mehungry Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 (edited) I love Skyrim, don't get me wrong. I just feel like I enjoyed Oblivion way more the first time I played it. I'm talking no mods, just the game itself. I have not played Morrowind (I got into TES a couple years ago when I started college) but I have beaten Oblivion and done a lot of quests in it. I've also beaten main story in Skyrim and done a LOT of side stuff. However, I feel like Skyrim was a huge letdown for these few reasons that actually account for most of my frustrations... 1. I have a pretty good computer. I'm not boasting, just stating a fact. Its not the best computer ever, but its great for gaming. It can run BF3 at maximum settings (save for ambient occlusion which is on the middle setting) with 4x AA at 55-60 fps. However, Skyrim shuts off my graphics card sporadically. Screen goes dark ("NO INPUT FOUND") and I have to restart my computer. No, its not a temperature issue (I hit 80C in BF3, 70C in Skyrim... its a reference design card so it can handle those temps... also never shut off in BF3... which is way more graphics intensive than Skyrim) or an issue with my computer, which has a Sandy Bridge processor and 16gb ram, and I'm temporarily using an SSD. I'll let this man explain:http://troll.me/images/another-boromir-meme/one-does-not-simply-play-skyrim.jpg 2. The main quest was overall very disappointing. Half of my time doing the main story line was spent figuring out how to make the quest work in the first place by skipping certain parts because they hung or the NPC was bugged (the dude who doesn't talk...). You know its a Bethesda game when YOU become the QA guy lol. Honestly, I spend half of my questing time figuring out how to finish the quest because it doesn't work... 3. The environment is okay. Oblivion looked more realistic imo than Skyrim. Yeah it didn't have all those swirly mountain clouds or great water, but the environment looked REAL. In Skyrim, distant lands look great but then I look down and I'm like "awwwww..." Gotta find some better graphics mods... Edited January 11, 2012 by mehungry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theviceman Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Youre growing up, youre older and more experienced now. Nothing feels the same on second time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xaliqen Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 (edited) The guild quests are ridiculously better in Oblivion (especially Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild). That's really my main complaint about Skyrim. Though, eliminating strength/intelligence/etc is pretty ridiculous as well. Edited January 11, 2012 by xaliqen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lachdonin Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 The overall questing experience in Skyrim is, without a doubt, inferior to Oblivion. An while Oblivion's questing experience was, IMO supperior to that of Morrowind, i feel Morrowinds story archs were vastly supperior to either Skyrim or Oblivion. But i digress. Its been made quite clear that Bethesda went for quantity over quality, which in an open world game has merit. There are literally hundreds of quests, and the potential for thousands (though mostly repetitive) through the Radiant AI system. I would have gladly sacrificed some, hell, even the entire Radiant AI line, for some more quality, but thats something for personal tastes i suppose. a lot of people seem to be having problems with glitches. For me, at least, the only glitch i have encountered with interupted my gameplay was during the second part of the White Phial, where i couldn't get credit for having a Briarheart. Because of that, i can't really judge other peoples experiences with glitches beyond what they tell me. If it were just this community which i based my judgement on, one would assume the game was completely broken. However, everyone i talk to in person has a similar experience to me (Except for those flying Mammoths, damn i wish i could see that). As such, i remain sceptical of the actual statistical glitch-rate... I also relish a return to more individualised environment design. Oblivion was high fantasy at its finests. All deep forests and stone castles. Thats all well and dandy, but its so... droll. It lacks much of the creative streak i fell in love with in Morrowind. Skyrim returns a degree of that. Yes, it's based on real-world landscapes, but its nonconformist. Its not often you have a Fantasy game where you're running across the open tundra, or weaving through deep mountain valleys, or crawling across a glacier. Of course, it may just be the return of my beloved Dwemer ruins, which in my humble oppinion are infinately cooler than those damned Alyeds. Of course, then they removed spell casting and veritably broke the magic system... Its even worse than it was in Morrowind now, but without Mark and Recall to get around when you're carrying too much, and only the Mammoths seem to remember how to cast Levitate. Despite some major flaws (Poor story telling, bad dialogue, overly reliant onf redundant Radiant AI quests, poor magic), slight characteristic advancements (more unique environment and Dwemer!) there are some changes which i absolutely adore. First amongst them is getting rid of the redundant Stat and Class systems. They were always unssessarily restrictive for the goal of TES games, and offered nothing really in the way of 'uniqueness' accross characters. Regardless of what class you signed on as, you could level every still to 100, and get every stat to 100. The over-reliance on in your face numbers also encouraged minmaxing, rather than giving the player anything approaching an organic experience. The only way to bring uniqueness to your character build was through the Birthsign you picked, and that had so little impact on the game it might of well not existed. The newer perk based system allows for infinately more varriation accross characters. With over 200 perks, and only 80ish levels possible, even if you level every skill to 100 you can't do EVERYTHING. Admitedly, its far from perfected, but i feel the perk system has the potential to revolutionise the RPG experience. Rather than imposing particular images, skillsets and archetypes on the player, it allows you to construct your experience from square one, free of any external driving force. Through it, we could see the return of proper weapon skills, magical specialization, situational hybridization and more. All without the annoyingly bland carbon copy of end game character development. Skyrim and Oblivion, while both being TES games, are still different games. In some cases, very different games. From the OP's comments, i get the idea that he/she is something of a traditionalist, and there is nothing wrong with that. I tend to be more progressive, and while i like both games immensely, i feel Skyrim offers the greatest potential. Thus, i would rate it as the 'better' game. Of course, we all know, and can agree, that Shivering Isles was better than both Vanilla Oblivion and Skyrim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whiteshaix Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Oblivion looking more realistic? I'd say you don't remember well. I've just started playing Oblivion again and I'm already wishing I could have Skyrim style landscapes. Oblivion's (and Morrowind's even more) looks so empty now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R3Q Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 (edited) Pretty sure this is General Skyrim Discussion. edit: And I'm aware that you said "This isn't a hate thread. Just my 2 cents." But still, you don't have to ruin anyone's game experience who do enjoy this game, whether they've played the previous TES or not. If you want to boast about how Oblivion is better, I suggest you do it in the Oblivion forum section. Edited January 11, 2012 by R3Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mehungry Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 Sorry to above I didn't mean to be rude or anything... I was merely posting my own thoughts on Skyrim after spending at least 100 hours playing the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginnyfizz Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Of course, we all know, and can agree, that Shivering Isles was better than both Vanilla Oblivion and Skyrim. I think I visited the Shivering Isles once and that was quite enough for me, thank you. I only keep it installed because of mod dependencies. That whole Madgod rubbish was not for me, there were early signs of Bethesda railroading in the main questline of it. Ugh. Hated it. But then, I heartily dislike Dwemer ruins as well, all that clanking machinery and steam and pistons never seems to fit in the game world to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lachdonin Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Of course, we all know, and can agree, that Shivering Isles was better than both Vanilla Oblivion and Skyrim. :P There, fixed the sentance to convey a little more of the levity i intended. As for the Dwemer, i think its out-of-place-ness is why i love it. It sticks out as something unique in a world which all to often falls into classic fantasy norms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mehungry Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 I like Markarth. Due to its unique architecture, I love my house in Markarth second only to my home in Riften (where I can live amongst my thief friends :D) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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