So, first things first. This isn't a flame thread, this isn't an attack thread. I'm mainly posting this because the information I've managed to acquire about TES V makes me a little unsure, and I'm wondering if I've managed to miss out on something. Also I'm not posting this thread in the TES V forum because I know that there it will be interpreted as a flame thread and nothing constructive will happen.

I say "information I've managed to gather" because most Skyrim info seems inundated with much ado about useless things like having a 3D map or realistic shadows which, while they can be cool in their own right for the first few times you see them, they aren't really the foundations of a great game. So what I'm doing in posting this is hoping that I'm wrong and someone will come along and correct me or at the very least that if I'm right, I'll have some sympathizers. Anyway, on to the issues I'm having.

It's not really any specific changes they're making that I find off-putting, with the exception of the fact that they seem to be yet again reducing the amount of skills available to the character, because obviously the last thing we want is customization (at this rate TES VII will have three skills: Swords, Spells, and Bows and will essentially be Zelda without the dungeons). Rather it's the fact that most of the aspects of the game that are being widely promoted seem to be more or less superficial: Fog in the mountains, the ability to marry NPCs (look, if this was idiotic in Fable it probably isn't going to be much better in TES) and the presence of dragons (frankly I always felt the absence of dragons to be a point in the series' favour but it seems as though the publishers took one look at Morrowind and were upset at there being only a few fantasy cliches, especially since LOTR is now the Metallica of the silver screen, and decided to stuff in as many as possible, which would probably explain the Imperial Province's magic teleportation from dense exotic jungle to rolling Tolkien-esque countryside sometime between Morrowind and Oblivion. But I digress).

Anyway, the point is that none of what they're adding to the game actually felt missing from any of the previous games. At no point in Oblivion did I think "Well, it's nice to have a house, but what's really missing is the ability to marry a random NPC who is completely devoid of any personality and have her move in with me" which fills me with a rather sinking feeling that most of the company's efforts are going into shiny, flashy attention-grabby things with things like actual gameplay and immersion being left on the backburner until they say "Blimey, it's November 10th already, better save it all for the DLC" and we're left with a game that's even more stripped down and barren than Spore.

I suppose I'm being a bit cynical, but I haven't seen anything about the game yet that makes me want to buy it when it comes out. As far as I can tell the only new feature they're adding in is the dragon shout ability which while it seems kind of cool, it does seem a bit odd that the most touted gameplay feature of a game a scant four months from release is essentially a glorified spellcasting system, especially when the game's already got a seperate, non-glorified spellcasting system.

So tell me, how far off the mark am I?

When it comes to TES, Bethesda has proven themselves to be mature and capable of releasing great games. Most fans will have a favorite TES game, some love all equally, and in reading about your concerns skyrim may not be your favorite. I don't see that as a reason for you not to buy it because it will still be a superb game. I am excited about a little more reality added to the series. Why not give them a chance and see how it works. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
It's possible this topic will get moved to the Skyrim section.

Well I have no doubt that it will be a good game, in fact I fully expect it to get glowing reviews. However, the issue is that it doesn't seem to be moving in any direction except backwards. It seems to be taking all the things that made TES, TES and scaling them down, pushing more towards being a generic sandbox game in a generic fantasy setting. "But KingCrimson!" you may cry, "Bethesda are the creative control behind this! If they want to make the game less TES-y and more action-y, who are you to argue with them?" But the reality is that I'm not really upset with the prospect of Bethesda making an action-y game as they've already done that sort of thing before and while I haven't played them they seem to have had a fair bit of success. The issue is that when you declare a game to be a sequel to Daggerfall, Morrowind and Oblivion and then make something that's more of a spiritual successor to Battlespire and Redguard one can't help but feel a bit cheated. It's as though Dreamworks announced that they were making a Gladiator 2 with an all new plot, setting and characters and then when you went to see it, it ended up actually being Shrek 5 - even if you love Shrek (which I don't but that's beside the point), you would still end up feeling a bit disappointed.

Bethesda more or less invented the sandbox game so why they're trying to change what they do to make it more like what everyone else is doing is beyond me. Maybe I'm just a grouchy old man (well, I'm actually 22, but old in spirit), but I'm looking for reasons to get excited about TES V and so far I haven't really seen any, hence the reason why I posted this to see if there's anything I've missed that could get me excited. I've heard a bit about sabotaging the economy which sounds like it could be good.