I : Incomplete.

There are a lot of good things in the game but they weren't fleshed out.

If I were to give it a grade assuming it was complete, B-. The world and environment are fantastic and can provide many hours of entertainment which is the primary draw in an open world game. The quests are shallow, the mini-games/puzzles are shallow, the jobs are shallow, the combat system is shallow. The rules/game mechanics are a cluster of bad design from skill/perk basic design, to stacking rules, combat balance, out of combat capabilities etc.

Letter grades are stupid and unclear as to what they mean by it. You can't even see how many things you got wrong just by looking at it. Seriously.
But I can't really expect anything else from people who still use cups and spoons and feet and whatnot.

B+

Awesome, with bad textures and horrific voice acting, bad map, and short guilds and side quests.

Other than that, it's great.

B-

Pros
1. Huge, dense, hand-crafted world
2. Entertaining quests/storylines
3. Characters (not the faces-drawn-on-balloons of Oblivion)
4. Music, art direction are top-notch

Cons
1. PC interface is pathetic
2. CTD bugs
3. Low-res textures abound (why do the work when modders will fix it?)
4. Journal is horrendously vague and useless - map markers are mandatory on many, many quests
5. Port-itus. Seems like they made a 360 version, then on November 8th they said, "Oh [censored]! We need to ship this for PS3 and PC too!"

I'm harsh on the game's shortcomings, but overall I'm very pleased with the game. Knowing what I know now, I would certainly buy it again.

People from the future dont use cups, spoons and feet?
Or
Im one of the very last not assimilated in my sleep by aliens who dont use cups, spoons and feet?

Mystified.

B-

Why a B- because of a personal preference and the following:


As I have stated this before in other threads. When I was first introduced to Dragon Age origins, before installing 110 mods to the game, I thought: “Wow! Someone finally created and advlt RPG video game. I love it!” The background music was superb. The character creator customization has been second to none; along with the totally interactive companions, with their own back stories even. In addition, the wonderful romance options –along with the cut scenes were also second to none. I was hoping to see something along those lines in Skyrim and it has been a total let down for me personally.

That being said, Skyrim is an awesome game. I will just hope and pray that the wonderful modders out there will make it better.

This

B+

Then again, pretty much every game I see now gets that. I'm sorta disappointed because I had high hopes for another Elder Scrolls title, but it feels too much like Bethesda's Fallout all over again and I already played that game.

A
Not an A+
Pros

• Gameplay
  
• Art
  
• Graphics
  
• Voice Acting (more on that later)
  
• Dungeons (I've said WOW on multiple occasions)
  
• Quests (more on this, but I've received quests from overhearing conversations and from reading books. This is awesome in my opinion).
  
• Music
  
• Dragons - Awesome, but...
  
• Here's a controversial one: level scaling. For me and my play style, this is about perfect.
  
• Bugs. again, controversial, but having played Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout NV and now Skyrim, all on Xbox 360, this is the least buggy by far for me, right out of the box.
  
• So much more, but my head is hurts to much to think of the rest.

Cons

• Voice Acting - Again, too often used actors with too few voices heard. It seems that there are three (roughly) voices for town/city guards and one of those is more prominent than the others: Arnold Swarzimpersonation. I also hear the same phrases too often. I think that this is largely hampered by the amount of data they can fit on a disc and hope to see it fixed in the next iteration of consoles, but I really, *really* want to hear more possible things for people to say. Hearing, "a little bit of this and a little bit of that." from EVERY shopkeeper is fixable. Period. Different voice (which most have) means they could all have their own sets of things to say. Hell, they DO have their own unique phrases, and yet, they also all have a pool of shared phrases, which they shouldn't.
  
• Quests (lines) - I don't have a lot of experience here, because I haven't completed a single quest line yet, but I can say without a doubt that at least one of them
  Spoiler

  Companion Quest: I became a member of the inner circle after what seemed like 3 or 4 missions, which is insane. I expected to have to complete twice that before they brought up making me a member of the circle and so it
  moved far too quickly in my opinion.
  
• Dragons are admittedly a bit too easy. They put out a lot of damage, but they land too often, too quickly and because they leave you alone to heal, they take away the fear of death. I fully expected to have to run away a few times (not entirely, but AWAY) from fire breathing dragons to get some respite from the danger, then reengage. That's just not the case. More often than not, I chase the dragon.

