Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim

[Renosaur]

So far only the teaser is out but any fans of the Elder Scrolls series would be stoked on this. Anyone else play Elder Scrolls here? I particularly believe Oblivion would be the best out of the series so far.

For those who are unaware about the Elder Scrolls series, I urge you to seriously check it Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion, particularly for the pc. Although the combat system is somewhat lacking (hack-n-slash), everything else is built perfectly, level up system, character design and character interactions. The graphics are lush even despite it being quite outdated (2006 iirc) and the story is deep and very long, not including side quests the game can take literally weeks to complete.

Screenshots from Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion (warning, some are large)

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Also, some funny gameplay from Oblivion, my brother made this video

So far I know nothing about the premise set up for Skyrim, only youtube comments tell me so much. Anybody like to discuss?

 

[Arch]

It was really funny. My friend kept ranting about how Bethesda were a bunch of (BAN ME PLEASE) for not making a new Elder Scrolls game after all these years a few days ago. Then Skyrim gets announced. Very excited for this game, but damnit!!! It comes out ten days after Uncharted 3! I have to make choices. ):

 

[vonFiedler]

I don't know how you can say the level system was perfect when that was the most common complaint about the game (and rightly so). Oblivion was very promising, I actually upgraded my computer at the time just to play it properly. But after the free roaming lost its charm (which happens in a 100 hour plus game, hell, I know people who have played Morrowind for thousands of hours) all the games imperfections really get to you. I hope they take alot of inspiration from their other game Fallout 3, which honestly felt like "a better Oblivion".

 

[Hipmonlee]

Oblivion seemed like it had put a lot of effort into solving the issues of Morrowind, but it didnt really get there. Though the shimmering isles expansion was better.. I never bothered to do the other one with the Knight or whatever it was..

On the other hand Oblivion lost a lot of the charm of Morrowind. Things like the auto travelling which was pretty much necessary, but it also removed a lot of the excitement of exploring.

The big problem with these games is that they almost completely lack any characters or meaningful character interactions. I am not sure I can explain this properly, but it seemed to me like they put so much focus into intrigue and convoluted plots, but I still generally never really feel any real compulsion to complete the missions given to me.

And yeah, there are a lot of other flaws, but I mean while they are making a few missteps, they do seem to be making concerted attempts to fix things. Oblivion fixed issues with Morrowind, and the Oblivion expansions seemed to go a little further at that as well.

So maybe they will end up with a good game.

Also yeah the level system is godawful.

Have a nice day.

 

[Firestorm]

This is actually the first time I've ever heard someone say they preferred Oblivion to Morrowind. Never played either though. For some reason the world just never interested me enough to start.

 

[Trax]

I don't know how you can say the level system was perfect when that was the most common complaint about the game (and rightly so).

The leveling system in Elder Scrolls is a lot better than in 99.99% of RPGs, there's nothing that matches it - you kill stuff or make stuff thus improving your secondary skills, you gain levels - it makes sense.

Morrowind > Oblivion, and not just by a little bit either..

 

[vonFiedler]

The leveling system in Elder Scrolls is a lot better than in 99.99% of RPGs, there's nothing that matches it - you kill stuff or make stuff thus improving your secondary skills, you gain levels - it makes sense.

Morrowind > Oblivion, and not just by a little bit either..

Oblivion's level system where earning ranks in talking caused you to level up, getting good stat increases required you to do multiples skill increases of similar skills (this was especially bullshit when I played through as a fist fighter, meaning I had to level up skills I wasn't even using to get manageable strength), and if those two things weren't piss fucking stupid ideas enough, enemies leveled up with you which has never been a good idea in any game.

99.99% of RPGs have better leveling systems than in Oblivion, with that .01% being Final Fantasy 8.

It was still a very immersive game and I enjoyed some of the guild stuff but it pales in comparison to both Morrowind and Fallout 3.

 

[Trax]

Oblivion's level system where earning ranks in talking caused you to level up, getting good stat increases required you to do multiples skill increases of similar skills (this was especially bullshit when I played through as a fist fighter, meaning I had to level up skills I wasn't even using to get manageable strength), and if those two things weren't piss fucking stupid ideas enough, enemies leveled up with you which has never been a good idea in any game.

Enemies leveling up with you means the game doesn't get fucking retarded at high levels (i.e. you slaughter everything in sight with one hit). And yes, talking could level you up but it was nowhere near as powerful a level up as casting spells or fighting because of the stat it boosted. As for your last complaint, you were playing a silly custom class which is not in any remotely sensible way indicative of the game overall.

