Small things that really bother me

[Cipherthe3vil]

Telekinesis bothers me, a lot.

It's cost is HUGE, it drains my magic in seconds. It's effect is minimal- barely deals any damage, and can't move anything far enough to be useful before completely annihilating your magicka. Then, despite it's only real applications would be stealing something from a distance, it alerts every freaking thing for miles around...

[Moorwen]

What bugs me the most is personality changes in NPCs before and after quest lines are complete.

 

I mean Aela become strange and out of character if you marry her, and if you don't she seems to seldom recognize you when you visit the companions. Hadvar... its a shame what happens to him. The list goes on; some of the most in depth and interesting characters seem to just become completely bland when the quests concerning them are over. I'm not expecting 1000's of lines of dialog after their quests are done but the generic comments could be a bit better.

 

Other than that some minor bugs that I've fixed with mods, and dumb things like failing a quest for accidentally stealing an item from someone who doesn't seem to want to forgive you. I did this today, and although it was a quest I've done many times already, and it doesn't really suit my character anyway.. it was still disappointing to see that big "FAILED" pop up. I attempted to get this guy to forgive me many times (without console commands) and then my follower killed him so I moved on.

[Relativelybest]

Okay, here's one. Has anyone tried to shout, pause the game with the console, and take a cool screenshot of your character shouting?

 

I tried that, and you know what I discovered? My character never opens her mouth. Even when she shouts she has the same static expression as she always has.

 

Worse, last time I did the drinking contest with Sam Guevenne, I decided to do it in third person. Guess what? Sam does the animation where he drinks from his mug, but my character just stands there and doesn't move, even when she's supposed to be drinking.

 

How lazy do you have to be to not give the player character simple animations that every single NPC uses on a constant basis?

[k361]

yaa there are few "small" things that bother me, but guess none of it is as alternative quest workaround in most cases

or not enough thought given to daedra worship as for me a simple quest with a reward is just not enough :confused:

[AnimeOtaku102]

A Lovely Letter quest: You have 2 initial choices, ruin Camilla's relationship with the elf or the Nord. Later you can also marry Camilla taking away either option. So what's wrong with this quest? I don't think either deserve Camilla, but you don't get to make that choice!

On the contrary, you do! Here's what I did:

 

I took Faendal's fake letter to Camilla and told her how he tried to frame Sven. Silly elf, Sven wasn't your only competition.

 

I didn't like Sven either, so I took him up to a nice little spot east of Windhelm and told him to touch a shiny rock. Ohh, shiny. Ohh, Ebon Mail. Does this new armor make my shoulders look too slim, Sve- oh, you're dead. How did that happen?

 

I married Camilla and took her far away to Solitude. To my surprise, Faendal came visiting one day, so I escorted him out of the city, followed him along the road back... whoops, Forsworn. Hold them off, noble elf, while I go get a drink! I mean help!

 

And thus Camilla lived happily ever after, no longer being chased by two jerks and is married to a successful psychopathic murderer. It's almost storybook... written by Stephen King.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Anime_Otaku102

[Helmic]

A lot of the quests seem to miss the common sense options, like informing Balgruuf that his son is getting all sorts of fun tips from a daedra and that he should probably do something about it before he gets his face cut off. I understand that some quests are specifically there for murderous psychopaths and thieving scum to have their fun. But if I get the notice that I've gotten a quest, I don't want it to stay uncompleted forevermore or have it marked as failed. I want a "f*** you, you're f***ing nuts" option like with the Brotherhood questline. I mean I do feel a need to stab that *censored* at the orphanage but I also understand that gutting someone in front of a bunch of children is a horrible, horrible idea.

 

Other things that irk me include the odd crime stats (who the f*** did I murder? How in the hell did I steal over 144 items if I never steal anything, ever?), pickpocketing hostiles (stealing from a bandit is bad, but killing him and THEN taking his stuff is OK?), the user interface (THAT IS NOT HOW MICE WORK JESUS f*** LEFT CLICK IS NOT THE A BUTTON), inappropriately generic dialogue that follows character-specific lines ("It's absurd how you can't get good sweetrolls in this skeeverhole of a city! Oh, can I help you?"), horses (and their inability to back away from cliffs, allow you to swing from the other side or cast some convenient utility magic, be worth two shits in combat period, carry a companion so they don't get left behind, understand that they can't take on dragons, hold saddlebags, keep you in first person view, not wander off never to be seen again, or generally be useful), arrows (I can craft a full set of demonic platemail and weaponry but I don't know how to attach a sharp rock to a stick and feather?), enchanting (I can make gloves that make me better at making gloves that can make me better at making gloves that can make me...), difficulty settings (options include play with your limp dick and win, don't really pay attention but still win, and f*** you you lose), the candlelight spell in any lighting mod ever (I still can't see for s*** and I have to recast it every sixty seconds and I have to wait it out if I want to sneak past something), mages on master difficulty (looks like the next area's loaded and look at that, i didn't even go into first person i just instantly exploded in a ball of fire. reload, die again, reload, die again in under three seconds until the mage randomly decides he wants to kill lydia first this time), followers and traps (GOD DAMMIT LYDIA), quest items with weight (I'm stuck carrying 10 pounds of alto wine bottles until I can find Sam's sorry ass? f***.), items that go flying off tables and out of their containers when you walk past them (and the NPC's that *censored* when you clumsily try to put them back in place so the place looks respectable again), NPC's that hire thugs to beat your ass when you accidentally steal their sweetrolls (I GAVE IT BACK WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT), uninspired storylines (c'mon, you can railroad me a little bit if you'll give me some characters to give a damn about), hunting (the most efficient way to hunt game is to run up to them and whack them with your sword), guards ("Stay out of trouble, Orc"? I AM THE MOST LAWFUL GOOD PERSON HERE YOU SHUT YOUR prostitute MOUTH), rings (which clip through gauntlets and gloves, to look terrible in style), the civil war (seems more like a bunch of mean-spirited name-calling without any actual battles going on without your direct influence), stealth (Someone just shot me in the genitals! Oh well, it took more than ten seconds to look for him, probably not worth the effort), telekinesis (I just blew my entire mana reserve to remotely throw a pot. I could've done that with a well-placed fireball spell, and it would've been more entertaining too), mages on master difficulty again (seriously f*** those guys), the Speechcraft perk tree (by the time I can get those perks, I'll have more gold than I'll know what to do with. What's the point?), all the perk trees (again f*** the UI), bears eating everyone in every goddamn camp in Skyrim (you'd think people would take the hint and either quit camping or declare war on bears everywhere), light and heavy armor sharing the same armor cap (the whole point of heavy armor is that it protects better than light, it kinda defeats the purpose if in the end they both reduce the same amount of damage), and internet hipsters that feel the need to compare absolutely everything with Skyrim (only slightly less annoying than "better than Justin Bieber" or "better love story than Twilight").

