Last Friday I went to a friend's house to check out Fallout 4 of which I've heard so much about. I love what Beth has done with Fallout... thoroughly enjoyed Fallout 3, enjoyed NV (not as much as FO 3 for reasons of bugs and setting). However, I played with FO4 for a couple of hours on an Xbox One and when I returned home fired up Skyrim. First, the graphics for FO4 have not really improved that dramatically since Skyrim! Of course, graphics aren't everything in a game, but I was surprised at this. Second, I actually still sort of prefer the gameplay of Skyrim (I wish it had the same hotkey feature of FO4 though!) and questing of Skyrim. I can't really put my finger on why that is. I *think* it may be because, as a fantasy game, I don't feel as restricted with what is possible. Maybe another reason is the wealth of lore... the Skyrim world (all ES games really except for ES:O) really draws you in by scattering books around, but setting up certain environments, etc.

I've invested more time in Skyrim than any other game. I'm no really devoted fan (I have my critiques), I just think that this is probably the best game I've ever played and I'm shocked that even after 4 going on 5 years, it still holds a candle to newer games of the same action-RPG/open-world genre. My vision may be blurred a bit, however. I did take about 2 years off from playing the game and only recently started to get into it again... but already I'm making plans for all of my characters that I've made in my 600+ hours and it's only then that I've realised how awesome the game actually is. There are so many mutually-exclusive choices to make, so many role-playing choices to make. As I don't want to post any spoilers, I won't say how each of my 4 characters (different builds, different races) have totally divergent experiences and made mutually exclusive choices that have impacted their respective Skyrim realities. I'm thinking that one can't really appreciate it unless they've created multiple characters. It's great.

I haven't played Fallout 4 and probably never will, so I cannot compare the two. But I know what you mean about Skyrim. I have a long list of things I don't like about all Elder Scrolls games but they draw back like no other games I have ever played. Skyrim in particular. I don't know why but I "bonded" with this game almost from the very second I stepped out of the Helgen cave. I was there. I felt an almost mystical attachment to the game world right away.

As amazed as I was during my first hours of Morrowind, it took me a few days to really warm up to that game. It took me years to warm up to Oblivion. I have never warmed up to Arena or Daggerfall. But it took me only a few minutes to warm up to Skyrim. I have many criticisms of Skyrim. It is far from a perfect game. But, like a spouse whose faults I know only too well, I find myself loving Skyrim anyway.

Fallout's voice protagonist and forced backstory which the NPCs and your character are almost constantly reminding you in almost every conversation killed the replay value for me.

While, I'm not big on Vanilla Skyrim, I still played it for a month before putting it away. While Fallout 4 lasted me a week, try to pick it up again but just can't. It's not the setting, I played Fallout 3 to no end.

Now with mods, while hardly the perfect game, i'm still playing it and see myself playing Skyrim for many years to come.

With Skyrim they found a balance, but they didn't appreciate the momentum and insted of improving on it, threw it out the window in Fallout 4. I find it hard to believe they will abandon the voiced protagonist, the stupid dialogue wheel with empty choices and the forced background.

I gave Fallout 4 a little over 350 hours. I got my money's worth. Yet something is missing from that game and it's hard to quite put my finger on it. After I finished my second play through of Fallout 4 I came back to Skyrim to try and figure out what they did wrong and I still can't really say.

It may have a little something to do with the spacing of the world. In Skyrim things are spread out better and you have time to settle in and enjoy the view. I guess the mountains help with that. In Fallout you're tripping over enemies and locations everywhere you go except in a few select parts of the world space. To me this is the thing that sticks out most immediately.

The voice acting had something to do with it too. I played a female and I thought Courtenay Taylor did a magnificent job but the creative director failed hard. She would speak in even tones unless she was talking about her child, then suddenly her voice was so overly dramatic on-the-edge-of-tears that it pulled me right out of the scene. It was awful.

