Skyrim: I think it's overrated. Or am I totally missing the point?

[suitepee7]

i put in around 120 hours, and only got about 3/4 through the story. personally i find vanilla to be pretty dull, but with mods it increases its life by quite a lot. i agree with a lot of your criticisms, which is why i struggle to play it again, but i don't know whether to think of it as my problem or not. i got bored of it, but i still had loads to do and i enjoyed the combat sections, i just got fed up with faffing around for ages before the good parts

 

[Lieju]

I'm not sure how you determine whether something is overrated or not, but I certainly don't think as highly of it as many people seem to.

I don't care about the combat and whether it's good or not, I'm in for the game for story and lore, and I found that lacking.
The world never came alive, the writing wasn't good enough for me, the environments seemed too samey, and the world seemed static and I just didn't care.

 

[In Search of Username]

I don't get it at all. The Elder Scrolls games are just so bland. Dead-eyed characters with awful writing and voice-acting, the lore pretty much entirely ripped off from Tolkein, the combat is just... bad. And the whole quest structure is essentially just 'pick one of these several linear series of quests which have no impact on one another'. I really want to like the Elder Scrolls games because I can't think of another fantasy RPG that gives you such a big open world to explore and so much freedom in your levelling, but I can't get over just how shit it all is if you actually care in the slightest about story or atmosphere.

 

[Lightknight]

Overrated?
No.

I've gotten over 200 hours over two different versions, PS3 & glorious PC with mods, which is more than I can say for most games I've dropped 60USD on.

I actually started with the PS3 version, but those loading screens were killing me. So I played the rest on PC. Much better if I do say so myself. The snow amazed the hell out of me by the way.

The Skyrim PS3 version got me to go out and build my own PC. Hilariously enough, I built the entire box (Even waiting weeks for good deals and all), before Bethesda managed to fix the ps3 version.

Anyways, the game is as long as you make it be. There is only one main storyline and it is little more than a typical major side quest. The world is immense and exploring the entirety of it can be daunting. Frustrating even. But the point is that it's there if you want to do all of that, not that you have to. So perhaps the problem is that you forced yourself to do optional things?

As for the dragon issues. You are mentioning things that I believe are valid criticisms or annoyances in the game. I don't see them as game breakers or anything like that. I hated that dragons would permanently kill towns-people and I think they spawned overly frequently when I traveled into towns. I'd have much preferred to mostly encounter them between towns or on quests rather than on doorsteps just because I fast-travelled there. Regarding dungeons, I don't necessarily know if you've seen what I've seen. In vanilla, I've seen vampire hideouts with great tables and such, dwemer ruins, a magical forest filled with tree spirits and a great tree of life, basic dungeons and caves, dwemer ruins, crypts, daedric shrines, etc. They were more varied than most games I've seen. I think the problem is that there were SOOOO many of them, and that's not really that much of a problem.

I think the game itself has provided most people with the highest return on the dollar. At some point, I had easily crossed the $1 per hour threshold which is better than nearly every other form of entertainment. So the game is absolutely worthy of it's praise. It has created an interesting and diverse world and deserves its place. The mods created for it have also been amazing and are capable of adding so very much (for example, that one mod that added something like 1/3 of the landmass).

 

[Rutabaga_swe]

So if hours per dollar is the deciding factor on whether a game is good or not, i suppose all F2P games must be wholly amazing?

 

[Kyrian007]

I found it to be great. It's mechanics are hit or miss in places. Vanilla combat can be tedious and easily broken, but it's functional and not overly time-consuming which lessens the feeling of "combat grind." And the leveling system is one of the best ever. Or at least most sensible, you get better at a skill by USING it. You don't increase your lockpicking skill by swording down your umpteenth skeleton, you get better by LOCKPICKING. Why was THAT so hard to do in games before Skyrim. Another hit and miss; combos of several skills can break the challenge like a solitary twig, but like the mighty... bundle of sticks (close one) a specialist in ANY skill can survive and win. I'm currently having a blast with a Summoner/Illusionist. Very little combat necessary. Just hide and frenzy foes into attacking one another, when there's one left either summon horrors to murder him for you or calm and backstab.

But the thing it does the best really is sandbox. It's less a game itself and more a framework for making your OWN RPG. I've had 4 playthroughs and 4 characters. And so far... only one was the "Dragonborn." The others have just been various adventuring heroes and one even became a serial killer.

Believing that Skyrim is overrated... is kind of admitting that one has a limited imagination.

