Support NeoGAF

[disappeared]

One concern I've had with Skyrim since day one... why do ALL of the human male characters look like they're in their 50s (or older)? It wrecks any role-playing potential of being a young adventurer. Human females seem to be more scalable.

 

[thefil]

I think Oblivion was a lot better than Skyrim in some ways.

+ Quests (in general, the MQ in Oblivion did suck)
+ Journal
+ Spell Crafting
+ Utility Spells (chameleon, open locks, etc)
+ City size (makes sense but still)
+ Guild believability (less oh hey be our master)
+ Skill variety (No Unarmed in Skyrim )
+ Less linear dungeons (I think)

I love Skyrim and love Oblivion and love Morrowind. But actually outside of visual/audio experience sometimes I think Oblivion was better than Skyrim. Probably nostalgia goggles.

 

[disappeared]

The DB and Thieves Guilds in Skyrim are a shadow of what they were in Oblivion.

Sadly true.

 

[disappeared]

I think Oblivion was a lot better than Skyrim in some ways.

+ Quests (in general, the MQ in Oblivion did suck)
+ Journal
+ Spell Crafting
+ Utility Spells (chameleon, open locks, etc)
+ City size (makes sense but still)
+ Guild believability (less oh hey be our master)
+ Skill variety (No Unarmed in Skyrim )
+ Less linear dungeons (I think)

I love Skyrim and love Oblivion and love Morrowind. But actually outside of visual/audio experience sometimes I think Oblivion was better than Skyrim. Probably nostalgia goggles.

Very good points.

 

[Kurtofan]

Thanks for your answers, I'll think about it.

 

[rexor0717]

I really miss the ability to pick locks with spells. That was awesome.
So I have a question, why is it that dragons don't actually use the shouts they supposedly know? If I were to turn the game to a higher difficulty, would a dragon ever become ethereal or something? If not, it seems like a wasted opportunity to turn some of the higher level dragon fights into more than "arrows until it dies".

 

[thefil]

Thanks for your answers, I'll think about it.

There's also tons of mods. For example, you can make the melee combat in Oblivion better than Skyrim's with Deadly Reflexes. The community patches fix tons of the bugs. And so on. Not to mention that Oblivion will give you the non-scaled dangerous world experience if you use one of the many large-scale conversions for that purpose.

 

[brotkasten]

Sadly true.

It's one of the main reasons I want to replay Oblivion this Spring, with all the mods, bells and whistles. I'd love to play it right after Skyrim, but I don't think I can see the Gamebyro engine anymore. The only thing I'll definitely miss are the dragons, or at least enemies with that size.

 

[Astra]

In the future, I would like Bethesda to somehow make a game whose world properly bends to the actions of the player. I do not know if such a thing is possible given the time and budgetary restrictions. If it isn't, I don't think I will bother playing another one of these games. I had a great time with Skyrim, but once is enough. The gameplay, puzzles, quests, etc. simply aren't compelling enough to keep me playing long after it has become apparent that my choices in the game have meant nothing.

That would be great, even if it were just the more major actions, like... slaughtering all the guards in a city. Instead we have:

"Halt! You commited crimes against Skyrim and her people. You slaughtered every guard in the city of Whiterun... They were my brothers and sisters in arms. We fought and bled together, for the good of the land, to keep its people safe from the savagery of brigands and bandits, and all manner of foul beast that stalks the land. Now that they are all dead, there is none left to stand against the bandits in the hills. People and caravans are attacked, killed and raped without retribution. The city is in shambles. What say you in your defense?"

"Oh... uh sorry. You caught me. I'll pay off my bounty."

"Well, alright then. I'll just take any of the stolen goods you pilfered from the corpses of my fellow guards, and you're free to go."

"Actually, I stored all that stuff in my home. It's just right there."

"Ah, fuck it. Keep 'em. Just pay the bounty."

"Cool, thanks."

 

[Kurtofan]

There's also tons of mods. For example, you can make the melee combat in Oblivion better than Skyrim's with Deadly Reflexes. The community patches fix tons of the bugs. And so on. Not to mention that Oblivion will give you the non-scaled dangerous world experience if you use one of the many large-scale conversions for that purpose.

Oh yeah, but I play on Xbox.

 

[thefil]

I really miss the ability to pick locks with spells. That was awesome.
So I have a question, why is it that dragons don't actually use the shouts they supposedly know? If I were to turn the game to a higher difficulty, would a dragon ever become ethereal or something? If not, it seems like a wasted opportunity to turn some of the higher level dragon fights into more than "arrows until it dies".

