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Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim


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Usually about a week.

That long? I'm betting about 24 hours. :lol:

 

My expectation is that some things will have Morrowindified Oblivion; other aspects, it will have Oblivionified even further (e.g. UI, level scaled dragons). I'm mainly hoping that the former will outweigh the latter - that will make me happy.

That about says it for me, too.

 

The crafting system has me intrigued. I have the feeling it won't be as complex I'd personally like it to be, and don't know if it'll feel useful to gameplay but still...I'm interested.

“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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I think more than most other games you can see a difference in a select few principles that make Morrowind and Oblivion so different even when, in terms of gameplay mechanics or design features, they are so very similar. Mainly, Oblivion destroys world consistency with the argument that this frees up designers to create the most fun/exciting experience possible at any given moment. Then, the implication is that all those fun moments will congeal together naturally to form a great experience where you no longer mind the consistency. And that certainly can work for some people - if you internalize it to the extent that you don't care much about what you're missing, it's fantastic. If you don't, it's horrible because it's a series of nonsensical Awesome Cool Stuff that doesn't even match together. So you can never get a sense of world and culture in Oblivion with that (it also didn't help that art design jumped off a cliff), whereas with Morrowind - it's weird how most towns have very similar sets of buildings, functions, quests, etc. but you get a much better sense.

 

The thing with Skyrim is that art design has gotten attention again and at least at a visual level they've tried to reintegrate this. The problem is that in terms of design principles they seem to have gone even more radically Oblivionian - "we don't mind if the NPCs lose consistency or coherence as long as you keep getting a lot of cool quests". The logic is that, again, if you are getting interesting quests all the time and not being frustrated looking for people, broken questlines, etc., you won't really mind that they cease to even pretend to be real people. It remains to be seen whether it's that jarring in practice, but I think there's going to be a mix here, they're trying to start from Oblivion then go in both directions, so...

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After replaying Daggerfall recently, I can no longer complain about level scaling in Oblivion. What did Oblivion in, was the boring and generic game world, especially compared to Morrowind.

 

There better be a ****load of new lore books in Skyrim.

Edited by virumor

The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.

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also, oblivion had almost no hand placed loot. that makes a pretty big difference to some people. for me, hand-placed loot goes along with level design, its important, and doing it well can make a game like skyrim much better.


Killing is kind of like playin' a basketball game. I am there. and the other player is there. and it's just the two of us. and I put the other player's body in my van. and I am the winner. - Nice Pete.

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Soooo I just cancelled my pre-order and bought it on Steam, I'm pre-loading now and hopefully unlocking tomorrow when I get home, I don't mind losing the map as they'll end up on eBay eventually.

 

I'm genuinely quite excited but also concerned for my social life, mostly I'll just be glad to get into the game and de-hype myself :sorcerer:

 

*edit*

 

Edited by WDeranged
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I can't get excited about reviews that give perfect/near perfect scores any more. I don't trust reviewers enough to believe that it's anything but the "star struck" feeling that open-world, hugely hyped games gives.

 

Give me a review that awards a lower score, also lists out the bad things along with the good things, then I can get excited.

 

Still, will be playing the game for myself tomorrow so I guess we'll see.

Listen to my home-made recordings (some original songs, some not): http://www.youtube.c...low=grid&view=0

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Thread pruned a bit. I would suggest a more civil tone...

“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
 

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Heh, so the PC UI is the same as the console UI after all, can't say I'm surprised.

 

Well, I liked Oblivion enough with mods and skyrim seems to be better game, so I'll pick it up once modders have fixed what they can.

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What we need is a user rating as widespread as IMDB. They get it wrong on occasion, but I have never seen a good movie with a user rating of 4 or less. All this pre-launch Mumbo jumbo that is the life-bread of game sites. I don't trust it at all.

 

The problem with that system is that no users get to play the game until after it's released, plus the fact that gamers tend to get *massively* unbalanced about personal dislikes during the first few weeks of a game's launch

 

I do agree about IMDB though, the user score has rarely steered me wrong.

 

*edit*

 

I should add that gamers also get insanely unhinged over things they really like.

Edited by WDeranged
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What we need is a user rating as widespread as IMDB. They get it wrong on occasion, but I have never seen a good movie with a user rating of 4 or less. All this pre-launch Mumbo jumbo that is the life-bread of game sites. I don't trust it at all.

 

The problem with that system is that no users get to play the game until after it's released, plus the fact that gamers tend to get *massively* unbalanced about personal dislikes during the first few weeks of a game's launch

 

I do agree about IMDB though, the user score has rarely steered me wrong.

 

*edit*

 

I should add that gamers also get insanely unhinged over things they really like.

I agree, I can't really explain how "Dragon shouts" can completely turn me off a game, but they still did. :lol:

You're a cheery wee bugger, Nep. Have I ever said that?

ahyes.gifReapercussionsahyes.gif

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What we need is a user rating as widespread as IMDB. They get it wrong on occasion, but I have never seen a good movie with a user rating of 4 or less. All this pre-launch Mumbo jumbo that is the life-bread of game sites. I don't trust it at all.

 

The problem with that system is that no users get to play the game until after it's released, plus the fact that gamers tend to get *massively* unbalanced about personal dislikes during the first few weeks of a game's launch

 

I do agree about IMDB though, the user score has rarely steered me wrong.

 

*edit*

 

I should add that gamers also get insanely unhinged over things they really like.

I agree, I can't really explain how "Dragon shouts" can completely turn me off a game, but they still did. :lol:

 

Yeah, I'm pretty much the opposite, I'd been curious about Thu'um for years, when I found out the game was set in Skyrim I giggled (probably not) like a schoolgirl :lol:

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I knew I should have played an Elder's Scroll game.

Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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The game doesn't deserve a 10 though. It is sorely missing Dragon shapeshifting. :lol:

And dragon romance.

"Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
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I could be back home and playing it within the hour but I made a stupid promise to help my friend clean his house for a landlord inspection, then I have to go see another friend and then I've got to get up early tomorrow, Skyrim is already interfering with my real world plans...

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The reviewers gave Oblivion best-ever ratings as well and we see how that turned out.

 

Critical over-reaction is par for the course.

Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
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The reviews aren't surprising. The ES games rarely show their warts in the first 10-15 hours or so, we are too wrapped up in the glamorous vistas and epic open world. That is why they are always worth buying, you are going to get some joy out of those initial hours.

 

Thankfully once the shine does wear off, the mod community usually gets to work and fixes all the underlying issues.

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