Skyrim vs Elder Scrolls 2, 3, 4 and FO3(+NV).

[Play2much]

I honesttly think you did a good analysis of the situation.

I do not understand why people are so shocked when someone dares say what he thinks, and when mostly said in a positive way so that the company knows what we like or not and why.

I do share most of your comments and I appreciate that someone like you went through the comparison with the other games.

As I said in other posts, the game is incredible in terms of graphics and it is worth spending time admiring. But as you said, after so many years, graphics had to evolve, yet, some of the old Dwemer ruins are definitely incredible, especially the caves where we find Sinderion's body (from ES-4).

I have over 400 hours on it already (I hope my wife does not read this) and I am at level 64 (finished the main quest long ago and completed 48 of the 50 achievements (missed two, one because of a glitch, the other because I was already at 100 lockpick and I returned the Daedric key, my fault)).

I played Oblivion 3 times, Dragon Age Origins 3 times (but DA-2 only twice as something was missing to motivate more replay), I played Fallout 3 (with the 5 expansions) 3 times, but Fallout NV was different and I was not so motivated, so I played it twice only, with no expansion purchased.

So it seems that the interactivity between the player and the NPCs is fundamental and this is one thing really missing here in ES-5. You almost feel like you play in a static world. Modders will add to it, but a company should not wait for modders to make their game better, it should be done right away.

I play as "adept" and I find so many potions that it is useless to make any. Yet, you need to spend hours making potions and trying to figure out what can react with what. I hate their perk system and some of them are totally useless. It is like they just wanted to impress us. And some advantages to having a particular perk will be obtained only if you have chosen another one in a different "contellation". This is a little weird.

Also, the Dwemer "s***" is way too heavy. These guys must have been real strong!!!

One thing is sure, when you start the game, there is some incoherence in the progress. You must sell to get money and you must make some armor and weapon. But by the time you have enough money to purchase a training, you jumped up one level and there is no going back (maybe it has been corrected with the patch). In ES-4, you could go on, gain 5 levels, then sleep one hour and level up. Go get your five training sessions, then sleep again, and so on. But this was not the case when I started in November. I was busy getting better, then fighting, then selling, and in no time, I had the necessary XP's for raising 4 levels. This is where I realized I had to level up all 4 levels without the possibility to receiving training in-between, so I missed 15 training sessions. Since money is difficult to get because there are very few shops compare to the other games, this should be corrected.

When you mention about companion leveling up, I do believe they do because they seem to progress in their prowess. But why can't we train them if we are better in one field than they are. Why can't we give them the book we just read and that increased one of our qualifications.? This was first done in Fallout 3 by the modder who created Amy Wong. That was really clever (she was a merchant that would accompaby you, buy your stuff right away so you did not have to carry tons of it, you would hire guards to protect her, you could accompany her if you wished or just send her to trade, and she had two inventories, hers and the merchant's one (huge). If you gave her a book (in her personal inventory), she would read it, learn something and improve. And you could check her stats. Now, all we have is "I'm sworned to carry your burden" or "Look, a cave, I wonder what's inside"...Quite annoying.

[JanusForbeare]

I played Oblivion 3 times, Dragon Age Origins 3 times (but DA-2 only twice as something was missing to motivate more replay)...

 

That something is called quality.

[abaris]

I played Oblivion 3 times, Dragon Age Origins 3 times (but DA-2 only twice as something was missing to motivate more replay)...

 

That something is called quality.

 

To put it mildly.

[schlorpy]

The guards are like Daggerfall somewhat too good at detective work, in Skyrim they have a telepathic link that is able to know and comment on every single skill, ability and action you do anywhere in the game.

 

That's why you work on increasing your archery skill and shoot them all in the knee, which will show them for using a bad Scottish accent and a horrible one-liner every single place you go. :hurr:

 

Honestly I didn't mind the gameplay aspect of Skyrim so much, nor did I miss skills, I was just disappointed by the schlock writing of the main quest. Alduin's presence could have been explained in a way that didn't resort to a Fantasy cliche.

[gigantibyte]

I’m trying to get interested in a second play though of Skyrim, but I simply cannot get motivated.

 

And I'm not really excited or anxious for what mods might do. A lousy steak is still lousy with onions, mushrooms, and baked potatoes. Skyrim will be be even less motivating to play when it's in competition with other RPGs in 2012 like Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Borderlands 2, Torchlight 2, BioShock Infinite, Mass Effect 3, and even South Park. (I'd be excited about Diablo 3, but mandatory online single player is just rude. And you think Steam is bad!)

[abaris]

Skyrim will be be even less motivating to play when it's in competition with other RPGs in 2012 like Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Borderlands 2, Torchlight 2, BioShock Infinite, Mass Effect 3, and even South Park. (I'd be excited about Diablo 3, but mandatory online single player is just rude. And you think Steam is bad!)

 

Starting the hype again?

 

What do you know of all these games apart from what the publishing companies want you to know? Truth is, you only know if it's the proverbial on a silver platter once you actually played it. So, chances are, they will be picked apart as soon as they hit the shelves. They all will be streamlined to "meet a broader audience". And they all are developed with the console in mind.

[gigantibyte]

Starting the hype again?

 

What do you know of all these games apart from what the publishing companies want you to know? Truth is, you only know if it's the proverbial on a silver platter once you actually played it. So, chances are, they will be picked apart as soon as they hit the shelves. They all will be streamlined to "meet a broader audience". And they all are developed with the console in mind.

 

And so was Skyrim. With so many, one of them is bound to be good. You don't even know what you are talking about anyway. Torchlight 2 is PC and Mac exclusive.

[abaris]

 

And so was Skyrim.

 

I don't argue that pioint.

 

But a hype based on what the PR guys want you to believe is usually misplaced. And you know only what the PR guys want you to believe, since I don't think, you've played any of these unpublished games.

[dragonalumni]

I was just playing Fallout3, I still get shivers and tingles when going up against ghouls and mole rats in the subways. There are no shivers and tingles in Skyrim, not for me at least, the undead guys just are not that cool. Maybe by the time Skyrim has a GOTY edition a lot of stuff will be worked out, it's true that all the other games did not very good play though until those versions. Still, one a 4th game using the same engine, it should be better.

 

As far as other game companies, like blizzard, it seems they announced diablo 3 about the same time morrowind hit the shelves, they are milking WoW for every nickle before they put some competition to their own products. I hate them. :verymad: Also forced online play is a deal-breaker. It's WoW-lite, no thanks.

 

I'm also still pissed that "trade-skills" in Skyrim are so overpowered/essential/time-consuming crap, the thought of doing it again makes me ill. It's really sad that the artifact quests are everywhere, but the damage on the weapons are less than an (flawless) steel.

 

Back to F03, it just crashed, lol. However, it does it a lot less than ES5. :teehee:

[jawsofhana]

I understand the cathartic aspect of posting your thoughts... but honestly, I don't see what you expect the community to do either than applaud you because they agree or come to Skyrim's defence and take apart your arguments.

 

 

And that's what a discussion board is for - discussion.

 

I partly share the OPs views, but the main problem won't go away anytime soon. Back in the days game companies were actually run by people, who made the games they wanted to play. Nowadays it's shareholder companies run by suits, who probably haven't played a game in their lives and employ pollsters to look for the perfect game for the masses. That has to lead to a decrease in quality.

 

That goes for the whole entertainment business.

 

This is very true. Also one of the reason indie developers does so well these days. And the main reason PoE will be one of the best ARPG's of all time. I am really looking forward to playing act 3 in the open beta. :)