Skyrim is not a good game.

[PsychoPsyops]

After spending many, many hours in Skyrim, I can safely say it is not a good game.

This is not to say it isn’t still fun. I think the game offers hours of fun. However, it is not a good game, due to the poor quality and art direction. Poor quality, because the game still has many bugs that have not and will never be patched. Art direction, because it is all bleak, gritty or otherwise dark. The game also tried to be too realistic for the fantasy genre and the more games try to be realistic, the less enjoyable they are.

Oblivion has only a handful of bugs that have never been patched, has a better sense of wonder, has an art direction that is bright, uplifting and much more suits the fantasy genre. It is more of what a game should be, unlike Skyrim.

Bethesda also is a really bad game company. They know how to make most of their games fun. Although, they are incompetent when it comes to making quality, finished games. It’s been the case with Skyrim, the Fallout series, their more recent IPs and will probably be the case with Starfield and ES6, unless they change their ways. This is doubtful though.

[Bonus!]

i wouldnt call it bad, it's good just not bethesda's best. they shoulda stuck with the free roam ai from oblivion and just improved it in skyrim. oblivion has more unique things and creatures (seems to be that the older the elder scrolls game the more creativeother than arena imo but arena is the first so it gets a pass) they definitely coulda done more unique things with it but overall i wouldn't say it isn't a good game.

[Grumpy Old Dude]

bleak, gritty, and otherwise dark...

IOW, it is in keeping with the storyline of a civil war?


Not sure if your post is sarcasm, or trolling; but it certainly doesnt reflect what the market would say about the game.

[Liquid Inc]

Originally posted by PsychoPsyops:

After spending many, many hours in Skyrim, I can safely say it is not a good game.

And what is a "good" game in your opinion? Because im sure that whatever you think is good, is no where near as good as you think it is.

I can point out flaws in Dragon Age Origins, which has to be one the best RPG's i've ever played... And just because i think it's good, doesn't mean it is.

Originally posted by PsychoPsyops:

This is not to say it isn’t still fun. I think the game offers hours of fun. ,

Honestly, that means it IS a good game. Because it's doing exactly what games are meant to; Give you enjoyment.

Originally posted by PsychoPsyops:

due to the poor quality and art direction. Poor quality, because the game still has many bugs that have not and will never be patched. Art direction, because it is all bleak, gritty or otherwise dark. The game also tried to be too realistic for the fantasy genre and the more games try to be realistic, the less enjoyable they are.

What?

Yes, the game has bugs, but please, show me a "good game" that has the size and scope of Skyrim, but with no bugs in it?
You'll never do it, because there isn't one.
Games like this will always have more bugs than CoD, because for games like CoD there's a lot less going on in them behind the scenes.

As to Art, i suppose you've never read the Lore? The game is MEANT to be dark, because that's the style that Tes is...

Realistic, though? There were more "realistic" elements in Oblivion; Weapons breaking for instance, but i see you don't care about that?

Originally posted by PsychoPsyops:

Oblivion has only a handful of bugs that have never been patched, has a better sense of wonder, has an art direction that is bright, uplifting and much more suits the fantasy genre. It is more of what a game should be, unlike Skyrim.

No. It had "potato heads" for people, you could jump over walls and basically fly with aerobatics, The levelling system is complete jank, and the fantasy "color" gave me a headache after 20 minutes....

If Oblivion is your idea of a "good game", then your not going to get a vote from me....

Originally posted by PsychoPsyops:

Bethesda also is a really bad game company. They know how to make most of their games fun. Although, they are incompetent when it comes to making quality, finished games.

Show me a company that makes A) games the size and scope of Skyrim, that also, B) are bug free, and, C) not made by a "incompetent" company?

Please don't say CD Project Red, EA, Codemasters, Sega, Activision, Ubisoft, THQ, Techland, 2K, Aspyr, Microsoft or Creative Assembly among many others as they all make buggy crashfests. Every, Single. One. Of. Them.

[vikus]

Originally posted by PsychoPsyops:

Art direction, because it is all bleak, gritty or otherwise dark. The game also tried to be too realistic for the fantasy genre and the more games try to be realistic, the less enjoyable they are.

This is the only reason I enjoy Skyrim, because of the dark fantasy gritty Nordic vibes. No other game comes close to replicating that feeling except for The Witcher 3. I hate the story of this game, a majority of the characters, and the quests, but the art style and theme of the game always pulls me back in. Its nice to see a game set itself so realistically within European and Scandinavian culture, history, and mythology in an age where the people of Europe and our backgrounds are demonized, especially now in the 2020s.

I could not see a game like this being made now with the current world ``culture``, or rather lack-thereof. Even The Witcher 3 got heavily blasted by the media for what it did culturally by sticking true to the source material which resulted in the horrific Netflix adaptation that tried to de-eurofy Europe in many racist and deceitful ways.

No I am not trying to make this thread political in nature, but to me, this is why I return to Skyrim, because it is one of the last products ive seen in years that treats my heritage with respect rather than malice or bitter jealousy. For that I can applaud it, even if its nowhere near the best game ever made.

