That isn't dumbing down. That's removing a mechanic that most people hated. Don't believe me? Do a forum search for the latest topic on the subject. Even the majority of the posters here (where whiners are disproportionately represented) don't miss it.

You find Skyrim's menu easier to navigate then morrowind's one?
LOL.

On the OP - yep, kinda agree. But don't care too much about that, since I'm a pc user, and even if my PC is kinda weak for skyrim (playing on medium-low), there's still a CK coming out.

But Xbox users... oh well.




Well, with the size of the world it's one of the things that are almost necessary.
and I bet there will be mods that will allow to turn that off.

OP lost me after claiming he didn't want to be treated like a child... and then proceeded to end his title with a sad face.

The problems with mouse-clicking on the menu would be categorized as a bug/flaw. They clearly didn't intend to make it difficult to use with a mouse.

As for tedious: let's talk Morrowind (where apparently the menus were awesome, according to you). How was mousing over every single potion in your inventory to find the one you were looking for less tedious than having to scroll down a bit?

Also, that doesn't qualify as "dumbing down" at all. You're just complaining about a design decision you don't like. It has nothing to do with oversimplifying the game.

agreed but its been replaced by intimidate and pursasion, the replys are mostly three words long, and you often just get to listen then go do or say ok. im on my phone and dont no how to put in spoilers so im not putting examples but surly you have too have come across the complete lack of choice in alot of missions. id be gutted if id put perks in speech so far ive failed one speech challenge, and swim in gold, im level 25.
This does not seem like a progression from nv.

So?

You can improve it, you can craft new ones, you need to collect materials to do so, and you can only do these at a forge, mostly found in civilizations.


As for the survival part, you still depend on potions, enchantment refills and heavy loot to sell.


carrying 20 hammers to fix your gear after every fight is not exactly the epitome of depth and complexity.

EDIT

Because it's not Fallout?

Oblivion, Morrowind, Daggerfall had even less dialog choices, and most of them were even more brief.

This game has alot of decaptation, both by execution as well as a perk... you really think this game is designed for small kids? It's by far the most advlt content an elderscrolls game ever had, probably besides the nvde npc's of Daggerfall.

talking about the armor degradation. I'm glad it's gone. It was annoying. People say it's unrealistic... But walking with hundred hammers to repair the armor between battles is just as unrealistic (also because a suit of armor isn't repaired by just a hammer)

A big difference there isn't between the menu's and people saying that Morrowind had more information is just nonsense... They just got flashier with more pictures over the years but the amount of text remains the same (Skyrim even has 18 different perktrees, where Oblivion and Morrowind only had the name of the skill/attribute with a number next to it)

Attributes is already discussed enough... They aren't gone just replaced and renamed. Intelligence became Magicka, Endurance Health and Strenght/Agility became Stamina. Willpower was put into items like mage robes to make them usefull again, so instead of punishing the mage to wear armor, they are rewarding those who don't (it's pretty much the same system as the smithing system). Speed got removed (just as agility and acrobatics) because it was a gamebreaking which was unrealistic too. It's way better that runspeed is only influenced by the armor you wear.
and Luck, well, nobody really cared about that, and if you say you do, you're probably just lying.

Spellmaking too was removed simply because it was game-breaking and hard to make with the new spellsystem. spells are now considered as equipment and really flashy by the way, so having to combine spelleffect would have to bring tottaly new animations of say a Fire/Shock combo. There would have gone way to much effort into making all the possible combinations together with all the possible balances. (They have a hard time balancing Smithing/enchanting as it is).

Removal of classes which actually is far from a simplification. The skills are still there, and the -only- thing that's missing is the name of your class in your menu.
Because the classes are gone leveling is actually more complex instead of less.... in the previous Elder Scrolls games you simply choise some skills that form your class and every time your skills gained together 10 points you'd level up.... Now -all- skills are included in the leveling progress with calculations that your higer skills will contribute more to the level up then lower skills. This gives people two new forms of freedom:
1-They can decide to specialize in only two skills, or even ten. depending on how they want to play, and aren't confined by the fact that they either have to drag along 5 skills they could care less about, or that they have to start 3 of those skills very low, and won't let them contribute to your leveling progress.
2-People who decide mid-game to teach a new skill or start neglecting an other aren't skrewed.

And what's more to add?
O yeah:
-Much more inworld content compared to Oblivion, and almost equal amount to Morrowind (more if you consider the fact that technology is much more expensive, harder to make, and everything has to be voiced)
-Marriage
-Houses (something Morrowind had almost not unless you were a member of a Great House (or the EEC in Bloodmoon) which is quiet limiting
-Fast Travel BOTH Oblivion AND Morrowind style
-Quest Markers are OPTIONAL
-Many new books and a rich new lore covering the 200 years after Oblivion with many political parties which are never really considered pure evil
-Voice acting is more and better then any previous game used to be
-ALOT of quests, both radiant and scripted
-Ehm? Dragons, people really don't understand how extraordinary it is how they work and how IMPOSSIBLE they would be in Oblivion/Morrowind

OP, I agree that it's overly simplified (to me), but at the same time you're acting like a child with that last line.

