Grievances about Skyrim

[LordRoyal]

Marriage

It's poorly implemented

That and the fact that if you killed one of your party members, like I did. He spawns there as a corpse with your other companions and it gives you a bounty, and it fails the marriage.

I really think Bethesda implemented marriage entirely because of the fact companion mods and marriage mods were popular in Oblivion.

I don't like the character models

You LIKED Oblivion's potato heads?

I remember fondly spending three hours back in 2006 having to tinker with the editor just to make something that didn't look absolutely horrible.

I don't understand how any true tes fan can LOVE skyrim. It lacks the complex rpg-system that made the tes series what they are today. It's more of a mass effect 2 lookalike than anything else really. And I know most people enjoy story/character driven rpgs like that but there are also a lot of us that really adore rpgs that accurately represent reality with numbers because then you have complete control aka its a more realistic game. I mean for f**ks in Morrowind some 80-90 hours into the game agile characters where able to jump three stories high and mages could teleport/fly. Hell, even oblivion which was a dumbed down version of morrowind (imo) still had things like enchanting your armor with chameleon/reflect damage/absorb magicka. What I mean is that the games have been getting more and more restricted gameplay-wise (with a few exceptions) rather than blossoming in a full virtual reality. Sigh... I guess I should be thankful there are still books and misc items like plates,goblets,quills. Bottom line: Morrowind:200+hours Oblivion:150+hours Skyrim:50-60hours aprox. est. (for comparison FFXIII:52hours, thats right I played FF fkin XIII as much if not more than skyrim).

Skyrim didn't remove enchantments, Oblivion removed Teleportation before Skyrim did due to them having cities separate in the overworld.

The reason they removed Acrobatics and athletics was because people leveled up on them without even thinking. Some people (such as myself) levelled up on them by just running in a corner for an hour and finding out they gained 10 levels.

I find it odd people are so antagonistic about the broken skills and uncaring about the fact hand to hand was cut. That was more of a bigger blow in my opinion then removing gamebreaking skills.

I was at HALF THE FLIPPIN' LEVEL CAP,AND THEY STILL KILLED ME WITH 2 STAFF SHOTS,OR ONE NATURAL SPELL! I realize that they're supposed to be nasty powerful...But that's ridiculous. One slip...And YER DEAD! Resistances be DAMNED!

50 isn't the level cap, after level 50 you level up slower. The theoretical level cap at the moment (when you max out all your skills) is 81

Other than that the game is pretty great. Though i would like to know more about the Imperial/Stormcloak conflict, but it seems i have to blindly choose a side to learn significantly more. (can i get a run-down on them)

Stormcloaks; everyone picks them for the pure and simple reason the other side tries to kill you in the intro. Bethesda, being Bethesda, then makes it gradually clear the Stormcloaks are by far the worse of the two evils. They're racist, disorganized assholes with an absolute wimp as a leader.

Imperials; the people who pick them find out they're just an army of men doing their job, and what they do might not be the best moral decision (freedom and all that), but it's absolutely, objectively best for the whole province. They're professionals who do genuinely care for Skyrim.

At least that's how I experience it.

The Imperials are the most logical choice if the player wants long term prosperity for Skyrim.

The Stormcloaks are going to make Skyrim a zenophobic country and without the Empire they are going to close off trade. Which will eventually cause the country to get poorer. The Empire of course is also going to go into a costly war with Skyrim which will likely have the Thalmor sneak attack them, and that would be even worse since the Thalmor want to destroy the Empire and have Tamriel ruled by Elves.

That and the fact Ulfric acts like a child half the time in the game.

 

[Poerts]

Dragons in general. I think being a hardcore Monster Hunter fan kinda ruined them for me, especially since they look so much like Wyverns. fighting them just seems weirdly simple, and I was a little bummed out that Alduin ended up being a buffed up version of the same dragons I'd been fighting the whole time. It's just ingrained into my brain that final boss dragons should be awesome and huge. Also, it seems like they're goddamn everywhere now, and I can barely fast-travel around the map without a scaly fucker swooping down on me.

 

[Saulkar]

My gripes are the horrendously poor poly count on many of the in game objects. The poly counts were much higher in Oblivion on the arms, legs, hands, and feet, do not even get me started on the feet.

The menu system is bland and boring. I really miss Oblivion's golden menu system.

The textures on some objects are disgustingly ugly and low res, something I cannot fix using the standard Prefs ini. Additionally the game is unlike Oblivion with a much more subdued colour palette. The game loves it some grey and its many shades, not that much brown, except underground. I love my fantasy games with over the top bright or dark, highly varied, shiny, flowing energy like, colour palettes that scream: MYSTICAL!!! The games that do this best I find are Oblivion, Enclave, and Dungeon Siege and all of its successors.

