Skyrim, where's the fun?

Rooster Cogburn

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woodaba said:
Please tell me where Skyrim is more sophisticated than Oblivion. And don't say Story/Quests or I will HURT you. Not really. Symbolically.
lol Consider it noted. There are lots of little ways, but I'll try to focus on a few of big ones. I think the elephant in the room is the removal of stats. Rather than repeat myself, I will ask you to please view my earlier post to see why I think removing stats actually added sophistication to Skyrim, even though superficially that sounds dissonant. The expansion of the perk system added new depth, specialization, and meaningful choice that Oblivion simply never had.

Another big one is exposition. By far the most shocking disappointment of Oblivion was how the region of Cyrodiil itself did not feel explained and explored and examined in depth. Oh, any old game has these qualities to some extent, but Morrowind had a detailed and interesting explanation for every goddamn thing. And everything fit together and played off everything else to create a really interesting and believable landscape. There was so much to learn, and every location 'felt' real. Dwemer ruins contained Dwemer artifacts. A slavers' hideout contained things you would expect to find there. Oblivion didn't lack these expository elements completely, but they were emphasized much more in Skyrim. This may sound like a small thing to worry about, but in The Elder Scrolls it's everything.

And at the risk of being symbolically hurt, I am going to bring up the story lol. But maybe not in the way you think. This ties in to my point about exposition. Politically, culturally, and economically, Oblivion was fucking boring town. No one was having any kind of major political struggle or upheaval. In a game that is specifically about a region. Oh god, someone kill me! Maybe you'll call me an idiot because the Emperor just got assassinated, but that was an external threat for all intents and purposes. I mean, the man got murdered, and what happened to his Empire? Absolutely nothing. Talk about a missed opportunity for storytelling and world-building! Skyrim's attempts at reintroducing these elements were a little awkward, but they were very effective sometimes and they definitely weren't such colossal failures that we would have been better off without them.
 

Applejack

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DoPo said:
Applejack said:
DoPo said:
Magic is somewhat meh. Destruction magic with Impact is pretty much made to troll the enemies. Skill grinding the magic is annoying, though.

If you have the game on PC, I'd suggest mods. If not...the Divines help you. When I first played the game, after I was a couple of hours in or so, I realised I wasn't having fun. All the quests consisted of "go to X location, kill stuff, come back" and they made me trek all over the place to pad the length. I even questioned if I ever liked previous TES titles, since if they were all like this what had I been thinking. But I got over it. I mean, I remembered that Morrowind was actually fun to play. And I just stuck to bigger Skyrim quests - guilds, daedric, etc. Also mods. And now I'm waiting for Downguard (saving up money...) to play some more.
I tried magic for a few hours and it feels like I'm spraying people with a weak fire extuingisher. Not really what I was expecting, can I make spells later?
No, actually you can't. Which sucks majorly but there you go. I believe there are mods to allow it, though. And the first spells are quite crap, especially if you're levelled up already. What you need is the second damage spell (firebolt has the cheapest cost of the three) and Impact - when you do a two handed firebolt, the enemy is staggered. By the time they can move again, you would have launched another spell. It's permastun for as long as you have mana. Annoying when you haven't levelled up Destruction but when the spell cost gets low enough, you automatically win 1 vs 1 battles, while few opponents (2-3) are still easy with the right timing and maneuvering.

Be aware that the final level spells are flashy and sound powerful, but most of them are outdone by lower level ones, because of their huge cost and casting time.
Sad I loved making spells in Oblivion, like lightning damage and paralyze 1 sec or make you invisible as you paralyze for good mischief. I hear you can enchant your armor to make your spells cost nothing, so would it be better to spend all your level ups on health instead of magic? Maybe that would break the game so I don't want that I want to have to try to win.
 

woodaba

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Rooster Cogburn said:
woodaba said:
Please tell me where Skyrim is more sophisticated than Oblivion. And don't say Story/Quests or I will HURT you. Not really. Symbolically.
lol Consider it noted. There are lots of little ways, but I'll try to focus on a few of big ones. I think the elephant in the room is the removal of stats. Rather than repeat myself, I will ask you to please view my earlier post to see why I think removing stats actually added sophistication to Skyrim, even though superficially that sounds dissonant. The expansion of the perk system added new depth, specialization, and meaningful choice that Oblivion simply never had.

