What do you think of Skyrim?

[Javalin]

I've been under a lot of thought recently of what Skyrim has done right, and stuff which could be a lot better.

 

Now this is not a post of saying "Skyrim sucks" or start as to why Skyrim is good, or bad. This is a purely neutral discussion based on my own thoughts of the game itself.

In all honesty.. I love Skyrim; I love the open world, being able to go anywhere I like; with the potential of being mauled to death by a pack of Sabre Cats or Angry Trolls. or being sent to the moon by a Giant..

 

I personally don't believe that Skyrim is that.. Immersive. At least when you compare it to Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas.

 

Fallout 3 seen a few slight upgrades in how the game flows. More voice actors, no conversations with a guy who recently bought an item from a shop which is owned by themselves. None of the poor beggar people asking for money in a frail, and weak voice - But then talking in a well-spoken voice anytime you detour away from using the "Have a coin beggar" button.

 

Fallout: New Vegas - Seen improvements all over the board. Much more immersion, different outcomes of factions, much better AI's for the NPCs. Adding to the replay value. Caesar's Legion if you're a bad person and a jerk (Chaotic Evil), Follows of the Apocalypse if you're a good person, Yes Man if you're self centred, NCR if you're (Chaotic Neutral) and Mr House if you're kinda evil..

 

Skyrim is a graphically superior in every stretch of the imagination.. That's blatently obvious. But for immersion and replay value; Fallout takes home the prize.

 

The Elder Scrolls games - You always have the same ending. "Save everybody yay" - Regardless of what you do, you still become a hero - Even though you may have butchered 100s of innocent people, stole their clothes and left them naked on top of the highest possible mountain. Their friends or family don't react very differently towards you!

 

Anyway.. Less of that. This is what Skyrim didn't do too well for me. May contain a few spoilers.. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

 

Thieves Guild - Half way through, it felt like a mission for revenge. After the Karliah + Mercer Frey event in the ruins. Karliah fires an arrow to your knee, you get paralysed; Mercer Frey stabs you.

 

The finale of the quest just resulted in Mercer dying Instantly when I opened up with a fully charged "Fus Ro Dah" He falls off the statue and dies from fall damage..

 

Note - I love the Nightingale idea. Shame it wasn't used for Thieving..

 

In Oblivion; it actually felt like the Thieves Guild. Skyrim is a vastly superior game, but I wasn't sure what the game was trying to accomplish with this. In the end, it just felt like "Oh yeah, this is the part where I get shot in the head, crawl out of a grave for the person who shot me" Like in New Vegas at the start. The game starts with a mission on REVENGE.

 

Dark Brotherhood - Same quest over and over. Go here, kill this guy. No extra perameters which required you to be completely undetected. Like the Assassination of the Warlord, or Killing the Imperial Captain with the Rose of Sithis arrow. I.E. The arrow won't work if he's wearing armor. The betrayal was quite an interesting plot twist.. But that was as far as it went.

 

Dragons - Apparently meant to be random encounters, yet hopelessly predictable. The physics when the dragon swoops down to throw you like a rag doll was quite good. Fast travel a couple of times, and a new dragon appears. No variation of abilities.. Just the same thing. Fly around, hover a bit, spit some fire.. That's all.

 

Physics - The physics are garbage. If your character is thrown either by a Deathlord with an Unrelenting Force shout.. It looks in slow motion, and you take no damage from that. There's no "Force" in the games physics at all. Oblivion, FO3, FNV were no different in this regard.

 

Armor Models - Some are extremely shoddy... Dark Brotherhood Set, Leather and Glass are ones I can point out. Few others which I can't think of which were pretty bad. Daedric in Skyrim is better than the Daedric in Oblivion, but bad compared to the Daedric of Morrowind.

 

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW! Read at your own Peril.. I will not be held responsible.

 

As previously mentioned. The ultimate motive seems to be the same. I was kind of hoping with Dawnguard that it would move away from the "Hey, you're going to be a Hero" type of play. With the Dawnguard Trailer and complete Harkons goal of ending the "Tyranny of the Sun" - Using Auriel's Bow (Even if it is just temporarily)..

 

 

 

But no, instead you kill him. Which could easily pave the way for another expansion to the game; the world becomes angry and vampires start getting hunted down and destroyed as a result.

I expected the expansion to be a Vampire vs Werewolves. Due to the perks which were added..

