Skyrim is Soulless

Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:16 am

An interesting article I agree on partially. Author has been credited properly.

Page I

I could not be trusted to play "just a little" of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim when it was first released. A pattern quickly revealed itself: find a dungeon, kill everything within it, make multiple trips back and forth from said dungeon to my house in the city of Whiterun to stow all the loot, and then sort through and sell everything I looted and decided not to keep.

I could do this for eight hours at a stretch if I lost track of time on a weekend, and the fact that I was completely disinterested in the story and only cared about killing things and taking their stuff was my first clue that something was off about Skyrim, but I couldn't lay my finger on the problem. Then I met Agnis the Fort Frau.

One of the lovely things about Skyrim is there is no doubt whatsoever if a human being is an enemy or not. They will warn you to stay away, and if you get too close they attack. This was the reaction of the bandits in the courtyard of Fort Greymoor when my companion Lydia and I strolled through the arch over the front gate. We efficiently slaughtered the bandits outside before we kicked down the front door and, like hot knives through butter, sliced through their friends in the Fort's interior.

Two of the last bandits to fall were in what looked like a kitchen. Just as I finished stripping the loot from their dead bodies, which included all their clothing and therefore left them lying on the ground in nothing but underwear, I noticed an old woman standing next to me.

Her name was Agnis. She wasn't attacking me, so wasn't an enemy. I clicked on her to try and begin a conversation. "I just cook and clean and do whatever they ask of me," she said. I thought, "Why isn't she reacting to the two dead bandits at her feet?" If she was being held prisoner, which I took as her meaning, then why wasn't she glad to see two of her captors dead? I clicked on her again.

"I can't even keep track of all the people who have been in and out of this fort," she told me. "They come, they go, I barely notice!" I sighed at the lost opportunity for some proper roleplaying. Why didn't the game developers recognize the emotional potential in this encounter? I could have told Agnis she was free, and she could have fled to the nearby city of Whiterun where I would have found her later and basked in the good deed I'd done.

Maybe serving those bandits was the only life Agnis had ever known, and she could have been angry at me for killing them all, forcing me to decide whether wandering the wilderness looking for Forts to empty of their inhabitants and loot to sell was something I could do without considering the consequences. Agnis muttered something about having cleaning to do, instead, and a broom magically appeared in her hands whereupon she began sweeping the floor around the pair of half-naked dead bodies.

I returned to my looting. The next room was a storeroom, and when I saw all the food and wine on the shelves I thought, "What is Agnis going to eat and drink if I take all this?" Understand that I normally looted a dungeon blind of every single item that wasn't nailed down and might have had value to a merchant. I had left countless hideouts and dungeons filled with nothing other than empty metal tankards and wooden plates and bowls.

The word "Steal," written in red letters, did not appear when I passed my crosshair over the items on those shelves in Fort Greymoor, meaning the items didn't belong to anyone, much less Agnis. All of that food and wine was therefore fair game but I left it alone, and as I continued my looting spree left anything that might have been of value to Agnis where I found it.

Page II

When I'd finished exploring the Fort I returned to the kitchen where Agnis was now cooking something in a pot over the fire. I clicked on her. "Hard enough to keep up with who owns this Fort," she said. "One side takes over, the other runs away. I tell them, 'I ain't leaving, I come with the place.' Ha!" and returned to her cooking.

I saw a room connected to the kitchen and peeked in to investigate. It was Agnis's room, and the items in her dresser and on her table and shelves would earn me enough money to make it worth my while to take them. They still weren't indicated as items I would be stealing, but definitely felt like they belonged to Agnis.

"I remember one morning long time ago, I woke up and the place was run by some Orcs," she said when I clicked on her again. "Went to bed that night, it was all vampires. Pshh. Don't matter to me!" When I clicked on her once more, she muttered, "Now, then, I've been gabbing long enough. Too much cleaning to do." The broom appeared in her hands again and she swept the floor upon which the two corpses still laid.

I tried to get more out of Agnis but she'd run out of dialog. She ceased to feel real to me. I loaded up Lydia and myself with loot, and made the trek to the city of Whiterun to drop all that loot off in my character's house before returning to Fort Greymoor for the rest.

Upon my return I found Imperials, soldiers from a human empire occupying the land of Skyrim, in charge of the Fort. I had no quarrel with the Imperials and so kept my distance when they warned me away, sneaking back into the Fort through a side door so that I could collect the rest of my rightfully-earned loot, and ran into Agnis again.

Nothing had changed. She was still oblivious to the two corpses on the floor getting in the way of her broom. Her indifference to the change in ownership at Fort Greymoor was in line with her previous dialogue, but even a little recognition of the fact that I had changed the conditions of her world yet again would have been nice. After all, it was just one more line of dialog to record.

