What made Skyrim so good?
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What made it good was the hype created by any new release through clever marketing and obsessive fanboys/fangirls. You'll notice it didn't take long for threads of "Omg Skyrim Best game EVARR!!" to disappear from forums.
What makes it so good is well, nothing, because it isn't.
What makes it so good is well, nothing, because it isn't.
As a dungeon crawler it's great. The best times I had with Skyrim was when I was simply exploring a cave system, stealth-killing dudes with my bow and looting their shit.
As an actual RPG it was pretty flacid. No matter how gritty and rustic everything looked the world itself didn't feel alive at all. This was mainly due to the NPCs seemingly not being aware of the goings on in the world. The fact that I was the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, yet still treated like a damn novice when joining the Thieves Guild - these two factions having extremely close ties - was freaking ridiculous.
The quests didn't contain of much except "go there and do that, or don't". New Vegas had numerous quests where the objective changed part way through, or you could change your allegiance. None of that in Skyrim, which is another thing that was detriment to establishing a fleshed out setting.
The ability to level falls dead in its tracks the moment your prefered skills are at 100, because the game only awards you XP for performing actions, not killing enemies and finishing quests. This means the only way to continue leveling is by using skills that you don't want to, and are pathetically weak at since you never used them. Again the role playing element in this game shoots itself in the foot.
And the dragons really lose their shine and impact when they're dropping out of the sky like flies.
As an actual RPG it was pretty flacid. No matter how gritty and rustic everything looked the world itself didn't feel alive at all. This was mainly due to the NPCs seemingly not being aware of the goings on in the world. The fact that I was the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, yet still treated like a damn novice when joining the Thieves Guild - these two factions having extremely close ties - was freaking ridiculous.
The quests didn't contain of much except "go there and do that, or don't". New Vegas had numerous quests where the objective changed part way through, or you could change your allegiance. None of that in Skyrim, which is another thing that was detriment to establishing a fleshed out setting.
The ability to level falls dead in its tracks the moment your prefered skills are at 100, because the game only awards you XP for performing actions, not killing enemies and finishing quests. This means the only way to continue leveling is by using skills that you don't want to, and are pathetically weak at since you never used them. Again the role playing element in this game shoots itself in the foot.
And the dragons really lose their shine and impact when they're dropping out of the sky like flies.
I didn't really enjoy Skyrim and i'm quite a big fan of fantasy RPGs. The problem for me was the levelling system was too easy to abuse and too easy to get everything upto max level without really trying. The combat is pathetically simple and the crafting system is broken. The story wasn't bad and some of the level designs were great but shiny graphics and good story do not make a good game.
I don't look at the mantlepiece when i'm poking the fire!
I don't look at the mantlepiece when i'm poking the fire!
What I loved about Skyrim was the exploration, I have not played any other RPG that had the environments that Bethesda can create. Every cave was unique so exploring was made so much fun.
I have grown bored with the game, but that is to be expected whith a game with combat gameplay as a secondary feature. It is a RPG through and through. Only thing lacking was a solid story and better animations.
I would say that the game deserved all it's praise. One should never review a game after playing it more than once.
I have grown bored with the game, but that is to be expected whith a game with combat gameplay as a secondary feature. It is a RPG through and through. Only thing lacking was a solid story and better animations.
I would say that the game deserved all it's praise. One should never review a game after playing it more than once.
The choices.
You could literally just go anywhere pretty much right from the start. It made it really easy to talk to your friends about it and I found it really interesting to find out what they did compared to all my dumb decisions. I enjoyed the fact that you could basically fuck everything up in a quest and it would (most of the time) act accordingly. I remember not listening to a quest and just read the requirements "BURN DOWN" so I went and burnt the place to the ground only to find out I was just meant to burn 2 or 3 huts. They didn't give me much money for that mission which made me pay more attention and become more immersed later on
I never finished the main quest or any of the sidequest sidelines but MY WORD did I have fun when I was playing it
You could literally just go anywhere pretty much right from the start. It made it really easy to talk to your friends about it and I found it really interesting to find out what they did compared to all my dumb decisions. I enjoyed the fact that you could basically fuck everything up in a quest and it would (most of the time) act accordingly. I remember not listening to a quest and just read the requirements "BURN DOWN" so I went and burnt the place to the ground only to find out I was just meant to burn 2 or 3 huts. They didn't give me much money for that mission which made me pay more attention and become more immersed later on
I never finished the main quest or any of the sidequest sidelines but MY WORD did I have fun when I was playing it
Skyrim wasn't good. In fact it was very, very bad. Subjectively and objectively. Objectively, because it was broken for so many people at release.
