Bethesda does things i never thought would be plausible on console. I applaud them for that. I like that they brought something that requires a $1500 rig to the console. We can't all afford or even want to try afford to keep that kinda rig going.

I agree. I also wish the main two factions were more fleshed out.

I hated the factions in New Vegas. Even when no one was around to see what you did, it would automatically make you an enemy of the faction you did it to.

No, Skyrim shouldn't be like this or like that, let them create there own ideas.
They didn't even make NV, why on earth would they try copy it anyway?

The roleplaying experience on Skyrim is much better than NV.
Hell, the factions weren't even good in NV, they were horrible.

The only part I enjoyed was Old World Blues and the main quest.

Exactly, there aren't. Maybe lag on PS3 after a 4 hour gaming run, but I've only had one crash so far.

I guess that settles it then. There aren't any freezing or crashing problems in this game.

I totally disagree.

First, to those who are saying the faction quests are the only worthwhile ones - I am in disbelief. I love the Daedric quests, I love the Dungeon Quests, many of the sidequests given in towns are epic and excellent.

Second, in FONV (where I clocked 300+ hours) the factions were about the same in some ways. NCR had tons of quests, the legion a few, the brotherhood a few.....

In Skyrim you have the Imperials/Stormcloaks, DB, TG, MG, Companions, Bards, Daedra (I'm playing a servant of the Daedra right now) .....

In FONV it didn't matter what faction you were in they all had the same response to Boomers, Brotherhood etc: join us or die.

I love Skyrim and I loved FONV. I'm just thankful people are still making open-world sandbox games with such style and depth and wonder.

man factions kinda svck on both games but they're all fun.. I know that doesn't make sense but play final fantay's new game,,,,sarcasm,,,, can i play withcher2 on my laptop that would rule i wanna try

Why don't we make FNV like Skyrim then, and MW3 like nv and every other game like some other game. Shoot why we are at it just combine em all and release only one game a year which is a best of them all.

Games are made to be different, if u want Skyrim like NV, go put in FO, name ur character a nord name then on use melee. There u go, now stop whining and go change ur diaper

It's because the developers are lazy. Just look at the tiny towns with so few npcs. They don't like spending time on minor details like npcs or conversation options.

There is a lot to criticize in Skyrim (and Bethesdas design policies in general), but I wouldn't say laziness is one of them -- at least not generally. Carelessness and lack of focus more like.

no one here wants mw3 'my nerd hand cant handle that' just coolness. I like Skyrim the way it is. I think alotta fagina want a lil more ''moral ambiguity''. which is understandable BUT I think they want ya to follow their story in TES

IDK why people hate on New Vegas, I thought it was an improved Fallout 3. For 1 you can actually aim with no scoped weapons! Story was much better then Fallout 3 IMO. I heard bugs were bad at launch, but I got it about month later I didn't experience 1 except I got svck on terrain few times. Sure it was a bit more linear then Fallout 3, but overall I thought it was Improved. I still find Skyrim better then all Fallout series. This is being biased, but I enjoy middle aged fantasy setting more. I like to explore and Skyrim has lots more to explore then both of the other fallouts.

You CAN NOT join any of those factions you listed except for NCR, Legion and House. Yes Man isn't really a faction you need to join; it's just helping yourself. The Followers are the only one that seem like you could join them, but you really can't. I was really disappointed by this when I played through the game the first time.

You can help them, ignore them, or destroy them. But you are never labeled as a member of their respected factions.

Especially the Enclave. You don't join them. Hell, you don't even meet them. You put together the REMNANTS of the Enclave to help in the battle of Hoover Dam.

um I join followers it took along time but was able to and got a safe house from them.

edit: info how http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Julie_Farkas

he said only one game a year. wHATTT MY FAILED THREAD EDITION. not helpful or destructive enough

Once you complete the kings quest you can join them. Once you help the followers they will give you a key to their safehouse, tell you your now a member and give you an official uniform. You join the brotherhood of steel by going there with veronica and so on. You are respected when you join because people acknowledge you differently once you join. Did you even play fallout new vegas? If you did you would know you can join everything I listed.

