All Skyrim needs is...

[Soopy]

Hmm, I personally feel like you about Skyrim, but I've also seen people enjoy the shit out of it. I'm starting to think maybe we're playing it wrong.

Playing it the same way I've played TES since Daggerfall. I enjoyed every iteration up until Skyrim, still don't mind Oblivion on occasion. Skyrim is just a bit empty and dull.

I can look past the bogus combat and the complete and utter lack of substance. But the fact that you can run for an actual hour and see nothing but about 30 wolves that drop nothing, about half a dozen dragons that also drop nothing of value and you craft the best armour in the game if you're willing to wait for the merchants to sell you the materials. If they can add in the possibility of dragons or Champion bosses dropping really good unique weapons.

I'm thinking you may just be playing the game wrong. I've played roughly a dozen different characters in Skyrim, and each playthrough has yet to not show me something new and unique about the game, be it a unique locale, an interesting quest (the Aethereal forge in particular came right the hell out of nowhere for me) or some hitherto unknown aspect of the game's background or narrative. Yes, there are a bunch of wolves, yes there's a lot of more monotonous aspects of the game of but it's more the set dressing that makes the unique experiences all the more memorable. If each and every cave and glen was something wondrous, it'd swiftly lose impact. To compare, seeing a really big firework going off is cool. Seeing 50 more like it right after diminishes the spectacle.

However, there is an aspect of Skyrim that I would like to see improved. The quests. It's always a "go here and kill someone" quest or a "go here and fetch this" quest, usually without even the most basic pretext or reasoning. A bit more of the Oblivion style quests where a lot more of the sneaky subversive styles of conflict occurred would be much appreciated, as I find a lot of the game is more geared to the beatstick school of problem solving. It's not that the subtle arts don't exist, it's that they're not given time or enough design to truly flourish, especially if you're trying for a sneaky character and a dragon Radiant spawns on top of you and barbecues/flash freezes your tuchas. Can't bluff your way out of that one..... (though that would be one hell of an interesting experience if you could)

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!

 

[kouriichi]

I enjoy the crap out of it. I have since launch night (i was at a midnight release! Saw someone in a dovah-cap too), and i recently purchased my 2nd copy, this time for PC. I enjoy every aspect of it, even if it is the worst TES game yet.

Generally, any problem i have with the game, or had with it on console (such as the problems you listed) have now been fixed thanks to mods. There are now..... 10k mods (yes, its 10,000, they just had the announcement less then a week ago), and they add so much more to the game, more monsters and loot, harder combat, better smithing, bug fixes, everything i had a problem with on console, is now just better since ive switched to PC. Even my favorite aspect of the game is far better, COOKING! I love cooking!

While the game itself (outside of mods) could use a rework and better planning, i feel like its in a good place. I enjoyed it without mods up until last week, and to be honest, even though i have the PC version, i still play my xbox version because the game itself is pretty solid without mods. I can see how some people would be bored with it, but ive played it nonstop since launch (longest break i took from it was 4 days because i went out of town) and its still got its hooks in me. Im waiting on the news for PC hearthfire before i get it (if it works fine on PC i'll get it for PC then, if not i'll just shell out the 5 bucks for the xbox version), but i dont mind waiting, because theres still so much for me to do.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

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.

 

[matrix3509]

You know what would actually make Skyrim great? THE ABILITY TO FUCKING ROLEPLAY. Seriously, the ability to make any meaningful decisions whatsoever would have made Skyrim a superior game to everything else. But no, Bethesda is the jerkass GM who refuses to let a pesky little thing like player choice get in the way of their "grand and epic" tale.

 

[The Heik]

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!

I think I may have used the word "wrong" incorrectly in this context. What I meant was that there may be facets of the game you haven't yet explored. Skyrim is a big place, and there's a lot going on that one can miss at first, second or third glance. My first few playthroughs of Skyrim were very locked into the guilds and main storyline. I barely went anywhere other than where the markers pointed me, but when I began to explore the the corners of the map on my own in later playthroughs, it became quite a lot of fun discovering new little details than had previously eluded me.

If there's anything I would suggest that may help you to enjoy Skyrim, consider these point with your next playthrough (you may be following one or two already, but I figure I'll mention all that I can think of anyway):

1:Explore every corner. Skyrim's got a lot of nooks and crannies where unique experiences can pop up. If there's any part of the map that seems like there's not much there, check it out, and go through each place you find. This even applies on the micro scale, as Bethesda is a big fan of leaving little details just lying around, so it never hurts to read every book and document you find, as you might discover a fun tidbit or add to the overall picture of Skyrim and Tamriel in general, and you may even find a quest or two hanging about as a result.

2:Roleplay: when picking a character, don't just focus on straightforward combat capabilities. Pick a character who has certain traits and skills, and stick within those constraints.