Lastly, the shouts at many times feel uselessly and hopelessly underpowered until you collect all three words.

Otherwise I have already put 35 hours into the game.

 

[LordRoyal]

Lastly, the shouts at many times feel uselessly and hopelessly underpowered until you collect all three words.

The best shouts in this game are the ones that don't do any damage at all. Like the Slow Time, Invincibility, or disarm shouts

 

[CodeOrange]

follower AI. shit is just dumb, the amount of times i have been caught on them in a passageway....that being said, now i must play it.

Not forgetting that followers in Skyrim are a GIGANTIC step down from companions in New Vegas.

I wonder, is it just the goggles of novelty which prevent people from seeing the obvious flaws which critically scar an otherwise brilliant product, or their own inability to see beyond what's being shown right in front of them. For example, the fact that NV and Skyrim are both made by Bethesda and that a spiritual sequel should hold the same values that the previous game had.

I think that the general pathos that gamers hold as a whole that renders the fact that it's fine for AAA game studios to get away with creating shoddy products so long as the PC community to "mod" coughfinishcough the game to greatness. I'm not saying that Skyrim is bad, it's just that it could have been so much more if it's release date was delayed, and I'm an optimist.

Other features which serve to destroy my immersion of the game asides from graphical glitches/failures include:
Terrible drops in framerate
The fact that Vsync and mouse acceleration are not options in the game (consolisation anyone?)
The plethora of powerlevelling exploits where the game's mechanics are based around quality rather than quantity, blatantly hinting towards an unsophisticated and unrefined formula.
The pathetic length of guild questlines (they were my favorite part of Oblivion!)
Boring opening tutorial.
The hilarious companion-trainer exploit.
The UI which lacks vital information (spell duration etc).
The inability to assign spells/weapons/armor to numbered keys. Yes this is just a nitpick of mine but come on.
The lack of variety of builds (Archer + Dual wield daggers; sword+shield; Two-handed; spellcaster) which demotes re-playability.
You are no longer over-encumbered.

I'll find more when I get back to this guilty pleasure of a game. We all will. For now we can only hope that Bethesda is smart enough to cash in on a Skyrim 2.0 a la F3 -> NV.

 

[Saulkar]

Marriage

It's poorly implemented

That and the fact that if you killed one of your party members, like I did. He spawns there as a corpse with your other companions and it gives you a bounty, and it fails the marriage.

I really think Bethesda implemented marriage entirely because of the fact companion mods and marriage mods were popular in Oblivion.

I don't like the character models

You LIKED Oblivion's potato heads?

I remember fondly spending three hours back in 2006 having to tinker with the editor just to make something that didn't look absolutely horrible.

The poly counts on many of the characters are jarringly low in many areas in direct comparison to Oblivion so I can see where he is coming from. Otherwise they look just fine to me.

P.S. I really liked the look of Oblivion's character models, including the face. I saw it as caricatures rather than an attempt to emulate real life.

P.P.S. He never said he liked Oblivion's models. How did you make that ass pull?

 

[lovest harding]

I also don't care much for the new third person mode: it works smoother, yes, but again theres no way to zoom in and out on my character and I can't rotate the screen with my weapon out.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this to you, but (from experience on 360) holding the RS down and pulling down or up on the left stick will adjust camera distance in third person. I just figured this out (after about 120 hours of gameplay).

 

[Saulkar]

Lastly, the shouts at many times feel uselessly and hopelessly underpowered until you collect all three words.

The best shouts in this game are the ones that don't do any damage at all. Like the Slow Time, Invincibility, or disarm shouts

I will keep that in mind. Thanx.

 

[LordRoyal]

Not forgetting that followers in Skyrim are a GIGANTIC step down from companions in New Vegas.

the fact that NV and Skyrim are both made by Bethesda and that a spiritual sequel should hold the same values that the previous game had.

Bethesda is smart enough to cash in on a Skyrim 2.0 a la F3 -> NV.

Bethesda didn't develop New Vegas. They only published it. Originally Black Isle was going to create Fallout 3, but when they went under the idea was forgotten. Since a lot of Black Isle employees worked at Obsidian they commissioned them to essentially finish it in Fallout 3's engine.

Which is why the characters are more fluid and the game generally feels more like the originals.

A lot of the new features Skyrim has were originally in Oblivion as mods, most notably companions, marriage etc. It's why Skyrim has them, because it was overly popular. Not that I'm defending their half assed-ness. Just indicating where they came from.

 

[LordRoyal]

P.P.S. He never said he liked Oblivion's models. How did you make that ass pull?

He implied that he played Oblivion (Since his favorite one was Redguard and that's a fairly obscure one). Considering he mentioned Skyrim's lack of quality without mentioning Oblivion's horrendous head models I assumed he liked Oblivion's head models better.

 

[Fasckira]

And this couldn't be posted in one of the many other "What I dislike about Skyrim" threads because....?