Other than that it's a very different genre so it's hard to compare apples with oranges. I agree though. Fallout 4 is a good game, but Skyrim is a great game.

I have also played ESO and Fallout 4, and there are enough things that I like to keep playing both of them off and on. However no game draws me in like Skyrim. I often choose to spend my time reading what other people write about Skyrim over playing ESO or FO4. Skyrim offers a world that I still want to explore with my characters, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Gotcha. It's just in an MMO format, I'm inclined not to bother. It's not a *personal* experience as you're always tripping over dozens of other people going to the exact same secret, hidden location because they got the same tip you did. I guess MMOs aren't my cup of tea, everything feels rushed and chaotic to me. In the traditional ES games, it's almost like a holiday... you can set the pace of your gameplay uninterrupted from the world. If you want order, peace, and solitude, you can find it. If you want chaos, you can find it. It's up to you. That's pretty much why the *lore* doesn't seem to capture my imagination in ES:O (and pretty much why I played it for a couple of hours before putting it down).

I know what you mean, while I do love ESO and it's contribution to the Lore. Sometimes you just want to get lost in your own world.

My perfect Version of Skyrim would allow more than one player active on line......but only upto about four max. Skyrim MMO would be awful...........but the ability to take Sah into a tomb or a fort with me and fight alongside her as her battle buddy would be worth any price. We could also spar against each other for practice. I learn so much from her YouTube videos......to be able to train with her directly on line would be a dream come true.


Sah one day honey!

Why not make her a follower in your game? The http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/54509/? mod can help with that. It won't be the same, but it will be close!

you can...well you can't yet....but one day.... http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/67038/? it has some limitations...and a lot of leg work to set up, but if one really wanted to play with a friend one can. ( with out all the errr other nice people getting in the way)

Rick plays on console... so no mod's yet...

Berret. Well, I'm sorry, but Mods....to make her a follower.....oh no no no no!


Apart from the respect issue (which is a huge issue) no AI could work. I was talking about partnering Sah directly in game....her intellect...her savvy tactical skills. She has game smarts in shed loads. I would end up following her (to the ends of the Earth ) Sah is so beautiful, no mod could come close to doing her justice.


No.....we will just have to wait until online two player becomes an option in a future game. As for ESO.....I don't think either of us are keen on that. Although....I am keen on.......whatever Sah tells me to be keen on ( isnt that right honey! )

I really looked forward to Fallout 4, but after playing for 500 hrs I am so finished with it. I have also cancelled my order of the dlc pack which I bought when it was announced. Maybe I will try again later.

So I will instead install Skyrim again.

I'm still modding this game 5 years later..

I've said it in another thread, but when Beth announced no more DLCs, and no more patches, I knew my days of playing on the 360 were done. Skyrim became new again for me, with my computer, and it will stay new and exciting, with mods, for years to come. It's my favorite game.

Yep. Me too!

I agree.

I've dabbled with a number of games, some of which I enjoyed immensely, even going back to the days of Doom (remember that?)

My all time favourite franchise has to be tomb raider. I've got every game since the original on PS1 (just called playstation at the time). I thought that I'd never find a better gaming experience for the scenery, the characters and the puzzles. With Tomb Raider 2013 I was astonished and delighted. I couldn't wait for Rise of the tomb raider...

...then came the bombshell that it was X-box one exclusive.

I looked in vain for other games that would fill the gap. The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter was really novel and thoroughly enjoyable but far too short (check it out if you haven't already...it's mesmerising)...then I found Skyrim. Despite its glitches (perhaps even because of them) I was entranced. I can honestly say that I've never been so engaged and embroiled in a game before (bordering on compulsive obsessive disorder to be honest). I find myself cursing some of the NPCs and taking pity on others. There is, as you say, so much to do: so much to try out.

I love it. I'll get Rise Of The Tomb Raider but now it's not so much of a necessity any more. I'd prefer to re-start Skyrim and play a different way. There are so many things I'd like to do that little bit differently.

Skyrim rocks!