For example, I RP'd a wizard who was a downright coward, and so did not get to have any direct combat spells or weapons to speak of. Not being able to fight directly meant I had to get very good at the other spell families at my disposal, and speech, stealth, pickpocketing and followers became necessities because I had to find ways to work around not being able to blast a dude with fireballs or smack them with an axe. It was honestly one of my favourite playthroughs of any game because I had to be very creative with how I solved my problems (especially when I had to face dragons, which went from cliffracer-esque annoyances to the very definition of a "bad day")

3:Up the difficulty. This may seem like the most obvious way to make a game more interesting, but I find too many people tend to ignore the amount of fun they can have from challenging themselves. I'm currently playing a bow user on Expert difficulty, and it's getting particularly challenging trying to find a way around most foes because they can drop my health scarily fast now (seriously, even a bandit outlaw can hurt me pretty bad if I'm not careful). And like tenet #2, it doesn't just have to be from the difficulty setting perspective. Try out something other than what's considered the "best strategy" (much like your choice of a glass cannon fighter) and you may surprise yourself with what you can come up with. The human mind thrives on obstructions after all.

Well I hope that these bits of advice will help you enjoy Skyrim. However, there always exists the possibility that Skyrim may just not be the game for you. It'll to everyone at some point, and all one can really do is shrug and move on. It's not like it's the end of the world.....

 

[IamLEAM1983]

I'd love to read it but, y'know, small image size and everything. URL, plz?

http://i.imgur.com/I96AE.jpg
Ask and ye shall receive.

Thanks. That was both hilarious and, I'll admit, somewhat on the nose. Someone needs to mod in a quest where the NPCs refer to you as "dude", "dog" and "hombre". A parody quest, with waay too many Draugr.

GET ON IT, MODDERS!

If I have to be more serious about it, though, I'd say there's a definite sense of mechanical unease with Skyrim. Oblivion was more diverse because you had the sense that everyone involved knew exactly how to ply the available tools to achieve certain results. I don't know if Gamebryo being hacked apart and stapled back together as the Creation engine is responsible, but the more limited toolset gives me that impression.

Or maybe it's just a case of Bethsoft trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator. I mean, Persuasion or Speech checks are for scrubs who can't No-Scope for shit, amirite?

 

[piinyouri]

Better quests.
Wouldn't fix all the niggles with it, but it would remedy one of the big ones.

 

[Bobicus5]

I'd love to read it but, y'know, small image size and everything. URL, plz?

http://i.imgur.com/I96AE.jpg
Ask and ye shall receive.

I mostly remember oblivion because of the quests, namely the first one on this list.
And yes, this paragraph does put into words what the questing feels like in Skyrim.


Personally, Skyrim felt kind of empty. I went and read a list of the creatures in Skryim,
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Creatures_%28Skyrim%29, and for a land mass the size of Skyrim you would think there would be more animals. And now that I think of it, considering the ammount of dragur infesting the land, you would think a ambitious group of necromancers would have attempted to form their own army from them. I don't recall seeing much of a ecosystem in Skryim, ala wolves or frost trolls taking down deer. Speaking of wolves, you would think they would pack up more, posing a threat to the inhabitants of Skyrim, compared to how dangerous they used to be

From what I remember, there really wasn't much in the way of color in Skyrim, not like in Oblivon with the Dunmer city of Cheydinhal, which had purple roofs. But then of course, most of the Dunmer in Skyrim are refugees from Morrowind, with more everyone in Skryim giving them the evil eye.

Also, it would be nice to see more options for the civil war. Say, for example, neither siding with the Empire or the Stormcloaks, rather making your own path. Do all the Thalmor wish war with the Empire, or might there perhaps be splinters that have come into play of their own accord?
Personally, I would want more consequence for assassinating Thalmor Justiciars and their bands of allies just out of sight of town, maybe even going so far as to recruit Thalmor to fight against their own kind.

As for the main quest, I did enjoy most of the set pieces, such as Sovngarde. However, I didn't feel as there was much in the way of contention between the Empire and the Stormcloaks in between main story points. As far as I can remember, the forts you find out in the wilderness of Skyrim, that have dead Stormcloaks in them, have been killed by maages or bandits, not Imperial soldiers. As to the causes for the opposing forces, I didn't really feel a deep immersion to help either of them, in fact, I didn't choose a side in the war, I just up and left it after I finished the main story line.
I would have liked it if you could form your own force, even going to the extent of uniting the Stormcloaks and the Empire to face the looming Falmor threat.
The civil war isn't helping anyone, each side killing off eachother and further weakening their forces. so maybe an option to help settle the differences between Ulfric and General Tullius, and the eventual Second Great War, because we all know that's on its way. But, even with the combined forces of the remnants of the Empire and the Stormcloaks, it would take much more to defeat the Thalmor. Therefore, it would be a nice touch, if not in Skyrim, but in another ES game, to bring the forces of the Red Guard, the Khajiitt, Dunmer, and so forth into contention with the Thalmor.

 

[Tanis]

All Skyrim needs is to be more like Oblivion. No, I'm serious. TES4 had some GREAT quests that weren't all 'kill everything in catacombs A/B/C/Z'.

You mean morrowind right?

Yeah, Morrowind is a great game too.

