Skyrim is worse than Oblivion in every way

[Beautiful Clown Painting]

Skyway's right: Oblivion had zodiac signs and not Skyrim. So Oblivion's obviously superior. Don't forget that Libra is now coming into the Scorpio's house in Skyway's sky: therefore he's always right.

 

[Beautiful Clown Painting]

And there's also the ultimate truth as told in the ancient prophecies:
Skyway's Arma2 Gameplay>Yours
So
Oblivion>Skyrim

 

[BLOBERT]

BRO SKYWAY ISNT SMART ENOUGH TO PLAY PC GAMES SO HE POSTS ABOUT KOTOR AND OBLIVION AND SHIT

BRO I MAY BE A CONSOLETARD BUT I AM SMART ENOUGH NOT TO WORY ABOUT THIS GAME I JUST LAUGH AT PCTARDS GOING ALL HOMO ABOUT IT

 

[hanssolo]

so uh, I've been playing this shit and what is up with everyone saying the combat is challenging on highest difficulty? Enemies can't fucking jump, so unless you're fighting a dragon it's just circlestrafe the nearest table while melting faces. Mana regens so fucking fast that you can do this ad nauseam.

mana doesn't regenerate while you're casting or charging up a spell.

All this means is you need to stop casting for a moment every few seconds while running around aforementioned table.

 

[d1r]

Fighting enemies on Expert as a pure Mage with no fast Mana Regen would be impossible (unless you have infinte Mana Potions in your inventory) on the beginning of the game. Just saying, since I'm playing as a pure mage and having a really hard time on Expert.

 

[ksjav]

One thing about the AI is that if they cannot reach you and you are blasting them with spells/arrows, they will attempt to lose line of sight. Meaning if you are camping a giant from a cliff and he cannot get to you, he'll hide behind some pillar or tree or something.
Personally once I had to run away from a draugar ravager (that would one-and-a-half-shot me) and close an iron bar gate, thinking I would blast him with a flamethrower spel through it, but as soon as I started doing it he just walked behind a corner. This is actually more than I can say for most games' AI.
Also the pathfinding works good unless you jump off a ledge, then, even if that was a half a meter drop, the enemy will start circling around to get to you. That's so far the only abuse I run into. I suppose circling a table as mentioned here can also be abused. But this is still head and shoulders above the *standing on a slight elevation, AI going batshit swinging weapons into the ground* from Oblivion, not to mention the attack animations, that allowed you to casually walk backwards, while enemies would attack the air in front of you in slomo.

 

[AlaCarcuss]

More thoughts: dungeons are linear but still not copy-pasted, probably because they aren't built out of a set of predefined rooms like in Oblivion and Morrowind. Some are pretty cool and varied, and others are boring, but I guess you can't expect every cave or mine to be extremely exciting.

Too much reliance on bandits etc. as enemies. The monsters and stuff you find are really cool, which is why it's such a shame you almost never see them (except the undead, which are pretty common). The "10x more soldiers and bandits than civilians" thing is still as jarring as ever. Considering how many thriving cities there are in Skyrim, it doesn't make much sense for there to be so many outlaws.

Most dungeons have a side-quest or "misc" quest in them. It's nothing special, but gives much better context for those locations than "a wretched den of evil" or whatever. I like having some minor character interaction or even just some named NPCs with a bit of background to fight instead of just ancient ruins filled with untold treasures for no particular reason, and all the ruins etc. you might find are generally populated with monsters and stuff, so at least it makes sense that treasure there would be unclaimed.

Quests haven't really improved much. I have yet to really get into any of the guild or main story stuff, but the ones I've done haven't been all that special so far. Nothing offensive outright, but this isn't exactly Arcanum here. However, one thing the game does a very good job of is giving you new things to do. There are random encounters you can have which start side-quests, you'll often witness events when visiting locations which kickstart quests, etc. I have tons of stuff in my journal after playing for around 10 hours, and it'd probably take twice as long to get through it - yet that's likely less than 10% of what the game has to offer. You're at least never going to run into a situation where you have nothing to do or no clear direction.

Exploration is still fun and rewarding. Anyone who says Skyrim is smaller than Oblivion is outright wrong - if anything it's bigger, and those locations you do find are far more interesting than the copy-paste dungeons of that game. There are fewer random locations you'll come across, but frankly if it means much better quality of content then I don't mind in the least.

