IGN: What Skyrim Does And Doesn't Fix About Oblivion : V - Skyrim

» Fri Dec 16, 2011 12:02 am

The skill system is fantastic in this. Sure they got a little crazy with the boosts and exploitable crafting skills, but the actual star layout is amazing (similar to final fantasy XIII surprisingly).

First person fantasy combat is really difficult to pull off. I think they've done a fine job. The shouts really add to the gameplay.

Companions definitely need work, as does the quest writing.

The quest writing and dialogue systems are my biggest complaints in this game. The quests are all very generic. It feels like half my quests involve finding a family heirloom in a crypt. For that matter, I dislike knowing the quest formula before I start (go to dungeon, kill boss, return for reward), they need to shake that up more. They added a little bit to it with puzzles this time, in the form of combination doors and whatnot, but it still needs more variance.

Dialogue is just bothersome. I don't like arriving in a new city and having all of my dialogue options greyed out already because those NPCs say the same things NPCs from other major settlements say. Also, the new persuade/intimidate system is too simplistic and there's no way to improve somebody's opinion of you short of doing a quest for them, which can't be done for every NPC. I've also noticed that people count me as their friend if I intimidate them, which is a little bizarre.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:18 pm

Gamespot mentions Dark Souls in almost every video now, that's why I said them too lol. If I had to choose 'best' reviewers by overall fairness and knowledge, I'd have to put GameInformer first.

GameInformer gave Skyward Sword a 10/10 enough said... :no:

» Fri Dec 16, 2011 12:41 am

Skills have gotten fewer and fewer. It really annoys me. Since Daggerfall they've been reducing the number of skills, and I hate it. It's not that they're simplifying the game, they're removing choice from it. I want to specialize, please let me!!!

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 6:24 pm

The skills system is fine. You have to choose to exploit it, nothing is broken.

I completely agree. I just cannot understand this. If you don't like the results, they why on earth would you run the "exploit" in the first place. You might just as well use the console to grant you every item in the game. It's all about playing in the sandbox in the way that you want to play. Don't like it, don't do it.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:14 pm

Athletics and Acrobatics were specialties?

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 8:33 pm

OP, I think you are wrong to down-vote the skill system with the argument you presented, you should down vote bugs instead. If you feel that many of the perks or the way skills work are a problem then you should down vote the skill system.

I voted for:

Pathing - because my companion/enemies get totally stuck if I jump on a rock while I run (regardless how big or small). As for reaching goals/searching I believe the system is absolutely perfect, you can put markers &/or fast travel or you can ignore them all and play it just like Morrowind. I didn't think it was entirely possible but they finally DID IT, they satisfied everyone on this one.

NPC & Companions - yes I like the quality over quantity suggestion from Bioware. I don't think TES would suffer one bit if they had say 5-8 fully fleshed out companions with unique personalities and combat styles.

Animation - yeah it needs some work but it's not too far from where I want it.

Voice Acting - probably the biggest issue, man it's sooo annoying when NPCs suddenly change accents, but let's call that one a bug. There is still a fundamental issue of "too little to say" and one that I don't think anyone has mentioned - I HATE THE FACT THAT 30% OF NORDS SOUND PERSIAN. It really drives me nuts when I here that all-too-famous-female accent with the hard R's. Nothing wrong with that accent but don't give it to Nords please.

» Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:08 am

GameInformer gave Skyward Sword a 10/10 enough said... :no:

Did you...not like Skyward Sword or something?
Because if you dislike GI for giving it a 10, you can go ahead and dislike every single other review site too.

*edit* or maybe you just never played the game and are going off-topic just to be annoying.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:12 pm

LOL what.

So... the UI is perfect according them.

And the game needs MORE hand-holding, because it's too hard to find your way even with all the markers and crap? :confused:

I want the author of that article dead.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:06 pm

What modded with FCOM,OOO,or MMM - Oblivion does fix about Skyrim,Fallout and Morrowind? = evrything

» Fri Dec 16, 2011 3:40 am

IGN is the worst source of information on...anything... <_<

Fox News.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:03 pm

Not a major fan of the favorite system either, I liked being able to change spells or weapons on the fly, without disrupting the gameplay. Can't do it?

You can do it! Hover over the item you wish to bind, and press the number you want to bind it to.

My only complaint so far is the menu system.

» Fri Dec 16, 2011 2:00 am

WoW 16 people so far voted for Pathfinding?