A thousand times this. I hope this is possible with mods, Dragons should use all the shouts. And Fus Ro Dah needs a better effect on the player than the current "I'm dead! Wait, no I'm not... well now I am".

Looking forward to Skyrim in two years.

 

[LordPhoque]

I think Oblivion was a lot better than Skyrim in some ways.

 

[MWS Natural]

Stop killing them. They only die to friendly fire and damage over time effects.

Wish people would stop saying this. I had seen several companions hit down to one knee and beat down until they died. There was no poison or DOT involved.

 

[Emitan]

you could wear pants

its obviously better

 

[bob page]

I think Oblivion was a lot better than Skyrim in some ways.

Except that it was awfully boring and a chore to play.

 

[brotkasten]

Oh yeah, but I play on Xbox.

Well, then you shouldn't bother. I don't think I could go back to vanilla Oblivion anymore.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I think Oblivion was a lot better than Skyrim in some ways.

+ Quests (in general, the MQ in Oblivion did suck)
+ Journal
+ Spell Crafting
+ Utility Spells (chameleon, open locks, etc)
+ City size (makes sense but still)
+ Guild believability (less oh hey be our master)
+ Skill variety (No Unarmed in Skyrim )
+ Less linear dungeons (I think)

I love Skyrim and love Oblivion and love Morrowind. But actually outside of visual/audio experience sometimes I think Oblivion was better than Skyrim. Probably nostalgia goggles.

The only ones on here I'd agree with is the quests. Spell crafting I can't speak to since I haven't dabbled there. The dungeons in Oblivion weren't any less linear, they likewise were big loops that folded back out near the entrance.

At some point I'll do a longer post with some coherent thoughts on the improvements between the (360 versions of) games. So far, the only thing I think Oblivion has over Skyrim is the quest/writing quality, which spiked much higher than Skyrim has so far. Leveling, crafting, combat, scaling, loot, UI, cities/towns (though that is much more of a preference thing), skill progressions, dungeon design, music, sound design, the entire game world, etc. all took significant steps forward, IMO.

With Oblivion I had to qualify my enjoyment of the game so many ways. It's great, but for the bugs. It's great, but for the shitty level scaling. It's great, but for the horrible pop in/distance graphics, and clunky UI, and potato faces, and generic fantasy designs, repetitive dungeons...

I don't find myself having to qualify my enjoyment of Skyrim, at least not nearly to those degrees. I wish they'd been able to hold Oblivion's quest bar and match it with Skyrim's content and design, but alas. I'm hoping for an expansion to really go there (something like Shivering Isles but with Skyrim would be wondrous).

 

[Lakitu]

Whoever posted that how to be a badass unarmed viking in Skyrim video earlier, thank you. I laughed so hard.

 

[Derrick01]

I think Oblivion was a lot better than Skyrim in some ways.

+ Quests (in general, the MQ in Oblivion did suck)
+ Journal
+ Spell Crafting
+ Utility Spells (chameleon, open locks, etc)
+ City size (makes sense but still)
+ Guild believability (less oh hey be our master)
+ Skill variety (No Unarmed in Skyrim )
+ Less linear dungeons (I think)

I love Skyrim and love Oblivion and love Morrowind. But actually outside of visual/audio experience sometimes I think Oblivion was better than Skyrim. Probably nostalgia goggles.

I agree with a lot of those points. I'll leave out the main quest comparison for now because I STILL haven't made it past the 3rd or 4th quest in Skyrim, but the guild quests and actual side quests in Oblivion were far better. Plus there's no Arena that I'm aware of in Skyrim.

Tell me that you can believe with the way Nords are in this game that they wouldn't have a makeshift arena set up somewhere in Skyrim. Probably in the stormcloak areas since they seem to be more wild and barbaric.

 

[brotkasten]

I agree with a lot of those points. I'll leave out the main quest comparison for now because I STILL haven't made it past the 3rd or 4th quest in Skyrim, but the guild quests and actual side quests in Oblivion were far better. Plus there's no Arena that I'm aware of in Skyrim.

Tell me that you can believe with the way Nords are in this game that they wouldn't have a makeshift arena set up somewhere in Skyrim. Probably in the stormcloak areas since they seem to be more wild and barbaric.

DLC.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Arena

Boom.

 

[Derrick01]

DLC.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Arena

Boom.

That would be a cruel joke, about as egregious as horse armor lol.

Making people pay extra for something that requires nothing but using this game's combat system. That's just mean.

