Skyrim too straight forward

[DeanCarter]

There is a certain element in Skyrim that is missing; something that makes it inferior to Oblivion. Recently, I discovered what this is: it's too straight forward. What I mean by that is that the ruins, caves, etc aren't has maze like as they were in Oblivion. In Oblivion, when I was in a fort or ruin I had several options to go straight, or left, or right, and it took time to clear out a ruin or cave etc. In Skyrim, you usually only have one way to go, one path to take. What do you think?

[Roxana]

Hmm I must disagree. I find this game MUCH better than Oblivion. I could replay daggerfall or Morrowind but Oblivion suffers compared to Skyrim IMO

The vistas alone are boggling. the concept of the Thalmors giving unpredictabilty (and death until you reach very high levels) to the game and none of

the thieves guild or Brotherhood lines are straight forward. Even the daedric quests had me agonising on the choices:ritual cannabalism etc.

 

I grant you the old adage:"everyone has opinions , just like everyone has an anus" but IMO you must have been spoilt by the games that you have ever played.

 

The dungeon mazes are simpler but more varied while Oblvion was a snap compared to daggerfall dungeons. Skyrim could have made the dungeons

slightly more complex but IMO they are the best of the series. Oblivion was just one group of rearranged parts after another: at least Skyim's seem to

have individual character.

 

if you cut it to the bone:what is an RPG?

Quest, survive, improve skills, find out story, kill the boss, live happily ever after.

Now that iS boring but it is the trip not the destination that makes the game;

my current char is 62: has not handed in the dragonstone; has not made the werewolf choice, is on the 3rd thieves guild quest, the second mages guild one;

while the brotherhood? hello!! Grelok is dust but no contatc and only one daedric quest finished. most side quests and all reachable places found

and I find it still quite difficult at very hard despite good skills. Boring? don't fast travel: walk and see if it's boring or straightforward. I still die and often.

if I ever reach level 100 I think that I will still die and often...harder dragons & increased spawns will see to that. In my first char one dragon took

more than half an hour and i spent most of my time dodging and hiding behind cover with the occasional snipe.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Roxana

[NudeSkyrim]

I have to disagree as well. As far as quests go, I have about 30 open quests right now at level 28 because every time I complete one I end up racking up 5 side quests along the way.

The dungeons and things like that give you plenty of choices and there are puzzles too, so I don't know what you're complaining about.

[robanybody2000]

I have to agree with DeanCarter, few dungeons are more than linear exploring with a convenient shortcut directly out of it, as for the puzzles...exept for that sprint thing it's petty much "find the lever" or turn 3 stone circles.In terms of number of quests i think it's a fair ammount of them (my journal has about 10-15 unfinished quests all the time), the daedric quest are ok but the reward is not worthwile unles you have a "more powerful daedric artifacts" mod.

 

Type of dungeons in Oblivion: Ayeld ruins, caves, forts

Type of dungeons in Skyrim: Dwemer ruins, nord burial grounds, forts...prety much the same.

The plus is you have Dragons althou you need the "more powerfull dragons" mod to make it interesting.

 

Regarding leveling...well Skyrim has a much less than decent character development, besides "perks" wich are more or less usefull, it has nothing else, leading to a "Jack of all trades" character in the end. A minus in this is also the fact that no matter what type of character your playing you can join and complete every faction's questline.

 

IMO after one year of moding and posibly some add-ons you coul compare Skyrim with Oblivion. Now it's just to early.

 

EDIT: I have to agree with Roxana. Daggerfall and Morrowind are more interesting than Oblivion or Skyrim in terms of questing, plots and character creation.It started with 35 skills governed by 8 attributes governed by race and gender resulting in 18 distinctive classes in Daggerfall, 27 skills governed by 8 attributes with 4 derrived attribute governed by race and gender resulting in 21 distinctive classes in Morrowind to 18 skills with insignificant conectivity with 3 attributes with absolutley no conection to gender or race in Skyrim.I'm saying this because i don't find it fair for a Khajiit wearing cloth to not be able to run faster or longer or jump higher than a chubby nord wearing an iron stove.

Edited April 2, 2012 by robanybody2000

[RedRavyn]

Within the ES franchise I've only played Oblivion and Skyrim. I really don't much like vanilla Oblivion, and my install of that game is heavily modded to make it play just like I want it to -- or at least as closely as I can manage with mods. I've lightly modded Skyrim because the Skyrim modding community is still in its infancy. Sooner or later, just like with Oblivion, a list of must-have mods will emerge for me. Until then, I'm just modding very basic things to make the game more challenging and interesting.

