Skyrim is worse than Oblivion in every way

[ortucis]

I've heard great things about uninstall.exe. But really, Oscuro's did a decent job of that.

Heh, I actually do remember using Oscuro's Overhaul (among thousand other mods) back in the day. I didn't know it fixed that too, I never played for more than an hour after spending whole day installing mods for Oblivion (same thing with Skyrim). That and the changes listed were always so many, I'd never actually read them all..

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I just finished Skyrim's main quest and I feel emotionless about it. No sense of accomplishment or sense of wonder. Just empty, which is funny to me because halfway through I felt angry.

When I played Oblivion, the game left me feeling disappointed because it let me down after my Morrowind experience. But Skyrim had some promise. Things I really liked:

- The factions and politics were a lot more interesting than the main quest about a dragon attack. In fact, if they had beefed up the civil war and made that the central point of the game, I think Skyrim would have been a lot better off. You wouldn't have had to play some prophesied hero of legend, but could have instead just been the right guy at the right time to end a conflict for the benefit of one of the many factions. I would say that the political intrigue was the best of the series, even beating out Daggerfall and Morrowind, as the characters and dialogue were more fleshed out during interchanges between NPCs. It was a little odd to me that all the NPCs were talking about their secret invasion plans while I'm passing through their castle, but I can suspend my disbelief a little bit for the sake of world building.
- When you are not near the Nord areas and the sky is clear, this game can actually look quite gorgeous. Despite its name, even Blackreach looks pretty good. The sense that you are exploring the ruins of lost civilizations is a lot stronger in this game than in previous attempts. Except maybe Morrowind, which I still feel is the best looking game of the series.
- There are some really well designed dungeons here. I didn't care for Oblivion's vanilla dungeons or Daggerfall's randomly generated dungeons, and although I liked Morrowind's dungeons they were often a bit small in comparison. The dungeons in Skyrim are large and filled with puzzles, though the puzzles are way too easy. I would say that the dungeons and puzzles from Battlespire are better, but Skyrim's were very good. The series of dungeons from the Elder Knowledge quest were by far my favorite of this game, consisting of locations called Aftland and Blackreach.
- Recruitable companions were a nice touch, as is buying property in the various larger settlements. I thought the architecture throughout the game blended with the culture of the areas. Other NPCs made the game feel more alive, such as groups of people celebrating and drinking outside the towns. So I feel that this game does beat Oblivion out.

But the game was still too easy, so I lacked any real sense of danger. The final battle consisted of me using dragonrend and firing my bow at the final big bad evil guy, while other warriors did the majority of the fighting and damaging. I can't get away from the feeling that this game could have been so much more if it wasn't catering to the casual player and those needing some kind of wish fulfillment. This is why I felt angry halfway through, since this game could have been so much more. Yes, I know I could have changed the settings to make the game more difficult, but I do my reviews on the normal difficulty levels since that difficulty level is how the game is designed to play upon distribution. Also, it wouldn't have made the puzzles complex. There were times where I felt that I was watching a movie more than playing a game. Ok, enough on that. I'm going to go back and finish my Morrowind review now, then come back to this and do some of the side quests and play through some of the factions before starting my real review of Skyrim.

 

[Wayward Son]

normal difficulty levels since that difficulty level is how the game is designed to play upon distribution.

Agreed. Anyone who replies to a game being too easy with turn up the difficulty shouldn't be arguing on the subject of videogames.

 

[Obsequious Approbation]

The combat wouldn't become harder on Hard either way. Their attributes (all three...) would get bumped up and you'd end up pummeling the enemy slightly longer than otherwise. So many combat mods attempt to rectify this, but ultimately any tweaking with regards to extra perks and abilities cannot fix what is fundamentally broken. Dragon priests and the like will continue to spam fireball, neither stopping nor giving a damn even if you're breathing down their necks.

 

[deuxhero]

Can't agree. The game is only ugly where they had to make concessions to make it run on 2006 toaster - polycount cuts, minimized number of light sources, low res textures (especially bumpmaps - low-res bumpmaps never look good). Still, it uses all means at its disposal to look about as good as possible. Characters in particular look like MW ones, done by better artists using better tech.

I'd argue that reducing the level of lighting so you can't see everything at night/in dark caves would both look better and lower system load as the GPU must draw a lot less (Speaking of which what is the best mod for doing that now?). Still I agree that Skyrim does indeed look OK for a late PS3/360 game (it's not pretty, there were easily better and earlier and it lacks a lot of subtle visual story telling Morrowind had, but it doesn't look bad... as long as you don't look at the animations too closely anyways), which was a huge upgrade over Oblivion's eye bleeding bad, even for an early 360 title, art.

 

[Hirato]

No idea if it's the best, but I quite like this lighting mod http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/27043/?

 

[Drax]

Yeah, it's pretty good and doesn't fuck up your performance.

 

[circ]

Best lightning mods are ENBs because Beth's shadows are so bad. But if you're going vanilla then ELFX is fine, if you spend a few hours removing a few of its meshes that bug the shit out of framerates.

 

[Makabb]

Oblivion engine is the biggest garbage and no ammount of mods can fix it, because with many mods it's crashing constantly

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

Requiem gets rid of OP enchanting/crafting right? Like, no more 0 cost spells and such?

I hate how that stuff basically trivializes the game once you get it and have been looking for a work around.

Also, does requiem play nice with quest/dungeon/new landmass mods? I'm assuming it probably doesn't really work right with mods that add new creatures though?