Another big one is exposition. By far the most shocking disappointment of Oblivion was how the region of Cyrodiil itself did not feel explained and explored and examined in depth. Oh, any old game has these qualities to some extent, but Morrowind had a detailed and interesting explanation for every goddamn thing. And everything fit together and played off everything else to create a really interesting and believable landscape. There was so much to learn, and every location 'felt' real. Dwemer ruins contained Dwemer artifacts. A slavers' hideout contained things you would expect to find there. Oblivion didn't lack these expository elements completely, but they were emphasized much more in Skyrim. This may sound like a small thing to worry about, but in The Elder Scrolls it's everything.

And at the risk of being symbolically hurt, I am going to bring up the story lol. But maybe not in the way you think. This ties in to my point about exposition. Politically, culturally, and economically, Oblivion was fucking boring town. No one was having any kind of major political struggle or upheaval. In a game that is specifically about a region. Oh god, someone kill me! Maybe you'll call me an idiot because the Emperor just got assassinated, but that was an external threat for all intents and purposes. I mean, the man got murdered, and what happened to his Empire? Absolutely nothing. Talk about a missed opportunity for storytelling and world-building! Skyrim's attempts at reintroducing these elements were a little awkward, but they were very effective sometimes and they definitely weren't such colossal failures that we would have been better off without them.
I see your point in regards to stats, but I don't agree. While part of me likes kyrim's more fluid approach to character building, it robs the game of any and all replayability. In Morrowind or Oblivion, I could be a completely different character right from the very beginning, and that would alter the way I played the game, at least initally. It felt different from character to character. Skyrim does not have this. Instead, every player starts off as Standard McDefault, with all the customization relegated to physical appearance, and maybe some racial bonuses. This was a huge mark against Skyrim.

I also agree with you in regards to Oblivion, but I would say that Skyrim did not improve the situation. We still never actually see what the Civil War does to Skyrim, we are only told that it is dividing the nation and there's fighting in the streets yadda yadda. We don't see a single destroyed settlement, the Civil War quests are set in already ruined castles, and, fuck, the final quest of the questlines, even though they take place in the two biggest cities in the ENTIRE COUNTRY, all the damage is cleared up overnight. Poof! Gone. Hopw you weren't getting invested! Both Oblivion and Skyrim forget the cardinal rule of writing: show, don't tell.

In regards to exposition, I kinda agree, but there was also far less to exposit in Skyrim. You can explore ancient temples, bandit hideouts, Vampire covens, forests inside paintings, Ayelid ruins, and all sorts in Oblivion. What is there in Skyrim? Draugr Tombs. And Caves. Aside from a VERY small number of exceptions, that is it.
 

lordmardok

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Skyrim is kind of boring, the fun however is in a little thing called Mods. Of course if you have it on a console then, well, you're basically shit out of luck but compared to a lot of other games on consoles Skyrim probably would seem like the shit right out the box anyway. So assuming you're playing it correctly (read: "On a PC") then you go to Skyrim Nexus and download all the mods and overhauls you want to make it into a game that's worth playing and not a game that gets blown out of the water by a city-building sim from 2006 in terms of playable enjoyment (CivCity Rome was awesome.)

That said if you want awesome monsters download the Skyrim Monster Mod at:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9694

This literally makes the whole game a hundred times more awesome with new spawn locations all over the world map and brand new skins. If you want dragons that actually pose more of a threat than a whiffle bat download the Deadly Dragons mods at:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3829

Along with these gems are things like the Sky UI that makes the User Interface into something usable by humans instead of the Elder Ones from Yuggoth. Skyrim HD 2k that makes the whole world prettier. Better Females (not what you think get your mind out of the gutter) for prettier and better designed faces. Better Beast Races so the Argonians and the Khajit look actually cool instead of like someones mutant pet. So enjoy!

