Critique of the game and why I don't like it (anymore).

[BucMan55]

So logically, Bethesda goes with the people who found it annoying while stripping away more ways to create a more unique character, even though many of those same people would use it to benefit a character if it were there.

 

Same for Hand to Hand.

 

There is actually a much, MUCH greater ability to create a unique character in Skyrim than there was in Oblivion, despite diminished number of skills. Both games maintain the ability to level all your skills (and in Oblivion, stats) to 100 with some degree of work. However, while in Oblivion every character who is 100 in everything will be the same, in Skyrim thats not a certianty. With 80 (or is it 81?) perk points and over 200 possible choices, you get uniqueness.

 

I do lament the loss of some skills, Atheletics and Acrobatics being two of them (Simply for mobility reasons) but saying that they stripped away more ways to create a unique character is utterly false.

 

 

Right, this is why the implementation of the perks would have made the ultimate experience had they kept the "fitness" skills. They got a lot right with the perk system(even if some of the individual perks are flawed). It allows for nice customization in the early levels and great customization(meaning differentiation between different styles of characters) in the late levels. Oblivion allowed better customization at the early levels but as has been said, eventually you could get everything to 100 and the game suffered at the end.

[Sindrie]

I guess I'm lucky. The things I dislike are really small things that are just a little irritating. I actually don't mind the fact that NPCs are "boring" or that dungeons are monotonous. That's to be expected in a game. It's a game, duh. Not real life..

 

LOL WUT???? games have art and beauty..... video game dungeons should look 500000X better then real life "dungeons"!!! it's amaising what some people will say to defend a lack of quality....

[TotallyNotToastyFresh]

Everything the author says is a legitimate argument, pretty much. All of it makes sense, however I still like the game and play it. Which is fine. Most of the arguments from the OP don't really affect my experience as a whole, except for one thing:

 

The characters. The characters are just so boring and flat and uninteresting. The only real good characters were Ulfric and Paarthurnax, and even then the amount of dialogue was just so small. Perhaps instead of making sure that every single damn character in the game had at least two dialogue options overall they could have had some characters with generic "hello" lines when you talk to them, and instead devote resources to giving more important characters more interesting and diverse lines. It's my one big gripe with the game and it makes enjoying it very difficult.

 

EDIT: And what the guy a couple posts above me said about it "it's a game, the characters are usually boring in games", WHAT?! Are you insane? There are plenty of games that have well-acted and interesting characters. Funnily enough, the ones that do are on a scale comparable to Skyrim. GTA 4, Red Dead Redemption, KoTOR, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Assassin's Creed, LA Noire, Dragon Age, the list goes on. The scale of Skyrim is no excuse for poorly-written and boring characters.

Edited February 3, 2012 by Toasty Fresh

[totalwarman]

I agree with the OP, but in my opinion the problem with the games are the players. Im a almost a old man, i start to play games with a ZX spectrum in the early 80s and everything seems marvelous to me, 5 minutes to load ,10 minutes to each turn in Desert Rats strategy game, the 16 colours of the ''HD'',everything. Now, nothing surprise or satisfy me ,I always say that it could be better, just because I saw to much and maybe I just made a great effort to find any imperfection. The last time that a game impress me , was with Rome total war, i simple stops to saw a militar unit marching or a simple soldier looking to his feet. Maybe the industry reach the top and maybe they can't give us nothing more. This will happen eventually. Edited February 3, 2012 by totalwarman

[Thoreai]

I agree with the OP, but in my opinion the problem with the games are the players. Im a almost a old man, i start to play games with a ZX spectrum in the early 80s and everything seems marvelous to me, 5 minutes to load ,10 minutes to each turn in Desert Rats strategy game, the 16 colours of the ''HD'',everything. Now, nothing surprise or satisfy me ,I always say that it could be better, just because I saw to much and maybe I just made a great effort to find any imperfection. The last time that a game impress me , was with Rome total war, i simple stops to saw a militar unit marching or a simple soldier looking to his feet. Maybe the industry reach the top and maybe they can't give us nothing more. This will happen eventually.

People are starting to be aware that games can offer much much more then just the usuall hack&slash, kill/shoot/dismember everything.

Problem is that such games require time and usually teams working on a game arent the ones who decide about what happens, but are being pushed by the publishers.

 

Before, games were done purely out of enthusiasm, they were something new, people enjoyed working on them, nowadayes they are just a way for large coorporations to milk money, thats why i think we wont ever see a game that wont belong to a category.

Edited February 3, 2012 by pavy

[balmunng]

I don't care how much people are going to hate me for what I say, but I am going to say it anyways.

 

YOU. PEOPLE. ARE. ABSOLUTE. WHINERS.

