What Did Skyrim Do Right?

[AxlRocks]

I don't even know where to start with what was done right when you compare Skyrim to 95% of today's games and their publishers/developers' standards. The list heavily outweighs issues. What I will say is I see a LOT of complaining about stuff that isn't even a problem, it's a personal preference. I mean, a lot of people want spears, for example, but am I going to legitimately get upset at Bethesda because they're not there? And now we know some bits of info on the next DLC, and guess what is being implemented according to that? People wanted crossbows, then came Dawnguard. Bethesda is actually adding more to Skyrim based on what fans want to see.

 

And we got mounted combat for free, extra kill cams for free, and I know it doesn't affect us but Xbox got Kinect shouts for free. The last is considered ridiculous by some, but that's free. It's simply the point of fans getting something for free. That's pratically against the unwritten rules of the video game industry.

 

And for the whole "spears don't work on the engine" argument people bring up concerning what Todd said, yes, the engine couldn't support spears at the time. Unless you wanted to swing them around like swords. Spears just weren't on the immediate drawing board. I can be labeled Bethesda fanboy or whatever, but truth is, I don't think Bethesda is perfect nor is Skyrim, but I do think Beth has done an amazing job all things considered! Could it improve? Well yeah, of course, anything can be. But to hear it from some people, I don't know why they even play Bethesda games at all.

[slainia]

it's not that I don't think they've done well with skryim. there are a lot of things they've improved tremendously.

however, When a company's first - or I guess first major - product is superior in many ways to it's successors, it's userbase will comment. I think that's part of the responsibility of being a consumer, really. This is really subject & personal opinion etc, but that's honestly what I think of Skyrim compared to morrowind.

 

And honestly, part of that probably IS rose colored glasses & all that. But the thing is, look at some of the things they've been criticized so heavily on - the Ui for example is pretty. And somewhat functional, if you're willing to literally pause the game every time you want to do something and scroll through a potentially huge list. With a mouse, no less. (ie there's no sorting of the favorites menu. :>) It may be functional, and pretty, but - it could be both MORE functional and still pretty, if they took hte time to figure that out. Instead, they left it, forgetting that sometimes old - again my opinion, and referring to morrowind's windows - is better. it's not always better, and maybe they would've needed to change it a bit, but they went in a direction that has a lot of faults to it.

 

I love a lot of things they've done compraed to morrowin & oblivion - thing is, a lot of those things are improvements, not innovations. For a game that's received such a critically successful response, that's saying a lot. As for the game industry as a whole, i think it needs a good kick in the ass. but then, the only person that can do that is us - the consumer base. if we don't say we don't like something, or speak with our wallets when things get bad enough, nothing will change.

 

I love skyrim, but I love morrowind more, even with all its glitches and bugs and whatever.

[StayFrosty05]

There's a reason why I only play Oblivion and Skyrim when it comes to fantasy games, though I love the whole fantasy element and would love a wider selection of fantasy games....Well two reasons in fact:

 

1/ The open world and quest set up....I love having a world I can explore as I like, when I like....can examine every inch of the world if I wish....Can do what quests I want to do when I want to and not being forced to do quests I have no interest in to get to quests or story arcs I do want to to explore....and don't have to do them all.

 

2/ No 'Tab Targeting' combat!!.... :dance: ....I absolutely abhor 'Tab Targeting' combat and many games that initially catch my interest, have great reviews, great story lines, etc....I will not touch if it's Tab Targeting....have tried it enough times in enough games to know how much I hate it and will no longer touch a game with it.....THANK YOU...THANK YOU...THANK YOU!!!!! Bethesda for letting me aim and fire my own arrow, letting me decide when I am going to swing the sword, raise a shield, dodge, etc...when I see fit, not the game mechanic.

[musicalfrog7]

While I do like the idea of having attributes.....

 

Eh.

 

Going to be honest. Glad they got rid of them. I hated the leveling system of Oblivion. If you didn't know what you were doing you could level up your stats all wrong and end up being a weak character. Hated that.

[slainia]

I thought of something i think is fairly new, although someone else mentioned part of it - the water currents are absolutely awesome. What I really love tho is tryin to catch the dragonflies, and the fishies.

>.>

I definitely don't spend ages running up and down the rivers harvesting those poor creatures, or the slaughterfish eggs, or the nordic barnacles.

nope. not at all. <.<

[Enatiomorph]

While I do like the idea of having attributes.....

 

Eh.

 

Going to be honest. Glad they got rid of them. I hated the leveling system of Oblivion. If you didn't know what you were doing you could level up your stats all wrong and end up being a weak character. Hated that.

Which had nothing to do with attributes and everything to do with level scaling. Getting rid of attributes just got rid of more customization, diversity and individuality for RPs.

 

Whatever small improvements Skyrim made here and there (mostly stuff from previous games like mounted combat), they dumbed down too much for it to really matter. Magic is a complete joke in Skyrim and the worst it has ever been. We got less of everything when it came to magic.

Edited October 31, 2012 by Enatiomorph

[modder3434]

While I do like the idea of having attributes.....

 

Eh.

 

Going to be honest. Glad they got rid of them. I hated the leveling system of Oblivion. If you didn't know what you were doing you could level up your stats all wrong and end up being a weak character. Hated that.

Which had nothing to do with attributes and everything to do with level scaling. Getting rid of attributes just got rid of more customization, diversity and individuality for RPs.

