What made Skyrim so good?

[King Aragorn]

The combat is only lame if you choose to be lame about it, mix and match, I am currently going as a Dark Elf who uses Destruction magic for close combat and Bow and Arrow for long range, I also use my scrolls to get out of hairy situations (raising the dead is fun in crypts) and make potions for useful effects for my arrows and so far, it has been really fun, I haven't even touched a one/two handed weapon yet.

I love Skyrim, the combat is fun if you really mix things up, the world is fun to explore, I like the multitude of quests and much more, but the game could have used a bit more variety.

For example, you can choose to destroy the Dark Brotherhood or join it, but destroying it yields very little in comparison to joining it. I wish destroying the Brotherhood could have been its own quest-line, to stop assassinations, to hunt the Brotherhood down, culminating in saving the Emperor from being killed.

Bits like that would have made multiple play-throughs more unique.

EDIT: Also, it was released on 11/11/11, ya can't beat that!

I did try mix and matching, but it's still boring, and unfun. It's a core problem in the actual combat system, with it's clunkyness and what not, and repetitiveness of it, even with mix and matching, it just feels tried. Also, the magic combat is not all that engaging either. It feels so...boring, it's basically hold the two trigger buttons and keep pulling back.

Epic snip of doom

There is a difference between giving you choice, and being bare minimum. Bare minimum is when it gives you something that's of low quality, while giving you choice, as you described, is a kind of freedom. I would love if there was no essential characters, if you could do things such as killing Brynjolf for example, and having the game appropriately react to that within the storylines, taking it to different twists and turns.

 

[Evil Top Hat]

If you press escape, there's an option to go back to the main menu. On the main menu, there's a bunch of text, but it's all pretty pointless because the good one's right at the bottom. The one called "exit".

That part of the game was pretty rad.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

A few things

Because no two players ever had the exact same experience playing the game. That is literally true in the case of Skyrim, not just some hype bullshit.
Because if you wanted, you could just stop at a high mountain and gaze at the northern lights. Helps with the immersion.
Because the combat felt at least somewhat enjoyable.
Because the quests were a lot easier to bump into, and every time you went somewhere, it felt like something was going on, at least on your first visit.
Because it had variety in locations and visuals, as opposed to Oblivion, which was just one forest and one field copypasted 30 go to 10.

Sure it's got flaws aplenty, but most of those can be fixed with mods on PC. And no game that can have me playing it for 187 hours can really be bad.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Afraid I'm with the OP, I found Skyrim really, really dull and nowhere near as absorbing or fantastical as Morrowind. Preffered it to Oblivion, but still not a game I'd highly recommend.

I can't understand how the mods add much depth to it either? I play offline 360 so have no mod access anyway, but all the mods I have seen don't seem to add anything of substance to the game?

I agree. I played Morrowind and Oblivion multiple times but with Skyrim i cant play it again. Just to dull and has no charm. Now i wish they would just release a new addition of those games with all the PC mods already added. Morrowind Mod edition. Id buy that.

 

[TheRookie8]

It has style, but little substance.

The feeling of being in this massive, detailed world with all these people doing all these different things is a breath of fresh air from games where the people stand in one location as if they were rooted to the spot, waiting for someone to talk to them. The fact that Skyrim is also open-world gives it amazing freedom from other, slightly more linear, RPG's. I can also do more in this world than I can in any other RPG I can think of (smithing, hunting, adventuring...but with feeling).

But look to close and you see the cracks. NPC's behavior is reminiscent of the Truman Show, where they all walk in their own day-long circles before starting again. Also like the Truman Show, when a bug occurs, it breaks the illusion of the show...er, game.

...come to think of it, a Skyrim-Truman Show parody would be hilarious.

 

[vasiD]

To me it's the engine.
Say what you will about Bethesda's writing, reuse of voice actors, and weightless combat system: They know how to make one hell of an engine.


Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, and Skyrim all ran on the same Gamebryo engine each with incremental updates, and all of them were great games to just plug yourself in and get immersed. A rich sandbox in which to adventure, and usually in whatever way you wanted to. Even the glitches were fun and interesting (One day I'll make a game that works glitches in to the plot, as acts of god, or perhaps flaws in the very nature of the game's reality).

Skyrim was simply the most advanced form of that engine with the best graphics and added mechanics (duel wielding spells, shouts), and as such was more than enough for most gamers to get excited (and for me to invest yet another 100 hours in the engine).


I'm trying to think of even one engine that compares, that can create such open wandering spaces populated with so many objects and people, and I'm really struggling to think of even one other game that does it.

 

[Woodsey]

The world design is exquisite. Mountain ranges, a crisp and muted colour-palette, interesting architecture. Loved it.

Plus, I was a sneaky-sneaky archer, so combat was fucking glorious.

 

[Zeraki]

Skyrim is just 'okay' for me. It's something I play when I have downtime and nothing else to do to fill my time with. I'll play it for a bit, and then lose interest a little while later. Skyrim is actually too big and becomes boring rather quickly.

 

[gorfias]

Skyrim's good, but not great.

However, those mods. Ooooh, mods ... after installing over a hundred gigs of mods, the game got really entertaining.

