What storyline? Most books relate to history and have nothing to do with your game play. The storyline in this game are Dragons, Civil war and faction quests and that's the last thing Skyrim should be proud of.

For me, the sheer amount of locations you can discover, the open-ended aspect of the game and, a beautifully crafted world is more then enough. It is a great playground to do whatever you please. When I go into Skyrim, it is easy to get absorbed and forget about mundane worries. This is the biggest draw for me.

I really don't mind the occasional bug. In my experience, they are hardly game-breaking and at least for PC, they've been easy to fix. I can't wait for the CK to come out and start modding my game as desired and download other people's creations to enhance my experience.

I've put over 165 hours and still going! In my main character level 53 I still haven't discovered all of the locations and going out to explore is my favorite thing to do. I haven't touched the College of Winterhold, Bards College and the Companions questlines yet, but I've done the MQ, Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, about half of the Daedric Quests and, most of the prominent sidequests. I still have a ton of Misc quests andf I've tried about 4 different character builds: Thief/Assasin, Conjuration Mage, 2H Battlemage and Sword and Board.

If there's some complains I have about Skyrim is some of the less useful skill trees, some short questlines, Smithing (you have to agree, it's insanely fast to level and makes any other loot completely irrelevant), repetitive one-liners, slow and plain bothersome Companions, small cities (villages, really), clunky horse riding, the interface,and, the absence of features of other ES titles (like spellcrafting).

Even thought Morrowind holds a dear place in my heart, as I poured hours and hours into the game and found it way deeper than anything I've ever played, Skyrim is well-made, fun, gorgeous and, definitely my favorite game of the series.

I have to say story line because that is what has impressed me the most over Oblivion and been such a relief after the disappointments of other games this year.

Graphics are lower on my scale, but I'll add that the art, atmosphere and setting all put Skyrim in my running for the best game I've ever played. I love Norse culture/ history and they really nailed it quite well. The world is so alive and reactive, too. I keep being surprised by that. There was a great deal of attention to detail and love put into this game. *wipes little tear from eye*

Bethesda, you rock.

As in the majority...

There should be an option for aesthetics.

Thats what makes this game great.

Multiple choice please. Can't decide between music and graphics :tes:

If i could've voted for all I would have.

No choice really stood as my favorite but I voted graphics. As a former text MMO player and pen & paper player (although only about 15 or so sessions) I think this is the closest I've gotten to my imagination yet.

My real choice is characters though... I understand they aren't as deep as some people would like but I think for the most part you get a pretty good idea of who each person is and how they fit in the world. For example, just characters I love in Whiterun include:

Farengar Secret-Fire
Mikael
Nazeem
Jon Battle-born (Skald)
The Battle-born who raves about his kin, but believes the Gray-manes hold onto their ancestry too much
Saadia
Ysolda
Heimskr
..... WarBear (husband of the smith)

the list goes on... there are very few worthless characters... even the guy in the Bannered Mare who has 1 line (Sindir) you get the idea of his story

I like the game because it took everything I liked about Gothic 3 (incredible topography and environments, able to conquer the land for one side or the other, unimportant NPCs don't bother with conversation) and everything I liked about Oblivion (incredible armor designs, NPCs actually say unique stuff, and everything else great in TES) and put them together.

Wow this poll is hilarious.. Skyrim graphics svck they are the best art style yet in a BGS game but technically haven't increased for 6 years and have absolutely no competition between other RPG's let alone other genres.

how about the word Visuals?

Anyway they are significantly better than Oblivion despite your claim and your lack of competition comment is valid. There are no other RPGs out there who are putting out anywhere near the package that Skyrim does.

None of the options. It's all about freedom and exploration IMO.

Negative, I spoke nothing of people with any opinions.
I said that the game elected as GOTY is a game that excels in all the fields listed in the poll. I did not say who considers it to be so, I for one was too lazy to vote. But as we are talking about a democratic election people will vote the game they like the most over the list of candidates. Skyrim won. It means it's a good game. As taste is something we can't measure I will go by statistics and as vast, vast majority of Skyrim gamers consider it a good game with a bit of flaw here and there, then it probably is a good game. One plus one logic, it's not pretty but it's logical.

I have no opinion whether Skyrim deserves the GOTY reward as it's one of the things I could not care less about, but it won through the voice of the people and that's a fact your or any Mr. Negatives opinions can't change.

If I had to pick one of those choices, and the poll only allows one of those choices, I'd pick graphics.

Because the great graphics really help with immersion in the world. My real choice would be "exploring"

Right, so I'm a Mr. Negative because, despite enjoying the game, I saw notable flaws in it and don't think it's GotY.

I don't really care if it won through the voice of the people, that doesn't automatically mean it excels in all fields. Period.

All of the above.

I voted crafting. I love the fact that I can improve and make my own armor and weapons. But the real reason I like TES games is the open world! I just love to explore and stumble over interesting sites!

There should have been an option for "atmosphere."

Yes, that is true. However, I found the majority of quests to be ridiculously short and boring. So really, I see the amount of content (in this case, quests) as a bad thing.

If the option was there, I would have voted character models. The character models are far from perfect, and it would have been nice to be able to make younger-looking characters, but it's a step in the right direction. The music was pretty good as well.

you neglected to include "freedom"

Someone needs to wake up and smell the we-don't-care-about-your-opinion-if-it-simply-negates-this-thread-with-no-thoughtful-insight roses...

:facepalm:

Immershun for me

Combat. Combat all the way. AND graphics.

Gotta laugh at everyone voting for graphics, they are not even that good. Thank god for mods though.

Well anyway, it's looting for me. Can't get enough loot.