Why is Skyrim popular?

[Weaver]

protip: different people like different things.

I liked Skyward Sword and Skyrim. I also have major design complaints about each of them.

1) The dowsing in skyward sword is grindy, boring and irritating. It servers nothing more than to just pad things.

2) The UI in Skyrim is awful and Destruction magic needs massive, massive balance adjustments. Luckily mods are in the works.

 

[SextusMaximus]

Embarrassing excuse for thread. You haven't played it, and you're asking WHY it's popular?

Fantastic game, with an extensive, expensive marketing campaign.

 

[Tryforlive]

It is awesome cause it can hold me over until mass effect 3

 

[irishda]

How do you think I feel? I think LittleBigPlanet is one of the greatest games ever, but it might as well have been a new Madden game the attention it got on here. Some games are more popular with this community then others.

 

[djAMPnz]

A sub-standard if not retarded script, bugs and glitches in every corner of the game, a completely broken and lazy PS3 port and gameplay mechanics that have been outclassed by so many games before it add up to a game that doesn't deserve the memetic status it holds.

I like the script. I barely noticed any bugs or glitches. I play on Xbox, so PS3 port isn't an issue. And I think the gameplay mechanics are awesome. And if you don't like the meme, just ignore it.

I, like many, many others, love this game. It's totally immersive for me. I get absorbed in the world and my character and there seems to be an endless supply of things to do. If you play this game you need to a have a decent attention span as there is a lot to take in. There is an absolute plethora of information on any topic in the game (in game, that is) and many, many books to read. Just don't play it as you would a FPS, or play to "beat" the game. If you go into it that way you're totally missing the point.

Also, I don't have a Wii, but Skyward Sword does sound like it'd be pretty cool.

 

[Pyotr Romanov]

I think it's mostly because there's more to talk about in Skyrim than there is in Skyward Sword, as everybody has different adventures in that game due to its ridiculous amount of freedom.
I'd imagine a conversation between two fellow Skywarders to go a little something like this:
"Hey, I beat ... yesterday, did you beat...?"
"Oh yeah, I fought him last week, was good, wasn't it?"
"Yeah!"
"..."
"..."
"Oh, and the music was good"

When everyone experiences more or less the same thing, no matter how amazing said thing was, there won't ever be much to talk about. In the case of Skyrim, however, everybody plays different stories, characters, and partakes in different scenarios. Things like this [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/11/21/skyrim-lydia-death/] happen, which other people might never experience. This is why Skyrim is such a beauty of a game, even with it's faults.
I'm sure Skyward Sword is an amazing game, though to be honest I never really cared much for Zelda games, but in terms of aftermath, it's hard to fight against something as open ended as Skyrim.

 

[Sexy Devil]

Umm... wait a second...

"Skyward Sword is so awesome!"
"Why do people like Skyrim?"

What exactly do these two things have to do with one another? Because I can't help but get the impression that you're sulky about the fact that people (or at least the people here) are talking about Skyrim instead of Zelda.

He kinda has a point. I remember around the time Skyrim came out, whenever someone made a post about some other new game, the general reaction was "Wait, this isn't Skyrim. Let's talk about Skyrim!"

 

[Chunga the Great]

Because people sometimes like things other people don't. And as for the glitches, I played on the 360 and expierenced ZERO glitches except for a few pathfinding errors (perfectly acceptible in my book)

 

[AyreonMaiden]

Speaking as someone who agrees 100% with the OP in that SS was leagues more fun than Skyrim...

Count in your hands how many possibilities are in SS compared to Skyrim. Can you role-play in Zelda? Can you convincingly tell your own tale? Can you roam free and watch a procedural world go about its business? Can you plunder one minute then dance on a table the next? Can you kill a whole village?

In Skyrim you can, and an assload more. In my 38 blissful hours with SS, I found no such possibilities and it is such things create discussion value because they vary from gamer to gamer. I feel you, being a Zelda fanboy who also wants to talk about SS, but facts is facts. Whether it's better or not is up for debate, but it is a stone cold fact that Skyrim is and does far more than Skyward Sword.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Jesus fucking Christ. The frequency with which questions like this pop up on these forums have led me to believe that a significant proportion of posters here are heroically shit-brained.

Because people like it. That's why. Read some reviews of any game, and you will find some positive points about said game. People like those.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

It seems to me like we've scared the OP off. Although, to be honest, I was about to quote the OP and respond with a simple picture of a man facepalming.

Asking "Why is Game X more popular than My Favorite Game of the Moment?" isn't what I'd call the brightest example of research. People have varying tastes, different strokes for different folks, and all that. It's the sort of question that comes with a painfully obvious answer.

I barely scratched the surface of Twilight Princess, whereas I'm wasting days away in Skyrim. Personal preferences at their finest. If you balk at that statement, OP, then I regret to inform you that I, as an individual with my own tastes, cannot find a kindred spirit or interesting character in a pointy-eared man-child with golden hair and oversized eyes whose entire lexicon can be resumed to variations on "SKANK!" and "SEIYAA!"

Does this mean that Skyward Sword is a bad game? No. Far from it. It only means I'm not interested in it.

