So a few months back I made the judicial decree that Skyrim and Skyward Sword shared 2011's crown of highest quality in a gaming experience. Since then, I've been horsing around (tee-hee) and playing quite a bit of other video games. Returning to Skyrim recently has warmed my heart but also made quite a bit of errors about the game quite obvious.
To clarify:
the thread's focus is on flaws you find with the otherwise pretty-freaking-awesome epic RPG "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim". It's been heralded as the best console game this generation, but since then I think there's been a new player on the block, and the perfected diamond many claim Bethesda's latest game to be may actually be quite rough about the edges.
Most menial of all my qualms with Skyrim is the textures. The game looks amazing with its vibrant colors, differing environments, and massive landscapes. However the game's rocks and snow seem a bit more polygonal that those I've seen in recent memory. I know that graphics aren't a means of judging a game, but it is quite jaunting to see un-smoothed snow kinda jut into the ground without any form of overlying transitional texture or whatnot.
I would also like to complain about the story in that it's absolutely forgettable. I'd like to bring up my now-favorite game "Mass Effect 3" as a comparison. In Skyrim there are a multitude of tasks that, if written down, could probably have been written on all those in-game books you never read. The quests are fun and keep one well-entertained in the grand theater of the game, but few actually add to the over-arching Civil War or Dovakiin questlines.
Compare to Mass Effect 3, where every side-quest adds to the story, allowing the narrative to flow into every bit of gameplay. It builds this epic tale that pulls the player in and makes the various decisions all the harder to choose. There's nothing like learning someone you worked your butt off saving for three missions, then connecting to on a personal level, died in an explosion you could have prevented, via email. Skyrim's gameplay makes up for its forgettable story, but upon further inspection, it's just a pitiful attempt at compelling narrative.
I have more bits about this grand RPG but I'll save them for the obvious fanboys who will flock to the thread to tear down Your Friendly Neighborhood Satanist in the flames of hate.
I know that graphics aren't a means of judging a game, but it is quite jaunting to see un-smoothed snow kinda jut into the ground without any form of overlying transitional texture or whatnot.
This one maybe has to do with the fact that the snow falls dynamically, building those snowdrifts that are clearly not part of the ground. I don't say that there wouldn't be a way to make it look better, but at least there is a reason behind that^^
Concerning graphics, they obviously didn't focus on everything the same (have you ever taken down a hawk for example? Doesn't look glorious..). I just feel like they were constrained by the size of the game, maybe not for consoles, but for PC. Even more details would mean even slower PCs and bigger cards and disks necessary to run it on ultrahigh graphics. They probably wanted to prevent that.
I would also like to complain about the story in that it's absolutely forgettable.
This one I agree completely with.
What stroke me once is how certain things, made to make the world more believable, can backfire in certain situations. Once I wanted to amuse myself a little without saving, and killed all guards in Riften. Most civilians fled, and later they came back, walking as if nothing happened. And then - maybe you know how people say things like 'Oh no, what happened here?' around corpses - that's fine and candy if said once, but those guys kept walking around and saying the same thing everytime. If you have a few people walking around and a plaza full of corpses, it sounds crazy
... aaaand of course, if you say The Elder Scrolls, you say bugs. Lotsa bugs. Dunno how it's with the other Bethesda games, but TES games are notorious for their bugs.
Most menial of all my qualms with Skyrim is the textures.
Well, about the snowfall, I think if u take in account that they created a whole new engine and ifu compare it to Oblivion (just play the game and look up if it rains or snows) they did a really good job. The only game btw where the weather was good was Morrowind. In that time some PC's just had problems when it started to rain. And the graphics from the game are not the best and that is just because of the current generation console's. But luckily you can get texture packs.
I would also like to complain about the story in that it's absolutely forgettable.
Ah well, that is because the Quests in Skyrim are more a serie of smaller missions than a story you play. But they make that up for me by adding hundreds of quests in the game and a few major quest lines. And I know games like Mass Effect have better stories but that is because they want to tell a story while in Skyrim it revolves around the world, you can almost say that the world is the main character. The story is just not as important as in Mass Effect.
But nonetheless Skyrim is just an amazing game and I can't wait for the next Elder Scrolls game ( which isn't online.)