 

But it seemed to be "Vampires vs Pissed off Vampire Hunters" - I was hoping for a more.. Van Helsing kind of approach to it. The Vampire's been the bad guys, The Werewolves being the good-ish guys.

 

Which of these did I find more interesting? I found the Vampires to be more interesting; up until the point where you go looking for the Elder Scrolls. There wasn't really much reason to be a part of the Dawnguard because the only benifit to it was the crossbow, and MAYBE the Armored Trolls.

 

 

Poll:

 

 

Was Skyrim truely about the return of Alduin and the Dragons? or was it more towards the Civil War between the Stormcloaks and the Empire?

 

Here is what I would like.. A future expansion would lead to whichever side you chosen in the Civil War (The Empire or Stormcloaks) in stopping the Aldmeri Dominion's quest from annihilating all Non-Elven kind. Basically a "Second Great War"

 

Edit: But the chance for you to pick between the Aldmeri Dominion (Being the Caesar's Legion of Skyrim) being restricted to Elves only... or the joint effort of the Non-elven Alliance of stopping the obliteration of their kind. THIS is the design philosophy which I would like to see in future RPG's. I think just playing the good guy everytime, gets a little bit stale in all honesty.

 

I mean lets face it.. Now that you have killed the leader of the Dragons, you can't exactly go back and make an expansion about it.. Which is what has lead me to this theory.

 

I am not too fussed about the fact that the Dragonborn saved the world from the Dragons.. I am more bothered about the lack of immersion; and being able to make a choice between playing good, evil or neutral.

 

 

This has been a long post.. I am definately interested in your thoughts and opinions on what you liked, and didn't like about Skyrim - and your reasoning behind it.

Lets keep this topic Troll-Free. This is a totally neutral debate. Feel free to voice opinions like I am doing so, but please keep it within the rules, troll free.. and at least civil.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Javalin

[cycloney911]

I found the game to be decent. The only thing i was slightly disappointed in were the short quest lines of the Winterhold Mages and the Companions. The Companions quests were way too plain.

 

SPOILERS BELOW.

 

Kill werewolves hunters and get fragments for an axe. Got the axe? Good, now we can use it to cure Kodlak. The end.

 

The College quests were better, lore-wise and so on, it was sort of unique but too short. The exploration of the Dungeon, Labyrinth, was almost 20% of it.

 

The Thieves Guild was entertaining but i got really bothered about the pact of guarding the sanctuary after death. There goes my role play...

 

Dark Brotherhood was pretty neat, i like the fact that you could kill them instead of joining them.

 

SPOILERS ENDED.

 

I really liked Oblivion quest line more, it was very unique and atmospheric back then. Seeing a group of imperials soldiers at the border of Skyrim fighting against a legion of Daedric creatures pouring from an Oblivion gate is one example. There were some unique quests in Skyrim such as helping raiders or helping to open the East Empire trading company but the uniqueness is nothing if you compare it with Oblivion.

 

Conclusion, Oblivion was atmospheric and exhilarating. Skyrim quests are small and some are very plain (Dawnguard not included). The thing that makes it atmospheric is probably the emotions of NPCs, you can check around Riften, that a very strong example.

Edited August 14, 2012 by cycloney911

[Dovahkiin069]

I think that they should make an expansion to the Second Great War, which begin from the side you chose. The fight with the Thalmor is just the beginning, and I would like to see an end.

 

 

SPOILER

Alduin is already dead and the dragon thing is already done. Why make an expansion of this?

Edited August 14, 2012 by Dovahkiin069

[gsmanners]

 

Alduin is already dead and the dragon thing is already done. Why make an expansion of this?

 

 

Because the dragons aren't all dead.

 

The Civil War quest was obviously a last minute afterthought, and (if you look at the script source) you'll notice that the devs were only halfway through recoding it by the time release came around. If they were capable of writing a decent story, I would relish the thought of a war expansion, but come on. This is Bethesda we're talking about. They're the Bulwer-Lyttons of the video game world right now.

[cycloney911]

SPOILER

 

Alduin is not dead, his soul is still alive, If you hear what the NPC say, there is a chance that the dragon born just delayed his time till the end of the world.

[Thoreai]

I've been under a lot of thought recently of what Skyrim has done right, and stuff which could be a lot better.

 

Now this is not a post of saying "Skyrim sucks" or start as to why Skyrim is good, or bad. This is a purely neutral discussion based on my own thoughts of the game itself.

In all honesty.. I love Skyrim; I love the open world, being able to go anywhere I like; with the potential of being mauled to death by a pack of Sabre Cats or Angry Trolls. or being sent to the moon by a Giant..