Also, anyone come across a Wispmother yet? I found one at like level 4 and had a pretty tough time with it. Really cool how it lured me off the beaten path with one of its wisps only to severely kick my ass after leading me into the woods. Those kinds of memorable encounters are what were significantly lacking from previous Bethesda games.

Now this is the most level headed, informative thing I've read about the game so far and I couldn't agree more. Thanks sea.

As for mainstream - I gladly played through GTA4 (which nonetheless was worse than VC and SA) and GTA is not just some mainstream, it's even more MAJESTIC. And I'm certainly looking forward to GTA5 IF they will bring back silliness of SA back into it.

Fucking popamole bullshit, no jetpacks, no planes, no tanks, fewer guns, tiny game world, shitty plot with stupid characters and dissonance between in-game actions and the story, stupid jokes about gay people and sex, "omg so edgy" cocaine use in every fucking cutscene, DLC whoring that reused all the same stuff and only added a few guns and buildings, boring and repetitive challenge missions like races and fetch quests, fake difficulty crap like enemies randomly spawning behind you and cars scripted to block the road at certain times you can't possibly avoid the first time playing, etc. Game is fucking decline incarnate and you're an idiot for even playing it. Go fap to that fat faggot Roman you fucking cocksucker.

Holy shit, is this to much to put in my sig???

 

[Don Peste]

Read roll-a-die and bruticis replies on the second page.

 

[Trash]

And besides having played it you own a Xbawks360.

skyway, I am really disapoint.

OMG skyway is this true? You own an Xbox360. You're playing Skyrim. Possibly even ON YOUR XBOX360! You probably even BOUGHT it too dear god this isn't happening... My world is shattered. I had the greatest respect and admiration for your extensive knowledge of computer games and insights into the world of IT but now I feel nothing but shame when I look at my "卐 Wir müssen die Konsoletarden ausrotten 卐" tattoo.

Lots of autists breaking down itt.

 

[Syril]

Skyway is bashing the game into Oblivion but he is currently starting his 3rd playthrough on his xbawks

 

[praetor]

Also, anyone come across a Wispmother yet?

i did. was level 8 or 9 on my way to the town before the greaybeards. kicked my ass in 2 seconds flat so i took another way there

 

[CrimsonAngel]

My verdict.

Better then Oblivion

Worse then New Vegas.

 

[Ulminati]

Well, Steam informs me I've been marvelling at the Majesty for 23 hours.

It's better than Oblivion, not as good as Morrowind. As a hiking sim it's better than New Vegas although as an actual RPG it leaves much to be desired. The quests are derpy, the landscapes are pretty, the interface is horrible. the levelling system is retarded and dragged down further by the perks being in a difficult to navigate MAJESTIC set of constellations instead of an easily-browsed list or tree. I killed a dragon, only to heal up, turn a corner and get killed by a mountain cat in turn.

I'm playing an archer with a smattering of illusion, alchemy, enchantment and thieves skills. I'm about 20% through the main quest. I've just started the mages guild questline (mostly went there because I was trying to get hold of a spell book of invisibility). I meant to go directly to the thieves guild when I started out, but I've gotten kind of sidetracked. Besides, I've grown kind of fond of Lydia and I don't think I'll be doing much sneaking with her in tow in heavy armor. I think I started the Dark Brotherhood questline, but I honestly CBA to go kill a girl just because some deranged kid thinks he summoned me. I've done some of the companions quests where I

Spoiler

turned into a werewolf.

So yeah. Very derpy quests. The mages guild feels a bit too much like Harry Potter for my liking. But maybe it'll incline later. The main quest is ok(ish) so far although I'm dissapointed you get to kill a dragon while you still have trouble handling random bandits in furs waving sticks at you. I think the game would have been better served with dragons being much, much rarer and you getting new shouts in some other fashion. Quests are depressingly linear. The only choice the player is ever given is [continue linear quest] or [walk away and kill mudcrabs]. All objectives boil down to [Go to X], [Kill NPC Y], rereive [McGuffin Z] and return here for gold coins!

