Forbes game of the year?

What will we be waiting on next, the Southern Living game of the year? Car and Driver game of the year? Tiger Beat game of the year?

It's a pretty objective review by the Forbes writer but what he fails to mention is Skyrim is a Sandbox game thus replayability is far and away greater then Deus Ex, Portal or even the Witcher seires.. I finished Witcher 2 in 15 hours. The game was great but there is zero point in booting Witcher 2 up again....

What replayability is there in Skyrim? Start again, do all the same quests in the same way because there aren't really any different alternatives, start off as a different class and end up as a jack of all trades anyway because there are some perks not worth taking no matter what character you make and others that all classes end up taking because they're way to good to do without. Roleplay as... the Dovahkiin again! Explore the huge world you've already seen all of and be less impressed by it the second time.

You can make your world as big and immersive as you want but if there's no reason to care about it or the things you're doing, why bother playing?

end up as a jack of all trades anyway because there are some perks not worth taking no matter what character you make and others that all classes end up taking because they're way to good to do without.

That's not why you roleplay, your not suppose to do the same things over and over again.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending Skyrim in the least, but honestly, if I go help some little girl find her lost puppy irl, that doesn't have a damn thing to do with getting my college degree. So why should they connect all the side quests to the main quest? It's like, lets make the little girl be the Dean's daughter and the school is corrupt as hell so they give you straight A's for finding the puppy. Just too absurd.

That's not why you roleplay, your not suppose to do the same things over and over again.

Welcome to the problem of Skyrim. It doesn't tune itself to allow you to do anything but the same things with every character. There is no reputation system with which to build your character's public image, the factions that are there are barely so with absolutely no choice, consequence, or substance, all other quests are available to all characters with no choice as to go about them and no consequence for even doing them, anyway (no reputation system), etc. You cannot role-play in Skyrim because it doesn't support any role-playing options.

The bottom line is I am HAPPY that people are starting to question the game design Bethesda puts forward with each game. I am glad the main topic of discussion is turning towards "Does it really have to be this broken?"

Ever since Morrowind this series has gotten more and more attention and more sales. Now we are at a tipping point where the amount of people playing and the amount of people reviewing it has made it impossible to not to identify the problems. All these people frowning while that say, "Well, that is what an OPEN WORLD is like...that a TES game." need to understand nobody cares about the past low standards this community has allowed. Bethesda wanted to sell big, and now they need to take their lumps.

I really hope the discussion about Skyrim only accelerates and intensified. I hope the eyes of the whole industry peer down on Bethesda’s business practices.

The whole industry needs to have an open debate about Bethesda and broke games in general. The ESRB started because of fears of federal interference with game ratings. Now I think there needs to be a new “industry created” body to monitor and fines companies. They indystry needs to do that BEFORE the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) makes a “Software Consumer Protection” law.

If the game software industry wants to wait for rules straight out of Uniform Commercial Code to be used for software, they can be my guest at the NIGHMARE table. I would love to use Section2-601 of the commercial code against Bethesda. I would love for a “Lemon Law” for game software to come about, because the industry could then blame Bethesda for being incompetent idiots for making that come about.

Power gamer's lament

Uh that's definitely wrong, you can roleplay your character however you see fit. The fact that we don't have restrictions is a benefit to the series, not a negative at all.

If they marketed to only the PC audience, I can guarantee they'd have sold less than half of the amount of copies they did. I don't see the point of your smart ass argument. The sales figures speak for themselves.

No, you can't. Playing make-believe when nothing else is recognizing or changing for the way you are playing is not role-playing. You cannot role-play anything because there's no incentive to role-play, no tools to role-play with. The game doesn't have a freaking reputation system, for Talos' sake. People don't even recognize you as anything or as anyone. They don't even recognize the player character as Dragonborn. That you're labeling pure RPG choices, consequences, and world-shaping tools, all things essential to any actual characterization, restrictions is just flat-out pathetic. They are not "restrictions", they are the RPG mechanics themselves.

Too many well-known GOTYs won to even bother about a non-gaming magazine talking on this. Everyone has their own opinion, and till now, there's a vast majority of magazines and sites that agree on Skyrim being GOTY. Get over It.

No, you can't. Playing make-believe when nothing else is recognizing or changing for the way you are playing is not role-playing. You cannot role-play anything because there's no incentive to role-play, no tools to role-play with. The game doesn't have a freaking reputation system, for Talos' sake. People don't even recognize you as anything or as anyone. They don't even recognize the player character as Dragonborn. That you're labeling pure RPG choices, consequences, and world-shaping tools, all things essential to any actual characterization, restrictions is just flat-out pathetic. They are not "restrictions", they are the RPG mechanics themselves.

Thank you.

They aren't content to market to just the PC crowd, despite PC gaming numbers being on the rise; the game would still have sold well if only made for PC. They chose to market Skyrim to all consoles so they could grab a chunk of all audiences. And why did they do that? Because it makes the game better? No, because it brings in more money. The series has increasingly become more about money and less about artistic expression.

Thank you.

They aren't content to market to just the PC crowd, despite PC gaming numbers being on the rise; the game would still have sold well if only made for PC. They chose to market Skyrim to all consoles so they could grab a chunk of all audiences. And why did they do that? Because it makes the game better? No, because it brings in more money. The series has increasingly become more about money and less about artistic expression.

The article was well written, his thoughts were organized, articulate and valid.

But throughout the entire article, I was waiting to hear HIS story. That's why the world Bethesda creates is lacking something- it's lacking you. The world is generic until you make it original. It lacks impact until you make that impact. It's a true ROLE PLAYING GAME. I don't think he, and some others, get that.

Too many well-known GOTYs won to even bother about a non-gaming magazine talking on this. Everyone has their own opinion, and till now, there's a vast majority of magazines and sites that agree on Skyrim being GOTY. Get over It.

No, you can't. Playing make-believe when nothing else is recognizing or changing for the way you are playing is not role-playing. You cannot role-play anything because there's no incentive to role-play, no tools to role-play with. The game doesn't have a freaking reputation system, for Talos' sake. People don't even recognize you as anything or as anyone. They don't even recognize the player character as Dragonborn. That you're labeling pure RPG choices, consequences, and world-shaping tools, all things essential to any actual characterization, restrictions is just flat-out pathetic. They are not "restrictions", they are the RPG mechanics themselves.

They aren't content to market to just the PC crowd, despite PC gaming numbers being on the rise; the game would still have sold well if only made for PC. They chose to market Skyrim to all consoles so they could grab a chunk of all audiences. And why did they do that? Because it makes the game better? No, because it brings in more money. The series has increasingly become more about money and less about artistic expression.