Unfortunately, things must get worse before they get better. Currently gaming companies are making a killing selling "simplified" games for the "casual gamer". Skyrim is a great example. Great graphics, little/no intellectual thought required, FPS gameplay (Its a re-skinned Fallout, lets face it) Generally speaking "gaming" is still a relatively new market. Which is why gaming companies are making a killing selling to this younger audience. (By younger I am not necessarily referring to kids but just new gamers in general). In time however gaming will become as mainstream if not more popular than todays sports. This audience will no longer be content with mediocre content. They will want a better experience/challenge. The standard will have risen.

This is when we will see what Skyrim should have been. The next installment of the TES series with not LESS features than its predecessors but MORE. One with npcs that recognize your accomplishments, long faction quests where the player has multiple decisions that have a permanent effect in his/her environment, skill trees that aren't broken/worthless, a exploration system that provides incentive to explore not punishment (I.E. Leveled Loot), bugs that don't cripple the game for months before being addressed.

For now though, we must wait

Unfortunately in a crap exclusive economy, where most people don't even have access to modern healthcare, and the majority of technologies people go tens of thousands of dollars into debt to study are obsolete before they get out of school, only to be abandoned by our society after decades paying taxes to be homeless and defenseless against biotechnology, it is pretty tough for the little guy to "break in” and do it right.

Things will only get worst for the US as fascist China gains more power and influence, and games will only get worse as less is invested to make a quick sale, since they'll just be ripping us off in the future digital economy anyway.

I see this trend getting A LOT worse before it gets better. Especially if our government continues it's current strategy of neglect of our people's basic needs and relevant defense.

Sorry if that sounds too political, but it’s what I see. A future for the rich, where the poor are abandoned to chance. Given the technological context of threat, that chance doesn’t look good at all.

fallout 3 and fallout NV were much deeper games than skyrim by far. when i actually did something in those games usually npcs and the gameworld changed in accordance. in skyrim virtually nothing at all changes.

I would agree. I really enjoyed fallout. The comparison was made to point out that basically they took one of their older games, put a new coat of paint on it & labeled it "new".

Well said. The rich need a big bashing and they need loads of money taken from them and given to the middle class. China's currency is now higher in value if I recall, Canada's is worth more too. Really sad. Rebulican'ts only take money and believe that taking even more money is better, for them. Bush #1 made big dept, clinton got rid of it, bush #2 even more dept than his dad, passed it off to obama and proceeded to blame him. Obama has major problems cuz of bush but everyone blames him because he's not white. bush destroyed our economy. republicans won't rest till we're a third war country and the rich betch and moan because they don't want to pay taxes.

Lets not forget that most of these quests in skyrim do become tedious at some point of recurring play where I want to avoid certain quests and content just to avoid the unnecessary lag of game development as I play through stuff that lacks further interest and no real reward. For instance, how many times can i do that daedric quest for the wabbajack and not be totally bored through the whole scene. This is just a similar case to many issues of playability. There is no change in character as far as abilities and there is no change in content as far reaching affects of choices that I make knowing they have no impact or change on the environment in the long term. You begin to find that it matters little what I do with no consequence for what I choose. Take in all this with the fact that you can simply run through the game choosing a perk at random and complete the main questline in about 30 levels. Now you tell me. Is this the direction I would like my favorite franchise to go, or do I want or expect better because I've already seen what they are capable of.

Please do not bring politics into the thread, it's not a subject that is permitted on these forums. Thanks.