Screenshots of what?
Bethesda still makes textures on the level of Morrowind for their games. This is some mod or an enhanced promotional screen. Also notice the shit fog effect in the swamp area and the retarded depth of field, it's supposed to simulate the viewpoint of a handicapped retarded short-sighted cretin. That's the special Bethesda touch.
Special modder touch, more likely.
Whatever you say about Bethesda, they get credit for using DoF and the like subtly and responsibly in Skyrim - something no other devs seem to do, yet those screens look as if they were taken underwater.
Meanwhile modders seem to have even worse judgement than most developers when it comes to use of "cinematic" effects.
Gud textures, though.
Also, I'd be quite interested in Oblivion remake. The original was beyond all help, but Bethesda's approach to TES seems to have changed quite dramatically with Skyrim, so it might even be a success, or, at worst, an interesting failure to behold.
Skyrim can look pretty and it has been so since its release due to mods.
Still, it's pretty much dead on the inside, also since its release. Most mods that tackle on its gameplay mechanics cannot do much other than artificially inflate enemy hitpoints, add some resistances here and there, and make some "smarter" AI modes for combat. Still, at the end of the day, it becomes a hack and slash fest where your enemies are hitpoint sponges and you either: i) spams spells; ii) spams your melee attack; or iii) spams your ranged attack. And this goes on for the entirety of the game. (...) Changing weapons/spells is purely cosmetic or to change your DPS, but it doesn't ever go deeper than this. There is no thinking involved.
Now that's an ignorant shitpost if I've ever seen one.
If you use Requiem, then very few obviously "tanky" enemies have their HP inflated. OTOH most damage is scaled up so much that it nullifies sponginess, armor plays much more role, spamming is an easy way to die, many enemies require unique tactics and weapons vary wildly in their effectiveness against different targets and may require different tactics to be used effectively. Weapon damage is of secondary importance most of the time because even weak weapons are fucking deadly. Thinking is not only involved but required as prioritization of targets and managing limited magicka/stamina is a must. Deciding what spell or weapon to use, when to attack, power attack, bash or block is vital and you have additional options like bullrushing. Good choice of tactics may make up for 20 levels of difference, while bad tactics may simply be ineffective, but may also allow a lowly bear or sabercat 1hk your lvl40 demigod (for example if you get pounced off a mountain).
You can't use the (vast) environment to kill your enemies. You can't set traps (spamming runes doesn't count).
Why are spells specifically meant to be used as magical traps not legitimate traps? Besides, of that you can exploit triggered rock traps to hurl rocks at the enemies, lead enemies into traps or trigger them yourself, even at range using bow, throw enemies off high places, ignite oil spills to engulf them in flames, or lead them into other encounters that will prove deadly to them and all that is already in vanilla. What is it if not using the environment to kill enemies?
And I'm not even talking about the game itself, merely the combat (which you do 90% of the game). Because regarding the questlines, there is no fix.
Questlines are meh (bad, but not painfully so), but a simple fix is installing a well integrated mod that adds its own quests - like 3DNPCs. Then bad content gets diluted by good content and good content finds its way into bad content greatly improving it (when mod quests tie into vanilla ones or a mod follower provides interesting banter relevant to the vanilla quest you're doing), and if you use mechanical mod that as a side effect improves the pacing (by making questline quests more demanding) then you have more content to branch into before you gain high enough level to return to the questline.
