The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard Review

[Soopy]

I was super excited about Skyrim, bought it at launch, played one character to about level 43, then put it down and never picked it up again. Something about it is just, I don't know, very "blah" feeling. Not like Morrowind used to feel at all.

I feel the same.

For me its the fact that the story doesn't make sense, is told extemely poorly and nothing you do matters.

 

[Josufu]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard Review

... at the end of the video... was that you trying to murder some butterflies with vampire powers? That's dark man... like "supporting the Stormcloaks unironicly" dark.

I saw that and raced off to the threads to comment on it, but you beat me to it. I caught that bit at the end and thought, "That . . . that's just not right."

 

[Shjade]

I was super excited about Skyrim, bought it at launch, played one character to about level 43, then put it down and never picked it up again. Something about it is just, I don't know, very "blah" feeling. Not like Morrowind used to feel at all.

I feel the same.

For me its the fact that the story doesn't make sense, is told extemely poorly and nothing you do matters.

I dunno, Morrowind felt like that to me, too. It just looked uglier to boot. And had infinite diseases to annoy you with in the red mountain areas.

 

[Soopy]

I was super excited about Skyrim, bought it at launch, played one character to about level 43, then put it down and never picked it up again. Something about it is just, I don't know, very "blah" feeling. Not like Morrowind used to feel at all.

I feel the same.

For me its the fact that the story doesn't make sense, is told extemely poorly and nothing you do matters.

Its a shame, I am not sure where they went wrong but Skyrim holds none of the old magic for me. I know plenty of people love it, but I am hoping the next Fallout will give me that open ended, personalized open world RPG experience I have been craving. Perhaps the next generation systems will also lead to some more interesting experiences.

For me its simple, they went wrong when they decided to make every choice the correct one.
There is no consequence for anything, and a choice without consequence is almost an insult IMO. (It strikes me as being treated like a special needs child)

Not only is there no consequence for actions the world is static. I'm not reffering to pointless NPC's with pointless schedules to keep. But When the main antagonist is vanquished NOTHING HAPPENS. When the Civil war is ended NOTHING HAPPENS.

People complain about the Mass Effect ending. Heh, at least it had an ending. Skyrim must have been written by Damon Lidelof...

 

[Soopy]

I was super excited about Skyrim, bought it at launch, played one character to about level 43, then put it down and never picked it up again. Something about it is just, I don't know, very "blah" feeling. Not like Morrowind used to feel at all.

I feel the same.

For me its the fact that the story doesn't make sense, is told extemely poorly and nothing you do matters.

I dunno, Morrowind felt like that to me, too. It just looked uglier to boot. And had infinite diseases to annoy you with in the red mountain areas.

The story in Morrowind was infinitely better and your character had a developement process.
Skyrim, you walk out of a cave, down the road and ZOMG YOUR THE DRAGON BORN!!!!
Then you get led by the nose for a few hours and everyone ignores you.

 

[hydroblitz]

I was super excited about Skyrim, bought it at launch, played one character to about level 43, then put it down and never picked it up again. Something about it is just, I don't know, very "blah" feeling. Not like Morrowind used to feel at all.

I feel the same.

For me its the fact that the story doesn't make sense, is told extemely poorly and nothing you do matters.

Its a shame, I am not sure where they went wrong but Skyrim holds none of the old magic for me. I know plenty of people love it, but I am hoping the next Fallout will give me that open ended, personalized open world RPG experience I have been craving. Perhaps the next generation systems will also lead to some more interesting experiences.

I feel the same. Skyrim just didn't give me that same wonder as Oblivion did. It might have been that it was my first real open world fantasy RPG and now that I've gotten used to the internet crack that is WoW, it doesn't seem very special anymore...

 

[Shjade]

I was super excited about Skyrim, bought it at launch, played one character to about level 43, then put it down and never picked it up again. Something about it is just, I don't know, very "blah" feeling. Not like Morrowind used to feel at all.

I feel the same.

For me its the fact that the story doesn't make sense, is told extemely poorly and nothing you do matters.

I dunno, Morrowind felt like that to me, too. It just looked uglier to boot. And had infinite diseases to annoy you with in the red mountain areas.

