FO3 had pretty good writing IMO and at least there was choice. Dr. Li and Co were still memorable in my view.

But did Skyrim win story awards? I doubt it - it could have been much better. And the increased competition from other RPGs will encourage Bethesda to hire better writers or risk being beaten.

Nobody's asking them to please everyone, we're asking them to not give us a half-assed storyline or cringe away from the word "consequences".

Look at how many people here think that Bethesda's attempts at game balance are jokes, and how terrible Skyrim's writing was. Marriage is half-assed, no matter how you look at it, and the so-called freedom is completely meaningless when 99% of the game's quests and storylines are so linear they could draw a straight line.

You are right, they can't please eveyone, but the criticism is usually pretty focused (in Oblivion it was the atrocious level scaling, in Skyrim it's the faction questlines). They have fixed the level scaling (seeing FO3 and Skyrim toned it down a lot), so I assume they should do somethiung about the writing too. Fan feedback is (imo) more important than journalism scores. Journalists tend to be gentle with big studios and legendary franchises.

Honesly, the majority of people love Skyrim. Yes, there are flaws, but they love the game nonetheless. They didn't half do the game. I only see a few people here that don't like the game or think they did a terrible job.

Okay okay. You're making more sense now, and I see your point. I just don't like it when people blame the studio entirely. They're trying their best to please the majority of the fans. If the majority doesn't like something, they'll change it and that's what constructive criticism is for. I for one enjoyed the questlines(for the majority of the time). The Companions questline was pretty bad, but the concept is good. It was still enjoyable, though. Meeting the different personas of all of the Companions. Seeing Skor dead made me sad, actually. I would have to say that the story line that I liked the most has to be the Dark Brotherhood's, but that's a different topic for a different thread.

well none of those are changable from 3rd to 1 first person view. so there still not like an elder scrolls game you can. and you can pick up almost anything to the smallest knife to the biggest useless vase. its not the most in depth rpg but who cares there enough of those out there. the elder scrolls keep me entertained for years isn't that what games are about?

I only complain about games that i like. Because i don't play, or hang in the forums of, games that i don't like

I don't think anyone here gives the impression that they don't like the game. Otherwise they wouldn't be here like I'm not in a CoD IV 2, IV 3, IV 4, IV 5 (how many COD IVs are there?) forums. There is something in common with most of the people that will give a "negative" review of it. None will say it is a bad game. Because it isn't. Nonetheless the points they make, are something that I cannot defend because most of the time the "negative" things they point out are true.

For example:

http://youtu.be/84WvpwyEJw8?t=22s

http://youtu.be/0drfXA7vVkk?t=1m34s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnfLdsxUDbM

http://youtu.be/joBYYNxY6rg?t=1m13s

All of these summarize rather well the reasons why it's is such a lackluster RPG. As much as I like Skyrim, I can't find myself to argue with their points because most of what they say it's true. And if mine and other fans complaining make for a better future TES game like Dragon Age 3 will probably be after Dragon Age 2, then I will keep on doing so.

However, others tend to think if someone says something negative about a game, that means that they hate it and are trolls. Like I said before, I love Skyrim I do, but I'll consider it a Sandbox with RPG elements, In my opinion I don't see it as an RPG.

Also how this topic keeps coming up even years after release always by different people should tell something too

No.

Ah, the classic "IF NO LIKE NO PLAY DERH" argument that isn't actually an argument.

Whose to say we don't like it? Didn't know pointing out something's flaws means we dislike something to the point someone needs to indicate we shouldn't play it then. It seems we must ignorantly hold hands and sing about how perfect this game is when we ignore the issues.

I love playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Why? Because I play the PC version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim with mods I download from the Nexus mods website and a bunch of other websites and mods I make my self and I love the open video game world I can explore in video games developed by Bethesda Game Studios. However vanilla The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is so boring that I cannot play for 30 minutes per day to 1 hour per day. With mods I can play for more than 1 hour per day.

Removing attributes, birthsigns, classes, armor and weapon degradation, repair hammers, and spellmaking and adding regenerative health is the worst thing Bethesda Game Studios ever did to a The Elder Scrolls video game. I have a mod I downloaded which brings back attributes, birthisgns in a menu as well as being able to choose from the Guardian Stones, classes in a menu which is very balanced with the perks and perk trees. A mod that brings back armor and weapons degradation and repair hammers with a animation for the top of the swords actually breaking when the swords break and making repair hammers useful I can use the repair hammers at the black smith forges to repair armor and weapons.

I hate having to download mods or create my own mods using the Creation Kit to have the features that the old The Elder Scrolls video games have because Bethesda Game Studios never added those features back which takes time away for me which I could of used to create my own new landmasses, NPC's, quests, etc.

Having the freedom to create your character however you want and to explore the video game world does not make a RPG video game a RPG video game. Those are RPG elements for RPG video games but Bethesda Game Studios removing some features that the old The Elder Scrolls video games have is a step back and adding features that don't belong in some RPG video games in this case The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim having regenerative health does not belong in The Elder Scrolls video games only when you eat food, use healing potions, use healing spells, rest or sleep then your health should regenerate. Videos games like Mass Effect having regenerative health and shields and video games like Halo having regenerative shields makes sense because they are set in the future where medical science is advanced so much that you can have the nano bots or nano machines injected into your blood stream to heal you. Where as medieval video games or medieval fantasy video games like The Elder Scrolls video games do not have this (Yet). Just 1 thing or 2 things alone do not make a RPG video game a RPG video game. I am not saying The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is not a RPG video game I am just saying Bethesda Game Studios developed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to be way to easy and have barley any challenge which bores me. Only mods make The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim more enjoyable for me to play because I can download mods that add whatever I want or I can create my own mods to do whatever I want with the Creation Kit.

I probably can develop a better video game than Bethesda Game Studios if I took my time to do it. I went to college for 3 years studying C, C++, Visual basics, and Java Script and I have been creating my own mods since 1998.

I am not going to purchase any more video games developed by Bethesda Game Studios that gets released for sale in the future anymore because of this easy simple stuff Bethesda Game Studios added to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. If Bethesda Game Studios brings back the old features and removes regenerative health then I will gladly purchase any new video game that Bethesda Game Studios develops and releases for sale in the future.

OP, I think lackluster may be a little harsh, however I do believe it was rushed to meet the deadline they set (11.11.11).

Also mods are not an excuse, although it is a nice feature to have. Think of the console players.

I plan on not pre-ordering or doing day one downloads until I know that the writing/ guild quests are going to be improved and I am not going to be some kind of hero type with special powers. Simply put money is what game developers understand so I will speak their language. I plan to be much more careful in my evaluation of the game before I purchase from now on.

There's much room for improvement here. Still I know people love Skyrim or they wouldn't be taking time to contribute to the topic.

Can't please everyone.

I was going to say the same thing. Just about everything people miss from earlier games have mods for them. Thats why i could never play a Tes game on a console. Mods make this game truely amazing.

Yes. Of course mods aren't an excuse for Beth choosing to not add something but instead of complaining about what's missing, just download a mod for it if you're on PC. I haven't seen a whole lot of people complaining about Skyrim anyway.