I don't know I'm playing the game and I don't really feel satisfied with the game play completely. What I mean is that you can't really do everything the way you want to do it.

For example say you've played through a part of the game and you want to play over it again and try to kill a person that you know is going to try to assassinate you after you commit a certain act. Since I already know that person is really an assassin I can't kill them until that part comes up in the quest.

The game is good but it's just things like this that makes me feel like you can't do whatever you want, rather you can start whatever quest you want in whatever order you want to play the game.

What do you guys think? Is skyrim a True Open World RPG? (sorry messed up in the title). Explain why you feel the way you feel.

Not really, no.

But then again, it depends on what your definition of a true RPG is. For me a true RPG is all about http://www.eve-files.com/media/0802/skillchart.png and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing. Skyrim lacks in both these aspects. It has extremely simple skill trees and it forces you into a pre-defined role unless you actively ignore certain NPCs and dungeons.

We already have an almost identical thread recently opened.

Well what gets me is that people said when you start the game you'll pretty much be dropped off and allowed to do anything you want, but this is not true because what I wanted to do was to become a Jarl and challenge of them to combat for the title but you can't do that. The highest title that you can reach is just the title of thane which practically means nothing except that the town guards look a couple of times before they arrest you and you don't even get land for being a thane it just feels dull because I really can't do everything I want to do.

Yes, it's a true Open RPG.

The only one that could arguably be considered "more" open is Mount & Blade, but that forces you to be a conquering warlord of some level. You can't chase butterflies, or simply help out around town.

You cant have everything, but it is the most open world rpg i ever experienced by far. If they took the time to also add in bioware dialogue choices and intricate player on npc conversations we may have to wait 8 years for each installment. For those who complain that they cant be 'jarls', 'kings' or masters of the universe, therefore its not an open world rpg, stop being silly. There has to be some limits somewhere. To be a jarl you'd have to hang out on a throne all day and sign off on paperwork. Itll never be medieval-fantasy life simulation.

Todd Howard once (probably more than once) said something along the lines of "Everytime I pick up the game I see something new. I'm like... 'I didn't know you could do this & that.'"

From the 2nd day I played Skyrim I constantly found something you couldn't do, where there was no reasoning behind why you couldn't do it. It was like... oh sweet you can chop fire wood. Now, I can't wait to use it. Oh wait, you can't. Oh cool you can cut lumber. And it does absolutely nothing. The list is hardly finite and there's no excuse for that. Once you get past the hype & surface luster, repeat playability becomes forced & dragged. It certainly has great Open RPG aspects, but hardly any more than other genres that try to cash in on RPG elements.

Yes its an open world RPG.

Next question please.

Too many quests see you entering draugr/frost spider lairs, so I feel Skyrim is less varied than Oblivion. And I feel less satisfied with loot hauls from these samey dungeons. I preferred the thrill of randomly discovering wicked gear in dungeons/on freshly killed bodies, than levelling up to make it at the smithys. Also preferred the discipline of maintaining all my gear with repair hammers. And....such a little thing, but it bugs; not all chests & crates being openable & empty ones being flagged as so...takes all the fun out of looting!!! So to me, Oblivion felt much more open...

Well, if anyone asked me, I would say it is indeed an RPG. However, it's more action-based than certain other RPGs. Dragon Age: Origins, for instance, allowed so much more freedom in dialogues and story-wise. However, you couldn't travel anywhere at any time. In Skyrim, you can mold your own adventure by deciding where you want to go and who you want to kill, rather than how you act as a person. I agree, it's more "in what order will I complete these quests?" rather than "would my character even do this?" For instance, there is no Main Quest option at all for an evil character.

Skyrim is I think an open world RPG even tho I feel it lacks a certain depth and the level if customization of its predecessors.

RPG in the gaming industry means the character sees its stats evolving along the story. That's all. And that's why even Final Fantasy series are considered as RPG.
Now of course we could define the genres with more details because there's more and more different things placed in "Action RPG" and it doesn't mean much anymore.

