First Name
Member
I just put on a non-essentials mod and killed both sides. Fuck your ideals I want your sweet unique armor.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim |OT2| Team Edward's Revenge
- Thread starter Blue Ninja
- Start date
Curious how everyone organizes their books.
I have a shelf with notes from everyone who has tried to kill me (Thalmor/Dark Brotherhood/a couple others tied to quests), one for note about kills I've made (bounty letters and inheritances), then one shelf each for the five series of books I'm collecting, and finally a shelf for random one-off interesting books.
I wish I'd worked on collecting specific series of books with each of my characters, but I didn't think of it. It's fun hunting for them.
I have a shelf with notes from everyone who has tried to kill me (Thalmor/Dark Brotherhood/a couple others tied to quests), one for note about kills I've made (bounty letters and inheritances), then one shelf each for the five series of books I'm collecting, and finally a shelf for random one-off interesting books.
I wish I'd worked on collecting specific series of books with each of my characters, but I didn't think of it. It's fun hunting for them.
I really wish there were a few mods for the 360 version...
Realism mode would be so rewarding.
I'm settled down in Riften so I've only got the two moderate sized bookcases. I dont have any organization to them at the moment, but I only display the rarer, more valuable books. I'm working on completing a couple sets, like the 2920(?) series, which I'll put up once I've found em all. Really wish I had more bookcases. But I like it in Riften and I enjoy having an enchanter, an alchemy lab and a couple mannequins(sp?) as well as direct access to Skyrim so I can avoid having to get out through the main gates.
They've said similar things before release, but for those that missed it: Bethesda's plans for DLC (no dates or prices, just rough plans)
Large content that will take a while, and in between there will be some free smaller content. Seems obvious that some of that stuff will be from the "sizzle reel" they showed.
Also says they're only "very early" into the DLC. Point Lookout sized stuff would be great, but I guess they want it bigger.
Large content that will take a while, and in between there will be some free smaller content. Seems obvious that some of that stuff will be from the "sizzle reel" they showed.
Also says they're only "very early" into the DLC. Point Lookout sized stuff would be great, but I guess they want it bigger.
Blue Ninja
Member
Well, if I recall, Shivering Isles was only announced in January 2007 or something. So if their DLC is going to be of a similar size, it makes sense that it's still far away.
Just picked this up last night, at last. I never finished Oblivion, but here's hoping I can get through this one without being overwhelmed by the content. I love exploring every nook and cranny, but at about 70 hours into Oblivion I went full magic vampire thief and just started running around shanking guards until I got bored with it.
I played through the demo so far in this and got to the first town. Like what I see so far. I made a high elf and went for dual wielding magic, but I have a feeling that I'm going to want to use a melee weapon at some point.
Also, this cover of the main theme is pretty awesome.
I played through the demo so far in this and got to the first town. Like what I see so far. I made a high elf and went for dual wielding magic, but I have a feeling that I'm going to want to use a melee weapon at some point.
Also, this cover of the main theme is pretty awesome.
Yeah, it's been posted in this thread probably a half dozen times now, but I'm not complaining. Love it. Although, you're linking someone that re upped the video. The original is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z9TdDCWN7g&sns=em
Let's give credit (and hits) where it's due.
Oh yeah, I had just heard about it and found my link via youtube without really knowing where it came from. I like the Skyrim scenes in the one I linked more than the original though
Proposed Law
Member
I'm trying to start the city influence quest in Whiterun (part of thieves guild quests), but it won't give it to me. You need to complete five missions in Whiterun to activate it and I've done ten. I didn't have any problem receiving the city influence quests in the other cities. Anybody know what I should do?
Look up a few posts.
First Name
Member
Ideally they'd put something like that in as one of the smaller stopgaps. And am I crazy or weren't they talking about putting select mods as sort of DLC for the consoles? It sounds like a nightmare in dealing with the rights and shit but I'm sure it was a rumor somewhere. Hopefully Bethesda at least looks at the neat mods people make and gets some ideas.
What rights? People just put their mods out there for anyone to download. They don't have any real solid ownership. If Besthesda did do that they would just give them some money like valve did in TF2.
I'm a few hours into the game now. Just killed the first dragon. I totally went into the dungeon they wanted me to way ahead of time, so they were all like "I need you to retrieve this" and I'm just like "Oh, you mean this?" I love that.
Also, horses. Fuck yeah. Though, the horse is pretty slow and you can't attack from it... so seems ultimately useless.
I need to get some more gold so I can buy more spells. Still rolling with the lowbie spells mostly, and spent my gold on... well, the horse. :|
Also, where can you sell stolen goods? I have a bunch of stuff that merchants won't buy that I could make a good chunk of change off of.
Also, horses. Fuck yeah. Though, the horse is pretty slow and you can't attack from it... so seems ultimately useless.