I just don't see it they give you a marker on the map with a spell for a waypoint and a fast travel option. What more do you want? :shrug:

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 9:09 pm

Most people that vote for pathfinding are thinking of AI pathfinding, not actual travel.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 9:05 pm

Did you...not like Skyward Sword or something?
Because if you dislike GI for giving it a 10, you can go ahead and dislike every single other review site too.

*edit* or maybe you just never played the game and are going off-topic just to be annoying.

Listen to invisible walls if half the stuff Shane says it true it's not a 10/10 game far from it and Shane's usually on the maker if not a little too generous with his scores.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:15 pm

The problem with the skill system, apart from the crafting, is that they've haphazardly removed or merged previous skills but seemingly for nothing. Speechcraft, for instace...why does it still exist? Could they really not find a way for Mysticism to work when Speechcraft is comprised of almost entirely of money making perks?

They were supposed to give us choices with this new perk system but they've not really done that since the perks are all necessary things to be successful in a given skill. It's not better than Oblivion or Morrowind's perk system (which were given inherently) since it doesn't resolve any of the issues present in the previous system and really only introduces new ones.

@Jacks-Up
It's definitely a pathfinding issue because there should be areas in the scripts when AI has to decide the most apt route -- that's pathfinding.

» Fri Dec 16, 2011 3:00 am

OP, I think you are wrong to down-vote the skill system with the argument you presented, you should down vote bugs instead. If you feel that many of the perks or the way skills work are a problem then you should down vote the skill system.

I added an option exploits that which separate my complaint with Skill System.

I voted for:

Pathing - because my companion/enemies get totally stuck if I jump on a rock while I run (regardless how big or small). As for reaching goals/searching I believe the system is absolutely perfect, you can put markers &/or fast travel or you can ignore them all and play it just like Morrowind. I didn't think it was entirely possible but they finally DID IT, they satisfied everyone on this one.

I don't think you can consider that pathfinding that's more of a companions issue IMO. Pathfindings just the markers, fast travel and waypoints.

NPC & Companions - yes I like the quality over quantity suggestion from Bioware. I don't think TES would suffer one bit if they had say 5-8 fully fleshed out companions with unique personalities and combat styles.

Agreed

Animation - yeah it needs some work but it's not too far from where I want it.

Then I wouldn't vote for it "BIG" issues only no point in nitpicking, it's not constructive criticism and doesn't help anyone.

Voice Acting - probably the biggest issue, man it's sooo annoying when NPCs suddenly change accents, but let's call that one a bug. There is still a fundamental issue of "too little to say" and one that I don't think anyone has mentioned - I HATE THE FACT THAT 30% OF NORDS SOUND PERSIAN. It really drives me nuts when I here that all-too-famous-female accent with the hard R's. Nothing wrong with that accent but don't give it to Nords please.

Agreed but still infinitely better than oblivion's.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 8:48 pm

Article by IGN once again I think they're more wrong than right my thoughts on it.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/121/1213031p2.html

Combat:

- Is it better than Oblivion? Yes very much so

- Is it up to par with other combat mechanics in Fantasy games? Not by a long shot Demon Souls had way better combat and it came out 2 years ago.

Verdict: NOT FIXED (but better)

Animation:

- Mixed bag here my character doesn't pay attention or turn to face when someone is talking to them even tho it locks my character, faces are better than most games tho I would also like the upper face to move more, but whatever.

Verdict: Good Enough

Voice acting:

- I'm just glad not to hear the same old 7 voices over and over again with ever Female Dark elf sounding like a 90 year old women, but yeah they are right the accents are all over the place why does 1 Nord sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger and his next sound like an old English men?

Verdict: Could Use Some Work (Consistency is important, you just can't hire more people and think it will work out.)

The Skills System: F#@%&*% BROKEN!!!

- I've never seen so many ways to exploit a game, 100% mana reduction on spell schools, using alchemy and enchanting to smith weapons to KO a dragon in one hit on master difficulty this is not fixed far from it.

Verdict: F#@%&*% BROKEN!!!

The Menu Interface:

- I've seen better and would like a way to swop weapon load outs like Demon Souls, but it's ok.

Verdict: It's Pretty Good

Pathfinding:

- What do you expect them to do IGN teleport you to every quest? You already have fast travel what more do you want? Why don't they just do the quest for you? Finding you way through your locations is part of the game.

Verdict: Fixed and Fixed Again!

Quest Writing:

- Not as many options as say a Bio-Ware game but agreed fixed

Verdict: Fixed

NPCs:

- Agreed once I go through a set of dialog I shouldn't be able to do so again, and I have no Idea why they would give an achievement to get married and than have 2 options of either "make me a sandwich" or "Give me money" Really no thought went into this and seems like it was just on a check list. If you're going to do something do it right.

