All Skyrim needs is...

[Alcoholidayer]

I thought skyrim had great atmosphere and a great world, exploring was really fun and the various random encounters you had en route to various places were great fun as well.

What it was missing was a good central story, which I thought was pretty lame-o. Another thing they should have improved upon is making the combat more fun, more technical and less based on stats and stuff. More organic combat and more intelligent enemy AI, not to mention a greater variety of them. And of course, the dragons. Wouldn't have hurt to make them more strong.

 

[Soopy]

Because Alduin never does anything to actively bring that about?
Its one character saying it. Alduin literally does nothing after randomly destroying Helgen.

Alduin is never characterized within the main story line. Never.

 

[pilouuuu]

All Skyrim needs is characters that are indeed characters and not some idiotic quest-givers robot with zero personality and which you can't even remember their names or give a crap about them.

Also a better story and to see the consequences of your actions produce a result in the world.

And finally better quests that are not about going to some place, killing, looting.

Skyrim in a hollow hiking and mass murder simulation. I wish I could like it more, but I don't think Bethesda can fix it by now.

Now, let me go back to Fallout New Vegas.

Skyrim's characters are the way they are became 99% of people are just that, normal people.

This isn't Mass Effect, or Dragon Age, where almost everyone you met is some sci-fi space marine badass, or some uber-rare mage.

Skyrim's people are just normal people, now tell me, out of everyone you have ever met in your life, how many of them do you actually remember? how many people actually had some ultra-defined personality that sticks out in your mind?

The answer would be few. Most people IRL aren't that memorable, because that is just how normal people are. They just live their lives and go about their day.

It's more than that though. Let's compare it to Lord of The Rings for instance. Hobbits are no marines, but you care about them. Gandalf, how could you forget him? Even Aragorn is the heir to the crown and a bad ass, but he is human. Those are characters you remember. Let's not put Planescape Torment as an example. I'm convinced that Bethesda is simply not good making characters and the game engine doesn't help a lot.

 

[SajuukKhar]

It's more than that though. Let's compare it to Lord of The Rings for instance. Hobbits are no marines, but you care about them. Gandalf, how could you forget him? Even Aragorn is the heir to the crown and a bad ass, but he is human. Those are characters you remember. Let's not put Planescape Torment as an example. I'm convinced that Bethesda is simply not good making characters and the game engine doesn't help a lot.

So what your saying is...... because the normal people of Skyrim are not as detailed AS THE MAIN CHARACTERS of the LoTR series they suck? Are you serious?

The normal people of Skyrim are like..... that one really angry hobbit that gives Merry and Pippin a bad look when they get back the end of the film..... who remembers that dudes name? who would give a shit if he died? yeah... no one.

Trying to compare random background character to the main characters of a series like LotR is laughably silly.

Because Alduin never does anything to actively bring that about?
Its one character saying it. Alduin literally does nothing after randomly destroying Helgen.

Alduin is never characterized within the main story line. Never.

How is raising a whole crap ton of Dragons to rebuild his armies, and trying to kill the Dragonborn, the one person who can stop him, not doing just that?

Alduin can't go on a world-domination spree without henchmen, so he gets henchmen, and since there's only one person on Nirn who can kill him, he send his henchmen to attack him, and even attacks him himself when the Dovahkiin time travels and learns Alduin's like one weakness.

Both of those things contribute to Alduin's plan to take over the world, pretty clearly.

 

[Joccaren]

So what your saying is...... because the normal people of Skyrim are not as detailed AS THE MAIN CHARACTERS of the LoTR series they suck? Are you serious?

The normal people of Skyrim are like..... that one really angry hobbit that gives Merry and Pippin a bad look when they get back the end of the film..... who remembers that dudes name? who would give a shit if he died? yeah... no one.

Trying to compare random background character to the main characters of a series like LotR is laughably silly.

I get the feeling he's not just talking about random mooks in towns. I know I wouldn't be. I can remember the name of Ulfric, and that's it from Skyrim. And Ulfric is only remembered 'cause it sounds kinda cool. Beyond that... Nobody.
None of the MAIN CHARACTERS in Skyrim are anywhere near as memorable as Gandalf, Frodo, Sam, Legolas - ect.
I remember Elrond, Theoden and Wormtongue from LotR, but I could not tell you a single Skyrim Jarl's name, nor anyone except for the Dovahkiin. I played Skyrim early this year. I last watched LotR a good 3 to 4 years ago. There was just no-one I found memorable in it. No one was fleshed out enough that I looked at them somewhat as a person, and not just as a model on a screen.
Some games make me regret killing NPCs, or reload a save to complete an optional quest with no real baring on anything simply because I liked the characters involved in said events enough that I didn't want them to die.
Skyrim had me care so little about any of the characters I walked into the Jarl of that place in the far West's house and killed him 20 times over 'cause I was bored and had nothing better to do.
Few of Skyrim's characters are written beyond the description of 'Guy who gives you quest and has [x] occupation', even those that should be important.

