This is not a complaint, just an observation.

In Oblivion, there was of course the Daedric invasion, but that didn't seem to really affect many people unless the lived in Kvatch or a gate opened up near their city. Now in Skyrim there's this whole civil war and dragon attacks; you also have racists, cannibalism, public executions, serial killers, people losing family to the war, a dead High King, and almost every guild is a shadow of what it once was.

Anyone else noticed how dark this game is?

Indeed, Skyrim is a harsh land.

I noticed it as well when I first started playing, It's an improvement IMO.

It seems a lot darker, but it also has a lot more silliness.

Storylines are all in general more cynical, dark, and apathetic. Entire cities like Markarth just feel empty and void of real feeling. At least there's the wabbajack though......when you're forced to choose ebtween some racist nords and Thalmor snuggling imperials, you can always count on wabbajack to turn something into a sweet roll or a rabbit...or something entirely different.

i seem to notice this with everything, movies, tv, games etc. everything seems to get down to a darker more nitty gritty version of whatever its doing....and its all good things. not even just the atmosphere but even the graphics. oblivion was a great game, but especially the isles expansion, everything is sooooo colourful to the point where it seems almost cartoony ya know. i love the gritty dark feel and look to skyrim - fantastic

The Wabbajack is wonderful.

Markarth doesn't feel empty to me, but for such a beautiful city, it is very depressing.

Agreed. Oblivion's graphics made me feel like I was constantly walking through a park on a bright, sunny day. I liked that the Isles at least had some contrast.

For anyone who played Oblivion (or indeed, the other games since Arena) it would be hard to NOT see the darker, miasmic slant to Skyrim. I don't personally appreciate it since the world we live in today is quite dark and dreary enough - without a game which I play for escape from RL turning into more of the same.

Mitigation is what I do. I start the game without the MQ at all, I don't mess with their petty little civil war questline. I play my toons now as people with lives of their own, not Dragonborn. The great thing about TES (outside the ugliness foisted on people in this game) is that honestly you never have to do anything you don't want to do.

*/grumble

No clue why it chose to double-post. Sorry.*

i can respect that aspect of play serethil, but i really don't understand it, personally.
when it comes to games however, im a huge elitist. i need to have the best of the best and be the strongest i can possibly be. hence me restarting the game twice at around level 30 before actually figuring out what is really probably the best/strongest warrior possible, and now hes my main playthrough for now.
i'll most likely have many playthroughs in this game, but they will all be with the same goal of being the strongest and best possible.

i also do agree that we need those escapes from RL, but i don't believe immense RPGs such as TES need to be those cartoony light hearted type of games. there are plenty of others that fulfill those needs.

Really? I love Markarth, it's got such interesting people and the three-dimensionality of it is beautiful. To me Whiterun is depressing, all of those people are just ill-tempered and nasty. I sided with Madanach and it was a trick to get him out of there without killing anyone I liked. Finally figured out I could wait til 3 am before letting him start his little rampage.

I don't mind dark - prefer it in fact - but the apathy and cynicism does get old. What's really old is the lack of meaning. You can do exactly what you're told for one side or the other. You don't influence anyone. There's not one instance where someone meets you and becomes a different person because of it.

Quite so. I love being absorbed into a story, even if it's dark. I think the things I mentoned earlier as well as the tough landscape of Skyrim add a level of depth that seemed to be lacking in Oblivion.

If I wanted to be the strongest/best, I'd just use tgm and get it over with. As far as "cartoony light hearted type of games" - wherever did I say anything about that? Oblivion wasn't like that. Skyrim is so far in the other direction that I find, if I don't do my own thing, I'm drowning in sorrow and darkness. There IS a happy medium. Oblivion was pretty close. Skyrim is way out in the other arm of the universe.

Don't get me wrong: I love the game. I just love it MY way, not the devs' way.