Overall, it's absolutely fantastic for me. There are some tweaks I'd like made, but it's my favorite game to date. Can't wait to get out of the office and go play MORE. EDIT: And it is definitely my GOTY, possibly of the decade (last 10 years, not 2011-2020).

A+ it has a few flaws.

Such as lacking magic system.
Lack of spell creation.
Leveling where I can pretty much tell what enemies are going to be where when I venture there.
Bugs.

It gets the A+ because this game more than makes up for these flaws in extra credit. The uniqueness of this world rivals Morrowind and that is no small feet at all. This is the most filled and detailed game world ever.

An A - or a 91%

Pros
- Beautiful landscape
- Great improvement in the combat engine
- Werewolves
- NO MORE ATTRIBUTES!! WOOT!!
- More alive environment
- More features that make the game better to roleplay
- AMAZING IDEAS FOR QUESTS (Hangover in Medieval times is so boss)

Cons
- Constant bugs and making me use the "tcl" command more than I should
- Items you pick up in dungeons might be quest items, giving unneeded risk when picking up items
- The ending was terrible
- Main Quest story wasn't very good in my opinion
- Some quests are kind of dull
- Children are annoying. They play no role in larger quests so that makes me a sad panda

My personal gripes
- I haven't found M'aiq the Liar

No...I'll give it prison, a fine of 10.000 gold pieces or the choice to resist the arrest and die in the attempt!!

B+

Pros:

• Beautifully hand-crafted gameworld
  
• Lots of interesting lore
  
• Toned down level-scaling when it comes to enemy NPCs
  
• Fun civil war questline with good attempt at simulating large(ish) battles

Cons:

• Disappointingly short faction questlines which feel very rushed
  
• Awful UI that's impractical for PC users and visually too modern for a fantasy game
  
• Level-scaled loot and shop inventories
  
• Dumbed down RPG mechanics (character development/levelling). Everything feels too reliant on perks, which should be there to compliment attributes and skills, not define your character wholly.
  
• Excessive hand-holding in the form of markers and fast-travel
  
• Too many essential NPCs
  
• Lack of unique items
  
• Dungeons feel too linear and are too brightly lit
  
• Dragons are too weak and too frequent

Letters are soooooooooooooooooooooooo passé

B-
Way too oversimplified. But mods and a total conversion will change that.
But no matter what I little things I hate about this game...the scenery just literally takes my breath away. And the dungeons...all very unique. The one bit of pre-release hype that was true. I mean come on....grottoes? Awesome. A cave that ends up in a Dwenmer ruin? Awesome. A sunken fort turned into a cave that gives you vertigo? Awesome.

The overdone mist effects that slow the PC gamers down to a crawl? Not so awesome. But hey, that's what the mods will be for.

I love this game for what it has the potential to be. Just need patience.

C. or 7 on 10.

Pros: Long game. Interesting quest lines. Some shouts can literately save your life, whatever your build is. Nice environment. Amazing sound track. Loved the crafting system.

Cons: Weak main plot. Absence of real choices. Level caps. No more acrobatics, no more athletics, no more hand to hands. Many NPC look the same, specially children. Dragon fights are boring and tedious if you're not a ranged character or a magician. Shouts are usually gamebreaking depending on your build, sure, we're free of not using them, but meh... I don't really need them to play Skyrim. Crappy companion system. The bugs, the lags. Boring perks system. (I preferred the way it was done in Oblivion) Skyrim looks like he's having an identity crisis with Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Saved the worse for the last: essential NPCs and friendly-fire. This is probably the most frustrating Elder Scrolls I've played so far in terms of "no you can't do this". Also, being forced to do some stuff to complete some quest lines is irritating. Some controls are just annoying.