Verdict: Not Fixed

Bugs:

- Don't fix the bug huh tell that to PS 3 owners with lag so bad it makes it unplayable.

Verdict: Not Fixed (and they better fix it soon)

Companions:

- NOT FIXED No Way in Hell! I'd rather have a choice between 5 interesting companions than 20 brain dead "Robots". The companions in Fallout NV were a lot better.

Verdict: "Quality Before Quantity" This is actually my biggest complaint of the game. They really should of taken a page out of Bio-Ware's folder and made "Companions with Personality's" NOT FIXED!!!

Combat;
As old As Horriblivion for melee, improved for missile, and greatly improved for Magic.

Verdict: Good, bring fun.

Animations: Improved but with flaws, NPC and characters still moving in a stick in the ass fashion. Modders already found that there s a programer error that make all characters move as the stronger characters in the creation panel, same apply to NPC. Maybe console lack of space/memory problem.
Verdict: Improved, good but had been better if implemented without flaws

Voice acting Same voices in many ocasions, but there s diferenciation by acent. hard to please all.
Verdict Pretty Good, its hard to make such a feature to appease troyans and greeks.

Skill system Same problem many companies have and this company are having screamingly. Bad implementation, the old to new system was only a way to try to throw smoke around, it could have really substituted the old system but its so flawed its even weaker than the old system, unimaginative, restrictive, incomplete and insuficient to really create distinctive characters. This company really need new or better feature designers.
Verdict A bucket of rockroach dung

Menu interface I suppose its ok for Console, but for PC its immersion breaking, ennerving in insuficiency
Verdict Another bucket of rockroach dung

Pathfinding: For those who have aversion to reading its perfect, spoon feeding, straightforward.... For those who doesn t like to be spoon fed and fast travel its utter crap, because of the lack of options.
Verdict Mixed, no middle term, or heaven or one more bucket of rockroach dung

Quest Writing: See above as it is extremely close, unimersive, unimaginative, even less descriptive than Horriblivion, really the company shows all its laziness and despise for above 12 years old kids customers in this feature.
Verdict Mixed, no middle term, or heaven or one more bucket of rockroach dung

NPCs: A mix... Some are very well done, others are bland and lacklusting.
Verdict On the average.... Good. But really this company is really lazy when it comes to options.

Companions: All have been made bland and uninteresting due to the bad AI, fix the AI so they ll survive more and things will improve.
Verdict Very very poor, they are nothing but cannon fodder, as RD make tem less than impressive. i personnaly avoid them as i find them irritating.

"Overall of the game": "Quality Before Quantity" This is actually my biggest complaint of the game.
A nice and different setting than Oblivion, but the game is still crawling in features and development. It seems the heads dev. are confounding Complexity and Complication.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:38 pm

You can do it! Hover over the item you wish to bind, and press the number you want to bind it to.

My only complaint so far is the menu system.

I'm on the Xbox, no longer a PC gamer :foodndrink:

» Fri Dec 16, 2011 3:57 am

I'm on the Xbox, no longer a PC gamer :foodndrink:

My condolence to you...

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:24 pm

I think everything is fine besides the bugs.....
If u think about it...they've had the same formula for quests,npcs,and combat since morrowind...they just think of a more versatile way to do it in each itteration and repackage it as a better idea..im not saying thats vad im saying they're sticking to there roots...which is fine by me...its what makes a TES game.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:04 pm

Most people that vote for pathfinding are thinking of AI pathfinding, not actual travel.

Where were you a half hour ago lol.

Oh well I added the option so we'll see.

» Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:21 am

Listen to invisible walls if half the stuff Shane says it true it's not a 10/10 game far from it and Shane's usually on the maker if not a little too generous with his scores.

Who is Shane.

» Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:10 am

For me, glitches are as essential to Elder Scrolls games as elves, greatswords and rummaging around inside people's cupboards looking for shoes to steal. ... I have gained as much joy from flying mammoths in Skyrim as from any of the actual quests. So please, Bethesda – never fix your glitches.

Couldn't agree more :lmao: Just couldn't agree more :rofl:

» Fri Dec 16, 2011 3:26 am

Who is Shane.

Shane Satterfield, GameTrailers-Editor in Chief

Somebody doesn't watch Invisible Walls

» Fri Dec 16, 2011 3:24 am

Yeah the fact that your PC just looks straight ahead 98 percent of the time and barely moves their head the other 2 is pretty weird...they neglected to put in some things that were actually cool in Oblivion. Fire damage from the fires around the world being another big one.