 

All that said, I'm with Roxana on this issue. Oblivion is the better game in one way, only. Compared to it, Skyrim is dumbed down (and they took out custom magic spells, which really ticked me off). As for the dungeons, most of Skyrims dungeons are, indeed, quite linear, but not exclusively so. You want linear, then try Half-Life 2 and you'll never complain about "linear dungeons" again.

 

On the other hand, most of Oblivion's dungeons are just as linear, with the exception of the very large Ayleid ruins, which can be quite complex and confusing, even for someone like me who has probably seen every single one of them at least eight or ten times. I figure I've played Oblivion through, with a fair amount of aborted playthroughs, at least twenty or twenty five times, so I know it and its questlines very well.

 

To me, Oblivion dungeons were boring. After you've seen fifteen or twenty you've seen them all. They became predictable because they were so obviously constructed from a meager tile-set. Indeed, some of the dungeons re-used entire settings, including even the positioning of certain mushrooms or coffins, for a good old dose of deja vu, when you know you've never been there, before.

 

Every dungeon in Skyrim seems fresh and new to me when compared to the others, although the convenient "ramps" in the caves are a bit immersion-shattering for me. I've done my fair share of spelunking, even off the "beaten path" in caves rarely frequented by humans, and caves just don't look like that in real life. On the other hand, this is Nirn, and not Earth, and I'm playing in a game in which ""Skyrim is now host to giant, flying lizards and two-legged cat-men ..." (Barbas), so I suppose I can overlook that little issue.

[DeanCarter]

I suppose I made the mistake of saying that Oblivion is superior to Skyrim: I DEFINITELY believe that Skyrim is a better game. This post was only pertaining to the dungeons and such (and perhaps the awful MG quest line). I don't really feel like an explorer in the Skyrim dungeons; I feel more like a tourist.

[fraquar]

To me, a big part about how you feel in a dungeon has to do with how powerful you are relative to the enemy.

 

When you are vulnerable, every little thing gets your attention. I purposely go into the harder areas as soon as I can just to get that rush you get when one wrong step and you are swarmed by 4-5 Falmer.......

[NudeSkyrim]

My dungeon experience has changed since leveling up sneak and going for sneak crits. I think the game is dynamic enough for me to play it through multiple times, so I would not say it's straightforward.

[Zemica]

I would have to agree. Don't get me wrong I think that both games are great, but Skyrim is missing some things. I don't think all the Skyrim needs is better, more expansive dungeon levels (forts, caves, and tombs). One thing that kills Skyrim for me is that lack of wow, wow, wow that I got out of Oblivion. Being able to constantly find something new and cool with in the game at least not like I could in Oblivion. In Oblivion I could always find something to do whether it be a quest or just exploring a cave. The lack of content that was added in is astonishing.

[BlackCompany]

It seems Skyrim's lackluster nature causes people to don their rose tinted glasses and look back at Oblivion. That, or people are recalling Oblivion fondly due to the numerous mods available for that game. Because vanilla Oblivion was anything but fun or interesting.

 

Oblivion's dungeons were cut-and-paste copies. The game had three tile sets: Fort, Cave and Ayleid ruin. It used the same three time and again. Dungeons were empty, lifeless underground tombs despite lore claiming these were once cities. In Skyrim, dungeons are varied and they have life. Vines and vegetation grow in caves. Water flows through the caves consistent with the water ways outside the caverns. Perfectly synced.

 

In Skyrim, enemies mine and smith in caves and ruins. They call out and warn you away when get too close to their holds in a realistic manner. In Oblivion, none of this was true.

 

In Oblivion ruins might have been more mazelike, to address the OP's concern. But they were empty, feeling as if they were placed there for little more than player convenience, not as a believable bastion of enemies looking to live in them.

 

Both games are lacking, don't get me wrong. The sad fact is, however, that for all its lackluster sameness and its complete lack of RPG game play, Skyrim is still a step above the pathetic effort that was Oblivion. Neither of them are a great game - both barely make it to 'good' status, really - but Skyrim, for all its numerous flaws (its more flaw than it is finish) still remains head and shoulders above its unfinished and frankly insulting predecessor in every way.