Shouts are pretty fun. The knockback shout has saved my bacon a bunch of times and the lifesense shout (whisper?) is pretty handy in a dungeon. Combat is ok. Archery/sneak attacks remains useful longer than it did in Oblivious. It annoys me that I can't block with a one-handed weapon unless my off-hand is empty or carries a shield.



But is it actually good?

It won't pass even the most lenient Kodex Kritikal Konsensus, that's for sure. It's more of a hiking sim than an RPG. But I am genuinely entertained by it nonetheless. I like exploring the landscape and seeing what's behind the next hilltop or down the next cave. With a better interface (dear god, what were you people thinking!?) and quests that actually allowed the player to make some choices and pick a side, I might even have defended Skyrims honor and called it a good game.

As it is, I find it an amusing hiking game. If Oblivion didn't make you claw out your own eyes, you'll like Skyrim. If it did but you still liked Morrowin, Skyrim may be for you (though a worse game than Morrowind in every aspect save for graphics). Maybe Mods Will Fix It. For now, I find it an adequately entertaning distraction in a year that has seen very few (if any) good releases. Take that as you will.

 

[Monocause]

Played for some five-six hours and Skyrim is hugely superior both to Oblivion and to Morrowind. And I'd say that it's a decent game, as in - fun. Playing on master difficulty, stopped using followers after seeing how OP they are.

- Combat is no longer annoying. I guess they took a page from mods like Oscuro's which shifted the centerpiece of the combat from waving your sword all the time to making properly timed power attacks. And it pains me to admit that they did finishers better than in TW2. They're actually nice and feel dynamic unlike in TW where you were watching a cutscene.

- Finally a levelling scheme that doesn't penalise you for making logical choices. At a level up you choose whether to receive a HP, MP or Stamina increase, then you receive a perk point which you can use to boost one of your skills via a respectable number of perks.

- Writing quality and VA quality hugely improved, nothing to write home about but it's bearable.

- Nice character faces. Not that I care about this sort of stuff usually but it's nice to play a TES game that doesn't make me want to throw up whenever I meet an NPC.

- Quests are improved in design: they usually provide you with rewards and if they don't they're simple errands that don't consume much time and lead to other, more rewarding quests.

- Lorewise inferior to Morrowind but not closely as full of derp as Oblivion. You have a couple of guilds (sufficiently transplanted to Skyrim environments) and there's a civil war on top of it. Also, I call bullshit on those who said that Skyrim has no new books.

The negatives have been talked about already so there isn't much point in me writing about the UI or balance issues. Still, if you're looking for a fun game then go ahead and try it. If you're looking for a 'hardcore RPG' then go ahead and make a few posts on the Codex on how disgruntled you are.

EDIT: I think I might need to explain why I think Skyrim is better than Morrowind. See, while I loved Morrowind for its lore and quest design the core gameplay was simply crap. Skyrim got it much, much better and thus I consider it clearly superior.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Pretty much with Ulminati on this one. It's alright, not really worth all the fuss one way or the other.

 

[MetalCraze]

You played it, after all. No, don't come with "I played it just because this way I'll be able to argue better against the retarded fanboys" bullshit. There is no point in playing a game you expect to utterly hate just to build arguments against its fanboys because arguing with blind fanboys and hype suckers to make them realize their stupidity is as fruitful as trying to talk with an amoeba.

And besides having played it you own a Xbawks360.

skyway, I am really disapoint.

Multiple people on the Codex wrote that the game is like Gothic, the combat comes to close DM, it's perfectly playable without any quest compass and there are some actual C&C. So I thought why not - I found Div2 to be OK even without DM-like combat, it's a quick download maybe they are right.

Should've known better.

And besides having played it you own a Xbawks360.

Of course, having already two XBawks360 emulators with superior hardware and controls I thought why not

 

[serch]

I'm playing this at master level and the difficulty seems about right by level 7, first dungeon cleared and I died 4 or 5 times The puzzles seem retarded though, the answers are written in the same fucking room on both occasions I found one of them. Not realy interested in comenting writing quality as this is no Bethesda forte.

 

[phanboy_iv]

Yup. About 20 hours in. Quests are ass, everything else is either tolerable or even well done for the most part.

 

[eric__s]

My verdict.

Better then Oblivion

Worse then New Vegas.

Yep.

Also it's still obviously Gamebryo.