How is raising a whole crap ton of Dragons to rebuild his armies, and trying to kill the Dragonborn, the one person who can stop him, not doing just that?

Alduin can't go on a world-domination spree without henchmen, so he gets henchmen, and since there's only one person on Nirn who can kill him, he send his henchmen to attack him, and even attacks him himself when the Dovahkiin time travels and learns Alduin's like one weakness.

Both of those things contribute to Alduin's plan to take over the world, pretty clearly.

I think the main point is that 90% of this happens off screen, and you are just generally told by one chick during the main quest about it. There were a couple of occasions when we see Alduin, but for being the main antagonist, the Dragonborn's arch nemesis, he's strangely absent for about 99% of the game, and a fair portion of the main story too.

Honestly, were you to do the main story in one sitting it would probably be alright, but when the game actively discourages this [Sending you up against enemies WAAAAY more powerful than you are if you try to do so {I had to fight an ice troll at level 5}], its got to better work on its pacing so that you at least notice something about the main antagonist whilst you're grinding away at sidequests. Otherwise you lose any sort of urgency in the matter. "Oh, Alduin's destroying the world. I'll get to that in a few years, once I'm done exterminating these bears from the realm of Skyrim".

 

[Gameguy20100]

SPELLCRAFTING lisen to me now bethesda bring back spell crafting

 

[Ninjat_126]

In TES, reasoning with people is pitifully nonexistent at best. I wish I could walk into a "Bandit's cave" and convince them to put their weapons down, or for them to convince me to leave.

I did some of that in my playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas. Do some minor ass-kissing and basic missions for the Legion, earn a little respect, then BAM! Javelin through Caesar's face.

Aside from that, I'd like "champion monsters" too, that would be cool. I'd also like huge enemies sometimes. I want to swim out to an island and be met with a towering hyrda-behemoth thrice the size of a dragon that scares the shit out of me, sending me running home to my sweet rolls and fire.

Hate to plug it so much (actually, I don't) but Dark Souls is great at that. There are Hydras the size of skyscrapers in that game, and they're entirely optional to fight. There's also giant rats, giant-giant rats, giant butterflies, giant humanoids, animate mountains of corpses, half-naked-spider-chicks, draconic flying things... and they're all terrifyingly difficult.

 

[Jason Rayes]

Nah...what Skyrim needs is a decent fucking story. But no, that's too much apparently. We should craft OUR OWN.

God...there's a reason why I never play past the 'find the stupid horn of something' in my playthroughs. Good game no doubt, but dear God...the quests are so shit.

Ive never played ANY Elder Scrolls with a decent story. The earlier ones were even worse. I love the games, but Ive never solved any of them. I get bored and just start again with a new build then wander off without even bothering with the story

 

[MouseyB]

Reading this thread has been an education. Until now I thought Oblivion was a steaming pile of s**te that I still spent too many weeks of my life immersed in. Thanks to Eddy-16's post above 1) I finally realised why I played Oblivion and 2) I laughed so much at the truth of it that I now feel the enjoyment of it, albeit well after the fact.

http://i.imgur.com/I96AE.jpg

Skyrim on the other hand is a infinitely better game with a quest-writer of infinitely less talent and imagination. I love the levelling that gets rid of much that was wrong with Oblivion; still hate the lack of complexity that Morrowind had (will I ever be TES' only ninja again?); but overall the game plays better than either of the other two for me. Just wish it had a touch more humour and inventiveness to make it perfect.

One suggestion for everyone who's not managed to get excited about Skyrim yet: play it on Master difficulty. I played through once on adept and it was ok, but Master forces you to think about everything. I mean everything. That limited combat system becomes a plus point. Using only what you've got, try working out a way of defeating or evading those pesky hired thugs who hunt you down (for example) with only a fleabite of a bow and arrow and armour that crumples at the first brush of an iron war axe. I now appreciate the terrain, timing, shadow, the ability to engineer getting other NPCs involved. More brainwork, a more immersive game. Loving it, and I understand why this time.

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

If Skyrim had more narrative story telling and personalities it would be a game i would even buy for the PS3. The way it is i had no motivation playing it for more than a few hours. It sure is a big world and i love the setting but i can`t connect to it as a game. It somehow felt like a open world game were i already finished the main campaign and now i`m wandering off to do (lots of) missed out sidequests.

 

[SajuukKhar]

All Skyrim needs is a more immersive world.

Which is to say, bigger, more varied, with better music, with far more quests of greater interest and a much more convincing NPC population

How can you hate the music of Jeremy Soule?

 

[disgruntledgamer]

Skyrims combat was a joke and it's 3ed person view was a bad joke, NPC interactions were also lack luster with very little thought put in.

 

[Caedus]

I want:

-Teleporting/flying (outside of Vampire Lord)

I'm pretty sure that if there's no floating/flying/teleportation spell, it's because some of the cities are instanced and you might exploit the spells to go over the walls.

 

[SajuukKhar]

I'm pretty sure that if there's no floating/flying/teleportation spell, it's because some of the cities are instanced and you might exploit the spells to go over the walls.

