Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Token-not-found]

There are very few dungeons with fixed loot at the end, most of it is random.

At least are there any unique bosses? Or events or something?

Or just a generic fest ? (i'm currently playing TES I arena and the randomly generated dungeons make me cringe and also remind me of oblivion)

I'm interested in non-quest dungeons.

 

[Sam Ecorners]

I don't agree about the dungeons. To me they all feel unique and interesting. Yes, there are only four "themes" but each one has its own set of traps and layouts. Yes, most of them are linear and have random loot, but at the same time, since almost all dungeons are used in radiant quests and have an ok xp reward in the end.

As of the potions in the dungeons, I can only laugh at that. There have always been potions in fantasy RPG dungeons.


So yeah, I like the game. And I've been pretty vocal about my criticisms of Bethesda games in the past. Even when employed by a Bethesda sponsored fansite.

 

[Makagulfazel]

How can you say that a game with that many atrocious bugs, including crashes to desktop and hardware compatibility issues, and with that shitty of an interface can deserve a 9-10? Are the combat, dungeons, writing, quests, etc. really up there for the best on the market?

I expected Fallout 2 to get 9-10 in reviews because the content outshined the bugs riddled in it.
You gotta expect bugs with huge open-world games like this, especially directly after release. No crossfire support is annoying, but I can still play on ultra if I can deal with the frames dropping to the teens every so often. It's not game-breaking like Rage's engine was before the AMD drivers fix.
I think we all know grade-school scores don't apply to video game review scores. That's why I don't mind seeing it get 9-10 so far. You don't rate other items 7-8 because there could be something better in the future. If it's the best in its class, it deserves the high scores.
As far as dungeons go, I've only explored probably 20-25% of the locations, but all the ones I've gone to for quests have been hand-crafted. No generic subways to get to locations you need to go or storyless dungeons like in Oblivion, but I really should complete the game before coming to my own judgement about things like that. I could very well be skipping generic dungeons thinking I'm going to get quests for them from the major settlements on the west end of the map.

 

[Dario ff]

Kid named after Skyrim.

 

[Alphadrop]

Yea, that was all over the Escapist forums. Not that surprising considering what some parents call their kids.

Man I'm annoyed the Thieves Guild quests went shite within the space of 3 quests.
Felt pretty thiefy stealing documents and stuff but now gone to the standard Oblivion fare of not doing anything related to nicking stuff.
Turns out nasty evil sounding guy was a nasty evil guy... what a tweest.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

Oblivion dungeons were generic as fuck, if you explored on you knew them all, but that was not game breaking for me, game breaking was the fact that they ALL had random loot, no unique special item , not even a generic item placed at a fixed location.

Hand crafted levels are always going to be better than procedurally (randomly) generated ones and you can still provide variety if you simply have the game choose from a large library of premade dungeons and not reuse any. That said, it's way more work. That said, as long as all quest related content is hand crafted, the various dungeons for diving into can get away with being random (in my mind). Of course that brings up the question of why even have those dungeons which are an inferior experience to the rest of the game?

You gotta expect bugs with huge open-world games like this, especially directly after release. No crossfire support is annoying, but I can still play on ultra if I can deal with the frames dropping to the teens every so often. It's not game-breaking like Rage's engine was before the AMD drivers fix.

I disagree, I think that these games get way more latitude than they deserve when it comes to any bugs related to hand-crafted content, specifically quests. Generic bugs are more understandable but again, compatibility shouldn't be a problem either. There's no reason that TES games should have any more compatibility issues than CoD or StarCraft 2.

I think we all know grade-school scores don't apply to video game review scores. That's why I don't mind seeing it get 9-10 so far. You don't rate other items 7-8 because there could be something better in the future. If it's the best in its class, it deserves the high scores.

Nor should grade school scores apply to videogames, 5 should be average. That said, it makes your score much more understandable once you explain it. Still, even if Skyrim is the best of it's class that isn't saying a whole lot if the class is fairly empty. Even less if the focused elements of the game are done worse than games of a different class but a similar element (eg combat). I'd also say that the UI alone should prevent the game from getting a 10, regardless of how good the rest of the product is.

Kid named after Skyrim.

Damn that kid looks unhealthy.

 

[Makagulfazel]

There's no reason that TES games should have any more compatibility issues than CoD or StarCraft 2.

