I've worked out my problem with Skyrim.....do you agree?

[Javarock]

Yeah, that's pretty much what all Bethesda games are like. Character interaction, dialogue and role-play don't really get much attention. I'm not sure if it's by design or if they just don't know how to do that stuff.

And no, it doesn't get better. About the closest you can come to roleplaying is refusing to do quests you don't agree with. Occasionally there'll be a Fable-style choice between a good action or an evil one.

Personally, it doesn't bother me that much. Not defending the game, it's just that my issues with Skyrim lie elsewhere.

Actually, It's slightly different then in Fable. You do not pick between A and X.

Although I do like the stories from fallout they make compared to The Elder Scrolls. I Love both


OT:

You need to make your own motivation for the game. Not hard, but that's where the roleplaying aspect comes in, You have to define your own character and they can be as complex as possible. Of course it's limiting in dialogue options. But there are many within the whole game. Compared to other games it's better at least from my opinion.

And why do people come up to you?, Because you're the Dragonborn. If you haven't figured that out, Then you're a Strong Man in Plate/ Deadly Sneaky man who gets things done/ A Extremely knowledgeable man with a mystic aura around him that reeks power.

 

[Smeggs]

I've never tried to roleplay in Skyrim because to me it takes away from what the game really is; an action/adventure sandbox game stuffed with hundreds of hours of side quests.

I don't have time to screw around with roleplaying when I have five assassination contracts and a dragon is attacking the mage's college again.

 

[Thespian]

You should maybe play more Bioware games, if you want that? Bioware tends to work more heavily on giving character-specific narrative context, where as Bethesda often focuses on environmentally contextual motivations.

In a Bioware game you'll get that which you seem to be missing,
"Oh, Commander Shepard, you have an influential position with the Council, perhaps you could convince them to let me retrieve my wife's body instead of continuing to test on it? As a member of the Alliance, you represent our race, and I would greatly appreciate it."

However, in a Bethesda game they give you motivation in other ways. So you got drunk with this guy and don't remember what happened next - Why should you care who he was, you've got crap to do. But there's a sweet staff in it for you, why not get that? Or, who cares about what this lady wants, but it'll bring you into a huge dungeon, where you can kill things and find loot...

Et cetera. It doesn't bother me in Skyrim, but it might bother you.

 

[Magic Cheese]

The only time when Skyrim get's boring is when you COMPLETELY run out of content to do. For example, I have finished every single quest the game has to offer and now I have nothing to do but start a new character.

Or, you know... go outside...

 

[The Pinray]

This may seem petty... But I stopped playing because every time you walk by anyone they MUST tell you what they're all about, what pisses them off, about someone they hate, or about their favorite shop. I can't even sit at a tavern having a quiet drink alone without:

"The security in Whiterun is terrible, shameful is what it is." Okay, thank you.

A couple of seconds later "I work for Belethor, at the general goods store." I know, man.

"Yes?"

"Huh?"

"Out with it!"

"What're you lookin' at?"

I'm just trying to have a damn drink! Leave me alone!

 

[TheHecatomb]

The biggest problem with Skyrim is that Bethesda's animators haven't just dropped the ball - they haven't come close to finding the ball in the first place. Ever. In fact, I'm beginning to suspect they're not even aware there is a ball. Bethesda spends massive resources on creating it's worlds, but I wouldn't be surprised if their animation team is like 1 chinese guy in a basement. That gets paid in rice.

Let's take the average conversation in Skyrim, Oblivion or Fallout 3. The only reason I know an NPC is talking to me is because their mouths move up and down a bit. There are no facial expressions. There are no changes in physical pose. They do nothing! Visually, there is nothing to connect the words I'm hearing to the person I'm seeing. This isn't voice acting, this is bloody narrating! Sure, Skyrim now has more voice actors, but there's no acting to integrate it into the digital actors. And that's where they got it wrong.

It's ridiculously ironic; no matter how amazingly good Bethesda is at creating visually stunning worlds, it's like they still haven't grasped that videogames are actually a visual medium, and that if they want to make their world believable they have to get a big team of animators to actually make it move just as good as it looks.

Take another example, the crashing dragons. I've slain about 35 dragons so far. I've seen the crashing animation 10-12 times I think. And I've never seen it right. It always startswith this loud noise, some ground tearing up, and then about 50 frames later, the dragon finally starts this jagged rough animation that would get any first year animation student an F and an angry letter to his parents. And when the dragon finally does hit the deck, it doesn't land in the crash site that was created a few seconds ago. Nooo sir! It lands about 40 yards away from that. Or against the nearest mountain. Out of sight.
And it goes like this every bleeding time. Well sorry Bethesda, but seriously, if you can't get the big dramatic dragon crashing right, then maybe you shouldn't fucking include it! I'd rather NOT see something than being forced to see it broken every freaking time.

Skyrim would've been fine if they just kept the 12 voice actors from Oblivion and spent their cash on a supervised animation team instead.