The first few dozen hours or so it seemed amazing how many little things my choices caused guards to say to me. But soon you realize the limits. It's get's ridiculous how many loop holes you find. Little things start to really get on your nerves, like when you're the dragonborn and you saved the world, and guards still talk to you like you're some strange suspicious sneak thief just because you used stealth once.

I am understanding of how complicated this problem can be for devs, but blatant things like the Companions still talking to you like you're some sniveling new recruit after you're the leader of the guild is just sloppy.

At least they acknowledge us, none of the townsfolk actualy acknowledge us. And We're supposed the dragonborn told in nords legend that will beat Alduin? I expect more reaction from the townspeople.

Me too. It's hard to say if I liked Oblivion's reactions more than I liked Skyrim's, both have something the other doesn't. If they could merge it, and add something like what you got with Fable 1, it would be pretty awesome.

I love the Dovakhiin Relax mod, being able to emote and interact with the world and NPCs is something I am amazed Bethesda did not explore.

Sweet Jesus I love your profile pic. More to the point, I agree with you to an extent. The rpg elements were very watered down. Dont get me wrong, morrowind and oblivion's formula needed improvement, but skyrom decided to just scrap the system altogether.

They scrap features because if they try to improve a past feature and fail they think people will find out they are an amature team that just has a big budget and has to implant a gimmick each game to blame said gimmick on rushed development.

(Radient AI for oblivion)
(Radient quests for skyrim)

TES has really become a contradiction onto itself. To me, it increasingly feels like a linear game in an open-world setting. Just going back one game, in Oblivion, I was exploring in the tall grass just north of Lake Rumare when 3 guards came running at me, swords drawn. They ran past me, in pursuit of a bandit that I wasn't aware of. I drew my sword and followed to assist them. It was a totally random incident, and it left me with the perceived feeling that I'm just walking around this living world where all this stuff is happening around me whether I'm there or not.

In contrast, I get the opposite feeling in Skyrim. Off in the distance, I see three people standing near a footpath, motionless. The other direction, a few more standing there not moving. They'll remain like that forever, or until I get close enough to activate their scripted calamity. 30 minutes into the game and the suspension of disbelief is already shattered. 30 minutes more and I'm running into several situations that felt strangely familiar. Oh yea, every preview columnist had the same experience and wrote all about it. Sorry, that's not an open-world game. When everyone is pretty much on the same Disney World ride, that's a linear game.

That personal observation, along with the abolishment of classes, skills, etc., all leaves me with the feeling that they're trying to shoehorn everyone into the same box. Like I said, it feels linear and static... and probably why I only put 30 hours into the game.

I love the above poster! Thats how I felt as well. Skyrim seems too fake to me. It trys to shove everything in your face with scripted events. Not even the casuels like to have quests shoved into their faces.

Well that sort of backfired didn't it? Now they have tons of people thinking the same thing BECAUSE of the scrapped features.

Oh and to the last few posters: I agree with everyone you saod, except I personally believe that taking away classes was one of the few things they did right since it gives people a chance to be more freeform. It was just implemented horribly. It also would have been nice if npcs responded to your playstyle more. That way it feels like you MADE your own class. When I go into town and I become famous, I want people to treat me like a warrior or thief or mage or spellsword or battlemage. Just little comments like "What brings you to these parts? Off looking for some ancient magical artifact?" I want to FEEL like I'm a person who has a reputation and a place in this world.

This conversation seems to be expanding beyond just npc reactions and game impact. That's great actually. If this thread reaches post limit I'll name the next thread something more accurate like "Is Skyrim shallow"? Or something like that. I think it suits this conversation more.

Another thought, yes, they really need to incorporate some sort of a Karma or Reputation system in the next one, so that everything you do has wide-ranging consequence.

Here's something that sounds cool....


Considering that stuff came right out of TES: Daggerfall 16-years ago, I'm pretty sure it could be done 20-years later. Nah... too complex for Bethesda's target audience.

Even Oblivion did this in a much more subtle way. I've seen the game files. It's the reason you can make bandits and daedra friendly if you're evil enough.

Totally agree with this. Skyrim is really a linear game disguised as an open world one. It's not a true open world game, at least not in the sense that something like New Vegas is.

Why did this thread get moved? Not really a topic for the spoilers forum imo.

I asked for it to be moved so we could talk freely. Hopefully people find it here and keep talking. In the mean tome, keep sharing your opinions, hopefully the others will notice this on the spoilers front page

Not even in the sense that oblivion and morrowind were, let alone the Fallout series. Fallout 3 improved upon Oblivion and Morrowind's formula, New Vegas improved on Fallout 3 (in terms of rpg mechanics at least) but Skyrim scrapped the system entirely for something watered down and quite weak shallow once you get passed the smoke and mirrors/

The Civil War in general is just a massive stain on this aspect of the game.

Doing the quests were pretty fun, as it's a new thing in TES series to have battles as large as they are, but nothing really changes in doing them and the game notices nothing. People still will talk about Ulfric after the war is over and he is dead, they will still talk about the Civil War in the MQ/elsewhere even if it's long over.

I couldnt agree more! They couldn't even be bothered to show the moot. Doesn't solidifying a new ruler sound like something someone should do after civil turmoil? Skyrim stays leaderless for eternity. Where's the sense in that? I can't even get rid of those stormcloak camps because the officers are essential! Even after I'm TOLD to wipe them out!!!