» Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:17 am Another review from a customer. I have enjoyed the constructive discussions on these types of posts on this forum, and wanted to keep it going. I like a lot of peoples ideas/thoughts. As far as my game experiences...I only played Oblivion and played that game on and off until Fallout 3 and Dragon Age was reelased. Then I went back to Oblivion. Other RPG games I have played or enjoy....Baldurs Gate II, Ice Wind Dale, Temple of Elemental Evil, Two Worlds II, Never winter Nights (all of em) Borderlands, pretty much the lot.
Since release, I have pretty much been playing this game non stop, and will most likely be doing so for some time. I will not deny that Skyrim does it for me. It does have some things that could be improved upon. Don't let my observations fool you though. Skyrim for me, is flipping amazing. My wife is pissed as she has not had a foot rub since November 10th, midnight! I love this studpid game to death!
Horses. Love em or hate em, this little part of the game needs some work. Horses look great and the controls are vastly improved. I like that on Horse back, I can explore and easily run away from wandering monsters. What i hate about them, is the minute you get off, they turn all crazy on you and charge Dragons, or Bears or Bandits. This is just ridiculous. I mean, horses are afraid of all that stuff unless trained and ridden into combat in real life for the most part. It may be difficult to code, I don't know, but it is really irritating as a player of the game. Sure, I don't have to buy a horse. Nothing forces me to do so, but why can't we get this little thing, in a game so wonderful and vast to work properly? :swear:
The Interface. The interface in so many ways is vastly improved since Oblivion. Hands down. The whole favorites thing, and the inventory screens I appreciate. I enjoy the 3D pictures of items too. It is very real and svcks me into Skyrim. The downside on inventory screens is sorting. At least in Oblivion you could sort. I struggle finding my stuff, and once you start stockpiling things, you tend to have a difficult time, findfing them again. The compass is a sore point with some players. I am one of those guys that use the compass as designed by the game designers. I enjoy exploring, but find the compass and indicators useful. The character screen (Skills Trees) is about all you have when it comes to viewing your characters abilities. This is cool, but not enough from a RPGer. I need some sort of data readout, that I can manipulate and plan about when it comes to me character. Though I like the stream lined Magicka/Health/Stam thing, I don't know if I want it to be stream lined? UI pausing. One thing that Dragon Age did right was when you paused your game, you could swing the interface reticle around like a targetting camera. You could pan around you 360 degrees. I loved this feature. I wish you could do this in Skyrim. Technically I don't know how difficult that is, but, at least we could compete with pin point accurate enemy mages who Ice Spike me to death, while I am trying to line up a shot. :sadvaultboy: In the making of the Skyrim video Todd goes on about that the game wants you to feel that your character is getting better at a skill, and not a twitchy trigger button pushing skill thing. With mage combat, it is about twitchy reflexes....And I hate the WARD spells!
Perk Trees. Great idea. Some just need some assistance. I don't like power gaming, but skill advancement with some skills tress and the equivalent perks are just wonky. Take Alteration. I can sit there in the middle of Markarth (or wherever) and cast detect life all day and level pretty quickly in the alteration skill. If I switch to illusion, and use clairavoyance, the same does not happen. Why is this? It is definetly not the Mage stone. Couple that with the perk tree of illusion or alteration. The illusion perks to make yout spells viable are a struggle to come by. You have the spell and it is already out of scale with the level you are. Some skills are to easy to level compared to others and the perk rewards are in some cases, unorganized. I feel like the Melee tree perks are the most thought out. The magic and some of the thief trees need to go back for some more work. I can work with what has been presented, but honestly. Like the lamented Destruction tree, which I use. (I like Mages..) Does not compare to the 2H weapon Tree. (Which I also use.) I can take lots of bonus damage perks in the 2H tree, plus gear for more bonus damage. I can do monster damage with my 2H. But Destruction, even geared out, I have to plink away while avoiding sniper level accurate bad guys with their precision arrows and ice spike spells. That is not fun. It just is aggravating. Not to beat a dead horse, but the whole crafting tree thing. It is out of whack. It is so easy to level smithing compared to illusion for example. Why is that?
Overall, compared to Fallout, I like how the Perk Trees are organized into a quasi "Class" structure. I like the direction that Bethesda is going, and what was presented in the most part, is top notch.
Companions. They are vastly improved over Oblivion/Fallout 3. But still, need some help. They do a lot of dumb horse stuff. The hold X for the express command is a good feature, but only useful out of combat. In a very controlled manner. Why not some verbal commands that can be favorited? Like a spell? You know. Stop Attacking! or Surrender to the guard! Or something similiar? They can be implemented like spells, but not be magical? Marriage. I like the option, but have found the experience cumbersome. Maybe it is the chase, but once married, my partner becomes instantly boring! I would personally be putting in radiant quests around the whole marriage thing. They could be relationship quests. One thing FNV did well was at least put in a story line with some quests that you could interact with. Outside of the simple favors, most of the companions are somewhat dull. Dull equals work for me.
Left Hand/Right Hand equipped. I don't know if I actually like this feature yet. I am enjoying the game play with it, but, well, I am enjoying Skyrim. What is in my left hand is equipped, what is in my right hand is equipped...I just don't know. I really liked how it was in Oblvion. I could be using a weapon, cast a spell and keep using that weapon. I often feel locked into a certain style of play because of this feature. Example. I like playing a mage, but I like the look and feel of a 2H weapon equipped, and I like to use them. The transition between the two is sort of jarring for me. In a game where the bad guys seems to not suffer from any sort of equipping delay and where they are accurate insanely ggod with all sorts of weapons and spells, the delay in changing out loadouts can cost you. Nothing is forcing me to play Spells and 2H weapons. Just the game mechanics force that sort of action when you do it. The whole swapping out weapons/Spell delay also reinforces the strength of potions. I can instantly drink a bunch of magicka o health potions to stay alive. But, I can't quickly cast a different spell? I have to equip it, ready the hand then cast? I find it ok to overcome, just question why it is that way?
Staves: I can make a couple of Conjuration staves from the special location in the College. Thats great. Why can't I make a Staff of Thunderbolts? Or a Staff of Wall of Flame? I can make a crazy good enchanted Deadric Sword that crushes people to death since I also am a great enchanter? But not a awesome staff? It boggles my little brain.
So great game, but these are some of the game play things that I would change or try to improve, if I was calling the shots!
The things I love about this game far outweigh the things that I don't. A lot of great games out there offer so much less. It is because the series offer so much, that we pine for more!