I finally realized the problem I was having with Skyrim: It felt soulless. I may as well have killed Agnis and taken her stuff, because what did it matter whether she was there or not? I suspected that nothing I did would ever matter, and that has been my experience as I've progressed through the game. Skyrim is a huge world drawn with a level of detail that entices us to lose ourselves there, and is filled with things to do, enough to keep us occupied probably for years. But it also feels empty and pointless.

Everyone is so impressed with Skyrim, but I can't help thinking about another open-world role-playing game published by Bethesda last year, Fallout: New Vegas. By the time I had logged as many hours into New Vegas as I have in Skyrim, I felt like I had big decisions to make that were really going to change the world of New Vegas.

Perhaps I haven't arrived at that point yet in Skyrim, but I'm finding it difficult to continue caring about a world that feels completely indifferent to me and what I'm doing.

First Person is a weekly column by Boston, MA-based freelancer Dennis Scimeca. You can read some of his other musings on his blog punchingsnakes.com, or follow his random excitations on Twitter: @DennisScimeca.

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Alada Vaginah
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:34 pm

I played that fort, too.

I assumed she was nuts.

The article writer is what's wrong with gaming today. No imagination.

Besides, it's The Escapist. They're almost as [censored] as every other gaming site.

Rock Paper Shotgun is about the only gaming site I remotely trust to give me anything approaching a useful or independent opinion.
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Claire Jackson
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 3:24 am

I see the guy's point and all, but he's doing the whole "I want an InfiniteGame to play on my InfiniteComputer" thing that just can't happen. Boundaries exist - deal =)
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joseluis perez
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:28 am

I played that fort, too.

I assumed she was nuts.

The article writer is what's wrong with gaming today. No imagination.

Besides, it's The Escapist. They're almost as [censored] as every other gaming site.

Rock Paper Shotgun is about the only gaming site I remotely trust to give me anything approaching a useful or independent opinion.


I assume you didn't even bother reading the credits. I will highlight the keyword for you: Freelancer No gaming website can be trusted because there is always bias, one way or another. I merely featured an article written by someone beyond Escapist's staff.
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Bee Baby
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:45 am

See, my own take on Agnis is that she lives, has always lived, and always will live at, Fort Greymoor. Her comments said to me that it didn't really matter who else lived there - they were all transient occupiers. Only she was constant. As such, it didn't really matter to her whether the bandits lived, died or were replaced.

She's kind of like a ghost who hasn't died yet.
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Elisha KIng
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:52 pm

I dont agree....
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Keeley Stevens
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:53 am

Dark souls is soulful
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Bee Baby
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:09 am

The article writer is what's wrong with gaming today. No imagination.


I agree. I think the author put as much time into the article as he did Skyrim.
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(G-yen)
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:56 am

I played that fort, too.

I assumed she was nuts.

The article writer is what's wrong with gaming today. No imagination.

Besides, it's The Escapist. They're almost as [censored] as every other gaming site.

Rock Paper Shotgun is about the only gaming site I remotely trust to give me anything approaching a useful or independent opinion.


I hardly think the writer was talking about one single NPC in Skyrim...he was talking about the majority, if not all of the NPC's in Skyrim....do you assume they're all nuts? Bit of a stretch for the imagination.
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Phoenix Draven
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 4:50 am

I agree. I think the author put as much time into the article as he did Skyrim.

Agreed.
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Tiffany Castillo
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:43 pm

I think the fact that he considered whether or not it was moral to kill Agnis kinda disproves his point. While she might not be the deepest character in the game, she was interesting enough to simply let her go on her crazy cooking ways.
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lexy
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:59 pm

I played that fort, too.

I assumed she was nuts.

The article writer is what's wrong with gaming today. No imagination.

Besides, it's The Escapist. They're almost as [censored] as every other gaming site.

Rock Paper Shotgun is about the only gaming site I remotely trust to give me anything approaching a useful or independent opinion.


This! So much this! I've actually seen a good article or two from that site, but comeon man, use some imagination! So over-critical.
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JD bernal
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:38 pm

I'll have to agree that Skyrim lacks "soul" but for another reasons. I don't know why but it feels so... hollow. It's not the lack of proper dialogue as I felt much more "in" Fallout 3 for example. Is it the environment? The silence? There is not much music in the game... Truth is even Oblivion felt more captivating for me, and that's saying a lot.


I like Skyrim a lot but it's... weird.


Lack of music, no people around, 99% of enemies are either generic bandits or critters... mysteries of my life. Maybe I'll be changing my mind once I get further in the story.
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Silencio
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:08 pm

Not really sure why people are disagreeing with the review, it's blatantly true. It just comes down to whether you let it bother you or not. In my case, it doesn't really bother me. As someone above said, all games have limitations in certain areas. It just would of been nice to flesh out this particular area a bit.
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Tamika Jett
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:45 pm

Wow. I completely agree with the overall point here. He states the game is soulless, something I'd normally disbelieve and disregard, and details clear reasoning as to why it is so. After reading, my mind is changed: I agree. As great as Skyrim is, as detailed, expansive, and unique it is, it still feels very much like a world that doesn't care for my accomplishments within it.

