What I was expecting was something different.surg3n said:
For destruction, either a form of Dual casting that allowed you to mix two spells into a different sort of spell - what I'd originally thought the perk was for - or more variety would have been nice. The wall spells are basically the first spells you get with the added bonus that they will stay where you cast them for a while, and cost you 500 times the mana. Fire Bolt and Fire Ball are the exact same thing, just one is bigger splash and more damage. Same thing for Ice Spike and Lightning Bolt. The runes were something different, and spells like Ice Storm were refreshing, but it would have been nice to get some more interesting spells rather than a rehash of a previous one. Aaand balance the mana so you can actually cast your new spells well - who knew 500 mana could disappear in 14 seconds?
Sword fighting needed to be more than just mash attack. Look at games like Dark souls. Rolling, parrying, seperate attack types, stamina being of more use than 'Can I one hit it yet?', poise - aspects that make combat more interesting than standing in front of each other clicking until the other dies.
Archery, unlock more tactical options. Rather than only perks that will help with your current tactics, include ones that unlock new ones. Piercing arrows, so that when enemies are lined up you can hit them all. Shooting multiple arrows at once in a spreadshot - so that when a group of enemies come at you you can deal some damage to them all. Look at the tactical RPG style combat systems, where abilities usually upgrade for things like that to unlock more opportunities when fighting, 'cause simply giving the bow more damage or accuracy is done in stats and you gotta have something to level up in it in. Hell, I didn't try it, so correct me if I'm wrong here, but a bow bash. Strike out with a melee attack from your bow. Low damage, very short stun, but will allow you to get out of a tight spot and change weapons if need be.
Conjuration not a lot can be done for, but something like a Dominate skill - letting you take control of the conjured being - would have been a nice addition.
Alteration could have done with something like levitate or Icarian flight - for use on both you and the enemy. I realise there is telekinesis, but tell me it wouldn't be fun to jump over a mountain, or up into a dragon. Then you've got your landing spells too. Add to that spells that do things other than paralyse an enemy - say, it poisons them or something - and the class would be more interesting to play.
Illusion spells really had not much to do with illusion at all. Add in spells that cause an ethereal clone of you to appear, that make you look like something else (Appear Bear, Appear Troll, Appear Dragon or something of the likes), spells that make enemies attack thin air - that sort of thing would be interesting.
But Skyrim isn't real life is it? I get it has to follow a theme, so you're not going to get magical flying ponies (Thank the maker) or anything, but some more variety would be nice. Awe inspiring sights should be common in Skyrim, not rare. Looking at Solitude up on the Arch from the docks - that was nice. Heading into the main cavern of Blackreach and finding this massive underground area bigger than what I had ever seen before was nice. The differences in Architecture between most of the holds was great too. I realise they cannot create hundreds or thousands of new textures so that their primary audience won't have long loading times or FPS issues, but you don't even need to make more than 20 new models and textures. That cave with the bones stuck in gears - that section was something different, and utilising the assets already there. That Dwemer ruin that started off lateral but then took a vertical plunge so that you were walking on the walls - or falling down them - that was interesting, and utilising assets already there. More things like that that utilise current assets, but are somewhat different to the norm, would be nice. Add in a few more assets and do some areas up extra nicely, and I'd be happy. There is only so many times turning stones to get snake to match snake is fun, only once that you can have that revelation that the code to the door is on the claw itself, only a few times where that unexpected trap will scare the hell out of you. You go to one dungeon in Skyrim, you've visited pretty much all of them, with a few exceptions. Think of some new puzzles - not that hard, that sort of thing is everywhere on the Internet - play with our perceptions of the environment, add in a couple of new assets to use in maybe 1 in 10 of the dungeons for each, so that each dungeon has some semi-unique feature as opposed to each having the exact same features as the previous ones, and only storyline dungeons with anything different. That sort of thing would be possible, and would add a lot of life to Skyrim.
Hell, one thing I'd really like to see is a castle with a different design. I swear, every castle I have gone to has been pretty much the exact same layout of its interior. I'll grant a few exceptions, but when I can walk into a castle and know its whole floorplan without having ever been there before - something's wrong.
I never, EVER, play with cheats on my first run through of anything. I enjoy a challenge more than I enjoy blitzing everything - unless that challenge is just a grind and blitzing everything is in some crazy way that is extremely entertaining. The only times I used console commands in Skyrim was to fix a glitch, like the one I mentioned in my previous post where you cannot continue with a quest if you collect the book before you get the quest, or if you clear out a dungeon before you're sent there. That sort of stuff isn't even cheating - its fixing what Bethesda couldn't be bothered, and it is more aggravating when it is unfixable - such as the Thane of Riften glitch.
Skyrim held no challenge for me. At current state, I one hit all dragons up to Elder with a dual Daedric power attack. Most other creatures the same. Magic will take at most one minute to kill something, and Archery is a joke with how powerful the sneak attacks get. I could keep levelling, but there is no point. I could travel to that tree icon I haven't been to before on my compass, but I'll already have seen what is there in at least 5 other places. I could quests, but all the quests available are the same ones I've already done.
Alternatively, my second playthrough was more entertaining.
Modded dragons to be far more difficult. I'm talking 300% health increase and 300% damage increase difficult, with higher resistances and my own innate resistances lowered, and extra types of dragons with different abilities.
I've started using the commands to make Skyrim more immersion, considering it did a rather poor job of portraying a living world beforehand.
I'll now set some alarms for times during the day that, since I play at different times and lose track of time whilst playing, I'll spawn some Stormcloak and Imperial soldiers who will fight it out for me.
When I come across a random NPC who gives a radiant quest, I disable them until I reach a certain criteria - aka: Become a member of the College of Winterhold, or the companions, or the thieves guild, or the dark Brotherhood, or Thane of that hold.
When I come across an area that feels dead, I'll add in some wandering giants and mammoths, and I'll host bandit raids on towns.
I can't yet fix the problems with the samey dungeons, but modders - when given the creation kit - will likely do that for me.
Now, don't get me wrong, Skyrim is not a bad game. What it is is slightly above average. A large world is its greatest attribute, but the denizens of the world lack any sort of feeling of being alive, whilst the greatest foes in that world die to my sword in one hit. The world is also dead, waiting for the player to do something to spark a portion of it into life, and then only temporarily.
Add to that broken balance, a game that doesn't work on a number of PS3s, removal of fun parts of the game likely in the name of balance - a pointless venture if ever there was one -, quest ruining and at times game breaking bugs (Esbern will go through his speach he does when you hunt him down in 1/2 a second and not open the door, at least on PC), short storylines and the reliance on the player making their own fun rather than the game providing fun, and Skyrim does not sit at GOTY for me. Top ten of all time? I'd have to replace Morrowind with it, and Morrowind is better than Skyrim IMO, for all of the issues it itself has.
Skyrim was a breathe of fresh air out of the shooter season this year and all the other sequel junk that came out, that we'd already played 90% of in previous titles, but I see nothing extraordinary about it.
