Design

One thing that stands out to me is the design of Skyrim, from the mountain snowy paths, caves, cities and towns. The ancient structures and ruins are truly awesome with a real sense you have found something old, dangerous yet exciting to explore. The mountain clouds and wind swept cliffs add extra depth and real sense of height.

Random People

They are not just people doing nothing, they have a cause or purpose and actually are going somewhere and properly interact with the world and enemies. You can actually follow them and they don't disappear which really gives a sense of a living world.

Events Happen In Real Time

I like how events happen once you have done them and that place changes in front of you. An example would be clearing out a mine, you make peaceful deal for some people to leave the mine and you see them leave and the miners then enter the mine and start work again. I also like how you clear a bandit camp and soldiers then take it rather then left doing nothing.

Music Score

The music suits the game perfectly and it's surrounding and the chanting cries after killing a Dragon or getting a new shout are spot on. The soft music played while exploring gives the world a more sense of wonder while the harsh, solid music kicks in when fighting.

Sense of Accomplishment

Helping people is very rewarding, not only because people give you coin or items but because of the things they say and the how the people around them act towards you. You feel welcome to a place that was once so hostile.

Guards

Although the guards do repeat themselves a lot, they do change what they say according to what you have done in Skyrim and even what you are wearing. It's rather nice to hear a guard pick-up that you are wearing Ebony armour and make a positive comment about it. It's also funny to see them react when you drop things in the streets.

I'm sure I could think of other things I love about Skyrim but for now, these are what appeals to me the most.

No lollygaggin ...

haha, I've hear someone say that in The Witcher 2 as well.

I think they did water really well. Raindrops make splash-ripples on ponds and streams. Rapids and waterfalls have mist/vapor above them. Rivers and streams have currents. More importantly, while swimming, I must take the current into account (I was swept over a waterfall once -- exhilarating!). Overall, I really like Skyrim's water effects.

I think they did harvesting well. When I pick flowers, they disappear from their stems. It's a little touch but I really like it. Makes it much easier to know what I have harvested vs what's still available. It also helps me know which way I've traveled (if there are flowers, chances are I haven't been that way yet).

There are many things I like/love about Skyrim (the points above are just two that came to mind immediately). Overall, I think they did a bang-up job with the game, even taking into consideration the glitches and bugs. For me, the positives far outweigh the missteps.

The Northern Lights and the mammoths.

herpderp dis gaem wus consolized.

:pftch:


I love and hate the whole 'deadly wilderness' thing. When walking in the Markarth hold, those hills truly are scary.

Well, I would put the water under a negative for me because it's just not dynamic enough. Rain drops where part of Morrowind, now that look amazing but in Skyrim it just doesn't. The is just a real lack of dynamic light on the water and lack of real particles, replaced by cheap bitmap effects.

Well I`m impressed by the water myself. Sure, it`s not true to life, but it`s the best i`ve seen so far on the PC anyway. I enjoy jumping just to roll over the rapids! It`s definitely better than the Xbox which I`ve seen.

I agree with your initial points.

Bandit jobs are continuous. You can go bandit hunting forever for crime never sleeps- just as in reality.

Dragons are very well done, from the flying, to landing and roaring. You could believe Dragons exist.

Randomness of people you meet if you travel by foot everywhere.

Civil war- You`ll notice places actually change leaders and soldiers.

And the game is HUGE, I`m beginning to realise.

well it seems to me that realistic water would make anyone's GFX card/s explode. Water in nature is NOT crystal clear like in games its full of microorganisms, minerals, air bubbles, in a word: particles - LOADS of them, that would make only a few cm of it seem clear, then turn into a semi opaque then black pool, as it is really in nature. I'm sure its quite feasible with modern engines, but since you would probably need a bucket of video ram and some huge GPU potential, i'm quite happy with crystal clear ideal water so far

Only thing the I can't stand about water is that the murky effect from Oblivion and Fallout 3 is still there. Other than that it looks beautiful, even without Mods.

I'll add a few details to what you guys have already said (which are all my favorite things too).

Dragons - I love that their wings are attached to their forelegs, like bats and pteredactyls. And birds, for that matter. Wings=arms with feathers or skin attached. It's realistic that they would be awkward on land.