 

I personally don't believe that Skyrim is that.. Immersive. At least when you compare it to Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas.

 

Fallout 3 seen a few slight upgrades in how the game flows. More voice actors, no conversations with a guy who recently bought an item from a shop which is owned by themselves. None of the poor beggar people asking for money in a frail, and weak voice - But then talking in a well-spoken voice anytime you detour away from using the "Have a coin beggar" button.

 

Fallout: New Vegas - Seen improvements all over the board. Much more immersion, different outcomes of factions, much better AI's for the NPCs. Adding to the replay value. Caesar's Legion if you're a bad person and a jerk (Chaotic Evil), Follows of the Apocalypse if you're a good person, Yes Man if you're self centred, NCR if you're (Chaotic Neutral) and Mr House if you're kinda evil..

 

Skyrim is a graphically superior in every stretch of the imagination.. That's blatently obvious. But for immersion and replay value; Fallout takes home the prize.

 

The Elder Scrolls games - You always have the same ending. "Save everybody yay" - Regardless of what you do, you still become a hero - Even though you may have butchered 100s of innocent people, stole their clothes and left them naked on top of the highest possible mountain. Their friends or family don't react very differently towards you!

 

Anyway.. Less of that. This is what Skyrim didn't do too well for me. May contain a few spoilers.. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

 

Thieves Guild - Half way through, it felt like a mission for revenge. After the Karliah + Mercer Frey event in the ruins. Karliah fires an arrow to your knee, you get paralysed; Mercer Frey stabs you.

 

The finale of the quest just resulted in Mercer dying Instantly when I opened up with a fully charged "Fus Ro Dah" He falls off the statue and dies from fall damage..

 

Note - I love the Nightingale idea. Shame it wasn't used for Thieving..

 

In Oblivion; it actually felt like the Thieves Guild. Skyrim is a vastly superior game, but I wasn't sure what the game was trying to accomplish with this. In the end, it just felt like "Oh yeah, this is the part where I get shot in the head, crawl out of a grave for the person who shot me" Like in New Vegas at the start. The game starts with a mission on REVENGE.

 

Dark Brotherhood - Same quest over and over. Go here, kill this guy. No extra perameters which required you to be completely undetected. Like the Assassination of the Warlord, or Killing the Imperial Captain with the Rose of Sithis arrow. I.E. The arrow won't work if he's wearing armor. The betrayal was quite an interesting plot twist.. But that was as far as it went.

 

Dragons - Apparently meant to be random encounters, yet hopelessly predictable. The physics when the dragon swoops down to throw you like a rag doll was quite good. Fast travel a couple of times, and a new dragon appears. No variation of abilities.. Just the same thing. Fly around, hover a bit, spit some fire.. That's all.

 

Physics - The physics are garbage. If your character is thrown either by a Deathlord with an Unrelenting Force shout.. It looks in slow motion, and you take no damage from that. There's no "Force" in the games physics at all. Oblivion, FO3, FNV were no different in this regard.

 

Armor Models - Some are extremely shoddy... Dark Brotherhood Set, Leather and Glass are ones I can point out. Few others which I can't think of which were pretty bad. Daedric in Skyrim is better than the Daedric in Oblivion, but bad compared to the Daedric of Morrowind.

 

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW! Read at your own Peril.. I will not be held responsible.

 

As previously mentioned. The ultimate motive seems to be the same. I was kind of hoping with Dawnguard that it would move away from the "Hey, you're going to be a Hero" type of play. With the Dawnguard Trailer and complete Harkons goal of ending the "Tyranny of the Sun" - Using Auriel's Bow (Even if it is just temporarily)..

 

 

 

But no, instead you kill him. Which could easily pave the way for another expansion to the game; the world becomes angry and vampires start getting hunted down and destroyed as a result.

I expected the expansion to be a Vampire vs Werewolves. Due to the perks which were added..

 

But it seemed to be "Vampires vs Pissed off Vampire Hunters" - I was hoping for a more.. Van Helsing kind of approach to it. The Vampire's been the bad guys, The Werewolves being the good-ish guys.

 

Which of these did I find more interesting? I found the Vampires to be more interesting; up until the point where you go looking for the Elder Scrolls. There wasn't really much reason to be a part of the Dawnguard because the only benifit to it was the crossbow, and MAYBE the Armored Trolls.

