Skyrim, The realitazion

[Nauticus]

Just like everyone else, I was standing in line to get my copy of skyrim more than a year ago, excited to play another Elder scrolls game.

I loved it, great world, great gameplay, but somethign didnt feel right. Eager to be able to play it through just once, Ive rerolled with new characters, but only ending up around level 30-40.
I have yet to explore all corners of skyrim and have alot of gameplay left to do
But after 200 hours of forcing myself to love skyrim, I've come to the realization..
Skyrim is a terrible game.

Dont get me wrong, they've nailed the gameplay in this game, all skills are usefull and though it may seem skinned down with the perks and lack of stats, the perk system gives the more advanced players to try out many different approaches and builds.
But what Skyrim seriously lacked was immersion and interaction with the world.
The world and its NPCs have absolutley NO interaction with you.
Important events and choices you make, has no effect on your surroundings. Your race, rankings, and guild-affection provides no feedback from the world. You can be Leader of the Companions, and still treated like a scrub to the other members, no one in windhelm approves of your leadership of the biggest house in the city.
Items has no value in this game, so the problem that oblivion had, was actually never solved. The dialoge in this game is outright stupid, where NPC's have nothing of value to talk about and just repeat 1-2 lines they are scripted to.
I´ve noticed theese faults from the beginning, but denied this until now, Ive forced myself thinking it was me, with my indecision and low determination who was at fault for not being able to enjoy the game to the fullest.

Just wanted to let out some frustration Ive gained over time from playing skyrim, and hope to share some thoughts on the game. Skyrim is one of the better games I´ve played latley, but since I'm starting to think it's actually a horrible experience is not saying much for the rest of the games available now.

"So, you're brynjolfs new prodigy?" No, I am Dragonborn, Leader of the Companions, Archmage, Thane of all cities, Legate of the Imperials, Leader of the Dark Brotherhood... and your guildleader!

 

[Rylee Fox]

Your complaints are all true and I agree with them. For me though, I've never seen a game that does have the npcs do what you want them to do so it doesn't detract from the game to me. I still have a ton of skyrim to play and I intend to play all of it.

 

[Soulrender95]

That's not strictly true, guards react to your status and clothing ok it's not everyone but considering the amount of voice acting in the game and the amount of quests do you really think it's reasonable to expect Bethseda to have every different voice actor record specific lines for every variation of the events possible beforehand? it's a juggling act, and considering bethseda aren't the best for bug fixing keeping it simple is probably for the best.

 

[Tom_green_day]

Lack of immersion? I find the opposite is the reason that I love it so much- the world feels alive around you. People go about their daily routine, both in cities and in the outdoors when you come across random encounters. NPCs, both friendly in areas and hostile in the wilderness, talk and hold conversations that normal people would have. There are plentiful books, deep dungeons, beautiful vistas and so many locations that the world feels like it really is that- a world.
Also I find that people do comment on your status, especially the guards. They somehow always know that I can cast magic, or am Dragonborn, or am the leader of the Dark Brotherhood. And the fact that most people don't comment, although I know it is because they aren't scripted, makes the world feel more real. If it was a real world you wouldn't just talk to people in the street and say 'OMG YOU'RE A DRAGONBORN BLABLABLA' you'd hold a normal conversation with them. It's more natural than many games/films etc.
To quote the IGN video review: 'Bethesda has created a world that feels real, that feels like it existed long before you arrived, and will continue to exist long after you leave'

 

[Mikejames]

And the fact that every quest leads to a dungeon full of:
A-Dragur
B-Falmer
C-Forswron

Essentially this.

I don't think Skyrim's terrible, but it didn't hold my attention for nearly as long as I thought it would. In Oblivion, I helped a wizard solve puzzles inside of his nightmares, initiated an Agatha Christie styled murder mystery, and saw the Shivering Isles. Loved them Shivering Isles.

In Skyrim the majority of my time spent was killing random dragons and getting dungeon fetch quests. Lots of them.
Having an infinite number of quests is nothing to boast about if a good amount of them are identical.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

I agree with the OP in many respects.

