First off, the "Game of the Generation" was an opinion written by someone who thought this game deserved the title. It's not a fact, so to disagree with it is perfectly reasonable. I vehemently disagree with the opinion, because there are better games designed by Bethesda which can beat it.

But I digress, before yet another can of worms is opened.

While the game does have its faults, the best way to sum this game up is "Here. You've just been dropped off at Helgen, nearly had your head cut off, and a dragon's interference allowed you to escape. What do YOU plan on doing now?"

Depends on what you're using. Mages use magic, warriors use handed weapons, and theives use daggers/bows, but NONE of these are restricted to the type of character you want to play. You can do it all, if you want.

Combat is simple. Just press the RT button and hack away.

It blows, and badly. It's the very reason I can never agree this game is the best of this generation. The perk system is flawed which means you'll be OP (over powered) before level 30, and the combat quickly bores because of it.

The leveling system is a sliding scale, and worse, any time you enter an area, clear it, and should find some reason to return to it, only the "final boss" is leveled while all the other inhabitants are fixed at the level you first entered the area.

The design for this system makes sense: rarely do we return to a place we've cleaned out. That is, unless a quest sends you back and you happened to explore the area earlier than planned.

Because you're OP, you'll get to the stage in the game where you can literally one-shot kill a dragon with an arrow. Damage? HA! By the time you've leveled up your smithing skills, you can attain the armor cap which makes you near impossible to kill.

All this because leveling blows.

You can "gimp" your character, refusing to take perks and staying away from ultra weapons and armor, but then you run the risk of trying to figure out where the balance is, and this game doesn't have one.

For example, when you hit level 10, new enemies appear, wearing better armor and using better weapons, but the jump is so instant, you'll find yourself watching the loading screen instead of a death. This WILL happen with your first time play, so expect it.

Despite this flaw, it's still a game I'd recommend, so buy it, play it, then come back and tell us what you think.

Sure, just don't try and sell it as a game that "gives you the ability to go anywhere, do anything and be anyone" like you are because that is very easy to prove false. As I said, even things that were advertised are not included in the finished product. Also, I don't think we should expect seemingly random NPCs to be immortal even after any quests involving them have been completed.

Verily tis true and you can set enemies on fire with torches! You can chop their heads off and see the blood run! You can be temporarily blinded by magic using vampire thralls! You can turn into a werewolf and kill people! You can eat pie and feel fly as you get hungry in real life! You can talk to talking dogs! You can go in haunted dungeons and help a ghost couple rest in peace! You can walk to every single mountain, road and valley you see and beyond! You can swim underwater and drown with a frown as a golden crown alludes you! You can fight mean mighty dragons that make you go bouncy! bouncy! on the ground! You can be anything you want be it boy girl lizard or even a cute big kitty cat with flesh cutting claws!

SKYRIM a world of imagination existing in a place of here and not there.

All this can happen in real life, as well. Let's go harvest some shrooms.

Eh? I wouldn't read too much into it, skyrim was fun and all but I think there are better games out there for instance in my opinion Crusader Kings 2 is better and it's community is certainly very active, same for a lot of games I can name off the top of my head.

These are good games (haven't played RDR but the other two), but they are basically linear shooters. Elder Scrolls is a completely different ballgame.

To the OP, what makes it good is player freedom in a beautiful, highly immersive and interactable world. Open world medievalish fantasy at its best.

Where to start with what is great about Skyrim?

I'll try to share what I think by describing what I miss about games that aren't Skyrim.

After playing Skyrim solidly all year (yes I'm a later starter compared to some), I have ventured to try another game. Already I miss Skyrim and I am asking this other game "Why can't I play as a female?", "Why can't I have less eye liner?", "Why can't I eat anything?", "Can't I store my excess stuff somewhere?", "OK, I've killed a bunch of people now, why can't I craft something?", "Can't I pick these flowers and make some poison - no." , "How long am I stuck wearing these clothes for?". etc. etc.

And I certainly can't do any of the things that REL_Dovahkin says that you can't do in Skyrim in any form.

Plus, I am yet to find a forum for this other game that is nearly as good as this one. No people who write as if they are spoilt 12 yo trolls here.

Honestly skyrim is one of those games that not only is it amazing but also has baffling design choices and flaws that some people would consider limiting the RPG aspect. It's like a strange game that leans both ways at the same time(if possible) because despite how great it is role-playing at times through clothing is very difficult given the lack of variety, colors, designs, things coded in the game that can't be crafted(aka leather hoods...etc) really stupid stuff that makes people rage towards bethesda. I could say why I like it but honestly unless you play it yourself TC i don't think you'll understand why some consider it amazing.

As mentioned previously, what makes this game set apart from others is all in the adventuring. This game, time after time blows me away when I start to discover things that are new. For example...In Skyrim, you can go from A to B for a quest. With the fast travel feature you can do this instantaneously, however when you have to travel from one side of the country to the other and DO NOT fast travel, the adventure is quite thrilling and you would be missing out on all of the possibilities of what happens from the journey there had you quickly fast traveled. This game features random encounters which is what really sets it apart from many others, and Bethesda does this well.

