I think overall it's an amazing game, maybe an 8.8/10, but for me the combat is what keeps it from being the total package. I've gotten more used to it but compared to other games with more refined combat like Dark Souls, and The Witcher 2, it definitely feels very clunky, especially using melee weapons and shields. Bows handle great though, and most magic is pretty well configured. But overall I'd say the adventuring landscape and discovery more then makes up for the games few flaws.

You know, when it comes to topic as such, the sky is the limit. But those are not moans, but different impressions various people get when playing the game. For instance, here's a personal impression of someone who used to play Zelda, rather than Ultima Underworld, and he finds dungeoneering lackluster. http://flyx.org/2013/12/09/skyrim/ I never played Zelda myself but I can imagine that if one experienced some quality aspect while playing other game, then it might be disappointing to find it missing in Skyrim. For me it is the lackluster of puzzles which caused me to hang out on this forum - I fancy making a mod with some more puzzle-oriented gameplay...

I agree with this.

And like someone said, Skyrim is a PPG (Pretend playing game) Where the player has to pretend things happen.

EX- Wearing legion armor and joining the stormcloaks or vice versa has no effect on the factions. In fact, you can play the entire side in the enemies armor and no one gives a hoot.

FNV on the other hand...Try wearing NCR armor in a legion camp...hahahaha get ready to get shot, stabbed and blown up

At the end of the day. In a RPG, the decisions you make should shape your character and effect the world. In skyrim, You have to pretend that happens. That is why it's not a good RPG but an Action adventure game imo.

It's not a "lackluster" RPG in my opinion. It's one of the best game that I've ever played. Whether or not Skyrim completely fits within the RPG category is another matter entirely and that's a matter of opinion.

It entirely depends on the players expectations of what defines "laskluster" in regards to RPG. Its subjective to a large degree. But personally, I think its fine, this is my opinion after playing a lot of FO3 & FONV over the years, they were the extent of my RPG experiences.

It's quests are completely linear, and usually involves killing draugr. Or if not them, bandits

It's a dungeon crawler. With poor loot and enemy variety, and overly simplified mechanics. Add mods, and you can get a kickass dungeon crawler out of it, but they don't transform it into an RPG.

I think, i haven't played Falskaar yet And those people who made Nehrim are working on something too (though that'll be a Total Conversion rather than a typical mod )

As for the often talked about regenerating health, that is merely a convenience feature. It doesn't help in combat, at all, and unless you like to twiddle your thumbs for a couple of minutes, you're better of using potions or magic before the next fight. It's not like in an action game where you just run behind a corner for a quick cry and are ready for action again.

Im a huge dragon age fan but its hard to compare it to skyrim. Romance is done better and some choices have an impact but it loses to skyrim in every other way. Im not familiar with birthsigns and im glad theres no character classes as i love the ability to master all.

Things i would have liked to see on consoles

A toggle to make all townsfolk essential.

Less bugs. 2 many quests that break or require workarounds

Acrobaticsa/climbing-one of the perk trees has a crouch and tumble. Should have had more. Tons of ladders but no animation?

More variety in creatures. Should have found a way to include more monsters not just frost versions of the same creatures

Dialogue of major npcs after quest completion was awful compared to other rpgs. You kill a dragon in a tiwn and the whole rown comes running. Kill alduin and nobody cares.

Less marriage options to give better dialogue instead of turning them into stepford wives

More variety in traps, more secret doors

A way of completing major quests without deals with daedra. Should have been an option to defy them. I think my soul is bound to multiple daedra

But... Why....?

Seriously. No NPC should be essential. Protected is ok but essential NPCs. I hate having essential NPCs.

Toggle, so everyone wins. You'd still have your nonessential NPCs.

Skyrim lacks a few things compared to earlier games in the series, and not for the better.

Here are a few changes that comes to mind:

- Stats are gone.

- Armour has been simplified. It does not degrade, and you can't mix and match it anymore because it's merged into one piece.

- Fewer weapon types.

- Fewer skills.

- Spellmaking is gone.

- NPC disposition?

- Fewer factions, and no skill requirements to progress in their ranks. (Oblivion had this problem too...)

I just don't like how TES games get dumbed down with every new installment.

I loved Morrowind, it's my favourite game to this day. I still play it, and it only needs a minimal amount of mods, most of which are graphical enhancements. Skyrim and Oblivion, however, requires a lot more mods for them to be equally enjoyable for me, and most of those mods are not graphical mods. I personally think Morrowind was a richer experience content-wise. Gameplay and graphics might have improved, but content has not.

To not make this comment all focused on the negative, here are some things that Skyrim improved on.

- Smithing. The previous games didn't have it, so it's a step forward. I wish we could craft other things too.

Uh... you know what. That's the only significant improvement I can think about off the top of my head.

There are technical improvements too though, like better level scaling than Oblivion, better graphics and animations. The UI was crap though. Bethesda has not made a decent UI since Morrowind.