Subjectively, well, if you compare it to the closest obvious competitor, Fallout, you realize how few features it has, and how shallow its existing features are. There was nothing good or interesting about the writing or the dialogue--Fallout rocked its socks off. Fallout had two distinct combat systems. Fallout had great lore. Fallout offered multiple approaches to completing quests. Fallout was Fallout, the game Skyrim wanted to be when it grew up before it discovered boys and teen pregnancy and a job as a McDonald's cashier.
Skyrim had bad graphics(the world geometry was out of scale with the player, and even old, weathered matte wood was lousy with... hot spots from light reflecting off of them. Bwuh?), atrocious character models, boring, tedious, vapid gameplay, monotonous dungeon design, shallow dialogue, very, very few actual choices to make, puzzles for which the answers were literally written on the walls above them, vacuous companions, a fantasy story as generic as all get out... *shudder*
I've only traded in one game in my twenty three years as a video gamer, and it was Skyrim.
Subjectively, well, if you compare it to the closest obvious competitor, Fallout, you realize how few features it has, and how shallow its existing features are. There was nothing good or interesting about the writing or the dialogue--Fallout rocked its socks off. Fallout had two distinct combat systems. Fallout had great lore. Fallout offered multiple approaches to completing quests. Fallout was Fallout, the game Skyrim wanted to be when it grew up before it discovered boys and teen pregnancy and a job as a McDonald's cashier.
Skyrim had bad graphics(the world geometry was out of scale with the player, and even old, weathered matte wood was lousy with... hot spots from light reflecting off of them. Bwuh?), atrocious character models, boring, tedious, vapid gameplay, monotonous dungeon design, shallow dialogue, very, very few actual choices to make, puzzles for which the answers were literally written on the walls above them, vacuous companions, a fantasy story as generic as all get out... *shudder*
I've only traded in one game in my twenty three years as a video gamer, and it was Skyrim.
Because life has consequences. For example, in New Vegas, siding with faction A makes faction B shoot you on sight, causes faction C to stop talking to you and forces you to eliminate faction D entirely. It makes sense, makes the world feel alive and contributes to the suspension of disbelief, if you're into that.The_Lost_King said:
Not exactly true about Morrowind. Vampirism, for example, resticts your options to having to kill Vivec or forgo the main quest entirely. Decisions have consequences. Hand slapping has nothing to do with it.
This was the first game I played in ten years and it made me a gamer again. I can't really compare it to everything out there and certainly couldn't when it first came out, but the game just has a ton of everything. Its a great big living breathing world. Oblivion was big too (I went back and played it after Skyrim) but in Oblivion the wide open landscape was sorely lacking in variation making travel nothing but a chore.
I'll just have to take your word that Morrowind was better, but honestly I suspect that most of the people who played Skyrim have not played Morrowind. I guess if it is better, then I can see why you aren't impressed with Skyrim. Oh well.
If what you want is a great set of game mechanics, I agree Skyrim falls short there but plenty of gamers enjoy other aspects of games, from narrative to exploration and Skyrim pays off the exploration angle in spades. It fact, if you read books on game markets, the market for exploration in games is much greater than the market for shooters. So what we have is a case of a somewhat starved gamer demographic suddenly getting a feast. Almost an all you can eat buffet.
I'm not interested in killing stuff or being better than other gamers. I want a rich world to devour and Skyrim delivers, as far as I can tell, better than any game out there.
I'll just have to take your word that Morrowind was better, but honestly I suspect that most of the people who played Skyrim have not played Morrowind. I guess if it is better, then I can see why you aren't impressed with Skyrim. Oh well.
If what you want is a great set of game mechanics, I agree Skyrim falls short there but plenty of gamers enjoy other aspects of games, from narrative to exploration and Skyrim pays off the exploration angle in spades. It fact, if you read books on game markets, the market for exploration in games is much greater than the market for shooters. So what we have is a case of a somewhat starved gamer demographic suddenly getting a feast. Almost an all you can eat buffet.