Unless you have it on a console.
 

barbzilla

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Shoggoth2588 said:
I actually rediscovered the fun of the Elder Scrolls series but it may not be for everybody. You see Oblivion was the one I spent the most time with and this is because of my background music: Dragonforce (or really any other similar speed/hair metal). Something about roaming through a pseudo-medieval landscape with that kind of music just makes it seem more epic...especially when the song is Operation Ground Pound.
LMAO,

Thank you so much, I am glad to know I am not the only one who does this. I tend to play every video game I own with the music muted and my own soundtrack, with a few notable exceptions (VTM: Bloodlines anyone?).

OP: The thing with Skyrim is a two fold path. The first bit of enjoyment I get out of most of these games is setting up my character and creating a full story (not just running about and doing every quest the game has to offer). You need to sit back and think about who your character really is, why does he adventure? Are you an evil prick hell bent on world domination, or a goody good who flails about trying to save the kingdom?

The second bit of enjoyment I get from these games comes from the Modding community. It is nothing to see that my TES or my Fallout folders have grown to 70gb. If I can't find a mod to do what I want with the game, then I sit down and work out how to make the mod myself (I usually fail at it though, so don't expect to see my mods on any sites).

If you don't like the game, that is fine too. It isn't for everyone, but most of us play it for different reasons.
 

timenchange11

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Strategically placed blank spots, the character entire fucking life is a blank spot. You know another game that starts character like that, Arcanum. You know how it lets you characterize your character? By letting you choose from a shit ton of backgrounds, each which can edit your stats and starting gear, and if none of them suit you, you can be a blank slate. Well of course you hated stats in Oblivion, Oblivion was a shit RPG that couldn't be damned to properly use stats. Please, give me some examples of "important choices" in skyrim.
Why does the game need to hand you a background, or let you choose one of its predetermined backgrounds? What's the point of that in this game? In this game it doesn't matter who you were, but who you choose to become.
Also, how bout an example of this supposed specialization. Cause through personal experience, you can play the game as a mage, and then later on equip heavy armor and a two handed weapon and do just fine. Really, the Dovahkiin is not a role, with that logic, CoD is a RPG because your the goddamn chosen soldier!
Okay, I've played a couple CoD games, and I'm pretty sure you couldn't customize anything about your dude other than the loadout (and that was limited to two weapons), let alone being a chosen soldier of the divine.
One Handed and Two handed skills are useless, because it doesn't limit anything but a few animations if you don't put any skills into it. So are most of the magic skills, as all you need to cast master level spells is high magicka, it doesn't matter if you don't level your magic skills. Light armor and Heavy armor also don't matter, as you won't be missing out on anything if you don't put any points into them.
Okay, now you have to be absolutely trolling. To say that none of the skills add up to anything is absolutely asinine. Leveling your skills is important to make you stronger. I'm not going to beat Alduin with all my skills below 20.
 

TwiZtah

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Rooster Cogburn said:
Skyrim is a victim to the hype machine in the sense that people forgot how much Oblivion sucked (for an Elder Scrolls game). Skyrim is awesome.

Usually when I see someone complain about the combat, it turns out they are not challenging themselves. They just "swing at everything with a sword" and "shoot slow motion arrows". It's like playing Halo on Easy and only using the Battle Rifle. Like any game, it becomes fun when the difficulty forces you to economize and scramble, and use all the tools at your disposal. I think it doesn't occur to people to bump up the difficulty because this is an unusual type of game and they don't realize what the problem is. Bump it up to Expert and see how things go.

Also, make sure you are using shouts, your racial power, scrolls, poisons, potions, etc. Especially if you do not use magic. See, if you play on Adept, you tend to just skip that stuff because you don't need it. Prioritize collecting Words of Power. Or don't, you will find plenty along the way. If you have Kinect, start screaming at your television. If you are playing on PC like a boss, get Thu'umic Shouter and the mod that eliminates the delay when shouting. Keep in mind this stuff is not the usual Kinect gimmick. Voice activation makes shouts more useful, reduces time in menus, and makes combat more fluid and immersive.

Combat gets more interesting as you level up and collect perks.

Finally, the core appeal of Elder Scrolls titles is exploration. In my opinion this is best realized not by seeing the neat stuffs, although that's important, but by learning about the land of Skyrim. So hopefully you will enjoy that, and try not to pass up opportunities when they arise.
Problem with Skyrims combat is the whole feel of the gameplay, there is no weight to anything, a heavy attack is just a slow light attack.
 

