Bethesda’s latest was one of the best sellers of last year, and a massive critical success, but what gives it such an appeal? I mean, Bethesda can craft a world, but jeez, you can see through Skyrim’s technical cracks and see it struggling to cope.
While Skyrim did grab me, it’s many flaws really didn’t help the game blow me away like it should have. Technical flaws are nothing new to gaming, but in a title so reliant on the engine powering it, a key element was really missing. If Bethesda can fix these issues in future titles, then the Elder Scrolls series will set a new standard that all companies will have to struggle to meet. Until then, however, we’re left with something a bit sub-par.
1. Graphics
We’ll start with Skyrim’s graphics. Todd Howard, the lead for the Skyrim team, said they considered waiting until the next hardware generation to do another Elder Scrolls game. Why? Even with Skyrim’s “brand new engine” it can’t hold a candle to Uncharted 3, Gears 3 or Battlefield 3. The textures are bland and the special effects are very basic. Characters look awkward and unnatural and only the art has any real, boastful potential. The image above is a comparison of character models between PS3 exclusive Uncharted 3, and Skyrim. Hard to believe there is only a week between these games, isn’t it?
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56 Comments
Of course the GFX cant be compared. one is a massive sandbox game and the other are very linear games where they know the exact route you will take so they can get the poly count right
just like why GTA games look crap these days. lets just hope that the next consoles have much larger amounts of ram else you will see this all over again.
still not played skyrim (got a 1 year old who eats my time) but i fancy getting it on PC as it will look 100x better
I still don’t understand why people compare games that are completely linear to games that are sandbox and open world. Of course the Graphics are going to be a little worse than these super linear games as the hardware isn’t the greatest on a 7 year old Console. Play it on a decent PC, and it beats any of those games you mentioned hands down.
Open world games like Just Cause 2 look really impressive, yet run on the same hardware. It’s possible.
Tell me,does Just Cause 2 give you the ability to pick up every single item in the game and enter every single house?JUST curious.
Seriously? Graphics? Fighting mechanics but not storyline and stupid quests? Skyrim is still the best looking RPG game with the best righting mechanic on the market. Compare it to similar games.
The biggest flaw of skyrim is the quests and the world. 90% of quests are simple “I lost my pantaloons in a troll filled cave” fetch missions and the world is very unoriginal. It lacks interesting locations and it all looks the same. That change was also noticeable on Oblivon vs Morrowind but here even more.
Though that is very much a part of the current game market – the storyline matters less which is evident by articles like this one. Since the clients want it the companies focus more on graphics, gameplay and nitpicky stuff instead of making the game an original adventure you will remember. Morrowind was a wonderous world and a great amount of original little quests that made you smile. Why don’t we have games with amazing stories or worlds anymore? There are few and far in between.
I left the story out as people perceive stories differently. Some would say Mass Effect 3′s ending was terrible. Some would like the mystery and the art behind it’s meaning. Also, the fight mechanics goes for almost every RPG. The Witcher 2 and ME3 were about the only exception, most RPG gameplay is standard at best.
Ryan – people perceive stories differently but not story originality and complexity. It’s not a matter of taste if all quests look the same, there is less quests looking different.
As for fights if you agree that RPG fighting mechanics is standard at best stop complaining. It’s like complaining your off roader can’t put up a good time on the silverstone circut.
Skyrim is a fantastic game, but only if you like the RPG sort of genre. Any game the size of Skyrim can be forgiven for the issues you pull it up on.
Graphics, it’s a vast world the has to take into account PC’s and consoles. Everybody knows the current batch of consoles are creaking under the strain. Other games might have better graphics, but are they the size of Skyrim? Do they average 150+ hours of playtime per player? A game like Gears of War 3 has about 10 hours of campaign, start comparing graphics when the a game like that has 200+ hours of stuff to do…
Combat – most people seem to find this quite satisfying. Assassins Creed is nothing more than counter every enemy for the most part. Which while it may look a little bit more pleasing. It isn’t as satisfying as getting a long rang kill-cam, when you fire an arrow at somebodies head. Skyrim gives you the options of stealth based play and head-on pull the whole group. While the AI might not be that great, it’s no worse than any other game.