 

[Emitan]

That would be a cruel joke, about as egregious as horse armor lol.

Making people pay extra for something that requires nothing but using this game's combat system. That's just mean.

But we need an awesome commentator!

 

[Derrick01]

But we need an awesome commentator!

I personally kind of wanted another annoying fan, but this game already gives plenty of annoying followers out...

 

[zethren]

Damn. But how do I destroy the rest? That one in the south can't be the only one and I want to kill ...

lol

The Dark Brotherhood is in shambles at this point in the time line, at least compared to what it was like in Oblivion's days. If you took out the Pine Forest Sanctuary then you pretty much destroyed the DB, I'd say.

EDIT:

Okay, yeah. The game keeps freezing on me now, but only when I'm using destruction magic. Seems to happen most with Sparks, but I doubt that really has anything to do with it. Kinda getting annoying.

 

[rohlfinator]

Alright guys so my semester ends on December 21st and I plan on doing one thing and one thing only: playing the shit out of Skyrim.

Are there any tips/hints I should know about before I begin the game for the first time?

If you're into exploration, try to resist the urge to fast travel a lot. I regret rushing through the early parts of the game and opening up a lot of the map too soon.

 

[Yo Gotti]

In the future, I would like Bethesda to somehow make a game whose world properly bends to the actions of the player. I do not know if such a thing is possible given the time and budgetary restrictions. If it isn't, I don't think I will bother playing another one of these games. I had a great time with Skyrim, but once is enough. The gameplay, puzzles, quests, etc. simply aren't compelling enough to keep me playing long after it has become apparent that my choices in the game have meant nothing.

I agree with a lot of this post. I said before this game came out that if they don't improve the core mechanics of this game, I don't think I'll be buying the next one. They REALLY need to do something drastic about the combat and AI in the next game.

Another problem that I discovered while playing this game is as much as I love just playing it, I'm starting to fall out of love with the lore of the Elder Scrolls world. Not because it's bad, but when the voice acting is so B-Movie quality, and the animations through every major event "cutscene" in the game are so stiff and terrible, it basically turns the entire experience into a B-Movie grade fantasy world. Which has it's charm, but it gets old after a while. At times I'm listening to characters talk and laughing my ass off as though it's a comedy. I'm sure this isn't what Bethesda intended.

Oblivion was much worse on this front in retrospect but still, I was able to take Morrowind and Oblivion way more seriously than this game story wise. The better graphics and higher fidelity just make all of the weaknesses stand out even more.

 

[Extra Sauce]

Alright so I never really enchanted anything before, was waiting to max out the skill.

Now I finally have 100 Enchanting. I unlocked the Enchanter 5/5, Insightful Enchanter and Corpus Enchanter perks. Popped an Enchanter's Philter, attempted to use a Grand Soul on a Dragonscale armor and... all I get is Destruction spells cost 10% less + Magicka regens 15% faster?

This is a joke right?

 

[ColonialRaptor]

Holy shit, you know those marks on some buildings? You KNOW they were there for something.

Turns out they were left by the Thieves Guild.

How do I get in the theives guild?

I'll probably figure it out myself considering I haven't left Whiterun yet.

 

[brotkasten]

How do I get in the theives guild?

I'll probably figure it out myself considering I haven't left Whiterun yet.

Visit Riften. That's all you need to know.

 

[Bumhead]

Just had my first fight with a Dragon.

Oh my word..

 

[Blue Ninja]

Well, I finished the Thieves Guild with Sul: he's now officially the guild master. I'm also finishing up the Daedric Quests, only Peryite and Mephala remain, I think.

Had a bit of an epic encounter near Markarth today. I came across three Forsworn who immediately saw me sneaking past. I was trying out the Shadow Warrior-perk (I'm still not sure how it works, exactly), and just kept getting my ass kicked. I hoped Mehrunes' Razor would end one of their feeble little lives, but no, that dagger's about as useless as the tail on a Khajiit. Ultimately, I just lured the two remaining Forsworn to Markarth. A guard and about five named NPC's all ganged up on 'em... But the Forsworn cut 'em all down. I finally managed to get a backstab on one of them, as the other chased a mortally wounded dog into the river. I followed, along with another NPC, and before we knew it we were all being dragged into a waterfall by the current. The Forsworn died on impact: she must've been a shitty swimmer. The dog also didn't make it: he yelped and died as I splashed into the water along with the other NPC. We swam to the shore and watched as the bodies starting washing up.

