Is Skyrim an RPG? : V - Skyrim

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:37 am

So yes! If he like Fallout: New Vegas and Dragon Age, he will love Skyrim!

Lets not be presumptious.

I also call Skyrim an RPG in only the very loosest and superficial terms. It's more of an exploration-fantasy game if anything.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:23 am

The answer is yes Skyrim is indeed an RPG. The question isnt if its and RPG but rathe rif it is a good one. According to many many players and the large majority of gmaing magazines the answer is also YES. It has won many Game of the Year awards already.

Yes, except that most of those gaming magazines are so far up Bethesda's rear-end that their judgment really means nothing at all.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:27 pm

Is Skyrim an RPG?

No, it's a FPS (First Person Slasher)!

I guess if he likes New Vegas and Dragon Age, he should like Skyrim. (Skyrim is very simple though)

Do him a favor and buy him the PC version (if you can), that way he can mod it.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:44 pm

Thank you. I don't know why I'm getting these accusations. I asked a simple question...

I think I will buy this game for him, but more input would be nice before I make the decision because it seems some don't think he would like it.

The question you ask has the potential to spark a heated debate, which is why you are getting some of the responses you are seeing. Skyrim is a great game and I love it, but you said your son sometimes does not like newer stuff and some of the games you mentioned are pretty old. Skyrim has the latest in graphics and combat mechanics, but many of us here feel that the RPG elements of Bethesda's games have gone downhill since Morrowind in an effort to make the games appeal to a broader audience. Others have different opinions . . .

If your son does not have Morrowind, you might consider that in addition to Skyrim. Skyrim is the fifth installment in the series, and Morrowind was the third installment. It may be hard to find in a retail store but it is available on Amazon. Morrowind is the standard by which many of us here measure what a true RPG should be.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 5:45 pm

that's true, it's quite the weakness of the ESRB ratings system. If the game has red pixels when you hit a guy, it's labled mature. in truth Skrim would probably be PG 13 and Witcher 2 would be R if converted to the system for Movies.

Indeed, The Witcher 2 was made for a more mature player and it doesn't hold back but at the same time it's done in a tasteful elegant way.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:08 pm

I got him Dragon Age 2 for Christmas, and he was rather disappointed with it. He said something along the lines of "It has a bad story, little customization, and no real choices." Does Skyrim do well in these areas? It seems he places emphasis on those things, so I want to make sure his birthday video game succeeds where his Christmas present apparently failed. He is a bit picky with video games, so I want to get this right.

He'll Love Skyrim then, it has a great modding community as well so anything he doesn't like he can fix with mods made by others or made by himself. The game encourages mods and has a huge list of console commands you can use to fix the game with any hiccups it may have.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:25 am

I feel pitty for the people on this thread that say Skyrim is not an RPG. Maybe you never actually really new what the term meant or means now. It is a very wide and broad term to define a game where you play a character of your choosing throughout a narrative or story. Where you perform the actions and decide how your character develops. Skyrim meets all of the criteria and then some.

The answer is yes Skyrim is indeed an RPG. The question isnt if its and RPG but rathe rif it is a good one. According to many many players and the large majority of gmaing magazines the answer is also YES. It has won many Game of the Year awards already.

You will have to excuse many of the posters on these boards as they are quite offended and hurt that some of their favorite parts of previous TES titles have been removed such as spell crafting and the practice of adding or subtracting attribute points from a character screen. Simply put some people are dismissing this game as an RPG because one or two elements were removed in favor of adding some others.

If your son likes the following this game would be a good choice:
-Picking a race, six and detemining look through UI custimazation of character
-Swords, Axes, MAces, Shields, bows, magic
-Mages, Warriors, Rangers, Assassins and hybrids of these
-Crafting, Enchanting, Alchemy
-Stealing, Sneaking and Pickpocketing
-120+ hours of gameplay
-Dragons, Spiders, Bears, Wolves, Undead
-MOuntians, Snow, Caves, Dungeons
-Buying and decorating houses
-Accumulating treasure and loot
-Doing hundreds of quests
-Exploring and traps
-The list goes on....

So because I prefer a complex game rather than a simplified game I don't know what RPG stands for?

As I have said, I have played TES RPG's since Daggerfall. I know damn good and well what TES RPG's are. I know what complex is and I know what Simplified is. All the things you listed might be in Skyrim, but that doesn't translated into complex.

A game can have 2 pages full of features, but if everything is given to you and there is no kind of incentives or consequences than you still do not have complex.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:35 am

OP, please let us know when you make a yes or no decision, and the reasons for it.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:13 am

OP, please let us know when you make a yes or no decision, and the reasons for it.

Indeed, I'm quite interested in what you have decided/will decide

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:27 am

Barely, even STALKER is a deeper RPG experience than this game. I would say that if Morrowind was 50/50 i would put skyrim in the 80/20 mark of action vs rpg. For somethings i actually prefer a more realistic real time mechanic such as combat and magic etc. However, i really do miss things like spellmaking which at a very minimum in skyrim could have let me increase the damage and cost of spells like flame so that i could use them end game and yet still me balanced cause they would drain magic faster. they have all these anvils and fire pits all over which is just screaming for a repair mod that requires that you have to repair gear at a station.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 10:55 am

Here's a good idea that I haven't seen anyone mention:

Does the gift really have to be a surprise? Why not just ask him what he wants, or have him make a wishlist for you? Gamer's tastes tend to be unpredictable and very finicky. I don't think anyone I know, least of all a family member, would be able to pick out a game for me. It would be almost guaranteed to create the awkward situation where I don't want to hurt their feelings and disappoint them, with both of us knowing that he or she only wanted to make me happy. How about planning a nice party at a restaurant where you go to a video game store together afterwards, and you tell him to buy anything he wants? The trip to the store could even be the surprise.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:39 am