Acting – nothing wrong with the acting in Skyrim. In fact the whole game is immersive and that is mostly due to the acting. Cicero I though was done particularly well. Again the odd bit of voice acting isn’t great, the ‘arrow in the knee’ is funny the first thousand times you hear it. But again, I don’t see how you can pull the game down in this area.
NPC’s – looking the same is what you tend to find in any RPG. Down to the number they have to generate to make places seem populated, no different to most games. Actually Assasins Creed is a prime example of auto-generated mobs looking like clones.
Technical Faults – depends on your platform. Xbox 360 players have had limited issues compared to say PS3. I play on a Xbox 360 and I have not experienced a single problem. I even wonder whether the technical issues, especially on PS3, are by design. Especially when you consider Dawnguard was released first on the 360 :).
It’s fine to say any game could be better with new technology, but what you have to look at is the current technology. Has anybody else produced such an expansive game for all platforms, that has as much exploration and stuff to do? I don’t think so at all. Skyrim is on a par with some MMO’s in terms of content, in fact the only thing missing is the multiplayer part.
While everything is subjective, sales figures don’t tend to lie for the most part. A game doesn’t ship 10 million units if it’s over-rated.
I want to know if the U3 image is from actual gameplay or from a cutscene as that is a part of U3?
It is a prerendered cutscene that uses the U3 engine.
Oh great another amateur “writer” trying to make a name for himself by bashing skyrim. Seriously Ryan don’t quit your day job please!.
THIS. Every single flaw you mention here is completely avoidable by purchasing the PC version. At least if you’re going to criticize a game like this do it for the consoles version. Not to mention the ridiculously nonsensical comparison to linear games such as Uncharted or Assassins Creed. And even if on consoles Skyrim is not as flawless and gorgeous as the modded PC version,I beg you to name at least one RPG that features a world as big as Skyrims with the same graphics as Skyrims (or even better) and that gives the same amount of freedom without all these technical issues.
Mass Effect 2 and 3 have huge worlds with little to no technical issues. Every NPC is unique and has unique voices. I’m not sure if the world is as big as Skyrim but it still feels big. The graphics are also leaps and bounds better than Skyrim’s. Arguably you could put the original Mass Effect up there as well but I’m aware that this game has a few technical issues and still looks worse than it’s successors.
I preferred Oblivion but Skyrim is still pretty good. I think the combat for archery and magic is pretty good and, although i agree that the melee combat isn’t great, the game is an RPG not a FPS. I think that many people played Skyrim hoping for an action adventure and may have been a bit dissapointed. Skyrim may be over-rated but it is still a game that you can enjoy for well over 150+ hours and few other, if any, single player games can match that.
Bland graphics? On consoles maybe, now try it on PC. With just a bit of tweaking, Skyrim on PC completely KILLS everything on consoles.
Overrated Combat? If there’s one thing in Elder Scrolls games that has never been overrated it’s combat. It’s one of the major criticism the series has endured over the years. But you know what? TES games aren’t about combat, they’re about exploration. You want combat, go play Streetfighter or CoD.
Acting? Well, first off it’s VOICE-acting, slight difference. I found that for the most part, the excellent voice cast did a good job, but I agree with most of what you said. Fake Nordic accents and not enough actors or too many voiced NPCs. Also, some core roles could’ve been given to more prominent voice actors. For example, Paarthurnax voiced by Sydow or Plummer would’ve been a better choice imo than the roles they were given. Also, the player character’s voice would’ve benefitted better with a particular, unique tone. Most of the time when my character speaks I’m thinking someone is attacking me, because his voice is so generic, like the rest.