I think i'll stick to reel life in this here small hot room

This is one of the reasons I hardly use fast travel but am glad the choice to use it is there. Even when am bogged down with dungeon loot and am in the mood for some selling and buying I still walk it to the nearest town if am not distracted by another dungeon. In which case chances are a lot of stuff is gonna get dumped for the new loot I find.

Because Pokemon wasn't included in the running, for reasons they refuse to explain.

Sees the title
Shakes head in disbelief
Opens mouth but shuts it after thinking

Goes and pet my copy of morrowind and fonv



But seriously, skyrims a fun game as long as u roleplay ur character in ur mind and don't expect the game to really react differently towards ir character than any other character. What most people like about skyrim....is exploration in a nut shell. Not the writing, the questlines, the factions, etc. Its the fluff that makes people love skyrim. The exploration, crafting, and exploring. Once ir done exploring and imagining ur story in ur head and actually start playing the game....then that's when it starts to fall short.
Its a fun game but don't go in expecting the "ultimate!!!!" roleplaying experience and u won't be as disappointed and can look over the flaws because u was expecting less and find it very enjoyable.

If its ur first tes game, then its over. Bethesda has this thing to where the first game u play from them, the majority thinks its just the most awesome thing in the world!!! Then the next games start coming out and they start sounding like the ones who played tes games before skyrim came out and start conplaining about the faults and the MANY things that are axed instead lf fixed.

Its a love/hate/tolerate relationship basically.

So I've said my pieve and people are more than welcome to disagree, but I'm going back to spend even more hours into korrowind and fonv. Grab a plasma rifle or a trip on a stilstrider and met ya there over some skooma or psycho...ur choice

The open world and character design offers tons of variety. I've made so many characters already, and I have plenty more types I want to try that'll keep me going.

In a subjective mind.

What makes Skyrim good is simply the vast handcrafted world full of detail, and the TES universe that goes along with it. Everything else varies from being good, average, or bad. Combat is just as dull as any other TES game, mash a button to hack and slash. Magic, in Skyrim's case, is just as simplistic. The leveling is questionable, but I've had no major problems with it. Use certain skills makes you better at them, and these increasing skills increase your level. Through that will you gain perks that can be used on specific skills to improve them. What is unfortunate about this however is if you've already mastered all of your desired skills can you no longer progress in level unless you force your character into mastering another skill. Worse, some skills are just so hard to level you'll have to boost them through cheap methods which is just tedious and ever so boring.

You can tell from post here that people mostly enjoy the freedom there is in exploring a large game world. Climbing mountains, diving into dungeons, slaying dragons, discovering treasures, using pointless features such as marriage, etc. Just the freedom for which the game provides. Which at the same time lacks freedom in certain areas, and specific areas just being mediocre (such as quest) and others being purely awful (story/writing, quest lines/guilds, lack of specific features and content).

By no means is the game bad, but neither is it perfect. It's simply a good game.

Because you don't play a Bethesda game. You LIVE a Bethesda game.

You can't live Call of Cthulhu.

Fallout New Vegas > Skyrim, but thats just my opinion.

I'm actually with you on that.

Wait wut? Someone agreed that FNV is better? Don't get me wrong, as a whole I love TES' lore more than Fallout's and I'm biased towards liking fantasy more than sci fi. However, it still doesn't change the fact, FNV is a better RPG.

Very true for me as well. I actually like it more than any of the TES games. A rather bold thing to say, but that's how much I love Fallout New Vegas.

Call of Cthulu also wasn't developed by Bethesda, they just published it.

I think the "you need to experience it for yourself" people are definitely the most right. Skyrim (or any Elder Scrolls game really) doesn't seem that great when you try to break it down into it's individual parts. The graphics are middle of the road, the combat is simplistic, the leveling isn't anything to write home about, the quests are meh, there aren't many (any?) particularly memorable or engaging characters.

The things that make Skyrim, or any Bethesda game, great are the scope and scale of the world. Nobody makes engaging, open worlds like Beth, You'll never run out of new things to find, or new places to see. The only other studio that's even close in that regard is Rockstar. And with that that world is the degree of freedom that you're given. You can be anything or anybody that you want. You'll never run out of things to do, because the game encourages players to just find their own adventures.

I don't know if I'd say it's the greatest game of this generation (this generation generally means this generation of consoles, so games that were released between the launch of the 360 and launch of the PS4), it's hard to say. Honestly, it comes down to individual taste more than anything. I'f undoubtedly dedicated more time to Skyrim than any other game this generation.

To call Skyrim the greatest game of this generation is a little far-fetched (pokemon yay) if you ask me. Overall as a whole package nothing can really stand up to RDR this gen, it's the complete package.

It's not even the best RPG this gen although it's certainly superior to the vast majority of these days but their are deeper and more sophisticated RPG's out their right now, Xenoblade Chronicles, Fire Emblem Awakening or New Vegas to name a few.

Mass Effect 3 could have triumphed if it hadn't had that crap ass ending it had. What a damn waste.

Some people say they're tough because they've been in a war. Some say they're strong because they lived in Detroit...

When my grandkids come and say, what did you do Grandpa?

I can say:

"I pre-ordered Mass Effect 3....

COLLECTOR'S EDITION".

I hate fallout new vegas. Too much BORING dialog, not much stuff to do, terrible main story and AN ENDING which is a TERRIBLE ENDING.