Is Skyrim anyone's favorite game?

[Bronze Dragon]

I'll admit I'm newer to gaming than most of y'all, but I've played quite a few games. And of all the games I've played so far Cyberpunk '77 is my all-time favorite. Of Bethesda games, Fallout 4 is it.

While Skyrim's an interesting game, and I am enjoying it on the margin, it's not really one I think I'll go back to and play again after this first playthrough. The character-design is ugly; the controls are clunky and stiff; the absence of climbing, mantling, dodging, or dashing is a huge oversight, I think; and the stories aren't really my kind of fantasy.

Again, for what it is, it's holding my attention and I'm enjoying it. But I don't think I'll ever play it again after I'm done.

Is this anyone's favorite game? I'd be interested in hearing (reading) your thoughts.

[Graywarden]

It is my absolute favorite game, which I just discovered two years ago now. I am on my fourth play through, and have logged over 3000 hours. Im already looking ahead to starting again this late fall. For me its the ambiance of the world, the overall story of the world. If I was a novelist, this would be the world I would write about. I find being able to be totally immersed in this story/world and the character that I develop much more satisfying. Albeit I came from a long line of 4X strategy and city building games, so that adds to the wonder of it all for me.

[Mez Koo]

Skyrim is really good and I can say that I do quite enjoy just vanilla Skyrim but... I'd pick Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning over Skyrim.

[Tamponfart69]

how would you compare skyrim to Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning. is it similar to skyrim gameplay, beside it being 3rd person i think. Mainly the world and exploration

[Mez Koo]

Originally posted by Tamponfart69:

how would you compare skyrim to Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning. is it similar to skyrim gameplay, beside it being 3rd person i think. Mainly the world and exploration

They're both xbox 360 era fantasy rpgs with various skill systems like steaht, enchanting, smithing etc along with different major faction storylines but that's about where it stops. KoA Reckoning is more of an action rpg than the slower fps that Skyrim is and its world is also high fantasy compared to skyrim closer to something like Fable, World of Warcraft or Baldur's Gate 3. The exploration kind of plays out like a single player mmo where you explore open zones and then enter smaller instanced dungeons for quests.

Skyrim is an amazing game and I've gotten hundreds of hours over multiple playthroughs in both games but KoA Reckoning "vibes" with me more.

[Zero McDol]

In a fantasy medieval'ish setting, Skyrim is my favorite hands down, nothing in this theme anywhere even comes close, except other Elder Scrolls games. It's even better with mods and Survival mode turned on, to me.

Urban setting wise, well, a toss-up between GTA Online and Cyberpunk 2077 for now, but that could easily change. GTA Online is old and looks old, but excels in sandbox content, whereas Cyberpunk 2077 is better looking, but is woefully lacking in sandbox content, and mods have a ways to go with Cyberpunk 2077.

[Fear2288]

I think I can confidently say it is.

It’s the game I have the most play time in, and very rarely do I go back and play games - regardless of how much I enjoyed them - when they’re 5+ years old.

I bought it the day it came out and played a lot of it until about 2013 and shelved it.

Then came back in 2017 to check out the Special Edition but didn’t hang around very long.

In 2021 I came back again and I’ve been heavily playing it ever since. I usually go 4 - 8 months straight of playing no other games but Skyrim and then take a few months off to either play some newer games that caught my attention or older ones I always meant to finish.

The consistently active and talented modding community has significantly contributed to this.

If mods just weren’t a thing for Skyrim, I probably would have left it in 2013 and never looked back.

But the mods have not only allowed me to update the game’s visuals, controls, animations, combat, and interface to current standards over the years, but they’ve provided a ton of new content to keep each playthrough feeling fresh.

The ability to modify the game to my own personal preferences and continue doing so when my preferences change makes Skyrim something that is worth playing indefinitely.

The fact that no other game has released since 2011 that does everything Skyrim does but better has also likely contributed to that.

The Witcher 3 has better graphics, combat, characters, and quests but it lacks customization and it’s a much more linear experience than Skyrim.

Kingdom Come Deliverance has a great medieval world and is similar to Skyrim in certain ways with its gameplay but it’s based in reality and more focused on being “realistic” in its mechanics.

FO4 and SF are obviously the closest to Skyrim in regards to their gameplay, but they’re entirely different settings and aesthetics and personally I like medieval fantasy more than post-apocalyptic and sci-fi.

Avowed MAY be the closest thing to Skyrim we’ll ever see before TESVI, but even that isn’t going to feel or play the same. It’ll probably feel more like The Outer Worlds with a coat of Pillars of Eternity paint.

I don’t think I’m gonna be able to fully move on from Skyrim until TESVI is out and has been out long enough that it has thousands of mods for it…but even then, something like Skywind, a Beyond Skyrim full release, or some other major project would likely pull me back in.