NPCs, I agree with you 100%, for the same reasons as above. Especially followers like housecarls and even dogs for crying out loud, do they they have any other breed of dogs in Skyrim besides English Wolfhounds???
“it ultimately hinders player enjoyment”
Yep. That must be why so many players have been exploring this word for hundreds of hours, including you (I assume)!
Skyrim is not Uncharted. These are two completely different games and experiences, it’s like comparing a Land Rover with a Mini Cooper.
You could’ve used The Witcher 2 as a comparison, at least it’s another RPG.
Sheesh!
“It ultimately hinders enjoyment.” Doesn’t mean “ruins” enjoyment. And I did play on PC, was that meant to fix the combat? Mine must be broken.
Also, I made the Uncharted comparison because they released in close proximity. I could have compared Battlefield 3, but it’s a native PC game where Skyrim had more equal versions.
Skyrim wasn’t perfect, but that’s because it’s so massive. The characters weren’t perfect because they were procedurally generated – if artists had to sculpt each person by hand they’d still be working on it today. Besides, look at how other games do npc’s – Assassins Creed they are all identical clones.
In the next Elder Scrolls I’d like to see the world populated by thousands of npc’s. I don’t care if they all look alike, I want to see crowds of them scatter when a dragon lands.
The problem is that they made the game for consoles, and consoles are hilariously under-powered. They released the game on all the major platforms, but they designed the game for the weakest one, then ported it to the others.
As Jason Freeson said, gotta love these amateur writers trying to get views by claiming that huge games like Skyrim are overrated. Not to mention the nonsensical comparison for its graphics to linear games like Uncharted or Assassins Creed. If you are going to criticize a game like this,at least do so for the console version only. Almost every single flaw you mention here is completely avoidable by purchasing the PC version. It’s not like Bethesda was obligated to release Skyrim on consoles,but they did it anyway. And even if on consoles the game isn’t as flawless and gorgeous as Skyrim with mods on PC,I beg you to name an RPG that gives you as much freedom as Skyrim does,and features a world as big as Skyrims with good graphics and without these kind of technical issues on consoles.
I wouldn’t be caught dead playing skyrim. What a joke.
So the PC version fixed the combat? As I said above, my copy must be broken then. Also, mods are not native to the game’s content and while they’re certainly considered, people don’t judge a game on launch day over graphics mod that will likely be released months later.
Overrated does not mean it’s bad game. According to fans, Skyrim is an 1000000/10 game. For me, it’s more like an 8. Still a very respectable score.
I always wondered at the fact that so many mainstream gamers were getting so into Skyrim. Underneath all of the size and complexity of the world, Skyrim is something that even most RPG players wouldn’t get into. At it’s heart, the Elder Scrolls series is still a huge nerd game. So much of what this game is about is contained in the hundreds of pages of written text spread throughout the land, giving the world history and context. That’s the kind of thing the average gamer is going to miss as he tries to play in 3rd person mode or treat the game like the fantasy version of Halo.
In the end, even if they play for hundreds of hours, some people are going to feel like something isn’t missing. And they can try to blame it on the imperfection of any number of Skyrim’s thousands of features, but what they’re not getting is that the only thing that’s really missing is what they missed in trying to play the game like Grand Theft Equine: Tamriel.
And it has nothing to do with whether you play on PC or console. I actually prefer to play TES games on consoles so that I’m not tempted by mods or cheats and can stay immersed because my only interaction in the world is as an inhabitant, rather than a reality-altering god.
It’s funny how Skyrim sells 11 million copies, then an RPG like the Witcher barely scratches 1 million. I guess it’s because the audience has been around since before the big shooter rush, and they are used to those games so keep playing them. A person who began playing shooters like COD would puke at the Elder Scrolls, whereas older, more experienced fans of TES would puke at the the casual COD nature.
