...is the depth of marrowind. that game compared to both skyrim, and oblivion is freaking huge. i never played arena, or daggerfall, but i do have marrowind, and im so lost in that game, i have to start a new character. no matter what quest you get from any town, (except the beginning area, before you start exploring), you always find some random person in the world. so you get that quest, then another random person. youget that quest. then another random person you escort to a new town, get all the quests there. you go into the field, and find more random quests everywhere. then you join a guild and do more quests. the guild quests are so much more involving, and to me, it had me feeling like i was actually apart of the guild itself. then you find the dark elves, (i think its them), in the town in the desert, and its so huge, but even bigger then that was vivec. i will never forget the first time i went to vivec, that place alone is bigger then any place in skyrim period, and from memory, i dont think there is any place in oblivion as big, or close to being as big as vivec. then you have the side quest, (which is almost like a main story in itself), of freeing, or enslaving the khajit, that was a really nice touch in the game to abolish slavery. it had me feeling sympathy for them, being hand cuffed, and in cages all over the place, and trying my damndest to free them all, and find out what was going on with them.

its been a while since ive played it so i cant go into any detail about the skill system, or enchanting, or alchemy or anything like that, but to me, fact is, marrowind is so much more engaging then oblivion and skyrim. skyrim is not a bad game, but i dont think it deserves game of the year, because for all of its "free-roam" (quotations because i feel it isnt exactly free-roam, because you are in essence locked into questing, because you cant find items, or kill bandits without later finding a quest for it that you now cant do, becuase you already did it before you got the quest, so now its broken), and also because its too streamlined, and linear. the game as a whole feels very narrow-minded. i dont think it does a very good job in grabbing my feelings torwards its story line, (except the child in windhelm who was an orphan, where you start the dark brotherhood quests that i just did), or really trying to feel a sense of "kinship" torwards its sruggles of the civil war. i can create my own feeling of how their telling the story, but actually writing the feeling, actually trying to create the atmosphere that it is a land split, and people are torn apart from eachother, i dont think its very engaging.

skyrim in gameplay, i think is alot smoother, and things are easier to grasp, but if they took the systems of marrowind, left all the spells of each school of magic, and applied them to skyrim in the way skyrim is designed, i think it would make skyrim alot better. if there was something else, something more besides a "civil war", something close to the slavery of the khajit, (something id ont have to create on my own, or pretend it exists through RP). skyrim just feels lacking in some areas, where there should be a little more substance, a little more feeling, and a little more "presence".

skyrim is just missing something.

Threads comparing TES games belongs in "TES series". Moving it there.

Skyrim is missing replayability and depth.
Simple enough answer.

It just doesn't have a soul. It's just a game. There is no False-Gods who have discovered the construction set and know they live in a game. There is no moral ambiguity. There is no just general weirdness, and none of the characters are all that memorable.

A lot of things missing, heres a short list of mine:


- real, gamechanging consequences for our choices. Besides the civil war there should be a lot of quests that offer completely different outcomes (branches) depending what we choose to do/to be; the dialogue should offer much more choices and skill checks;
- real, gamechanging importance of your race of choice. Having so many races to choose becomes less of a TES strength as long as the game doesn't offer specific content and abilities to make each playthrough substantially unique;
- organic guilds where things happen with or without the player's involvment. The player should be given the feeling of a big, serious, living organization that has a complex life and conflicts and skill/devotion requirements so one can feel the progression and accomplishments while burning the ranks. As they are designed now, the guilds are but static asylum where dead men walking retire to await the fatidic moment when 'the chosen one' will take leadership from their hands in 5 days since joining, despite lacking the appropriate skills.

exactly. i just finished the wolf queen awakened, unbeknownst to me, (i normally dont read books unless its in marrowind, or oblivion because my tv isnt flatscreen 1080 hd, so the font is too small), but i thought it was a daedra quest. well, after completing it, and then look up the wiki, i found out she was the queen of solitude. i think falk mentioned this, but the quests just move by so quickly, and im only given a few lines of dialogue, i really dont feel this was a very important thing to do besides just doing another quest. after skimming the wiki about her, she seems like a very important person in the world of tamriel, and didnt recieve the quest she should have gotten being such a person. the few lines from falk and syrr werent very convincing that, "i need to get this done. i have to save solitude from her". there just is not a sense of urgency outside of, "lemme get this done before my game freezes again", or, "i need to get this guy before he runs into the house and becomes invulnerable because of bugs" (butcher quest line in windhelm).

which reminds me, the butcher quest could have been done a lot better i think. the towns people didnt have no concern unless coded to do so to advance the quest. the girl in the final part gets killed right in frotn of the guard,and the guard jus tstands there, but if i steal something from the same postion im chased down and thrown in jail. people see her body and are like, "wow what happened", and then move on to say, "if you need anything let me know, i have warees to sell", like nothing hapened. no one tries to remove the body from the streets, no one tries to give prayers, even when the talos priests are right aroudn the corner. there is just no feeling involved at all, or any reason i should have sympathy for these people.

