» Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:19 am The first thing I did when I got to Solstheim was access the map, and I have to say it looks like it was put together in a hurry. The coastlines look like they were crafted using MS Paint or something - there's hardly any detail. It looks like what you would get cutting up paper with scissors that are too big. Then there's the distant textures, which are all blurry and undefined. The smoke billowing from Red Mountain feels like graphical cut & paste, like it just doesn't fit (plus, if you can see it from Solstheim you should be able to see it from Skyrim... it's not that much further). The immediate textures feel like they were just randomly generated, and it doesn't feel at all like a world that was meticulously constructed... like the mainland.
The new shouts feel gimmicky (which was what I initially thought when I first heard of dragon-riding, but I truly believed Bethesda could make it work), and I can't for the life of me figure out who would sign off on Bend Will and Dragon Aspect because neither one really makes sense. Bend Will is completely redundant when you consider all the spells, shouts and powers that we already have, and Dragon Aspect is just kind of messy... OK, so you can boost damage - is that really necessary? Considering the myriad of effects that you can mix and match, it feels like somebody ran out of ideas and added it in arbitrarily, but now I have to get this shout to finish the DLC.
I love Skyrim and I'm very proud of my character, which is why I'm hoping Bethesda might take notice (of the issues raised... not of me). Anyways, I'm off to tip-toe around Solstheim and try not to bog my Imperial down with too much redundancy. You're all free to disagree, but please don't! (joke)