I need to get some more gold so I can buy more spells. Still rolling with the lowbie spells mostly, and spent my gold on... well, the horse. :|
Also, where can you sell stolen goods? I have a bunch of stuff that merchants won't buy that I could make a good chunk of change off of.
Mortrialus
Banned
Quick question one something werewolf and followers related.
The really good thing about horses is that they can run up slopes you can't on foot. Pretty handy considering the mountainous landscape.
Aela the Huntress attacks me when I go wolf. Is that supposed to happen? You'd think she'd be pretty laid back about the whole werewolf thing.
The really good thing about horses is that they can run up slopes you can't on foot. Pretty handy considering the mountainous landscape.
You can ride faster by 'sprinting' while on the horse. The horse has recharging stamina as you do, just hidden. I find that getting around on horseback is pretty speedy that way.
Join the Thieves Guild down in Riften, and you will get a fence to whom you can sell stolen goods.
VistraNorrez
Member
I've done this myself and heard so many others doing it that I'm pretty sure Bethesda planned it that way. Part of their make the player feel proud goals.
As long as it was free and gave credit, I can't imagine people would be upset at being one of a small handful of people being honored by having their mod ported.
Unless they're PC supremacists.
PoweredBySoy
Banned
So during the loading screen that talks about General Tullius, there's a badass legionnaire helmet that I so desperately want. Without too much of a spoiler, just tell me, is this helmet actually available in game? Or craftable? Because I've never seen it.
I have the Lost Art Of Blacksmithing mod which allows me to craft an Officers Imperial helmet, which is kind of similar, but still not it.
I have the Lost Art Of Blacksmithing mod which allows me to craft an Officers Imperial helmet, which is kind of similar, but still not it.
Ah, thanks for the info. Looks like me and my horse are going down to Riften tonight.
Oh, and I love the random moments in this game. I was walking past a mountain last night and saw two necromancers chasing after a fox while shooting fireballs at it. I was just like "...okay then" lol.
Mortrialus
Banned
Necromancers have to eat as well. How else do you expect necromancers to hunt?
So no one has an answer to my quest about followers and werewolves?
I'm a nub, so no answers here D:
Oh, and I do love some of the realism in this game. I was playing around with my first shout after I unlocked it in a keep and one of the guards walks over and is like "Hey, can you stop that? Your... shouting... is scaring the other people."
They really did a great job making this world into a living world rather than just a bunch of NPC's standing around doing nothing like many other RPG's.
electricpirate
Member
I love a lot of what the game does, but I'm getting really annoyed at how every quest just feels like another dungeon plunge. It's not that dungeon plunges aren't fun, they did a brilliant job with the dungeons, but it's getting repetitive. I think the Dark Brotherhood quest line this is most apparent, especially compared with Oblivion's wonderfully creative DB quests. There's nothing as novel as the 10 little indian's quest to spice things up. The thieves guild is even worse, with the main quest line of the guild seems to always involve going into a standard dungeon at some point. The quest with Golum El
I just want some quests that break up the monotony.
It makes me want to stop questing outside the main quest, and just focus on getting shouts and more power. Which is disapointing, because in Obliv. I found that even with the weak sauce levelling, i was glued to the game because the quests were so fun, and had so many unique touches.
The first part, sneaking through the warehouse is perfect, then all of a sudden, I'm just in another bandit cave? Run out of ideas some?
It makes me want to stop questing outside the main quest, and just focus on getting shouts and more power. Which is disapointing, because in Obliv. I found that even with the weak sauce levelling, i was glued to the game because the quests were so fun, and had so many unique touches.
DangerStepp
Member
Both my hard drives crashed do to a crappy PSU giving up the ghost.
Hew HD, new PSU... new Skyrim game. All the hours lost...
;__ ;
Hew HD, new PSU... new Skyrim game. All the hours lost...
;__ ;
I have dodged that bullet by setting up my saved games folder as a symbolic link to my dropbox folder. So, whenever I save, dropbox automatically backs up my saves. And, this way, I can also recover previous versions of them if any of my local ones get corrupted.
I recommend you do this for all of your PC games, really.
DangerStepp
Member
VistraNorrez
Member
Have you done any of the Civil War quests?
Yeah just got to Windhelm and met Ulfric. Sorry Stormcloaks, you're racist. I'll bring you down. I also just got the
dark brotherhood starter quest where that kid ran away from the orphanage. I thought it'd be close by and then I looked at the map and it's out in BFE. WTF? This kid ran ALL that way with wolves, mammoths, giants and bears? If he's THAT tough he should just kill her himself.
My civil war questline is complete, so now I can resume the main quest without the detour of watching Ulfric be a small child at a table of adults; at least, that's what I hope.
Now if only I can find a way to
I swear, Bethesda made like, three likable characters in the entire game. Everyone else is an asshole.