Phlakes

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Shadowstar38 said:
Skyrim on the whole is a victim of the hype machine. For a game with literally hundreds of hours to, I found it too dull to even get through 30.
Not "on the whole". Some people don't enjoy the game. Some people do. Some people really, really do. If not being unanimously loved makes something a victim of hype, then that would sort of devalue the idea anyway.
 

nexus

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I personally didn't find something fun or interesting. That something must be a total failure then, because my perceived view of the world is all that matters.

See a lot of talk about "the lowest common denominator" in this thread, and how Skyrim must appeal to it, considering you don't find they game appealing. Here's something I bet you never thought about, maybe you are the lowest common denominator.
 

Rooster Cogburn

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charge52 said:
Strategically placed blank spots, the character entire fucking life is a blank spot. You know another game that starts character like that, Arcanum. You know how it lets you characterize your character? By letting you choose from a shit ton of backgrounds, each which can edit your stats and starting gear, and if none of them suit you, you can be a blank slate. Well of course you hated stats in Oblivion, Oblivion was a shit RPG that couldn't be damned to properly use stats. Please, give me some examples of "important choices" in skyrim. Also, how bout an example of this supposed specialization. Cause through personal experience, you can play the game as a mage, and then later on equip heavy armor and a two handed weapon and do just fine. Really, the Dovahkiin is not a role, with that logic, CoD is a RPG because your the goddamn chosen soldier! The world rarely reacts to your actions, and when they do all that changes is the person who tells you to do some dumb fetch quest.
Also, if you can't just pile horse shit and expect something good, than why are you praising the pile of horse shit named Skyrim?
One Handed and Two handed skills are useless, because it doesn't limit anything but a few animations if you don't put any skills into it. So are most of the magic skills, as all you need to cast master level spells is high magicka, it doesn't matter if you don't level your magic skills. Light armor and Heavy armor also don't matter, as you won't be missing out on anything if you don't put any points into them.
Saying Skyrim didn't have stats was an obvious reference to the loss of attributes from Oblivion to Skyrim. If that is not what you meant, then: Skyrim does have stats. I don't know what you are talking about.

The character's back-story is blank for a reason. It's strategic, it's not an oversight. Tolkien didn't write fifteen versions of The Lord of the Rings so you could flip through them and choose how the world must have been in the past. That is not using your imagination. You are a starting a new life in a new world. I have a hard time understanding why you are listing not having a backstory as a flaw even if you don't like it. I don't consider asparagus to be flawed. I very much doubt you really consider every main character who doesn't have a back-story to be flawed. That's silly. Arcanum's system sounds good. There are mods that do the same thing for Skyrim. They are popular, but as I say I prefer using my imagination, the mystery and the theme of beginning a new life in a new world.

Name an important choice in Skyrim, easily done: Spend a perk point on this or on that. As for specialization, you can use magic or anything else without perks, but you will never be anywhere near as proficient as you would have been with perks. You cannot rely on it as a main, unless you are playing on a difficulty that is way too easy for you. You don't want depth of choice, you just want to choose a class and be done with it.

You're straight making shit up about the specific skills. It's not a matter of opinion, what you said is just factually not true. I'm seriously beginning to question if you've ever played Skyrim. I wouldn't even complain if you hadn't, but you do at least need to understand what you're criticizing. You don't even need to play the game. Just go look over the skill perks on some website. Learn what the weapon perks are. You cannot cast master level spells without reaching Master Level, that is just factually not true. You know enough to make these guesses but you don't know how it all works. You can cast most spells without perks, but then your spells will be very expensive, they will be very weak, and you will be sitting on a huge mana pool you are not putting to good use. You will have very low health and stamina, and you will be sitting on unused perks that could have gone toward creating a powerful character. What's amazing is, Skyrim will let you play like that if you want to. It will let you incorporate some elements of that into your build, to any degree, so you can make something quirky and unique. And just maybe, something powerful too. Again, you don't want depth of choice, you just want to choose a class and be done with it.

