What's 1 or 2 things that skyrim needed to make it an amazing game? I think a working economy and deeper stories for NPCs...what are you guys opinions?

Good maps
I'm sorry, but MW had the best solution so far. OB was tollerable but Skyrim's world map is just COUDS! I can't see main roads, let alone paths in the mountains becaus eof the f'ing clouds. And the local maps are just a gray pile of grayness. Seriously, absolutly useless.

Non-[censored] followers
Old RPG rule. If you can get mercs, you get a tank if you're a archer or a caster, if you're the tank, you get a ranged DPS monster. In Skyrim, followers are useless for ranged characters because you hit them more often than the enemy. If you're a meele char, followers are just deadly (especially on Master). Either make them more intelligent then a rock ore turn friendly-fire off, please Beth. I know it's cool if you have someone in the dungeon to talk to, but if I need someone to talk I^ll conjure a Dremora and exchange beauty tips with him, I don't need Lydia to shoot be in the back for the bazillionth time.

Better and more involved quests and some consequences for your actions. Only part of the game that I really find lacking. Most of the quests are shallow and unmemorable.

More polish, they did not have to release it on 11-11-11 just for the "cool" date.

More overall depth, such as spell creation, old spell types, a general reputation system and a faction reputation system. Longer quest lines more factions to join. Attributes to work in unison with the perk system and a retooled perk tree that is not mainly percent boost. More cause and effect within the world a reputation system would help with that. Other weapon types for different character builds same games for armor and clothing.

Better dialogue where you actually have more decisions in a scenario besides kill or help.

Better quests. I would much rather have fewer, more elaborate quests with multiple endings, than the endless boring radiant quests.

I'll bite. Here's a list. Sorry it's more than one or two things, but if it had these things it would have been over the top for me.

1) Horses - ability to call, walk on lead, have saddle bags, able to command in battle (help or run), able to have wait in place, able to stable, ability to send "home", abale to choose color, able to name, able to choose saddle, dare I say it - Horse armor

2) Houses - build one anywhere you want, choice of materials - logs, cabin, stone, or hold specific architecture, able to populate with different furnature etc.

3) Followers - Have backstories I'd care about or want to help, more commands, respond to your deeds in positive and/or negitive ways, more personality

4) Player Character - limit number of weapons that can be carried, limit size and weights that can be carried to more realistic values (no ten sets of armor) Purchase-able backpacks and pouches in various sizes (can key animation of unsheathing weapon to dropping packs and pouches, you'd have to go back and pick them up or risk losing your stuff), Ability to change cosmetics of faces, body/arm tats

5) Arrows - Making them, enchanting them

6) Staves - Ability to create, choices of shafts(metal, wood), coice of headpieces, choice of head gems (color could reflect enchants red for fire, blue for shock etc.)

7) Weather - changes with calendar (game tracks time already), add more variation, droughts (creeks dry up)

8) Armor/Clothing - able to dye clothing - armor as it's smithed, ability to gild/metalize any metal on armor by adding gold, silver, ebony, quicksilver(chrome look) ingots when smithing, able to add gems to color glass (ruby red, sapphire blue), ability to smith circlets, armor ages in looks with time (like it not degrading though) but can freshen at workbench

9) Weapons - Ability to name when smithed, able to choose color of leather on handles, able to add gems to color glass (ruby red, sapphire blue), weapons ages in looks with time (like it not degrading though) but can freshen at wheel

10) Enemy AI - better coordination, flanking

11) Traps - Limit carry amount to real numbers,(higher number if carrying less or smaller weapons)

12) Quests - Some should have no positve solution (player looses horse, follower too bad so sad), more multi-part that span long times (stones of berenziah but more than just item collection)

13) Dogs - ability to call, able to command in battle, able to have wait in place, able to kennel, ability to send "home", able to choose color, able to name, armor?

Much of this might be on dev's wish list but there's not enough room in the game.