However some of the quests in TES4:O was pretty good with it's 'odd' quests.

 

[tthor]

Hmm, I personally feel like you about Skyrim, but I've also seen people enjoy the shit out of it. I'm starting to think maybe we're playing it wrong.

from my experience, it's one of those games you have to be in the right mindset to enjoy. if you just want a simple, instant gratification type of game, the type you can just jump into and play for whatever amount of time, this will probably bore you quickly. But if you want more of a interesting role playing game, that you are will to invest time into, then it can be quite enjoyable.

 

[Darren716]

The removal of letting enemies disarm you which once forced me to restart a fight about 5 times god that was annoying.

 

[grey_space]

Those Oblivion gates were repetitive and boring as fuck though.

Oh lord yes. Played through the GOY edition of Oblivion from scratch last month and loved every bit of it apart from the oblivion gates they are very samey.

The fighting in all Bethsheda games leave a lot to be desired...perhaps some kind of VATS system in the next TES game? awesome opportunity to do some great cut scenes of insta kills and dismemberment...

Oh and even though I've said it before more options in the last blades quest as well in Skyrim..

 

[Soopy]

I think the worst part about (as a fan) Skyrim is the familiarity. It looks exactly like Norway, and with some modifications could look very familiar to most of Canada and Scandinavia and some of USA. With those being substantial game markets, I think people need a bit more "alien" in their fantasy games.

That said, I still rank Skyrim higher than Oblivion (but obviously not higher than Morrowind)

I think Oblivion and Skyrim are on the same level, just for different reasons.

 

[Soopy]

One thing I find a little bit weird is, with Oblivion I really wanted to do some random missions after I finished the Guild quests.

I would have loved to do random kill/fetch/find missions.

Skyrim, no so much. I guess its because the actual guild missions are pretty much just that. But I dunno.

 

[Alaster Angelo]

I want:

-To marry Serana
-To be able to use spears (or at least use staves as spears)
-Capes or cloaks
-More black magic witchcraft stuff, because you can't have enough of that
-Teleporting/flying (outside of Vampire Lord)
-Better bosses

Really though, it's all just little stuff that isn't necessary.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

What Skyrim needs is a reason to explore. That is all any TES game requires. There are more than 200 dungeouns in the world and yet the main game gives little motivation to do anything in any of them. Across all the guilds and the main story a player will explore perhaps 50 locations. By level 20 or 30 (of 81) a player is an unstoppable killing machine. There is no story reason to explore the other locations and even the draw of loot is mitigated by the fact that in the base game there are precious few items that can be acquired of any real worth.

Some of the dragon masks have utility the player can not match. The Ebony Mail and Savior's hide at least offer a unique look in conjunction with useful enough bonuses. Chillrend is the most powerful 1H sword in the base game (if you pick it up after hitting level 46). But even then only Chillrend is truly useful in a min/max situation with its higher-than-daedric damage and useful damage/paralysis magic combo.

The problem Skryim has is that the giant open world begs the player to explore and in the end there really isn't anything interesting to find or any particularly compelling reason to go.

 

[SajuukKhar]

The problem Skryim has is that the giant open world begs the player to explore and in the end there really isn't anything interesting to find or any particularly compelling reason to go.

Your missing the entire point of exploration in the Elder scrolls.

You are supposed to explore to enjoy the scenery, not for the loot.

If you are trying to explore for loot are you missing the point because Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim were not about exploring for loot, considering that 90% of places always had crap loot.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

The problem Skryim has is that the giant open world begs the player to explore and in the end there really isn't anything interesting to find or any particularly compelling reason to go.

Your missing the entire point of exploration in the Elder scrolls.

You are supposed to explore to enjoy the scenery, not for the loot.

If you are trying to explore for loot are you missing the point because Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim were not about exploring for loot, considering that 90% of places always had crap loot.

The "scenery" in this case is largely repetitive. After 50 dungeons, you've seen everything the game has to show you.

Don't mistake my criticism as being a condemnation - I adore the game. I just want the game to give me more reasons to play.

 

[SajuukKhar]

The "scenery" in this case is largely repetitive. After 50 dungeons, you've seen everything the game has to show you.

Don't mistake my criticism as being a condemnation - I adore the game. I just want the game to give me more reasons to play.

There is quite literally not a single Dwemer ruin, or old Nordic tomb, that did not ave at least one, if not multiple areas, that were entirely unique to it.

If you think you have seen everything only after 50 or so places you are sorely mistaken.

 

[Soopy]

The "scenery" in this case is largely repetitive. After 50 dungeons, you've seen everything the game has to show you.

Don't mistake my criticism as being a condemnation - I adore the game. I just want the game to give me more reasons to play.

There is quite literally not a single Dwemer ruin, or old Nordic tomb, that did not ave at least one, if not multiple areas, that were entirely unique to it.

If you think you have seen everything only after 50 or so places you are sorely mistaken.

dude, slightly different rooms might be unique, but its not interesting. Even in the slightest.
It's certainly not a reason to explore further. There are very few actually awesome area's and almost none outside of the major quest lines.