 

[CloudAtlas]

None of the criticisms of Skyrim are new, not from the OP or anyone else, and I guess that most people who like Skyrim overall, me included, won't deny that it has major flaws. In fact, I'm playing (a heavily modded) Skyrim a bit again right now, and they're often all too apparent.
But to claim that these people overrate the game, that they're blind of its flaws for whatever reason is not exactly nice. Different people just might weigh the pros and cons differently than you do, they just have different preferences.

 

[CaptainThom]

At this stage the term "overrated" is being thrown around way to much. First of all whether you like Skyrim or not is entirely subjective and you admitted yourself you don't like the fantasy setting (i.e the one skyrim uses), so therefore surely its no surprise to you that you didn't like it? Does that mean its overrated? No of course it doesn't it means you don't like it, which is completely fine.

Secondly why would you play a game you don't like for 100 hours? Thats completely ridiculous and i find it hard to believe you aren't exaggerating to some extent (I think the longest i have out of any game i didn't really like was about 20 hours on Risen 2 and that was a real chore). Again i think your conclusion that its to long is also ridiculous, of course it feels to long if your not enjoying yourself. Skyrim exists in a open world with hundreds of quests and plenty of interesting locations to explore, which is mainly what you spend your time doing, it therefore has to be long to allow for this exploration. Personally its the size and length of TES games which i find so attractive.

I get the impression you don't understand what Skyrim is all about. Its not about being extremely difficult with epic boss fights aka Dark Souls, its about exploration and the sheer experience of an immersive fantasy world. Therefore anyone playing Skyrim to complete the game is wasting their time, if you want to play Skyrim at its best get the PC version and mod the hell out of it.

 

[Frankster]

I see it as a hiking simulator with some fantasy and token adventures thrown in.
Also I find the idea of spending more then 100 hours in a single game of skyrim insane but I guess there are folks that roll that way.

In that respect Skyrim has rather endeared itself to me, especially since i've modded the crap outta it.

I witnessed town guards kill dragons, so what the hell is so special about the dragon born...really? Shouts are weak, so who cares? Speaking of dragons; I have killed so many that I am annoyed every time I hear one up in the sky...

As a dragon born you can absorb their souls and kill them permanently. No one else can, so when they kill a dragon, it will come back to life at some point (in the fluff, not in the game) whereas you can finish them for good.

Also I can't help but feel some of your complaints could be addressed with mods.
Vanilla dragons? ROFL, install deadly dragons and never look back, but that said it does sound like you've kinda been spent on skyrim so maybe for a hypothetical future playthrough?

 

[spartan231490]

The encounters are easy, even on master. I witnessed town guards kill dragons, so what the hell is so special about the dragon born...really?

This is where you lost me. A) you think fights are easy on master, B) you never caught that a dragon isn't truly killed unless the dragonborne absorbs it's soul. I'm fairly convinced you never played the game.

Also, no it's not overrated, it's just not your cup of tea.

 

[Lightknight]

So if hours per dollar is the deciding factor on whether a game is good or not, i suppose all F2P games must be wholly amazing?

They would be undefined by the parameters and in the calculator (go ahead, divide the number of hours you played it by 0).

Number of hours played should be a significant factor in the value of the game. Yes. A great game that you played for 1 hour should have less weight than a great game that you played for 20 hours. The quality of said game would have to significantly outweigh the quality of other games that you got more of a return on your investment.

It's not overrated. Everyone knows it's not as good as Morrowind

[sub] Kinda kidding but seriously, play Morrowind[/sub]

Ah yes, the game that stole weeks of pure gaming time from my childhood that I'm still happy I spent... Hard to come close to that one. It had an alien atmosphere about it that the newer titles just haven't been able to match. Maybe because they keep setting everything new in European-esque areas whereas Morrowind was full of strange regions and alien silt striders everywhere you look.

 

[Lictor Face]

You play Skyrim, indeed any TES game, to experience the richness and fullness and innovation that its hard-core mod fanbase has created.

Skyrim by itself is above-average. Skyrim with mods is possibly one of the best games you will ever experience.

 

[Zenn3k]

First of all, I'm not trying to step on peoples toes here so please don't get too upset at me.

I will be honest; I'm not into the "dark age/ Tolkien'ish" fantasy RPG thing too much.
-but
My friends, and other people I know have been trying to get me to play Skyrim for a while now. So I finally tore myself away from Dark Souls, and made the plunge. I now have over 100 hrs in the game, but I'm too tired and worn out with this system, that I can't go on. I have forced myself to play through at least 30 of those hrs, because I'm not a quitter and I really wanted to experience a fraction of the time my friends have put into this game.

