So I guess I have the same feeling as you, Sanctuary. I feel like I'm replaying the "same" game all over again. But all those tweaks weren't necessary. I also dislike how the perk trees are all over the place. If you are to do a Fallout-like Elder Scrolls, get rid of the skill trees and let us choose the skills and perks you want to upgrade with each level up. This would be less annoying than this combo they did with both Fallout and Oblivion's level up systems.

Grade: A

Pros -
Much improved combat and stealth system, and finishing moves are a nice addition
Dragons! I mean I've always wanted them to be in a TES game and now they are
Has a much better exploration feel in my opinion, it's fun to walk places

Cons -
Companions that block you and get in the way
Some parts of the game that were explained prior to release have changed... for the worse
Lack of skills

I assign it a solid Q.

Because its Quite good. :celebration:

A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Solid A. Skyrim blew me away playing my first character.. The atmosphere is EPIC beyond what I imagined. Love the music. Just flat out love it. Melee combat was much fun. Dungeons were supremely varied and just left me gaping in awe at some of the things Beth created. Found myself strategizing much more than I did in OB. MQ is a fantastic addition to lore. Very curious how Beth will (and how soon) they will rectify the underlying, unanswered problem of

Only downside was that I thought the smaller Steads were a tad too small.

And today I roll up my second character: Sekou Trayvond, Ra Gada spellsword.

B+ It hits all the crucial high points but falls short in some detail areas:

1) I can hit an apple at 100 yards but I can't throw a knife or axe. I really like doing both of these things...
2) There is no way to bash in locked doors. Yes, I have a thief type. However my big brutish Orc likes bashing things...like doors.
3) Speaking is automatic. No choice to level it up or not...selling and buying seem to advance it on their own. I would have preferred a better version of the Oblivion mini-game
4) Destruction seems to fall behind at later levels compared to weapon combat skills. Granted, this is what I've read from the Forums...my highest level character is 18

However I cannot help but say that almost every time I sit down to play I am awed by how much detail there is and how beautiful the setting is. Great job

Grade: F

Pros -
Graphics(except faces)
Landscape
Music
Some animations

Cons -
Terrible console UI
No character diversity
Level scaling
Unresponsive, awkward and clunky combat system
Left/right hand assignment causes problems and breaks immersion
No spellmaking
Dumb and boring combat AI
Stupid 3D map
Offensive magic quickly becomes useless
Rehashed joke vampirism from Oblivion
Pointless perk system
Compass and removal of descriptive journal entries

That's from playing for only 10 hours.

A-

Pros:

Great game all in all
An improvement on the series
Most bang for your buck

Cons:

Lots of missed potential
Strange difficulty spikes
Sometimes stupid AI

Grade: INC

Yes ... I give it an incomplete.

I believe each new game should have all and everything of its predecessors and then add enhancements and improvements.

(Funny how almost all who give Skyrim praises have just joined the Beth Forums recently.)


:cool:

A+ - Quite possibly the single best game I've ever played. I can see myself playing this game for years to come.

F

for FANTASTIC
:banana:

You really are on a forum and playing a game that you would give an F?? You fail, sir.

Wow, that is HORRIBLE. It's nothing like that on my PC...runs as smoothly as you could want. It looks like it barely runs on a PS3. How the heck can you fight anything with a slideshow going on like that?

I'd give the game a solid A grade. It's incredibly immersive and fun to play.

B

Pros:

Huge, interesting world to explore.
Lore is (as always) excellent.
Magic system is much improved over Oblivion. Dual casting, as well as unique spell effects, make it a lot of fun to use.
Combat has been improved over Oblivion.
Level scaling is improved over Oblivion.
More voice actors
Perks, which help make up for the lack of attributes
BEARDS.

Cons:

Combat is still pretty crappy, even if it is improved.
Leveling system is disappointing
Removal of attributes (it's difficult to distinguish characters now)
Removal of Skills (Hand to Hand, Acrobatics, etc.)
Main Quest storyline is quite bland, as are all the faction questlines. Bethesda can write interesting lore, but they can't seem to get the hang of quests.
Balancing issues (Crafting skills make you a God, makes Melee superior to Magic, etc.)

Overall, a very good game. Probably my game of the year.

A-

pros- The scope of the game is amazing and the graphics are superb. The game just screams quality throughout. Huge open world with tons of options, beautifully crafted with great music etc

cons- A lot of the quests here I'm not really that excited to do. It's more to just experience it vs being really excited to find out what will transpire. I basically was trying to decide if i wante dto join the imperials or stormcloaks for 3 weeks. It ended up i really just wanted to join neither. It just seems like i'm choosing one to experience the game in its entirely.

By todays standards this is a great game. But I still wish it had a bit more oldschool personality. It's a hardcoe game by todays standards compared to the cartooney crap that is out there and storywise it's epic like playing lord of the rings. But good writing is still missing in games these games that really give you that feeling of fun and wanting to see what will happen next.