Overall I have enjoyed playing Skyrim, it's not a bad game. It would probably be on my top 10 if I had one, but in comparison to what Bethesda has done in the past I'll not disagree with someone claiming it's lackluster. It's still not a bad game though.

It's definitely an RPG, given all the different things you can do, but there are some things that should have stayed from Oblivion, such as degrading armor and weapons, and spell making.

Brilliant game, possibly my favorite of all time, (hard decision ) yet there are still some things missing that can be added in future TES games.

If every game series kept the features the same in every installment then every game would feel recycled like Call of Duty or Assassins Creed. I miss some things and praise the loss of others but it makes Skyrim a TES game that's different from its predecessors which is a good thing.

Skyrim is an excellent game, I love the aesthetic and the environment and I do very much enjoy the freedom. But I don't like the unfinished quests, minimal dlc, and overall I admit that a great deal of it feels so much more shallow. I feel like a lot was rushed or too much emphasis was put on the pretty factor and not the meat of the game, not really sure how else to describe it. I love it more than Oblivion but Morrowind beats it by a mile. But despite a great deal of criticisms I have for the game I will easily state that it beats out the competition quite easily and I will continue to enjoy it for some time. Of course if I get bored with it I will return to my other love, Fallout.

Not true. All Bethesda Game Studios needs to do is improve them. Infinity Ward and Treyarch barely improve Call of Duty the graphics get improved some in Call of Duty but the Call of Duty sequels get the same maps added in the new Call of Duties that are released for sale sometimes. Bethesda Game Studios can improve so much more than Infinity Ward and Treyarch because Bethesda Game Studios releases a new The Elder Scrolls video game like every 3 years to 5 years for sale. While Infinity Ward and Treyarch releases a new Call of Duty every 2 years for sale. Call of Duty is showing it's age by not getting developed and improved for 3 years or 3+ years. A week ago Activision said that all new Call of Duties will be developed for 3 years now. I really hope Infinity Ward and Treyarch add a lot of new features and update the graphics a lot for all the new Call of Duties that they develop for 3 years.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim would of been so much more fun to play if the attributes, birthsigns, classes got added back, no loot and NPC's level scaling getting added again, armor and weapons degradation and repair hammers getting added back, spellmaking got added back, and regenerative health never being added.

If you wear Imperial armor or Stormcloak armor in the main quest while you are Imperial or Stormcloak there should be consequences and both of the factions should think you are a spy if you wear the enemies armor for a long time when not doing spy quests.

Same thing goes for the dragon quests once you kill Alduin and finish the dragon quests. Paarthurnax should raise a army of dragons to defend Tamriel from a bad dragon raising a army of dragons to destroy all of Tamriel.

All this stuff I said would of made The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim so much more enjoyable for a lot of people to play.

I know some of this stuff I said you like a lot while some stuff you don't like at all.

Might and Magic is a good example of a game that has kept mostly to its original roots. It doesn't feel repeated or recycled because they try every time to improve on it and polish it. We're not asking to keep it the same, we're asking

-If something seems broken don't take it out completely, instead actually work on it to build upon it and make it better

That isn't recycling. The best and worst anology I have is, pretend you're building a bike, this bike you built was completely perfect. Then one day you got a flat tire of your bike, you try to inflate it with an air pump, it doesn't refill. The tire is been flat for months now and your rides aren't as enjoyable.

Would you buy a new inner tube for the bike or take away the wheel because it's flat?

Oblivion had its flats, it had its problems. They should have fixed the wheel instead of taking it away.

I agree with the bit about some features being added in or removed, with the exception of level scaling.

Why would a spy wear their true faction's uniform in the presence of others? It may be viewed negatively, as if you're looting the enemy or disrespecting your own faction, but it makes no sense for them to think you're a spy. It's more likely that the other faction may think that, but since you're more a more prominent soldier of the faction than any except the leader and the second in command, I doubt anyone will be fooled.

Since there's a Dovahkiin mortal that just defeated the ultimate dragon and sent out the message that he'll svck up the soul of any dragon that messes with him, I doubt many dragons are willing to form an army to compete. They're independent and proud beings, and they recognize strength. The Dragonborn shows himself as the strongest among them by defeating the head-honcho dragon if there ever was one, and they won't fight for the losing side. This is covered to a degree in the story, but I'd rather not put out that specific spoiler in General Discussion.

^ This.

I have no comparison point, but it's an amazing RPG to me. I mean, if I can roleplay myself, the least likely person to ever exist in Skyrim...

We're not asking for an entirely same game as Morrowind and Oblivion, but we're also saying

-If it's broke fix it, don't take it away

And we're also saying

-If it isn't broken, don't take it away

I found Morrowind's questionnaire personable, quirky, with good humor. They took it away in Oblivion, but it wasn't broken. The leveling system in Skyrim sure had a flat, but that didn't meant to take it out and make another broken level system. It mean taking the time to fix it.