Seriously, it was cute at first but Im starting to lose track of all these Skyrim threads rehashing the same fricking points over and over again. Please use the search function before creating new threads, please, if not for me then think of the dragonborn children.

 

[Saulkar]

P.P.S. He never said he liked Oblivion's models. How did you make that ass pull?

He implied that he played Oblivion (Since his favorite one was Redguard and that's a fairly obscure one). Considering he mentioned Skyrim's lack of quality without mentioning Oblivion's horrendous head models I assumed he liked Oblivion's head models better.

Ok, that makes sense... I think. XD

 

[lovest harding]

follower AI. shit is just dumb, the amount of times i have been caught on them in a passageway....that being said, now i must play it.

Not forgetting that followers in Skyrim are a GIGANTIC step down from companions in New Vegas.

I wonder, is it just the goggles of novelty which prevent people from seeing the obvious flaws which critically scar an otherwise brilliant product, or their own inability to see beyond what's being shown right in front of them. For example, the fact that NV and Skyrim are both made by Bethesda and that a spiritual sequel should hold the same values that the previous game had.

I think that the general pathos that gamers hold as a whole that renders the fact that it's fine for AAA game studios to get away with creating shoddy products so long as the PC community to "mod" coughfinishcough the game to greatness. I'm not saying that Skyrim is bad, it's just that it could have been so much more if it's release date was delayed, and I'm an optimist.

Other features which serve to destroy my immersion of the game asides from graphical glitches/failures include:
Terrible drops in framerate
The fact that Vsync and mouse acceleration are not options in the game (consolisation anyone?)
The plethora of powerlevelling exploits where the game's mechanics are based around quality rather than quantity, blatantly hinting towards an unsophisticated and unrefined formula.
The pathetic length of guild questlines (they were my favorite part of Oblivion!)
Boring opening tutorial.
The hilarious companion-trainer exploit.
The UI which lacks vital information (spell duration etc).
The inability to assign spells/weapons/armor to numbered keys. Yes this is just a nitpick of mine but come on.
The lack of variety of builds (Archer + Dual wield daggers; sword+shield; Two-handed; spellcaster) which demotes re-playability.
You are no longer over-encumbered.

I'll find more when I get back to this guilty pleasure of a game. We all will. For now we can only hope that Bethesda is smart enough to cash in on a Skyrim 2.0 a la F3 -> NV.

I can see the flaws and issues I have with the game even as a fan of the Elder Scrolls. I simply choose to not let the flaws bother/hinder/destroy an otherwise outstanding gaming experience, personally.
I have not seen a single issue that has 'critically scarred' the experience for me. Not in the least. I've had broken weapon racks, broken miscellaneous quests, textures issues (thanks to having it installed on 360), and disappearing lootable bodies.

Also, Obsidian developed New Vegas, not Bethesda. Bethesda's last game was Fallout 3 (and companions are definitely a step up from that game).

There will always be something that someone wants fixed/changed in a game. Bethesda can't simply continue postponing a game until some random indefinable time comes and some person with authority that doesn't exist can call it finished. It's a finished game. Nine times out of ten the game is being completed without any major issues (millions of people bought the game, compared to the thousands that are having serious issues/voicing complaints).
Bethesda is patching their own game, they aren't leaving it up to players to do that. Players take it on themselves (not that that's an issue, just saying that the assumption that Bethesda is so lazy that they want consumers to fix issues on their game is a falsehood).

 

[LordRoyal]

The inability to assign spells/weapons/armor to numbered keys. Yes this is just a nitpick of mine but come on.
The lack of variety of builds (Archer + Dual wield daggers; sword+shield; Two-handed; spellcaster) which demotes re-playability.

1. Add a weapon/spell/armor to your favorites

2. Press Q

3. While highlighting a specific item press a number key.

It's not stated anywhere but it is possible.

Also I dont understand "The lack of variety of builds". The game lets you play it however you want to. Can you please elaborate?

not that that's an issue, just saying that the assumption that Bethesda is so lazy that they want consumers to fix issues on their game is a falsehood).

I think what CodeOrange was implying was that no one played Oblivion vanilla and liked it, everyone played it with a ton of modifications. Hence that a lot of the problems that aren't bugs, like the lack of depth to companions etc would be fixed with modifications.

 

[Rol3x]

the lack of freedom and viability of caster enchants, otherwise its awesome

 

[Jareth43]

I have never played another Elder Scrolls game before, SO my only grevance is that it plays like Fallout 3. Almost exactly the same controls.

Im not holding it against the game, as Im pretty sure Fallout copied the Elder Scrolls, but still I can't shake the sensation of Deja Vu

 

[Ruwrak]

I find it stupid that, even though my character has two hands, I can only wear one ring.

What about you guys?

