What made Skyrim so good?

[Frotality]

first of all: mods. the elder scrolls games have always had amazingly talented and active modders that make the base game seem like an 8-bit atari relic in comparison to the personally modded brilliance before you.

second of all: more than the sum of its parts. skyrim is definitely a "jack of all trades" kind of game. it does everything with fairly mediocre quality (except for graphics), but the freedom to do all those things, and the lack of any real structure allow you to craft your own stories and individual experiences greater than most sandbox-style games would. the shitty characters and story are there to encourage you to run off where you please and make your own out of pure gameplay shenanigans, and it works surprisingly well. not as well as morrowind or even oblivion, but it has its own strengths.

 

[Risingblade]

Skyrim's good, but not great.

However, those mods. Ooooh, mods ... after installing over a hundred gigs of mods, the game got really entertaining.

I'm frustrated that I used a mod that made me invulnerable, which was fun until I was in a story line in which I'm supposed to lose a fight and end up in jail. I think it edits the ini file. You know of a way to temp. disable it?

I used a mod with extra hi res. I had the Death Star rather than the moon in the back ground. (Couldn't get the light saber, dang it!) all sorts of powers.

The story was not on par with Fallout 3 and its DLC, but with the mods on, this was a very unusual and different experience. I've never had one just like it before or since.

Is it the makarath one where the guard frame you?

 

[gorfias]

Skyrim's good, but not great.

However, those mods. Ooooh, mods ... after installing over a hundred gigs of mods, the game got really entertaining.

I'm frustrated that I used a mod that made me invulnerable, which was fun until I was in a story line in which I'm supposed to lose a fight and end up in jail. I think it edits the ini file. You know of a way to temp. disable it?

I used a mod with extra hi res. I had the Death Star rather than the moon in the back ground. (Couldn't get the light saber, dang it!) all sorts of powers.

The story was not on par with Fallout 3 and its DLC, but with the mods on, this was a very unusual and different experience. I've never had one just like it before or since.

Is it the makarath one where the guard frame you?

Pretty certain it is: I start to leave a crappy rented room where I found some good clues and this guard starts hitting me. In my invulnerable state he can't knock me out. I surrendered once so I could go to the jail, but that didn't start the rest of that mission!

 

[Risingblade]

Skyrim's good, but not great.

However, those mods. Ooooh, mods ... after installing over a hundred gigs of mods, the game got really entertaining.

I'm frustrated that I used a mod that made me invulnerable, which was fun until I was in a story line in which I'm supposed to lose a fight and end up in jail. I think it edits the ini file. You know of a way to temp. disable it?

I used a mod with extra hi res. I had the Death Star rather than the moon in the back ground. (Couldn't get the light saber, dang it!) all sorts of powers.

The story was not on par with Fallout 3 and its DLC, but with the mods on, this was a very unusual and different experience. I've never had one just like it before or since.

Is it the makarath one where the guard frame you?

Pretty certain it is: I start to leave a crappy rented room where I found some good clues and this guard starts hitting me. In my invulnerable state he can't knock me out. I surrendered once so I could go to the jail, but that didn't start the rest of that mission!

Did you talk to the ogre after they put you in the jail? You have to talk to him either fight him or get him a shiv to continue.

 

[PissOffRoth]

Preffered it to Oblivion...

Obviously, since Oblivion was the weakest game in the series. Where Skyrim had bugs, Oblivion had intentional features that were much worse.

That being said, the crafting triforce in Skyrim is still ridiculous. Enchanting, Blacksmithing, and Alchemy at 100 was all you even needed. With enchanting you could raise any stat, with blacksmithing you could increase any weapon's damage indefinitely, and Alchemy served to bridge the gap between the two, allowing for an endless power cycle.

 

[gorfias]

Did you talk to the ogre after they put you in the jail? You have to talk to him either fight him or get him a shiv to continue.

Not sure if surrendering even puts the Ogre in jail with you, but I'll give it another try. While I am invulnerable due to the change in the ini file, I can't lose the fight to continue, but I'll give it another try.