 

[Brzęczyszczykiewicz]

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...top-100-rpgs-of-all-time.aspx?PostPageIndex=6

 

[Ocelot]

The article is wrong about many things but perhaps the worst thing about Skyrim is the nature and plot of most questlines. In every single story you are somehow the chosen one, the hero, champion of everyone and everything. It's like every incident in that world is centered around your ego since the beginning of time. It gets tiring after a while and destroys any kind of immersion the game could have.

I can forgive other things and overlook that Skyrim simplified many mechanisms to be more inclusive for newbies (the only thing the article gets right) but ruining most quests like that is unforgivable.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

In every single story you are somehow the chosen one, the hero, champion of everyone and everything. It's like every incident in that world is centered around your ego since the beginning of time. It gets tiring after a while and destroys any kind of immersion the game could have.

The delusions of manlet Todd.

 

[moon knight]

Why are you still talking about this fucking game?

 

[Drax]

I don't know, why are you posting in this thread?

 

[Alkarl]

Why are you still talking about this fucking game?

The only sensible question, that I've seen, ITT, that deserves an answer.

The short answer is because it's pretty. Pretty to look at, and pretty shit to actually play. Skyrim is a lot like those pictures people would take of their dead loved ones in the late 1800's, and when you look at them you're like, "Wow, what a handsome gentleman." without really knowing said gentleman is rotting away on the inside. It is quite an anomalous thing, Skyrim, cause it got a lot of new people and casuals into gaming, but it's universally hated by what should be considered its target audience. Who starts a series and then they get to the fifth, or later, entry and decides "This one we'll make for people who don't even play our games." That's a stupid, stupid idea that worked phenomenally well for Skyrim.

The long answer is framed by another question:
"Can mods fix?"
The answer depends on what you consider a mod, but most people think of them as small tweaks or cosmetic polishes, maybe a few small overhauls that on their own aren't particularly fantastic, but together tend to make almost a whole new experience.

The amount of time and level of modding Skyrim would require would just about constitute another development cycle on it's own. You know, rip out everything but the art. Start over on everything. Combat, exploration, interaction. Maybe give the game a justifiable feed-back loop.

By the time you've installed or built enough mods to "fix" Skyrim, you're not even playing Skyrim anymore. But, thats what the name says on the box, so.. here we are, I guess.

 

[abnaxus]

Legendary thread.

 

[Max Stats]

They both suck compared to the contemporary Fallout games (IMO). I can't even rightfully say way, just they don't keep my interest for anywhere close to as long. If you dig them, good for you, but even going back to Morrowind on the Xbox, the whole Elderscrolls series just can't hook me.

 

[RhodokMasterRaceOfficial]

on the Xbox

 

[unfairlight]

So what is the required mod list to make Skyrim passable? I already played through Oblivion a while back and I want to at least play Skyrim properly for once.
And 1000 posts, woohoo.

 

[Shin]

it depends if you want to make sexy time with npc in game rlly
there's an entire website dedicated to such pleasures of le wrist

 

[roll-a-die]

So what is the required mod list to make Skyrim passable? I already played through Oblivion a while back and I want to at least play Skyrim properly for once.
And 1000 posts, woohoo.

Eh depends on what you consider passable, if you want to look at shinies, then Skyrim will need like 100+++ mods to look passable. If you want story, that isn't emergent from gameplay, fuck off, Skyrim isn't the game for that. But if you are looking for good gameplay.

I'd say for SSE(NewRim)

USEP + Enai mods + Morrowlood Ultimate + Ultimate Combat(Turn off Wildcat timed block and injuries as one is a bit looser than ultimate combats, and the other is random as fuck and not worth the script lag) along with the mod that stops enemies from turning on their base as they attack. Crank the difficulty up to the 2nd highest. Bing bang boom, about 12 mods and it's a bit more passable.

This will lead to a slightly more powerful character with a few more options in combat while making the enemies follow a logical constraint, it will increase the valuation of magical items. While simultaneously making them less common. Artifacts will be more interesting. As will the thane loots. Along with a lot more dynamic enchantments. I've yet to see a better overhaul for SSE unfortunately.

Next up, SLE(Oldrim)
USLEEP + Requiem + the mod to stop NPC's from turning on their base as they attack(I really like this one, but can never remember what it's called)

This is the Herdcore setup. I still don't like requiem all that much, but this is the best overhaul I've found for improving Skyrims core design. The various types(Stamina/Health/Magic focused characters) play nicely and differently.
Next upu.
The prestigious lovers lab setup
Sexlab, Sexlab Defeat, Sexlab More Nasty Critters, Devious Devices, Devious Defeat(Or whatever the fuck it's called)

Nothing like being raped by a pack of wolves and waking up in an arm binder.

Note Lovers lab mods are fucking script heavy as all get out and too many of them will fuck your game as much as they fuck your character.

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

Nothing like being raped by a pack of wolves and waking up in an arm binder.

"You know what this game needs? Bestiality."

 

[Ocelot]

Why are you still talking about this fucking game?

Didn't you get the memo? Skyrim is immortal. Even switch got Skyrim. Unless if we get another single-player Elder Scrolls game, Skyrim will be played for many generations to come so our grandchildren too can enjoy broken stealth archery builds.

And because I'm new to these forums so I wanted to share my opinion about the game.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Oblivion engine is the biggest garbage and no ammount of mods can fix it, because with many mods it's crashing constantly

Actually you don’t need to mod the visuals of Oblivion at all, just play it wearing sunglasses.