Did you say King's Quest 3?

I've gotten a key to the safehouse but never any uniform. And this is only after I had re-installed the game a month or so before Skyrim and bought all the DLC for it. The first time I played the game after it's launch, I didn't get anything from Julie, even after doing all her quests in the best possible manner.

And even with the safehouse key, the list of factions I'm in never included the FoA.

Did YOU play New Vegas? Other than my problem with FoA being a possible bug, you can't join any of the factions you had listed. The Families, the NCR, the Boomers... You can become good friends with them, if you want. Some even give you a uniform; but you are never considered to be members of them.

That's it!

I've been trying to put my finger on just why Skyrim doesn't deliver 100% for me, and someone said... it's a theme park. Well, more of a theme park than a sandbox. This is a debate going on over at Old Republic since that game, while advertised to have sandbox features, is really just another theme park MMO. That game doesn't sit well with me because of it--while it's fun and entertaining, it becomes glaringly obvious early on that you're just along for the ride and don't really have an impact on who or what your character is/does.

Theme park games, for those who don't know, are those which set up areas of questing to which you are shuttled to and from. In this case, you could consider each hold and its respective capital city to be a different "world" or "attraction" within the theme park, and you go shuffling off from hub to hub to complete your quests. In opposition to a theme park is the sandbox--a gameplay philosophy that TES fans are quite accustomed to (Daggerfall). In a sandbox game, systems and features are not tied to any specific location and most gameplay is left to the player to decide how and when to do it. For an easy point of reference, the difference between a theme park game and a sandbox game is the difference between Dragon Age II and Morrowind, respectively.

It seems--and you might call it a bit of a stretch--that Skyrim tries to be both of these things. Theme parks typically appeal to casual gamers because the content is clearly defined and laid out for you; you simply have to find the time to explore and enjoy it. In Skyrim, this is made clear by the compass and map markers, the quest hubs of cities with relatively few meaningful questing opportunities initiated out in the wilds (stumbling upon a ruin is the emergent gameplay of a sandbox, but chances are you stumbled upon it because you had a quest from an NPC in the city who told you to go to that area), and the at-times awkward level-scaling. In the other aspect, Skyrim is an open world which encourages you to explore at your leisure, uncover information about the world itself, and choose when to quest and where.

The problem for me is that the playstyles are at odds with each other; when I feel more inclined to venture off and do my own thing, the quest journal has a habit of reminding me that there are a bunch of NPCs counting on me to do this or that, and so I feel inexorably pulled back into the A-to-B questing routine. Or, when I'm out taking care of business for the Imperials, I suddenly feel like I'm missing out on all of the content floating around me as I go from fort to fort. In essence, I'm being pulled in either direction and neither meshes well with the other. From a roleplaying perspective, it makes figuring out your character's decisions a bit more difficult (do I help the woman find her son or do I delve into that ruin I see at the top of a mountain?). If I do one, I feel I'm missing out on the other--the game forces me to do all things at all times.

I'm certainly over-thinking the whole thing, but being heavily invested in Skyrim (both emotionally and monetarily) I felt as though something just didn't sit right with me. And that was it: Two wholly different game design principles competing with each other and putting me at odds as to which I will choose to engage in. I think that previous TES games did a better job of managing the two sides of the coin--rewarding emergent gameplay and questing, while at the same time encouraging you to follow the path from A to B.

The OP is simply saying he could use more of a sandbox in his theme park. I completely agree.

because they started making Skyrim before NV was finished

On all my play throughs i gotta hard time getting Arcade from the followers. You kinda got to be people friendly I think. I actually had to be nice to NCR and NEW vegas he's more a people person than a faction guy

Just get the new Vegas perk.

Kudos to PlayfulDreamer. I enjoyed the read.

You can join the Brotherhood of steel.