Having a hard time getting comfy with this game.

[Zeno]

WARNING: If you love this game, you probably want to avoid reading my comment.

After playing big titles like Diablo, World of Warcraft and Sacred back in the days, its really hard for me to get to really like this game.

I played into it, I don't mind the graphics at all, but the characters and story quests all seem kind of shallow to me, the dialogues are mostly pretty brain dead compared to the other games I have mentioned and played and the open world does not actually feel as open as it is being made up by YouTubers and the community.

Maybe I am just missing something big with this game and this is a me problem, but I was usually able to get comfy and close these RPG kind of games into my heart quite easily, but this one.

Positive is that it does offer you to explore a lot, such as recipes, alchemy and so on, but at the same time it feels like a cheap copy of WoW of some sort.

PS: I don't want to offend anyone, if you like this game, thats great, a hell a lot of people seem to like this game, I just want to share how I feel about it as I am kind of disappointed with this since I lose interest with this game quickly.

[Alex]

The only thing you've been missing are mods.

Yes, the game is pretty shallow and rather pale if compared to the previous TES games. Therefore, get some mods to improve the game. And then get some more. Really, the only good thing about Skyrim is the massive modding community.

[Zeno]

Originally posted by Alex:

The only thing you've been missing are mods.

Yes, the game is pretty shallow and rather pale if compared to the previous TES games. Therefore, get some mods to improve the game. And then get some more. Really, the only good thing about Skyrim is the massive modding community.

I mean, thank you for the advice. I just don't see the point of being forced to mod a game in order to make it fun, if I paid the full price and am bored of the game already after an hour or two of playing it.

For me mods usually come into play when I have played through the game or at least played a big chunk of it already in vanilla.

But still, thanks for the advice.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Barsuk:

I mean, thank you for the advice. I just don't see the point of being forced to mod a game in order to make it fun, if I paid the full price and am bored of the game already after an hour or two of playing it.

Is there any specific issue why you're bored? An hour shouldn't have bored you that much.

Originally posted by Barsuk:

For me mods usually come into play when I have played through the game or at least played a big chunk of it already in vanilla.

Well, the game may be mediocre, but it's not that bad. Usually, the vanilla game should last you at least a single campaign, maybe 2.

Originally posted by Barsuk:

But still, thanks for the advice.

As a TES veteran, I've bought it with the sole intention of modding it. I've played maybe half a campaign before installing the first mods.

[Wizard]

Originally posted by Barsuk:

I mean, thank you for the advice. I just don't see the point of being forced to mod a game in order to make it fun, if I paid the full price and am bored of the game already after an hour or two of playing it.

Sure, some people take that position, and that's fine. But this game doesn't have its staying power because of Bethesda's masterful story telling.

Originally posted by Barsuk:

Maybe I am just missing something big with this game...

Yep. Mods.

[Yeol]

Skyrim is in the first place an exploration game. There is the vast landscape, hundreds of dungeons and quests... Walking the roads, and getting distracted by anything that's getting thrown at you keeps you entertained (so, don't fast-travel). You can do any quest at any moment, in any order at any time, at your own pace. But that has some draw backs:

- choices do not matter, there are no consequences for good or bad choices.
- no reputation, so even when you saved the world, you'll be invited to do petty thieving jobs.
- short, linear quest lines, (without consequences)
- a leveling world so all battles will seem the at same difficulty: wolves at level 3 or dragon priests ate level 43. Leveling up does not matter, loot or better weapons are rather pointless: the world scales according to your level.
- NPC's are unaware of your deeds or status.

So, you need to roleplay A LOT to build this imaginary world around you, keeping your PC tight and coherent to it's profile. To imagine conversations, reactions and decisions within character.

Once you get the hang of, and exploit the exploration aspect of this game, it will grow on you... and will never let you go again.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Yeol:

So, you need to roleplay A LOT to build this imaginary world around you, keeping your PC tight and coherent to it's profile. To imagine conversations, reactions and decisions within character.

Except that the game really likes to throw a wrench in there and create arbitrary RP bottlenecks. Like the DB or the Circle initiation, for example. Why does the DB entrance path need to be so narrow? It doesn't even serve any purpose later on, but it severly limits your RP choices.

[Zero McDol]

Honestly, if you're not feeling the vanilla experience, then you probably won't be feeling the modded experience. The game simply isn't your cup-of-tea.

edit:
I for sure love this game, but completely understand that it's not a game that everyone will enjoy.

[Zeno]

Originally posted by Yeol:

Skyrim is in the first place an exploration game. There is the vast landscape, hundreds of dungeons and quests... Walking the roads, and getting distracted by anything that's getting thrown at you keeps you entertained (so, don't fast-travel). You can do any quest at any moment, in any order at any time, at your own pace. But that has some draw backs:

- choices do not matter, there are no consequences for good or bad choices.
- no reputation, so even when you saved the world, you'll be invited to do petty thieving jobs.
- short, linear quest lines, (without consequences)
- a leveling world so all battles will seem the at same difficulty: wolves at level 3 or dragon priests ate level 43. Leveling up does not matter, loot or better weapons are rather pointless: the world scales according to your level.
- NPC's are unaware of your deeds or status.

