My very first game I was a Khajitt and I wanted to get back at the Empire for trying to kill me. I had Stormcloak armor on and had picked up a hood in some dungeon on my way to Solitude. The fact that a hood wearing, Stormcloak attired Khajitt was not stopped once when entering Solitude made me delete the character and just roll my normal Dark Elf Assassin, because I felt the world would be dead to me.

recognition.

doesn't matter. its the definitive sandbox game.

Yes.

Without recognition the game world is not very alive aside from the nice scenery and the happy animals romping about.

+1 for this. I think you have captured the essence of the TES games extremely well. It's a shame to me when I see comments from people who don't enjoy them on this level, because I feel like a lot of them are unrealistically expecting these games to fit pre-defined labels that are familiar to them. I can't tell you how annoyed I get by the old "Skyrim is a an adventure/FPS game, not a good RPG" criticism. Can't it just be a great game with an amazing world that doesn't have to be labeled and fit neatly into a specific category?

I can't tell you how annoyed I get when Oblivion had a Disposition system (albeit with a terrible pie chart mini game) where as Skyrim has no Disposition system whatsoever. Yes, the world is pretty to look at, that doesn't make it alive.

The world is great, it's a shame that everything else went backwards.

I think it does just about everything better than possibly any rpg out there. Alot that is in Skyrim is taken for granted, as some expect some medieval style simulation of some sort and that just cant happen. There are some things missing from previous games, but the time and effort that would be required to say add spell crafting to the spell system would be very taxing for a development team. That stuff was easier to do when practically every spell had same graphics and effects as the other ones in its school. In Morrowind it was probably no problem adding shock to fire when the only difference is stats. If spellcrafting is part of dlc i definitely wont complain that i have to pay for it, considering the 200 hours ive spent casting spells as it is

Skyrim has a disposition system, its just not a number displayed infront of you. People who like you will treat you signifiantly different then those who don't. If you get caught pickpocket or trespassing by those with a high dispostion towards you they won't even call the guards.

Red Dead? Seriously? There are _no_ dialog choices in it, how can you compare it to Skyrim...?

Skyrim certainly has its limitations (hey, more DLC stuff or TES VI ideas), but as far as games stand today it is, imho, in a class on its own head and shoulder above the rest.

Mass Effect was nice, too bad they completely missed the mark in the last installment. I prefer the $60 for 300+ hrs of Skyrim to the $180 and ~120hrs of Mass Effect.

To _me_ Skyrim is also way above F3 as well; haven't tried F3 NV.

People who like you... as in the people you do a single quest for?

That's not a Disposition system. Or rather, nothing as deep as what we've seen in prior TES games.

One thing Skyrim has done better than any other video game... well, I don't know if it's better, at least not for me... it has riveted me more than any other game as I am nearing the 200 hour mark and am still not yet bored with it. All of my other games have collected dust since my wife purchased this one for me for Christmas.

Agreed.

What Skyrim has done for me better than any other game?

Please me beyond what any other game in gaming history has done for more than 300 hours, hours I would be still adding onto if not for my second point.

Skyrim has also broken my heart by taking away my 300+ hours by freezing everytime I turn it on now...

The attention to detail. The world is just so beautifully detailed ... The buckets in the corners of rooms, which servers toilets. The fact that you can catch butterflies, hunt animals and pick flowers. The stories told just by a few dead bodies, or the journals which are incomplete but you know what happens next. Even the guard comments!

People you do quest for and help, people you hire, people in your quild, the more you buy from shop keepers the more they like you. The disposition system is there, you just can see the number and influence it by using some stupid wheel. NPC reactions based on their disposition is done far better and deeper then any TES game in the past.

Yes.

Skyrim makes for a wonderful painting. Too bad it doesn't make for a good living, breathing world.


How come they don't lower their prices? Why is it to "invest" in to their shop all I have to do is pick a Perk rather than actually have a conversation with them? Why is it, to get them to buy stolen goods, again all I have to do is pick a Perk with no other interaction? I can sell 5,000 Iron Daggers to Jorlen to unlock the perk and now all of a sudden what's her face who "isn't the best smith in Whiterun" will accept stolen goods from me when she didn't five minutes before? The people in my guild? You mean the ones who still talk down to me like I just joined even though I became their damn leader?

The wheel was stupid, but at least we saw progress. This system is hardly deep nor is it better.

Yes.