@ Ryan
The Witcher barely scratches 1 million because it is a terrible game. Here is my experience with the game: play for an hour, get bored because the story isn’t at all immersive and after about 2 sex postcards you start feeling like a serial rapist, then I go to the escapist and laugh as I agree with everything Zero Punctuation said about it. I didn’t know it was possible to be pretentious about video games, but thanks for letting me know such people exist Ryan!
Cool article, bro. It is good to know that if I ever wanted to quit my job, I could take my complete and total lack of writing experience and land myself a half cube adjacent to yours. Then we can pump out one poorly written article after another, with little to no regard for that pesky logic thing. Sound good to you? Dibs on the “Top 5-10″ lists though. I don’t want to have to do any actual work.
I don’t actually sit in a cubicle, I write these after work and school FROM HOME.
The butthurt level of the commenters is off the scale
I’m sorry if you have all these problems with the game but there are 5 reasons for al your issues. 1. If the graphic system was any better your system would explode, due to the power that is needed to run it. 2. The game world is so big and there hundreds of quests (300 hrs of gameplay) so if you experience lag its because the amount of time bethesda spent making the game the best it could be, not to mention they have been working tirelessly on bringing out updates that fix the problems as well as bringing new things out. 3. As for the acting there were actually about 70 actors doing just over 110 roles so maybe you dont play the game broadly enough or maybe bethesda didn’t have the cash to pay 110+ actors as well as pay all the crew making the game and making the game itself. 4. The game is primarily an RPG so if you stop criticizing it and just play the game to enjoy being your role or have fun with the glitches, play all the quests, go freeform or even make your own path of what you want to do for yours and even other entertainment.(thankyou cvg for rags to riches) 5. If the combat was even better then they have to use a better engine, if they did that then the game would not run on the 360 or the PS3 and only top of the range pc’s that cost thousands would run it.
Yes, because engines really hold back combat design. And just because they SAID there is 70 actors, doesn’t mean there really is. And there is way more than 110 roles, so obviously that fact is old.
And how does it take power to create good combat? Care to explain?
It takes a good engine to make a good combat because its the engine that runs the game, the same engine that makes the physics in the world therefore combat physics, so hitting someone other and other again may seem unrealistic but 1. it makes the player less likely to die and 2. it has to run the same way everything does with that physics engine.
why in the world would you compare a linear tps to open-world non-linear game like?? and in skyrim, you can basically pick up any literal item, do pretty much anything, go anywhere. and just cause 2 doesn’t allow you to pick up just any item.
I agree on combat, but that’s all.
Really though people in the comments, stop being butthurt. He had an opinion on Skyrim different to yours or mine, no need to cry about it.
Sometimes people just can’t take something different to them. I always take criticism on board, providing it’s justified. Simply telling someone their articles suck, fair enough. But why? If you don’t justify it, it has no purpose and you look foolish.
You focused on aspects that don’t matter.
Minecrafts graphics, acting and npcs are not as good as uncharted 3 but that’s not games are about. Its about immersion and Skyrim does that well.
so mr moany, go and do something and not try ruin games
Minecraft’s graphics are all part of it. The blocks are the game.
Also, Skyrim had a full team, Minecraft had one guy. And there is currently an article sitting in the submission box about things I loved about Skyrim.
I do believe that Minecraft had more than 1 guy on their dev team. There would be no way possible for 1 dude to do all that by himself. There are thousands upon thousands of lines of code, it wasn’t done by one guy.
I know it’s fun to say “X (where X is something popular) is overrated”, but I think calling Skyrim overrated must stem from ignorance. To really appreciate Skyrim you need to explore the sandbox. I’m guessing you played through the missions, maybe, then stopped because the graphics weren’t good enough. What is this? Grade school? Since when do graphics matter in a time when Minecraft is one of the most popular games out there. There are tons of places in Skyrim that aren’t connected to any quest but still have a deep, compelling story – if you take the time to read, and to put the pieces together. The reason Skyrim is so popular, and why you are recieving so much flak from these comments is that it appeals to the explorer, the player who just starts walking North, and knows that they’ll find something fun. Skyrim is sandbox done right.
Skyrim IS sandbox done right, did I knock on it? I agree, I did play all the questlines and the Civil War (as Stormcloaks). To me, the story is not relevant to the series, it’s what you do within that world.
Ok for starters Ryan please tell me how assassins creed allows you to travel an massive open world and enter every single building, explore a huge amount of dungeons, forts and possibly worlds (eg. the dawnguard DLC and sovngarde) put simply skyrim is an all around game if you think about it.
It dosent focus on a particular aspect such as assassins creed does with sit and wait for the group to attack you one by one, followed by the whole run away thing. Forgive me im not bashing on the AC series. Im just doing what you said and justifying my opinion. you cant compare a game like AC and Uncharted which are really the best of their genre with Skyrim or any other TES game that really does everything in one great package.
if you are in school i would give the amatuer writing up and spend your time studying.
Yours Sincerley
T.J.
(and every other person with a valid opinion)
The point is that Skyrim and AC are both sandbox games. The draw distance in both Skyrim and AC:R was incredible. Yes, ACR didn’t let you go into any building. But, however, Skyrim didn’t have these rendered or loaded while you were in the main world. While Skyrim does give more freedom (which I highlighted in my new article) but AC:R rendered in much higher detail in all aspects, even at distance. AC3 looks even better.
Yes, the frame rate thing is just lazy and poor customer support.
You can be a fanboy, or at least love something, but still admit faults. My favourite game of all time is Mass Effect 3. Yet I hated the re-used animations, ending, the poorly done HUD, the online lag for PC (at least in Aus) and a few other things. If you can accept criticisms, you’re a fan. If you can’t, you’re a fanboy.
I also loved BF3. While it had issues with glitches and a few annoying equipment bugs, I praise all the new features, the engine, the scale and the variety. And the unlocks system. Even things I hate I can still respect. I hate Call of Duty. Yet I respect the games success, while not agreeing with it.
d
yeah your wrong
I always take opinions on board if they’re justified. My justification for MY opinions is written in the article above. Look at the person below me this, who wrote “yeah your wrong.”
He didn’t justify his opinion, therefore, regardless of your stance, mine has more credibility.
Read this now before you comment on either article, I don’t hate Skyrim or think it’s bad, just not as perfect as it’s hyped up to be. http://whatculture.com/gaming/skyrim-5-ways-it-impressed.php
Please tell me what were you comparing. Play U1 U2 or U3 again and try to get off the rail your on each scene must be played out the way the cutscene have been pre-recorded. And why are you collecting gold when you can’t use it anywhere what’s the reason. Uncharted left me wanting just some investment. TES Skyrim, when the guard states “Who are you” and you create your persona you are invested and gold you collect has a reason … buy better equipment. What make SKYRIM awesome is that when you walk away from a battle the BODIES are on the ground and lootable.
When you are in a fight and 30 enemies are killed and there is nothing on the ground where is the investment in the game this is 2012 games have really got to step it up otherwise just play shoot ducks.
Ryan,
Although I do agree with the people who think your comparison choices are a little off, I have to agree on your argument in general. Maybe I’m getting old, or maybe I no longer fit in with the 15 and 16 year old gamers looking for splashy graphics. When I heard that ZeniMax was adding another edition to the Elder Scrolls franchise I was ecstatic. I thought to myself, “Maybe now they will take the improvements they made in Oblivion and create a game more in line with Morrowind style story and immersion.” Time to breakdown what I ended up getting from graphics to story to NPCs.
To start off with I will talk about graphics. To be honest, when I saw the graphics I was pretty happy with what they had done. I really think that they did a good job at bringing it up to par with the times as an overall slightly above average game. I play a lot of different games, of multiple consoles and genres, so I actually do have some knowledge of games in similar styles. The thing that most people are forgetting with the graphics is that there is a massive amount of reused textures in this game. The landscape felt pretty expansive, but overall vague. The fur on the animals was very poorly done, but acceptable in a game with this vast size. The “cities” felt empty and completely sub-par. How can you even call it a city when it has barely twice the NPC’s as a village on the game? Not to mention that if you just showed screenshots of the buildings, most people wouldn’t know which go in what towns. This was upsetting.
Next I will go into combat. Although I was always impressed with the change from Morrowind where you would swing over and over without making combat, I’m still very unimpressed with the combat. There are some cool finishing moves and kill cams, which I enjoyed, but I would rather have some combat style like on Dead Island. To those who have never played it, it had a setting that used your analogue stick to direct your blows. Think of being able to actually use your sword the way you desire, and slash from different sizes. Which brings up the fact that there is still no actually evidence of a weapon being used to kill someone after a battle. Seriously? After the gruesome and hilarious Fallout 3/NV we were denied the same ability to hack someones arm off? Using a ranged attack happens to be my favorite form of combat though, which reminds me of Morrowind days when you had short bows, long bows, crossbows, darts, throwing knives, and throwing stars. For the game coming out this day and age, to minimize the amount of weapons seems like the opposite of something you would want to do. Also, what happened to having enchanted arrows?
What about the magic combat you say? They have over the past few games really reduced what you could do with magic attacks, but have added to their ability to be a main source of attack and defense. I would say that I am pretty happy with the direction to make this a more sustainable form of combat, and hope they start bringing the variety of spells back now that they have them at this level. Then there is the staffs. They feel slightly useless to me in the few playthroughs I have done. So what’s the verdict on the combat system? I believe that it hasn’t really gained much, but has lost a lot of it’s variety. Could be worse I guess, if they remove types of weapons and only have iron or steel.
On to the acting, or should I say lack there of. I only even have to mention this because Hines made such a big deal over how amazingly far they have came on this area. The voice acting was pitiful. I would rather read and insert my own voices than hear under twenty different sounding voices talking for hundreds of people. How weird is it to see an old lady with the same voice as a young female of a completely different race? To me it is a little too weird. Being the size it is, I don’t mind the overall stiff animations, and thought that it was still rather interesting to watch from afar how your next victims moved about their daily life before you sunk that arrow into their back. If Hines would have just kept his mouth quiet about this, I would have not been let down at all, as it managed to be about as good as I expected before.
Like I stated before, there is a definite lack of NPCs in Skyrim. How can I believe there is this overwhelming number of Stormcloak soldiers just waiting for their deaths. I probably killed twice as many stormcloaks as there is others in the world. Where did they continue to come from? Maybe Nords age faster, which is probably why they are either kids or adults and are never witnessed as teens.
A major disappointment had to be the story and character involvement. I can barely get myself to beat the main story line. I won’t detail it, as to prevent spoilers. The “guilds” in this Elder Scrolls installment seem overly eager to advance you within their ranks as compared to Morrowind and Oblivion. It takes no time what-so-ever to jump the ranks and beat a whole side story line. Remember in Morrowind when you spent hours and hours trying to move up, yeah me too. What about the “game breaking new technology” called radiant quests. No more than fetch style quests. The most upsetting part of Skyrim’s quests? How many are broken and do not allow for conclusion (Blood on the Ice).
The biggest and most disappointing change to this game though lies in the most important part of a RPG, the skills. I thought you were going to be able to change the direction of your character at any time without worring about your character being underpowered. Forcing you to use Perks that you can only select a few of seems like it would counteract just that. Previously in TES games the perks were unlocked passively as you leveled up, and there were way more skills to level. What about attributes even, where did they go. These are a staple of RPGs, that Bethesda seems to have overlooked. You want to be able to enchant your weapons with a specific enchantment, then you better use those perks or be faced with a crappy enchantment because there is no person to pay to do it. There goes a bunch of perk points. Oh you wanted to make potions too? You better not plan on using more than one weapon efficiently. Want to design your own spell, too bad. Things like this that made the previous games so personal and immersive have all been removed.
Overall, the newest Elder Scrolls is nothing more than a modern sequel. As the industry grows, so do the number of people in it who forget why it’s here(EA, Activision). I feel like this game was made to attract people who have previously not been interested in these type of games. BY dumbing down the skills and RPG aspects, they have opened it for more casual gamers to play. The graphics are okay only due to the lack of textures, the combat was not evolved into anything and was also dumbed down. Then you have to think of the overuse of lines of dialogue and voices, with most lines being said by every different voice actor. The lack of a decent skill tree and attributes, with a faulty perk system all bring this game to a more mediocre score. Probably why in a current industry filled with mediocracy that sells(yearly sequels) it did so well and garnered so much acclaim. To the die-hard fans of Bethesda’s early work, it seems like a massive letdown.
I like the point you made about the world, it wasn’t overly big but took ages to get across.
Also, it seems like about 200 people live in Skyrim, while in real world millions of people would live there. Yes, having thousands of NPC’s would kill the system but AC3, which is also open world, has apparently 2000 on screen NPC’s and still looks better than Skyrim. It isn’t a breaker but it would be better with randomly generated NPC’s that were less important and individual than the already existing catalogue.
The “author” and I do use that term lightly defending this poorly scribbled drivel with the million plus posts I see here really lends alot of credibility to this *gag* Article. Skyrim is a beautiful game. Nothing is perfect. And if I write an opinion piece on the 5 reasons peanut butter is over rated, well the droves of anonymous forum trolls will gather to froth at the mouth, write down as many big words as they can and complain how peanut butter ruined there lives. Give me a break. I swear half of these posts are paid shills working for rival game developers. Again this is not the first article like this and it wont be the last. Opinions are like @#$ holes and mine holds no more weight than the loud but few bashers out there. In fact I don’t think I have played a game in my life that is complete garbage, ruined peoples lives, destroyed the gaming industry and in general is the worst piece of trash ever created according to the ” Internet”. Enjoy what you like to play and spend less time bashing other games. Relax Skyrim didn’t slap your mom.
This @ss can say whatever he wants. Skyrim is one of the best games this gen.
I don’t really have a problem with any of the critiquing done except to say that you missed one big point I thought sucked harder than all that other stuff… and that is the lack of puzzles or having to figure anything out in the game. I mean, they give you a dragon-claw key AND the combination to the door on it? What the hell sense does that make? If you have a key that opens a door, why also have a combination ON THE KEY? It’s pretty much the dumbest puzzle-dynamic I have ever encountered in a game. I wanted to see more places where you had to use the right shout, or spell/scroll – or even some “light all the torches” cliche puzzles – but there was pretty much not very much like that. You had to use the “Whirlwind Sprint” shout like ONCE, “Clear the skies” shout a few times in the same area/quest, and then align the crystal for that one “Eye of Magnus” related mission – and that’s about all I remember, really. They could have SO MUCH more in that area it’s pathetic.
Hay que ser muy pero que muy payaso, palurdo, y rozar la subnormalidad para escribir tal sarta de idioteces e incorrecciones. Eres un ser lamentable y triste, pues has quedado claramente en evidencia. No tienes ni idea sobe Skyrim, es obvio que a penas lo has visto o jugado, es MUY OBVIO que no conoces su version para PC ni la tremenda y brutal calidad tecnica y visual a años luz de cualquier juego de consolas que tiene, y por supuesto es muy evidente que eres un fanboy de Sony y poseedor de PS3, pues sigues con esa estupida necesidad de hacerte creer a ti mismo que realmente esta consola destaca por algo por encima del resto del harware similar, y no solo no destaca, sino que en la mayoria de ocasiones, como ocurre con Skyrim, demuestra ser la peor maquina.
