Screwing around in Skyrim

[SpaceYeti]

I already beat the game, but it's still fun to just screw around with the console commands and mods. So;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9PD8s39JZc&list=UUmcK_3KtxghVBms5mW1fsUQ&index=1

 

[Cognisant]

I've been playing app games recently and some of them are very blatant in their grind-for-progression mechanics, it seems kind of pointless to play a game merely so I can become better at playing the game when the definition of "better" has little or nothing to do with my actual skill as a player, but it's still hard to resist playing with that level up carrot dangling in front of me.

Once that carrot's gone however, as is the case when one has maxed out the abilities for whatever combat style they're using in Skyrim, then the motivation to keep playing evaporates, which is ironic given that the entire point of maxing out in the first place was so that you can then hypothetically focus on just playing the game.

It's doubly ironic that such an expensive to develop game, with such an affect on popular culture, that just about everybody's played and some people have spent hundreds of hours playing, is at the core of it not really all that much fun to play.

Except for the archery, the only player-skill dependent thing in the game.

 

[SpaceYeti]

I never claimed Skyrim was a well designed game. I would actually say the opposite. However, I find it's poor design to be part of the charm. It's not trying to be realistic (at least, not successfully). It's a game. It's for fun. I respect that.

 

[Cognisant]

Nor am I saying Skyrim's a poorly designed game, I just think it could be better.

And I don't think realism's the issue here, I think the problem is the gameplay mechanics, if for example the sword fighting was as complex as that in Dark Souls and the magic required me to do more than press a single button, then I think I would have enjoyed the game much more.

 

[TheScornedReflex]

I felt Oblivion had more playability than Skyrim. Like Cog said once you maxed out the skills you used it lost is charms. Even modding it doesn't help. Hell I enjoy making/installing the mods more than using them.

When Skyrim first came out it was awsome but I felt it was lacking depth in its quest lines.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

I felt Oblivion had more playability than Skyrim. Like Cog said once you maxed out the skills you used it lost is charms. Even modding it doesn't help. Hell I enjoy making/installing the mods more than using them.

When Skyrim first came out it was awsome but I felt it was lacking depth in its quest lines.

I completely agree with this. Even after the main quest and guild quests and all the side quests in Oblivion, I still had a blast for a long while after and continued to play and find delight in it.

With Skyrim I feel like the quests were much shallower and less developed. I've done most of the quests in Skyrim, but still, it just doesn't have the draw to make me want to go and do all the quests.

Skill-wise, I was disappointed a lot by smithing. It was beneficial as it allowed you to improve your armor and weapons, but it took so much time and effort and (in-game) money that the payout seemed miniscule by comparison. And once you reach 100 woohoo you get Dragon armor which is fantastic but after you smith your dragon armor then what? You no longer have any sort of direction to it. No further ways to use that skill and interact with that facet of the game. Forges are useless, workbenches are useless, grindstones are useless. All of that effort you put into it becomes obsolete.

The same goes for most any skill. What happens when you've done all the quests and maxed all the levels? There's nothing more to do. Sure, it tries to keep you entertained. There's a technically limitless supply of quests in Skyrim, what with the Radiant system that keep creating quests as you need them. But these quests are silly and trivial and follow a cookie-cutter sort of approach where the details are changed but the basic structure remains and everything lacks depth.

Mods even become stale after a while. Most mods I've seen are new armors, new followers, new textures, new structures, etc. Nothing that truly enhances the playing experience or increases replay value.

By the end of my time playing Oblivion, I knew almost all of the quests by heart and I could predict from memory the exact words of NPCs during certain scenes. I got most of my entertainment from the game by creating new characters of different races, classes, and the like and creating their backstories in my imagination and giving them unique personalities. The game itself had very little to do with my entertainment at that point.

Now much the same has happened with Skyrim. The problem, however, is that comparative to Oblivion, it's been a much faster transition. I really like and enjoy the Elder Scrolls series, but I was dismayed that I couldn't like and enjoy it more. I've read a lot of Cog's views on Skyrim and I agree with most of them (His thread titled "A New Gaming Paradigm?" (iirc) was one that I liked a lot).

Skyrim, I think, was a great idea with great intentions but an unfortunately lacking execution.

EDIT: This thread - http://intpforum.com/showthread.php?t=12160

 

[TheScornedReflex]

I completely agree with this. Even after the main quest and guild quests and all the side quests in Oblivion, I still had a blast for a long while after and continued to play and find delight in it.

With Skyrim I feel like the quests were much shallower and less developed. I've done most of the quests in Skyrim, but still, it just doesn't have the draw to make me want to go and do all the quests.

Skill-wise, I was disappointed a lot by smithing. It was beneficial as it allowed you to improve your armor and weapons, but it took so much time and effort and (in-game) money that the payout seemed miniscule by comparison. And once you reach 100 woohoo you get Dragon armor which is fantastic but after you smith your dragon armor then what? You no longer have any sort of direction to it. No further ways to use that skill and interact with that facet of the game. Forges are useless, workbenches are useless, grindstones are useless. All of that effort you put into it becomes obsolete.

The same goes for most any skill. What happens when you've done all the quests and maxed all the levels? There's nothing more to do. Sure, it tries to keep you entertained. There's a technically limitless supply of quests in Skyrim, what with the Radiant system that keep creating quests as you need them. But these quests are silly and trivial and follow a cookie-cutter sort of approach where the details are changed but the basic structure remains and everything lacks depth.

Mods even become stale after a while. Most mods I've seen are new armors, new followers, new textures, new structures, etc. Nothing that truly enhances the playing experience or increases replay value.