Own advice, probably should look in to it.

"I'm gonna reply to this and say it's better!"

"Wait wait... hold on, I never said it was deep! (better) [insert personal attack]"

I guess those people want more you know RPG in there hiking simulator? Really without a good basis the open world you speak of is just like I said a pretty hiking/screen shooting simulator with random combat. It's still not a very good excuse to have piss poor RPG elements if you have a pretty world is it? Also I'd very much say Skyrim only gives you the shallowest illusion of it being "alive" since pretty much no one recognized what you've done or does the world suffer consequences from your actions. Master of all the guilds and savior of the world? "oh yeah so your the new guy fetch me some mead...." gee thanks. See I wouldn't call that "living world" at all. More like a static one. It's stuck in time from when you first start the game and rarely changes.

Every argument has a counter argument though. Khajitt were never banned from the town's in Skyrim. Khajitt naturally don't live there becuase of the climate, so the most common Khajitt seen are those crazy enough to endure the harsh lands in favor of being a merchant. Khajitt caravans are banned from selling their wares inside of towns, it has never been stated that Khajitt are never allowed to enter the cities under any circumstance. Now the idea of a Stormcloak rolling through Solitude without a Imperial Soldier reacting isn't good immersion aspect no, and I have already said that Bethesda doesn't do the best stories nor in depth characters.

However as I said above too, that is NOT the point of Skyrim. The point of Skyrim, the point of any TES game is to lose yourself in the world, not conversations with NPC's. If you tried to play Dragon Age in the scope of Skyrim it would not be possible. You do not have the freedom to go where ever you want, do what ever you want and be who ever you want to be. You pick a character, you follow a linear story with a nice but linear world with no sense of exploration or self expression. TES games give you that, they offer a good (great in my opinion) combat system, some of the best graphics I have seen for a game of it's scope and has so much more going for it.

You can OCD about little things like the fact guards don't stop you 24/7 because you are a Kahjitt, however I expect if they did people would complain about that too. However the point of a game is to have fun, and TES games offer a special kind of game in which the world is truly open and you truly are free.

One last time, I can play a TES game and put over 500 hours in it, without ever doing a quest or talking to a NPC. Show me any other game that offers that. There is none.

Frankly? Any game you want. I can run around aimlessly for 500 hours in "name x RPG game" with out talking to anyone or doing any quests too. Doesn't make it any more fun or interesting.

The funny thing is, I'm one of those "complainers," and I've played it for 400 hours.
Yeah, I have something of an unhealthy love/hate relationship with Skyrim. But I always end up coming back to it.

Frankly I could run around in a circle on call of duty for 500 hours, no that doesn't make it fun.

I can go out in the woods on Skyrim, hunt for my food, bathe, eat, sleep, read books, explore ruins, fight monsters, stalk people, rob houses, steal horses, fight dragons, see the ocean, practice magic, camp in the woods and so on. Running around aimlessly in CoD (or Dragon Age) and having something to fo for 500 hours in Skyrim isn't really a good comparison.

Roleplaying is about playing a role, your role is this persons life, a great rp'er doesn't play Skyrim as though its a game with rules, he plays it as though this is his day to day life. May sound nerdy, may sound stupid, but once you get into that "zone" you know it and you will understand there is a huge difference. I am sorry people are so dependent on great conversations to make or break their game. I'm not, I just pretend (since I am from a different province after all) that people in Skyrim have weird conversation manners. Call me creative or over imaginative. But that's the point of games in the first place.

The world includes the people and how you interact with them, does it not? If I wanted a world devoid of interaction other than noticing the animals, climbing mountains and wading through streams I would play Minecraft, because that's exactly what Minecraft is. Skyrim is supposed to be an RPG, not Minecraft. It's supposed to be about the world around you, which includes the story of your character and the people that you meet, not just the pretty bunnies and the piles of snow.

Show you any other game that offers that?

Minecraft. 500 hours. No quests. No talking to NPCs. Done.

Skyrim is supposed to be a role-playing game. It's not a hiking simulator. The focus isn't just centered on how long it takes you to hoof it over the mountains while petting birds and singing songs.

There is NPC interaction in the game. The problem is, YOU don't think its the best of the best. I am trying to tell you, that's not the point of the game. It has those things, so it IS an RPG. The matter of fact that you think they svck and are so horrible that you can't roleplay, is a personal opinion.