Lo dicho, este articulo es la pataleta infantil de un niñato frustrado , envidioso e ignorante, muy muy ignorante.
Agree with the author, though there are many more reasons to revalue Skyrim.
What disappointed me the most,compared to the last TES game i played,Morrowind, is how it lacks any sense of living, unique culture it`s world is placed in. Vvardenfell was an island, isolated from the world for millenias,whose progress, history,culture developed in a unique,distinctive way, apart from outside influence. Remember the Telvanni mushroom cities, Redorans organic structures and code of conduct, massive Vivec city( Almost larger than all Skyrim settlements combined) with the goddamn ateroid looming over it- everything in the game reflected the basic idea Morrowind was created upon and the player`s story intervowen with Morrowind itself would pull you to learn as much as you can about it.
Skyrim in comparison is a gorgeous looking meal, but without taste- As is with many products today because they try to suit them to Everyone`s taste. This is a fierce warrior culture, people who are born ready for battle- so where the hell are their great war halls lined with trophies.There aren`t any. Statues of Ysgrammor and other northern conquerors towering above the landscape. None to find. Great skalds that sing of Nord`s triumphs over their enemies- you can always run to the tavern and listen to that stupid Ragnar the Red happy-tune. No atmosphere, in game music to reflect it, little original
architecture, at times it feels the only distinctive thing about Nords are their fake accents and stupid lines…I`m not a man, i`m a weapon in human form, unsheathe me and use me on my enemies and the like.
Skyrim`s gameplay is it`s second biggest problem…it`s repetitive and unoriginal, has poor combat coreography, skills level too fast, some are overpowered,especially three crafting skills, some require no investment, some are useful only by exploiting them(Destruction,Illusion), there are too few spells and combat moves, considering the game size Skyrim has a rather limited bestiary and requires little cosideration in terms of strategy and tactics. Gold system and challenging gameplay becomes trivial before you`re done with even 10 percent of Skyrim.
Quests are actually rather interesting.Thieves Guild-loved it,Dark Brotherhood as well.But they are ultimately crowded over with
all the endless fetch and clear that cave of bandits ~radiant~ pain in the ass.
Add to this poor voice acting, lists and lists of bugs, unoriginal and emotionally unprovoking main story, many bland three line
characters that have as much personality as mudcrabs
, beautiful but plastique and artificial world(damn it`s refreshing to play Witcher 2) that seems unresponsive to consequences of your actions, lack of choices or in game events cohesion
… Skyrim has a great skin, but no soul.
There are enough idiots shouting conspiracy on the internet,
but popular reviews of games like Skyrim, Dragon Age and the like show less the ~quality~ of the games they represent and more of the people behind them.
the only thing this game had going for it was immersion and that was ruined by the repetitive dialogue and lack of voice actors. even when they had different voice actors they said the exact same lines. it’s mind boggling.
While I agree with some of what you’re saying, if you’ve got the PC version, there’s no real need to worry about the graphics. There are mods out there that add to the quality/visuals, and there are mods that enhance the non-scripted fighting, though it doesn’t much need the enhancement(‘WARZONES – Civil Unrest’, anyone?). There are mods that can enhance the RPG element(which is good enough in its own right), and the voice-acting is actually very good for a game of its caliber.
This author is stupid how would most of those things such as graphics and combat fit into such a huge game. The graphics are fine anyway, and the technical faults are going to occur in a game as big as this. I saw more texture glitches in gears at every checkpoint than in skyrim. this is author is just looking to post another BS article because he can’t find anything else to say.
Stop being fanboys, OMG he said it’s a really really good game but not the best, yet you still act like he said it was a garbage. jesus. I don’t mind not be able to positioning some basket, or a useless bottle in the game if it would mean having better graphics like Dragon Age 2. You guys have no life other than positioning useless bottles on Skyrim and disrespecting opinions different from yours.