The last* time I fired up Skyrim with any intention of sinking *serious* time into it was in 2011 on the XBox 360. I was enamored with the game at the time, along with most other people, to the point where I wasn't really distracted by some of the more atrocious aspects of its design. Most of my complaints were rooted in comparisons to prior games in the franchise and how the game was "dumbed down" from TESIII: Morrowind—a fairly common complaint though obviously not one that impacted sales or mainstream impressions. I don't think it's controversial to say Skyrim was an absolute sensation—one of the most influential games of the decade.
While I don't think perception of the game has shifted 180° to being purely negative, 10 years worth of open world games to compare it to has certainly given some perspective on where Skyrim and Bethesda came up short. The animation (never Bethesda's strong suit...) is laughable, the voice acting and and limited cast are a meme, the less said about the puzzles the better, and the bugs and jank are synonymous with the franchise and development studio. There's just so much shit that comes off as amateur hour in the year of our lord 2021.
*And yet, I just put 20 hours into it in the last week with no sign of slowing down. There's still something here that's very compelling, even when compared to some of its best competition.
I'm still making my way through the game and collating my thoughts so I don't have an answer to my own question quite yet but here are some stray observations:
1. I get an absolute kick out of abusing its systems. I'm trying to avoid being overpowered too quickly but pickpocket+archery training helped me overcome the slog that comes with being underpowered in the opening portions of the game.
2. Loads of points of interest that haven't become tediously same-y yet. I know once I've spelunked ancient nord ruin 452456 it'll start to get old but right now delving into the various dungeons is still good. Exploration in general is just a hell of a lot more compelling in this game than say, The Witcher 3. Granted, when TW3 has narrative content as a reward for exploring a place it almost universally would win in a head to head comparison but otherwise the dungeons and points of interest in TW3 are incredibly dull. This is a rare head to head comparison I'm willing to make.
3. The lore. Even though I can't be arsed to read the insane amount of books that pad it out in this and other games in the series. I'm fascinated by the lore of TES universe; there's some really trippy shit going on in the background of these games that's almost entirely missable and divorced from any quests you actively participate in. This is something almost totally unique to the series that deserves kudos. There's depth for those willing to look for it although the plot is pretty ho-hum without it.
So yeah, Resetera. Where does Skyrim still got it?
While I don't think perception of the game has shifted 180° to being purely negative, 10 years worth of open world games to compare it to has certainly given some perspective on where Skyrim and Bethesda came up short. The animation (never Bethesda's strong suit...) is laughable, the voice acting and and limited cast are a meme, the less said about the puzzles the better, and the bugs and jank are synonymous with the franchise and development studio. There's just so much shit that comes off as amateur hour in the year of our lord 2021.
*And yet, I just put 20 hours into it in the last week with no sign of slowing down. There's still something here that's very compelling, even when compared to some of its best competition.
I'm still making my way through the game and collating my thoughts so I don't have an answer to my own question quite yet but here are some stray observations:
1. I get an absolute kick out of abusing its systems. I'm trying to avoid being overpowered too quickly but pickpocket+archery training helped me overcome the slog that comes with being underpowered in the opening portions of the game.
2. Loads of points of interest that haven't become tediously same-y yet. I know once I've spelunked ancient nord ruin 452456 it'll start to get old but right now delving into the various dungeons is still good. Exploration in general is just a hell of a lot more compelling in this game than say, The Witcher 3. Granted, when TW3 has narrative content as a reward for exploring a place it almost universally would win in a head to head comparison but otherwise the dungeons and points of interest in TW3 are incredibly dull. This is a rare head to head comparison I'm willing to make.
3. The lore. Even though I can't be arsed to read the insane amount of books that pad it out in this and other games in the series. I'm fascinated by the lore of TES universe; there's some really trippy shit going on in the background of these games that's almost entirely missable and divorced from any quests you actively participate in. This is something almost totally unique to the series that deserves kudos. There's depth for those willing to look for it although the plot is pretty ho-hum without it.
So yeah, Resetera. Where does Skyrim still got it?
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