More skills, the old attributes put to work along with the perk system, longer and more compelling quest lines for guilds, mutually exclusive guilds, some real consequences attached to our choices, the radiant AI as it was demonstrated in Oblivion's E3 demo, more dialogue lines to choose for our character, NPCs that have more to say about their background, their settlements, their family, their beliefs, etc...

choices
i want more choices a prime example is the paarthunax - blades enigma , why can't i just tell delphine to go and ( censored) herself or atleast convince her and esbren to change their minds , same with darkbrotherhood missions why do i need to kill what are in my opinion innocent and good people

so choices

Spellmaking

The missing spells.

• A much richer character development / levelling system with attributes, and a slower sense of progression that isn't so heavily reliant on perks.
  
• Skills such as Acrobatics, Athletics and Climbing included
  
• More meaningful choices and consequences, including more dialogue options
  
• Much longer faction questlines with a believable sense of progression through the ranks
  
• No hand-hold whatsoever in the form of markers, etc.
  
• Far fewer, or ideally no essential NPCs
  
• Weapons / armour degradation (albeit implemented better than in previous games)
  
• More complex weapons / armour stats, for instance different armour types being more / less effective against certain weapon types (eg. piercing blows, slashes, etc) rather than one type simply trumping another in every way
  
• Combat similar to Mount & Blade: Warband
  
• No finisher moves or combat cinematics
  
• No forced 3rd person whatsoever
  
• No level scaling whatsoever when it comes to enemies, loot, quest rewards, or shop inventories. Everything should be static and believable rather than revolving around the player-character
  
• Much tougher dragons that are slightly less frequent, so in the early stages of the game, the player dreads them, and in the late stages of the game, the player finds them a challenge rather than just a nuisance
  
• Larger gameworld by at least 2x (Skyrim feels far too small and out of scale), even if things are just spread out more with randomly generated wilderness. Walking between holds should feel like a more epic journey rather an a 5 minute stroll
  
• Bigger cities (don't care if they're not densely populated - I just want them more realistic in scale)
  
• Better UI that actually looks like it belongs in a fantasy game
  
• Greater diversity among children
  
• More memorable NPCs
  
• Darker dungeons
  
• Longer, less linear dungeons
  
• More unique items (visually unique, not just enchantments)
  
• Beast legs for beast races
  
• More unique accents for races, e.g. the raspy Dunmer voice

I can see this thread unforunately just degenerating into the usual arguments. The OP clearly asked for "1 or 2" things, and then along come people posting massive lists which have usually already been discussed to death here.

Anyways, one thing I would say is:


if they made Skyrim similarly to the previous games, this is more or less impossible. When you buiild a house (like you did in Morrowind), the house was already there in the world, but not activated. Then when you "built" it, it became activated. So it wouldn't be possible to build anywhere. It would be nice to have an option of building a house in a few different places, mind, but not anywhere.

Argonian and Khajiit kids

Before expressing my thoughts on this, I want to make one thing clear: I am awed at the complexity of this game. Being something of a programmer I find the scope of their dealings with so many factors in the game, such as the effect of gravity on a creature killed on a slope and how far it tumbles or slides before coming to a rest, the effect of rocks and trees or such on its progress, so many such variables. to me quite incredible an accomplishment. None of my critic following should be thought of taking away from the enormity of the accomplishment this game represents.

For new players, there are some spoilers included so you may not want to read on:

1. Better local maps: the current maps are essentially unreadable. There is too much meaningless gobbly-gook on the thing to figure out what is being represented. Clean up the maps making them more basic in some ways, so it is possible to tell what is being shown.

2. Better large scale maps. I would like to be able to tell if I have been somewhere or not. I would like an overall map where it shows ever nook and cranny I have discovered.

3. When displaying a local map, do not have it be transparent so that you have objects from the underlying large scale map mixing with the local map.

