors are GREAT and they save a lot of the bad writing.

 

Example: The Myst developers at Cyan had it dead-on right: The games are about the story, about the people, about the history, about the conflict and challenges. After that, let's see if we can rise to the challenge and create the visuals to amplify the drama. Fallout 3 and New Vegas had it right and personal and human with their lonesome, desperate heroes and villains who walked the line between right and wrong.

 

All that said....I love this game. It is a grown-up version of Oblivion and Nehrim. It rocks. I can't WAIT to see what the god-like modders will bestow upon us. Thank you in advance!!!

I agree with the OP. Just because traditionally, TES games have been somewhat linear in the questing experience doesn't mean they shouldn't improve it. I mean, Bethesda made Fallout 3! Why not take some experience from that game and apply it to these?

I'd have gladly waited another half a year had I gotten a game with a higher degree of immersion. As it is, Skyrim presents a great setting, let's you reach demi-god like levels of personal powers - and let's you influence extremely little overall.

 

(I'll update this list with more bugs and unimmersive aspects as I find them, or as more people post to this thread. If there's already a thread for this purpose, please link it and I will post my bugs and such there. I searched for one and could not find one.)

Edited November 22, 2011 by FalloutFreak123

[Craftomega]

Hey..... I wanted to write all that!

 

THanks for saving me the work, I think everyone who is anyone agrees with this.

[FalloutFreak123]

Hey..... I wanted to write all that!

 

THanks for saving me the work, I think everyone who is anyone agrees with this.

 

:biggrin:

[CelerasRingor]

Very nice list. I agree with everything you wrote. Hey! You quoted me :)

[abaris]

The most unimersive aspects of the game are easily the questlines. I finished the legion and thought WTF. I then went to some city and they're still going on about Ulfric although he's lying in his blood in his throne room.

 

I haven't finished the main quest though. But as far as I read there's no impact either. I have to admit when the whole dragon born story came up I was hoping to be in a gamble for the empire's throne. But it seems its just another Joe Nobody ending with no recognition.

[marharth]

Something about the above post reminded me...

 

Why the f*** could you not take the claim to the throne? Especially if you hate the empire as it is now.

 

Dragonborns have been emperors for pretty much forever until the new era. Why can you not even mention that in dialogue?

[Patronus]

follower's AI almost makes me cry when it's about exploring dungeons with traps. Well, it's ok when they don't see a trap and run into it, I cannot boast that I never runt into the traps myself, because I occasionally do. But when Lydia runs into the swinging door-like spiked trap, activated with a press-plate, is pushed back and injured, then recovers, runs forward and steps on that press-plate again? Seriously? She also loves stepping into the runes on the floor. Maybe thinks "ooh, glowing fancy thing, lemme check it!". The only improvement I see is that she didn't get hurt in a trap with swinging left-to-right axes in a doorway, but perhaps it was just luck?

One more thing about followers - they cannot ride! Why? They absolutely should be able to ride.

[AbleGnome]

Bug: The dragon at Steamcrag Camp doesn't give up its soul after killing it.

[stuges]

I too have a dragon whose soul I did not obtain.

 

Also, I've got this one dragon in solitude that I killed, that spawns on wherever I fast travel, sometimes. And it's dead, moving around a bit (dead physics) and with or without skin (disappearing, appearing)

 

but these are so rare I could not care less.

 

 

However the bodies should indeed disappear!

Imagine the amount of thief corpses in Riften after a few months of play :psyduck:

[Marcvss]

Nice list mate!

 

Now let's hope it gets noticed and used for future patching. :thumbsup: