I'm actually loving Skyrim.

[zodden]

The game is very good except for a few annoyances.

The UI needs work for the PC and I guess as soon as the CK comes out that will be fixed.

Companions need work too from their behavior to pathing and the fact that I can't view their stats without the console. Again the CK should take care of that.

The base game needs far less work then Oblivion did at launch and I am finding fewer bugs.

Performance is very good with all settings maxed. For a game that's about the same size in Gigabytes as Oblivion was I am struck by how much better it looks. Both games are DX9 as well.

I am amazed that it is selling as well as it has been since release. Those are staggering numbers overall for a game like this.

What I would have liked is for the CK to be released at launch so the annoyances could have been fixed already. A look at nexus shows there are already hundreds of mods released but w/o the CK only so much can be accomplished.

 

[FeelTheRads]

You can like them all you want, but when you claim they had good writing and/or good voice acting, things that any reasonably mentally sound individual can see are false then you've just lost any argument you could have.

Have you played New Vegas? You're right about Fallout 3, the writing and voice acting were both very bad. New Vegas was a huge step up though, especially in terms of writing. It also felt like a good Fallout game worthy of the title. If you have played it and disagree, care to go into the specifics of why you disliked New Vegas?

Because it's just an expansion pack for Fallout 3 and so it comes with all the shit that Fallout 3, including a cumstain of an engine, catastrophic interface (and people are surprised Skyrim's interface is as awful as it is), horrendous combat (although I'm sure there are enough retards who think this is good and Arcanum's combat sucked), joke difficulty and so on. And the writing is mediocre at the best and pretty much like Bethesda's (when they don't go full derp) at the worst. Voice acting is just as bad.
And finally, no, it doesn't "feel" like Fallout in ANY way, first and foremost because it's a retarded real-time goatfuck filled with every little stupid shit they could think of.
Fallout Tactics feels and IS more Fallout than Fallout 3 together with New Vegas and all their retarded DLCs could ever be.

Mind you, I haven't completed it yet, but I decided to give it a fair chance so I'm gonna play more, as much as I can take it at least. I somehow don't see it suddenly starting to "feel" like Fallout, though.

And that's how it is.

 

[Tel Prydain]

The very slight incline of Skyrim and comparatively vast incline of New Vegas is giving a slight spark of hope for the future of RPG games. Maybe they can find their way out of the swamp of derp that they've been lost in?

More likely this is just to get people hopes up before they preview Fallout 4's new Awesome-Button.

 

[Majestic47]

I want a shotgun badly. A mod. ...quickly!

 

[shihonage]

Because it's just an expansion pack for Fallout 3 and so it comes with all the shit that Fallout 3, including a cumstain of an engine, catastrophic interface (and people are surprised Skyrim's interface is as awful as it is), horrendous combat (although I'm sure there are enough retards who think this is good and Arcanum's combat sucked), joke difficulty and so on. And the writing is mediocre at the best and pretty much like Bethesda's (when they don't go full derp) at the worst. Voice acting is just as bad.
And finally, no, it doesn't "feel" like Fallout in ANY way, first and foremost because it's a retarded real-time goatfuck filled with every little stupid shit they could think of.
Fallout Tactics feels and IS more Fallout than Fallout 3 together with New Vegas and all their retarded DLCs could ever be.

Mind you, I haven't completed it yet, but I decided to give it a fair chance so I'm gonna play more, as much as I can take it at least. I somehow don't see it suddenly starting to "feel" like Fallout, though.

And that's how it is.

In spite of improving upon its prequel, FO:NV produced a strong sense of standing under a stream of someone's mindvomit.

 

[sigma1932]

We call every new poster an alt. I was called an alt. Get over it.

Liar!

 

[Majestic47]

In spite of improving upon its prequel, FO:NV produced a strong sense of standing under a stream of someone's mindvomit.

The gamebryo engine did not really improve New Vegas much. I think it was the writing that carried the game. There was hardly a single scenery in New Vegas that impressed me. That, or maybe it's because I was playing on low-end rig at that time.

They could've done New Vegas in original hi-res 2d isometric engine and it wouldn't suffer at all from it. It's just that they wouldn't capture the desired market share, and since there's already an existing engine....why not?

And there's a good reason why combat is less ass in New Vegas compared to Oblivion. Almost everyone carried guns. The moment I wield a melee weapon, the FO3 engine felt less than adequate.

 

[J_C]

We call every new poster an alt. I was called an alt. Get over it.

Liar!

And who's alt are you?

 

[shihonage]

In spite of improving upon its prequel, FO:NV produced a strong sense of standing under a stream of someone's mindvomit.

I think it was the writing that carried the game. There was hardly a single scenery in New Vegas that impressed me.

Renderer and interface issues aside, New Vegas is only appreciated because Fallout 3 lowered everyone's expectations below gutter level. And NV is above gutter level. It nests comfortably within the usual zone of uninspired mediocrity.

When I got Vampire Bloodlines on Steam, and the first few minutes of NPC dialogues I had in that game sparked the kind of interest in me that was complete opposite to the stream of droning tedium I got over many hours in New Vegas. I was looking at the low-poly NPC talking, and it was, somehow, a complete person. In a world.

In NV, they're still just 3D models droning on in unrealistic, poorly written fashion to get across a point to the player that is painfully obvious to have been in the designer's "to-do" list as they were going over a fat spreadsheet. There's no attempt to hide it. It's like, "you know you have to endure this shit, so here it is".

Fallout: New Vegas knows nothing of war. It knows nothing of selling a devastated world. Having lived in a shithole corner of a former USSR for 17 years, these things really stand out. Things like friendly, resourceful doctors in a post-apocalyptic clinic, with no patient lines. Useless, unprofitable souvenier shops in a universe where lame souveniers are pretty much the last on anyone's list. Settlements with 5 people living in them. Robots that should've been instantly disassembled for power sources and spare parts, instead of cosplaying cowboys and becoming town sheriffs. A giant city that has nothing better to do than waste precious energy on bright lights.

None of it makes any sense. The game is like a poorly staged high school play, overwrought, with poorly glued beards falling off, requiring the kind of massive suspension of disbelief that only a parent is capable of, watching the said play unfold.

A learning experience, of some sort. For the designers.

But I understand why, in an age of complete decline, some people have grown to like it. After all, Fallout 3 was about 3 times worse.

 

[oscar]

Only Fallout 1 seemed interested in making semi-plausible societies and towns. However I'm reluctant to talk about realism in a world where 1950's comic book style science is fact. Things only got worse in 2 and onwards (though I've never played Tactics, BoS or 3) as pop culture began to be not just referenced in the odd item description but became the basis for entire cities.

New Vegas did a nice job of toning down a lot of the retardation and dumb jokes. That said I don't think I can say that I found it as enjoyable as Skyrim. And no way near Bloodlines.

 

[shihonage]

Yes, Skyrim actually seems more "together" in terms of its universe than either F3 or FO:NV. Probably because despite all the retardation, it's been a "native" Bethesda universe for a long time. Plus, in fantasy world, you can get away with more.

 

[attackfighter]

Fallout 2 was less believable than F:NV

 

[torpid]

Yes, Skyrim actually seems more "together" in terms of its universe than either F3 or FO:NV. Probably because despite all the retardation, it's been a "native" Bethesda universe for a long time. Plus, in fantasy world, you can get away with more.

Yeah it's good to remember that Bethesda is coasting on stuff conceived for prior games. And I found New Vegas to have a well thought-out world, both in terms of its layout and the general forces at work; the problem is that Obsidian decided to populate that world with retarded factions such as the gang of Elvis impersonators. Completely unnecessary silliness.

 

[shihonage]

And I found New Vegas to have a well thought-out world, both in terms of its layout and the general forces at work.

Sure, its way more coherent than F3... and the layout is sensible... from orbit. Legacy factions and their locations. The blurb on the book cover.

But it all falls apart when you're on the ground level, listening to the NPC#15's surprisingly trusting deadpan information-kiosk shpiel about their nonsense cult, and their tragic inability to make peace with ghosts in their basement.

 

[Suchy]

Ok, I gave it two evenings. I'd say the game is in upper levels of banalshitboring mediocrity. Definitely an incline over Oblivion and Fallout 3, somewhere close to Morrowind or Gothic 3. Still far behind F:NV.

+ World design. It's actually well made, with unique locations and no procedurally generated crap. I haven't noticed any recycled content like in Daggerfall/Morrowind/Oblivion, neither outside nor in dungeons. Feels huge and very atmospheric.

+ Music is great

+ And so is the atmosphere

~ Graphics, a mixed bag. With tweaked INIs (LOD, cell details, FOV) and Nvidia settings (ambient occlusion, custom shaders) it actually looks pretty damn good. As long as you only look at the scenery, and from a distance. Textures are a low-res diarrhea, animation is atrocious, shadows are out of a 2001 game and characters look crappy.

~ Combat, for a first-persion realtime hack&slash it's passable (playing on master difficulty). Leagues ahead of Morrowind, a bit better than Oblivion. Leagues behind Dark Messiah, Mount & Blade and especially Blade of Darkness.

- Writing/quest design/story: bland, uninteresting, generic. I don't think I can remember a single NPC's name (except companion obviously). They are just there to deliver those dull lines in a painfully slow monologue fashion, it's even hard to call it a dialogue. Quests mostly range from 'deliver something to someone' and 'retrieve magic pants of power from X' to 'kill randomevildoer in Y'. And since noone gives you any fucking directions, you're stuck with quest markers. You can bump on a more interesting quest once in a while (conspiracy and power struggle between factions in a city, but still it ended in a completely derp way), these are rare though. Story... you're the chosen one, go save the world.

- Voice acting... but with such dull writing no actor would be able to save it.

- Retarded AI. From exploitable enemies to companions getting stuck in a rock... As for companions, forget issuing any orders other than attack or wait. And why the hell can't they mount your horse? Especially since you can't buy them one.

- Interface. Oh God, why...

To summarize, Bethesda is slowly, but continuously inclining after Oblivion. Far from perfect, but not really bad. Officially Bioware is now the shittiest RPG developer.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Fallout 2 was less believable than F:NV

Actually, no.

 

[attackfighter]

Fallout 2 was less believable than F:NV

Actually, no.

Then how do you explain a horde of super powered aliens and 'floaters' living below decks of an oil tanker? Or how about the society of people who dress up like ghosts in order to scare others away from their farm? Or the talking death claws who live in a vault which you are supposed to infiltrate in order to gain to gain a device which allows you to grow crops without rain water or minerals in order to save your loin cloth wearing, spear chucking telepathic tribe who are all descended from a single man and who worship that man as a mythical being despite him being dead for only 1-2 generations?

 

[Gord]

Don't forget the ghost in The Den while you are at it.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Fallout 2 was less believable than F:NV

Actually, no.

Then how do you explain a horde of super powered aliens and 'floaters' living below decks of an oil tanker? Or how about the society of people who dress up like ghosts in order to scare others away from their farm? Or the talking death claws who live in a vault which you are supposed to infiltrate in order to gain to gain a device which allows you to grow crops without rain water or minerals in order to save your loin cloth wearing, spear chucking telepathic tribe who are all descended from a single man and who worship that man as a mythical being despite him being dead for only 1-2 generations?

I don't. But even with those it doesn't come close to the the retarded shit in New Vegas. And since when retarded shit in one game excuses retarded shit in another? Bethards excused Fallout 3 in the same way. Obshitianites don't seem much smarter, to be honest.

Don't forget the ghost in The Den while you are at it.

HERP DERP LOOK AT ME I KNOW SOMETHING TOO! Yeah, Fallout 2 had a ghost so every Fallout from now on can have every stupid shit possible. Makes sense.

 

[Gord]

HERP DERP LOOK AT ME I KNOW SOMETHING TOO! Yeah, Fallout 2 had a ghost so every Fallout from now on can have every stupid shit possible. Makes sense.

What's the matter, can't stand the truth?

Don't worry champ, FO2 is still a great game.

 

[FeelTheRads]

HERP DERP LOOK AT ME I KNOW SOMETHING TOO! Yeah, Fallout 2 had a ghost so every Fallout from now on can have every stupid shit possible. Makes sense.

What's the matter, can't stand the truth?

Don't worry champ, FO2 is still a great game.

I've just admitted that it's true.

What's the matter, can't read?

 

[UserNamer]

so I tried playing skyrim some more and I found myself magically reinstalling and replaying arcanum, very weird.
Anyway I'm enjoying it a lot more than skyrim, and this is only my second playthrough and I forgot a lot of things. But I think the god damned dog breaks the fucking game... how can that mutt be so powerful? I don't want to ditch him, but if I will ever play this game a third time, I must remember to not pick him up

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

so I tried playing skyrim some more and I found myself magically reinstalling and replaying arcanum, very weird.
Anyway I'm enjoying it a lot more than skyrim, and this is only my second playthrough and I forgot a lot of things. But I think the god damned dog breaks the fucking game... how can that mutt be so powerful? I don't want to ditch him, but if I will ever play this game a third time, I must remember to not pick him up

That Dog is just a bad mutha. He is a star in Dogsploitation movies

 

[OuterSpace]

Instead of making another Skyrim thread I'm just going to post this here.

http://ppsh-41.tumblr.com/post/13145143504/entire-tamriel-landmass-built-into-skyrim

 

[shihonage]

Fallout 2 was less believable than F:NV

Actually, no.

Then how do you explain a horde of super powered aliens and 'floaters' living below decks of an oil tanker? Or how about the society of people who dress up like ghosts in order to scare others away from their farm? Or the talking death claws who live in a vault which you are supposed to infiltrate in order to gain to gain a device which allows you to grow crops without rain water or minerals in order to save your loin cloth wearing, spear chucking telepathic tribe who are all descended from a single man and who worship that man as a mythical being despite him being dead for only 1-2 generations?

There is narrative written for you by the designers, and there's realtime personal narrative player creates for himself (extreme examples: Nethack, Dwarf Fortress).

Fallout 2 inherited a solid gameplay engine that allowed the player to sufficiently fuck around and create a personal narrative within all the derp around him.

Not that I would ever use it as basis for a sequel to Fallout or anything like that. It was pretty clear that the goal there was to create a carnival, instead of a world. For what it was, it was good. If you're into that sort of thing.

But in its sequels, there's not much space for personal narrative, and, on the carnival itself, instead of the bearded lady and the amazing two-headed baby, you get an office accountant and a building manager. And they just ran out of staplers.