I love TES and this thread is not just about SKyrim (of course it's Skyrim that made me think about it, but still... it's about the whole series) but man, I think Bethesda Games Studios can't do animations! I wonder how they don't see it and hire better people. In Morrowind they were bad, but the world and the story compensated. In Oblivion they focused hard on graphics, physics, radiant this, radiant that, more on the technology part and the clunky animations were emphasized even more.

In Skyrim they were supposed to have better animations on a 'new' engine (ok) but the improvement is soooo small that I'm again disappointed by these people... and I don't mean the whole team, I'm pointing specifically at you, guys, you who worked 4 years on character and creature animations. Your work is not on par with the others' and it makes the game look beautiful, sound amazing and move ugly. The way people eat? Man, Gothic 1 had that kind of animations in 2001. The way creatures fight and run? Just look at the rabbits for Pete's sake, there is no coordination between how their legs move and their run speed. Was Skyrim supposed to use Havok behavior? Well, if it does, I can't perceive it! The combat animations are few and not natural. NPCs don't react to the various hits.

I don't want to be rude, it's just my opinion as a customer: I hope Bethesda hires animators who have better skills because overall the animations are the ones that look the worst when I play (ie when a NPC is using the stairs... omg! their legs sink one foot under ) What about you, what do you think needs changed asap?

For me it's the writing. The writing is poor compared to the world design, music, quests, ect. They need better writing, storytelling. This series deserves better stories, better main quest and much better dialogue lines.

The blend between action and rpg stats and that.

Morrowind was 50-10 (good rpg, crap combat)
Oblivion was 20-20 (poor rpg, poor combat)
Skyrim was 30-30 (poor rpg, poor combat)

What i have noticed is that they are trying to put in MORE action, which is fine! The problem is that they are sacrificing The rpg elements. There are ways to blend them both better. We want something that's 100,100

If I had to choose just one then the weak part is the npc-characters. They lack character, they are usually lifeless, emotionless and they act like quest hubs instead of being human. Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate spoiled me with complex memorable characters with feelings and strong backstory. They used to talk to each other and provide me the feeling that I'm actually into a party with individual personalities, not just brainless henchmen. That's what I think TES would benefit the most, they should improve the interaction with the Npcs, make them more complex, give them tons of dialogue and strong personalities. From that point on everything around will magically become more meaningful because it's more interesting when you actually care about the people you help and save.

I am a fan of general improvement in all the departments. I don't like when a game has visible strong points and low points, I want everything to blend in the big picture smoothly. Morrowind lacked combat, Oblivion lacked a society, Skyrim lacks RPG mechanics.

Hear hear!

Yep, their animations svck. I dare say that Skyrim actually does them worse than Oblivion. There's a lot more clipping, the combat moves are ridiculously over-the-top (that dual-wield guard... seriously), and what's up with the exorbitant amount of hip-shaking while running? Not to mention the complete lack of thrusting attacks since Morrowind (in which they were ugly).

Another is the user interface. Morrowind's was great, Daggerfall's was kinda OK, Oblivion's was awkwardness incarnate, and Skyrim's is a crime against humanity. Now, don't go telling me that the added content needs bigger and clumsier menus, because, uh, there's less content. The lack of the paperdoll in Skyrim drives me crazy.

I couldn't disagree more. Nothing spoils an RPG worse than a writer who's already determined the outcome of everything for you. I want to be able to write the story myself, by the actions of my avatar. What that requires is that the consequences of my actions should actually affect the game world, which is actually much harder than just writing a story that has only one course. (But it does also need better dialogue, so we agree on something!)

Agreed, animations are still below the standards of 2011. World of Warcraft has more death animations which is bad.

Better writing.

Bethesda needs to work on making more compelling story lines and character development.

The animation could be better quality but if I was in charge I'd invest more resources in a.i. development (npc 'intelligence'). Better a.i. will improve more parts of the gameplay and overall immersion (combat, stealth, trade, reputation, city life simulation). As it is now, the a.i. is a heavy limitation of what the game could be if they managed to build a radiant a.i. like in the pre-Oblivion demo.