 

[vonFiedler]

Enemies leveling up with you means the game doesn't get fucking retarded at high levels (i.e. you slaughter everything in sight with one hit). And yes, talking could level you up but it was nowhere near as powerful a level up as casting spells or fighting because of the stat it boosted. As for your last complaint, you were playing a silly custom class which is not in any remotely sensible way indicative of the game overall.

I've played the game a few times, as a fighter and a mage and I enjoyed the "silly custom class" far more actually.

Enemies leveling up is never a good idea period exactly BECAUSE you effectively never become more powerful. It's a very cheesy way to balance a game, but it also means that all your leveling up is meaningless (so long as you aren't leveling up talking or alchemy, but then why even have useless skills in your game?). In a well designed game enemies would be at your level because as you get more skilled you go into more dangerous areas. There is no excuse for river crabs to level up with you, no matter how relatively weak they are anyway.

The main storyline was awful, the gameplay in Oblivion was dull, and shutting down the oblivion gates was repetitive. The guild quests were better, even if they were also sometimes repetitive and cliche. Character creation was real ugly (which sadly didn't change in Fallout 3), and as was said before in the thread there is just no attachment to the characters or story here. It's the alpha western RPG in that its all immersion and no plot (even when companies like Bioware have proven time and time again that an immersive RPG can have compelling characters and story).

The first hour I played Oblivion was the most fun I had with it (except for a certain Unicorn story infamous among my friends), it all just plummeting downhill from there. I hated having to constantly enchant my weapons as a fighter, being a mage was boring, and yes, I had to create a custom class just to feel like my character was interesting at all. Oblivion was a bad game. And it crashed constantly.

Now Fallout 3 was actually very good, and I hope Skyrim is likewise good.

 

[Hipmonlee]

Yeah my problem with leveling in elder scrolls games is entirely because of the enemies leveling up with you.

It's really awful.

Have a nice day.

 

[Adm. Empoleon]

Ho. Lee. Shit. I was addicted to Oblivion, and I'm sure as hell I'll be addicted to this game.

The level up system was awful, no doubt about it, but the fact that monsters and enemies level up with you, now that was a challenge. But you got better loot with it, that's the reward.

As for character customization... that sucked balls. I preferred to play with a female character because if I have to stare at an ass all day, it might as well be a woman's. But it was like a man's ass. Plus, no "Breast size" option? that's bullshit.

Anyway, I can't wait till it comes out so I can review it. :)

 

[vonFiedler]

I always played Redguard. They were the only race I could stand to look at, and that was only when they were clothed (seriously, they look like burn victims underneath).

Before there any tempter tantrums, I neglected to say that I liked Oblivion, I played it 3 times (but then again, I played FF8 about 7 times), I just had to really work to appreciate it. Like modding it. Heavily.

 

[theamericandream38]

I am quite excited for this game, I've logged several hundred hours into Oblivion and look forward to spending a lot of time with this game too! As for the Oblivion vs Morrowind discussion, I didn't play Morrowind much but I do think it was unfortunate that they removed some of the skills/items/spells from Morrowind in Oblivion. Hopefully Skyrim combines the best of both worlds.

 

[Folgorio]

This sounds awesome. I was pretty much addicted
to oblivion a few years ago basically pouring in hundreds of hours into it. Unfortunately i never played morrowind and i doubt i will i guess. Anyway does anyone know what system(s) this is coming for? better not be pc only or anything...

 

[Yagami Light]

Let me just say that anytime I found a problem with Oblivion in some way, shape or form it would take around 5 minutes of digging through mods online before I found something that either fixed the issue or I got sidetracked and started adding flying dragon mounts to the game.

Point is, Oblivion is so much better with mods than standalone (obvious, but the difference is larger than you'd expect). I easily logged 100-200 hours into Oblivion and I don't think I even made a dent in the official side quests, let alone all of the fan made mod ones.

I hope ESV has just as awesome of a modbase.

 

[Renosaur]

Ho. Lee. Shit. I was addicted to Oblivion, and I'm sure as hell I'll be addicted to this game.

The level up system was awful, no doubt about it, but the fact that monsters and enemies level up with you, now that was a challenge. But you got better loot with it, that's the reward.

As for character customization... that sucked balls. I preferred to play with a female character because if I have to stare at an ass all day, it might as well be a woman's. But it was like a man's ass. Plus, no "Breast size" option? that's bullshit.

Anyway, I can't wait till it comes out so I can review it. :)

Bahahaha there's mods to fix your ass problem ;)
there's practically mod for anything in Oblivion and I agree to the fact that Oblivion is more fun with mod expansions.