It's a true open-world RPG(rpg in terms of numbers ,not character development(which is non existing in TES games)). An open-world RPG is an RPG that allows you to go virtually anywhere you want in that set world. What your are thinking of is a sandbox, which allows you to do anything you want in an open-world game. Only a very, very few games are sandbox and only an even fewer amount are good sandboxes(sandboxes have been really overused the last years, given to games such as GTA etc which is far from sandboxes...).

Yes Skyrim is an open world RPG, but Morrowind offers the freedom you're looking for.

Please explain and provide some back up with what you said it's easy to just say it provide some supporting details of how it is an open world rpg because as I explained in my post that I don't feel it is one because while you can go wherever you want you can't do what ever you want.

No i'm not really thinking GTA what I'm saying is that the game prevents you from doing what you want. GTA still does that, say you take one of your friends out and then decide to shoot them deliberately in the face because they are part of the main plot you are not allowed to kill them they are just sent to the hospital where you can pick them up like nothing happened.

Edit: Connecting back to what I was saying earlier about the certain characters in Skyrim that you cannot kill until certain requirements are met. If you try, once they have fallen they just crawl around but you cannot strike a final blow.

I really dont have to, the onus is on you to prove its not as this is your thread for your views.

But the fact is that there are NO open world games were you can do anything you like. There are always restrictions in place in some form or another, Skyrims being that in many cases you have to be informed in the game before you can take a particular action. Thats cause and effect, which is what every game has.

Yes its an Rpg, but pretty limited..

I couldn't agree with you more. I'm almost at lvl. 81 ( greedy for that last bit of magicka ), have done all the strat. guides missions, and I still feel " is this it?". At this point, I'm just running around for my last perk to get here.
Usually, as in Oblivion, F/O3, and F/O N/V, I would make-up my own quests: collect books, decorate the homes, or even find a good home- away- from- home, but the polarity bugs in Skyrim are just frustrating me.
I'm about to restart a new game soon, it's just that I don't have much enthusiasim to do it. Hopfully things will change soon, as I have to get away from this 360 madness. I really should learn how to MOD.

I know your not talking about GTA it was just an example of how missused sandbox term is used today. Open world as I said is just a game that allows you to go more or less where you want, so GTA is an open world game with an ok towards high amount of options, skyrim is a open world rpg with allot of options but is often markeded as an sandbox or compared to them, which is wrong(in my opinion).

from you said it sounds more like your asking(and wanting) a sandbox with RPG features, and not an open-world game. Since a sandbox would allow you to do anything you want while an open-world game only allows you to go around anywhere in the world.

A good example is gothic series, very linear story lines but you can go anywhere you want at any given time(if you survive going too far off), this is also an open world RPG but not even close to a sandbox.(best example of an sandbox from the top of my head that isn't an mmo is dwarf fortress and mount and blade(very loose sandbox)).

I'm not doing this for views I'm doing this so that the developers can see this and try to take this concept and put it in the games they make in the future your arrogance does nothing for the better if you had nothing to add do me the favor and don't waste post space for other thinkers and that's all I have to say to you.

Explain further please share your ideas of how it is pretty limited.

So unless I share your view Im arrogant? Your threads premis is asking a question. I answered it. I have given you a perfectly simple argument as to why its still an open world RPG even with some restrictions in place. The fact that you dont like the answer is your issue not mines.

I agree with some parts of what you said but not completely with the who you want to kill because of what I said in my first post about the game preventing you from killing certain characters because you haven't met certain prerequisites. But yeah you cannot even mold your character into an evil character and I don't really feel bad when I do the bad daedra quests there aren't really any repercussions.

So unless I share your view Im arrogant? Your threads premis is asking a question. I answered it. I have given you a perfectly simple argument as to why its still an open world RPG even with some restrictions in place. The fact that you dont like the answer is your issue not mines.