Ya know, I have been wondering about that too. I can understand a max of two rings (the magic properties influencing eachother to much otherwise) but only one? ...

HRm what annoys me is that when I do a sneak attack complete with animation and all on someone (last in line) the other instantly turn around and start blasting me while I am still in the animation. The animation would focus on the dead body for another 2-3 seconds which are precies when 2 - 3strong opponents are mashing into you. So yeah the quick stealth detection bugs me kinda.

Another thing. At some point things started to fall through the ground during a crucial Dark Brotherhood mission =/ Had to reload a save, pickpocket the item I could otherwise have looted from the corpse and -then- kill it. Minor annoyance but.. egh..

Rediculous hard enemies. Yes I know I'm not talking about the giants here. I'm talking about novice mages who seem to take the life outta me faster then a knife to the brain. I'm lvl 31 with 280 hp, so not so much a pushover in terms of health and whatnots. I also know my stuff (fire resistance potions with me wherever I go) and they just won't die. Flurry attacks (ring of +25% onehanded dmg, perks +80%dmg, flurry 50% more dmg etc.) just don't seem to make a dent. Freaking annoying.

And as petty as it sounds, noone cleans up the stuff that falls on the ground. Goblets, plates, cabbages etc just lie there in the Jarls Place. What a mess =/

I have never played another Elder Scrolls game before, SO my only grevance is that it plays like Fallout 3. Almost exactly the same controls.

Im not holding it against the game, as Im pretty sure Fallout copied the Elder Scrolls, but still I can't shake the sensation of Deja Vu

Well the Obsidian team -was- called into help complete a few features the TES team had a bit of time problems with. And I think they did a good job actually.

 

[lovest harding]

not that that's an issue, just saying that the assumption that Bethesda is so lazy that they want consumers to fix issues on their game is a falsehood).

I think what CodeOrange was implying was that no one played Oblivion vanilla and liked it, everyone played it with a ton of modifications. Hence that a lot of the problems that aren't bugs, like the lack of depth to companions etc would be fixed with modifications.

If that is true, the implication is wrong. I played thousands of hours of vanilla Oblivion (360 and PC) and didn't mod beyond minor graphical changes (sky changes to reduce the popping of the moons, better bodies, creature/weapon/armor textures). Neither did my friend (the only friend I have who played it on PC).
Making changes like you mentioned (adding 'depth' to companions) is based on personal preference. Calling a company lazy because a person simply didn't like how they created something (whether due to design choice or development resources) is flat out wrong (if that is what CodeOrange was in fact implying).

 

[Richardplex]

Shouts locking up. The fact that sword+spell is so ridiculously clunky and pathetic compared to everything else. Skyrim randomly crashing. Followers. The fact healing pots have no cooldown, thus the game balances around having such resources. Very VERY occasional texture glitches (very low definition paths/rocks, enemies randomly wearing pink tunics). Stealth once again showing why sneak shouldn't be something that can be levelled up. The fact that dragons are so much easier to kill than other creatures. The paltry drop height needed to kill you. Waterfall water being so much worse than other water.

For the most part though, brilliant game. Especially the music.

 

[Hisshiss]

Followers being able to die (Very hard, and a minor issue) is the most recent one, I also really don't agree with the magicka cost for almost all the higher rank spells, as they seem to be tuned to be almost completely unusable without either a retarted level of caster building or the 5 points in EACH magic tree for the half cost, 25 frikkin perks (Which is HALF of what you can get in the game at the soft cap). Hell, some of the coolest end game spells like the thralls just flat out cost too much mana to cast even once without those perks unless again, your sinking a collosal sum of extra magicka/cost reduc into your gear, its a frikkin huge buzzkill for my spellblade.


All of those things are minor gripes compared to the perk system itself. That thing is the blight of my existence. They took out automatic benefits of levelling skills in oblivion, stuck them into a shitty skill tree, and then give you about 50 out of the 220 perk points you need to get them all, so again if your a hybridish type that likes to dip into alot of skills, you get to eat shit .

I stand by the fact that if they just gave you a single skill locked perk point every 20 levels of that skill, the system would be perfect. You would get 5 points, and most trees only have around 10, just for actually buckling down and raising the stat, and then use your actual level to bolster the really important ones.

As it stands, it just makes me not ever want to raise anything but the most vital skills because they are gonna suck ass since I can't perk them anyways.

For the record I still give skyrim a solid 8/10, and I intend to play it for a decent while, atleast through december, but really, they couldn't atleast add a damn respec vendor? It's diablo 2 all over again, which was a nightmare -.-.

Edit: For the record I am told by my elder scrolls nerd friends that my issue with perks is about 20% valid and 80% diablo 2 induced emotional trauma. I am considering that possibility internally <.<. In my defence, it doesnt take 300 hours to do a diablo 2 playthrough.