Edit
@the post above, having decapitations etc doesnt make it a mature game. Modern Warfare has a lot of violance.. but well, we all know the age group that plays that. I think that the depth of the characters and themes is really what defines what the game is aimed for.

- That's an opinion, and it's not shared by everyone. I'm enjoying magic so far, and there have been a number of posts from high-level mages saying that they're enjoying it too.

- All spreadsheets and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All spreadsheets and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All spreadsheets and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All spreadsheets and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All spreadsheets and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All spreadsheets and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All spreadsheets and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All spreadsheets and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All spreadsheets and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All spreadsheets and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

- So far, I've found most quests to be incredibly fun and engaging. And all that the "certain time/place" quests did in Morrowind was force you to go somewhere and hit the Wait button until something happened. Didn't really add much depth to the quest.

- Smithing, Enchanting and Alchemy can be overpowered, if you powerlevel them. They are not overdone if you level them normally.

- Turn off quest tracking. Problem solved! World saved!

He said that the dialogue is childish, not the other stuff.


Care to explain?

Even the dialogue/quests can be quite mature. I've had a battlemage describe the smell of burned flesh, a woman tell me about how she was held by bandits and [censored] for a fortnight etc. Then there's all the stuff in the books, whether that's just downright nasty violence or a bit of smut. I've only done the beginning of the DB questline to get initiated, but that's some dark, mature stuff right there.
I can see what they mean maybe about dialogue not being the most well written in the world, but that's not new to this edition in the TES series, and I think they've made improvements.

ALL of it? Really? ?_?

Wohooo! /em dance

Please OP, elaborate your ideas on normal mode and easy mode

It's not that the game has been dumbed down I think, I just feel their is a lack of creativity. Alot of the perks are OP and their isn't much choice, I would like perks tailored to specific skills, and general ups to you adding perks in a perk tree. (Every perk in blocking increases +1% blocking overall effectiveness). And alot of the dungeons puzzles are to easy, I was really hoping I would be do a complex quest and I would have to spend some agonizing time to complete a puzzle. All I do is breeze through and I don't feel like I've accomplished anything.



___Off Topic___
I'm not sure whats worse on reading posts all over the Skyrim forums...

[1] People whining (Not the [censored]s, self-explanatory) about Skyrim because they actually do care. Because if people didn't [censored] about things, it means they don't give a damn about it.

[2] People who tell anyone who has criticism to go [censored] off and die because they want people to say "Its the most amazing game, I want to kiss your ass and have your baby."

Just because a young demographic plays the game doesn't mean it isn't mature. There is a reason the game is rated M.

No, you just don't know how to play a mage.

And surely, a mage battle that consited from nothing other than dodging each other's balls were a much more interesting system...

No they did not.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHa

oh man, you are so wrong.
There was ONE quest that did that, heck that is the ONLY thing the entire game that actually looks up the ingame time, because otherwise you can do everything at midnight or at noon, nobody is bothered.

And other than that, yeah, go into dungeon X and get item Y was a lot more different in Morrowind than it was in Skyrim.
You needed to be an expert RPG player to find that Dwemer puzzlebox, or the ancient bow, or Dagoth Gares...

So Crafting is overpowered, but they should bring back spellmaking?

IRONY!

Quests are told to you where to go.

Oh, except when not, good luck finding that cave east of here.


Or the Valley of wind, that place sure is easy to recognize...

Yeah, you haven't played the game...

I don't know what on earth you're talking about.

I'd say every perk is specifically tailored to its specific skill, and there are a ton of interesting options and choices. You have the option to focus on perks that increase overall effectiveness of a skill (weapons do more damage, potions heal more), and you also have perks that help you across the board (silent spell-casting, ability to place runes farther away, etc.).

I've found some dungeon puzzles that were fairly complex, but I also don't really care if they make it ridiculously hard to just get through a door. I'd rather experience the dungeon than experience an hour of searching for the answer to a puzzle. I can always play Myst if I want that experience.

no, its just LOL ill do it or LOL no thanks, with a random jack ass response thrown in there on occassion which just translates into LOL OK ill do it.

I'm just curious: what other options would you like for a response to "Would you like to do this for me?"

You can either agree to help. Or not. I don't see how adding multiple ways of saying yes/no really adds that much to your character.

So, with dialogue you mean purely the PCs replies? Because I think many people would like a few more options in there, but I fail to see how they decided to make it like that for the younger audience. Why do you think this is down to accommodating a younger player? Because I always thought it was to impose as little pre-rendered personality onto someone who is roleplaying their own character (although I have problems with this also).

"Why should i?" and/or "What's in it for me?"

Funny. Because every single quest I've seen has you asking questions like that before you get to the yes/no options.

I've seen responses like that on almost every major quest...

DA and mass effect have more than one way of saying yes or no, and in this game sometimes youre trapped into saying yes, theres some quest with cannibals that i certainly didnt want to be apart of, chose kind of a jerk ass response and this person is all of a sudden my best friend. and i am no cannibal, but then she vanished and i couldnt kill them. it was either yes or no, there was no WHY.

I'm not familiar with that quest, but based on that vague description, I'm willing to bet that the end of the quest is not what you're expecting. And that the lack of a "why" explanation was deliberate.