If the Dovahkiin is not a role, than no role is a role. You're trying to argue with me over which things that are considered RPGs are really RPGs, just with different words. And I think that is biggest waste of time since the first person misunderstood how characterizing genres works. If you want to call it not an RPG go right ahead. Skyrim is awesome for what it is, not for the club it belongs to. Worst of all, your definition robs the original RPGs of the title.

I'm defending Skyrim because it's awesome. It is not a pile of shit, everything in it was very carefully considered (even if I don't like all of it). You would be surprised at some of the things they have cut out because of how they affected the gesamtkunstwerk.
 

DoPo

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Applejack said:
DoPo said:
Applejack said:
DoPo said:
Magic is somewhat meh. Destruction magic with Impact is pretty much made to troll the enemies. Skill grinding the magic is annoying, though.

If you have the game on PC, I'd suggest mods. If not...the Divines help you. When I first played the game, after I was a couple of hours in or so, I realised I wasn't having fun. All the quests consisted of "go to X location, kill stuff, come back" and they made me trek all over the place to pad the length. I even questioned if I ever liked previous TES titles, since if they were all like this what had I been thinking. But I got over it. I mean, I remembered that Morrowind was actually fun to play. And I just stuck to bigger Skyrim quests - guilds, daedric, etc. Also mods. And now I'm waiting for Downguard (saving up money...) to play some more.
I tried magic for a few hours and it feels like I'm spraying people with a weak fire extuingisher. Not really what I was expecting, can I make spells later?
No, actually you can't. Which sucks majorly but there you go. I believe there are mods to allow it, though. And the first spells are quite crap, especially if you're levelled up already. What you need is the second damage spell (firebolt has the cheapest cost of the three) and Impact - when you do a two handed firebolt, the enemy is staggered. By the time they can move again, you would have launched another spell. It's permastun for as long as you have mana. Annoying when you haven't levelled up Destruction but when the spell cost gets low enough, you automatically win 1 vs 1 battles, while few opponents (2-3) are still easy with the right timing and maneuvering.

Be aware that the final level spells are flashy and sound powerful, but most of them are outdone by lower level ones, because of their huge cost and casting time.
Sad I loved making spells in Oblivion, like lightning damage and paralyze 1 sec or make you invisible as you paralyze for good mischief. I hear you can enchant your armor to make your spells cost nothing, so would it be better to spend all your level ups on health instead of magic? Maybe that would break the game so I don't want that I want to have to try to win.
Well, you could spend all your levels to health but you don't actually get much out of it. With armor/protection you won't really die and you have healing available anyway. If you're starting a new mage, you may want to go 2:1 magicka to health at first, eventually when you feel more comfortable with the amount of magicka, you can switch them around and even go 3:1 health to magicka. And when you're comfortable with health, just go for some stamina, so you can carry more. If you're going with your previous character...depends on how much magicka you have. I'd say 200-250ish is sort of good and you can have enchantments and stuff for it. If you have enchanting levelled up, it's worth investing in some magicka cost reduction equipment. Yes, you can get the cost down to 0 but it's up to you if you want to do it. The game is broken no matter what you do - backstabbing with shortblades is even more devastating, and my archer character is virtually playing on easy mode due to the bow. Having unlimited access to magic isn't more overpowered than those. In fact, Skyrim is one of the rare instances where the linear warriors/quadratic wizards isn't exactly true - magic doesn't scale with level, you can just unleash more of it.
 

timenchange11

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You're trying to argue with me over which things that are considered RPGs are really RPGs, just with different words.
Oh, god. Let's not go there. That would take over the thread.
You cannot cast master level spells without reaching Master Level, so that is just factually not true.
It's not even just the perk. There are quests that must be completed to get those spells at the college. To say that anything in the game can be done equally well no matter the skill level or perks means that the person is playing at a severely decreased difficulty setting than what they should be playing, or they haven't played the game. I know my thief can't just whip out a two-handed battle axe and continue to hack at volkihar vampires with the same efficiency as my crossbow or one-handed weapons.
 

viranimus

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OP... SHHHHH. You cant say things like that regarding anything with the TES label on it. Reality will collapse in on itself.