4. Ability to respond to comments from NPCs. A guard makes a comment "you're an alchemist ..." I'd like to be able to give them an ale. Game wise, this could make one a friend of the guards ... Likewise, when they ask if I'd enchant their sword, actually, I would or at least improve the dull old thing at a grind stone for them. Again, this would be useful in the game to further enhance one's friendship with the guards.

5. [minor spoiler] Entering the thieves guild ... I really don't find enjoyment in being a thug to nice people. For the pawned prawn, I would like to arrange with them to befriend him and pay what he owes but he tells every one that the Thieves Guild is not to be trifled with ..., same for the Bee and Barb. The Bunkhouse, well, that is a different story. Effect on game? Makes me a better "friend" of those who are helped and gets me advanced in the story line.k Benefits to this approach might be better prices from merchants ...

6. [minor spoiler] I find it a problem the way there is universal instant knowledge among NPC's. After putting out the light house fire in "Light's Out", upon arriving at the ship, I knew instantly what was going on when the guy tells me to meet Deeja at the bottom of the ship. I took out the guys above ship without a chance for the people below deck to know anything was going on, and yet, arriving below decks, they are all aggressive. They shouldn't have been. They had no way of knowing what had happened above deck.

7. As an advancing character with more money than I could hope to spend, one of the things I have wanted to do is to rebuild Helgen. Take out the bandits and "re-colonize". I would almost certainly become Jarl in the process. Now this would be a worthwhile pursuit for the progressing character with loot to burn. Even for one without the finances to pay for it, the character could still choose to be an agent in making such happen, being the enabling force for someone with the money to rebuild, thereby becoming Thane, building a house, etc.

8. [minor spoilers] Having been given the title of ArchMage, made head of the thieves guild, etc., there is effectively no (apparant) effect on game play. Becoming ArchMage for example, could/should include a certain amount of advancement in a number of the skills or, at the very least, enable the player to get some amount of training from each of the schools for free or discounted, without interference from the "per level" times of advancement training they have already had. The ArchMage should, arguably, be able to advance say, 5 points in each category without regard to previous training vs. experience. You are, after all, now the head of the college of wizardry and a certain level of ability in all the schools should now be present or readily achieved. Similar things should apply to becoming a bard, etc.

9. I would absolutely love some "sleep" inducing magic. Let's say I don't want to kill but want to get by something ... why not some sort of sleep spell?

10. Ethical alternatives: yeah, I know, being a ethical or moral person just isn't any fun. Well, when approached by some unethical person like Jaree-Ra, my preference would be to approach the authorities and and arrange a nice little trap for his band. It would play out, for the most part, nearly the same, but with the player being the agent of law enforcement to hunt down the bad guys rather than a bad guy seeking revenge for being betrayed. I would also much prefer an ethical way to deal with the assassin's guild story line and to be able to advance the story without taking on wanton killing contracts. Political assassinations are one thing, just going around killing for hire is something else.

11. QA process for mods:
I like doing QA and have done it professionally. I would be happy to volunteer my time to QA mods people have done, but the infrastructure to do so doesn't exist. That would be an excellent thing to establish. Obviously there would need to be a reporting/tracking mechanism, along with means for white-box, black-box, and regression testing, along with certain automated testing tools. This would require some effort on the part of Bethesda to establish, but those with a knack for QA would be able to contribute substantially to the improvement of the game. A significant benefit for all would be an "official" stamp of approval on the compatibility and functionality of all mods, without regard to how some might feel regarding their effect on game balance or such.

I have a number of other thoughts which escape me now, but I am sure I will recall them later.

Hopefully, someone from Bethesda is monitoring this thread. Please let me know if this is the case. Else, there isn't much point in adding more ...

Bigger cities, seriously.