The story in Morrowind was infinitely better and your character had a developement process.
Skyrim, you walk out of a cave, down the road and ZOMG YOUR THE DRAGON BORN!!!!
Then you get led by the nose for a few hours and everyone ignores you.

There's definitely a more gradual climb for the Nerevarine than for the Dovahkiin, but I wouldn't say that makes it "better" by default. It just means you had more fetch quests to complete before people decided ZOMG YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE. It's equally arbitrary. At least in Skyrim you actually do things that pretty clearly show you are this chosen whatever, whereas in Morrowind you're basically just an adventurer who people decide must be this prophesied hero because you're doing cool stuff for them.

I don't remember any Nerevarine-specific powers akin to the Dovahkiin's inherent connection to Shouts. Maybe it's been too long since I played it, but I'm pretty sure you're just Some Adventurer and kind stumble into the whole Nerevarine deal.

As for the story: both games have pretty choppy stories by virtue of their open-ended non-linear do-what-you-want gameplay. They both struggle to keep a clean, smooth, coherent story in line when they have so much space for faffing about in between. I mean, look at what you said: you walk out of a cave, down the road and suddenly, bam, Dragonborn. Sure, that can happen. Or, if you do what the guy you exit the cave with tells you to do (Split up, don't follow me), you could end up going the other way, find yourself in Falkreath, and before you know it a month has passed and you're embroiled in the conflict between the Forsaken and the far west city with the name I can't remember off the top of my head with no one having mentioned anything about this Dragonborn business.

To me, Morrowind and Skyrim feel pretty much the same in terms of story quality, in that I didn't really play either of them for the story (as I find neither compelling in that respect). For the open world and gameplay, however, Skyrim definitely has the upper hand. I will say I seem to recall I liked the factioning setup of Morrowind more, though. I dunno, maybe I just miss the Morag Tong.

 

[Shocksplicer]

It should also be mentioned that if you choose to become a vampire lord while doing the Dawnguard side of things it breaks the storyline until you cure yourself.

 

[Soopy]

I was super excited about Skyrim, bought it at launch, played one character to about level 43, then put it down and never picked it up again. Something about it is just, I don't know, very "blah" feeling. Not like Morrowind used to feel at all.

I feel the same.

For me its the fact that the story doesn't make sense, is told extemely poorly and nothing you do matters.

I dunno, Morrowind felt like that to me, too. It just looked uglier to boot. And had infinite diseases to annoy you with in the red mountain areas.

The story in Morrowind was infinitely better and your character had a developement process.
Skyrim, you walk out of a cave, down the road and ZOMG YOUR THE DRAGON BORN!!!!
Then you get led by the nose for a few hours and everyone ignores you.

There's definitely a more gradual climb for the Nerevarine than for the Dovahkiin, but I wouldn't say that makes it "better" by default. It just means you had more fetch quests to complete before people decided ZOMG YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE. It's equally arbitrary. At least in Skyrim you actually do things that pretty clearly show you are this chosen whatever, whereas in Morrowind you're basically just an adventurer who people decide must be this prophesied hero because you're doing cool stuff for them.

I don't remember any Nerevarine-specific powers akin to the Dovahkiin's inherent connection to Shouts. Maybe it's been too long since I played it, but I'm pretty sure you're just Some Adventurer and kind stumble into the whole Nerevarine deal.

As for the story: both games have pretty choppy stories by virtue of their open-ended non-linear do-what-you-want gameplay. They both struggle to keep a clean, smooth, coherent story in line when they have so much space for faffing about in between. I mean, look at what you said: you walk out of a cave, down the road and suddenly, bam, Dragonborn. Sure, that can happen. Or, if you do what the guy you exit the cave with tells you to do (Split up, don't follow me), you could end up going the other way, find yourself in Falkreath, and before you know it a month has passed and you're embroiled in the conflict between the Forsaken and the far west city with the name I can't remember off the top of my head with no one having mentioned anything about this Dragonborn business.

To me, Morrowind and Skyrim feel pretty much the same in terms of story quality, in that I didn't really play either of them for the story (as I find neither compelling in that respect). For the open world and gameplay, however, Skyrim definitely has the upper hand. I will say I seem to recall I liked the factioning setup of Morrowind more, though. I dunno, maybe I just miss the Morag Tong.

