Skyrim=Boring?
- Thread starter Torah Dreidelberg
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I like Skyrim but it doesn't come close to oblivion for me. I thought it was going to with all the hype Tod Howard was spewing, like if you burn the corn fields of one city the prices of corn will rise in that city (I was looking forward to extorting some people by running through the night flaming everything I could).
But I think Skyrim has two major flaws:
Unlike Oblivion, Skyrim has one way to do a thousand things but Oblivion has a thousand ways to do one thing.
And I found the cities underwhelming.
But I think Skyrim has two major flaws:
Unlike Oblivion, Skyrim has one way to do a thousand things but Oblivion has a thousand ways to do one thing.
And I found the cities underwhelming.
Ah yes. Trust me, it wasn't any easier when the game came out. Sometimes you can't tell what the directions want you to do. So you look at a guide on the 'net, but you can't tell what that wants you to do, either. On the other hand, something was DEFINITELY lost with the switch to way-points. It used to be about exploration and the horizon, now it's about interfaces and staring at your compass. The locations are there to be visited, not discovered.Torah Dreidelberg said:
Goddamn that shit was frustrating sometimes, but with way-points a lot of the 'magic' (or whatever) is lost. I actually hated the way-points when Oblivion came out. I felt like I was walking down a narrow hallway by comparison.
Off Topic: I'm not entirely sure why, but somehow the advertisements forcing me to participate is really disturbing. I'm referring to the CAPTCHAs.
It doesn't. Bethesda works by throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks. That's one idea that slid off. I wouldn't be surprised if there were mods for it, though.Torah Dreidelberg said:
I played oblivion before I played Morrowind, so it could just be grew to used to waypoints. Every time I start to get immersed in the game I get pulled out because i'm lost and have to look up a guide.Rooster Cogburn said:
Well no I played it alot the month it came out, but since then I just can't sit down and play it. Trust me I've tried.Caramel Frappe said:I'm sure that you're just worn out from playing so much Skyrim for now. When you play a game constantly for a long time, even for hours straight.. it can become overwhelming thus you lost interest from the same gameplay. However, it can also be said that Skyrim is not for everyone. Why?Torah Dreidelberg said:
Because Skyrim is an open world RPG that has little importance when it comes to story depth. Look at Mass Effect for example- sure you can't literally go wherever your want because of the layout, yet the story is so deep you feel a strong connection for the characters. I know more about Joker then I do of the Elder Scrolls lore, which is pretty sad. Come on, I mean... darn it. All well.
Besides that, just give yourself a break if you see it's best to do so. I remember when I played Pokemon Ruby Version for nearly 12 hours straight. I got so sick of hearing my pikachu going "pika" whenever it enters battle that I suddenly turned off my Gamecube and sighed. To much is a bad thing.. you got to give yourself time to play other games, or look into sports, heck even do some chores/work to end up missing the fun you used to have.. with Skyrim.
P.S: Ether that, or you're just playing as a Khajiit.. this explains the problem.
I kid, I kid.
The problem is that Skyrim is average. It is playable. You can play it, and it won't crash every 8 minutes. But it isn't immersive. None of the characters are interesting. None of the places are interesting. None of the world feels BIG. The world is only about 8 square miles, and it feels like the same 200 yards all over.
The combat is not fluid. Archery is the best of all damage outputs because melee is not strong and magic feels weak. Arrows already don't feel as powerful, so when they are capable of doing damage, it feels ok.
the min-max player won't ave fun because everything is able to go to 100 and beyond.
The Role Player won't find fun because you don't really have much choice.
The explorer won't have fun because you can go anywhere from the start, and everywhere feels the same.
The Roll player (combat based) won't really find much fun because the combat feels slugish and unresponsive. Your daggers 'feel' just as heavy as your greataxe, which is weightless.
The 'Casual gamer' won't find fun because it is so big looking at first that they are scared.
The 'hardcore' crowd won't find fun because it is so simple compared to other RPGs.