Now if only I can find a way to
kill the Blades, those dipshits.
I swear, Bethesda made like, three likable characters in the entire game. Everyone else is an asshole.
Proposed Law
Member
Sorry to restate my problem and take up forum space, but I'm struggling to find an answer. Any help?
Ysolda, Parthunax, and the Emperor? Oh, and the guy at the Skyforge....and the "leader" of the companions....
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Thane_of_Whiterun
Does that help?
I could probably name more than three, I was obviously (I thought) exaggerating. But in a game with this many characters, that's not very many. All of the Stormcloaks, the Imperials, most of the Jarls, the Blades, damn near everyone in the Thieves Guild, Companions, College of Winterhold and Bard's College, every single guard and most of the townfolk are different shades of assholes. In the Civil War we can support the racist child Ulfric or the pompous jackass that runs the Imperial war side, who are letting the Thalmor go nuts on the population. I'm all for grey area, but that doesn't mean I should hate everyone.
The Dark Brotherhood has the largest concentration of good characters in the game
and most of them die
The Emperor was great, and I'm particularly fond of the 'kid' in the DB and Parthunax. The Blades, I want dead.
Most of the kids are god awful as well. I'm jealous of those with the kids can die mod... Especially the Jarl of Whiterun's kid. Lick this, punk...
Dark brotherhood for life!
enchant. disenchant. Train....... if you have the money. Some guy...Terranius Sigmundius or something? at Winterhold has at least intermediate training. As a side note always train as much as possible BEFORE leveling EACH time you level...in this manner you will be stronger in areas you want to be strong in for a larger part of the game while you continue to level. Save your leveling until you train if you have to.
Proposed Law
Member
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Thane_of_Whiterun
Does that help?[/QUOTE]
thanks for the response, but that isn't the quest. It's this one:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Imitation_Amnesty
I've done 13 additional jobs in Whiterun, but Delvin won"t give it to me.
Does that help?[/QUOTE]
thanks for the response, but that isn't the quest. It's this one:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Imitation_Amnesty
I've done 13 additional jobs in Whiterun, but Delvin won"t give it to me.
That's so funny as shimmermist was one of the first caves I stumbled on at low level...I did find chaurrus and the centurion (assume this is the "boss" you speak of) difficult...but as a bow guy I snuck forward and took the centurion down a notch while sicking Lydia on him second..then ran away through the tunnel. He can't follow all the way and gets stuck....then lydia recovers as he is then in the center of you and companion...easy prey from that point on...just don't get hit if you can't get hit use ranged weapons and hide. RInse repeat.
I have not found a monster or enemy that beats conjuration spells, or in particular, staves, as these can be used by anyone. The staff from the drinking contest Deadra quest in the Riften watering hole summons a deardra lord for me and if the enemy is too tough I just give it to Lydia and she summons it for us while I summon the ghost of some magic guy from winterhold who electrocutes whatever the daedra lord doesn't smash...lydia also resurrects powerful allies with the right staff....no requirements other than being high enough level to find the staff. You can have 4 warriors in this manner, you, one follower and two summoned creatures......and then if you advance conjuration to the point of having two conjurations it starts getting silly....your army will beat almost any creature enemy at that point. MIx in your own use of bows and the game is silly easy on any difficulty I would imagine.
edit: you can't use a shout or two that won't OP your latest enemy? Combining potions and poisons, with shouts, etc. etc. etc. really kills even the tougher enemies.
I have to get used to how long it takes to do things in this game. I thought, "I'll go do those quests to become a werewolf" and it's like 4 hours later and I've just gotten to the
. I'm hoping I can get their quest line finished tonight and then go for the long ride over to Riften.
Even so, I still have a ton of things to do in the current area...
I think I'm going to be playing this game for at least a month or two at this rate.
Oh, and dragon fights are pretty crazy. I did two of them so far tonight, and the 2nd one was pretty tough. I was out in the middle of nowhere without a companion, and here comes the dragon. I kept running out of mana, and only had a few mana potions, so it was a pretty close fight. In the end it stayed on the ground and just kept repeatedly breathing fire at me, so I had to run away and shoot lightning from a distance lol.
I also keep running out of inventory room, so I've had to sell my dragon bones and dragon scales. I'm probably going to regret it later, since I know you can craft some stuff with them. :|
mission to steal the plans
Even so, I still have a ton of things to do in the current area...
I think I'm going to be playing this game for at least a month or two at this rate.
Oh, and dragon fights are pretty crazy. I did two of them so far tonight, and the 2nd one was pretty tough. I was out in the middle of nowhere without a companion, and here comes the dragon. I kept running out of mana, and only had a few mana potions, so it was a pretty close fight. In the end it stayed on the ground and just kept repeatedly breathing fire at me, so I had to run away and shoot lightning from a distance lol.