I'm not interested in killing stuff or being better than other gamers. I want a rich world to devour and Skyrim delivers, as far as I can tell, better than any game out there.
Why would the Companions turn away the Listener? They aren't the good guys. They're a bunch of mercenaries with some literal monsters in their ranks.Two Bears said:
Both groups kill for money, both groups treat their members like family, both groups have standards and they're both neutral in the world's larger conflicts. The Companions actually endorse undergoing a blood ritual to become a werewolf and then get into a long blood feud with werewolf hunters. These are not nice people. The real good guys are the leaders of the Imperials and Ulfric Stormcloak. Both are actually fighting for good causes. Also, the Blades and the Elders.
And your choices there do have consequences. If you choose Imperials or Stormcloaks, the other side becomes your enemy, the Thalmor see more open opposition from Stormcloaks (if you win the war for the Stormcloaks, they'll actually help you when you attack Thalmor in town). You're also forced to choose between the Blades and the Elders. Neither side will attack you because you're the Dragonborn and than still counts but they'll no longer aid you if you side with their opposite number.
Companions favor honor; a straight-up fight. Kodlak even goes to admonish the sneaky-stabby types as dishonorable individuals that cannot compete. Furthermore, the Companions are a legal organization. Both the Dark Brotherhood and Theives Guild are illegal by nature, but even that doesn't matter. I can walk around in their armor and nothing happens. "Hey guys, I'm just here to murder some people and steal some stuff, but I'll be around later to join your guild of honor. Maybe talk the jarl. It's cool if I get real close to him right? Don't let the outfit put your off, nor the fact that people end up face down in the gutter and stuff goes missing when I'm around put you off; I'm totally legit."KingDragonlord said:
There's another great example of what is wrong. I can don my legion armor and stroll the streets of Windhelm with impunity. It is evidently practice to let enemy soldiers hang out in the opposing faction's capital. The Greybeards and Blades also is pretty lame. I can walk away without making a choice, and if I do make a choice, the game world remains unchanged. Two guilds with zero influence are vying for the support of a guy who evidently has even less influence. All that changes is what meaningless ability I can use. Not exactly a role playing experience, is it?
It's the sequel to oblivion, and is a huge open world game with impressive graphics. Gameplay is decent. Unfortunately it gets boring rather quickly.
I think it just released in the perfect time. People were growing tired of the FPS, Call of Duty, Battlefield, what have you dominating the gaming in every sense. Out came Skyrim, something so radically different. A game where you could go in any direction, fight with bow and swords, removed (most) of the problems that have plagued it's own series. Oblivion had came out five years earlier, and there were just so many problems with it ("Stop there criminal scum!"), it was the perfect time to make a high fantasy sandbox for people to play in.King Aragorn said:
Awesome exploration in an incredible world.
Roleplaying
Best combat of TES series (not saying much but it's actually pretty good IMO)
Some really great quests and quest lines (The Staff of Magnus was one of my favourite quests ever)
Mods to increase its already insane replay value
Roleplaying
Best combat of TES series (not saying much but it's actually pretty good IMO)
Some really great quests and quest lines (The Staff of Magnus was one of my favourite quests ever)
Mods to increase its already insane replay value
Skyrim's combat isn't even that bad. Sure it's not as in depth as other games but you're success is based more on numbers and gear than actual skill (although it does play a part).Risingblade said:
Also, I found Dishonored's melee combat to be quite fun and very fluid. It wouldn't work in the ES though since it's significantly more skill based than gear based and all of the enemies are relatively easy to kill if you plan your attack carefully.
So, it is official, they need the feedback from the fans, especially their favorite concept, the bugs from the game, the casual execution, the patch that troubling by handling both consoles and PC and of course, understand what immersion, exploration and epic really means. Bring on Elder Scrolls VI!
Iunno, because it's fun. There are a lot of things that we should hate in theory but for some reason enjoy. Unhealthy foods for example. I mean, I love Skyrim but it IS a clunky, buggy mess that doesn't have the best story or animations or voice acting and I should hate it. But something about it that I can't quite nail down keeps me coming back and having fun doing it. I think it's the exploring. No other game that I've played (I haven't played much morrowind so I don't know much about it) has given me the sense of actually exploring this immense world full of actual people living their actual lives.