It's strange, because previous Bethesda titles have all had a world that changed around the decisions you make. I'm still going to enjoy playing the game, but it feels uncomfortably akin to The Elder Scrolls series as what Dragon Age 2 was to Dragon Age: Origins.
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Keeley Stevens
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:58 am

This! So much this! I've actually seen a good article or two from that site, but comeon man, use some imagination! So over-critical.


Once more, the person writing is a Freelancer, not someone from the Escapist. Also on the other note, Escapist featured some thoughtful articles and shows like "Extra Credits" related to gaming. Don't be overly defensive to one man's perception on a game.
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Claudz
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:27 am

In a game as huge as Skyrim, writing in all these "if/then" scripted conversations and events would take years. The game was already in development for five years, how long does he want to wait for a game?

This is where ROLEPLAYING comes in. As someone so eloquently posted above, Agnis is resigned to her fate, as being the fort's caregiver for whomever takes it. This is her lot in life and she's accepted it.

That is called role playing- creating a scenario from the scripted event you are given.

This guy has no imagination and expects the game to write the story for him- that's not roleplaying, that's just going from point A to point B and doing what the game tells you to do.
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Austin Suggs
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 3:58 pm

Agnis is
Spoiler
just there to be killed for a Dark Brotherhood quest


Really though Skyrim does okay for reactions to the players deeds, to expect every NPC to have unique responses based on player action is absurd.
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Richard Dixon
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:43 am

There is a quest around Agnis. Not the deepest quest with character development ever... But still, there is a quest around her.
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Lexy Dick
 
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Post » Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:56 pm

is the people on this site even elder scrolls fans?...I joined this site becouse i love elder scrolls and thaught this community was different from the other "whine,complain communities...
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Amber Ably
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:51 am

I don't really care for any real emotion in the game though I guess I do understand what he's saying. I took on a quest in Winterhold to unnoticeably kill one of the jarl's men and when i did, some guy ran upstairs, "I'll find whoever's responsible for this and kill them," or something to that extent but after that, nothing happened. There are too many NPCs for all of them to have a heartfelt backstory or over ten lines of dialogue. I just move past it.
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Alyesha Neufeld
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 3:34 pm

I assume you didn't even bother reading the credits. I will highlight the keyword for you: Freelancer No gaming website can be trusted because there is always bias, one way or another. I merely featured an article written by someone beyond Escapist's staff.


You do realise editors decide what kind of articles are published. Editors are the gatekeepers, allowing in only that which suits them. Ergo, this 'independent' review was published by The Escapist because the editor okayed its contents. Ergo, it's a biased website.

(I don't know how things work over at Rock Paper Shotgun. I have to assume things there are similar. However, they've proved time and again that they're a responsible, intelligent, 'legit' gaming website.)

Also:

I hardly think the writer was talking about one single NPC in Skyrim...he was talking about the majority, if not all of the NPC's in Skyrim....do you assume they're all nuts? Bit of a stretch for the imagination.


Sure, there are going to be weird interactions in a game this large. Could it have been done better? Yes. But is it soulless? No. It's leaps and bounds an improvement over previous TES titles.

If you want an example of soulless, look to DA2.
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Amy Siebenhaar
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 8:01 am

is the people on this site even elder scrolls fans?...I joined this site becouse i love elder scrolls and thaught this community was different from the other "whine,complain communities...


I am sure they are. I know I did.
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Emma louise Wendelk
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:57 am

Another complaint by someone who doesn't have a clue about how coding works. He said "it would only be another recorded line" ignoring all the validation the software needs to do to trigger that line in the proper circunstances.

There are so many possibilities and combinations and different ways for events to happen in Skyrim that it's humanly impossible for the developers to predict and code them all in the game. That's when your imagination should come in and fill the gaps. But clearly some people want their food to be served already chewed and only have the trouble to swallow it.
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Rachel Hall
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:50 am

Wow. I completely agree with the overall point here. He states the game is soulless, something I'd normally disbelieve and disregard, and details clear reasoning as to why it is so. After reading, my mind is changed: I agree. As great as Skyrim is, as detailed, expansive, and unique it is, it still feels very much like a world that doesn't care for my accomplishments within it.

It's strange, because previous Bethesda titles have all had a world that changed around the decisions you make. I'm still going to enjoy playing the game, but it feels uncomfortably akin to The Elder Scrolls series as what Dragon Age 2 was to Dragon Age: Origins.


Yeah, there's something to that I think. I'm not sure I'd refer to it as soul-less, but there's sometimes a bit of an absent bang when you get to the end of a quest trail. Become the leader of a guild and you're rewarded with - different random dialogue. I'd say you should be able to do things like send people out on missions to earn more gold ... but of course, getting more gold is rarely a problem later in the game anyway.
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Lyd
 
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