Writing.

I'm not seeing animation problems in my game - Maybe my acceptance of the moonwalking and frequent clipping's an indication of being jaded in this respect, but honestly, I can't think of any game that I've actually noticed better animation in. Of course, I don't notice any other games at all.

Reverse the trend of removing RPG mechanics and elements.

I see no such trend. Skyrim is just as much an RPG in all respects as Morrowind is, just like Savage Worlds is as much an RPG as Dungeons & Dragons is as much an RPG as Rollmaster is as much an RPG as G.U.R.P.S. is as much an RPG as that emo World of Darkness stuff.

E3 Radiant AI is a lie!

There's not even a reputation system in Skyrim... a reputation system. Now we've literally lost reaction to player actions and it's been pruned down more and more with each subsequent release post-Daggerfall. The factions are so pitifully executed that there really aren't factions to align and base a character around. Morrowind lost plot choices and put less emphasis on reputation, Oblivion lost factions, more influence of reputation, and the reverberations of joining one in relation to another, and Skyrim just lost the choices and any consequences to them altogether. A complete removal of attributes and the variations they brought rather than a proper reworking of the system hasn't done much to help, skills are no longer important (just the usually, as I'm sure Mr. Howard would put them, "redundant" or "superfluous" "perks" remain), the loss of factions (yes, loss... these handfuls of unimportant, unrecognized quests with no meaning or stigma attached to them at all are not joinable factions) and forcing of every quest on every player regardless of character type reduce any variation between different class and character archetypes entirely (no replay value), and the further streamlining of equipment slots, continued removal of weaponry, and absence of spell customization for the first time in the history of the series since 1994 aren't helping. The game is shallow. Traditionally WRPG mechanics of any kind are not discernible in Skyrim aside from basic level and perk progression and we're back down to Arena's level of RPG depth.

I can't believe how some of you think the animations are still crap either I have low expectations or some of you are crazy, I guess it's just a matter of opinion though in the end. I will agree that writing needs an improvement but more importantly the consequenses of decisions needs to be fleshed out more and at least recognized I liked the main quest for the most part but the ending was horribly crappy.

Thing that needs to be improved the most: game balance. Although it's hard to say that the game balance needs to be "improved" because there currently is none to improve.

Yes, single player RPGs don't need perfect game balance. But when half the things you pick up, do, or learn break the game into a million pieces, it starts to get very annoying.



Thing that needs to be improved the least: level scaling. You've been "improving" it for 4-5 games now and it's still horrible. I don't care how many pages of article you write about how you're going to "finesse" level scaling in the next game. It svcks and it's always svcked. It robs the joy of getting stronger and of changing your relationship with the world. Take it out. Stop crying about how horrible it will have to be to actually design encounters and areas manually and take it out.

RPG depth was not lowered, just innovated to suit newer players.

If i had the power to improve it would probably be the writing and dialog in general i guess. I liked the system they used in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Could fit nicely here.

I'd say RPG stats but that's not specific to the series, that's only a Skyrim problem. I think the quality of the writing (dialogue and story) should be radically improved.

Sure, that's the vague line game developers like to take without actually explaining anything because fans with actual questions never actually get to ask them, but this balance they supposedly want to walk is impossible. Doing what I've said they've done is blatant removal, not the fabled being "innovated to suit newer players". Although, I get a feeling you may have been sarcastic there, yet I can't quite tell.

Well, i actually enjoyed this change.
I enjoy to level everything i can (except magic) and that is why i never leveled in the previous games (and there are quests that require higher levels as well!) so this new perk system not only did it add realism (yes, it is more realistic than using an axe for hours and then choosing to become more intelligent) it also helps new players who are still not sure which weapon they should pick.

I think some have to much expectations, even if this was the perfect game they still need to complain about something.

If some do want the ultimate in animations stop gaming completely and go do some LARP.

Neither do Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, or Dragon Age: Origins. Your point? RPGs don't need Reputation systems.

There is still reaction to player actions in Skyrim.