[Trucidation]

Helmic, I f***ing love the cut of your jib.

[BrettM]

Helmic, I f***ing love the cut of your jib.

Amen! One kudo from me to Helmic for that little diatribe, as soon as I stop laughing too hard to click that little plus sign.

[sukeban]

Having recently played through The Walking Dead, it really drove home the "what-ifs" of quest and NPC dialogue if Beth were to once again take this seriously. The gradual phasing out of dialogue options from MW --> Ob --> Skyrim definitely yanks my chain, taking the "RP" largely out of RPG.

 

Skyrim's NPC relations are entirely determined by completing quests (even lame ones like giving the coin to the beggars), which I think is quite the devolution. Even Baldur's Gate in like 1998 or whatever gave comparatively extensive options for the player to reply with, as well as cool things like actually giving the player a voice (and choice). More options for responses that affect your disposition with an NPC would be a lovely reversal of this trend. Eschewing time-tested and quality game mechanics in favor of streamlining is definitely FTL.

 

Shallow, one-dimensional NPCs and the lack of player character choice are my #1 Skyrim pet-peeves.

Edited November 29, 2012 by sukeban

[ClonePatrol]

The three things that have always annoyed me most are Astrid being able to abduct you from anywhere to the middle of Hjaalmarch; Karliah being invisible beyond all possible detection and able to poison you with one of her arrows no matter what protection against poison you're supposed to have; and Commander Maro being able to catch you leaving Castle Dour whether you're invisible or not then for him to hide in an area that can't actually be reached (blocked in by invisible walls so you must walk into a trap, failure and gaining a 1500 septim bounty is the only option). Maro somehow telepathically forces you to sheathe your weapons in front of his battle ready soldiers, too.

 

Even when I don't play a thief or assassin character I tend to play a well prepared and tactical character, so having my character forced into stupid situations I should be able to avoid for the sake of plot really bothers me. I always try and have the best gear I can when I set out and as soon as I'm able, I get the Detect Life and Detect Dead spells so I can't be ambushed in dungeons or when traveling. I sneak almost everywhere, and if I'm not already doing so then I start as soon as a detect spell shows some humanoid up ahead so I can get a look at them before they get a look at me. I boost up illusion just so that I can cast Invisibility and the 'quiet casting' perk.

 

I even try and play a bit like a ranger; I scout out areas before attacking, I take cover between ranged attacks, I try and keep retreating enemies from gaining high ground, when retreating I try and gain high ground for a counter-attack, I lay Rune Spells as traps and use pre-existing traps and the environment to my benefit when I can, I avoid the bridges and fords that are obvious places to cross rivers (which are also random event spawn points most of the time), try not to travel along the edges of large bodies of water or cliffs where I can get pinned down, launch attacks (on bandits and the like) at night, I pretty much only sleep in player owned houses (with a housecarl, and not when the housecarl is sleeping) or an inn full of people, etc.

 

Magic items to protect against poison, disease, and to provide water-breathing were at the top of my list of things to get when I started my very fist character (tracking down and buying the items to get 100% resistances doesn't come cheap or easy, and the potions to be safe aren't entirely cheap either). And I always have an assortment of potions I've crafted to fill in any gaps or boost skills I think I may need a bit extra for (and playing an alchemist can be really time consuming, too). Becoming a vampire is a simple method that a lot of players pursue that should completely protect from both diseases and poison.

 

These quests force the character into making mistakes though; wasted invisibility potions worth several hundred (to thousands) of gold, enemies that can't possibly be detected or evaded. It doesn't matter how prepared you are for the situation based on the information the game gives you (the Dark Brotherhood will send you a note that pretty much announces they're going to pay you another visit, Mercer Frey will tell you Karliah is a master marksman who uses ambushes and poisoned arrows) or how smart you play; there's just no option but to fail.

 

I can't help but feel you should be able to get the drop on Astrid first (maybe as she tracks you); either evade Karliah's arrow or protect yourself from it (in which case Mercer could be the one to turn invisible and flee instead of Karliah) and she could talk to you in the ruins instead of dragging your unconscious bleeding body outside; and actually escape from Castle Dour before Maro can spring his ambush (there's no way I'd have tried to take Astrid's recommended path out if the game didn't seal the other exits). A lot of quest lines are way too linear, but these are the kinds of quests that should reward a smart approach and attention to detail, not ignore it.

Edited November 29, 2012 by ClonePatrol