I also keep running out of inventory room, so I've had to sell my dragon bones and dragon scales. I'm probably going to regret it later, since I know you can craft some stuff with them. :|
I buy black sould gems from the grouchy N..??? mage in winterhold and filled grand souls gems from a few others...this increases their money to 3-4 K then I sell them my shit...I need the gems for more enchanting anyway although it sucjks to pay so much...its inconsequential as I then can sell the shit I want to sell ...basically trading sould gems for the shit works for the most part....i haven't needed too much else as enchating and smithing combined (with a touch of alchemy) provide you with almost all you need. I also feed money to people I want to sell stuff to by training. For example the chemist in Whiterun sells good ingrdients for cheap (I buy them ALL before every alchemy round) and then I pay for training in alchemy from her. SHe then has thousands and thousands of dollars to give back to me for my high priced but useless as shit multiple effect potions I want to get rid of (several are 1000 gold each). Did similar thing with the enchantment trainier in winterhold and sold him like 25 blue and black mage outfits which were only one weight unit but worth 120 gold each. THis game is cake. Once you make your first 5000 and have more gear to sell, you just invest your 5k into teh person you know wnats your shit and trade for the newer smithed and enchanted items you eventually get from engagin them. Couldn't have cared less anout money by level 10 or 12 and ALwAYS trained to max before leveling so remian a well skilled and closer to OP tough competitor at the lowest level possible.
rule number one in elder scrolls games....first own a residence.....both for storage and own bed........speak to the jarls helper at dragonsreach and buy the breezehome...your companion even gets a room of her own....and/or do the entire mages guild quest (pretty short actually and I am not even a mage but an archer) and live in the arch-mages quarters...........then do the rest of the game....you can live elsewhere later, but being only a few steps from the smith in whiterun and having your shit all packed up nice next to the appropriate furniture is just too important a detail to forego. DOn't takea chance on random caves or shacks etc. as especuially in Skyrim it seems like the warning during loading screens carries more punch than in obvlivion. I only have two residences now...the archmage room has countless dressers and a wardrobe where I separate boots/guantlets and armours/headgear etc. and has two separate storage compartments beside the alchemy lab which I use one for ingredients one for potions that I don't want to carry but wish to sell/use later. THe enchanting station has good storate nearby as well. I use this as my home base #1 and then when I do smithing and want to store ores etc. I go to breezehome and store that shit there. The safe in the mage's quarters has abnout 50 of every kind of precious gem in it that I can dip into anytime for light weight cash turnover. all too fun...can't imagine trying to go through the game without storing things......see rule number one.
Heh, I have to save up some more cash for that. I've been buying spells so far
I'm pretty broke right now, but I've been getting cash quicker and quicker so it's just a matter of time.Heh, I have to save up some more cash for that. I've been buying spells so far
I guess....but if you are a spell buyer....... living in the archmages quarters would even be doubly good no? It costs nothing to do the mages guild quests...not only do you get a place to live you get an OP staff and arch mage robe as well!! BUt you are right..even though the mages guild is easy and short relatively speaking it can take a long time to get through Dwemar runis etc. unavoidable. All that said....acquiring the breezehome is pretty easy....take the bounty form clearing out two sets of bandits and you are almost there! IIRC the best ealry game stuyff to loot is elven armour and mage robes...really light weight to $$$ return ratio!!
BTW I am a month or two in already and just getting started...killed about 25 dragons have loads of shouts all dragon souled up ....but only half way through main quest (slow on purpose) but done most of the daedric lord quests for coooool shtuff. THe masks form
Labarynthian
So you're not into the self-determination of peoples I guess then? ;P
Don't worry about that, you get tons of them. Crafting anything with them requires max smithing skill and perk, too, so you don't need them at all if you don't plan on going that route.
Self determination for some at the cost of others? Nah. Isn't there an "I'm the fucking Dohavkin. I'm in charge" Option?
Mortrialus
Banned
I’ve spent about 230+ hours with the game. I’ve beaten pretty much all of the main quests on my original character and I’ve been doing alts that focus on different things and are sort of Role-Playish in the sense that I only do quests that make sense for that playstyle/character. I think it’s time I write a review for this sucker. Yeah it’s old, but I only got it about a month ago so you’re getting a review even though you didn't ask me to.
A few warnings; there are spoilers. They are tagged, but I'm not spoiler tagging anything from Oblivion.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a NA/10 game. Skyrim is the perfect example of how and when scores don’t work in video games. For everything the game does spectacularly, there is a key feature that is simply just okay. At the end of the day the game most certainly rises above being just okay and is very enjoyable, but it still has many of the negative quirks from Morrowind and Oblivion and it would be nice to see the series finally move past them. I will touch on these quirks later on in the post.