[Bronze Dragon]

Originally posted by Zero McDohl:

In a fantasy medieval'ish setting, Skyrim is my favorite hands down, nothing in this theme anywhere even comes close, except other Elder Scrolls games. It's even better with mods and Survival mode turned on, to me.

Urban setting wise, well, a toss-up between GTA Online and Cyberpunk 2077 for now, but that could easily change. GTA Online is old and looks old, but excels in sandbox content, whereas Cyberpunk 2077 is better looking, but is woefully lacking in sandbox content, and mods have a ways to go with Cyberpunk 2077.

I'm a huge fan of high fantasy. Not so much of low fantasy like this (Outlander, Conan, The Witcher, etc. Big-time HATE for Game of Thrones!!!)

[Wushiba]

Regular Skyrim: Yeah it's a pretty good game.

Modded Skyrim: Best game forever and forever.

[Zero McDol]

Originally posted by Bronze Dragon:

Originally posted by Zero McDohl:

In a fantasy medieval'ish setting, Skyrim is my favorite hands down, nothing in this theme anywhere even comes close, except other Elder Scrolls games. It's even better with mods and Survival mode turned on, to me.

Urban setting wise, well, a toss-up between GTA Online and Cyberpunk 2077 for now, but that could easily change. GTA Online is old and looks old, but excels in sandbox content, whereas Cyberpunk 2077 is better looking, but is woefully lacking in sandbox content, and mods have a ways to go with Cyberpunk 2077.

I'm a huge fan of high fantasy. Not so much of low fantasy like this (Outlander, Conan, The Witcher, etc. Big-time HATE for Game of Thrones!!!)

Absolutely nothing wrong with that . Every game isn't every gamer's cup-of-tea.

[EricHVela]

Favorite at what moment? Games that hold my interest switch out, even back to ones I played or to games I'd've never thought I'd ever enjoy playing.

Has this game held my fascination so far? I can recall three separate times where I was playing the heck outta this game.

Is it the game I'm currently putting way too much time into? No.

(The one that's got me hooked rn is a game with a random card-based action economy—something I've never liked, but I like the game well enough to play it anyway. If it wasn't because it was free on EGS where I tried it out on a whim, I wouldn't've bought it here when it was 75% off.)

[Synopse]

IMHO, Skyrim is an evergreen if you are interested in modding and learning to patch and write mods. I learned so much by modding my Skyrim over the years, about modding itself, but also how graphics, meshes, textures and scripts work in Skyrim and in general. It has been a very educating journey.
IMHO, vanilla skyrim didn't age well and I can't play it without mods anymore. Yet, I did enjoy playing vanilla a lot when Skyrim was new.

[Tinkamara]

I have a hard time picking favorites, but Skyrim might still be the best single player RPG I ever played. There are games with better graphics, gameplay and storytelling, but looking at the fantasy world design, immersion, freedom and also pure size of content including limitless modability, Skyrim is special.
That being said, I have no idea if I will ever return to actively play. I feel like I've seen it all one time too many, checked out all the interesting mods and the mechanics haven't aged well. Heavy modding is fun, but also takes huge amounts of time and can become frustrating.
I still think about it from time to time and check the forums, and I'm actually sad it's not as fun anymore, so I would still call it at least one of my favorite games and my favorite open world rpg.

[Elf On A Hook]

definitly is one mine and saddened they havnt made the next one yet but hoping they will

[Martial Autist]

Originally posted by Tamponfart69:

how would you compare skyrim to Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning. is it similar to skyrim gameplay, beside it being 3rd person i think. Mainly the world and exploration

Not even remotely. KoA is basically a single-player mmo. Gameplay is fun, and I hear the main story is at least okay. But it is buried underneath tons of generic mmo-tier content which your quest log struggles to contain even on a per-village basis.

I did not feel like my time was being respected.

[Fear2288]

Originally posted by Martial Autist:

Originally posted by Tamponfart69:

how would you compare skyrim to Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning. is it similar to skyrim gameplay, beside it being 3rd person i think. Mainly the world and exploration

Not even remotely. KoA is basically a single-player mmo. Gameplay is fun, and I hear the main story is at least okay. But it is buried underneath tons of generic mmo-tier content which your quest log struggles to contain even on a per-village basis.

I did not feel like my time was being respected.

Agreed.

KoA wasn’t a bad game, but it very much looks, feels, and plays like World of WarCraft or Guild Wars 2 but without the online component and a dash of Fable for good measure.

Saying that KoA is similar to Skyrim is like saying Ghost Recon Wildlands is similar to ARMA3 or Company of Heroes is similar to Men of War.