» Sat Feb 19, 2011 7:48 am The story was great. The atmosphere spot on. The music seems fitting. But then you see it, a small detail that you take notice of that is out of place. You shrug it off in your mind and continue playing.
It is the small things sometimes that break immersion in a game. And even though they are not as important as the music, the plot and an otherwise bug free game they can still be the difference between a masterpiece and a game appraised for its efforts to be great (although not necessarily achieving the rank of "masterpiece").
What subtle details would you like to see Skyrim get right? The small things that might not matter by themselves, but when added up can be that icing on the cake so to speak that pushes a great game into a masterpiece of art to be compared to other games for years to come.
I will bring up a few subtle details that I think the Elder Scrolls franchise has been doing in the last few installments, and then some I would like to see.
- Clutter Items. When you go into somebody's house you see plates, food stuffs, dining table and chairs, bedrooms with clothing in them. It is not something that you might notice consciously, but that is kind of the point. Your brain is well suspended in the belief of the world of Nirn and has no good reason yet to exit and let you know something is amiss.
- Believable Item Rarity. This one is from Morrowind with their static items and goes hand in hand with the less valuable "Clutter Items". I loved the rarity of Daedric items and even items like Glass and Ebony. It really struck a proper balance, and I still remember my first play through the game and discovering the different armor pieces, I really felt like they did that well. It was a subtle thing, but the rarity of the items and where they occurred just made sense (still remember finding my first glass armor at Ghost Gate and my mind just believed that "this is where I would find something rare, at the garrison outside the Ghost Gate." It just seemed to make sense).
- Natural Walking Speed. This subtle detail I will take from Red Dead Redemption where your character actually looks like he is walking at a natural speed, and in a natural way. They did this very well and it really added to the immersion.
- Natural Salutations. Again with RDR, a natural "salute" or the way people said hello. It wasn't overbearing (like it has been in some games), and it felt natural. A subtle detail that goes a long way when added up with other things. And to add to this subtlety a lack of salute, maybe just a quick glance instead of a verbal exchange would be more natural in some cases. Make my character feel less like the center of the universe (if you've seen Inception that can be a good comparison, you don't want everybody around you to "stare" or continue to acknowledge you're the only living person in the game).
What are some subtle details you'd like to see in Skyrim?
Go ahead and close. Can't believe I missed that I feel embarrassed T_T (always an embarrassing moment to make a new thread at the top of the page only to see the one below it with 3 pages on the exact same topic! Seven is fail at making new threads)