 

[Lethos]

I'm frustrated that I used a mod that made me invulnerable, which was fun until I was in a story line in which I'm supposed to lose a fight and end up in jail. I think it edits the ini file. You know of a way to temp. disable it?

Is it an ESP file (did you have to tick it in the mods section)? If yes, then just untick it. If it edited your ini file then just delete your ini file and when you next play Skyrim the game will create a new default one.

 

[Nazulu]

Huh, for some reason I thought that title meant the other way around.

OT: It's a good game, but unfortunately when it came out it was riddled with bugs big and small and no one expected it to dumbed down so much. Well I didn't, I should of done more research on this one. Some of the skills I picked up early sucked the challenge out of the game and I could easily take advantage of the AI by climbing on top of something. Also, every enemy just attacks you directly and so you don't get to do much with the freedom of the game play. However, it's still a really good game that's very detailed.

I reckon the best parts of Skyrim are the amount of detail in the graphics and the land itself, some areas just look gorgeous like Black Reach. The game has atmosphere, far better than most other games released these days anyway. The music and sounds are top notch. Also, the writing is pretty good. I preferred some of the smaller quests over the main quest and I was thrilled not to find any stupid childish modern jokes I find in most entertainment now. And you could spend a lot of time discovering the game even though it's really easy.

I would give it a 6, which may seem strange to some of you but to me that's a good score on my personal top 10.

 

[NortherWolf]

I can jokingly say that most rpgs that I consider really good bored the shit out me for the first 20-30 mins. Baldurs Gate did it, FF6 did it, Fallout 2 did it, Shadowrun did it. And skyrim did it. Hell, at first I was quite skeptical against Skyrim. And then I began playing it. At the time I was a Mass Effect fanboy, so while I loved Skyrim I didn't' think it on par with ME1+2. In retrospect and upon playing it Skyrim is hell of a lot more fun as an RPG and the game I go back to while ME 1+2 languish on the shelf.
I think, what sold me on it...Was the first time I walked down the road and stopped to look at fish jumping in a stream, at the setting sun. And just watching things. It was, in a word, magical.

 

[The_Lost_King]

What I would like to see is a return of meaningful consequences like we saw in Morrowind and, more recently, New Vegas. I should not be able to have my vampire Listener don his Shrouded Armor, ride up to Whiterun on the back of his demon horse, walk into the city with impunity, head to Jorrvaskr and apply for a job with the Companions. You should have to choose, and those choices should close off certain paths while opening others. Completionists won't be happy, but this is a role playing game; we have to play a role.

Why do you have to have the game slap you on the hand and say no? Tell yourself no. Also in Morrowind you could still join all of the factions. I mean come on, I barely even roleplay but I still don't let my Listener join the companions.

 

[irishda]

If gamers, especially RPG gamers (who are notorious for the longest play periods), are given a lot of things to do, they're willing to overlook a lot of flaws.

 

[IronMit]

A common saying about Skyrim which has probably already been mentioned, ' as wide as an ocean but with the depth of a puddle'

I had 120 hours of pure fun...followed by 40 hours of the completionist in me wrapping everything up. That's when I realised some of these rpg's use leveling systems and upgrades/perks like a drug. You're not even playing for the story...just the privilege of unlocking a perk so you can finally fight how you want to...but the combat is pretty poor.

As soon as I got to dual enchanting the game was broken. I had to up it to master (I never play on highest difficulty) but skyrim on Master was a cake walk. I stood in front of Alduin and just laughed at his 'shouts'.
I assassinated the Emperor and Nobody cared. Nothing changed. I joined one faction...went through half the questline and I was still allowed to roam the opposition towns freely.

 

[Jeyal]

Skyrim is one of a handful of games I consider "watercooler games," in that each of my friends/co-workers/casual acquaintances who have played the game can identify a moment (or several) that has a story. In the 80s/90s, we had highscores as brag-worthy items- -"watercooler games" have individual moments that resonate on a high level- -and make an excellent story to tell to others.