Tis best to ignore the bland, repetitiveness and remain silent, Unless you invoke the desire to practice home vivisection with rusted spoons in the horde.
 

Rooster Cogburn

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woodaba said:
I see your point in regards to stats, but I don't agree. While part of me likes kyrim's more fluid approach to character building, it robs the game of any and all replayability. In Morrowind or Oblivion, I could be a completely different character right from the very beginning, and that would alter the way I played the game, at least initally. It felt different from character to character. Skyrim does not have this. Instead, every player starts off as Standard McDefault, with all the customization relegated to physical appearance, and maybe some racial bonuses. This was a huge mark against Skyrim.
I like starting out as Standard McDefault lol. Starting as a blank slate enhances the theme of starting a new life in a new world. And I'm only a blank slate for a few moments. The instant I get access to the ability I have in mind, that's who I am now. And that's a lot more important than what I was before I became an icon of prophecy. I used to mod Oblivion to accomplish what amounts to the same thing. But I also understand why you don't like the system. Defining your role before you start allows your character to enter Skyrim with the baggage s/he brought along from his/her back-story. It's another opportunity for characterization. I see the appeal in that.

I also agree with you in regards to Oblivion, but I would say that Skyrim did not improve the situation. We still never actually see what the Civil War does to Skyrim, we are only told that it is dividing the nation and there's fighting in the streets yadda yadda. We don't see a single destroyed settlement, the Civil War quests are set in already ruined castles, and, fuck, the final quest of the questlines, even though they take place in the two biggest cities in the ENTIRE COUNTRY, all the damage is cleared up overnight. Poof! Gone. Hopw you weren't getting invested! Both Oblivion and Skyrim forget the cardinal rule of writing: show, don't tell.
This may sound weird, but I really don't think it's essential to the Elder Scrolls formula that we see the Civil War, or the street riots or whatever. We did need to see those things more in Skyrim, but that's only because they wrote themselves into a corner (I'll get to that). The story needs to be interesting and dynamic, but it's OK if it has to play out on the micro-scale in practice. The story needs to derive from the elements that make the region unique. And the scale of events needs to encompass the entire province. But it's okay for the world the player sees to remain fairly static. See: Morrowind. If the world the player interacts with is dynamic, that's super neato. But all they really need to do is teach the player about the world. Skyrim is better than Oblivion for having regional conflict in it. It has to be really bad before it's better to not have it all, and we're just not in that territory with Skyrim. It wasn't executed well through gameplay but it was pretty good stuff as far as the story is concerned.

Now I get to Skyrim, and the problem it shares with Oblivion. I stand by all I just said, but Bethesda has this weird habit of writing things into stories it cannot possibly deliver through gameplay. If creating a province wracked by war is beyond your limitations, than don't write the story that way. There are millions of other things that are exciting. If the nature of the gameplay undermines the sense of urgency created by the 'ticking clock' in your story, than don't write a story with a 'ticking clock' in play. There, that wasn't so fucking hard. I understand they are trying to make their stories maximum excite, but they need to reexamine what they are trying to accomplish. I don't doubt they are working hard to deliver a good story, but they need to work smart.

I could go on about the story but I'd better force myself to end it here lol. I'm worried because everyone is telling Bethesda they should have shown the land being fucked up. Everyone is right, but that isn't the deeper issue. Judging by Skyrim's story, or Oblivion's for that matter, I kind of expect them to attempt to address the superficial complaint and leave the deeper issue unexamined.

In regards to exposition, I kinda agree, but there was also far less to exposit in Skyrim. You can explore ancient temples, bandit hideouts, Vampire covens, forests inside paintings, Ayelid ruins, and all sorts in Oblivion. What is there in Skyrim? Draugr Tombs. And Caves. Aside from a VERY small number of exceptions, that is it.
I think they were about the same in terms of dungeon variety, and the number of elements in play isn't as important as what you do with them. Skyrim had the exposition, Oblivion did not. But I think we're going to end up bickering about the particulars of what constitutes a vampire coven or a bandit hideout, and what is just a fucking cave lol.
 

II2

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If anyone has any suggestions for me on the same subject, fire away... I really WANT to love Skyrim, but haven't been able to get invested yet.

