I don't think I'm entitled to anything, or that I deserve anything, I think you misunderstand me. I'm just saying it's a little sad what direction this game series is going. My personal opinion is that they should stick to the RPG elements of the game, rather than move the genre to the 'action/adventure' category. But that's only what I want, money is the true determining factor, skyrim has sold more than any of the previous games, so Beth is happy.
I do greatly enjoy skyrim, I wouldn't be on the forum if I didn't. I said the same on another thread, there are positive aspects to way the game has changed:
- The graphics are vastly improved (to appeal to the casual gamer), it makes the previous games look like cartoons.
- The combat is much much better (to appeal to the casual gamer), the look, the feel, it's much better. It's also more varied, dual wielding is possible, mixing shields/melee/spells is much more fluid.
- I much prefer the leveling system, it is simpler (for the casual gamer) but it also makes you develop your character specifically, you can't be the master of everything. I'm sad we lost attributes, but I disliked the way attributes was done in oblivion. I'd prefer a fallout approach. You choose your attrubutes at the beginning of the game, they have a strong impact on the style of play and are definitive (you can't change them or max them out).
But we've lost so much quest depth, and consequence is pretty much completely removed. Also we've lost good features like spellcrafting, added some dire features like the smithing system and basic roleplaying aspects are removed. Things like directions to quest locations, rather than showing you on a map, the ability to remove the compass, varied dialogue etc.
Lets be honest here, there's very little between Oblivion and Skyrim when it comes to quest markers, lack of quest depth etc. In fact, you could argue that Skyrim is more RPG friendly insofar that the quest marker is optional. Yeah, the quest descriptions are poor, but the fact remains the markers are optional. Unless you had mods you were stuck with the quest markers in Oblivion.
I dunno if you were around when Morrowind was first released, but these forums were swamped with people moaning about how laborious it was questing due to the ambiguity surrounding most quests. Beth listened and changed it. It's simply a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. Not going to make everyone happy, so it's a case of making a decision and going with it.
It's the same with every single series out there. Almost every title out there has a following and when any game evolves or moves on, it almost always leaves a selection of players behind and if we're being honest, they would denounce anything that proceeded it no matter how deep they had to delve to acquire that opinion.
It's happened with the Civilisation series, Total War series, NWN, Diablo etc etc. It's nothing new and will happen with the next instalment too.
The most important point in all this, and it's a point that is always omitted from arguments such as yours, and that is Beth is now too large a company to cater to niche markets. It's all fine n dandy wanting a niche game, however, niche games don't sell well and as such are better left to smaller dev houses. hardcoe RPG's no longer sell like they used to and many a dev have went to the wall because they have refused to change with the times.
Edit: Thanks for keeping this civil, mate. Too many people tend to jump down the throats of others whenever there's a differing opinion on the board.