One thing I just remembered that isn't a minor inconvenience, but a really big letdown, is the cutscene at the timerift. They used basic animations scripted together in an almost amateurish fashion. The first time I saw it I was too concentrated on what was going on, but after seeing it three times, I have to say it looks really bad.
My main problems are the bugs and quests. Bugs happening while in a quest; people don't want to follow you, person isn't there to talk to, or the creature you're supposed to kill isn't around. Getting stuck on rocks even though I'm clearly jumping over them. My two save files were even corrupted somehow, got both of my characters up to level 40.
Now for the quests... most of them seem to want you to go into dungeons. That gets tedious after a while. Go into a dungeon full of Draugr and/or necromancers to get an item and/or defeat an evil being. They all look very similar to each other too. It was very enjoyable the first two times around, but after not playing as often for a few months I realised how lackluster the quests are.
I expected better from the Imperial vs Stormcloak war. Considering how it was a big deal, I thought the missions would've varied and been more detailed. Instead they were mostly "go to this base and wipe everyone out, report back" *reports back* "now go to this base and do the same thing" a few times. I did enjoy the Whiterun siege though.
Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas: best RPG ever! Yes, Bethesda's games are full of graphical errors, textures and bugs, but does exist a perfect game? i don't think so. sorry for my english.
... aaaand of course, if you say The Elder Scrolls, you say bugs. Lotsa bugs. Dunno how it's with the other Bethesda games, but TES games are notorious for their bugs.
My main problems are the bugs and quests. Bugs happening while in a quest; people don't want to follow you, person isn't there to talk to, or the creature you're supposed to kill isn't around.
Skyrim and other Bethesda's games will always have bugs because they are just simply too big, the worlds and the contents are way too big. Sure there's tons of testers to the game, but there is also so much content that can't be tested more times because it would take ages. Skyrim is the first RPG game to have radial questlines, so it is normal to have bugs.
Both sides are terrible. ones being racists, others being corrupt atheists. I hate them both but the game wants you to choose one...
If there was a choice to go alone and not fight for any side on the Civil War, but still take some parts in it, I would choose that, because both factions are evil and bad...
Both sides are terrible. ones being racists, others being corrupt atheists. I hate them both but the game wants you to choose one...
I'm very sorry to say, but there are no atheists in the Elder Scrolls universe. Imperials and Nords revere more or less the same deities, and the Thalmor only ban the worship of Talos, acknowledging the other Eight Divines (part of their own pantheon). Thalmor are best compared to the Inquisition and religious fanatics. Maybe you should check this.
And no, you're not forced to choose a side in the game.
But add that to the list - it is difficult for people who never played any previous TES games to fully understand the lore behind the game.
Concerning the bugs, that's one of the reason I'll never play a TES game on any console; you can't use commands like on PC to take care of the bug yourself if it is possible.
I've only ever played Skyrim and bits of Oblivion, but why do they want to ban the worship of Talos?
I believe because Talos was once a mere men who, because of his deeds, ascended to become a god. So after his death people believed he was a god and started worshipping him, not because of his deeds, but because he was once like them, so other people could become a god to. I guess the reasons why the Aldmeri want to ban him is because he was just a men.
I've only ever played Skyrim and bits of Oblivion, but why do they want to ban the worship of Talos?
Talos is revered as a man who ascended to the Imperial/Nordic pantheon, which is why the formerly Eight Divines were then the Nine Divines, or the Eight-and-One.
The Thalmor are fanatics who reject the idea that a man can become god, they say that Talos did not ascend to godhood after his death and find it blasphemic to worship him as an equal to their gods. Since they were in a position of power after the attack on the Imperial city they could enforce the ban of Talos worship. But initially Talos, as a man and as a god, was as important for the Imperials as for the Nords.
the problem with the OP, is that it's not made to be that type of game. The game is so big, that they had to make some sacrifices in the graphics and physics department to make up for the endless story lines that are in the game. Skyrim is a sandbox game, which means you can do literally whatever you want. The "main story" is just something to help you level up. There are literally tons of quests and stories in the game. You can craft your character however you want, and do whatever you want. There really isn't supposed to be a set storyline that skyrim follows, kind of like the GTA series.