First, the game looks really fucking good. The draw distances are just astonishing. I’ve never been a big fan of Viking/Nordic themed fantasy, but it grew on me here. The world also is more varied than Oblivions. While the world looked good back in the day, far too much of it was grasslands. Here we are treated to plains, tundra, fjords, a swamp, a geyser field and an awesome forest that appears to perpetually be in autumn. It’s a magnificent step up from Oblivion’s world.
The visual upgrade applies to the characters as well. It’s no longer painful to have to see them move about anymore. Their walking, running and attacking are all pretty good. Their models look pretty good (Though of course modders still make an effort to improve upon them.). The fact that Third-Person game play was not only made viable from a game-play perspective, but also a visual perspective is something I honestly did not expect from the game, and anyone who knows me knows I very much prefer third person, especially in a game where you’re supposed to observe your character obtain better armor and weapons and become stronger as the game progresses.
It would have been nice to see a bit more racial diversity within cities and towns. I realize lore and all that, but a few more argonians and kajiit within the cities would have been a nice touch. While I’m not crazy on the Elder Scroll’s lore, one of the appeals is how many races live together, creating this really diverse, unique fantasy society.
Voice acting is much improved as well. While there are a few awkward performances, the size of the game and the number of NPC makes this a bit more forgivable. I still think the rank and file townsfolk could have a larger range of voices, but at least they’re reasonably good for what they are.
And now for the bad.
One of the most blatant and painful problem this series has always had and returns in Skyrim is melee combat. It still is an exercise in running up to enemies and clicking until they’re dead. I hate drawing comparison to a game that isn’t really comparable to Skyrim but look at Dark Souls. Granted, Dark Souls is a console game, but melee combat in the game is the most rewarding combat in an RPG I have ever seen. The hit detection is damn near perfect. Blocking is important. Dodging is extremely important. Properly utilizing stamina is extremely fucking important. Knowing how enemies would approach and attack you and how you should approach and attack them was everything. Honestly, much of the blandness could be solved by simply increasing the enemy variety and making the variation significant. In Dark Souls, being told that you were about to fight an undead with a sword would mean shit because there are so many types of undead you could be encountering that all behave attack and defend very differently. Yes there are different types of drauger but all of them fight exactly the same as long as they have the same weapon type (There is the melee types, the bow types and the spell types. This applies to humans as well), give or take some dragon shouts. I mean in Dark Souls, one’s approach to a Hollow Archer was completely different from how one would approach the Silver Knight Archers that guard the castle interior. If you’ve played it, you know what I’m talking about. Granted, Skyrim is a very different game with very different goals from Dark Souls, but there should at least be a little of that. That is a crucial part of what makes video game combat fun, and it’s clear that despite Skyrim primarily being a game about exploration, they obviously want combat to be fun. Throwing in a kill cam with some finishing moves doesn’t fix the shitty melee combat, and it is very frustrating as I’ve always been a sword and board type of player.
A stealth/archery character and a magic player don’t really have these problems. The combination of range with stealth adds an extra bit of depth the combat sorely needs. It could still be improved. Getting stealth improved to a point where you can stand directly in front of enemies with no fear of being caught makes the game something of a joke. This is another thing that could be improved with that whole greater, more significant enemy diversity thing I mentioned early. Throwing in a few enemies that can easily blow your stealth regardless of level so long as you’re in their field of vision and have them patrol areas would make things much more interesting. Honestly, while I haven’t really sat down and played a magic character yet, it’s pretty clear from what little I’ve experienced with it, and how much emphasis was placed on it pre-release that this was the focus of the developers’ attention in combat.
Now we’re going to start getting into spoiler territory.
Skyrim’s main side quests are also a bit lack luster. The Dark Brotherhood quest line is a fantastic story for a quest. It still makes some pretty unfortunate missteps. In the Oblivion’s Dark Brotherhood quest, the game made an effort to make the kills fairly interesting. I’ve played Oblivion exactly once about five years ago. I still remember sneaking into Baenlin’s house and dropping his wall ornament on him while making an effort to avoid his servant. I remember faking the murder of the wood elf and fighting my way out of a cursed crypt filled with zombies. I remember attending a party and killing off the guests one by one, being careful not to get caught and watching as they all panic. I remember convincing one of the last guests alive to kill the only other target that remained. I remember sneaking back into the Imperial Jail where the game began and killing the shithead who mocks you at the beginning of the game. This is to say nothing of the stories of either quest chain. At the very least Oblivion’s Dark Brotherhood quest line at least tried to make a lot the assassinations interesting and varied. Skyrim? Not so much. All of the optional ones are basically “Go do this dungeon.” The main part of the quest has assassinations that are much the same. The story is great, and there are great parts to the quest, but the missions themselves are a disappointment.