 

[sah]

Got to about level 10, my rating so far: 3/5

It might be a good idea to start a CodexCritic (like Metacritic, except good) section on the site. A lot of people asking about "what does the Hivemind think" would have their curiousity satisfied.

 

[Vibalist]

Got to about level 10, my rating so far: 3/5

It might be a good idea to start a CodexCritic (like Metacritic, except good) section on the site. A lot of people asking about "what does the Hivemind think" would have their curiousity satisfied.

This could actually be kind of fun to have.

 

[crufty]

I like on the codex some rage at the questcompass and the others rage at how hard it is to find random quest locations.

I really like the skill perk system. That is a really nice abstraction and I think provides a lot of benefit. Abstractions are a good thing IMO.

I have enjoyed all the solitude quests. The bard quest was nice.

I find the areas consistent but different. But I have only been to three.

The lore books have improved since morrowind.

The music is stellar. Well orchestrated.

There are some things I wish we're different, but it has always been that way in elder scrolls (lack of timeline).

I still miss the nudie girls dancing in taverns.

I am still looking for the massive, sprawling dagger fall dungeon of ridiculousness. Early in the game, so maybe I haven't found it yet.

 

[The Public Enemy]

Just another open world exploration action rpg then. Play it if you've spend thousands of hours with Daggerfall, Gothic 2, Morrowind, Risen, Divine Divinity 2, New Vegas, etc, and god forbid you want more of that shit in your mouth, then you need to go for it. It's always a good idea to put it in your mouth.

These games can work on the principle of running around, finding shit and picking it up, defeating the monsters, getting the power ups and "doing everything you want", especially if by "everything" you mean running around, finding shit, etc. You don't need good quests, good writing, faction dynamics, a reactive world, and so on, to make them work, so I don't see why this wouldn't be playable. The only thing that will break them is level scaling, because it eliminates the appeal for exploration (Oblivion). As I understand it Skyrim has the main quest on level scaling, but not the rest? I guess it could be worst then. I don't see anything to get excited about, really, positively or negatively.

Abstractions are a good thing IMO.

Please explain that one more thoroughly, I don't understand.

The level system does look fairly interesting. At least more than Morrowind's shit.

 

[Multidirectional]

Too bad most perks are boring. But yeah, it works for running around, exploring and finding shit, certainly better at that than Oblivion. No matter what Oblivion had, all of it was made pointless by level scaling. Longer sessions get pretty tiring though thanks to typical TES blandness. Writing and voice acting recieved an upgrade from "cringeworthy" to merely "boring" mostly, and only fun way to approach morality of your character is still not to play a good guy. Combat for me is still mostly about exploiting AI in lulzy ways, can't really have fun with it otherwise. Music is boring, but this kind of music is always boring to me. Always end up turning it off.
Generally, most people who enjoy Morrowind shouldn't have problems enjoying this. Morrowind did have exploration based on proper directions rather than following quest compass, but it was also a lot more easily exploitable in other areas, like moneymaking and, in turn, skill system (trainer abuse). For me Skyrim is a combination of both incline and decline from Morrowind that put's it roughly around the same overall level.
In short - decent game to have to play in short bursts for a long period of time, but certainly not a "must play" material.
And by the way - I take it those rumours about Arkane guys being hired by Beth to help with combat were bullshit then? Otherwise, they got paid by Beth for doing nothing (right on guys).

 

[Gerrard]

- Combat is no longer annoying. I guess they took a page from mods like Oscuro's which shifted the centerpiece of the combat from waving your sword all the time to making properly timed power attacks. And it pains me to admit that they did finishers better than in TW2. They're actually nice and feel dynamic unlike in TW where you were watching a cutscene.

I'm finding the combat plenty annoying. Using mostly greatswords.
- Enemies don't react to being hit
- Blocking with weapon does nothing
- Can't control what attack I perform (unless it's a power attack)
- Some very overdrawn animations making it feel even more sluggish, since you can only walk while stuck in attack animation
- Greatswords have only 2 normal attacks, horizontal swings from left/right, and you can't even choose which to perform, it always starts from the right
(And even though I didn't try, I can bet that they share the animations with axes and hammers too, just showing how fucking lazy Bethshit is)

Finishers are indeed done better than in TW2 (I always thought they were dumb ever since the first game), but that's about the only thing that is.
Overall, definitely not better than combat in DM or even TW2.