So here is what I "think":
This game is way too long and tedious. The dungeons are samey and go on and on. The encounters are easy, even on master. I witnessed town guards kill dragons, so what the hell is so special about the dragon born...really? Shouts are weak, so who cares? Speaking of dragons; I have killed so many that I am annoyed every time I hear one up in the sky, or when I see a shadow move past me on the ground. The combat is so clumsy, that I feel like many boss fights are won by accident. The game has crashed on me too many times to be considered a "complete" product. I fall asleep periodically while playing, (no lie, I really fall asleep). I have killed Alduin and I seriously don't want to do another thing in this game, despite having a tone of active quests.

-How ever
It's a damn beautiful game, with great music and lore.

Does anyone else feel that Skyrim is overrated?

Skyrim is the most beautiful looking shallow shell of a game I've ever played.

The combat is meh, you're always either too strong or too weak. Its always either, BE one shot, or be the person one-shotting?there is no in-between.

The quests are boring and uninspired. The enemies constantly recycled. The dungeon assets are constantly recycled. Half the skill tree is pointless (I'm looking at you lock picking) and the crafting system is equally meaningless?unless of course you want to enter "god mode", in which case crafting is great?make your god-mode armor with your god mode enchants and 1-shot everything. Or enchant your armor to make your spells 100% free?aka, caster god-mode.

I liked the skill level up system, it makes sense to use something and become better at it?however it was like they finished that idea, said?"Well, thats done?add some Dragons and ship that shit!" cause everything else feels rushed, shallow, and meaningless. The quests were the worst. I've had more interesting quests in World of Warcraft. The stone things you click on abilities?.yeah, there is 1 good one per class, and no reason to not use the best one, literally make a character, and the first thing you should do after the escape is head to your little stone thing (forgot what they were called) and set it, THEN begin playing.

"Go here, grab something, bring it back?thanks, here's some gold" - REPEAT 500 times.

Then of course there are the dragon fights themselves. When we all first saw them teased, it was amazing?I couldn't wait to fight a dragon. After killing seemingly millions of them?I gotta say, the luster has worn off a bit. Not only are the fights too frequent (by design) but they aren't much fun either. The first one you ever do is great, you don't know what to expect and the dragon kicks your butt if you let it. After 50 of them, its more of a chore and you realize the pattern they do and its no longer any fun.

 

[Rutabaga_swe]

Number of hours played should be a significant factor in the value of the game. Yes. A great game that you played for 1 hour should have less weight than a great game that you played for 20 hours. The quality of said game would have to significantly outweigh the quality of other games that you got more of a return on your investment.

Sorry i don't see the distinction between a great experience of one hour and a great experience of 20 hours. What if the time scope of the one hour experience dramatically enhances my enjoyment of it? Brevity is the soul of whit, as it has been said and i don't think quantity by necessity equals quality.

If less than a dollar per hour played is an indication of a quality game, then 0 bucks per hour hour played straight out the gate must blow your bloody bollocks off. Euphoria from the first femtosecond.

 

[Itchi_da_killa]

It's probably just not the game for you. "Overrated" is a meaningless word when it comes to personal taste anyway. You don't see the point in Skyrim's gameplay, I don't see the point in Zelda/Sonic/Mario/Metroid/what have you. It's all good. There's nothing saying you have to conform to what a majority, or even a minority, thinks. If a game isn't your cup of tea, just stop playing it, and pick up something you'll like. Props for giving it a fair try, but there's no shame in not being wowed by what other people are. I will disagree with you on the whole crashing issue, though; I've played probably upwards of 400 hours in Skyrim now, and I can count the amounts of crashes on one hand, most of them caused by poor mods I've installed. Naturally my experience isn't the gospel truth, but I think calling it an unfinished product is more flamebait than honesty. It comes off that way, anyhow.

I agree about it being a problem of tastes, and yeah I should have used some different language. I wasn't trying to come off as an ass. A lot of the game feels unfinished though, such as combat. It's hard to believe that the developers felt the combat was technically complete... compared to other games out there anyway.

 

[Rutabaga_swe]

To be fair, Skyrim has the best feeling combat of all the TES games that i've played, though i suppose that doesn't really mean much. Especially since the leveling is so utterly broken unless you basically limit yourself, as stated earlier in the thread.

Seeing as how you spend such a huge amount of the game fighting, i dare say that that is a pretty big strike against it imo. Most all quests and problems are solved by pummeling baddies with your sword and shouting at them, and yet the combat system is boring, sluggish and broken.

 

[gamernerdtg2]

The fact that you need to modify the game, and that people are on this thread calling it "vanilla" without the modifications on PC should say something. I don't know how people play this game on the consoles.

It's one of the worst games that I've ever played in my long history of gaming.

 

[kortin]

No, OP, you're quite wrong. In fact, at this point, I'd say that thinking skyrim is overrated is overrated. Yep, we've gone full circle.