 

 

Poll:

 

 

Was Skyrim truely about the return of Alduin and the Dragons? or was it more towards the Civil War between the Stormcloaks and the Empire?

 

Here is what I would like.. A future expansion would lead to whichever side you chosen in the Civil War (The Empire or Stormcloaks) in stopping the Aldmeri Dominion's quest from annihilating all Non-Elven kind. Basically a "Second Great War"

 

Edit: But the chance for you to pick between the Aldmeri Dominion (Being the Caesar's Legion of Skyrim) being restricted to Elves only... or the joint effort of the Non-elven Alliance of stopping the obliteration of their kind. THIS is the design philosophy which I would like to see in future RPG's. I think just playing the good guy everytime, gets a little bit stale in all honesty.

 

I mean lets face it.. Now that you have killed the leader of the Dragons, you can't exactly go back and make an expansion about it.. Which is what has lead me to this theory.

 

I am not too fussed about the fact that the Dragonborn saved the world from the Dragons.. I am more bothered about the lack of immersion; and being able to make a choice between playing good, evil or neutral.

 

 

This has been a long post.. I am definately interested in your thoughts and opinions on what you liked, and didn't like about Skyrim - and your reasoning behind it.

Lets keep this topic Troll-Free. This is a totally neutral debate. Feel free to voice opinions like I am doing so, but please keep it within the rules, troll free.. and at least civil.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Javalin

Pretty much agree with everything u wrote...everytime i went to play skyrim i found myself wishing for more depth, immersion...more interaction with your surroundings.

 

The game is still nice and well worth the money, but i dont see myself buying any dlc for it unless they really add the depth and immersion i was hoping for, or better combat that still isnt nowhere near 2012..same old hack&slash without any deeper mechanics or interesting features.

 

I didnt finished the main quest as i couldnt play the game anymore, therefore i dont know what exactly happens, but since they are going to same old route for over a decade now, about the player saving the world, i kinda stoped caring.

 

The civil war sounded good only on paper but i quickly found out it was a joke in terms of immersion or the feel of fighintg for someone...there were no epic battles or anything, it was a static theatre.

 

The dragons were a nice idea even though its cliche, but as you said they have a few attacks here and there and thats about it, they dont fill me with fear of being these evil creatures that can kill you with one hit....just a normal nuisance you meet along the way, like any farmer or bandit.

 

Wich is like that with everything in skyrim, its a pie of everything but nothing deeper.

[Dovahkiin069]

 

Alduin is already dead and the dragon thing is already done. Why make an expansion of this?

 

 

Because the dragons aren't all dead.

 

The Civil War quest was obviously a last minute afterthought, and (if you look at the script source) you'll notice that the devs were only halfway through recoding it by the time release came around. If they were capable of writing a decent story, I would relish the thought of a war expansion, but come on. This is Bethesda we're talking about. They're the Bulwer-Lyttons of the video game world right now.

Wondering on what pavy have said. Yeah, it's true. Even the War was lacking on immersion. The WHOLE game is lacking on immersion. If they only add this, it would be better.(and if they add Cyrodiil, it would be even better :tongue: )

Edited August 14, 2012 by Dovahkiin069

[Dovahkiin069]

SPOILER

 

Alduin is not dead, his soul is still alive, If you hear what the NPC say, there is a chance that the dragon born just delayed his time till the end of the world.

Then is up to the Dragonborn to destroy his body again.

[jeonitsoc]

Nice toughts guys. I'm kind of pessimist about new DLCs

In my opinion the war would be more interesting; the plot aournd the dragons wasn't that good, they come, you endlessly fight them, they don't destroy a single house. But they can't show us the brutality of a real war, so the tasks would be the same (go+kill+reward)^infinite

 

 

The problem i see in skyrim is fundamentally one: it is a product designed to make a profit, as all the games in the industry.

they don't need to hire the best novel writers to let us play amazing quest, because it's not what the average player is looking for; they sold the game by images, not by gameplay or story. We knew what factions the dovahkiin would have met before playing, we knew that we would have slayed the bad dragon since the first trailer. Many of us bought this game to see the new landscape, items, foes. It's like Playmobil for the producers, a toy.

 

[LordWushin]

The game is very good in my book. Though we have obvious short comings already mentioned the vastness, variety, and mods are what make this game the best yet.

 

DLCs I would like to see more along the lines of what dawnguard, Knights of the Nine, and Shievering Isle did. Add some thing absolutely new and awesome. Maybe more stuff not directly related to the main theme or any side quest, just new.