The Mage College quest line is actually pretty good. I honestly remember nothing about the Mage College quest in Oblivion aside from the fact that it involved necromancers (Big fucking whoop).
The Thieves’ Guild is also a disappointment, both in story and in quests. Oblivion ended on this spectacular heist. All the items you were collecting were building up to this quest and it involved you sneaking into the palace and stealing a fucking Elder Scroll. Plus the whole ordeal with the Greyfox, it was really cool. This Thieves’ Guild quest line? Not so much. There aren’t any memorable robberies; there isn’t a legendary heist at the end.
The Companions, Skyrim’s equivalent to the Fighter’s Guild, is kind of odd. Honestly, to me most of the missions should be like smaller versions of the Civil War quest. You tag along with a group of fighters and fight together as mercenaries and brothers in arms. You should be with multiple Companions throughout the majority of the quest, not just one at most. I also find the “moral choice” of the story to just be really bland and meaningless.
The main quest of the game is good.
However, the civil war subplot is a case of a moral argument that seems completely meaningless, boring, and uninteresting. Your choice is effectively between a Monarchy that tried to kill you, and a Monarchy that is racist as shit. Yes, it s a really tough choice because neither of them feels that distinct from the other. I mean in another game, you could present a choice between, say, a libertarian political ideology or a democratic/socialist one. That would be more interesting, showing the ramifications of the results of the ideologies as your progress through the game.
Just like Oblivion and Morrowind, Skyrim’s questing system has too much freedom to the point where it becomes really nonsensical.
Honestly, the various guilds should use that as a major part of their side-quests. If you join one of the Guilds, it locks you out of whichever one it is currently opposed to. Like if you join the Companions, you and your shield-siblings spend a lot of time and a lot of missions fighting with the Dark Brotherhood. You could have a rivalry between the Thieves’ Guild and Mages College because the college is a frequent target of theft by the Thieves’ guild. That would be much more interesting than being able to do all of them all at once. The same applies to the Daedric quests. I can sell my soul to like 16 different Daedric princes. It just seems odd.
I also don’t find the exploration to be that rewarding, which is pretty sad in a game that revolves around it. I again hate to use this example again but Dark Souls used nonlinearity and a focus on exploring to much greater effect than Skyrim. The areas you have to explore have branching paths and hidden passages. There are actual hidden zones and NPCs that are really helpful. When you go an alternate path, you’re likely to find unique loot. Dungeons all still suck. It’s a clear issue of quantity over quality and it always has been. They’re all linear for the most part and loot in this game quickly becomes meaningless. What this game really needs is three or four dungeons that are of Sen’s Castle or Legend of Zelda quality in terms of how well crafted they are.
The game is buggy as shit. I don’t think I’ve ever spent more time tinkering in console commands trying to work past a bug. Just throwing that out there.
It’d also be nice to see armor and weapon sets other than Steel, Elven, Dwarven, Glass, Ebony, and Daedric. The dragon set was cool, but it was surpassed by Daedric armor, the previous tier. Mix it up a little, will you?
If there is one reason to buy this game now and keep track of it in the future it is the modding. Modding in the Elder Scrolls games has always been a triumphant example of how much a devoted modding community can add to a game. After my first playthrough, I started looking into mods and my experience with modding Skyrim can pretty much be summed up with this. There are already tons of fantastic mods that add atmosphere, bug fixes and game play changes to tweak some of the wonkier aspects of the game. I don’t think any of the mods could ever solve the fundamental problems I have with the game, but they definitely add a lot.
Despite spending much of my time bitching, Skyrim by no means is a bad game. It is an incredibly ambitious project, and it is fun and compelling, but many of the important aspects of what make a great game aren’t there. That is why I would call it a NA/10 game. You can’t label it with a score. It certainly isn’t just there. It’s going to go down in gaming history like Morrowind and Oblivion did, but it certainly is a flawed work.
If you're read this far, thanks. I preemptively apologize for any spelling and grammar mistakes I have missed.
A few warnings; there are spoilers. They are tagged, but I'm not spoiler tagging anything from Oblivion.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a NA/10 game. Skyrim is the perfect example of how and when scores don’t work in video games. For everything the game does spectacularly, there is a key feature that is simply just okay. At the end of the day the game most certainly rises above being just okay and is very enjoyable, but it still has many of the negative quirks from Morrowind and Oblivion and it would be nice to see the series finally move past them. I will touch on these quirks later on in the post.
First, the game looks really fucking good. The draw distances are just astonishing. I’ve never been a big fan of Viking/Nordic themed fantasy, but it grew on me here. The world also is more varied than Oblivions. While the world looked good back in the day, far too much of it was grasslands. Here we are treated to plains, tundra, fjords, a swamp, a geyser field and an awesome forest that appears to perpetually be in autumn. It’s a magnificent step up from Oblivion’s world.