Weather - The first time I went up into the mountains and a snow storm started that got worse the higher I went, I actually started to feel chilled. The rain can make me want to get out of it (I often do, or have my character put on a hood). The weather looks and sounds real enough to make me feel like I'm in it.

The Sky - I have never seen the Northern Lights or the Milky Way in real life. I sort of feel like I have now.

NPC Scripting - People rag on the repetetive NPCs, but I'm really impressed by the fact that they have their own "lives" and go through their daily routines. Sometimes this causes them to journey to other towns and back. All they really need is more dynamic dialog options. And more realistic reactions to events around them.

Books - Bethesda went to a lot of trouble that they arguably didn't really need to. All of the books are worth reading (which is one of the things that happens in real time. I had a whole in-game day pass while reading The Real Barenziah).

And one final one,
They Fixed What I Hated About Morrowwind

(namely travel speed and levelling, although I think they went too far the other way with levelling).

Love this thread. Thanks, OP.

I especially like how one can pretty much do as one likes. The first run through I did the main quest and the next four toons have not touched any of the main quests and have not even spent much time in the same areas. So each is rather fresh and mostly new experiences. Now I am spending time developing combat styles, stopping to smell (then pick) the flowers, making a story ... interacting with my imagination ... what could be better in a game? (hint: a game with a CK but I digress)

And this play through I've even developed a fondness for Riften. I didn't see that coming!

And the orgism after a five second dive.

This is a thread about things you love, stop [censored]ing and GTFO there are already enough crybaby threads out there we don't want or need your negative feelings.

The Daedric quests (I've only experienced three - no spoilers). I am super-impressed with their immersion. Legitimately surprised and delighted when I realized what was going on.

I can't agree enough about the music. Love it. Especially when it changes as you come upon some epic part of the dungeon/cave/or just a nice vista.

The views! Rolling hills, black rushing rivers, ice flows. I love how the ground shakes when you're near a mammoth. I love how not everything is aggressive, but you have to push some buttons to get things to chase you sometimes. I still remember the first time I wandered into a giant camp and he waved me away before unslinging his behemoth hammer.

I love chasing butterflies!

I love cooking my food. I love wandering by an upended cart with cabbages strewn everywhere and muttering to myself "My cabbages!"

i sense a really devoted fan in the force.

seriously killer, chill.

wait, i cant say really devoted fan?

oh wow thats rich........

The thread was going well until you came in....

actually im just tired of [censored] crying about the game, I have never played any Elder Scrolls before Skyrim so I don't see the big deal over some bugs or "missing content" or if I see one more thread about "broken destruction" im going to go postal

Ah finally a positive thread! these forums needs more of this kind of threads!

For sure man, I love the random encounters or if I happen upon a random quest . Some other favourites would be when NPC's try to kill me as hired thugs and I just hack them to bits

Yeah, this game packs one hell of a punch in my opinion regardless of what was added or taken out of the game that previous games in the series had. I really like the perk system and the whole smithing/enchanting deal. The music really brings out the atmosphere of the game and the way they handled how the playlists work was really well done (alot closer to how Daggerfall and Arena handled theirs) although I would've liked to see the music format left to MP3 to make inserting/replacing music a bit easier. But, that's alright too.

It'l be real interesting to see what all mods start being worked on after the Creation Kit releases. Already, alot of good ideas are being posted about.

I agree; this game has so many beautiful moments that it completely overrides the few bugs that I've seen. I know I'm lucky that my game is basically running perfectly when others still seem to be having so much trouble. This thread has been a nice change of pace, minus the guy who's about to have an aneurysm because someone respectfully said that Skyrim's water is in his "negative" column.

Random encounters are high on my list, even if the general concept gets reused a bit. Killing teams of hitmen, finding random travelers that are off to join the war and killing them, based on their allegiances.

I love Skyrim at night.
The Aurora, the moons each with their own orbit, the stars.
And at dawn there is a dawn chorus.

I am in awe of the waterfalls in this game. I often stop just to watch them, especially the small ones that just trickle over the edge, they look so real. I also love the style of the Dwemer ruins, I love that you can melt almost anything Dwemer down and forge armor out of it. With regards to dragons, I love that they made them creatures, not bosses. It really makes the world feel alive and it gives the return of the dragons more life because they are out there for any citizen to see and act with, and the NPCs do act, some run, some fight, it feels right.