Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[entrerix]

playing skyrim is fun, but i am constantly seeing how the game would be better if they let obsidian make their version of it. just like new vegas was 10x better than fallout 3

[HoonDing]

playing skyrim is fun, but i am constantly seeing how the game would be better if they let obsidian make their version of it. just like new vegas was 10x better than fallout 3

No. New Vegas was alright because they received all the assets and engine of Failout 3 from Bethesda, so they could focus on their strengths rather than creating everything from scratch. If Obsidian had to make Skyrim from scratch, it would be completely doomed.

Edited November 22, 2011 by virumor

[Hurlshort]

I'm getting pretty tired of the crappy dialogue in Skyrim. Especially after playing FO:NV and seeing what Obsidian can do. Heck, I'm playing TOR and the dialogue sounds a thousand times better and makes me feel like I have real choices, and that's an MMO.

 

Ah well, it's still lovely to look at

[LadyCrimson]

playing skyrim is fun, but i am constantly seeing how the game would be better if they let obsidian make their version of it. just like new vegas was 10x better than fallout 3

No. New Vegas was alright because they received all the assets and engine of Failout 3 from Bethesda, so they could focus on their strengths rather than creating everything from scratch. If Obsidian had to make Skyrim from scratch, it would be completely doomed.

Beth should let Obsidian work in collaboration with Beth's tech people on all their games.

Beth has always been (imo) terrible at quests/dialogue. They serve their purpose, but not much more. Beth just rocks at creating open-world/sandbox.

[Rosbjerg]

^ couldn't agree more..

 

I saw someone complain that the various items in the game didn't have icons in the UI.. so here you go, some modder agreed.

[Tigranes]

I'm not sure what to think about Skyrim's dialogue. I think it's a lot better than Oblivion, and in some cases I'm quite satisfied with what they've managed to do. Most important is that I think they've restored some of what was really special about Morrowind, which is that there's various versions of the truth and so NPCs are real actors who speak what they believe, not a "Truth/Lie" toggle relative to a global player-oriented lore, which is of course what made Oblivion so artificial. Skyrim doesn't do it consistently like MW does (Vivec, books, etc), but I liked what they did with the different kinds of conversations you get/overhear re. Whiterun's Jarl and Windhelm's Ulfric, and that again in relation to, say, the Solitude palace mage's take.

 

Of course, that is punctuated by occasional bits of Oblivionish stupid nonsense, usually in minor quests, and also I think the quality of the prose itself is not great, so it's really boring when they do long, drawn out cutscene dialogues that you can't skip - e.g. Ulfric and Galmar taking 30 sentences to say what should really have been 5, or pre-battle speeches on various occasions where you need to sit and hear them whine on and on. I guess they were going for realism and portraying how people with hats on can never know when to shut up.

 

In terms of writing/plot/quest design widely speaking, I'm not sure yet, and I haven't taken any storyline to anywhere near conclusion except the Companions, which was so-so. I'm hoping that the factional divisions and the dilemma over the future of Nords/Skyrim gets a good treatment, but I'm also expecting that, true to Bethesda's writing style, halfway through you'll just realize everything was a conspiracy from the evil Thalmor/whoever and there is a clear Good and Evil and you just need to get a Deus Ex Machina to make it all right.

 

Oh, I really liked the little touch where you help the crazy man on the road with his stupid box, and

it turns out he was transporting the Night Mother.

 

[entrerix]

playing skyrim is fun, but i am constantly seeing how the game would be better if they let obsidian make their version of it. just like new vegas was 10x better than fallout 3

No. New Vegas was alright because they received all the assets and engine of Failout 3 from Bethesda, so they could focus on their strengths rather than creating everything from scratch. If Obsidian had to make Skyrim from scratch, it would be completely doomed.

 

i agree, i actually meant that obsidian should be given the chance to make their version now that skyrim is released, ala New Vegas.

 

obsidian has, imo, been more successful at improving someone else's basic structure, than creating their own complete product from scratch.

[Tel Prydain]

I don

[HoonDing]

I think the biggest improvement of Skyrim is that the world feels actually alive, much like a Gothic game. NPC interactions with each other and their actions in the game world are pretty believable while in Oblivion they just wandered randomly talking about mudcrabs. Even the Skyrim bandits are talking to each other and even engaging in fist fights on occasion, if you spy on them.

 

As atmospheric as Morrowind was, and as unique its gameworld, the world was dead.

[CoM_Solaufein]

All I have to say is the graphics for the forests, mountains, etc is just beautiful and realistic.

 

But there certainly needs to be some balance in the game, my major gripe. I have mages giving me trouble and spell casting end bosses and yet I can kill off dragons as if they are nothing? Mages defense rating is far too great for someone who is basically wearing cloth. I can cut through dragon hide and yet have a hard time killing a mage wearing a robe? Its fine that mages are offensively powerful and they should be. But come on they're not losing hit points quick enough with my magical melee weapons.

[Rosbjerg]

Hmm, in my experience when you get close wizards they drop like flies. Of course I use shock enchantments, which drain their magicka, so that might have an effect.

[WDeranged]

There was plenty of lazy/uninspired writing and quest design in Morrowind but it's easier to ignore in text form, I was even a bit let down when I finally met Vivec, after all the bat**** crazy stuff you read about him I expected more, maybe he was humbled in the presence of his potential executioner but I think he was just blandly written.