[Wizard]

Perhaps the OP would be happier playing Call of Duty.

[RamiroRa]

Could be better? Sure. But I can't understand why you think the art direction is bad, especially when comparing to Oblivion that for me, it look way more generic. Also I can't see how Skyrim tries to be too realistic.

[Ihateeverybody]

I made it 137 hours into Baldurs Gate 3 before realizing at no time was I having fun.

I can still squeeze some fun out of Skyrim. It gets harder and harder though if I play constantly. I try to only play an hour or so a day the last few weeks.

[Fear2288]

Your first criticism is valid, the game did/still does have issues aplenty in its vanilla state.

I don’t know if it’s their game engines, the complexity of all the moving parts, or a deficiency in BGS’s methods but their games tend to have bugs, glitches, exploits, and technical issues and it would be nice if they didn’t.

That being said, I do feel like they’ve improved in this regard since Skyrim. FO4 certainly didn’t have as many noticeable, game-breaking, or otherwise terribly inconveniencing issues.

Regardless, the general consensus among players and critics alike is that Skyrim’s issues are an acceptable headache in exchange for the experience it offers.

As far as your second complaint: it’s subjective.

Maybe you didn’t like the cold, bleak, and “low fantasy” artistic design and aesthetic of the game, but other people do.

Personally, I’m all for it and would much prefer it over bright colors, weird and whacky looking characters, and “high fantasy” style weapons and armor that’s oversized, impractical, and would look more at home in a Final Fantasy, WarCraft, or FromSoftware game.

I think that stuff is stupid asf looking and I don’t want it in my TES.

I even cringe at how ridiculous Skyrim’s Glass, Daedric, and Dwemer weapons/armor looks as it clashes so much with the aesthetic of most of the rest of the game.

[Duo]

go to nexus
go to loverslab
you are welcome

[tarrand54]

Originally posted by Ihateeverybody:

I made it 137 hours into Baldurs Gate 3 before realizing at no time was I having fun.

I can still squeeze some fun out of Skyrim. It gets harder and harder though if I play constantly. I try to only play an hour or so a day the last few weeks.

Mods always add fun whats your preferred playstyle

[Sir_0v3rk1ll]

I do agree the game feels old as f today. very boring, at least for me today and I don't like using mods. so the game looks bad even at max. Hell, the game looked bad back in the day, imagine today. That's what happens when you try to make a game work on console. They get so compressed. . . If they didn't have to do that gaming in general would advance more.

[Ihateeverybody]

Originally posted by tarrand54:

Originally posted by Ihateeverybody:

I made it 137 hours into Baldurs Gate 3 before realizing at no time was I having fun.

I can still squeeze some fun out of Skyrim. It gets harder and harder though if I play constantly. I try to only play an hour or so a day the last few weeks.

Mods always add fun whats your preferred playstyle

For the last few years Nord type 2 hander. Sometimes 2h Sword or 2h Axe with duel wielding Axes for both types. Light Armor outside traveling, Heavy Armor in Dungeons. Bow always as an Auxiliary (rarely sneaking though, I do level sneak though). Always Restoration and Alteration (Frostfall spells).

[SpeedFreak1972]

Well it's a kind of laziness Bethesda knows the community will fix bugs (unofficial patches)

[Fear2288]

Originally posted by Sir_0v3rk1ll:

I do agree the game feels old as f today. very boring, at least for me today and I don't like using mods. so the game looks bad even at max. Hell, the game looked bad back in the day, imagine today. That's what happens when you try to make a game work on console. They get so compressed. . . If they didn't have to do that gaming in general would advance more.

And you’d be having to buy a new CPU and GPU every third year along with the other hardware to support it.

Like them, hate them, or feel indifferent about them, consoles are the reason video games ever took off in the first place and made it past being a short-term “fad”.

Regardless, a “good” game is not defined by its graphical fidelity. It helps, certainly, but what makes a game good is its mechanics, its story/characters/world, and how engaging and fun it is to play.

Just look at another game that released the same year as Skyrim: MineCraft.

MineCraft is a TERRIBLE looking game that could probably run on an Etch-a-Sketch connected to a half-eaten potato battery yet it’s the number 1 best selling video game of all time, universally critically acclaimed, and still has over 100 million active players per month.

In fact, if you go looking at some of the best selling and best rated games, you’ll find that very few of them are/were impressive from a graphical and/or technical standpoint in their time or now.

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by PsychoPsyops:

Poor quality, because the game still has many bugs that have not and will never be patched. Art direction, because it is all bleak, gritty or otherwise dark.

Bethesda should have fixed more bugs, but any game this big, and the map is HUGE for computer games, is going to have plenty of Bugs.
As for Art Direction, TES games are meant to be dark...... You can't even say Fantasy games are meant to light and airy, because so many Fantasy Books are dark and gloomy, like LORD OF THE RINGS (anyone who says that isn't dark hasn't read the books)

Oblivion has only a handful of bugs that have never been patched,

Rubbish, Oblivion had just as many bugs as Skyrim, or you have never fallen through a bridge as you move from one section to another...... or seen a quest giver try to walk down stairs that simply aren't there......