By the end of my time playing Oblivion, I knew almost all of the quests by heart and I could predict from memory the exact words of NPCs during certain scenes. I got most of my entertainment from the game by creating new characters of different races, classes, and the like and creating their backstories in my imagination and giving them unique personalities. The game itself had very little to do with my entertainment at that point.

Now much the same has happened with Skyrim. The problem, however, is that comparative to Oblivion, it's been a much faster transition. I really like and enjoy the Elder Scrolls series, but I was dismayed that I couldn't like and enjoy it more. I've read a lot of Cog's views on Skyrim and I agree with most of them (His thread titled "A New Gaming Paradigm?" (iirc) was one that I liked a lot).

Skyrim, I think, was a great idea with great intentions but an unfortunately lacking execution.

Oblivion definitely trumps Skyrim. I played that game for years. And Morrowind before that. But Skyrim just doesn't hold that 'magic' that the other games had. It is truly ashame, it has all the potential but just doesn't pull through.

 

[Cognisant]

I got most of my entertainment from the game by creating new characters of different races, classes, and the like and creating their backstories in my imagination and giving them unique personalities. The game itself had very little to do with my entertainment at that point.

Ditto and it annoyed me to no end how much the game tried to railroad me into the designer's idea of who my character should be, I mean what if I don't want to be Dovakin, when I walk into Dragonsreach I'm there to talk about dragons, I may be dressed as an Imperial Solider with a confidential missive for the Jarl's eyes only but no we're talking about dragons and I can't get a word in edgeways about my mission indeed I can't give him the note until after I've killed the dragon, at which point I'm thinking "Dude I just killed a badass monster that's been terrorizing your entire hold, DO NOT be difficult or Dragonsreach will be how far the horns of that dragon skull reach up your ass".

Then I go to Riften, full suit of plate armour, and I'm damn near press-ganged into joining the Thieves Guild, I can't sneak, steal, or smooth talk but apparently they're so desperate for members they'll take whoever walks into town, so anyway I decline (I wanted to mess the guy up for calling me a thief, but no, the fucker's invincible) then later in the main quest line I have to find some guy and my only lead is the same fucker who tries to press-gang me into the guild again (LET ME KILL HIM!!!), I manage to find the guy myself but goddamn why not call the game "Elder Scrolls: The Thieves Guild" and be done with it.

I'll NEVER join the thieves guild, I recommend nobody else does either and that whenever it's discussed everyone says they'll spurn it too, maybe the developers will find out, I live in hope.

 

[The Gopher]

I heard skyrim described as an ocean 1 meter deep. Haven't played it though.

 

[TheScornedReflex]

Ditto and it annoyed me to no end how much the game tried to railroad me into the designer's idea of who my character should be, I mean what if I don't want to be Dovakin, when I walk into Dragonsreach I'm there to talk about dragons, I may be dressed as an Imperial Solider with a confidential missive for the Jarl's eyes only but no we're talking about dragons and I can't get a word in edgeways about my mission indeed I can't give him the note until after I've killed the dragon, at which point I'm thinking "Dude I just killed a badass monster that's been terrorizing your entire hold, DO NOT be difficult or Dragonsreach will be how far the horns of that dragon skull reach up your ass".

Then I go to Riften, full suit of plate armour, and I'm damn near press-ganged into joining the Thieves Guild, I can't sneak, steal, or smooth talk but apparently they're so desperate for members they'll take whoever walks into town, so anyway I decline (I wanted to mess the guy up for calling me a thief, but no, the fucker's invincible) then later in the main quest line I have to find some guy and my only lead is the same fucker who tries to press-gang me into the guild again (LET ME KILL HIM!!!), I manage to find the guy myself but goddamn why not call the game "Elder Scrolls: The Thieves Guild" and be done with it.

I'll NEVER join the thieves guild, I recommend nobody else does either and that whenever it's discussed everyone says they'll spurn it too, maybe the developers will find out, I live in hope.

A-men.

 

[SpaceYeti]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkbRavhqldo

 

[Oedipus]

I have been playing Oblivion pretty solidly since 2007 (with some month-or-so long breaks) and am only recently tiring of it. I agree a lot with what Cheesumpuffs said. Even having finished all the quests at least once, probably twice, I still have favourites I like to repeat (Whodunit, for example, is great) and find different ways to complete. I also spend a lot of time gathering stuff to make my acrobatics skill as high as possible, because life's no fun when you can't jump onto a roof from street level. My ancient computer won't run Skyrim but I get the impression it hasn't lived up to the hype.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

I have been playing Oblivion pretty solidly since 2007 (with some month-or-so long breaks) and am only recently tiring of it. I agree a lot with what Cheesumpuffs said. Even having finished all the quests at least once, probably twice, I still have favourites I like to repeat (Whodunit, for example, is great) and find different ways to complete. I also spend a lot of time gathering stuff to make my acrobatics skill as high as possible, because life's no fun when you can't jump onto a roof from street level. My ancient computer won't run Skyrim but I get the impression it hasn't lived up to the hype.

Whodunit is easily one of my favorite quests as well.

My main character got so good at acrobatics that with a little help from the Boots of Springheel Jak I could leap onto the roofs of ShitIforgetthenameofthecitybutit'stheDementiasideofthemaincityinTheShiveringIsles. Those were some good times. Making acrobatics a primary skill is a really easy way to game the system for quick level-ups, you just have to jump everywhere you go.

EDIT: Aaaaannndd I just realized I called Cog a "him" in my other post which, if memory serves, I keep doing despite the fact that, if memory still serves, Cog is female. I apologize for that mistake and I also apologize if that was not a mistake and me apologizing for my mistake is the mistake. I have a shit memory. Sorry.