 

[Kimarous]

I love Skyward Sword. (It may seem weird that the first paragraph of a thread has no apparent connection with its title, but bear with me.) It's beautiful, well-written and solid, and really pushes the Wii's hardware to its limit. It is a game that everyone deserves to get, and a game that would turn any graphics junkie or motion-control naysayers into followers of the Nintendo way.

It has horrible visual design, shits all over lore, has samey gameplay, and if that's pushing the Wii's hardware, it just goes to show what pathetic hardware the Wii has.

See, this kind of argument works both ways.

 

[Random Fella]

Because it's a vast world of explorable wonders and dangers, where one can jump in, and be sent to a completely different world.
A world with beautiful scenery and huge amounts of quests.

 

[RedPulse]

I played Skyward Sword and Skyrim, i am a fan of both, Zelda & the elder scrolls. But you just cannot compare them..

But here you are forcing people to compare them. Let me just put it this way: The gameplay in Skyrim is way deeper, longer and it stays fun. Maybe not as fun as the good old Zelda fun. but still.. Play it for yourself

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Are you trolling?

...

Or just a particularly whiny fanboy?

Skyrim has a vast amount of content and the modability of it means that it essentially has infinte content, all of which you can play through using whatever style you prefer, the many stories are all pretty good, the world has a vast amount of characters...
Yes, there are bugs. Yes, the port was a bit of mess, but the mod community has probably sorted that out already. It doesn't matter.

TL;DR - People talk about Skyrim more because Skyrim is better.

 

[Kadoodle]

It's open world, provides hundreds upon hundreds of hours of gameplay, it's setting draws from viking and middle-earthian styles, there is a ton of room for customization so that you can play any style you want, the combat is fun (the finishing moves are awesome and satisfying), there's a shitload of lore, and you fight dragons.

It's everything I've ever wanted in a RPG. They nailed every fucking thing.

Zelda is great, but it doesn't compare, in my opinion.

 

[chadachada123]

As has been said before, Skyrim offers a vast open world RPG. The main plug and draw of the game is ABSOLUTE FREEDOM! You can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone, You don't even have to follow the main questline.

Everything except kill children, of course.

 

[Ebulliant-Hater]

Well, I've had the privlage to play both games. To say Skyword sword is pushing the Wii's hardware really isin't saying much (Especially for the Wii) and it hasen't thrown me with the motion control's half a second response time, as with any Wii game. As far as story, it's not as good as previous Zelda titles and not nearly as appealing... (Twilight Princess was far more engaging)

As for Skyrim, THAT really pushes the hardware of whatever it's on. WAY better than Skyword sword does, so if that's a point you're gunnin' for it's entirly wasted. As far as story, it's not the best in the world, but neither is Skyword sword. In fact, it has a level of complexity that deepens the more you play the game, in directions apart from the main story line. It's much more interesting, especially since this leads to the big obvious point that makes Skyrim better... (Don't even get me started on the gameplay)

Freedom. An Expansive world where you are free to do what you like, and will engage is some of the coolest quests and battles you'll play this year. Zelda is entirly linear and never deviates. Good game, but doesn't come close to Skyrim, or other Zelda games for that matter.

This whole thread to me sounds like a Zelda fan-boy wishing more people were talking bout Skyword sword because his parents won't buy him TWO expensive games. I recommend you grovel and hope for the best.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I love Skyward Sword. (It may seem weird that the first paragraph of a thread has no apparent connection with its title, but bear with me.) It's beautiful, well-written and solid, and really pushes the Wii's hardware to its limit. It is a game that everyone deserves to get, and a game that would turn any graphics junkie or motion-control naysayers into followers of the Nintendo way.

See this is your opinion. Other people have different opinions. It is how life works.
My opinion of Skyward Sword is that it is fun and I like how they went away from Ganon but I still like Windwaker waaay more. I honestly think WW is a better looking game too.
For many people, open world games in a fantasy setting where you can do pretty much whatever you want are the most fun type of game. Skyrim is possibly the best game in that genre. PS3 issues aside, it's actually really not that buggy. I've only fought an invisible dragon (which was actually funny and a good challenge) and had it crash once (but that was after a 6 hour playing session).
The other reason (and this one saddens me) is that most gamers on forums are hardcore gamers. Many of them view the Wii as a casual system that they wouldn't enjoy so they will never actually see the appeal of any Nintendo game. It's a sad, unreasonable truth but there you go. I personally enjoy many of Nintendo's games and am happy to own a Wii.

 

[Racecarlock]

I had never played an elder scrolls game in my life until about 9:40 last night. I played until 2:40 AM. I fought 2 dragons, had to roast some wolves along the way, went through two dungeon adventures, and encountered lots of other life forms and other stories playing out along the way. For 5 hours I was a high elf with dragon family blood. That's why people like skyrim. It's a big open interactive world that they play a major role in but still feel small in, where they can choose any path they desire, and can even catch fish from a river and then eat the meat. They can shout words of power and adventure through huge dungeons and yes, even fight dragons. Hell, I got all of this from playing for only 5 hours. I can't wait to experience whatever I'll experience today.