It's what makes several of the similarly (and probably fairly) over-hyped games be remembered so fondly. Falling through a scenery doesn't make for a good story. Drinking an invisibility potion and pickpocketing the heart out of an unsuspecting Forsworn Briarheart? Casting one spell and turning a wedding speech into a viloent free-for-all? Being ambushed by two dragons, only to summon one of my own and have a two-on-two battle? I never get tired of telling stories of things like that.

 

[Zenn3k]

I enjoyed it for awhile, then it started to get pretty old.

A lot of the games mechanics held it back, the skill up system effectively made you capable of being a god...so no "classes" made replayablity very low. Why create a new character to be an archer when 10 minutes of shooting arrows will max out my skill on my 2 handed sword orc warrior? I could self-impose limitations, but I feel if I have to do that, the game was incorrectly designed.

The quests were boring. Go here, get this, bring it back...over and over and over.

The voice acting was good, the story was alright...although it being my first Elder Scrolls game, I can't say I understood it all very well.

The "immune to death" NPCs are what really killed the game for me, and since I had the 360 version I had no mods. I don't like immersion breaking mechanics, there is simply no excuse for it, its lazy.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Plain and simple:

Exploration. And I'm looking at this from a playing on Xbox 360 perspective, so vanilla game(and I haven't had the money for the expansions).

Even if I did have a PC that would run it, I wouldn't count mods, because a game has to stand up on what it is in the beginning, not what people can do by tweaking, tinkering, changing the game after.

Seriously, I've gotten lost in Skyrim for over 120 hours exploring and doing just the non-storyline quests. I'll admit that I haven't even beat the main story yet, not really that far into it either, only just completed Diplomatic Immunity yesterday.

The land is vast and it just looks so good, even on the less graphically inclined console. I've discovered and been to over 150 different places and I know I still haven't seen nearly half of what is in the game.

Also I don't just encounter new things in the new places I find, with the randomness of the game I can walk around places I've already been and still see new things randomly happening, random npcs going wherever they are going, or getting into fights with other npc or creatures without me being close or sometimes even without me seeing it because I got their well after the situation occurred.

Lastly, who doesn't love random dragon attacks at any time to keep you on your toes, even during times when you are in the middle of a quest that doesn't even involve dragons. Example: I was doing that Daedra quest with the talking dog, and as I was following the dog to where I needed to go to do the rest of the quest, a random "ancient" dragon came down and I fought it along with the help of said talking dog. Fighting dragons with a talking dog, sounds like some crazy new fantasy/comedy show for TV.

 

[JagermanXcell]

If theres one thing I did enjoy the most about Skyrim its the building of ones character and the sense of discovery. After seeing nothing but mountains of snow it always feels good to come across a swamp and find a mysterious cave. "Whats in it? Vampires? A relic involved in a large side quest? New spells?" That feeling kept me playing. But yeah the flaws are to glaringly obvious:
-Combat is broken and can even be broken to just breeze through everything
-Main story is dull and lacks motivation
-Characters are boring.
-Dungeons... don't eve get me started on those, thank Talos for the Dwarven ruins cause those ruins kept me playing.
-Choice is almost completely gone and Its a shame cause I did like how in Fallouts dialogue you could either: A.Answer nicely or B.Answer like a dick. And in Skyrim its:
A.Get to the point and tell me what Drauger infested dungeon I need to go to! or B. Whats the story behind the Drauger infested dungeon I'm being sent to, I suddenly gained curiosity!?

Heres the worst offender:
-Dragons were overrated. Way to build up the hype to fight a dragon, only for my 4th/5th encounter with one to be less about the thrill of fighting a FRKING DRAGON! and more of the thought: "I wonder if i'll have the weight to carry this flying corpse's bones in about 5 seconds?" -_-

Still a fun game. I return to it every so often to discover new things and create new builds.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Plain and simple:

Exploration. And I'm looking at this from a playing on Xbox 360 perspective, so vanilla game(and I haven't had the money for the expansions).

