There is no doubt these are all improvements we would love and I can think of plenty that I would just die to see. For example, steal X amount of stuff off an NPC populace and the NPCs start talking about the damn pickpocketers of Markarth etc. And I can understand the frustration of seeing comparable behaviours that we have seen from bandits (pull weapon upon discovering other dead bandit) not transcribed to the town guard etc. But how the OPs broken record is sounding nothing of realistic capacity is going to satisfy him and he is being completely ignorant of the strides that have taken place. Admittedly, it is odd that Beth did not utilize all the NPCs information and progression gained from FO and Ob's F:NV.

Or perhaps they were intended to be subtle, and you simply don't find them to your liking.



You know, I see people use this word abuse when describing the crafting all the time. Quite frankly, I can't believe that most to all of these people have actually tried to "abuse" the crafting system, or have objectively compared this "abuse" to the abuse of the systems in previous games. Let me put it this way, you can make powerful gear when you invest heavily into all 3 crafting trees, but shouldn't that be the case, anyway? So what, hitting the armor cap is made easier as a result of crafting skill synergy, and you deal a fair amount of damage with crafted weapons. In Oblivion, I made one character who was immune to all types of damage, and I could kill physical damage dealers by going AFK to grab a beer. The balance in this game is SO much improved over previous games, which is something all the complainers seem to have overlooked.





Well, I'm sorry that what is there isn't enough to satisfy you. To me, those all seem like rather petty grievances, but it's your taste, not mine.

I was in the market place, waiting for the shop to open, I 'wait', and got ambushed by a guard asking the same question.

I started playing TES with Arena, and they have given us a rich, detailed world with an extensive mythos and a bunch of good (though often bugridden) games. Oblivion might have been the weak link "storyteller-wise", but people also forget that morrowind was actually removing action elements from previous games... elements which were put back in Oblivion.

Skyrim for me in many ways encompasses what is great about many of the TES-titles.... it has the generic quests of daggerfall, so we can do more than aimlessly walk around even if we don't want to do "an official quest". It has the rich and unique storyline of Morrowind, improved version of the excellent graphics of Oblivion and brings back (in 2011-form) even more of the action elements of old.

Sure, they didn't re-invent the wheel... and nor should they. They have to balance the fine walk of pleasing new players, semi-new players and old fantards like me. New players must be wowed and old veterans must feel like they are shaking hands with an old friend.

Not including the bugs, as far as game design, my only real complaint is the map system. It might as well not have any surface area, because it doesn't help me plan routes other than clicking on an area and then running in that direction or fast traveling. My first time trying to figure out a path up the biggest mountain in the middle of the map, had me zooming in and trying to decipher if any of the things that looked like "paths" were actually paths.... In frustration, I eventually just ended up jump-glitching straight up the side of the mountain at angles with my horse, till I found paths... and then continued to jump straight up the mountain. I'm sure there was an actual path with things to discover along the way, because I crossed it a couple of times on my direct horse-jumping-straight-up-the-mountain route... but good luck actually finding where that path begins, without a functional map to help you.

Also: after you've used any of the war maps to discover locations, and played the game a bit, your world map becomes a mess of locations, all using the same white-with-black outline colour scheme. :facepalm:
I find myself moving the map around to find the ONE white and black indicator that is for my quest. Couldn't they use different colours? And at least give me the option to toggle indicators on and off like in Daggerfall ? Or ANY type of map system used in ANY other game ? (or even google maps, lol)

If the map functioned as a real map and actually showed me roads and passes, it'd be a lot easier to navigate and plan my routes to new locations. Some times what looks like a smaller hill on the map, ends up being giant unpassable boulders and mountains, and, the route that looked like a bigger mountain, ends up having an easier path to go through...

Also having it in 3D has had me more than once get to the wrong elevation because the marker looked like it was hovering over a mountain or hill, when it was in fact pointing behind it.

I've had lake names mentioned to me in game, only to bring up the map and realize, the lakes and mountains aren't labeled.... really ? I've also read a note or book that mentions a new location and possible treasure / quest, the game then notifies me at the top that my map has been "updated"... but considering the amount of crap already on my map, how am I supposed to easily spot what just got updated? I end up scanning the entire map and all the locations till I find the name. That is incredibly cumbersome, time consuming, and frankly STUPID.

also, also: I don't need clouds on my map. It's a top-view map, why would I want clouds?

Also also also also: I find it odd that the map struggles to pan over to areas like Markarth in the far west, just BARELY letting me view the area at the very border of the screen, but I can pan all the way south perfectly and and view with ease, entire chunks of white cloudy area, that aren't even part of the game. :stare:

Of course, it's nothing game-breaking, and I can still enjoy the game even with the crappy map system, but it's just baffling that they made and stuck with some incredibly lazy and amateur design choices for the map. Especially considering the map is used so often in game play, in fast traveling and finding new quest goals. And especially considering the previous games had already done it better.