What do yo think of this rather?
I wrote to Bethesda abot these ideas that I KNOW are pretty awesome and wold drive everyone wild when playing this.
I said the following:


Dear people of Bethesda:
I have written to yo with a few suggestions on how to make Skyrim a REALLY hard to put down game, where you are a vampire lord that can sier a coven ( whoever you want ) of your own have them do WHATEVER you want and with WHATEVER powers you want to customize your vampire army with.
A quik reminder of what will make this game nothing less than FANTASTIC!







1. having a war with werewolf trides as a vampire Lord and being able to create and command your own coven ( up to 12 or 20 ) that you can turn into a vampire.
These can be a mix of both warriors and regular people from town to town.
Their fighting skills would be 50, 60 to70 % to yours, because you're the strongest being the vampire lord.



2. You as a vampire Lord can fly over the vast mountains and continent as the dragons do with gargole-like wings rather than those skimpy looking wings where you can only hover, and as a regular vampire, you can also jump high to escape guards and enemies and as a regular vampire you can glide from high point without dying;



3. If the members of you coven are killed, they will respawn after a year or two, to be turned again and again.



4. When turning invisible, NO ONE and NO-THING can see you for as long as you're invisible.
You DO NOT become visible when you touch something or attack someone.
You are completely undetected even if you disappear right in front of them.
However, just like the shout meter you can not turn invisible again until the meter has returned to normal and your invisiblity will last for 120 seconds improving sneaking.



5. Also, another ability that allows you to fight at normal or fast speed while your enemies move in slow motion, or the elementle fury works even if you are wearing enchanted armor or have enchanted weapons.
This will kill any tough apponent as though he was a weaker apponant quickly.



6. Serana or her mother, Valerica can become your wife.



7. Castle Volkihar is restored, and this is where you and your chosen coven can live ( not giving up your other houses ).



8. If you have done a crime anywhere or if you are a vampire ( regardless as to what stage you're in ); if you are wearing a hood or mask, it is not known who or what you are unless you reveal yourself.
This was so in Blood Omen, where Kain, when he wore a hood, was able to blend in with humanity undetected.
This would allow you to do all the quests and enjoy all the powers of a vampire.



9. As power is concerned, I personal think that Fireball spells and ANY lightening spell should be more destructive and take at least 50% of life from ANY creature as to be realistic; being that these are power elements in nature.
Lastly, EVERYONE CAN DIE, and can have their posessions taken ( clothes and all ) but will respawn after one year.



10. Sence you are now the boss of the Thieves Guild; even they can be turned into vampires to do YOUR will, and live in Castle Volkihar instead of Riften if yo choose.



11. Telekenisis as a vampire can throw enemies...far and hard!


12. KEEP THE GLOWING VAMPIRE EYES!!!
This adds a great dark touch to the whole vampire look.
and add Kain's long hair ( Blood Omen ).
If you can see my profile pic as a High Elf, yo can see how he look a lot like Kain.


13. Last but not least; allow the Dragon Priests to respawn to gain their masks again.
Many of my friends and many in the forums have complained how that the mask that they've pt in chests have disappeared.
However, if the Dragon priests respawed, we have another chance to get those masks back.
In fact, any character in the game gave yo any Item like the hammer of might ) Let them respawn so that the player wold have the chance to get that item.
If an item is lost allow the player to be able to find it with magic.
I can't find my Nightinggale hood anywhere.

I know that these Ideas are very tempting,( as they will keep gamers playing and not bored because there is nothing else to do.
I hope you enjoy implamenting these Ideas into a add-on or the next Skyrim game.
Keep up the AWESOME work!
I hope you take into concideration what I've presented

shearer youre right, nothing is game changing. what if i wan tto join the imperials, yet allow ulfric to live in exile on some island, and have him rise up again to retake skyrim? where is the option to allow me to side with the thalmor, or the option to allow me to rally the races of windhelm, dark elf, and argonian to protest in the streets of windhelm, almost as if its a civil rights movement agaisnt the oppression they receive from the nords there? what can i do to help the khajit earn the respect they so desperatly deserve? i mean these people were slaves in marrowind, and are distrusted even still in skyrim years and years later. why can ti help them?