 

Whatever small improvements Skyrim made here and there (mostly stuff from previous games like mounted combat), they dumbed down too much for it to really matter. Magic is a complete joke in Skyrim and the worst it has ever been. We got less of everything when it came to magic.

 

comparing the vanilla spells of Oblivion and Skyrim ( not including Morrowind, never played a magical character there) they are pretty similar in terms of variety and damage output (just better visuals in skyrim).

 

I'm pretty sure the only reason you say magic sucks in skyrim is that they took out the option to create your own spells ingame like in oblivion.

 

Ive said it in another post and i'll repeat: Each of the three games (Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim) had thier own pros and cons unique to that game, which is why i still play all three.

 

They are the same yet different, not only in terms of gameplay, but also environment and feel. The only thing you can say truthfully about all three is that they all are massive worlds that are fun to explore and all three have modding tools.

[luzburg]

While I do like the idea of having attributes.....

 

Eh.

 

Going to be honest. Glad they got rid of them. I hated the leveling system of Oblivion. If you didn't know what you were doing you could level up your stats all wrong and end up being a weak character. Hated that.

Which had nothing to do with attributes and everything to do with level scaling. Getting rid of attributes just got rid of more customization, diversity and individuality for RPs.

 

Whatever small improvements Skyrim made here and there (mostly stuff from previous games like mounted combat), they dumbed down too much for it to really matter. Magic is a complete joke in Skyrim and the worst it has ever been. We got less of everything when it came to magic.

 

comparing the vanilla spells of Oblivion and Skyrim ( not including Morrowind, never played a magical character there) they are pretty similar in terms of variety and damage output (just better visuals in skyrim).

 

I'm pretty sure the only reason you say magic sucks in skyrim is that they took out the option to create your own spells ingame like in oblivion.

 

Ive said it in another post and i'll repeat: Each of the three games (Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim) had thier own pros and cons unique to that game, which is why i still play all three.

 

They are the same yet different, not only in terms of gameplay, but also environment and feel. The only thing you can say truthfully about all three is that they all are massive worlds that are fun to explore and all three have modding tools.

 

Thats the truth!

 

I'm playing morrowind (for the first time) alongside Skyrim and hopefully oblivion but damnit I HATE oblivion modding lol. Oblivion is my favourite of the three still though. The first one you play is always the favourite. Morrowind fans sometimes have trouble acknowledging that theirs is an opinion not absolute fact.

[Enatiomorph]

While I do like the idea of having attributes.....

 

Eh.

 

Going to be honest. Glad they got rid of them. I hated the leveling system of Oblivion. If you didn't know what you were doing you could level up your stats all wrong and end up being a weak character. Hated that.

Which had nothing to do with attributes and everything to do with level scaling. Getting rid of attributes just got rid of more customization, diversity and individuality for RPs.

 

Whatever small improvements Skyrim made here and there (mostly stuff from previous games like mounted combat), they dumbed down too much for it to really matter. Magic is a complete joke in Skyrim and the worst it has ever been. We got less of everything when it came to magic.

 

comparing the vanilla spells of Oblivion and Skyrim ( not including Morrowind, never played a magical character there) they are pretty similar in terms of variety and damage output (just better visuals in skyrim).

 

I'm pretty sure the only reason you say magic sucks in skyrim is that they took out the option to create your own spells ingame like in oblivion.

 

Ive said it in another post and i'll repeat: Each of the three games (Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim) had thier own pros and cons unique to that game, which is why i still play all three.

 

They are the same yet different, not only in terms of gameplay, but also environment and feel. The only thing you can say truthfully about all three is that they all are massive worlds that are fun to explore and all three have modding tools.

Less spells, less effects, no customization. Magic in Skyrim is pretty much all graphics and no uniqueness, no diversity, no customization. No more tailoring spells and gameplay styles to your magic using RPs. No more thinking outside of the box and getting creative with spells. Magic builds (their spells) in Sky are old after only a handful compared to every other ES (all of which had spell creation). Magic is a linear joke now compared to what it was. It has nothing to do with nostalgia or any other factor other than numbers and having more options. Previous titles gave us more of everything in regards to magic (even Arena and Dagger). Why I have to go back to them for a lot of builds that are not even viable or unique if they were put into Skyrim. No matter how you cut it, spell creation made magic in the ES series. With less effects and no spell creation magic is just as mundane and generic as any other lesser RPG's magic. And that's a huge problem. Todd definitely took the magic out of magic with Skyrim.

Edited October 31, 2012 by Enatiomorph

[luzburg]

Less spells, less effects, no customization. Magic in Skyrim is pretty much all graphics and no uniqueness, no diversity, no customization. No more tailoring spells and gameplay styles to your magic using RPs. No more thinking outside of the box and getting creative with spells. Magic builds (their spells) in Sky are old after only a handful compared to every other ES (all of which had spell creation). Magic is a linear joke now compared to what it was. It has nothing to do with nostalgia or any other factor other than numbers and having more options. Previous titles gave us more of everything in regards to magic (even Arena and Dagger). Why I have to go back to them for a lot of builds that are not even viable or unique if they were put into Skyrim. Todd definitely took the magic out of magic with Skyrim.

 

 

In your opinion.

 

I found magic a real pain in Morrowind. Oblivion it was fine. Spell creation did nothing for me, it just felt like a cheat mechanic lol.