A+

Pros:

-Incredibly fun and engaging combat gameplay
-Great character development system
-Amazingly detailed open ended world
-Music is incredible
-Graphics are beautiful
-Quests are engaging
-Totally engulfed in the varying quest threads - main quest, civil war quest, guild quest
-Fun side quests that are more than just "go kill 10 bears for me" - some of the funnest side quests I have ever played
-Fun, challenging dungeons that often times require some thought to get past them.
-Spell casting is FUN
-Loving the perks system (I guess that fits under character development system)
-Love seeing the inclusion of the Smithing skill, love seeing Enchanting make a return.
-A true sense of journey and adventuring when I travel from one place to another (no fast travel for me!)
-I love companions, and having someone accompany me on my journies, even if I keep getting them killed
-The world certainly does "feel" bigger than Oblivion's, which helps out with that sense of journey and adventure
-Different environments, from the snowy mountain ranges, to the streaming rivers and open plains. Just a beautiful world

Cons:

-Minor bugs. Nothing gamebreaking, but certainly noticeable.
-I do miss certain spell effects, like summoning ghosts, liches, wraiths, skeletons, etc... as well as Command spells.
-Really short guild quest lines.
-I think that's all I can think of.

I give it an A-

The minus is because they removed a few skills that I liked and no more spellmaking, magic feels like it isn't quite finished to me. Other than that, the game delivers and is a step ahead of anyhing they have done before.

S+++

Pros:
Graphics
General combat simplicity
Open world
So much to do that Im already 35 and havent even got Jurgen's horn

Cons:
The only problem I have is raising alchemy, it takes like 15 to 20 potions to move up a rank and requires way to much focus time to be able to do that.

B+

Pros:

-Big world that is acute to detail
-So far a good story line
-Just a good game in general
-runs well and still looks good

Cons:

-3 voice actors used for everyone in Skyrim
-Some minor bugs
-seems to crash on ppl after extended periods

I have a complaint with the random quest items popping up in random loot. I see this great item and I am like thats mine! Then its a quest item. :facepalm:

I have ran into M'aiq several times alot more than in Oblivion and he is very wise indeed my friend. :biggrin:

C+

Pros:
-Graphics are pretty (except the terribad shadows)
-writing is marginally better than Oblivion
-and the art direction is nice.

Cons:
-Garbage Interface
-Garbage PC performance even if your computer is forged by Zeus
-Still no choices and consequences
-Linear (Sandbox game =/= not linear)
-Still two many one dimensional quests and characters
and most damning:
-Even more dumbed down than Oblivion (No attributes, even less skills, even less magic, no spellmaking :rolleyes: )

Should let Obsidian do a spin off TES game just to see how they do, seeing as how New Vegas was 100x better than Fallout 3.

A+

does have sum bugs but they dont matter at all, nothing a patch wont fix

I second all of this as well.

I also think dragons should be stronger. When I see them I wish to fear them!

Grade: C+

Pros:
-Very aesthetically pleasing world, with mostly varied environments.
-Mostly good voice acting and a few intersting NPCs.
-Dragons are truly epic the first few times you encounter them.
-Leveling has been massively improved over previous TES games. One of my biggest sore points eliminated.
-Very easy to sink hours upon hours into and then wonder where all of the time went.
-Music is typically great, although also forgettable.

Cons:
-Very unintuitive, clunky and often buggy UI for the PC. Pad users may love it, but it's not good at all for mouse/keyboard - Mods will fix
-Very substandard graphics (graphics, not aesthetics) for the PC. Not bad at all for the consoles however - Mods will fix
-Crafting skills are completely out of whack and do not feel like they were playtested more than "does this tree work?" individually - Mods will fix
-Magic in general is the weakest it's ever been (Especially Destruction) and plays more like Bioshock plasmids than magic - Mods will fix
-No spell making - Mods might be able to fix this
-Dragons have ADD and quickly become more annoying than epic after around the tenth one and having to wait for them to return to you after flying off a mile to go fry a chicken that pissed it off.
- Level scaling again was implemented very poorly - Mods will fix
-Leveled loot again was implemented very poorly - Mods will fix
-Limited number of voice actors. You literally hear the same ten voices everywhere you go.
-Most important/Guild quests are very underwhelming and the rewards are typically scaled as well - Mods might fix
-Combat is still awful. Archery is the only improvement. The gameplay is ten years old. Plays more like a generic FPS than RPG.

Currently the game gets a passing grade. It's literally just the foundation of the good game that will arrive in the next six to twelve months after mods have matured. Sad to have to wait so long after the release date to play the game that should have been though. Bethesda always seems to have this attitude that it's fine to release games in this state, because they can rely on the free labor of modders to do their work for them.