I loved morrowind and oblivion and Fallouts 3 / NV. Oblivion is one of the few games I've got every achievement unlocked in, including Shivering Isles + the non-achievement Daedric quests - I played Oblivion top to bottom...

Maybe that's why?

Anyway, I like playing casters, but found the lack of magic crafting dissipointing. I did a bunch of main story and mages college quests, but just found it all.... *blurry*

Anyways, I've got a PC version w/ Dawnguard and soon hearthfire and the HD bethesda texture pack. To anyone reading this, you'd be doing me a solid by giving me a protip where the most fun's at... I REALLY want to LOVE Skyrim, but I'm facing the same disconnect.
 

Rooster Cogburn

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II2 said:
If anyone has any suggestions for me on the same subject, fire away... I really WANT to love Skyrim, but haven't been able to get invested yet.

I loved morrowind and oblivion and Fallouts 3 / NV. Oblivion is one of the few games I've got every achievement unlocked in, including Shivering Isles + the non-achievement Daedric quests - I played Oblivion top to bottom...

Maybe that's why?

Anyway, I like playing casters, but found the lack of magic crafting dissipointing. I did a bunch of main story and mages college quests, but just found it all.... *blurry*

Anyways, I've got a PC version w/ Dawnguard and soon hearthfire and the HD bethesda texture pack. To anyone reading this, you'd be doing me a solid by giving me a protip where the most fun's at... I REALLY want to LOVE Skyrim, but I'm facing the same disconnect.
Unfortunately, the Mages College is the worst of the major quest-lines. Sorry bro lol. At least you have that disappointment out of the way. I would say the main quest starts poorly and gets continuously better until it ends on a strong note, but it depends who you ask.

I think you need to understand the advantages of the new magic system in order to forgive the loss of spell-making. I liked the old system too, but we all ended up with a small number of really powerful spells to spam. Or we just broke the game completely lol. And the character progression was all jacked up because it wasn't long before you made the spells you wanted and stopped growing your character. The fire spell you started with in the tutorial was pretty much the same as the spell you were using after 400 hours. If you don't think so, play Skyrim and see if it changes your mind.

The old system was empowering, but the new system is rewarding. You start as a lowly wizardling with a wimpy flame spell. But as you level up and accumulate new spells, you slowly gain access to cool new effects and the 'feel' of the new spells becomes more and more powerful. You feel like you're really earning your new powers and you can actually see the results of your expanding abilities on the screen. At high levels, you end up with a list of powerful and interesting spells that really show off what a badass you have become. And you need to use a variety of them more based on context, not just make one uber-spell or an uber-combo and spam it on everything. Or give yourself 100% chameleon, you dirty cheat lol.

My earlier post has some tips that may apply to you. If you absolutely cannot get into the game, please at least play long enough to do some or all of the Daedric Prince quests. They are some of the game's real stand-out moments. And never say no to a bottle of mead *wink wink*.
 

Goofguy

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Nov 25, 2010
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Come to think of it, I do really miss that Oblivion quest which had you kill everyone at that dinner party without any of them suspecting you.

Skyrim DOES have a lot of Draugrs. However, the selling points in Skyrim for me was the Nords. It worked perfectly with my Viking obsession (Sovngarde was just so awesome).
 

IamLEAM1983

Neloth's got swag.
Aug 22, 2011
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The fun in Skyrim is a lot less direct than in other games, I'd say. In most other game types, fun is created by enjoying how gameplay ends up complimenting the story or allows it to come to fruition. In Skyrim, you have to condition yourself to get your jollies out of several other sources, otherwise just emptying your quest log won't bring you much of a sense of achievement.

You need to be ready and willing to take in the world and its lore, to give your quest log a pretty massive finger and just trot to see what's over that hill, over yonder. You need to want to see purdy sunsets and awesome snowstorms.

If all you do is go through questlines because, hey, it's an RPG, then you're sure to bore yourself to death in short order.

In which case, the only cure I could recommend is taking a break. Go play something else and then give it a try. Remember to fight the game's compulsion to make you repeat the same tasks over and over, and you'll have hours of fun.