I've been wanting to make this rant for a while, so here goes.

I feel weird, because I was one of the biggest fan boys leading up to the games release, and I've felt thoroughly let down every step of the way since the midnight launch. I've actually felt it a chore to play the game, most times electing to turn on BF3 instead.

Starting with not being able to play at launch due to the bug (I'm still experiencing) where the game wont load with AA enabled, not figuring that out til the next day, that left me with pretty sour graqes. Paired with the agonizing process trying to bind a few keys due to the PC, the platform where the series was born, being sold out to console and the entirety of the controls and interface being horribly overlooked and lazily slapped together, theres no way in 2011 a game should come out with these sorts of issues. What was the number, 280,000 downloads on steam at launch? plus physical copies? times 60 bucks a pop, $16.8 million. You couldn't devote some of the budget and staff time to making the [censored] game playable? While they were recording "70 different voice actors" they could have made it so pressing a [censored] key actually does what its supposed to. Oh, I'd unlock those new shouts I have available but pressing R in the menu like it tells me to does absolutely nothing! Thank you! Boy though, I'd sure love to bind my numpad keys, oh no? They're irrevocably reserved? Ok. I have to download a mod to make the keys work? Is this real? I know bugs are inevitable with a bethesda release, and not everyone is having these same issues, but something as simple as the controls shouldn't be this broken.

Sorry for the rant, I just dont think a sequel should ever feel like a step back. In Morrowind if there was a hill between me and my objective, I could walk over it, worst case scenario I cast a jump or levitate spell. These spells dont even exist in this game, and they sure would come in handy when I need to get to the top of a mountain or to the other side of it. The movement is broken as well, the many mountains and hills are impassible without following the exact path they've laid that always seems to be so very far away, it isn't all upsides to having such a vast game world. Trying to jump up these hills, or even jump over simple objects often results in hanging in limbo, slowly falling without being able to do anything, its so annoying. I cringe every time I see a mountain, its not bad enough theres no way to navigate them off the main path, but they're so ugly. They really, really didn't want or expect us to try to go any other way than the main road, or else you wouldn't get these ugly jagged edges and snow that came from the PS1. No, worse, because on PS1, in metal gear solid in 1998, you at least left footprints in the snow, In 2011 they left out this detail in a game where half the world is covered in snow.

I know people are gonna say I'm nitpicking. TES have never been technically perfect, they cant be when you lay out this kind of world in this kind of game. In Morrowind and to a lesser extent Oblivion I never felt restricted. In this game I do, and many important details just feel dumbed down for the consoles. I dont feel drawn into the world or urged to play again every day. There are just a lot of things I feel could have and should have been better, right out of the gate. They aren't, and for me its made the game a fair bit of a disappointment

I, for one, am glad they took out levitate...broke the game in so many ways. Also, I'm aware you dislike not being able to jump your way up a mountain...but can you really do this in real life? People been asking for a realistic experience in the TES forever. It's in the mods. Look at the Oblivion, Morrowind mods...they turned you from super jumper to more of a realistic jumper (not to mention every other mod turns the game into a real life simulator). People modded this into their games. Bethesda put that in Skyrim (atleast the jumping aspect). I like not being able to jump my way up the mountain (although you still can...with much effort) with ease. Mountains in Morrowind/Oblivon/FO3 were nothing but niffty looking hills...you could walk over 90% of them.

Your last part sums it up , Bethesda is lacking in the technical department. They simply fail to execute things smoothly. This is evident in all their games really , even Morrowind my favourite game of all time.

Fact is you have to try and ignore those issues because it can never be that game for you. Look elsewhere for technical perfection or even just smoothness. Like the withcer 2 for instance , good looking , good running game.

I'm having alot of fun with this game and believe me I have issues with it , I no longer see bethesda with rose tinten glasses or whatever like I used to. Fact is they are just another game developer not better not worse than other dedicated game makers.

Now about issues where you can't even start the game , thats a whole other thing and quite unacceptable if you buy a game.

I know what you're saying, and trust me, a lot of old school Elder Scrolls fans feel the same way but I look at it this way, its a new game so there will be new mechanics. Also, some things will be removed but new things will be added. I remember how all the hardcoe players of Oblivion would piss and moan about fast travel taking away the realism, well now there are carriages for those who like realism but are too lazy to walk to places Another new thing I like is the ability to improve armor and weapons. When I was first hearing about the game I thought the smithing skill would be a waste of time but it quickly became one of the most useful to me and one of those little things that make customizing your character that much more fun.