I then made my way back up again, where there were another three or so bodies lying around. One of them was the farmer that lives near Markarth. His wife passed by, told me "don't let my husband get you down" or something, and walked away. Not a single fuck was given that day.

SKYRIM

 

[rohlfinator]

Alright so I never really enchanted anything before, was waiting to max out the skill.

Now I finally have 100 Enchanting. I unlocked the Enchanter 5/5, Insightful Enchanter and Corpus Enchanter perks. Popped an Enchanter's Philter, attempted to use a Grand Soul on a Dragonscale armor and... all I get is Destruction spells cost 10% less + Magicka regens 15% faster?

This is a joke right?

Have you been disenchanting much? You have to disenchant stuff to learn the effects so you can apply them to other items.

 

[GhaleonEB]

The last issue of Edge, featuring the Skyrim review, had a nice one-page piece on the lack of consequences in the game. Anyone know if it's available online? I may post a few salient bits of it if not, as I think it was spot on.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

Alright so I never really enchanted anything before, was waiting to max out the skill.

Now I finally have 100 Enchanting. I unlocked the Enchanter 5/5, Insightful Enchanter and Corpus Enchanter perks. Popped an Enchanter's Philter, attempted to use a Grand Soul on a Dragonscale armor and... all I get is Destruction spells cost 10% less + Magicka regens 15% faster?

This is a joke right?

How did you get to 100% Enchanting without Enchanting anything?

 

[TTG]

Alright so I never really enchanted anything before, was waiting to max out the skill.

Now I finally have 100 Enchanting. I unlocked the Enchanter 5/5, Insightful Enchanter and Corpus Enchanter perks. Popped an Enchanter's Philter, attempted to use a Grand Soul on a Dragonscale armor and... all I get is Destruction spells cost 10% less + Magicka regens 15% faster?

This is a joke right?

How did you max out the skill without enchanting anything? It's one of my favorite things to do, but the progression is CRAWLING along. I've disenchanted mostly everything I've found and captured a bunch of souls and my rating is still relatively low.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

I agree with a lot of this post. I said before this game came out that if they don't improve the core mechanics of this game, I don't think I'll be buying the next one. They REALLY need to do something drastic about the combat and AI in the next game.

Another problem that I discovered while playing this game is as much as I love just playing it, I'm starting to fall out of love with the lore of the Elder Scrolls world. Not because it's bad, but when the voice acting is so B-Movie quality, and the animations through every major event "cutscene" in the game are so stiff and terrible, it basically turns the entire experience into a B-Movie grade fantasy world. Which has it's charm, but it gets old after a while. At times I'm listening to characters talk and laughing my ass off as though it's a comedy. I'm sure this isn't what Bethesda intended.

Oblivion was much worse on this front in retrospect but still, I was able to take Morrowind and Oblivion way more seriously than this game story wise. The better graphics and higher fidelity just make all of the weaknesses stand out even more.

Yep they just got for 'HUGE' but now they need to perhaps go for 'integrated huge'.

I would take a world that was 50% the size with 200% more noise and if the world actively shaped around my actions with hundreds upon hundreds of different paths and choices to take.

Like, if you choose to joint he Companions at the start, then you're a Companion and you can't join another Guild or any other type of group and so on and so on.

You could work to become the Jarl by fighting and defeating the Jarl of a household by raising an army or something... I dunno.

If someone's husband dies, they are upset, not just say the same thing they would have said if he was still alive.

The Witcher 2 had the right idea, but just transform that shit into an open world game. I imagine that it would almost be impossible to make though.

 

[Extra Sauce]

Have you been disenchanting much? You have to disenchant stuff to learn the effects so you can apply them to other items.

How did you get to 100% Enchanting without Enchanting anything?

How did you max out the skill without enchanting anything? It's one of my favorite things to do, but the progression is CRAWLING along. I've disenchanted mostly everything I've found and captured a bunch of souls and my rating is still relatively low.

I forgot to mention, most of my levels I got through training.

The rest I've done by enchanting random items using mostly petty, lesser and common souls. I did a fair bit of disenchanting too, so I have a bunch of enchants such as Destruction cost + Magicka regen that I'm trying to apply on light armor as opposed to the Arch Mage Robe I've been using for most of the game.

But I thought that the % of the effects were governed by your Enchanting skill/perks along with the power of the soul used? How can I be getting such shitty % considering the top conditions of the enchanting I'm currently attempting?

 

[rohlfinator]

So I guess my follower is stuck (main questline spoiler)

Spoiler

in the past.