I will add one additional comment regarding game play: I find it EXTREMELY frustrating that NPCs can bounce me around like a flipping ping-pong ball but when one of them blocks a doorway or such I can not get them to budge. I have pretty much quit having NPCs because they a) will go charge off and attack when I am trying to sneak, jump in front of me when I am trying to shoot an arrow or cast a spell, c) shove me out of the way when I am trying to line up a shot or spell - heck, even the danged dog in "A Daedra's best friend" could move me around and block my progress, d) attack things when they shouldn't such as when I am engaged in a "friendly" and story-line required brawl only to have them turn it into an actual combat situation and thereby negating the ability to progress in the story line (brawl with owner in Pawned Prawn", etc. These are a huge source of frustration and impediments on game play.

More interesting world, you get lifeless feeling soon.
Make your decisions affect the world.
Bigger cities
Better Quests

How about just being able to refit/repair an existant building thats already in the game? The storehouse at Mzulft comes to mind, or any number of smallish cabins out in the countryside. Or use an underground dungeon, that's not too largish if you're more of "dark" character.

a working MQ and not take away half of the things that make TES TES

Better writing. And writing in games isn't just Dialog, contextual storytelling, or scenario writing is just as important. (Fallout 3 did the latter two exceptionally well)

More Variety. This could fit in with contextual storytelling, but generally, you need to see a better mix of all the cultures that have been apparently trading, fighting and being subverted by one another for thousands of years. Morrowind did it best. (I say that a lot, I'm almost tired of it)

Less "Guided" content/rewards. One of the best aspects of Morrowind (I know...) was being able to just "Treasure hunt" without all the baggage of a guild. I discovered Chrysamere, Lord's Mail, Ice Blade of the Monarch, Boots of the Apostle and Ring of the Wind before I even knew how to join the Imperial Cult or Imperial Legion. That is to say nothing of legendary items that exist just so you can find them: Dragonbone Cuirass, Fang of Hekektynament, Staff of Hasedoki, Cuirass of the Savior's Hide and the Daedric Crescent, just to name a few.

They are coding it from scratch and unless the game engine itself is creating an impossible situatuion (or cannot be altered).... BETH can put anything in the game they want. There are very few finite things when you are coding your own world. The only restictions are the ones they impose upon themselves.

However, I as I said previously, all my ideas may be on Dev wish lists but were not put into the game for space reasons or they didn't want to spend two months recoding something else to allow for a new item or idea. It is ALL their choice.

Disguises. And some sort of mechanic where you blew your cover if you weren't careful.

Actualy well thought out skills and perks

actual writing skills in the writers.

Creative concept artists. Or modelers... Because even where the concept did well it still did poorly in game

Two similar little things I've got here:

-More NPCs in towns and on the roads. There's really never enough people, I think they make the world feel more real and interesting. I love how they talk and interact with each other, etc, but I would really want to see a bit more of them. At least in the bigger cities, or as random encounters.

-Non-human families/more non-human NPCs. There a lot of settled Mer and much less settled beasts, but still, seeing some big non-human families would be cool. Also for more non-human NPCs, I'd especially like more followers. I mean, one Argonian and Bosmer follower?

What would have made the game over the top?

1. The guild quests to reward the player for investment.

• Level requirements for advancing in the guild. As of today I could force myself to stay at level 1 and become leader of all the guilds. That bothers me, but I am not tempted to do so. But what bothers me more is the fact that I do play the guilds and I advance without the same way no matter what my level and other people in the guild are my subjects despite clearly being a higher level with more experience.
  
• Choices matter. I would like choices I make in the guild to effect the guild and the skyrim world itself. Possibly some decisions make new enemies out of old friends. Things that change the skyrim world for the rest of the game.
  
• Required involvement in Guilds after completing all the 'quests'. Now after I complete the companion guilds quests I don't ever have to return there ever again. I don't expect Bethesda to keep cranking out new quest lines but instead use radiant to generate quests and if I don't return to my guild at a certain amount of time a courier delivers me a letter to return. I can return and if I don't want to do the quest I assign it to another guild member. If I don't return after a certain period of time someone else becomes leader of the guild.

Definitely this.

I can't get over how epic the combat in Mount & Blade is, and can't see why no other games have sought to replicate it.