Even if I did have a PC that would run it, I wouldn't count mods, because a game has to stand up on what it is in the beginning, not what people can do by tweaking, tinkering, changing the game after.

Seriously, I've gotten lost in Skyrim for over 120 hours exploring and doing just the non-storyline quests. I'll admit that I haven't even beat the main story yet, not really that far into it either, only just completed Diplomatic Immunity yesterday.

The land is vast and it just looks so good, even on the less graphically inclined console. I've discovered and been to over 150 different places and I know I still haven't seen nearly half of what is in the game.

Also I don't just encounter new things in the new places I find, with the randomness of the game I can walk around places I've already been and still see new things randomly happening, random npcs going wherever they are going, or getting into fights with other npc or creatures without me being close or sometimes even without me seeing it because I got their well after the situation occurred.

Lastly, who doesn't love random dragon attacks at any time to keep you on your toes, even during times when you are in the middle of a quest that doesn't even involve dragons. Example: I was doing that Daedra quest with the talking dog, and as I was following the dog to where I needed to go to do the rest of the quest, a random "ancient" dragon came down and I fought it along with the help of said talking dog. Fighting dragons with a talking dog, sounds like some crazy new fantasy/comedy show for TV.

I agree.

I've spent a lot of my time just faffing about and just wandering around the whole entire world. I have 100 hours logged in before I even started the main quest again, and I only did that because I was done with the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood missions, which were a blast.

I ran into side missions from exploring that I would've never done before if I didn't do that, and I had some of the craziest shit happen to me too while dungeon crawling. Trying to fight a Dragon Priest to end the quest is really hard when a bear and dragon come and invade it your little fight. Probably my favorite side quest is where my character did a drinking contest with this guy, got completely drunk and passed out, and I had to fix the aftermath. I don't want to ruin the whole thing, but it was hilarious. XD

 

[Sonic Doctor]

If gamers, especially RPG gamers (who are notorious for the longest play periods), are given a lot of things to do, they're willing to overlook a lot of flaws.

Yup, while RPG gamers do like to have good gameplay mechanics and whatnot, RPG gaming mainly comes down to story and exploration questing.

If the story is phenomenal, most of us will forgive the game for not having good exploration questing, gameplay mechanics, graphics, etc.

If the game has tons of awesome exploration questing, most of us will forgive the game for having bad story and the other things I mentioned.

 

[gorfias]

I'm frustrated that I used a mod that made me invulnerable, which was fun until I was in a story line in which I'm supposed to lose a fight and end up in jail. I think it edits the ini file. You know of a way to temp. disable it?

Is it an ESP file (did you have to tick it in the mods section)? If yes, then just untick it. If it edited your ini file then just delete your ini file and when you next play Skyrim the game will create a new default one.

Interesting advice. I'll take a look. I started Skyrim on DVD but Steam allowed me to use its utility. I'll have to look in a couple of different folders for the right ini file.

On topic though, I used MODS to get a good horse too, enhance special effects, add animations.

I like one that can turn my horse into a car.

Other than the cheats and mods, the game was OK. No Fallout 3 GOTY edition. I needed the MODS to be impressed by it.

 

[bug_of_war]

Afraid I'm with the OP, I found Skyrim really, really dull and nowhere near as absorbing or fantastical as Morrowind. Preffered it to Oblivion, but still not a game I'd highly recommend.

I can't understand how the mods add much depth to it either? I play offline 360 so have no mod access anyway, but all the mods I have seen don't seem to add anything of substance to the game?

If you've never played a super modded Skyrim you will never understand. I too play it on offline Xbox 360, but mates of mine have the game on computer, and with some of the mods they had the game becomes even more fun. There are mods that make you a Vampire being tortured in the dungeon at the start of the game, allow you to play as other races, join factions such as the Forsworn. Basically, it really does become a different game when mods come into play.