The thing with the Nevarine was that the only reason the things you did, could be done, was because you were Lord Nervar incarnate. Sure there wasn't much flash to it, but it was what it was.
If you followed the story line from start to finish without veering off, it flowed pretty well and after all was said and done,the world did change.

Skyrim, not so much. Most of the story progression is spurred by an completely arbitrary event as the antagonist did bugger all after the opening scene. I mean, we could have just ignored Alduin's little escapade and the world wouldn't have been effected even in the slightest. At least there was the plaque in Morrowind, 6th house assassins and political conspiracy to give the character some reason to persu the antagonist (who's motives aren't even immediately clear).

 

[Fasckira]

Whether you decide to fully embrace your vampire destiny, or else take up arms against a sea of blood-suckers, the story beats and quests are far too similar. The NPCs, goals and locations don't really change. All that matters is whether the vampire powers are being used by or against you.

This sums up my gripe with Skyrim's civil war arc too. It would have been nice to see two completely different quest lines so on replay you get to experience fresh content but alas..!

Whats the final vote on the crossbows? Worth the wait?

 

[Draconalis]

So more of exactly what I disliked about Skyrim to begin with. Impactless, consequence-free gameplay. Just a few extra toys fill the meaningless game world with.

But now it's stupid vampire toys!

That's something right?

Gods, I hate vampires...

 

[BehattedWanderer]

So, what you're saying is...it's a Skyrim add on, where the quests don't actually matter, it keeps waggling it's eyes provocatively about certain ways to play, and the people continue to not react properly to things. I'd say I'd wait for this, but since I'll be waiting anyway, this claim stands there picking it's nose for all the weight it carries.

 

[Durgiun]

So more of exactly what I disliked about Skyrim to begin with. Impactless, consequence-free gameplay. Just a few extra toys fill the meaningless game world with.

So much this.

That reminds me of Oblivion. No wonder I prefered Fallout 3.

 

[Soopy]

So more of exactly what I disliked about Skyrim to begin with. Impactless, consequence-free gameplay. Just a few extra toys fill the meaningless game world with.

So much this.

That reminds me of Oblivion. No wonder I prefered Fallout 3.

Skyrim makes Oblivion look like a literary masterpiece.

 

[Li Mu]

Steve, there are a fair few typos in your article! Just giving you a heads up.

 

[Li Mu]

Yeah, I never really liked Skyrim as much as Oblivion, and this DLC, and other people's comments really are justifying my point. I'm starting to think that the success of Bethesda's recent games has gotten to their head somewhat, and when a large majority of Oblivion fans weren't too impressed with Skyrim, they just lobbed in a load of stuff people were asking for in Oblivion to make it appeal to them too. I heard countless people request Horse-back combat, Crossbows, Polearms, and almost an extra god knows how much of Dawnguard's content for Oblivion back when, and now they just throw them in like mad. If they put in throwing weapons (A well missed concept from earlier Elder Scrolls games.) in the next Skyrim DLC, I think it's fair to declare it official that Bethesda are just trying too hard to appeal to everyone. I think it's also pretty fair to say that a good majority of people only bought Skyrim because of the stupid "arrow to the knee" joke (If you can call it that.), or Oblivion's success. I may sound like I'm bashing Skyrim for being popular, but it's just generally worse than Oblivion in every aspect, and not even all that good without comparison anyway. I must say, though, the graphics of Skyrim were actually awfully impressve (With few exceptions.), with special mention going to improved beast races, especially Khajiits (Though the horns on Argonians really didn't quite suit, and were probably just added to make them look closer to dragons. I want my Dorsal Ridges god damnit!... However, the head feathers were pretty cool. Still rather have ridges, mind you.).

Wait...so you're complaining that Bethesda suck because they are trying to appeal to everyone.
And then you're complaining that Bethesda suck because they changed the game in a way you don't like and are failing to appeal to you.

umm...ok

You think people only bought Skyrim because of the Arrow In The Knee joke? Are you insane?
That's like saying "People only bought Gears of War because Yatzee often talks about Chest High Walls"

I would disagree about Skyrim being worse than Oblivion.
I would actually say that there are some things which Oblivion and Morrowind did better, but that Skyrim does it's own thing and does it well. Although I must admit that I do miss the rough voices of the Dunmer in Skyrim.

