I can't relate to any of your points, but that was a great post and precisely how people should approach critiquing.

You're supposed to say "OMGZ I never thoughts of that you are right MR Elite Skyrim is CRAP cos gamers like me cant dream of kewl games like the OP".

every single game is usually open for more improvements.

First of all: of course it's a personal opinion. If it was a fact, you wouldn't need to write an essay defending it. And just as there are many people (most of them on this forum) who share some of your viewpoints, that doesn't mean that you have even close to the majority. Skyrim's game ratings are still through the roof, and that's from critics and players alike. Many professional reviews touted systems (combat) that you disparaged in your post.

If you can't wrap your head around the idea that your opinion isn't accepted fact, then you might as well have written that essay on paper and burned it.

:3

While it may be a personal opinion, he is not alone in having it so I would class it as a popular opinion.

Secondly: What? Of course facts need foundation, just like everything else, otherwise its dogma. It are the unfounded opinions that I dislike, and the OP has done a good job in explaining and argumenting for his views.

Or the wave of people that are going to say "It's not Morrowind!"

In order to be a popular opinion, it would need to be popularly held. It's the minority opinion, and that's backed up by reviews, awards, sales, and even this forum (where, despite the amount of vocal whining, you can find numerous polls where the majority of players are happy with Skyrim).

Facts need a foundation, they don't need a defense. In order to show that the sky is blue, I need to establish what blue is and show a picture of the sky. I don't need to defend why I think the sky is blue, nor do I need to "argument" the case.

Well I’m going to address one thing you said, mainly because a game franchise I used to love was completely destroyed by it, and that’s combat.

I love the combat in Dragon Age Origins. It was often slow, gritty and yet surprisingly realistic. You could tell that most of the moves were modeled after real humans performing the actions. It worked for me and I could get into the role and I loved it.

Then came Dragon Age 2 and the combat turned into some kind of JRPG super space ninja crap. I hated it. I hated it with a passion. I never got past the demo and never bought the game. Granted DA2 had many other issues but that was one clearly seen in the demo that I just could not overcome no matter what.

I do like the combat in Skyrim. To me it still seems at least realistic enough for me to get into. I actually like the times where I get staggered and can’t react. I love shield bashing an opponent to get an opening for my attack. To be honest if I was asked to name one thing to improve the combat on I would have to think about it some as nothing stands out in my mind as terribly bad.

And to be honest I just don’t see two armored guys wielding swords rolling around and dodging like super ninja’s as very realistic. The combat in Skyrim you can reproduce with real live humans on a stage. The rolling and bouncing around like a monkey you can only do in your dreams.

You never see me calling anyone a whiner for expressing their views, why are you so fond of these types of degrading words?
Youre also guilty of selective sight, in that critique on the game is not widespread.
I honestly do not understand why you think you must brand yourself a staunch defender on every thread of this kind, valid critique and opinions are just that. Its what someone thinks/ experiences.
The game stands on its own and certainly does not need you to tell everyone who has an opinion that differs from yours to tell them they are wrong.

I am not going to reply to any further replies you make to my posts in this thread, as we have been down that road before and Im not going to do so again.

Well I'm certainly going to miss your reply, since I was hoping you'd point out where I said anything about the OP being wrong or their opinion being invalid.

You're comparing Skyrim to an unachievable ideal game based on a computer that's not going to be around for another 100 years at least. There are limitations that they have to work within, and thus many compromises have to be made... with any game. You want it all, like most children these days, and you simply can't have it. Learn that.

Fact is, The elder scrolls was a great RPG untill all the casual [censored]s picked up gaming and thought/screamed/cried/suicided because games were too hard.
This [censored] up the serie with skyrim as the ultimate example.
I love skyrim and its world, yet I never had to think about ANYTHING about my character because you'll always win.
No need to think about class setups, no need to think about stats, no need to think about gear, no tactics NOTHING.
And now all the casual [censored]s are crying about ''balancing'' issues in a SP game.
Give me back the era of real hardcoe gamers instead of these scrubs who bought a pc/console to play Modern Warfail #99 and then saw Skyrim and tried to convert it to their small brains.
Well gz guys, the people at Bethesda has shown pity for you idiots and turned this into a kiddy game.
Ah well back to Dark souls it is.

And what if the idiots weren't the "Modern Warfail 99" players ?

Personally i' ve buyed my console (xbox 360) for Fallout 3 and Gta 4 at the time...and - surprise surprise i own even a good specified pc to play Skyrim at max settings and heavily modded when i want and i've played even some of those hated Fps on it maybe not all of the "console gamers" have "small brains" you know

and if the "Modern Warfail" is too popular there will be a reason after all don't you agree ? actually i sincerely think that other developers (Bethesda included) looks with respect at this underestimated (at least here,but overrated elsewhere ) product.

You disgust me. I respect your opinion, but you cant even express your opinion without resorting to insults? I think we all know who is the idiot with a small brain around here.

Clearly the OP has raised every point that supports why Skyrim won GOTY at GDC

Another opinion, as valid as any but no more valid than most.

On some things I agree
Better, longer quest lines I do agree with. The shortness of some of the quest lines is IMHO one of the most legitimate issues.
Better NPCs? In the end, every NPC cannot be fully fleshed out. However, I would have preferred fewer but much more in depth companions. Think Ruined Tails Tale mod for Oblivion or the companions of FONV.

However, if they made Skyrim per your specifications I probably wouldn't buy it. Smaller, more action oriented - this is not what I want.
A more fantastic world? I like the earth like setting as a basis, but would also like more fantastic locales to be included.