I hired Vorstag from Markarth and we had been questing together, but at some point he stopped following me. I figured he'd turn up somewhere, maybe back at the Markarth inn, or worst case he died. But nope, he just vanished, but no one else will join me because I'm "already with someone".

I found a console command to teleport myself to his location, and it put me

Spoiler

at the time wound at the Throat of the World

, with Vorstag nowhere to be found. I can only hope he's found himself a good life there.

 

[Tobor]

Yep they just got for 'HUGE' but now they need to perhaps go for 'integrated huge'.

I would take a world that was 50% the size with 200% more noise and if the world actively shaped around my actions with hundreds upon hundreds of different paths and choices to take.

Like, if you choose to joint he Companions at the start, then you're a Companion and you can't join another Guild or any other type of group and so on and so on.

You could work to become the Jarl by fighting and defeating the Jarl of a household by raising an army or something... I dunno.

If someone's husband dies, they are upset, not just say the same thing they would have said if he was still alive.

The Witcher 2 had the right idea, but just transform that shit into an open world game. I imagine that it would almost be impossible to make though.

Michaelscottnooooooooooooo.gif

 

[zethren]

So what exactly does the next patch deal with?

I really hope this constant freeze ever minute and a half crap is dealt with in it...

 

[Deified Data]

you could wear pants

its obviously better

Spell creation, longer, more interesting questlines, more enchantable items, etc. Skyrim is the superior game, you'll get no argument from me, but Oblivion was awesome. I won't forget that just because a sexier game came along.

 

[TTG]

I forgot to mention, most of my levels I got through training.

I thought you could only train with a guy 5 times, at least that's what it said when I found the enchantment trainer at the college. Is there a way to circumvent that?

 

[Extra Sauce]

I found a console command to teleport myself to his location, and it put me

Spoiler

at the time wound at the Throat of the World

, with Vorstag nowhere to be found. I can only hope he's found himself a good life there.

Haha, that's awesome. Love everything about it.

 

[rohlfinator]

The last issue of Edge, featuring the Skyrim review, had a nice one-page piece on the lack of consequences in the game. Anyone know if it's available online? I may post a few salient bits of it if not, as I think it was spot on.

Sounds like an interesting read. I'd appreciate the post if you can't find it online.

The Witcher 2 had the right idea, but just transform that shit into an open world game. I imagine that it would almost be impossible to make though.

I could see it working except for the voice work. That would have to add a ton of dialog, and their voice budget seems kinda strapped as it is.

 

[zethren]

I thought you could only train with a guy 5 times, at least that's what it said when I found the enchantment trainer at the college. Is there a way to circumvent that?

5 times per level. Level up, then train again. The prices keep going up though, the more you train and the higher your skill.

 

[Extra Sauce]

I thought you could only train with a guy 5 times, at least that's what it said when I found the enchantment trainer at the college. Is there a way to circumvent that?

5 times per level. Took a long time, but my Enchanting made it to 90 by around level 40. Then it took me another couple levels to grind my way to 100 (no trainer would teach me above 90).

But so far it seems like all that effort was entirely worthless. I can't figure out how to get high percentages on the enchanting effects I apply to my armor.

 

[Jamesfrom818]

Hey guys! Whats going on here...whoa

 

[voltron]

Is there any way to reset th bug where your followers wont follow you because they think that you already have a follower?

I told Lydia to wait. Then did th first mages college quest and is she won't follow me. Just keeps saying I already have a follower ...


Am I fucked?

 

[johnsmith]

Alright so I never really enchanted anything before, was waiting to max out the skill.

Now I finally have 100 Enchanting. I unlocked the Enchanter 5/5, Insightful Enchanter and Corpus Enchanter perks. Popped an Enchanter's Philter, attempted to use a Grand Soul on a Dragonscale armor and... all I get is Destruction spells cost 10% less + Magicka regens 15% faster?

This is a joke right?

So you tried the one enchantment type where the player made version is weaker than what you can find out in the world. Now try making a set of 4 pieces raising your sneak and pickpocketing by 45%, or 4 pieces with 25% destruction spell cost reduction and tell me it wasn't worth it.

 

[Extra Sauce]

Hey guys! Whats going on here...whoa

Dammit, I wish I would've screencapped something I saw at the Dawnstar inn the other day. This woman crouched near the fire to warm her hands, but some guy was standing right in front of her, facing the fire. From my perspective, there was no doubt that she was tossing his salad. Took me awhile to figure out what was really going on.

Spoiler

You could say I was too busy masturbating.