 

[shintakie10]

I was super excited about Skyrim, bought it at launch, played one character to about level 43, then put it down and never picked it up again. Something about it is just, I don't know, very "blah" feeling. Not like Morrowind used to feel at all.

I feel the same.

For me its the fact that the story doesn't make sense, is told extemely poorly and nothing you do matters.

I dunno, Morrowind felt like that to me, too. It just looked uglier to boot. And had infinite diseases to annoy you with in the red mountain areas.

The story in Morrowind was infinitely better and your character had a developement process.
Skyrim, you walk out of a cave, down the road and ZOMG YOUR THE DRAGON BORN!!!!
Then you get led by the nose for a few hours and everyone ignores you.

There's definitely a more gradual climb for the Nerevarine than for the Dovahkiin, but I wouldn't say that makes it "better" by default. It just means you had more fetch quests to complete before people decided ZOMG YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE. It's equally arbitrary. At least in Skyrim you actually do things that pretty clearly show you are this chosen whatever, whereas in Morrowind you're basically just an adventurer who people decide must be this prophesied hero because you're doing cool stuff for them.

I don't remember any Nerevarine-specific powers akin to the Dovahkiin's inherent connection to Shouts. Maybe it's been too long since I played it, but I'm pretty sure you're just Some Adventurer and kind stumble into the whole Nerevarine deal.

Shouts are basically just spells that they replaced with a special graphic. Its actually because of shouts that bein a mage has so fewer options than they did in previous games.

It was my biggest gripe with the gameplay honestly. I always played a Mage, but shouts were retarded and I didnt want to use them. However if I didnt want to use them I missed out on several essential spells because there are no equivalent spells to the shouts.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

So more of exactly what I disliked about Skyrim to begin with. Impactless, consequence-free gameplay. Just a few extra toys fill the meaningless game world with.

Yeah, this is by far the biggest problem I have with Skyrim. The environments are gorgeous, and exploring is truly fun, but it all doesn't matter in the end. Sure, the dungeons are infinitely better than Oblivion's, and likewise the story missions are a bit more involved than "go there, fetch and/or kill X&Y," but there's no lasting impact on the world. Hell, there are still Stormcloak camps I can't clear out, because some prick leader of theirs must be invincible. Likewise, what does it matter if I'm the archmage now? Winterhold is still a decrepit village. You can kill the emperor for crying out loud, and there are no in-game consequences. My favorite example of this is actually the conclusion of the civil war portion of the story, after which the corpse of Ulfric was still in his throne room, despite the new Jarl having taken up residence there. Nobody bothered to react to it, even after set his corpse on the table and did nasty things to it. While this consequence free thing is fun at first, it gets boring after a while. I want to be able to fail, I want to be able to help or destroy communities in the world, I want characters to acknowledge what I have and have not done. In short, I want a living world. Hell, if the 12 year old Deus Ex can acknowledge how I completed a mission and have the characters respond accordingly (or that whole harassment thing with the women's restroom...), why the hell can't Skyrim? I don't think I'll buy the DLC just yet. Maybe when it's on sale at some point, but not for full price.

 

[Rawne1980]

but at least I can say that my arrows blot out the sun.[/spoiler]

Then we shall fight you in the shade.....

 

[Vampire cat]

To be honest, I was planning on buy skyrim when it came out as GOTY edition. Same deal with Fallout, no point buying the game and the DLC seperate when its cheaper to wait.

Personally I don't agree. I'm glad to pay the full price for a game I think is worth the money. So I was happy to spring for Steam's Skyrim pre-purchase, and I'll be glad to buy this DLC, which looks to be pretty cool!

That, I guess, is pretty much how one should show ones interest and love for a game though. Are you willing to pay full price for the game? If not, you should indeed wait and get a better deal on it. Support the developers as much as you see fit (but don't pirate... Thats not cool =p), but expect to wait a while.

It was my biggest gripe with the gameplay honestly. I always played a Mage, but shouts were retarded and I didnt want to use them. However if I didnt want to use them I missed out on several essential spells because there are no equivalent spells to the shouts.

Yay for mods! There are several great mods that add loads of awesome, cool looking and lore-friendly spells to the game. This is what makes mod support so great, if there is something not quite to your liking it's very likely that someone else agrees, and made a mod to change that.

My personal mod list is packed XD.