 

I have never seen a 'good' game get so many complaints like this before about it. I won't lie, there are flaws with it, but every Elder Scroll game has had some sort of flaw, bug or something unlikable, whether it be minor or major. The Elder Scrolls V seemed more like a 'evolutionary' title than a 'revolutionary' title like the Elder Scrolls III or IV was, which may explain a bit of the player complaints. But geez, the complaints I see are so bad that if I overlooked the work at Bethesda, I would step out and make a controversial move by saying,

 

"Sorry, but the only thing we're releasing for you players is the creation kit. If you want these bugs to be fixed, or new content released, YOU do it. We're giving you the tools, now YOU fix the bugs for us and make the game better in any way you want, because after all, you practically outdid us 2 weeks after we released the game with all sorts of things. Plus, we have decided to take the meaning of "Do whatever you want, and create whatever you want" to the next level. See you in Fallout 4."

 

Oh, and the memes are just absurd and stupid. I can come up with stupid stuff too and post it on youtube, and do this and that, and jerk around in front of the pc all day, and keep making "and" statements thinking im cool, but I choose not to.

 

End of line.

Edited February 4, 2012 by balmunng

[gretzky99]

Whoever started this thread must have his head up his butt. No wonder he has problems with the game.

[justwannaddl]

A lot of interesting points in this. I still enjoy Skyrim but not as much as I hoped.

 

1) Agreed. The graphics don't impress, especially to those who are used to playing modded versions of Oblivion. It isn't a big deal to me though since my system isn't that great to begin with so this actually works to my benefit. My biggest gripe is that wolves literally keel over like they were statues after killing them.

 

2) Partially agreed. The system does feel overly stripped down though the magic schools aren't as thoroughly unusable as the OP described. It is just that they require far more investment for far less gain than in Oblivion. They are seriously lacking in versatility; a consequence of Beth sacrificing effects to the Dragon Shouts and racial abilities. I'd just as soon not be a dragon born if I could have the effects from Oblivion back or spell creation.

 

I do not miss the loss of acrobatics and athletics at all though. Those two skills made controlled leveling a pain. Neither do I feel the crafting skills are too unbalancing. It is just that a lot skills taken to its extreme are likely to make the game too easy. I maxed out Conjuration and I can Dead thrall and Dremora lord my way through any dungeon without breaking a sweat.

 

3) Partially agreed. The terrain in Skyrim just didn't feel as varied as the terrain in Oblivion. The cities felt far too cramped and small compared to Oblivion. The dungeons, while prettier, were, with very few exception, one way streets that went in a circle. And those impassible mountains... I would have shaved my head for the ability to climb in the game.

 

Random loot wasn't generally interesting. A Diablo style unique/named item system would have done a lot to remedy that. Similarly, despite improved voice acting, NPCs feel even more repetitive than ever. At least in Oblivion, all they said was hi and occasionally, after you level up a bit, you look skilled at ____ when you passed them. Now its sweet roll this and arrow in the knee that, all with the same blank expression.

 

Most of the enjoyment I have in the game came simply from me wandering the roads and having random encounters.

 

4) Agreed. The quests in general just felt half baked compared to Oblivion. Because of the radiant quest system, the actual quest lines feel like they get buried by the one shots.

 

5) Mostly agreed. I don't mind the look of the technology available to Skyrim. To me, TES games are almost like the magical version of a post apocalyptic scenario. Every game seems to see the further degradation of knowledge and technology.

Edited February 4, 2012 by justwannaddl

[gsmanners]

LOL WUT???? games have art and beauty..... video game dungeons should look 500000X better then real life "dungeons"!!!

 

:teehee:

 

You must be on drugs if you think a video game comes anywhere near the beauty of real life.

[Xeronova]

To the people bashing OP's opinion on Skyrim's graphics:

 

I don't know OP, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say I'm sure that he/she brought up graphics as one of their minor gripes about Skyrim. Yes, the graphics look great on my lowly 512mb GeForce 9800 GTX+, but do they look amazing? No. Is it something that will break my immersion/gameplay value? Again, no.

 

BUT....

 

Coupled with the game-breaking bugs, the monotonous loot grind that ultimately happens with your character, the one-dimensional NPCs, quest loot that's weaker than what you used to complete said quest(s) and the myriad of other complaints (not just from OP, but numerous others), all these gripes add up to what the OP initially expressed in his post:

 

This game needs a few overhauls, and instead of an HD texture pack being released with the CK, I'd definitely settle for a massive bugfix or another update that lets your leveled equipment level up *with* you, or something else more beneficial than what the modding community has already given us.

 

With that said, I agree wholeheartedly with the OP's statements; Bethesda should have either waited to launch & implemented more into the game or fixed all/most of the bugs plaguing this otherwise remarkably beautiful game.