However, there are a couple things I'm also disappointed about. First off, I was sad to see classes get the boot. I know they did it to make the player not feel so restrained to being one type of character but I liked making my own classes and giving them custom names in Oblivion and it probably doesnt seem like a big deal but I miss it Secondly, I would have liked to be able to have more than one human follower just because I like kicking down doors and cracking skulls with a small team to join the fun

Wow, do you remember Morrowind and Oblivion? First of all, Morrowind's UI was terrible and it was designed for the PC. Oblivion's was even worse...

This UI is at least somewhat better. Was it built for the PC? No, but it's still not bad. I love the 3D models, I love how things are neatly categorized, and I love the Quick accessibility of favorite items.

I really don't know how you can say that this game is "dumbed down" or "restricted". All the streamlining was for the better and gave us more freedom. How many times did I have to restart a freaking character in Oblivion because I didn't pick some stupid birth sign or I forgot to major a skill or I didn't plan ahead for 30 levels.

I love how you pick a race and mold your character as you go. It's really brilliant, and far more immersive than saying from the start "Ok I'm a rogue because I picked these skills on a menu".

ONE THING I WANT TO KNOW and have wanted to know since oblivion

how the hell do modders make these fixes/enhancements that make the game so much better in a few days?!?? yet Bethesda have been developing there game for years and they cant. it doesn't make any sense. like the FPS fixes for graphics cards.(doubled my fps!!) that fix that lets you use more than 2gb of RAM. and higher rez textures are already popping out.

its like that literally ported the game to PC on November the 10th. all they changed was the game manual to suit pc keys lol. i love the game, best ive played in 5 or so years that's for sure. but just the small things that piss me off with this game.

While Skyrim isn't perfect for me, I think you over-hyped yourself being a biggest fan boys leading up to the games release.

Bethesda doesn't use polish.

LOL WHAT? Not defending skyrim but did you even play that game? Their launch made the Skyrim and New Vegas launch look like perfection, and that game wasn't even as nearly as ambitious as a free roaming RPG. Crashing, check, it's a pc game after all. Character randomly unable to attack during combat, fun times. Horrible UI system that makes Skyrim's look amazing, talk about never wanting to use another potion again or bother with crafting. Hate skyrim scrolling? Now imagine it's automatic and never manual, LOL!!!!!

Every forum for every game has a post just like this one everyday.

Dude the mountains are gorgeous. The mountains and running water are what keep Skyrim from looking almost the same as Oblivion in my opinion. I also don't get why everyone is complaining about the UI. I have absolutely no problem with the controls or interface, what exactly is wrong with it anyway? I actually sort of like Oblivion's character menu and inventory a little better, cause it's prettier Skyrim has 3d item models though, so that's even better but I admit that I would rather have my character model like in Oblivion.

I played Morrowind on the original Xbox which opened my eyes to a whole 'nother RPG world. Yes it had issues like crashing almost every time I got to the loading screen, and yes the models were terrible, but nonetheless it was an awesome game.

Then when Oblivion came out I bought the Game of the Year edition for PS3 and immediately fell in love with the graphics as soon as I exited the sewers in the very beginning. The character creator was a huge step up from Morrowind's but that was because it was 2009 and things started moving forward.

Now in 2011, I buy Skyrim for PC, which I love! The graphics and character creator are a 1,000x better than it's predecessors. The things I find annoying in Skyrim which I'm sure we can all find something wrong with any game we play) are: I leveled up my Smithing skill and it says I can upgrade "twice as much" but the highest I can go is "Fine" (maybe I need more skill?), my hotkeys do not work, The R and F keys are switched in some menus, Can't marry Lydia (assuming they fixed the glitch where you could force it) nor can you marry ANY NPC that you want to (I really wanted to marry Ingun Black-Briar in Riften), the fences for the Thieves Guild doesn't take care of your bounty like they did in Oblivion, and blah blah blah.

But I agree with what cpt krunch13 said: "somethings are removed, but new things are added." I'm sure that all the modders out there will eventually create mods for "more than one follower" or "marry anyone you'd like", but the game is still new, and we're still awaiting the next Expansion(s), so I wouldn't go bashing this game before the Skyrim project is done and over with. Now with that being said I'm going back to my lv 21 Paladin Nightingale character to finish a Thieves Guild quest.

Fair winds and following seas!