The visual upgrade applies to the characters as well. It’s no longer painful to have to see them move about anymore. Their walking, running and attacking are all pretty good. Their models look pretty good (Though of course modders still make an effort to improve upon them.). The fact that Third-Person game play was not only made viable from a game-play perspective, but also a visual perspective is something I honestly did not expect from the game, and anyone who knows me knows I very much prefer third person, especially in a game where you’re supposed to observe your character obtain better armor and weapons and become stronger as the game progresses.
It would have been nice to see a bit more racial diversity within cities and towns. I realize lore and all that, but a few more argonians and kajiit within the cities would have been a nice touch. While I’m not crazy on the Elder Scroll’s lore, one of the appeals is how many races live together, creating this really diverse, unique fantasy society.
Voice acting is much improved as well. While there are a few awkward performances, the size of the game and the number of NPC makes this a bit more forgivable. I still think the rank and file townsfolk could have a larger range of voices, but at least they’re reasonably good for what they are.
And now for the bad.
One of the most blatant and painful problem this series has always had and returns in Skyrim is melee combat. It still is an exercise in running up to enemies and clicking until they’re dead. I hate drawing comparison to a game that isn’t really comparable to Skyrim but look at Dark Souls. Granted, Dark Souls is a console game, but melee combat in the game is the most rewarding combat in an RPG I have ever seen. The hit detection is damn near perfect. Blocking is important. Dodging is extremely important. Properly utilizing stamina is extremely fucking important. Knowing how enemies would approach and attack you and how you should approach and attack them was everything. Honestly, much of the blandness could be solved by simply increasing the enemy variety and making the variation significant. In Dark Souls, being told that you were about to fight an undead with a sword would mean shit because there are so many types of undead you could be encountering that all behave attack and defend very differently. Yes there are different types of drauger but all of them fight exactly the same as long as they have the same weapon type (There is the melee types, the bow types and the spell types. This applies to humans as well), give or take some dragon shouts. I mean in Dark Souls, one’s approach to a Hollow Archer was completely different from how one would approach the Silver Knight Archers that guard the castle interior. If you’ve played it, you know what I’m talking about. Granted, Skyrim is a very different game with very different goals from Dark Souls, but there should at least be a little of that. That is a crucial part of what makes video game combat fun, and it’s clear that despite Skyrim primarily being a game about exploration, they obviously want combat to be fun. Throwing in a kill cam with some finishing moves doesn’t fix the shitty melee combat, and it is very frustrating as I’ve always been a sword and board type of player.
A stealth/archery character and a magic player don’t really have these problems. The combination of range with stealth adds an extra bit of depth the combat sorely needs. It could still be improved. Getting stealth improved to a point where you can stand directly in front of enemies with no fear of being caught makes the game something of a joke. This is another thing that could be improved with that whole greater, more significant enemy diversity thing I mentioned early. Throwing in a few enemies that can easily blow your stealth regardless of level so long as you’re in their field of vision and have them patrol areas would make things much more interesting. Honestly, while I haven’t really sat down and played a magic character yet, it’s pretty clear from what little I’ve experienced with it, and how much emphasis was placed on it pre-release that this was the focus of the developers’ attention in combat.
Now we’re going to start getting into spoiler territory.
Skyrim’s main side quests are also a bit lack luster. The Dark Brotherhood quest line is a fantastic story for a quest. It still makes some pretty unfortunate missteps. In the Oblivion’s Dark Brotherhood quest, the game made an effort to make the kills fairly interesting. I’ve played Oblivion exactly once about five years ago. I still remember sneaking into Baenlin’s house and dropping his wall ornament on him while making an effort to avoid his servant. I remember faking the murder of the wood elf and fighting my way out of a cursed crypt filled with zombies. I remember attending a party and killing off the guests one by one, being careful not to get caught and watching as they all panic. I remember convincing one of the last guests alive to kill the only other target that remained. I remember sneaking back into the Imperial Jail where the game began and killing the shithead who mocks you at the beginning of the game. This is to say nothing of the stories of either quest chain. At the very least Oblivion’s Dark Brotherhood quest line at least tried to make a lot the assassinations interesting and varied. Skyrim? Not so much. All of the optional ones are basically “Go do this dungeon.” The main part of the quest has assassinations that are much the same. The story is great, and there are great parts to the quest, but the missions themselves are a disappointment.
The Mage College quest line is actually pretty good. I honestly remember nothing about the Mage College quest in Oblivion aside from the fact that it involved necromancers (Big fucking whoop).
That said, I think it was a misstep to make the player what is effectively the dean of the college at the end of it. Being archmage of the college just doesn’t seem appropriate for what you’ve done in the quest. You should certainly be respected by your peers and the teachers, but it just seems odd to end the quest with your taking care of the business aspects of the college. Tolfdir was set up as this respected teach and mage. It would make much more sense for him to be the leader and you to gain some kind of reward, like a shit ton of spells or some of the casting related reward.