C

It's a fairly entertaining, good looking and sounding sandbox dungeon romp with lots of good ideas... but most of it seems to be implemented just to get it all there and not thinking too much of what all could be done with it to make it actually interesting and worthwhile. I don't remember when was the last time I felt this much potential was wasted/unused. Still, an improvement over Oblivion and Fallout 3 (although, that wasn't really too much of a task) which is a plus.

It gets an A from me, i'm not happy with the size of the cities, i very much wish they were bigger, but the rest of the game itself is so far ahaead of the competition i couldn't give it anything else.

Grade: A

Why? Game is super fun and addicting. I have no cons because the Bugs will get patched and any other annoyances the mods will take care of when I come back for a 2nd time through the game sometime next year.

Fail. Play more and you might change your opinion.

A

There are a lot of little things that irk me, but the overall product smashes those complaints into the ground.

One thing that really needs to be fixed is the companion stat scaling. I never realized how weak Sven was now that he's been with me for over 20 levels. Even in Superior Orcish armor, it only took two sword swipes to put him down. Would explain why he goes down against even simple enemies...

You only playeds ten hours get used to the changes and you will change your mind I am sure. :biggrin:

Grade B

I think it needs some work. I think my single most disappointing feature is the character customization. It's my biggest gripe.

I give it an A-

Pros:
-Many more guilds in Skyrim, sure theyre smaller, but gives much more choice
-Amazingly detailed world
-Dragons are stunning in game
-Armor variation is amazing
-Creatures were very well done, the variation of the same creature is awesome!
-Main quest was well written and included choice for once
-Voice acting is very much improved
-Animations are definitely improved from Oblivion
-Combat system is vastly improved from Oblivion, needs to be better balanced and updated but its awesome
-Radiant AI works as advertised
-Radiant story makes things much more interesting
-Races are greatly improved and diversed
-Perks! Could have been implemented better but are awesome none-the-less
-Werewolves
-Shouts are amazing! Implemented very well IMO
-Character models are a thousand times better!

Cons:
-Lack of skills, seriously Beth this is lacking!! No hand-to-hand- no diversity between blunts, blades, axes, etc? pick pocketing is a skill? Mysticism completely gone? Sure they've been worked into other skills but it just doesn't feel the same...
-Lack of attributes, seriously only health, magicka and stamina? We need the attributes back from the previous games
-PC UI, this is just awful. Words cannot describe how bad it is. (PC Issue)
-Butchering of lore, seriously Beth you had amazing lore for Skyrim... the Volkihar should have either been implemented as in the text Immortal Blood or not at all, not these boss vampires, the Falmer should not have been in the game as the lore before says they were unsure if they even existed but now citizens of Skyrim think of them as pests! And why do they look like goblins? they were supposed to be beautiful or so lore said (IIRC)... And why are the Dwemer in Skyrim? I can understand them having ruins on the Morrowind and Hammerfell borders but if my understanding of lore was correct they shouldn't have ruins across Skyrim... and why have they been renamed to Dwarfs? And shouldn't if your gonna remake their ruins they should be similar to Morrowinds? Lots more just don't feel like typing
-Argonians sound like normal people
-Marriage system is awful, theres no real use for it, seems like more of a gimmick
-3D map is cool and all but its not really functional, a 2D map like in Morrowind would be much more useable
-Morrowind style fast travel needs to be improved, I've only found carriages in 3 holds so far... And as soon as you travel to a city it becomes useless
-Birthstones need to be removed and Birthsigns need to come back, seriously how did you kill such a major feature of your games???
-Voice acting needs to be improved in the sense of not every NPC of a certain kind, such as guards, saying and sounding the same.
-Guilds need to be expanded on, I love the fact theres more but most are seriously lacking
-Magic IMO is awful, it really needs to be improved and the scaling of destruction magic needs to be fixed
-Level scaling is much better this time but it still fails since I can't see certain enemies or certain items until I'm a high level
-Companions were implemented awfully! It should have just been done in the way New Vegas did it
-Racial diversity in towns is awful, Ive seen like 3 argonians in town and no khajiit. Apparently khajiit arent allowed in cities yet if I play a khajiit I can walk freely into them?
-No lesser daedra. You might argue this is because of the Oblivion crisis, but why are there Atronachs and Dremora in Skyrim? Either no daedra at all or all of them
-No references to the Infernal City or Lord of Souls novels. Theyre supposed to bridge the gap from Oblivion to Skyrim but Ive yet to here about them.
-Inconsistencies in texture sizes are annoying, seriously smaller items with high res texture but huge items like furniture are smaller? (PC issue)
-Can't turn shadows off if I want to (PC Issue)

Just my personal pros and cons of the game, don't get me wrong I love Skyrim but it does have flaws.

Really? You like Breton woman in their twenties with old woman wrinkles on their forehead? You like male characters who all look 40? You like the lack of an age slider and actually good choice of hair.

I mean compared to Oblivion...