Yeah, true. It's not like they don't have the budget. People push the limits with custom games in SC2 and I never get CTDs. Although Marine Arena hates me since installing the second card. I get 0-1 FPS when people start massing, even with crossfire disabled. I'm pretty sure my venture into dual-card setups is going to be my first and last. Too much trouble, just like RAID 0.
Back to Skyrim, sometimes I introspect and think I'm just giddy for these open world games and get a boner when they're released. I haven't finished nearly enough of the game to have a solid opinion. I still hold to my opinion that this is steps above its predecessors, but we'll see if that thought lasts.

 

[Tagaziel]

Played a fair bit, explored my first Dwemer ruin under M-- ah, crap, the Nord city built from a ruined Dwemer one. I absolutely, positively love Dwemer stuff, so presently I'm running around with a bow, set of armour (sans helmet), sword and shield made from Dwemer alloys. It's quite awesome.
[spoiler:e90640248a]

Inside said ruin. Accompanied by that Nord slave you get from the Jarl of Whiterun.

Pimpin' cougar.

Hunting on the plains outside Whiterun. The mechanics are almost as awesome as the ones in Two Worlds.

CHOP CHOP CHOP
[/spoiler:e90640248a]

 

[OakTable]

So far the voice acting is schizoid in quality. On one hand, you got people like Jim Cummings, Keith Szarabajka, and a couple other good voice actors. But then you get people like whoever voiced the court wizard in Whiterun, that vampire kid in the Dark Brotherhood, and some other retards who have no idea how to put emotion into their voice. I don't know whether to violently hate the vampire kid for sucking so bad or find it cute that she's trying to sound evil.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

@Tagaziel Man, I'm not sure what kind of gfx settings you're playing at, but those screenshots look legitimately ugly. If that's how Skyrim looks on average, it deserves zero praise for graphics quality.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

So far the voice acting is schizoid in quality. On one hand, you got people like Jim Cummings, Keith Szarabajka, and a couple other good voice actors.

I think that you could probably have Jim Cummings voice, if not your entire game, all the male characters in it and be set.

 

[Tagaziel]

@Tagaziel Man, I'm not sure what kind of gfx settings you're playing at, but those screenshots look legitimately ugly. If that's how Skyrim looks on average, it deserves zero praise for graphics quality.

Settings tell me it's set on high. I haven't made any ini tweaks, so that might be the reason. I think it looks good, on par with modern titles. Might be the fact I turned off AA and anisotropic filtering to conserve GPU power (y'see, I'm a whore for hi-res extures).

 

[fedaykin]

I like that most of the dungeons are more custom-tailored rather than looking like they were auto-generated.

 

[Tagaziel]

Yeah, I like that too. There's a story to each one.

I like the setting too. If I recall it correctly, it's set two centuries after Oblivion and after the Empire was de facto conquered (or at least beaten into submission) by the elven Thalmor. Who are basically fantasy Nazis, except they don't genocide people, but beat them into submission. It's not too overt though. I like the subtlety here and the way political conflicts are painted.

 

[Alphadrop]

But then you get people like whoever voiced the court wizard in Whiterun...

I've heard him do other voices and he's o.k, I think he was told to do aloof anti social and couldn't pull it off. My brother couldn't stop laughing when talking to him though.

Might as well wack up some of the sceens I've taken as well, they're a tad cleaner than Tags.
[spoiler:02b6fa4797]

Early one to test the tfc and tm commands.

[/spoiler:02b6fa4797]

Settings on high as well.

 

[Tagaziel]

Yeah, anti-aliasing makes all the difference. But I REGRET NOTHING.

 

[Surf Solar]

Yeah, I like that too. There's a story to each one.

I like the setting too. If I recall it correctly, it's set two centuries after Oblivion and after the Empire was de facto conquered (or at least beaten into submission) by the elven Thalmor. Who are basically fantasy Nazis, except they don't genocide people, but beat them into submission. It's not too overt though. I like the subtlety here and the way political conflicts are painted.

They want to eradicate men from the surface of the planet, I don't think it can get any more genocide-y.

 

[Tagaziel]

I haven't got to that point yet. Is it stated anywhere? I recall the Thalmor waging war against mankind to control them, but genocide?

 

[Surf Solar]

I've read it in one of the ingame books somewhere, I unfortunately can't recall what the name was. But yes, it was definitvely stated that they want human races eventually to be extinct. In the game you meet some Thalmor later, I think there I took that book with me. Will check it when I play it next time.

 

[sydney_roo]

Don't worry, Ausdoerrt. The game looks nothing like on Tagaziel's screenshots.

After I managed to bear UI, I've actually played it quite a lot. Am I crazy or this game is actually pretty good? Definitely a major step-up from Oblivion.