The Thieves’ Guild is also a disappointment, both in story and in quests. Oblivion ended on this spectacular heist. All the items you were collecting were building up to this quest and it involved you sneaking into the palace and stealing a fucking Elder Scroll. Plus the whole ordeal with the Greyfox, it was really cool. This Thieves’ Guild quest line? Not so much. There aren’t any memorable robberies; there isn’t a legendary heist at the end.
You get to personally meet Nocturnal. That’s cool. Still it’s just a disappointment compared to the previous Thieves’ Guild quest. Like the mage’s guild quest, ending with you as the leader seems odd. Yes you’re a nocturnal, but it doesn’t seem like an appropriate ending. Brynjolf was established as this tricky, very smart thief and good at organized crime. It would make more sense for him to be the leader rather than the player. At the end of Oblivion’s quest, you personally executed one of the greatest robberies ever. You personally helped the leader of the Thieves’ Guild. It made sense for you to end up as the leader. Here? Not so much.
The Companions, Skyrim’s equivalent to the Fighter’s Guild, is kind of odd. Honestly, to me most of the missions should be like smaller versions of the Civil War quest. You tag along with a group of fighters and fight together as mercenaries and brothers in arms. You should be with multiple Companions throughout the majority of the quest, not just one at most. I also find the “moral choice” of the story to just be really bland and meaningless.
It’s not really a moral choice, but the quest clearly sets up the Circle’s Lycanthropy as a moral dilemma that you eventually solve for the guild and it’s honestly kind of meaningless either way. Also, being a Werewolf in the game makes you pretty gimped, which sucks. Still, at the end of the quest it does feel rewarding to fight to redeem your old guild leader after his death and it makes sense for you to be his replacement.
The main quest of the game is good.
My only real complaint is that Alduin fights no differently than other dragons.
However, the civil war subplot is a case of a moral argument that seems completely meaningless, boring, and uninteresting. Your choice is effectively between a Monarchy that tried to kill you, and a Monarchy that is racist as shit. Yes, it s a really tough choice because neither of them feels that distinct from the other. I mean in another game, you could present a choice between, say, a libertarian political ideology or a democratic/socialist one. That would be more interesting, showing the ramifications of the results of the ideologies as your progress through the game.
Just like Oblivion and Morrowind, Skyrim’s questing system has too much freedom to the point where it becomes really nonsensical.
You can be an Imperial, then join the Dark Brotherhood and kill the Emperor with no ramifications towards the subplot or even the game in general aside from some guard dialog. You were identified by the leader of the Emperor’s guard. Did General Tulius never hear of your betrayal? One of my favorite parts of the game was playing as my lawful good, sword and board female Nord and wiping out the Dark Brotherhood after their leader abducted me.
I also don’t find the exploration to be that rewarding, which is pretty sad in a game that revolves around it. I again hate to use this example again but Dark Souls used nonlinearity and a focus on exploring to much greater effect than Skyrim. The areas you have to explore have branching paths and hidden passages. There are actual hidden zones and NPCs that are really helpful. When you go an alternate path, you’re likely to find unique loot. Dungeons all still suck. It’s a clear issue of quantity over quality and it always has been. They’re all linear for the most part and loot in this game quickly becomes meaningless. What this game really needs is three or four dungeons that are of Sen’s Castle or Legend of Zelda quality in terms of how well crafted they are.
The game is buggy as shit. I don’t think I’ve ever spent more time tinkering in console commands trying to work past a bug. Just throwing that out there.
It’d also be nice to see armor and weapon sets other than Steel, Elven, Dwarven, Glass, Ebony, and Daedric. The dragon set was cool, but it was surpassed by Daedric armor, the previous tier. Mix it up a little, will you?
If there is one reason to buy this game now and keep track of it in the future it is the modding. Modding in the Elder Scrolls games has always been a triumphant example of how much a devoted modding community can add to a game. After my first playthrough, I started looking into mods and my experience with modding Skyrim can pretty much be summed up with this. There are already tons of fantastic mods that add atmosphere, bug fixes and game play changes to tweak some of the wonkier aspects of the game. I don’t think any of the mods could ever solve the fundamental problems I have with the game, but they definitely add a lot.
Despite spending much of my time bitching, Skyrim by no means is a bad game. It is an incredibly ambitious project, and it is fun and compelling, but many of the important aspects of what make a great game aren’t there. That is why I would call it a NA/10 game. You can’t label it with a score. It certainly isn’t just there. It’s going to go down in gaming history like Morrowind and Oblivion did, but it certainly is a flawed work.
If you're read this far, thanks. I preemptively apologize for any spelling and grammar mistakes I have missed.