I've played 260 hours, MORE thna my money's worth, but it felt shallow. I played it for so long to find my 'Skyrim Moment'. I found it in Dark Souls. I know. I know. the Skyrim vs. Dark Soul's debate. For me, Dark Souls gave me the experience I needed from an RPG in 2011. It made me question my actions. I fought a boss, killed it, then i put down the controller, walked away, and returned a half hour later. I felt genuinely bad about that action. I was forced to kill the boss, but he had done nothing more than protect a friend. It taught me something about myself. Skyrim taught me only that marketing can draw me in for the sale, but a GREAT game can buy me 60 hours into the fact, and teach me something I never would have otherwise known.
The combat is not fluid. Archery is the best of all damage outputs because melee is not strong and magic feels weak. Arrows already don't feel as powerful, so when they are capable of doing damage, it feels ok.
the min-max player won't ave fun because everything is able to go to 100 and beyond.
The Role Player won't find fun because you don't really have much choice.
The explorer won't have fun because you can go anywhere from the start, and everywhere feels the same.
The Roll player (combat based) won't really find much fun because the combat feels slugish and unresponsive. Your daggers 'feel' just as heavy as your greataxe, which is weightless.
The 'Casual gamer' won't find fun because it is so big looking at first that they are scared.
The 'hardcore' crowd won't find fun because it is so simple compared to other RPGs.
I've played 260 hours, MORE thna my money's worth, but it felt shallow. I played it for so long to find my 'Skyrim Moment'. I found it in Dark Souls. I know. I know. the Skyrim vs. Dark Soul's debate. For me, Dark Souls gave me the experience I needed from an RPG in 2011. It made me question my actions. I fought a boss, killed it, then i put down the controller, walked away, and returned a half hour later. I felt genuinely bad about that action. I was forced to kill the boss, but he had done nothing more than protect a friend. It taught me something about myself. Skyrim taught me only that marketing can draw me in for the sale, but a GREAT game can buy me 60 hours into the fact, and teach me something I never would have otherwise known.
that and write really great lore, they just need to put said lore into their games incited of keeping it in interviews and outside documents.Anthraxus said:
How is melee weak? I can 1 hit kill an ancient dragon with daggers.Arluza said:
Also
-You cant go beyond 100, so wtf are you talking about?
-Being able to explore everything from the start is if anything why people who like to explore like it. any time a game puts a restriction on how much you can explore people usually rage, case in point New vegas were tons of people hated how the game railroaded you and blocked off sections of the map with ungodly high level monsters.
http://skyrimforums.org/threads/todd-howard-lier.7080/ the interview mentions something along the lines, can't find the exact video.Torah Dreidelberg said:
If you harvest crops, or chop wood, traders get some more cash, and are generally nicer to you.Questalace said:
New Vegas was good but overrated in that respect. I actually don't think the story/characters/dialog in Skyrim are bad (and Morrowind blows New Vegas out of the water). Skyrim is not the pinnacle of the genre, but it's easily above average. It is not just the pretty environment but the open world which Bethesda is the master of, and obviously New Vegas was building on Bethesda's success. They also do a great job letting you build your own character (Oblivion's unbearable attribute system aside). For the moment, what Bethesda does is pretty much unique. When that changes, it will be a lot harder for me to defend Bethesda's failings. It's not that I don't think the story and dialog shouldn't be better, it's that there is not a game out there that meets the standard you're setting, not even the very dubious example of New Vegas.Anthraxus said:
No, it is. EVERY complaint in this thread are things people have been saying about Bethesda games even back in the days of "precious Oblivion". This is merely a case of putting blinders on. Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3 are all known for all of the problems people are complaining about Skyrim for. Of all those, Morrowind was the one that stands out but its story presentation was as bad as it gets.Torah Dreidelberg said:
For instance, earlier games were simply do you want to join this guild or not, it didn't change anything. What if I want to kill Jauffre in Oblvion pre- Tiber Septim armor quest because I am playing a paranoid anti-blades character who thinks they are involved in the assassination of Uriel. You can only do what the developers say you can do in Oblivion.Torah Dreidelberg said:
Oblivion "Essential NPCs": http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Essential_NPCs
Skyrim has done nothing that previous versions aren't guilty of. It's leveling system is broken? In Oblivion you could essentially make the game unbeatable by not leveling correctly. The combat model is the same as in Oblivion minus the killcams and animations such as decapitations. Seriously, these things are specific to Skyrim, it is a Bethesda issue.