Your right I ALWAYS ask for GS money for that very reason.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:36 pm

To the EngravingMan:

Apparently you don't. Your answer was NO which is blatantly false. The OP did not ask if the game was complex but simply is it an RPG. I have played all of the TES games as well and have been playing on a PC since the first Ultima came on 5 inch floppy disks. I am not sure how you can claim they were anymore complex. Skyrim is every bit an RPG like its predecessors. To simply say its not an RPG because its not perceived as complex is false. Complexity does not equal better or fun which is totally subjective in the first place.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:07 pm

It's a horseracing sim.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:08 pm

I don't know your son so I wouldn't know if he would like it. But yes, Skyrim is an RPG, and very popular as well.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:39 pm

Does the gift really have to be a surprise?

SRSLY, if he is that exercised about RPGs being dumbed down, he probably already has a strong opinion about Skyrim, reads these forums, and maybe is wishing for Dark Souls or something.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:44 am

Here's a good idea that I haven't seen anyone mention:

Does the gift really have to be a surprise? Why not just ask him what he wants, or have him make a wishlist for you? Gamer's tastes tend to be unpredictable and very finicky. I don't think anyone I know, least of all a family member, would be able to pick out a game for me. It would be almost guaranteed to create the awkward situation where I don't want to hurt their feelings and disappoint them, with both of us knowing that he or she only wanted to make me happy. How about planning a nice party at a restaurant where you go to a video game store together afterwards, and you tell him to buy anything he wants? The trip to the store could even be the surprise.

This is a good idea.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:33 am

"Yes, except that most of those gaming magazines are so far up Bethesda's rear-end that their judgment really means nothing at all."

What a rediculous and reaching statement. Next your going to say that anyone who likes Skyrim and agrees is a Bethesda really devoted fan.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:54 pm

To the EngravingMan:

Apparently you don't. Your answer was NO which is blatantly false. The OP did not ask if the game was complex but simply is it an RPG. I have played all of the TES games as well and have been playing on a PC since the first Ultima came on 5 inch floppy disks. I am not sure how you can claim they were anymore complex. Skyrim is every bit an RPG like its predecessors. To simply say its not an RPG because its not perceived as complex is false. Complexity does not equal better or fun which is totally subjective in the first place.

It's not blatenly false, it's my opinion. Just like your's is your opinion.

Complexity is part of the RPG, it's been part of every single TES RPG until Oblivion and now Skyrim. Even Oblivion is more complex than Skyrim.

I have also been playing video games since 5 1/4" floppies. I have played everything from sports games, to RPG's to FPS's.

I think I'm well qualified to give an opinion. Just because it's different than your opinion doesn't make it blatently false.

The OP asked the question and everyone has answered it. It's up to the OP to decipher what he/she want's to do.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:12 am

Yeah... it's a lite RPG, and not a very good one (it's very good at being an adventure/exploration game, not an RPG) but an RPG nontheless

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:14 pm

I agree you have an opinion and it may be a valid one. However you clealry said NO it is not an RPG. This is false as by the very definition it is one. This is not my opinion it is fact as anyone can go google the term "Role PLaying Game" and see how the genre is defined.

I played Oblivion and its complexity (not sure which features you mean) did not make it anymore of an RPG. It may have made it better in your view but this is subjective. I feel Skyrim is a better game and that is also subjective.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 2:22 pm

Skyrim is indeed an RPG, but it shifts most of its focus from character interaction to exploration. You still do quests, level up, place a few points, talk to people and get loot, but the interaction between the player character and the characters in the world is quite shallow and most of the actions of the player character are not reflected in the world. The game is still quite fun, but the fun, at least to me, comes from the exploration and not from the quests/interactions. I would, in fact, call Skyrim an RPG-light game. There is less emphasis on character building and world interaction than most RPGs.

If the OP's son enjoys games like Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age and Planescape, then this may not satisfy him in the long term. In fact, I would recommend the OP look at Good Old Games for some of the older titles like Arcanum, Baldur's Gate 2 (OP didn't specify), the Icewind Dale games, Betrayal at Krondor, and Ultima VII.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:11 pm

Thank you. I don't know why I'm getting these accusations. I asked a simple question...

I think I will buy this game for him, but more input would be nice before I make the decision because it seems some don't think he would like it.

I'd ask him if he wants it first. He sounds like me. I enjoyed skyrim, though. But I enjoyed it as an exploration adventure game, not as an RPG. This game really cannot even be called an RPG it is so dumbed down. Most of the time your character can only say one line of dialogue... This is really lame when your character is an evil assassin but the only choice to pick is something nice and vice versa. None of your choices matter in this game either, and your character has no impact upon the world. RPG MY FOOT!

You say he likes Baldur's gate... Well... Skyrim is like a handicapped, mentally 'tarded, hand-holding version of that game. Minimal character customization, no choices that matter, deeds rarely acknowledged within the world...

Baldur's gate is among the most complex rpgs, while skyrim is bottom of the barrel. It honestly cannot even be classed as an RPG unless you are the most casual of gamers who do not know any better.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:41 pm

No.
If your son is in the same group I'm in, he won't like Skyrim. (in the sense of it being an RPG. Can still be enjoyed as a game, but not an RPG)

That's funny, cuz I enjoy it for being the epitome of RPG.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 10:38 pm

Meh, Baldur's Gate is AD&D 2, Neverwinter Nights 2 is D&D 3.5, it is much more complex.