I'm frustrated that I used a mod that made me invulnerable, which was fun until I was in a story line in which I'm supposed to lose a fight and end up in jail. I think it edits the ini file. You know of a way to temp. disable it?

I used a mod with extra hi res. I had the Death Star rather than the moon in the back ground. (Couldn't get the light saber, dang it!) all sorts of powers.

The story was not on par with Fallout 3 and its DLC, but with the mods on, this was a very unusual and different experience. I've never had one just like it before or since.

 

[Risingblade]

I don't understand why people ***** about the combat. ES games have never had great combat besides I've yet to see any first person melee combat that plays really well.

 

[Alexander Kirby]

It's rather hard to explain really. Sure, speaking from a technical perspective it's not very good. The setting is also quite clichéd and the emotions of characters varies between vague depression and errr, well that's about it.

What it is, as has been mentioned before, is the atmosphere. It's the combination of the stunning scenery and beautifully subtle music that just... just...

 

[Bad Jim]

Although I sank 120 hrs into Skyrim before I realised it was boring.

If you've spent 120 hours playing then I think it's fair to say you've got your moneys worth. In a lot of games you'd be on your tenth playthrough after 120 hours.

I don't mind mods and think a lot are cool, but it does annoy me when I keep seeing all these gimmicky ones, and then sites like IGN rating them as "top mods". I'm frankly bastard sick of people thinking it's cool to dick about in games at the sacrifice of any real core plot or campaign. "Here's Skyrim, shallow as a paddling pool but if you use this mod you can change the moon into the deathstar!!" Really? Great, thanks - I'd no intention of wanting to feel like an epic fantasy warrior involved in world changing events *facepalm*

What's wrong with dicking around? Why does it need to have narrative? Why does it have to be art? Why can't we have games where we can just have some fun?

Plus, I think you should recognise that writing an epic fantasy story that's actually good is a lot of hard work. Too much work for most professional game developers in fact. It's not a big surprise that no-one is doing it for free. Changing the moon into a death star is achievable and entertaining enough to be shared. Especially if there's a way to fire it.

 

[Frotality]

first of all: mods. the elder scrolls games have always had amazingly talented and active modders that make the base game seem like an 8-bit atari relic in comparison to the personally modded brilliance before you.

second of all: more than the sum of its parts. skyrim is definitely a "jack of all trades" kind of game. it does everything with fairly mediocre quality (except for graphics), but the freedom to do all those things, and the lack of any real structure allow you to craft your own stories and individual experiences greater than most sandbox-style games would. the shitty characters and story are there to encourage you to run off where you please and make your own out of pure gameplay shenanigans, and it works surprisingly well. not as well as morrowind or even oblivion, but it has its own strengths.

 

[Risingblade]

Skyrim's good, but not great.

However, those mods. Ooooh, mods ... after installing over a hundred gigs of mods, the game got really entertaining.

I'm frustrated that I used a mod that made me invulnerable, which was fun until I was in a story line in which I'm supposed to lose a fight and end up in jail. I think it edits the ini file. You know of a way to temp. disable it?

I used a mod with extra hi res. I had the Death Star rather than the moon in the back ground. (Couldn't get the light saber, dang it!) all sorts of powers.

The story was not on par with Fallout 3 and its DLC, but with the mods on, this was a very unusual and different experience. I've never had one just like it before or since.

Is it the makarath one where the guard frame you?

 

[gorfias]

Skyrim's good, but not great.

However, those mods. Ooooh, mods ... after installing over a hundred gigs of mods, the game got really entertaining.

I'm frustrated that I used a mod that made me invulnerable, which was fun until I was in a story line in which I'm supposed to lose a fight and end up in jail. I think it edits the ini file. You know of a way to temp. disable it?

I used a mod with extra hi res. I had the Death Star rather than the moon in the back ground. (Couldn't get the light saber, dang it!) all sorts of powers.

The story was not on par with Fallout 3 and its DLC, but with the mods on, this was a very unusual and different experience. I've never had one just like it before or since.

Is it the makarath one where the guard frame you?

Pretty certain it is: I start to leave a crappy rented room where I found some good clues and this guard starts hitting me. In my invulnerable state he can't knock me out. I surrendered once so I could go to the jail, but that didn't start the rest of that mission!

 

[Risingblade]

Skyrim's good, but not great.

However, those mods. Ooooh, mods ... after installing over a hundred gigs of mods, the game got really entertaining.

I'm frustrated that I used a mod that made me invulnerable, which was fun until I was in a story line in which I'm supposed to lose a fight and end up in jail. I think it edits the ini file. You know of a way to temp. disable it?

I used a mod with extra hi res. I had the Death Star rather than the moon in the back ground. (Couldn't get the light saber, dang it!) all sorts of powers.

The story was not on par with Fallout 3 and its DLC, but with the mods on, this was a very unusual and different experience. I've never had one just like it before or since.

Is it the makarath one where the guard frame you?

Pretty certain it is: I start to leave a crappy rented room where I found some good clues and this guard starts hitting me. In my invulnerable state he can't knock me out. I surrendered once so I could go to the jail, but that didn't start the rest of that mission!

Did you talk to the ogre after they put you in the jail? You have to talk to him either fight him or get him a shiv to continue.