I agree with much of what the Article states, its not even a troll article. and the part about Bethesda whirling in its own bubble whole the gaming world is making leaps and bounds is spot on.

thing is though, as much as I would like TES as games to -advance- or "change". it will incur a MASSIVE Brown storm of epic proportions, and I don't know if I REALLY want to see the end result of that. and No MMO, MP, Co-OP, TES 2001, etc etc are not what I mean by advance.

If the only reason you’re not doing bad things, however you define them, is the consequences you should get to know who you see in the mirror. As to the lack of consequence in the game, in a world like that, there’s no CNN, TMZ, camera phones, etc. You could get away with a lot more if you wanted. You could walk up to someone at night, kill them and CSI isn’t gonna run your DNA, there also aren’t 7 billion people on the planet so less likely to be seen. So you do something for the dark brotherhood in Solitude and something for the thieves guild in Whiterun who’s gonna know? If you do it or not is up to you regardless of consequence. Look at our own Medieval history, even with consequences.

It’s like living with your parents or whoever raised you and living on your own. Did you take a dump in the living room of your own place because you could without consequence?
Lack of consequence had nothing to do with your answer.

Minor Consequences, Beth didn't really use the Fame Infamy system like they should have and 100% charm spells would deal with low merchant prices.
Valid Criticism is fine but only when it's valid which I don't think the article brings up anything valid. The Leveling isn't a problem, it's actually better then the previous games, no memorable characters, that's a lie there's plenty of them in Skyrim. The world doesn't change is valid but TES isn't exactly known for it's world breaking choices.

I see your point. At the same time I suspect that cutting off Riften because you killed Grelod the Kind (thereby forfeiting Thieves Guild questline) would infuriate more players than the seeming lack of consequences in the current game. No?

Bethesda seems to have a policy of scrapping things instead of fixing them.

It would be educational, they would learn a valuable lesson in cause and effect.

That would definitely infuriate me if that actually did happen.

The leveling system may not be a problem for you, but it feels very artificial and disappointing to me when I can kill a dragon in a few dual-wield power attacks only to be hopelessly shredded apart by a bear a few miles down the road. Or when you see said dragon being absolutely slaughtered by local wildlife. Or when any wizard npc's are infinitely more powerful than everything else, including Alduin, Dragon Priests, etc. And I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

Memorable characters? I can't name even one. Paarthunax and Ulfric are pretty nice (mainly due to their voice acting) but certainly not characters I'll remember as fondly as say, Alyx from Half-Life 2 (an FPS!) or Morrigan from DA:O.

WTF will happen in February 7th?

Also, RPGs are defined by spreadsheets. That's not because I say so, that's because the industry decided to name a particular genre RPG to differenciate it from action games and from roleplaying games (yes, I know it's shocking but roleplaying game =/= RPG)
If it has good action/shooting mechanics then good, it makes it a good action/shooter game. Doesn't make it a good RPG, only spreadsheets do that.

Definitely, if the alternatives were as disappointing as they are in Skyrim. If, however, they were more involving and rewarding.... not necessarily.

Why? Do people really want no consequences? That's not an RPG at its core then. If nothing you do effects anything then there is nothing to role play. Not to mention not everyone in Riften likes the Thieves Guild. That could make you a hero in some people's eyes and open the door to wiping out the Thieves Guild or simply making Riften more dangerous to be in,

UGH I disliked Morrigan Massivley, The Knight-commander however was A complete Badass...

This is more due to the fact Bethesda wanted to ram dragon shouts down your throat as quickly as possible. Like a song that opens with a guitar solo.
Morrigan was just Bastila Shan with a few "evil" lines of dialogue.

IGN article is boring, just boring.
It's so easy to do something like that. Try to create games like TES then write lame articles IGN.

Yet another sad devoted fan comment =_=

Give the author the money, staff and name-value of BGS, give him a few years, guess he may be able to make a decent game... it's not like it's very hard to design a game, the hard part is to make it, and guess who made Skyrim... not Todd Howard...

Bioware Is Hit or miss in characters, They have Amazing characters like Revan and Darth Nihilism and even the Knight-commander, And other characters such As That crazy old lady in KOTRW 2...

Ah, the classic "do it better yourself then" argument. Because no critic or consumerist has the right to express a point of view on a product when they are not professionally involved in that field of expertise. I suppose we should deliver this news to Metacritic and IMDB.

The IGN article costs time.
Skyrim cost $100, you can see how one required more effort than the other.
By your reasoning, you have no right to say it is a good game

Depends on the donut.

To tell the truth, the reason I think that people who don't necessarily like RPG's would by it if they invested even more into is that I used to be one of "those" people. Skyrim changed me. I used to not get into the RPG thing. But once I saw and played Skyrim I started to love it. Now I'm absorbing the Elder Scrolls as much as I can. I've gone from having other hobbies to being ridiculously addicted to Skyrim. Bethesda didn't really have to do much to get my attention, but for other folks who are on the fence about RPGs it wouldn't really take much either.

As a new fan of TES I can attest to the fact that, if people could just look at some of the background and the lore behind the series, they'd probably get absorbed into it and become part of this amazing community. Winning new fans may not be the goal of the series, but it's hugely possible, especially if some aspects of that IGN article were addressed. Specifically, I think if they addressed the "static world" part that would win many new fans.

As it is though, Skyrim has already won many new fans and I'm happy to say that I'm one of them. I love the game for what it is right now. I realize it may not be perfect, but frankly it doesn't have to be. It's a great experience and I enjoy it.

Skyrim costs more time and skill than just one ign article.

Frankly, I'd be more worried about the other outlets than I would be about IGN. The rest of them are all praise. The game has some deep flaws and yet IGN seems to be the only one willing to mention them.

I dunno... I found myself wishing that the author was part of the Elder Scrolls design team. We need a focus on world oriented RPG elements in the series.

Skyrim already plays a lot like a movie that pretends to let the player have control. They could save a ton of money by just releasing a 2 hour cut scene nestled between the introduction and the end credits.

Your making a convincing argument.

For the other side, Skyrim has had months of work put into it, so it should be good.
The article had a few hours put into it and is readable and gets its point across.

Just because you disagree with it doesn't mean that the article writer has no life other than criticising things that take mroe talent than what he does.
(And I'm willing to bet the article took more effort than your comment)

Complete the collage. And every one in skyrim still suggest for you to join the collage

Complete the companions. And nobody in skyrim is the wiser

Complete the blades. nothing happens

Complete the bards collage. Well dont even want to get started on that one

Complete the Darkbrotherhood. Guess what.

Complete the theives guild. This is the only one that has any effect on the world. ppl reconize you has guild master and. theives in the wild give you part of there boon.

So they are not wrong. but all of this can be fixed via DLC.

Please Do not take this personally or think its a flame, But its just A observation,
I find that Older members of the community "Dislike" Skyrim more then the "Newer" "generation" in the community.
Its just A observation.

...What's wrong with a guitar solo at the beginning of a song? Sure, it doesn't always work, but if done right it can be an amazingly strong tactic in the musical world.

I like the shouts and I think it's great that it's not a late-game ability.