Anyway ... an opinion.

I'm to the point where I really don't give a crap what people in the forums think about the game .


I'm enjoying it and Bethesda keeps winning awards from people who evaluate games and make games for a living.

Well actually the current gamers are complaining about picking the wrong Perks and wanting to respec them.

So watch the next game have no Perk selection at all, you just automatically get the perks as you level the skill (like OB). Then yeah, you don't have to think at all.

Your point?

How many music artists get loads of awards or praise by critics but are hated by fans? Do we have to bring up Rebecca Black? Justin Bieber? Lady Gaga?

How many movies are reviewed to be terrible by critics but the cultural masses love them?

So... your point is kind of irrelevant.

On Topic:

OP, I agree with you.

I enjoyed reading this review, I found several things you said were directly in line with my own thoughts. Combat needs the most work (IMHO), I have issues with both 3rd and 1rst person combat and found my most comfortable success using ranged or stealth attacks to handle all combat situations. I don't know that Amalur or Fable are good examples of the direction TES should go (I feel those games use maneuvers that are overly dramatic. See the comparison between DAO and DA2) but I recognize what you are saying. I found the slow effects to be a nice attempt at fixing some of those issues (while blocking during a power attack or taking a breath while aiming with a bow) though they also created some of their own problems. I wish I knew what would fix combat because it seems like such a glaring weakness in the series.

As for the setting, I'm not sure I agree with what you said. Your example of Avatar as a 'unique' world that was propelled to second place is a bit over reaching. It has been argued that Avatar is the same story of Dances with Wolves and the Last Samurai. We have witnessed movies with alien races, and dragons (though not pterodactyls it's pretty close) and we've had plenty of spaceships of varying size and degree. It's not much of a stretch for our minds. Remember your comparing a few hours of a movie to the massive world of TES. We simply got a glimpse of the world and depth of Avatar which the writers used as a window (and did a very good job of it) that conceals the lack of depth elsewhere. The point is, would you like to sell games? Include things that people can instantly understand, this gives you a better chance at establishing your fan base. Would you like to tell a story? Make sure you use things that act as landmarks in the mind of your target audience. Consider the simile.

Also, I found blackreach to be an incredible setting (like most of the dwemer ruins), I found the crypts to be quite a nice touch and I really liked markarth...the setting certainly isn't original but it has it's wonderful quirks.

Ce n'est pas ins personne - so true. The dragonborn lacked a lot of development and required a lot of imagination from the individual. Fortunately, I was pretty used to this and was able to play through as a 'character' each time I approached the game with a personality in mind, I enjoyed the game better.

There really feels like a piece is missing in regards to dialogue. I would love more characters like Cicero with more variety in lines. I would also love more customization in dying outfits as well as the technical aspect of gear manipulation. I would love more challenge though I recognize that this can be achieved by the player limiting what they do. For instance, you could choose to settle down somewhere and start work as a blacksmith or wood cutter etc, you could refuse to level up or refuse to use perks or certain weapon types. It's doable regardless.

Still, good read though I still feel this game deserves its GOTY.

People will always be able to find faults... because they don't understand the causes of the faults. They think that any concept they have should be easy to implement, or any feature they think of should have been included instead of some other one. They don't realize that it's their problem. They would be here complaining about something else if the game had originally included the things they are complaining about currently. In this case, had the combat system been spot on, the author of the post would be here complaining about the shops, or the lack of squirrels, or something equally annoying. There will always be something to complain about, so we'll always see complaints. Play the game for what it is. Reject it if it isn't fun for you, but get on with your life... don't sit and complain.

Do you not realizing that finding faults with something is how things improve?

To the OP: Honestly, I only read the first half of your post. I will try to read the second half later. I have not played Kingdom of Amalur, but I spent some time the other day watching the trailer and the combat demo on the companies website because I was considering getting the game. Ultimately I decided not to buy it. Maybe someday when it is in the discount bin but not at full price.

There were two reasons for my decision that relate to some of the many points you make above.

First the combat. I saw an archer in the KoA demo shooting arrows like his bow was a fully automatic rifle. I shoot bows recreationally on occassion and one of the things I really like about Skyrim is the realistic way they have handled archery. It takes time to draw a bow in real life, just like in Skyrim. I would not be all that excited about a game that responds to the button pressing instantaneously in the way you suggest.

Second the setting. I prefer the gritty realism of Skyrim to the somewhat more fanciful world in KoA.

The relative commercial success of Skyrim as compared to KoA is pretty good evidence that the majority of the video game buying public feels the same. We have got companies producing twitchy fanciful stuff like KoA already. I hope TES stays basically the way it is.

That said, I would like to see a bunch of improvements, like better options menu to let you turn off compass and sneak crosshair, more variety in the difficulty sliders, better instructions in the gameworld to complete quests, more variety in spells, spellmaking, etc.

Finally, I will admit that you can have "alien" worlds like Morrowind without getting all fanciful like they did in KoA. If they can "keep it real" like they did in Morrowind, I would not mind a more unique setting, but I don't want to see a bunch of cartoony stuff like they have in the KoA trailer.

EDIT: Here is a link to what I am talking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWCqUTfY_6U The guy who posted this video is doing a KoA walkthrough. During the first thirty seconds, you can see his character swing a hammer that is sooo BIG that it would be too heavy for anyone to lift, much less swing, unless it were filled with Helium. Way too cartoony for my tastes. Reminds me of the old Looneytoons cartoons.