The fact that you can gain tons of titles and awards and NPCs still treat you like crap is incredibly annoying. That ***** in Whiterun that keeps boasting that he visits the Wind District more often than you do when I practically live up there, the Imperial Soldiers that give me dumb advice or generic chat when I'm their superior officer, etc.
The mage thing was so silly I don't even know where to start. That whole questline was tiny magic and a whole lot of adventuring and then somehow getting Arch Mage while being an archer :\

The game world is awesome, as are the weapons and skills and general lore. But the NPCs and the kill-draugr-every-dungeon got tedious. There was an awesome post here or on the Steam Forum about that whole draugr thing, it was pretty funny.. can't remember where it was though :\

 

[sanquin]

That's the problem with the current technology. You want a deep, personal story and the world reacting to you? It won't be very expansive and there won't be a ton to do. You want an open, expansive world with tons of things to do? You won't get a real personal story or the world reacting to you.

The makers of the witcher claim that the third instalment will both have an open world, and keep the personal side of the previous witcher games in as well. Certain points in the main plot will even have a very noticeable impact on the world. At least that's what they claim...we'll have to see if they deliver.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

Welcome to the club. Yeah,Skyrim's big thing is only that it does many things at once. But none of the things it does is as good as how other games do them.
And the repeatitiveness of the quests is the worst part of it. all fetch quests,no variety on quest types.

 

[The-Traveling-Bard]

That's the problem with the current technology. You want a deep, personal story and the world reacting to you? It won't be very expansive and there won't be a ton to do. You want an open, expansive world with tons of things to do? You won't get a real personal story or the world reacting to you.

The makers of the witcher claim that the third instalment will both have an open world, and keep the personal side of the previous witcher games in as well. Certain points in the main plot will even have a very noticeable impact on the world. At least that's what they claim...we'll have to see if they deliver.

I think Red could do this because they don't make games for consoles they make games for PCs. That's the problem with Skyrim it's built on what.. 9 year old hardware now? It's going to have serious draw backs since today's computer are about 20x (If not more) times faster than consoles. They're not restricted by a half of gig of memory.

I have no doubt Project Red can deliver a solid good experience. If they don't.. Then I am going to be a bit disappointed. :b.

 

[Ascarus]

"So, you're brynjolfs new prodigy?" No, I am Dragonborn, Leader of the Companions, Archmage, Thane of all cities, Legate of the Imperials, Leader of the Dark Brotherhood... and your guildleader!

i made this image a long while ago when my friend asked me what i thought about skyrim ... i had the exact same thoughts as you when those idiots in the companions would repeatedly ask "Do you carry the mead or something?"

http://imgur.com/X3oKLSz

 

[BrotherRool]

That's the problem with the current technology. You want a deep, personal story and the world reacting to you? It won't be very expansive and there won't be a ton to do. You want an open, expansive world with tons of things to do? You won't get a real personal story or the world reacting to you.

The makers of the witcher claim that the third instalment will both have an open world, and keep the personal side of the previous witcher games in as well. Certain points in the main plot will even have a very noticeable impact on the world. At least that's what they claim...we'll have to see if they deliver.

Aside from the tech, there's a huge design expense, either you've got to work out some mindbogglingly complicated system to automate responses, or you just have to do two times/three times more writing and voice acting. And even then it can feel shallow. Games like Heavy Rain and the Walking Dead were designed from the ground up to make it feel like you're impacting the world and they still left people feeling unsatisfied. Alpha Protocol is probably the most reactive game I played and there's no way they could have done all that and designed an open world/varied quests/deep combat system on top of that.

Still the Fallout's are more reactive to you right? And they had a fairly decent reputation system in New Vegas, so that alone would be a step up, and that was pretty possible with todays technology.

(Also I don't know if it's gotten better, but Bethesda's programming was apparently incredible inefficient back in the Oblivion days, so I doubt they hit a tech ceiling with Skyrim that some id programmers couldn't have solved)

 

[thesilentman]

I've never liked Skyrim for the reasons that you stated, OP. It doesn't reward us with anything tangible that makes us feel proud. And the combat sucked. That's pretty much a fact. Slicing like lazy lions is less fun after playing tons of Dark Souls recently.