Sometimes, I do see Skyrim as a lackluster RPG when I see so many other companies listening to their fans. And I see a lot of other RPG companies trying to fix their mistake and unreave what they sow. For example Dragon Age 2. After such a fan backlash, Dragon Age 3 is trying to give their fans what they want. The only issue in this case is it's much much much to late.

If it isn't broken, don't gut it out or try to fix it you can't fix what isn't broken.

If its broken it can't get more broke it just means you have to fix it.

Because I want to heal only by eating food, resting, sleeping or with healing potions and healing spells. While I am in combat heal with healing spells when I kill all of the enemy NPC's heal by eating food, healing potions, resting or sleeping. I am not asking to be 100% realistic I just don't like regenerative health. I can kill 5+ enemy NPC's on easy difficulty and run around and heal while on master difficulty I can kill 3+ enemy NPC's and heal from running around it's dumb.

I don't agree with any of that returning unless they do a major overhaul of how it's handled, especially repair hammers as I loathed having to fix my sword after every fight...not fun at all imo.

I do however agree with the rest of your post, or at least the general idea of the things you speak about as the game could definitely use more attention to details. Someone should notice you're wearing the wrong armor and things of that nature.

I understand what you say but some things weren't merely flats, they were a cancer or plague on the game that should be removed to offer something more enjoyable to more people, especially since you can't please everyone. I loved Oblivion but there were many features that I'm glad are gone and others that I sorely miss yet that's the way things work when you move forward....not only the bad stuff gets left behind.

And I greatly disagree. You can keep what's good and only get rid of the bad. I have seen this with other games before. It isn't about making a new game or a better game. It's about evolving a game.

To be quite frank, fair, and honest. Skyrim is a game that has TES stickered on its cover to make people buy it.

The thing is what's "good" and "bad"? Those are relative terms and you can't please everyone...removing something will piss off many and please many more. Perfect example is that you guys miss things that I celebrate are gone (at least the way they were implemented) and I like certain changes that you loathe.

A small thing people like to love/hate is health regen, I like the idea but dislike how it's handled in Skyrim. I feel that health should regenerate over time but it should take a long time to regenerate and/or shouldn't regenerate during combat. I don't want to lug around potions with my warrior but the price of that should be no means of healing during a fight or long after it's finished, I should trudge along as a wounded man for awhile based off of my choice to not carry potions. Something like that would seem to please both parties or at least be meeting on middle ground.

First, I don't see how people can compare any open-world game to TES . Of the previous ones that were mentioned (DA, Witcher, etc.) the only one that fits is GTA, and that's an open-world action game, not an RPG. The Witcher 3 is going to be a sandbox, so we'll see how that compares, but up 'til now there hasn't been much out there, except a few in very different genres like X3 or GTA. Two Worlds is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

In terms of what's missing from Skyrim, I agree with most of what previous posters have said.

My personal spin is:

I want stats, and the use of those stats in the game world. I'd like the world to recognize and differentiate characters, so that a strong mage plays differently than a fleet warrior. Or so that a character with a high speech skill experiences the game differently than a drooling idiot. Some people say this doesn't matter, that you can just imagine whatever you want (even though the game ignores or even contradicts it), but in that case, why bother with the game at all?

And I want choices and consequences. I'd like my actions to (occasionally) change the world, and to have the world acknowledge that through gameplay. Maybe it means that I can't join the DB, kill the Emperor, then join the Imperials and kill Ulfric. Or that I'd have to master the magical arts to become archmage. IMO, this would be great, because I'd like a little sanity in my game world. And it means more surprises when you replay the game.

Also, and this ties in with the previous issue, I'd like to be able to fail. I'd like to fail quests, fail to make friends, and to have NPCs hold grudges if I act like an ass or perform an action that is against their interests. We currently have a faction system that has become more stupid with each iteration since Daggerfall. We've got Radiant AI tied into a Teletubbies faction system. I'd like to see that trend reversed.

Unfortunately, my vision and BGS vision seem to be radically divergent, and I think we're going to see future TES titles become even more "streamlined". And don't get me wrong, there are elements that Skyrim got right in a big way, such as exploration. It would just be nice if they put some effort into RPG elements as well.

Honestly, I felt I can RP better in V, vs III and IV; mainly the quests relating the Daedric Lords and some guilds. For once, my PC's soul becomes a consideration for the 3-4 DLs. Also, your PC in V gets some praise throughout the MQ, but still treated as an outsider or average person, whereas III and IV you tend to praised too much (speech has changed quite a bit in V and reputation is non-existent). Finally, the darkness of the game with the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild made me consider not do them almost at all where in III and IV it felt like it was not that big of a deal (for III, replace DB with Morag Tong and at worst have a writ ready).