That and the scripted nature of the game makes teleporting cause things to break.

There are many dungeons that would get you locked out from progressing if you were able to teleport out and then walk back in.

 

[Nelle]

There are mods also for added "mini bosses in the wilderness." I think it's a bundle creature pack? it's impossible for skyrim not to have a creature pack mod, like Morrowind's "Creature X" mod which added a ton of creatures to fight... or to look at. Plus a giant and a mammoth considers as mini bosses. Except, of course if you're level 30 to level 80 or something, in those levels you can easily finish off just about anything imo.

 

[RafaelNegrus]

One word for you: mods.

You're welcome.

Now, on to the next case that needs my attention!

I totally agree with this. Skyrim has a pretty solid base that can be heavily modded to make whatever game you really want. Like for example I personally thought the magic system was rather limited, basically that they never had anything over-the-top enough for me. I got a couple of mods (specifically ones for more summoning spells) and bam the game is super awesome.

I want:

-Teleporting/flying (outside of Vampire Lord)

I'm pretty sure that if there's no floating/flying/teleportation spell, it's because some of the cities are instanced and you might exploit the spells to go over the walls.

That's one of the mods I downloaded, instant blink spell that works really well. I love going around with a one hand sword and that spell, its AWESOME!

And for those of you wanting some more awesome fights, go out into a field, open up the console commands, and type "player.placeatme F811A" about ten times. Prepare for awesome.

 

[RafaelNegrus]

I don't think I'm playing anything "wrong".
But, I'll make a new character and give something different to a try just so that I can say I have.

I'll make my self a glass cannon, Everything else I use is either a demi-god mage or a tank.

Anyone else scratching their head thinking playing a game I've already said I don't like is masochistic. I paid $120aud for it. I'll damn well get my monies worth!

The way you worded the original post made me think you don't want to enjoy it. That's why I said something along those lines. However if you're willing to dive back in, maybe I was completely wrong. I suggest you refer back to the Skyrim: Where's the Fun? post for some advice. I strongly recommend playing on Expert. Otherwise, you'll be back here soon telling us all you did was spam the button and watch everything die. Maybe plan your class before you start and try to come up with something interesting, or something that fits a theme. Maybe even use the Skyrim Perk Calculator. You can play it by ear with the perks, of course, but it makes it more interesting to me if I have a build in mind. My favorite character is the one I designed around the theme of souls, and doing everything pertaining to stealing, manipulating, and otherwise utilizing the soul.

Also, starting over with lots of new characters makes the opening more dull each time. It can be a self-defeating strategy. You're probably at that point already, so make sure you don't decide to start a new character later and try to get a little ways into the game before you start judging, if you can stand it.

The story isn't as bad as people say. But it does require more from you than a Bioware game does (not to denigrate those at all). It's presented like you are actually there discovering it, not like you are watching a movie. It's in the world, it's in reports you find in chests, it's in books, it's in the things you hear from behind a closed door. This is not a bullshit excuse, it's THERE lol. Just give it a chance is all I'm saying. So many just take it for granted that the story sucks, so they miss it.

I'm sorry I misjudged and good luck.

I made a character that only uses frost destruction spells and necromancy, and I've found that it has been really fun. Getting into a position where I'm hiding behind a pillar on very little health and the fight gets turned around because I find a body just lying nearby is awesome. So I would definitely second this advice. Maybe try making a straight rogue type guy has been interesting to me lately, that would be a very different playstyle and it would be pretty heavily skill based and challenging before you got enchants to up your stealth.

 

[beastro]

Mods are not an effective replacement for developer made content. In fact, it's a common joke, not without basis given the state of content in Skyrim, that Bethesda is fully aware of their huge mod community and is slacking on bug fixes and content because they know the community will just come along and do their job for them.

Yes, mods do add a butt ton of content and often do it far better, but it quickly turns into a pain trying to merge and patch away conflicts with dozens and dozens of mods. It's the reason why I'd love to play FO3, NV and Oblivion again but can't because getting them into a playable state is such a PITA.

Last time I tried to play FO3 was a good three years ago and gave up trying to get a good 50 mods to work together and the same thing happened with Oblivion before Skyrim was released.

No doubt now I'll start to avoid Skyrim and a return to NV for the exact same reason.

 

[Baldry]

More varied enemies, better and more actual quests, not take this pie to Nordic Jim and rescue Sheila from the Falmer, fuck dat shit. I just want more context and things to go deeper, where are all the enchanted swords with names, fuck off iron sword of random power give me Chillrend any day.

 

[AsurasEyes]

Good Combat.
Less arrows being aimed at the fucking knee.
Dragons being scary again.
A less broken stealth system.
Characters.
A gun Dargon.
A dragon that shouts, "It'sa me! Mario!" when it drops into a village.
Godzilla as a mount.
An artifact that has a 5% chance to insta-kill any creature, causing a whole mess of other effects. It's known simply as the D20.
A dragon being kidnapped by a princess.
Nords being menaced by a serial barber who shaves off their beards and then runs away.