So, you need to roleplay A LOT to build this imaginary world around you, keeping your PC tight and coherent to it's profile. To imagine conversations, reactions and decisions within character.

Once you get the hang of, and exploit the exploration aspect of this game, it will grow on you... and will never let you go again.

See and this is where I disagree.

The world of Skyrim is rather limited if I compare it to WoW or even Diablo as well as Sacred or Spell Force.

Its mostly just an ice desert and there barely is any variety in it.

And I agree, the downsides you mentioned are true, which to me is an actual flaw.

Originally posted by Zero McDohl:

Honestly, if you're not feeling the vanilla experience, then you probably won't be feeling the modded experience. The game simply isn't your cup-of-tea.

edit:
I for sure love this game, but completely understand that it's not a game that everyone will enjoy.

Yeah

[armageddon]

The characters do seem to lack a lot of personality like they're all too depressed to feel anything. It doesn't make you want to find their sword or save them from danger. I played RPGs where I felt more emotionally invested. I don't feel anything at all when I steal from them nor do I have a feeling of joy stealing from them.

[-={LG}=-]

I have the same problem with Sacred and Sacred 2. No matter how many times I go back and try to enjoy them, it's always the same old suck. But I have thousands of hours enjoying Skyrim, and I'm not even a big Skyrim fan. I much prefer Oblivion.

[Alex]

Because Sacred and Skyrim are almost two different genres. Both might fall under the bigger RPG umbrella, but they are still vastly different.

[Messsucher]

Same here. I have tried to finish this game for many years. But just can't. It is awesome for a short period of time, then just somehow boring. And I am a completionist, I try to finish all games I begin to play and all games in the series, all quests, collectibles, achievements, and so on. But with this game I can't even finish the main story.

[Junipercat]

World of Warcraft and Skyrim are not comparable. Skyrim is a single player experience. WoW is an MMORPG with multiple expansions over many years. Skyrim is a standalone game with some add-on content.

They are vastly different in design and intention. Think of WoW if Burning Crusade never came out and playing it now by yourself.

[Sairek Ceareste]

You're not wrong - the writing is ♥♥♥♥. Unfortunately the lead writer at Bethesda doesn't really know how to write good stories. He wanted to add magic to Fallout 4 for example, because he thought it would be cool - the ramifications of adding magic just out of the blue like that be damned. The only reason it wasn't added, was because the magic system had already been stripped out of the game from Skyrim - not because he realized how terrible the idea is.
That's the kind of writer we unfortunately have to work with.


To that end, Skyrim is basically like a sandbox. A really wide one, but unfortunately you can't dig very deeply within it by itself. You can mod the game to deepen that ocean considerably and make a game tailored specifically for you and your personal tastes.

There's plenty of mods that offer enriched narrative experiences. One has you trapped within a time loop, where you have to solve a murder-mystery, where failure means you have to reset the time loop, but with retaining your knowledge, leaving a lot of options on how to deduce what is happening open with multiple endings. Said mod was so positively received, it became its own standalone game right here on Steam, also to extremely positive reviews.

Another one is where you must sneak into the cult of the Mythic Dawn as an undercover agent, sometimes having to do morally questionable and horrendous things in order to keep up the facade as you try to destroy the cult from the inside out.

Yet another mod has you trapped in a steampunkish victorian castle with a ghost that stalks and haunts you (doing some incredibly creative things within this game's engine, by the way). You must try to figure out a way on how to escape its curse that keeps you trapped and bound to the location of the castle while this ghost repeatedly tries to kill you and haunts you.

There's smaller mods too, such as a mod that peppers the game all over with a bunch of custom NPCs, each with their own unique back stories, personalities, and even some quests.

The game's base writing may suck, but thankfully, communities as ever, are incredibly creative.

Of course, there are plenty of mods that change the core gameplay, again, free. And the options are almost limitless. Or even more - mods that are not just mods, but entire games made within the game's engine that replace the base game entirely. Free to download.


Modding is a lot of the reason people like these games. It's kind of like vanilla ice cream - hence the whole "vanilla" tag between modded and unmodded games.
Vanilla ice cream tastes good. The taste isn't offensive, but it's basic. Some people prefer basic, which is fine of course.
However, when you add chocolate, strawberry, and caramel swirl to that vanilla ice cream, the ice cream tastes a helluva lot more unique and interesting. Probably tastes better too, assuming you like the "flavors" that you are adding.

[armageddon]

Skyrim has body but it doesn't have spice/seasoning. If it was your first RPG you might have a kick. The exploration is strong but these characters are very low energy.

In comparison to Kingdom Come Deliverance, the characters there are very involved, vibrant, got their own individual personalities, you care about what they are going through, the events feel alive, you can change how they feel about you.