 

The real hook Morrowind had for me was digging through the past and finding out why things ended up in such a mess, I'm not sure that Skyrim has the same aspect but I've only read a handful of the new books, it's surpassed my expectations though.

[Bokishi]

Started a new character to take on the Mage University Guild and Mzulft is seriously too hard, even when I bring it down to novice difficulty level. I'm guessing being lvl 9 is just too low?

[CoM_Solaufein]

Hmm, in my experience when you get close wizards they drop like flies. Of course I use shock enchantments, which drain their magicka, so that might have an effect.

My character isn't heavy into magic. She's more of a powerhouse fighting thief. Even stealth shots with a bow doesn't bring them down fast or outright kill them.

[WorstUsernameEver]

News travels slow in the world of Skyrim: people in Dawnstar were surprised I absorbed the soul of a dragon when I had already killed Alduin. To be fair, the people in Riverwood and Whiterun go singing my praise.

[HoonDing]

I found "Blackreach". It's like a gameworld inside a gameworld.

[Syraxis]

 

My new favorite news source

[Niten_Ryu]

No. New Vegas was alright because they received all the assets and engine of Failout 3 from Bethesda

 

I'd argue that New Vegas was alright (if just barely) despite assets and HORRIBLE Gamebryo engine. Buggy engine (meaning that Obsidian couldn't fix certain issues even if they wanted to), terrible animations, constricted ruleset, suboptimal shooting and melee mechanics, VAT issues, sound problems, scripting problems...

 

Sure, environment assets are ok (as they are in Skyrim too) but still way behind the Rockstars RAGE engine or Cryteks engine(s). There's huge improvement from Oblivion to Skyrim, but no way Bethesda's stuff is state of the art (sand box or not).

[Lexx]

If it helps them to make better games, they can reuse the same assets for the next two games as well, imo. :>

[Masterfade]

No. New Vegas was alright because they received all the assets and engine of Failout 3 from Bethesda

 

I'd argue that New Vegas was alright (if just barely) despite assets and HORRIBLE Gamebryo engine. Buggy engine (meaning that Obsidian couldn't fix certain issues even if they wanted to), terrible animations, constricted ruleset, suboptimal shooting and melee mechanics, VAT issues, sound problems, scripting problems...

 

Sure, environment assets are ok (as they are in Skyrim too) but still way behind the Rockstars RAGE engine or Cryteks engine(s). There's huge improvement from Oblivion to Skyrim, but no way Bethesda's stuff is state of the art (sand box or not).

 

I'm not sure about the engine. The only RAGE engine game I've played (GTA IV PC) has truly horrible loading time comparing to a fully modded Oblivion, and has its fair share of crashes and freezes too. When taken into account the massive budget a GTA game has, I'm a lot less willing to forgive Rockstars on this.

 

I think the Bethesda engines are nothing short of remarkable when dealing with massive contents. The only other games with comparable amount of custom contents are Sims 2/Sims 3 (at least these are all I'm aware of), and I can usually finish half a chapter of a novel while waiting for my modded and CC'ed Sims 3 to load (Yes I play Sims 3, one has to admit Sims are what make pc gaming cool. Either that or FarmVille). Although to be fair Sims 3 is very stable once it finally loads.

Edited November 23, 2011 by Masterfade

[HoonDing]

All in all, it's pretty impressive what Bethesda has been able to pull off using the ancient Gamebryo, and on consoles with that.

 

Divinity 2 is a semi-open world game that uses Gamebryo and has lackluster animations as well, it makes me think there must be something about that engine that makes implementing animations difficult.

 

Maybe Bethesda should've opted for Two Worlds 2's GRACE engine. I was impressed by it.

Edited November 23, 2011 by virumor

[entrerix]

it will be interesting to see whether fallout 4 is a big leap up in technology, considering it will almost certainly be released on next gen consoles, or just a mild bump in graphics (as fallout 3 was to oblivion and skyrim was to fallout 3)

 

im guessing somewhere closer to the graphics bump of oblivion over morrowind, hopefully they dont make it fugly and boring though

[Cantousent]

I've gotten a bit more into Skyrim. I have to admit, I think I made serious mistakes in my game. Still, I mow down most things. There are only two monsters who've given me a hard time so far. One was the Falmer Gloomduder and the other was this thing called a hagraven. Something tells me that I should have had an easier time with them. On the other hand, I've managed to kill them well enough. I've just had to rely on the environment to do it, which sucks. I think the problem is I need better spells.

 

I still dislike the dialogue. Not just the writing, but the fact that, even putting up subtitles and clicking through it feels clunky. There's a time delay and I just want to get through the wretched lines as fast as I can read them.

 

Otherwise, even taking it slow as I have, it seems like a fun game. It leaves me wanting Fallout 4 something fierce, but it's a good distraction I guess. The wife isn't interested in it at all.

[Orchomene]

My first play through finished yesterday evening at level 47 and more than 80% (rough estimation based on a subjective feeling) of the world/quests discovered/done. It took me more or less 120 hours.

I've just began a new character but doesn't feel a lot inspired. There is not a lot of replayability value as far as I can imagine. Only difference could be in choosing between imperial legion and stormcloaks. Otherwise, one could also restrict itself to only part of the guilds.

[Rosbjerg]

It took me more or less 120 hours. There is not a lot of replayability value as far as I can imagine.

 

But a 120 hours is pretty solid for a 60$ game though..