They aren't THAT bad.Anthraxus said:
I think the main problem people have is the expect something like Mass Effect or Dragon Age were just about everyone you meet is like some super defined memorable character, but the thing is that most of those people in those games that you talk to aren't ravage Joes, they aren't normal people, they are almost always some super mage, or political ruler, or some crazy alien extremest, of some sort, and the people you DO meet that are normal are the ones that are quickly forgotten.
In Skyrim though 95% of the people you meet ARE average Joes, normal 9 to 5 workers, they come off as boring because they are just so normal.
Not to say Skyrim has no bad writing, because it does, and I wont deny that, but I don't think most people aren't in the right mindset when they play the game. It isn't made to be some game were over half the people you meet are somehow magically these super defined and oddly un-normal people.
they are supposed to be normal.
I do think they should add MORE non-normal people but I think the normal people they have come off as normal, and in that regard they are what they are supposed to be.
I have to agree, somewhat. While Skyrim is probably the best Elder Scrolls game I've played, it still can't draw my attention like some other games can. It's good in short bursts, but I still can't play it for extended periods.
And a lot of the problems I have with Bethesda games are present with Skyrim:
-The world, though very pretty and expansive, still doesn't feel alive. I don't have a connection with the various NPCs wandering it, and I find the fact that NPCs can randomly wander around to be annoying. Actually the randomly generated aspect of most Bethesda games serves to take me out of the world more than it does to immerse me in it, because it means that glitches are more common, and NPCs are more subject to stupid behavior.
Ironically, when the NPCs all stand still just waiting for me to talk to them, I get more immersed in the world.
-The story is still bare bones, it's hard to care about why you're doing anything.
-The series still can't do third person. It's better, but it still feels too detached, and personally speaking I find myself more immersed by a third person than a first one. I like to see my character on the screen, helps me get into his/her head more.
-The combat still hasn't advanced beyond tapping the attack button until your target dies. I still feel like a bunch of disembodied arms swinging swords around rather than feeling like my character's doing it. For the flaws it had, Kingdoms of Amalur got combat right and you always feel like a powerful badass while doing it, and Bethesda could really stand to take a few notes from that.
-I still just don't really care about exploring the world beyond doing it to gain experience and loot. And the randomly generated sidequests don't do enough to make me care either.
I think it'd be cool if, while you were farting about and ignoring the story or any faction quests, you could be recognized as a traveling adventurer or mercenary or assassin, and set up your own trade doing that; sort of a faction questline that you set up for yourself.
Regardless of the issues I have with the game, I still like it. The freedom is still an awesome aspect and a lot of the problems I have with Bethesda games, while not eliminated, as evidence by my above points, have been more toned down with Skyrim.
Like I said, I still enjoy it, just in shorter bursts.
And a lot of the problems I have with Bethesda games are present with Skyrim:
-The world, though very pretty and expansive, still doesn't feel alive. I don't have a connection with the various NPCs wandering it, and I find the fact that NPCs can randomly wander around to be annoying. Actually the randomly generated aspect of most Bethesda games serves to take me out of the world more than it does to immerse me in it, because it means that glitches are more common, and NPCs are more subject to stupid behavior.
Ironically, when the NPCs all stand still just waiting for me to talk to them, I get more immersed in the world.
-The story is still bare bones, it's hard to care about why you're doing anything.
-The series still can't do third person. It's better, but it still feels too detached, and personally speaking I find myself more immersed by a third person than a first one. I like to see my character on the screen, helps me get into his/her head more.
-The combat still hasn't advanced beyond tapping the attack button until your target dies. I still feel like a bunch of disembodied arms swinging swords around rather than feeling like my character's doing it. For the flaws it had, Kingdoms of Amalur got combat right and you always feel like a powerful badass while doing it, and Bethesda could really stand to take a few notes from that.
-I still just don't really care about exploring the world beyond doing it to gain experience and loot. And the randomly generated sidequests don't do enough to make me care either.
I think it'd be cool if, while you were farting about and ignoring the story or any faction quests, you could be recognized as a traveling adventurer or mercenary or assassin, and set up your own trade doing that; sort of a faction questline that you set up for yourself.
Regardless of the issues I have with the game, I still like it. The freedom is still an awesome aspect and a lot of the problems I have with Bethesda games, while not eliminated, as evidence by my above points, have been more toned down with Skyrim.
Like I said, I still enjoy it, just in shorter bursts.